First Born Curious

I have another Sweet Love in my life.

(If you want to know who Sweet Love is, and the story behind my shop name, read this)

My other Sweet Love is my first-born son who I love just as sweetly.

He doesn't have a nick name so I'll call him Curious. Because he is. So is his mother.

Curious is 9 with a birthday coming the end of May. Double digits.

Woah! (said in the voice of Joey from the 90s sitcom, Blossom)

Where did the time go?

Curious has always been a collector. Always into gathering rocks, specimens, shells. Anything small and sortable. Even as a toddler, he would walk along the sidewalk and study any little speck. Pick up a leaf in wonderment. He was a happy but serious toddler. And curious.

My latest creative project is to finally decorate his bedroom. After 2 years of living here.

I excel at procrastinating. Obviously.

Here is the starting inspiration of some of the things that Curious loves:

• An old diamondback rattlesnake skin mount
• Antique elk leg (it's twin is in the shop!)
• Gigantic steer horn mount
• Wolf or coyote skull
• Preserved puffer fish I brought back from Mexico
• Gator head he picked out on a family vacay to Florida.

Curious also has jars full of rocks, shells, shark teeth and fossilized miscellany. Along with:

A kangaroo foot his auntie brought back from down under.

Blue Morpho butterfly mounts from Brazil. Done by my dad, who is also quite curious and always has a hobby/obsession of some sort. Grandpa has recently gotten his grandson into major coin collecting. Fits the bill. Small and sortable.

1938 schoolhouse map I found thrifting. Curious begged me not to sell.

A vintage preserved snake head I also bought to sell in the shop. Again, I got the, "Mom, please-please-please don't sell this!"

I must admit, I love this. I love that I'm not doing a stereo-typical boys sports room. Not that it wouldn't be fun, but this road is much closer to my house in Unusualville.

Next steps: Paint. Bedding. Incorporate textures. Assemble. Repurpose. Re-arrange. Think outside box. Research. Donate old stuff. Bring in old stuff.

And do it all in my creative, thrifty way.

It definitely won't look like a page out of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. Thank God.

(No offense Pottery Barn. You are just too mainstream. I want it to look more unique than you and not scream POTTERY BARN!)

So stay tuned...

For his Museum of Natural History living space.

And quite a curious one it will be.