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It’s been a little while since I last checked in with my beloved blog.
”Why, oh why?” I hear you ask.
Well, multiple reasons, really!
Yes, we are still in lockdown (and if some news reports are to be believed, we will remain so for quite some time to come! 😱), so, technically, I should have had a lot more time on my hands to blog in-between doing quite a bit of this…
And, truth be told, I have been doing a bit of bed hogging, on and off… See my last post, How to Escape the Lockdown Lows, for some proof of this. 😉
However, not half as much as I would have liked because… honestly, my kids would not allow it.
All I have to do is slip off their radar for more than a second and the ”mom chorus” erupts like grating birdsong…
Every. Single. Time!
Ooh, and then there is the homeschool/Zoom issue…
As well as the usual cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping with an added slice of time-consuming social distancing…
Which all amounts to total and utter exhaustion by about 9 o’clock in the evening. 😴
Not good for seasoned night owl creatives when you’re just too zonked to do any creating! 😬
Not only that, but now that we’re in lockdown there is that added pressure to tackle all those jobs you normally have no time (or intention) of getting around to…
Cupboards have been decluttered, laundry has been put away and home improvement projects have been started!
Most notably, my toddler’s room is no longer his.
It’s now my tween’s because she was so very disappointed that the lockdown meant that we had to cancel our loft conversion/her new bedroom plans for the foreseeable future.
There were tears, tantrums and numerous ”it’s soooooo unfair!” outbursts, to the point that we could take it no longer and decided for the sake of our sanity, and if only five minutes peace, the toddler would have to share with his eight-year-old sister so as the tween could have her very own sanctuary, ASAP!
Luckily for all involved, this home improvement miracle was achieved in just a few simple steps…
Or, if we’re feeling generous, a finger click! ✨ 😉
If you should ever find yourself in a similar situation, here is what to do:
1. Change the bed
This was hard! My precious baby’s cot was such an integral part of his babyhood that dismantling it felt like the end of an era. 😢
And it truly was! My baby has just turned three, so, whether I like it or not, he is growing up and has now outgrown his cot.
Luckily, the hubby (being a whole lot less sentimental than me) was happy to take on the dismantling task while I focused on finding a stylish, yet reasonably priced bed fit for a tween. 😉❤️🛍️
Thank you, Amazon for coming up trumps; a bed, a mattress, a bedside table for less than £150, while I sourced a tween-worthy duvet cover in Sainsbury’s for around £30 and I have my longtime fave Poundland (or Dealz to our Irish readers) to thank for the oh-so-trendy ”oh hey” cushions. £1 each, I kid you not! ❤️❤️❤️
2. Switch up the ornaments
Next up, clear the room of all baby paraphernalia!
So, it’s bye-bye soft toys, name plaques, baby hand and footprint moulds, photo albums and momentoes.
And it’s hello balloon ornaments, instantly Insta-worthy, artificial succulent plants, sparkly name initials and Scandi-style, hygge-inducing tealight holders, mostly all courtesy of the ever purse-friendly Poundland!
Yes! What a success! Until…
The tween decides to rearrange your carefully curated displays to add her own lotions, potions and trinkets… 🤦♀️
Oh, well, at least only one shelf has been affected…
So far! 😬
3. Layer up those lights
Officially, tweens aren’t afraid of the dark so it’s buh-bye star, moon and cloud-shaped nightlights and hello…
Pink neon flamingos…
And hearts, LED colour-changing strip lights, warm fairy lights and…
Hollywood-style lights aplenty!
(Either she is still a little bit scared of the dark or we’re in TikTok-inspired room overdrive! 🤔)
4. Be picky with pictures
Also banished are the very boyish (and maybe a tad babyish) Mrs Mighetto prints.
Only one print (depicting a candy floss cart 🍭) has been allowed to remain by our sweet-toothed tween, while Polaroid pics clipped to fairy lights are the ultimate in Gen Z tween bedroom must-haves! 💞
5. Mirror, mirrors everywhere
Second only to the Polaroid fairy light pic display come the obligatory magnifying mirror, Hollywood-style mirror and…
Full-length mirror for all the obligatory tween selfie-taking and TikTok video-making…
Naturally!
And after a parent has gone to all that effort turning a once-beloved nursery nook into the ultimate tween dream hideaway, the tween response should be along the lines of a Lindsay Lohan-esque…
Or whatever the Gen Z equivalent is! 🤷♀️
The response of the tween’s BFF should ideally go like this…
Or not!
Who knows?!
Tweens are notoriously unpredictable after all!
At least, if nothing else, we’ve added a new skill set to our lockdown list…
Furniture moving!
Here’s hoping we’ll we able to break out of lockdown and move further afield than the next bedroom in the not too distant future! 🤞
Until next time,
Happy project planning, my dear readers!
💋 Mostly Mum
Update:
The tween officially loves her new room – well, apart from “those weird paper things” on the door but, at least, enough to vlog about it! 😊
The very definition of a room makeover success in the Gen Z world!
Yay!
I think! 🤔
*All gifs are via GIPHY
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