Cowboy Country

Max has a passion for horses and the rodeo. Hayden likes horses too, and also loves John Deere tractors. I tried to create a bedroom for them that represented both their interests. I wanted some shelves where they could display trophies, keep some favorite books, and also have a stereo. They love listening to books on tape and Adventures In Odyssey, and in summertime they fall asleep listening to baseball games. Hannah passed along her old stereo when she graduated to an ipod docking station. (There are some benefits to having an older sister after all.) I was pleased to find these black shelves on clearance at a supercenter.

The freshly painted walls and new shelves propelled me into an organizing frenzy. Summer clothes are stacked neatly in drawers, waiting for someone to yank a shirt out from the bottom of the stack. Shoes are tucked away in new shoe pockets, waiting to be drug downstairs and left by the front door. Toys, flashlights, and nerf guns are categorized into baskets, awaiting the inevitable jumbling. Winter blankets are freshly laundered and neatly folded, waiting to be unfolded and used to build forts in the clean closet. Ranch hands, after all, do grow restless.

My favorite thing about the boys' room is their beds. Their Papa built those beds out of wood from an old barn on their property. Papa planed and sanded and stained that wood to perfection. Then he shopped the flea market for just the right iron accents. I hope little boys in our family for generations to come will enjoy those beds, because they were a special labor of love.

I also like the flag on the ceiling which I painted one day when I was feeling Michaelangeloish.

Cleaning, organizing, and decorating a B.O.Y. room is a task that all mothers succumb to at some point or another. It's that little streak of optimism that God gifts to mothers...the one that says maybe, just maybe we have finally stumbled upon "THE" system. You know, the one that the boys not only appreciate, but also pledge to live by faithfully, day in and day out.

"Oh look! My toys are organized. I think I'll put them back this way when I am done playing because it makes it so much easier to find what I am looking for!"

"My clothes! My clothes! Neatly hanging so they don't wrinkle. How hard can hangers be? I think I'll give them a try!"

"Books! On a shelf! Oooohhhh....now I get it.....that's why they call it a bookshelf!"

Hope does spring eternal here in Cowboy Country.