A Peaceful Place Once More

Perhaps more than any other room of the house, one's bedroom should be a refuge--a place of order and beauty and peace.  However, as easy as it is to know that, it's much harder to put it into practice.  How many of us fall into the habit of making our bedrooms a dumping place for all kinds of junk that we don't know where else to put?!  I'll admit that I'm guilty of that!

During this month of January, I've been focusing my cleaning and organizing attempts on the upstairs, but I hadn't yet gotten to my bedroom.  Until yesterday, that is, when Jeff took all the boys with him to run some errands in the morning, gifting me with time--such a precious commodity!--in which to work on returning this room to its neat-and-tidy appearance.  With no interruptions, I was able to work quickly and get a lot done in the morning; but even still, I had to spend some time later in the afternoon and evening finishing it up entirely.  Oh, but what a satisfying feeling to be done!

As I worked, I remembered that quite some time ago (months, for sure, but I don't know how many!), I had done another major cleaning/organizing of my bedroom; and at that time, I had also taken pictures to post of the finished product.  Sure enough, languishing in my Drafts was a post with no words but with these pictures.  No matter that I meant to do this months ago--I'll just post them now!  

One thing has changed between the time these pictures were taken and the present:  the quilt that covers the bed in these pictures has been retired and laid away in our hall linen closet until such a time as I can figure out how to display it in some way that will not add to the wear and tear on it.  It was a surprise gift for us when we married; pieced by my mother and quilted by some Old Order Mennonite ladies (including the mother of our current next-door neighbor, of whom we are very fond), it shocked and delighted me when I opened the box containing it at our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding.  It has been well-used and much-loved through the years; but now, it's grown so old that the fabric itself is wearing out, leading to little tears along a number of seams.  I wanted to do all that I could to preserve its life, so I took it to two quilt "experts" in the Old Order community to get their advice and possibly have them repair it.  Sadly, they told me nothing really could be done for it, except perhaps to find a wall on which to display it and enjoy it that way.  One thing is for sure:  if it remained on our bed, those seams and that weak fabric would be tested often, because our boys love to play, jump, wrestle, etc. on our bed.  And I am not about to shriek, "No, you can't do that here!"--even for a cherished quilt.  People before things...every time.  :)

Speaking of boys...and jumping...and bedcoverings...  At the end of this post, there is a short video that happens to show what is currently covering our bed.  Other than that, I think these pictures are fairly accurate, even though they were taken quite a long time ago.

From the hall looking in...in this picture, the doorway to the nursery which opens off our room is visible, too...

Navy blue and white has been my favorite color combination since...well...forever.  ;-)  Long before we even moved here, I had imagined these walls being painted this color; and I've never regretted choosing such a dark color.

The heart-shaped pillow on the bed was made by our dear friend Natasha in Israel and given to me for my birthday which happened to fall a few months before we moved back to the States.  That pillow was one thing I knew I would make room for so I could bring it back with me!  It serves as a precious reminder of our loved ones there.

I forgot to mention another change in the room.  That chair by the bookshelf (which came from my grandparents' old farmhouse in Pennsylvania) is now at my parents' house; and in its place is a wooden rocking chair that used to be in our living room.

This beautifully-done cross-stitch of the blessing, "The Lord bless thee and keep thee..." was done by my good friend Judy and was a wedding gift.

This switchplate was there when my parents lived here, but I liked it so much that I decided not to change it. It goes with the wall color and includes old books, pretty teacups, and blooming roses.  What's not to love? :)

I had previously written the story and significance of this figurine; click here if interested!  I still love it so much.

This wall-hanging and frame was a surprise gift from Jeff one Christmas.  It's pretty much a safe guess that anything sweet and sentimental and mother/child related will make me happy.  :)

I really, really, really love this corner of the room.  I've spent hours here nursing and/or rocking my children; and in fact, that glider rocker was a gift from Jeff for my birthday way back in 2002 when we lived in San Diego and were expecting Josiah.

I had envisioned how this corner would be, with the maternity photos, the shelves, the pictures of the boys hanging from the pegs, etc.  I know you can't see the details really well in this picture, but I'll just say that it turned out every bit as nicely as I wanted it to.  One special thing that I didn't imagine was the name and meanings signs that a dear friend Valerie made, one for each of the boys; those are in the frames on these shelves.  This area delights my heart so much that I could just sit and look at it and absorb the sweetness.  Sometimes I do just that!  :)

These candleholders were cheap, but just what I wanted for the wall above our bed.  Of course, having gorgeous paintings by Jeff's dad to hang on our walls is icing on the cake!

I wrote about this woman-in-prayer figurine here.

I wrote about these Roman shades here.

The books on these shelves are mostly about marriage/family/women's issues.  I haven't read all of them, but I have gleaned so many gold nuggets of wisdom from them through the years...and I look forward to learning much more from them as I read some for the first time and reread others.

Now, for that video I mentioned earlier.  While I was folding laundry this morning, Shav was having a ball "jumping" on my bed; and his joy was so contagious that I couldn't help but smile as I watched him.  I went for the camera to record a little bit of the action, and "little bit" is right.  The batteries died soon after I started.  At least I got a snippet of this to remember in years to come!  

That bedcovering--the one that replaced the worn quilt--cost all of about $15.  When I realized that the quilt wasn't going to make a comeback and that I would need to find something to replace it, I was tempted to look for another quilt or some kind of comforter that would invariably cost a lot more than $15!  But while thumbing through a catalog one day, I spotted this bedcovering--it's actually a glorified fleece blanket--and since I loved the colors, the design, and the price, it wasn't hard to decide to get it.  Maybe someday I'll have a quilt again...or some kind of fancier-than-fleece comforter.  But for now, I'm well satisfied with what we have.

Satisfied.  Yes, when I look around my bedroom, I feel a pleasing sense of satisfaction; but it is SO much more than that.  With reminders of my dear ones tucked all around, I feel absolutely lavished with love.  And now that the closets are all organized, the top of the bookshelf dusted, the piles of laundry put away, and the other miscellaneous items assigned a spot and restored to order, it's true:  my bedroom is a peaceful place once more.  

How long can I keep it that way??  :)