the room change (insert forehead palm smack)

So....A few months ago, Sam asked me if he could have his own room.  I figured it was time he had his own space, so I went about trying to figure out how to make it work.  We spent about a week talking about different ideas.  Moving Mary to Molly's room with her, and giving Sam Mary's room.  That was a no-go.
Giving Sam Molly's room, and having Molly go to the boys room.
That was a no-go.
Getting bunk beds for the boys room, with a trundle underneath, and re-organizing the boys room, in order to give them lots more room.
Sam didn't like that idea either.
Finally, we decided to make Sam a "man cave" room in the basement.  Sam sounded excited about that, so the week of his Birthday, I decided to make it happen, while Sam was out snow skiing with Ben.

I spent 9 hours making his room in the basement.  It was a MASSIVE undertaking.  I moved ALL of Sam's stuff from the upstairs, down to the basement.  I cleaned out a huge area in the basement.  I hung blankets up to make walls.  I moved mattresses and cinder block to make Sam a bed.  I put together extension cords all over the place so he could have lights, and his lizard lamp could work. I went to the store and bought a new bedding set, a huge rug for the floor, a space heater, a pull up bar, some shelves, and some other fun things to make the room "cool."  It was so much work hauling things up and down the stairs, in and out of the car, setting everything up, nailing, hammering, etc.  I finished it all right as Sam got home.  I was completely exhausted, but his room was really cool!!!

Sam went downstairs and saw his surprise room.  He smiled and thanked me a ton, but I could see that something was wrong.  My heart sank to my toes. 

A couple hours later, Sam came to me, crying.  He didn't want me to be upset, but he was too scared to be in the basement alone.  I totally understood, and I didn't get mad at Sam, but I died inside for a minute.  All of that work.  ALL OF THAT WORK!!!!  Ugh.

I told Sam to give me some time before we started plan B.  It took me a few days to recover from the frustration I felt.

Once I got over it, we went about taking things back to the store, taking the room apart, and making plans to completely change the boys room....my favorite room in the house as far as décor goes.  (ugh)

It almost killed me to hear the paint colors and the ideas that the boys wanted.  I worked sooooo hard on their bedroom when we moved in the house.  I LOVE the rustic décor and colors.  The cute antique cars, airplanes and shelves.  The pallet wood wall.  Everything.

BUT, it is their room, not mine.  And I knew that sooner than later, my kids would start having opinions about their rooms.  I had to respect that.  It was HARD!

I finally just swallowed my frustration once more, and went about painting, ordering bunk beds, and taking down all of the décor that I love.

I worked and worked and worked and worked.  I primed, painted, built bunk beds, put together 12 shelving units, and completely re-organized all of their toys, clothes, and stuff.  Again, it was a TON of work.

I still don't love the paint colors, but the boys absolutely LOVE their new room.  They have way more space, they love the bunk beds, Luke loves his trundle bed that he can pull out, they love all of the shelves, and they spend a lot more time in their room.  Most importantly, Sam loves it.

I don't have any pictures of the basement room, before we took it down, and I don't have any "before" pictures of the boys room.  I'm sure you can find those on my blog posts from when we moved in the house though.

  And so it has started, my kids are getting opinions.  Buckle up.