The 30 Minute Tween Room Makeover

Photos of Our Pets Through the Years - My Daughter's Favorite Part of Her New Room

It's my daughter's 11th birthday this week and she had requested a new rug for her birthday. Her last rug, a purple shag was cute, but there was absolutely nothing we could do to get the mess out of it. Beads, stickers, sand, barbie shoes and all other types of small toys were in there, some of the implanted for life.

So I happily got her a rug, and while I was at it, I figured it was time to upgrade her bedding and pictures, tween style.

We started with an effort to clean her room. Not me, I'm working and have five of my six kids home for the next couple of weeks, but her. She knew she was getting a rug, I had shown her a few and had her narrow it down for me because her style is ever changing at this point in her life, and I just can't keep up. I told her to clean her room before her birthday so she could have her rug. That was a huge motivator for her, and she got the job done, decently anyway.

I was a bit distraught when my husband got home from work yesterday. It had been a really hard day of staying focused despite many, many interruptions. He volunteered to pick up my oldest from football camp and also volunteered to take the rest of the kids with him. I was supposed to be working to make up time, but I saw my opportunity to surprise Emily with a quick room makeover.

I would have thirty minutes. 10 minutes for them to get there, 10 minutes for them to get back, and 10 minutes for them to get through the line to grab my son.

As he was prepping the kids to go, I started prepping the tools that I would need to get the job done. I grabbed the screw driver and the hammer - I needed to hang new curtains, I grabbed the bedding set from my husband's closet, and the rug. Some nails and the piece de resistance - a framed poster I'd made her with all of the pets that we'd had since she was born.

As soon as the garage was shut, I darted up the stairs to get to work. I started on the curtains. I screwed in the new curtain rod, using some of the old holes and the damn thing was too short. I tried again, and the metal shimming of the window interfered and I couldn't get the screws all the way in. Time was ticking and I was still on the freaking curtains. I didn't have time to redo it. I ran out to grab her old curtain rod, that had to be the right length, I could fix that part later. I went to put it up and -no- it was still too short. I had used the wrong holes.

Panic hit me. I'd used half of my time, and all of my back strength on this part of the project. I texted my husband - STALL - and kept going on my mission. I had remembered my husband buying a dowel rod for curtains some time ago, but we never used it. I ran out to the stash of wood in the garage. Nada. Then I turned to the other wall and I saw it - a metal, telescoping handle for cleaning fan blades - that would do for now. I put the curtains up with that and moved on to the bedding.

Emily's bed was sagging. She really shouldn't let her brother's jump on it. I made it up anyway, concentrating on tucking the covers in to the side of her daybed so it looked nice, like in a hotel. The bedding highlighted the purple and teal theme of the curtains and the animal print brought out the cheetahs on her rug, which I put in next.

Then it was time for photos. We had a collection of animal pictures that she had received but we had not yet put on her walls. My goal was to swap those out for the little girl things she had on her walls. I worked as quickly as I could, but it became clear that with the little time I had left, I would have to just hang the frames to give her an idea.

Sure enough, a bit over half way through hanging frames, the garage door opened. I wiped the sweat from my brow, grabbed the hammer and screw driver and called it good enough. I had been in there about 40 minutes.

I went downstairs to greet the kids like nothing had happened. When Emily came in, I found an excuse to send her upstairs. I had staged a camera in her room so I could see her face. After a confused "what?", I heard a squeal of delight and other sounds of happiness.

When I went up there she was rolling in her bed. Then she ran to the photo of all of our pets, then she rolled around on her rug - all while screaming for her brothers to come see it.

It wasn't the perfect room makeover by far, it was quickly done and had shoddy work, (the curtains), but she was so happy with the results. Now, to fix the curtains and finish hanging her pictures, and someday - paint.

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Kristian is a mom of six, Program Manager by day, active Professional Photographer by trade, and a big believer in finding beauty in the everyday chaos.

Life in our house is loud, messy and full of literally everything. Love, noise, laundry, laughter, and definitely could use a bit more grace. I'm happily married to my best friend, grounded in my Catholic faith, and fueled by five to six hours of sleep per night and adrenaline.

I try to find joy in the everyday — even when it's wild, because without the little bit of joy, this life would be unbearable. This space is for the moms in the middle of it all: the ones juggling family, faith, work, and wonder. The ones that need someone else's messy life to make their own seem better or somewhat normal. You're not alone, and you're doing better than you think.

Welcome to Six Sweet Smiles — where we celebrate the mess, the miracles, and everything in between.