On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I am starting this thread to run an idea by the advices machine here at :ff:. Others may need to do similar, so this here thread is for asking the :ff:olken "Classy or Trashy".

Okay, so we are building in a whole fucking wall o' shelves in Kiddo's room on accounta FAO Schwartz seems to be using it for overstock. The shelves will have like 2.5 inch wide facings. I was considering some word art on the facings, because my dad does lettering, and was looking for some quotes and stuff when I came across some vinyl wall art with Dr. Suess quotes and got all distracted with big ideas. Also, the morning of the day we met Kiddo, we bought "Oh the Places You'll Go" and I can't even read it to him on accounta the verklempt. So it's all manner of meaningful.

So, to get to Kiddo's room you walk through the hall and library, which are travel themed (and book themed too).

I am thinking of this in the hallway above the shadow boxes of all our travels I plan to make

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

Then this quote in the library

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go."

Then this above Kiddo's bed

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.”

And I'm misty just posting that.

Anyway, too much? Stick with one only? Do something else?

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I love that idea! Totally sweet. :heart:

Are you still planning on having your Dad do the lettering? Because on a scale from 1 to 10 that would put it over 9000 in the meaningful department.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I am thinking of buying the vinyl for these quotes on the walls, because of the scale and amount of work (dad travels 5 days a week), and having my dad do lettering on the shelves still. Just unsure what words on the shelves because this idea took over.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

You can get away with a lot more whimsical stuff in a kid's room. Probably because kids just like what they like without worrying about how classy or trashy it is.

Anyway, I love it. Just reading the OP, I visualized taking the trek through the hallway and getting a line of the poem at a time as you move through. I've seen that kind of thing in the wild*, but never thought about doing it in a home (like a lot of the most creative decorating ideas, imo).

* Like when you're waiting in line at Splash Mountain and you can read the lines of the poem at different points in the line. Or when you're driving cross country and you get these random billboards or art installations that keep the drive interesting for a couple hours - "oh here's the next one! what's it say?"

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

How many shelves are going up? That will give some indication of how many lines you have to work with. What is the length?

If the shelves are for toys, games, and playtime, I like this verse:

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

Something like 24 shelves?

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I like that one for the shelves too, Demi. Just gotta think of the best way to lay it out

The other "above the bed" ones in the running are

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”

and

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

The man was a goddamned genius
Lessons Learned from Dr. Seuss - Sources of Insight

Oh, the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!

Kiddo tends to overcaution

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

Which do you like best for above the bed, Misses Demi and ES?

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I like the 3rd one, Truer than True. The other ones are all bossy like "move mountains!" and I'm like, damn, Poem, this is where I sleep! Also mostly cuz when I read the first one, I thought it was about "sleep" not "step", so it made sense. Then when I figured out what it said, it totally didn't work for me anymore.

Whereas the truer than true one is a nice little devotion, something that's always true no matter one kind of day he's had. Something to quietly reflect about without having to worry about all kinds of stepping and mountain-moving.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I like the last quote as well.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

Damn, that's good.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I also fell in love with the last one: Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

ES hits the nail on the head that it would be perfect, no matter what kind of day he had. I like the "Youer than You" part. Firstly, because it is playful with the language and kids should be encouraged with that. Secondly, because it is a great message about self acceptance, something it took me 20 years to learn and am still learning. It reminds me of something that my Aunt told me, "you are perfect just the way you are and just the way you are not."

It took me decades to get that message and it makes my heart glad to think of kiddo getting that one early and often.

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Obviously I need to get Kiddo's input as well. He doesn't like to spend time in his room, really. For one, it's simply too messy most of the time (hence the shelf building along the entire spance of a 15 ft wall) and secondly, he hates to be alone. Ever. And I don't like spending time in his messy room because I want to clean it, or find a place to sit, and I can't do either one because there is more stuff than places to put it. Right now he plays in the Living Room

Anyway, this is all in an effort to make his room more inviting and functional.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

Does he sleep in his room or with you? I was thinking of how to make his sleeping place a tranquil retreat, but if he doesn't sleep there it doesn't apply as much.

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His room is not conducive to anything right now, not even playing or sitting. Sleeping is right out.

We are hoping his room will serve sleeping functions as well. Seriously right now it looks like a poorly maintained warehouse or storage room. The bed is totally piled with crap.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

What are you going to write on the volcano?

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The volcano is in the bathroom where they belong!!!

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

The steps leading into the Library basement at college had something written in marker on the ceiling:

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom; for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough. ~ William Blake"

I thought the wording was different on the second part, but the sentiment holds.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I like it, done well it could be quite cute. Doing something a bit childish is good, as a kid I always thought many adult decorated kids rooms were too stuffy and grown up or confused as to what children really like.
You should also have Kiddo help decorate, he might feel more at home in a room he helped build.

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

I just found this and thought of this thread:

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...75025478_n.jpg

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

Okay, the shelves are built and painted turquoise, involving much pain and suffering, and we have been moving all the things. Hubby works in a shoes store, so brought home a million shoe boxes. Some are brown, some are a rusty orange, some are a sage green, some are black. None of the colors look bad together or with the turquoise, so I covered only the box tops in brown craft paper (so there is cohesion), and put a simple label on each box (used address labels). So there is a box for Star Wars action figures and a box for woodland creatures, etc times a million all along one of three walls. The longest one

While suffering even more with contusions and back sprains, we got the big industrial shelves that were useless for toy storage out, moved a separate toy shelf unit to the short wall and put the bed against the other long wall, lengthwise daybed style (the 4th, short, wall is floor to ceiling bay windows).

I have a super beat up, but sturdy, hand me down 2 shelf bookcase, that is a really unfortunate size in that it doesn't fit on any wall with any other piece of furniture (it's been preventing the closet door from closing for a long time).

I did some mazzuring and realized it is the right size for a sort of headboard, or end unit for the bed. So we put it there and it fits and allows access to the books and can be used as a nightstand as well.

Back to the problem, it is beat up bad, like not even shabby beach chic, but more like from the garbage. So, do I just paint it, or contact paper it? Wallpaper? Decoupage? Vinyl tiles? It needs to be a sturdy finish because it is a working bookshelf and will have a lamp and clock and stuff on it too.

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Linoleum might be nice. I have a totally beat up piece of furniture that I don't know what it is, like a shelf-desk kind of thing, with a linoleum tabletop bordered with aluminum edging, and I think it is p. sweet.

I have the "no vinyl and that's final" rule, but even without that, I think linoleum is nicer anyway, and one of those classic old-timey linoleum patterns would look nice on some beat up furniture, I bet. You might even be able to find cheap scraps at a flooring store or something.

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Hmm, I used vinyl in a closet and a bathroom cabinet, because it was on sale for almost nothing a box, but have never used the stuff for actual flooring or really investigated or researched it.

What are the differences between linoleum and vinyl and why u h8 vinyl?

Re: On decorating with words (or whatever)
 

N'mind, found the reasons I'll bet