Gryffin-decor and Slithery things

The Gryffindor décor continues…

When Zoe was four, we bought her a new wooden bed complete with a set of drawers that rested comfortably beneath it and told her we would paint it whatever colors she wanted. It has since become a family tradition to paint it every few years. The first paint job transformed it from a modest cabin bed to a pallet of pastel colors.  Two years ago, she decided she wanted it designed more like the top section of a bunkbed. So, my husband modified the bedframe so it now almost looks like a bed on stilts, and he reassembled the drawers from two columns of two drawers to one column of four drawers. The paint got some touchups but wasn’t drastically different.

In keeping with the Hogwarts theme, Zoe decided she wanted to repaint her dresser in stripes of the Gryffindor colors, maroon and gold. We brought the empty drawers and the actual dresser out to the garage (okay, Nik helped with the dresser when he got home) and she even took turns using the electric orbital sander to scrape off multiple coats of Easter Egg paint. She even helped me apply the painter’s tape, which turned out not too shabby if I do say so myself. After a couple of afternoons and several coats of paint, the dresser was nearly finished. I printed out Zoe’s initials on a piece of paper in the Hogwarts font, traced them onto the top of her dresser, and painted a monogram for a personal touch.

The other project we worked on was more to do with the villain’s pet. You see, Zoe wants to dedicate one of her bedroom walls to the books…with seven different shelves, each holding one of the books and a few pertinent magical artifacts. The best part is that the villain has a snake which is very important to the story line…and we found a wooden snake at the dollar store. Here is where it gets good. My husband is deathly afraid of snakes. He thinks that they move way too fast for something without legs. So, Zoe and I painted the wooden snake green and tucked it in the garage under the lid of one of Nik’s tool boxes with just the tail peeking out. While Zoe and I worked on her dresser, Nik was working on his own projects. We were on high alert to watch for his discovery of the snake, but the first afternoon came and went without incident. On the second day, however, I turned from my painting to find him with a look that was half exasperated-yet-still-angry and half suppressing a grin.

“You were supposed to scream,” I told him, to which he replied that he damn-near did. Apparently, he had knelt down near the tool box, saw the green tail, and instinctively grabbed it and flung it against the tire of our jeep in an attempt to break its neck. Both Zoe and I had missed the “thunk” in the noisy garage, but started giggling at his narration. Then he started laughing and said we were evil. On the contrary, I told him he loved us because we make him laugh.

Since he didn’t have a heart attack (and hasn’t divorced me for trying to give him one), he’ll probably help us with the rest of the decorating…probably.