Saturday, September 3, 2011

Grown Up Room

My daughter's sixteenth birthday present from me, aided by my Mom and sister, is that we are redecorating her room. Today we spent a lot of time going through everything and removed a lot of stuff to sell or give away. I was really proud of her for being clear about what she wanted and what she could part with.


 It's still too much of a mess to show off but I saw this article today that's kind of related and pretty profound.
The full story and more pictures are here.

Photo essay: Where children sleep

Recently, the charitable organization Save the Children asked documentary photographer James Mollison to come up with an idea to get people thinking about the rights of children around the world. What he came up with was an unusual, but powerful project: a photo essay of more than 200 children and their bedrooms, called "Where Children Sleep."

Four-year-old Kaya lives in Tokyo, where her mother spends $1,000 per month on her wardrobe:



James Mollison

A Romanian four-year-old living outside Rome, Italy with his undocumented family:


James Mollison

A 7-year-old Nepalese girl who works in a quarry and lives in a one-room home with her parents and siblings:


James Mollison

This photo essay made me feel so fortunate. My daughter and I live in an apartment. She has everything she needs but knows I have to work for it. I raised a really great kid who is talented, compassionate and funny. She has her own room. And thanks to Craigslist and my sister's ninja "finding furniture at reasonable prices skills", that room is going to be amazing.

 I have strong memories of my childhood bedroom. We didn't have a lot of money so to carpet my bedroom, my mom and grandma pieced together carpet scraps that had been thrown out by a store. They worked their butts off and there was a lot of giggling from the glue apparently. It was a psychadelic mix of orange green and yellow (this was the 70's) I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. What about you? Do you remember your childhood or teen bedroom?

6 comments:

  1. Happy birthday to your daughter! And thank you for sharing these pictures - a reminder of how fortunate we are indeed.

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  2. jOANIE, so glad to have read this and even more so to know these things about your childhood too. I am so glad we are following along with each other. Very inspiring. Have a great holiday. Dawn Suitcase Vignettes xo

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  3. I remember that the three of us girls had white built in beds made by my father, and somehow my parents fitted in two cribs when my youngest brothers, twins, were born. At some point, my mother made us pink gingham curtains that I just loved! (The Twins were eventually shuffled into our older brothers' room. I think the four of them got blue gingham curtains.) I still love gingham for decorating - but just in other people's homes.

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  4. My rooms were always decorated by my mother. She would not allow us to have any posters on the walls or decorations of our own. Everything had to be just so so. It was pretty, but I always envied my friends who had rooms that reflected them and not their parents. My mother, who I know loves me, worried too much about what other people thought. I know I should be thankful for what I had, many as you showed have little or nothing. Today, I am thankful for what I have because I worked for it and I am most thankful to live in this country and have had the life I have had.

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  5. Thank you for bringing attention to this photo project. I love using things like this in my college classroom. Growing up, I was obliged to share my room with my sister...and I saw to it that each of my three girls had some privacy.

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  6. The photos you included are stunning. I am saddened for those unfortunate kids.

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Thank you for your comment, friend.