My son, the blogger, decided he wanted to post a video, “The Building  of a Sky Bed” on HIS blog. So I’m stuck linking to his blog and offering a few mom production pictures and stories. It wasn’t a project for the faint of heart. I used all my construction skills to help; the biggest problem being, of course, is that I don’t have any construction skills.

A few things I learned:

Always Check the Paint: Cole found the paint he wanted to use for his room while browsing the web. It was a great color, but it could only be purchased at a paint store called Farrow and Ball, which is located downtown at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. Impossible to get to, impossible to park, and not a place where you want to shop while wearing pink Crocs and a torn t-shirt. If we hadn’t had a discount voucher for a gallon of this fancy schmancy paint, I would have declared Sherwin Williams plenty fine enough for us. Voucher in hand, we drove downtown, found free 20-minute parking monitored by a very stern looking security guard, and raced to find the paint store. Huffing and puffing, I tried to pull myself together as we entered the store and were greeted by a saleswomen who looked like she’d just stepped out of a page in Vogue. Cordially, she found our paint without much ado and accepted our voucher without grimacing. It did occur to me to check the paint color in the can, but did I mention that I was wearing a torn t-shirt and pink Crocs? We accepted the color without question, only asking if it needed to be shaken. Never. The paint is so fresh it only needs to be gently stirred and never shaken. Cole and I raced back to the car, arriving just moments before our time was up, and headed home to paint. Once home, we removed the can clips (one does not pound or pry off a Farrow and Ball paint lid), looked inside, and gasped. The color was wrong. WRONG. We called the store immediately, there was a bit of back and forth drama, and then they agreed to replace the paint. But, of course, we had to go back downtown to make the exchange. I put my Crocs back on and said … well, never mind. This time, they showed us the color before we walked out the door.

Logical Order of Events: Cole and I both tend to begin projects at the point that excites us the most at that moment. Joe was always the one who insisted on starting at the beginning and working step by step toward the end. Cole and I often finish before we start, while Joe often never finished at all (which is another story altogether). Cole painted before he sanded, and I filled holes after we painted. We both taped as we painted, because taping is boring. Fortunately, the paint was water based. Cole sanded after the boards had already been hung, resulting in never-ending dust flurries. Staining at 10pm at night was not the best idea. The light was low and it was hard to see how the stain was spreading.  We both agreed that for future projects we would lay out the steps before we started, so that we could ignore them in a more orderly fashion.

Think before You Speak: It’s late, and my  kid has dragged me to Home Depot for the third time that day:

Me:  (I ask my kid and the saleskid helping us) Do you have any caulk?

(My kid and saleskid look at one another and start to laugh)

Me: (Looking at Cole) What’s so funny? I’m just asking where the caulk is. Do you still have some, or do we need to buy it?

(Cole and his new friend saleskid are now laughing hard)

Me: I finally get it, roll my eyes, and stalk away from both teen boy idiots but not before I heard Cole say…

Cole: I better help her; she has no idea what she’s looking for.

The first night Cole slept in his new sky bed, I’ll admit to checking on him a time or two. Opening his bedroom door, I looked up and found him, sleeping soundly and securely, hanging from the ceiling, a look of satisfaction and contentment on his face, which reminded me a little of the bat we found hanging outside the front door last summer.

Click over to watch Cole’s video on HIS blog.

Odd Loves Company!