I am the Luckiest

How do I know that? Well, when Carl and I first found out we were having a baby, I immediately said to him, "Let's redo the wood-paneled room. It would be perfect for a baby." One of the three bedrooms in our house was covered from floor to ceiling in wood paneling. Carl loved it - it reminded him of a smoking room; I hated it. Because I am married to possibly the greatest guy on the planet, he said, "Ok. Whatever you want." That was the beginning of a four month project, which I am sure had Carl swearing more than just a few times.

We started by taking down all the paneling along the walls. I was actually quite happy to help out with this part because destruction always seems to be the easiest part of a remodel. We quickly discovered that the paneling, which I had great plans to have Carl cut in half so we could use it on the bottom part of the walls with a chair rail, was not in the best shape. This led to the decision to put up dry wall and leave the paneling off completely.

So, Carl called on his buddy Mike to help install the dry wall because by this point he wouldn't let me do any heavy lifting. The two guys got it all installed and I have to say is one of my favorite parts of the project because the next day after all the dry wall had been put up, Carl called Mike and said, "Hey I just saw a video online about how to install dry wall and we did it correctly."
Then came the mudding and taping, which is another thing Carl had never done before. It really never ceases to amaze me what he teaches himself to do.

Finally we were ready to pick out paint. I decided that I really did not want to paint the room yellow and I couldn't find a green that I liked, so we went with blue. This has nothing to do with the gender of the baby, nor are we hoping for a boy (just a healthy baby); it just happened to be the color that I liked the best. We also decided to paint the woodwork white instead of leave it brown. Finally there were tasks that I could help with!





When all was said and done, we had walls that were screaming to be decorated. Luckily my mom, dad, and brother were heading up to the Twin Cities to look at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota, and I thought it would be a great time to put them to work. Low and behold, a finished baby's room!



Now every time I walk through the room, not only do I think it's quite possibly the most beautiful room that I have ever set foot in because Carl did most of it himself; but I am also amazed at what my husband is capable of accomplishing. There is no way I could ever have even begun to imagine how great it would turn out. Of course, if you ask him he'll point out all the things that aren't quite perfect; but in my completely unbiased opinion, he did the most incredible job just to appease the wishes of a crazy, pregnant lady.