Painting the Baby Girl's Room

Jonathan is not incredibly fond of the color pink.  I believe he's worried that now, since he'll be outnumbered by the girls, that he is going to be sissified or something.  In the past, I haven't been such a huge fan of pink, either, being as most shades of it clash with my red hair.  Nevertheless, baby Lucie won't realize until she's a bit older that most redheads don't wear pink (and as Grandma Kathryn has been praying that Lucie will be a redhead since before Jonathan and I even dreamed of getting married, we are almost certain that she will be one), and I'm sick of not being able to wear pink.  Lucie's namesake was feisty, with her fire-engine red hair, and she wouldn't let anyone tell her she could or couldn't wear anything... so let's break down the barriers!  

I used to wear pink clothes as a kid until... one day, my aunt, who used to dye her hair red, started ripping on this woman as she filled up her car with gas.  The woman was wearing a fuchsia colored dress, and she had red hair.  I asked what was wrong with that.  My aunt informed me that the colors "clashed" and that redheads don't wear pink, or fuchsia, orange, or even other shades of red.  I don't know that I've worn pink since then, except for occasions when I was wearing a t-shirt supporting the research to find a cure for Breast Cancer, or the random pink souvenir shirt I fell in love with at Woodloch Pines on my honeymoon.

When I learned that the baby I'm carrying is a girl, the way I told my mom was to say, "So, um, I guess you can go out and buy all that pink stuff you wanted to get."

And so began the pink registry.  The bedding is pink (but not totally girly, because it has turtles on it, and has a frog lamp to go along with it), and there are pink diapers, and pink bottles, and pink dresses, and pink, pink, pink, pink, pink... and then suddenly, I wondered if maybe, I should choose another color... what if, we had another child, who wasn't a girl, later on?  Would I be able to re-use the pink stuff?  I am the first to say that I don't believe in one color being a "boys" color over a "girls" color, but I also don't want people to assume my child is the opposite gender from which they identify.  I had been a very bald baby, and despite dressing me in pink dresses, people still asked my mom "how old is HE?"  I don't need to enforce misconceptions, should I end up with a curly haired little boy someday...

So, I changed the stroller to one in dark purple, all the accessories are also dark purple, the infant seat is a combination of light and dark purple, but not overly effeminate, nor masculine either.

I began to envy Jonathan's cousin who'd decided she'd rather not know the baby's gender, and let it be a surprise, but then... I remembered, I really dislike surprises.

And so, with this thought in my head that I don't believe that colors are masculine or feminine, and wanting bright colors in my baby's room, Jonathan and I headed over to Home Depot to get some samples.  At first, I was drawn to the Disney by Behr colors.  Jonathan immediately vetoed my selection of Fairy Godmother Blue, even though I was talking about sponging a purple "Dreams Come True" over it.  He wasn't really vetoing the color so much as the fact that there was a Hannah Montana themed room being advertised on a card nearby, and he didn't want to use the Disney colors, because he hates Disney teeny bopper music.

We moved on to other Behr paint colors... and I fell in love with a medium purple color called "Butterfly Garden."  I thought it would be perfect as a base coat, with maybe a lighter purple and a blue in combination sponged over it.  The light purple I love is called "Rhapsody lilac" and the light blue is "Holiday Road."  I have mapped out about 8 different combinations and permutations for Jonathan to test out on the wall with the samples I got while I'm at work tomorrow, and I can't wait to see how these all come out when I get home. 

I'm excited to see how these colors look, and I'm sure many people are going to ask me why I chose to not use pink at all on the walls.  Well, the reason is because there is going to be so much pink STUFF, that if pink was on the walls, it might overwhelm everything.  Also, I grew up in a pink room, and I hated it.  The room was pink because that was the color my sister wanted for her room, and as she whined more than I did at the time, she got what she wanted, and my dad only wanted to buy one color, as her room wouldn't need exactly one bucket of paint.  I didn't get a purple room until I was ready to move out to go to college, and even then, it was a shade I liked, but I felt the walls were boring.  I always wanted to sponge paint a room, and I just hope that my baby girl likes the way her room comes out.  Who knows, if it looks fantastic, maybe Jon will let me rip down the horrible white textured wallpaper in our bedroom, and paint there?  Holiday road would look awesome sponged over "Fairy Godmother Blue" ;-)