{the power of pink}

This does not seem to be photography related~ but who can resist some beach inspired decorating...certainly not me. My Beach House Canvases are on their way. {just wish I had a beach house to put them in}...my walls will be beach inspired soon! I will share pictures once they arrive. My heart is always beach inspired...can't wait to get back to the sand. We are heading out of here in two months for the big move to Japan. Before we head across the world, we will get a nice month long vacation on the Gulf Coast. I am so looking forward to this! Good friends and great family members to spend time with...and a big {i mean big} birthday for me...not sure how I feel about leaving my thirties. They were good to me! My sweet baby turned four last week. We all know it goes too fast. I came across this article last year from Phoebe Howard about her daughter growing up and the need to recreate part of her past. I am decorating my daughters room now that she is a "big" girl {even though we are moving} and this story really hit home to me...sooner than I'd like she will be grown. Brings a tear to my eye...many tears...she is such a joy and delight to this family full of boys. The power of pink holds true in this house...enjoy the story.

"The subconscious mind can really play tricks

on you when you least expect it.

As I stood in this room that I decorated for the Atlanta Symphony Show house, it suddenly became

alarmingly obvious to me what I had actually created.

It was not a room designed for a teenage girl as an ethereal oasis to protect and shelter her from the trials of being thirteen. My concept was to use pink in a way that was not sticky or sweet, but quite current and hip.

It would be feminine and pretty, but not girly.

The room would be a serene cocoon, but the tone would be stylish. This was what I had set out to design,

but in fact the outcome was something quite different.

Eighteen years earlier my beautiful daughter Nellie was born, my second child, and I was completely overjoyed.

I desperately wanted her to be a girl

and was not afraid to admit it.

I had four brothers and had always longed for a sister -

no such luck. We did not know that she was a girl, four sonograms failed to identify her, and I had done the unthinkable. I decorated the nursery completely and

entirely for a girl. I painted the walls the dreamiest shade of shell pink, painted the ceiling light grey, and the trim white.

I hung sheer white billowy batiste curtains at the windows.

I dressed her crib and the iron bed in white linen.

A faded needlepoint rug lay on the floor, and I covered tufted furniture in creamy soft fabrics. It was a risky move,

to decorate that way, and everyone was worried what might happen. I was never concerned.

When the joyous day arrived, and I carried that baby

into that nursery, my world was absolutely perfect.

She was beautiful, healthy, and I was intoxicated with the purest form of true happiness and love.

I spent many months in that room with my little girl,

and the hours melted away.

The light was perfect, and the room was so warm and enveloping, in a calm and simple way.

I was lucky, and I would never forget it.

When I walked in to my room at the show house,

that was when it hit me. I had recreated her nursery,

one month before her graduation from high school.

We were about to be empty nesters. The walls were pink,

the ceiling grey, and the trim white. Billowy white sheers draped the bed, and hung at the windows.

An old oushak lay on the floor, and tufted furniture

was covered in soft fabrics. It took my breath away.

As I realized what I had done, and the tears streamed down my face, I suddenly knew that it was going to be alright,

and that I would be able to let her go.

I had been a good mother, and my nest would never be empty.

I could let her go. So I knew that my room would touch others in a different way than I had envisioned.

Mothers with daughters would visit my room, be able to embrace their feminine side and paint rooms pink with full abandon. Pink is a color that actually has many layers,

and not necessarily sweet. For me it was such a surprise,

I still smile when I think of my shock when I entered that room.

Who would have thought that pink could be so powerful?"
by Phoebe Howard