I haven't seen the floor in the 'friends and family clubhouse' for years until yesterday. That's Madison's 'big girl bed' with the original linens from Pottery Barn. I found the old pine bed at an estate sale here in Winston and after I bought it, I quickly realized why I had scored it for such a great price ~ I had to have a custom mattress made for it.
As I was cleaning out, it was hard not to drift off and remember all the days spent wrapped around a crayon on the floor of our little secret hideaway under the eaves. When we first moved in this was the only space we didn't finish off...it had plywood floors and walls, rafters and just a bare light bulb, but of course, this is where we would find our daughter most days. She made a little sign for the door that said "Friends and Family Clubhouse."
Over the weekend, I started to make good a few of my New Year's resolutions starting with cleaning out the secret clubhouse. I took three carloads to Goodwill, one bag of little treasures to the neighbor, two carloads to the old apartment dumpster and shredded two huge boxes of old checks and bank statements from the 90's. I am still clinging to several million copies of Veranda and Southern Accents. They are currently in purgatory and will most likely find their way to the dumpster this weekend.
My question to you is, when you are cleaning out, especially the mass of children's stuff, how do you decide what to keep?
I kept many of our favorite books. I kept her big girl bed. And ... I kept her art.
I took art classes with my best friend, Anna, from elementary school all the way through High School and was always amazed at how modern and chic her childhood art looked displayed in her home. Her mother had her favorite pieces framed at the local gallery and displayed them prominently in their formal Southern living room like modern art.
I want to do the same with Madison's art.
New York Interior Designer, Jan Eleni, creates these amazing modern art collages from your children's artwork.
I thought you might enjoy these soundbytes from Decor8's interview with Jan Eleni:
Designer Jan Eleni: I am a self taught designer and at a young age I always loved and appreciated beautiful things. I became obsessed with children’s spaces here in the U.S. because I felt like there were all these cookie cutter rooms that lacked any nourishment for an imagination – and so I started a business based around just that – creating spaces and really listening to what can nurture children in an everyday way.
Holly {Decor8}: I also noticed that in addition to decorating, you are also an artist. Can you tell us more?
Jan Eleni: While I was working on children’s spaces – I wanted to time capsule their moment in art – and I started making these beautiful art frames – a way to archive your child’s art in a modern way. It is a labor of love – a time consuming process – the end result is a grid of hand cut miniature images – a gathering of your child’s artwork. It is amazing if you think of how we can influence the next generation of artists and creative types.
Here's a few of my favorite pieces of Madison's art that I want to time capsule:
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