No longer in the pink

The Pink Palace not long after its completion.

Wave goodbye to the pink palace.

We had a nice run with this sugary color scheme chosen by Catherine several years ago — her first stab at a “big girl” room while in middle school.

It was a labor of love, to say the least. Three colors of pink — bubblegum, watermelon and raspberry — tied together with a frothy white trim that made me think of the Seven Minute Frosting my mother used to whip on the stovetop.

With the many nooks and crannies created by the dormers in Catherine’s room, it was a sight to behold. Especially after we dragged all the Ikea furniture pieces up the spiral staircase and assembled a new bed, desk, end table and miniature chest of drawers.

It was a group effort, but Catherine and I were especially proud of the desk, which we built all by ourselves — getting just one screw wrong.

However, no one was more surprised than Basil and me that Catherine stuck with the job the whole way through — Spackling, sanding, taping around the trim, wielding brushes and rollers, even washing up afterward. It took us a whole month of weekends from start to finish.

The room naturally made quite a conversation piece. Her friends always had the same gasp of awe upon seeing it for the first time.

Now 16, Catherine is in her purple phase. Removing the chimney to open up space in our old furnace room last month also enlarged her bedroom, and well, it seemed cruel to leave the taped-up Sheetrock and square of raw floorboard in its place.

Lavender making its move. …

Today the pink is hiding beneath the first coat of lavender paint called “Lilac Rose.” I’d been wary of lavender, but this already looks terrific. New carpeting (color not yet chosen) will soon follow and she has her heart set on zebra-print bedding and accessories (you’ll note that I talked her out of zebra-print walls).

Preparing for the job was like a walk down memory lane — once I fended off the dust bunnies.

So many books, toys, knickknacks and other items from childhood now outgrown. The lime-green chair from Limited Too, ready for the next pre-teen girl to read curl up in.

The silly neon lamp cast off in favor of a more sophisticated hanging fixture still in the box from that Ikea trip long ago.

Halloween costumes, the jelly bracelets, cartoon character “jewelry,” the stuffed fish won at the fair, the family of ceramic bunnies, the Pooh Bear figurines. All packed away or passed along now.

There will be more to cull as we return things to the room I know. Meanwhile, there’s high excitement for this fresh start.

And a great deal of confusion on my part: How come the rest of my house doesn’t look even half this good?