No Holes in the Walls

We built this house we live in, mostly with our own hands. So when the girls moved into their own bedrooms at age 5 and 7, they had explicit rules from their father. NO HOLES IN THE WALLS! They hung posters and pictures with tape and for many years were so very careful, always asking permission. If a nail had to be put in, dad was consulted and he went in and did it very carefully.

Time went on, we redid their rooms when they got older, and the rules still held. Somehow they reached the teen years, and slowly, I started to notice a few new things hanging in the younger daughter's room. Not a lot, just a few things here, and a few things there. She is the one that has always been handy with a hammer and nails, so it wasn't a surprise that she stopped asking dad to hang things.

We always noticed when something new went up, and something old came down. I guess we just never noticed how many things she actually did have hanging up!

Until now.....

This was her room on Sunday, after my husband got finished spackling!




Holes of every size all over the place! In the ceiling where she hung up the Lego airplane she made, staples in the wall where she hung up toys in boxes she didn't want opened, holes from art work she purchased and hung up herself. Of course there were holes my husband had made and now questioned "why?" Holes from the corkboard wall, holes from the christmas lights he strung around her ceiling, and those many holes from the different electronics that had to be run around the room.

We had a laugh over his No Holes in the Walls statement of 20 years ago, I guess we both knew it was unrealistic to expect girls not to hang things up (although in her defense, my older daughter has hardly any holes in her walls!)