Farewell to the smartie room

Katie's room was the first room painted when we bought this house. She was about 10, IIRC, and picked bright blue and bright purple - 2 walls each. It was a great color combination, and it really was the color of blue and purple smarties.
I've just finished putting the first coat of primer on her walls. She has picked a new, more refined color scheme. I am pleased though, that she has no fear of color. She will have 3 walls in a nice soft creamy peachy color, and a wall in quite a bright orange. She is basing her color scheme on the duvet cover that she picked at IKEA - it is orange and red. So orange will be her wall color and red her accents and perhaps her couch color. This will all coordinate nicely with her IKEA wardrobe with mirror doors, and IKEA headboard/shelving unit. It will transform her room from a kids room to a young ladies room.

And really, that's the point of this post. My babies are growing up.They are all teenagers now, are all as tall or taller than me now, are independant and more or less responsible young people. This brings us closer to the independance of empty nesters, although we still have 41/2 more years here at a minimum. It is a bittersweet kind of feeling - pride at getting them this far along, worry about the remaining years when the dangers are clearly greater than they have been before, and missing those adorable moments from years gone by.