Home decor with boys

I really enjoy taking my boys shopping with me.

They are generally well behaved in stores and they quote commercials and come up with all sorts of random uses for common items.

Honestly they amuse me and make something that should be a chore turn into more of an adventure.

So, even though I had the opportunity to shop all alone I waited and took my 3 boys yesterday. It turned out to be a great break from the stress of real life at that moment. Our 30 minutes of shopping for some random home decor items made my whole day so much easier.

Here's how it started.

"I don't want to go to the store!"

"Well, what store?"

"Wait, what do we have to get there?"

"Can I look at toys?"

"Can I look at shoes?"

"K. I guess I'll go."

I only needed two things so I said we could look at whatever they wanted. My 4 yr old announced (from having overheard me on the phone earlier) that we needed fro piwoes and love sak covers. I just laughed. And off we went.

We looked through all the boys clothes, shoes, hats and any other accessory that could be found. We hit up the very sparse toy department with promises that everything cool that was found would be promptly added to "The Birthday List."

Then we began our pass through the home section.

First up was stopping to look at the giant keys in the wall art section. They have been there for at least 6 months. No one ever buys them. My sons are all obsessed with them. They stand in front of them in awe and wonder and loudly discuss the treasures they might unlock. Then they beg for them. Then I say no. Then we move on. Every time we go to that store. Every single time.

We walked to the bedding section and I explained that I needed a duvet cover. Then explained what a duvet was. Then I had to spell duvet for the newly literate twins. Then I had to provide a short lesson on how to read labels and tell the difference between sheets and duvets. Then all three boys searched up and down the aisle shouting things like, "only look at the purple and blue tags", "how do you spell duvet again?", "wait is this a duvet?", "how do you spell sheets?", "I'm gone find before you do because I am a better reader than you!", "you can't read, stop pretending!" and "I found a hot pink plaid one, will that work?"

We did not find a duvet cover in that section.

On to the throw pillows. We needed four so I started out with that simple direction. After receiving a purple satin, burnt orange felted and king size plaid option from my three stooges we set boundaries.

No shiny material.

No scratchy material. (along with the direction of, stick your face on it and see if you like it.)

Only boring colors.

With these instructions clearly defined and understood I received more viable options but still no winners.

Then my son shouts, "whoa, 3D pillows! do we need 3D pillows mom?"

I didn't know how to answer that.

I set off to discover what 3D pillow actually meant. (I was picturing a Toy Story pillow that came with free 3D glasses so it would look like the image popped out, which was not what I was needing for my movie room...)

Turns out it means that it is a pillow with "things" attached to it. One had found a beaded version, another a furry pompom option and the third son had one with felted flowers. I couldn't get over how excited they were about 3D pillows so the felted flowers option went into the cart. We didn't find any others meeting my strict criteria and my boys strong aesthetic senses so I just bought two others that were the right shape with the plan to recover them myself.

Then we found the comforters and the hunt for a duvet resumed. They found all sorts of amusing options and vehemently debated amongst themselves arguing things like, price, color, texture and how many cool points each fabric had. I just stood quietly, soaking in the many many moments and phrases that I could use against them in 20 years:) A muted circular pattern won and was in the right price range so I agreed.

We left the store successful in our ventures and all happy and satisfied that we had taken part in the decision. We were all proud when we got home to put the pillows on the couch and check the duvet color next to the newly painted walls. It was an honest to God good time with my sons.

So, iff you have any decorating needs they may be available. Their schedule gets pretty booked up with beyblades, dog walking, movie watching and dress up, but I could put in a good word for you ;)