Tess's Tidbits: New Rooms

Hello and a heartfelt welcome to all of our beloved readers!

  I must begin by apologizing for our long absences on this blog. :(  Maggie already explained our earlier reason for being so quiet in the previous post, so I will not discuss that again.  However, I know that many of you were eager to hear from us again right away, and we made you wait almost two whole months before putting up another post.  I wish I could fully express how truly sorry I am for our lack of posting.  :(

When we first got back to our normal selves, it took us some time to get into our usual habits and routines.  Then, in the middle of everything, Mama discovered mold in and around one of her bedroom windows and had to completely change her entire room.  As a result, she decided to move all of our rooms directly on top of each other.  This meant that we essentially lost two whole doll rooms.  As you can imagine, much rearranging and downsizing was needed to make sure everyone had a place, especially since we now had to fit three dolls to a room instead of two.

I must confess, I found this move quite distressing.  It's always difficult to be uprooted and have items replaced or taken away altogether (I'm still mourning the loss of my curio cabinet, which is now being stored above the rooms).  However, now that things are where they belong and where they will stay, I finally feel I can move on and work on enjoying where I am.  Also, now that everything is settled, you should be hearing from us a bit more frequently.   

One wonderful blessing from all of the rearranging is that Ella is now in our room with us! :D  Hailey, Ella and I are thrilled to finally be together once again. :)

Here is what our rooms looked like when Mama first stacked them and started helping us arrange them.

Our room looked like this originally.

Hailey's Hello Kitty nightstand was beside the bed.

The bed was in the back corner.

My Caroline doll with our mini dollhouses. ;)

My dresser was in the other corner...

...and the white shelf that used to belong to Hayden and Jenna was on the other side of the room.

Oh, and I supposed you've already noticed that Hailey, Ella, and I are now in Hayden and Jenna's old room.  We enjoy it overall.  It's lovely to have colored walls instead of white ones.  However, it's taken me some time to get used to being so high up!

Mama wasn't particularly pleased with the way our room turned out, so she helped us rearrange it one more time.  This is how it looks now.  I must admit, I prefer this arrangement myself.

On one side, we have my dresser.

The bookshelf is behind it.  Each of us had one shelf to fill with our special treasures.  My figurines are on the top shelf, Hailey's Hello Kitty collection is on the middle, and Ella's doll collection graces the bottom.  The very top of the shelf has Ella's Wizard of Oz collection and my favorite picture of the three of us.

Hailey's nightstand is still beside the bed.

Here are Hailey and Ella, enjoying a sisterly chat on the bed. :)

At the end of the bed, there was just enough room for our dollhouses, my laptop, and Ella's new Isabelle doll from McDonald's.

Now that I've gotten used to the new arrangement, I'm quite content there with my sisters.  I still miss my curio, but I'd much rather have an extra sister in the room than another piece of furniture, no matter how special it is. ;)  

I thought you might enjoy seeing the other rooms as well.  Mama very graciously allowed me to use the photos she took.

Here is Emma, Hayden, and Charlie's new room (formerly Emma and Charlie's).  

The bed is on one side of the room, covered with dolls and stuffed animals from all three sisters.  Since they had to add Hayden's posters to the room, they each chose their very favorite posters to hang and put those up. 

Next to the bed are their art and craft supplies. 

The black shelf that was against the side wall before is now against the back wall.  Because it has three shelves, it is the perfect place to display their amazing collections.  Just as in our room, each sister has a shelf of her own.

Next to the shelf is a tub with extra toys and Hayden's Aladdin poster.  Since the time of these pictures, the Aladdin poster has been exchanged for a Strawberry Shortcake fuzzy poster that Hayden colored, and the Aladdin poster is now over the dresser. 

Next to the toy tub is the dresser that looks as though it was made for this room.  :)  You might also notice that the Hathaway girls have the rug that used to be in the room I shared with Hailey.  I've always loved that rug, but I think it looks wonderful in their room. :)

Our last room, formerly the one Hailey and I shared, belongs to Rachel, Jenna, and Maggie.  Isn't it lovely how all of the sisters have been reunited? :)

On one side of the room is the tall floral dresser that was in Maggie and Rachel's room.  The top has some of Jenna's extra things since she has the least amount of space.

The bed is in the back, against the wall.  This side of the room also holds all of Rachel and Maggie's posters. 

At the foot of the bed is the tub that holds all of Rachel and Maggie's extra action figures.  Maggie's collection has grown quite large since you last saw it. ;)

Maggie and Rachel's shelf is in the corner.  Jenna got to use one shelf for her My Little Ponies.  

This side of the room has all of Jenna's musical posters.  Didn't she hang them up nicely?  It looks so bright and cheerful.  Hmm, perhaps we should find more posters for our room...

Jenna has the same special fold-out bed she did in her old room, with the crate behind it to store some of her special treasures.

There are things we all miss about our old rooms.  We enjoyed having more space and more room for our belongings.  However, I think Mama did an excellent job of condensing things in a way that was as painless as possible.  It could have been much worse.

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, Coral and Alice have a small room on the other side of Mama's room.  It's not nearly as roomy as ours are, but they seem to enjoy it just the same.  They also have the luxury of being on ground level and therefore have easier access to the rest of the room. :}

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour.  In the coming month, we'll be working on getting all of you caught up.  Hayden will do her post about her vacation she took this past January, and we'll also share a bit about Coral's arrival.  

Also, Mama and her family are heading out for their yearly vacation to the coast next week.  Mama still has not announced which of us will be going with her.  As soon as we find out, we'll let you know!

Until next time, my dear friends,

Tess

P.S. Since we changed our header, here is a copy of our previous one. :)