A Green Room
“The other family came in with a very aggressive all cash offer.”
These are the yucky words we heard far too often in 2017. Luck was not even trying to return calls to our new family of four, and the Greater Nashville real estate market was booming. We’d lost out on yet another house. It was a crying shame that not even a few glasses of good wine could fix. I had really pictured us in the house on Ardmore - yucky red clay paint color and all.
For starters, Ardmore runs parallel to one of our favorite streets in the neighborhood - Starling Lane. Let me describe it to you.
Do you remember Father Of The Bride? It was that early nineties comedy flick where Steve Martin & Diane Keaton are the parents and Kimberly Williams-Paisley is their newly engaged daughter. Kimberly Williams-Paisley as in Brad Paisley’s real life wife and fellow Tennessean with a heart of gold, totally love her. In the film, her character is named Annie, and she’s a total babe. The plot follows The Banks Family around as they go over all the normal speed bumps of planning a large wedding for Annie and her fiancé, Bryan, at their home.
Also, they play one on one basketball to the tune of My Girl, hire quirky Franck to be their over the top wedding planner, and learn that the big shots running the hot dog and hot dog buns businesses are a bunch of scheming jerks. It’s a math thing; watch the movie. Did I mention that a Pre-Succession Kieran Culkin plays the adorable little brother turned wedding reception valet? It sounds like a mess, but it’s really quite brilliant and completely hysterical.
At the beginning of Father Of The Bride, George Banks (played by Steve Martin) is driving home from the shoe factory that he owns in a really amazing, timeless black convertible. He turns onto the street where he lives, which is this magical green tree lined sanctuary that almost seems fictional - it’s just so stinking perfect. As he turns into the driveway of his family home, a gorgeous two story white colonial with a white picket fence, he begins a love letter.
He says,
“I love this house. I love that I taught my kids to ride their bikes in the driveway. I love that I slept with them in tents in the backyard. I love that we carved our initials in the tree out front. This house is warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and looks spectacular with Christmas lights. It’s a great house. I never want to move. But the thing I think I like best about this house are the voices I hear when I walk through the door.”
So, what you need to know is - Starling Lane - it looks almost exactly like the street where The Banks live in Father Of The Bride. Jason and I wanted that “forever home” feeling so badly we could actually taste it.
In 2017, we would have taken any home even close to that street. It didn’t quite work out that way and that’s okay.
A few months later we gave up on the old and got on board with the new builds - and that’s when we found our current home.
I remember the day we walked through it and the immediate relief that followed. We’d finally have enough room for both children to have their own bedroom AND an office space for me and Jason?!? I was tickled pink. I started planning.
At the time, there was one space in particular that I’d been dreaming up for a while - Preston’s bedroom. This would be the very first time he had a room of his own. It had to be special. But, what did “special” mean exactly?
Preston was about 8 months old when we signed that contract. Far too young to plan a room around his current interests, which at the time were milk and crawling. Milk & crawling? That didn’t seem like the start of a good mood board. I had to think bigger.
I thought about his name - Preston Abrams Brace. Why had Jason and I picked that? What did it mean?
Preston is a name that represents family. I decided this meant we needed family heirlooms in his room. He needed to know where he came from and who came before him.
Abrams is a name that represents so much to me - inventiveness, creativity, imagination - all characteristics I wanted to inspire in our son. Let me tell you why.
I don’t recall every detail of my childhood, but the small traditions my parents established are tough to forget.
On movie nights Dad and I would go down to the massive box of a big screen in our basement, plant ourselves on the black u-shaped couch and fire up whatever we’d picked up from blockbuster. Candy was not optional.
We’re creatures of habit, so normally we’d watch something like Godzilla, Star Wars, or basically anything from the Lord Of The Rings franchise. We’d laugh about Jabba The Hut with bowls of buttery hot popcorn burning our laps, our version of father-daughter bonding.
For myself, all those countless hours of movie screening in the basement translated into a deep love of film and one exceptionally wild imagination. It took me a while to realize these traits I’ve harbored and drug around with me throughout my years have been extra lifelines. No matter what life has dealt, I’ve always been able to rely on my desire to forge something new and interesting.
If I could pass down anything to my babies, I knew it had to be this.
My absolute favorite television show is the ever mysterious, Lost, formerly on ABC and one of the most popular shows in history. Lost was lovingly created & brought to television by J.J. Abrams, one of the most talented producers and directors on planet earth.
If you don’t know the guy, google him. I love the innovation and ingenuity Abrams brings to ANYTHING he puts his Bad Robot name on. Some of my favorites by Abrams are Cloverfield & Super 8. Lord knows I spent HOURS analyzing both films in online forums with my “friends?” Also, I definitely paid to go see the Transformers reboot maybe six or seven times just so I could watch the Cloverfield trailer on the big screen at the movie theater. It’s hard not to laugh at myself sometimes. Wow, I’m a nerd. If there is ever a convention for Lilly Pulitzer enthusiasts that also follow the science fiction industry, I’d have to by myself a ticket.
When it was announced that J.J. Abrams was directing a new series of films for the Star Wars franchise, it was a match made in sci-fi heaven for me. I grew up watching Star Wars with my dad and believing that Ewokese is an actual language. A couple years later the new films started being released and a whole new generation of wannabe Wookie’s were born.
That’s when I knew we needed to give Preston Abrams a room worthy of a future Jedi in training. :)
A room that would serve like a match and spark his imagination.
This is the day I hung up the Star Wars wallpaper in his room. I was awarded with big smiles for my work.
In the case of Preston’s room, I chose the paint color way before I picked out the wallpaper. I felt strongly that it needed to be masculine and warm, I went with Vintage Vogue by Benjamin Moore. I love the contrast effect between the wallpaper, paint color, and the dark wood tones chosen in this space.
For bedding accessories, I selected a lot of items from the Star Wars collection for Pottery Barn Kids/Pottery Barn Teen. I like the classic, non-cheesy feel that their character items bring to the table. The sign and tapestry above Preston’s bed are also from Pottery Barn Kids.
We purchased Preston’s bed from a local couple who were downsizing to small home elsewhere. They had two of these antique twin size beds, so we jumped at the opportunity to grab one! The beds were made for her grandfather as a wedding present by a local parish in the 1940’s.
Preston’s bedside tables are also antiques we found locally. A couple in our neighborhood were giving away things from a recently lost elderly relative, so they were free. I recently removed the original finish and stained them to match the bed and dresser in Preston’s room. I love the way they turned out.
Can you guess everyone on these shelves? Everybody here represents someone or something Jason and I love. On the top, I spy several of the toys from Jason’s childhood room. The license plate was used in the first photograph I ever sold.
