L'il Graceland

We needed to remodel a room in our house, and we wanted it to reflect our inner selves.  Before my Mom came to live us four years ago, due to her poor health, the room was a family room with a half bath.  Mom passed away in December, and we decided to redo the room pretty quickly.  It made me sad to come in the room with everything like it had been when Mom was here, so we decided to "shake things up".

Are you ready to take the tour of the room we've been painting and decorating for the past month!

Here's the doorknob to kickin' back in "Lil Graceland", being entertained, napping, watching Andy Griffith in high-definition life size glory, and of course, paying tribute to The King, and I don't mean that Charles guy over in England, either.

The alternate name for this room is "The Redneck Media Room," since you got your big TV, tambourine, tributes to Elvis, Marilyn and pulp fiction and... well, you can see for yourself.

As soon a you open the door and look left, you see a wall with some vintage hats and a couple of musical instruments.  I must admit Ina and Mariana T. gave the inspiration for the hats.  At any time you may become bored while in this room, you can always grab a hat and a noisemaker and get the party started.  I'm looking for a Fedora for Van and maybe a beret.

We're collecting interesting switchplate covers that either reflect the mood and the time, or just because we like them.  This one reminds me of the early sixties.  This one on the right, we just liked it.

This is a clock we bought because it reminded us of our teen years and sends a positive message.  We replaced the Elvis clock we'd bought with it.  Elvis' clock arms were too skinny to read from across the room.

Behind the chair, a bit of my Mom's things in a cabinet:

The little wooden piano is a music box that still plays.  It was my Dad's gift to my Mom on their wedding day.

Our reading corner has to have good light.  If you'd just like a mood setting glow, you can just light the leg part of this lamp.  If you're using it for reading, you can light the uh.. whatever you'd call the top part.  Ina completely inspired this inclusion.  I had no idea these leglamps are available.  I think these lamps say lots about their owners.

When my oldest daughter saw the following lamp, she said it looked like we'd gotten it from a house of ill repute.  I think she's right, plus is goes right along with the "Lil Graceland" theme.  The curtains are brown suede; very handy for darkening the room for an afternoon movie fest.

Here's our 46 inch new member of the family.  It's causing me to even be captivated by commercials I've seen before.  The whole idea of high definition is a good one.

Of course, here's the main attraction in the room:

Yes, it's The King, Elvis himself, and if you look you can see that he's crying.  Why does Elvis cry?  Is it because he didn't get custody of Lisa Marie in the divorce?  Is it because his Daddy married that evil blond woman after his dear Mama passed on to Jesus, or is it because he was impatient and didn't chop the Oxycontin fine enough for his last snort?  We'll never know.  That's something we can contemplate while waiting for the next DVD to load.