totmama

Being a graphic designer “in my past life” makes it very hard for me to do some things that most folks wouldn’t think twice about. What do I mean by this, you ask? Well, for one, I can never look at type or letters without analyzing them. I was taught to ask myself “Are they the right size, font, are they spaced properly, do they send the right message? etc…” You get the picture. So when I had kids, I realized I am constantly confronted with some of my biggest dilemmas when it comes to their room decor, clothing and keepsake choices. What tripped me up this time? It’s something kinda simple: hanging letters in my kid’s rooms. I know it seems silly. My friends just look at Pottery Barn Kids and say “that’s cute”. I just can’t bring myself to do it so simply. After trying for months to decide if I wanted lower case, sans serif, serif fonts, or to custom order some funky display type, I found these cool letters on sale at CompanyKids.com. I liked them “enough” to allow them in my presence, and figured the price was right to get my kid’s names for their walls. (Of course I seemed to ignore the the word GIANT in the description, so I am lucky my kids have short names!) The letters started showing up, and they were HUGE! Slowly, boxes trickled in to my foyer until I had all eight. Then it hit me… how should they be hung? How would I go about KERNING the space between the letters so it wouldn’t bug me that they were up there, wrongly spaced, and staring at me? AAAhhh! I was just cringing at the idea of all 200 nail holes I’d have to fill in after I finished spacing it perfectly. Also, since I am totally horrific at anything involving hammers, I was sure I would end up with divorce papers once I finished nudging my hubby to the right or moving him to the left to get the letters just right. (Here’s where I ignored it ENTIRELY for about 5 weeks!) I was stumped! I was going to HAVE to let it go. (Breathe in!!! Let it go!!!) Well, I am happy to say it has been done. I finally got my hubby to put the letters up, and I am not sure if I can “let it go” yet. I am trying. No divorce papers, and no nail holes… but I do stare at them all day! I just hope it doesn’t get so bad that I have to just take them down. (Don’t tell my hubby!)