Bedroom #1

 

 

Aftermath of the Northridge Earthquake in 1994.

 

 

 

Maren:

My first memories in this bedroom were when there was the very...busy...wallpaper of the mushroom village and woodland creatures.  It was fun wallpaper to study while lying in bed.  That is when I shared a room with Cary.  We all know the story of how after Dad would put us to bed and Cary would scare me by saying in a spooky voice, "Maren, I'm going to eat you."  I was not a fan.  We also had a brown record player in that room.  Marné tells me that I used to sing along while listening to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," although I have no memory of this.  I just remember listening to a record of a Strawberry Shortcake read-along book.

 

At some point, the mushroom village wallpaper came down and up went a navy blue wallpaper with a duck border running along the top of the wall, along with dark blue carpet.  It became Curtis and Corey's room when they were teens and even into college days or when Curtis returned from his mission before returning to BYU.  They shared the wooden bunk beds.  I have memories of laying on the top bunk while watching a sibling or two play Spy vs. Spy on Curtis' computer.  Cary eventually inherited that room while he was in high school. 

 

Finally, when I was a junior in high school I got the room.  I suppose it was the most coveted room, if for nothing else, it was the largest, so I was pretty happy to move in there.  I remember taking down the duck wallpaper and painting the room white, even the inside of the closet.  It was a fun project.  I had room for the sewing table, my new Ikea desk, and everything.  I was a happy camper.

Also of note, in the farthest corner of the room was the door to the attic, which wasn't really a door, but just a big painted board of plywood.  Way in the back of the attic were stored really old things like a crib, perhaps an old stroller, some old toys, while closer to the door were stored more recently used items like a taped up box of Corey's CDs while he was on his mission.  It was always a little dicey crawling in there as it was dark, dusty, there were nails sticking out of the beams, and there was always the fear of spiders or other creatures that tend to hang out in dark places.  When the wind blew, the plywood door would move back and forth, making a soft thudding noise that became natural background noise for whoever slept in there at the time.

Dad:
Bedroom #1 was known for the 'duck' wallpaper and was the boys bedroom most of the time as I recall. It always seemed to be cluttered with stuff strewn about the floor and on the beds, It had a small desk that was used for homework and studying. In later years, there was a keyboard and a couple of guitars, in the room, that were used by Cary. Then when Maren moved in as the boys went away to college and missions, it always seemed to be neat and tidy. I wonder if that had anything to do with the occupant at that time... Whenever it rained to any extent, water would leak in around the window. Whenever this happened, I would put towels on the window sills to soak up the water. l put caulking around the windows 3 or 4 times, but they still leaked just as bad. Nothing seemed to help, so we finally had new windows installed which fixed the problem. We had the same problems with the window in bedroom #2. The 1994 earthquake seemed to hit that room harder than the other bedrooms. I remember a big pile of stuff that fell out of the closet and also about everything else in the room except the bunk beds were in that pile. Writing this brings back many good (and some not so good) memories of the past.

Mom:

I think everyone  slept in this room at one time or another.  Marné was the first to decorate it.  Since she knew that I was not a fan of yellow, she decided to choose the color to see if I would let her have her choice.  Yellow walls and carpet and a yellow gingham quilt I made to finish the room.  Also bought white curtains,  this helped to cut the yellow!

 

Corey and Curtis shared the room when had dark blue wallpaper and a stripe of ducks.  Then there was the mushrooms and animals when Maren and Cary shared.  When most of you left Maren was back in the room and pulled down the wall paper and painted and made the room her own.  By this time we had the burber carpeting throughout the house.

Cary:
I remember the room that was originally Marné's for its yellow carpet. Maren and I shared it for a time. There was an odd bed I slept in. It was elevated so I had to get a running start to get on it. It was situated close enough to Maren's bed that I could jump from one to the other.

I also remember peeing on the yellow carpet once when I'd just gotten out of the tub. For some reason I couldn't hold it and reasoned in my 5 or 6 year old brain that it wouldn't matter being that it was yellow, kind of musty smelling and older than me. 

Corey:
My earliest memory of this bedroom is the "yellow" version of Marné's childhood. She had a bed with a brown headboard, a light pinkish nightstand, and a brown book case. I vaguely remember a record player in her room. She had a bunch of toys, including a Holly Hobbie playset that was a general store that I always wanted to play with. Then Maren and Cary shared the room and the mushroom critters wallpaper was put up. I remember their room was always a mess. I remember the room best as the blue room with the dark blue patterned wall paper and duck trim. We inherited some chunky wood furniture from the Staleys (I think). This included the bunk bed and dressers. Curtis had a big, old desk that may have been Grandpa Woolley's and I had the drafting table. Curtis had the Commodore64 and the TV he still has to this day. We would climb through the window to get on the patio cover. It seemed like our screen was always torn. I also recall Mom pulling Curtis off the top bunk several times at 5:30 in the morning when he wouldn't get up for seminary. I'm also pretty sure Cary shared the room with me for a while when Curtis left for college.