Once there was a guest room…

And because there were grandchildren, there were bunk beds.And because there was a cat, there was always someone to get up on the top bunk when the grandchildren weren’t over.

But then a queen size bed was added to the guest room. This did pose a few challenges, not the least of which was that the room was too small for such a combination.

And then to top it off, someone decided to decorate the room in an elephant motif.All…righty then!The bunk beds were eventually given away, so I was able to start seriously looking for elephant decor. These were from a thrift store, and they were super cheap. I was right, the colors matched nicely.

You can see in the photo on the left that there is a slight imperfection (that vertical scratch) on the green one, but it doesn’t really show from far away.

I had already made two elephant mosaic trays, and decided to put this one on the wall by the light switch.These were plastic Christmas ornaments from Walmart. I thought they were cute so I got them, and took off the hanger part.

Then people started to give me elephant-related items as gifts.

Plus I made myself a little elephant heart mosaic.You may remember the panda jigsaw puzzle that I showed you in “Elephants Can Remember”, around this time last year. I had said that it wasn’t going anywhere, so the room is still a combination panda and elephant motifs.There is a story behind this 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, which is now wall decor. Quite a few years ago, as an end-of-the-year activity in my English learner classes, I had set this up on the back counter of my classroom, and whoever wanted to work on it in their free time could. It was mostly the girls and I, but we were making considerable progress. Then one day during break a couple of boys ran in, messed it up, and ran out again! The tiny puzzle pieces were everywhere, and needless to say the girls and I were so mad! When it was all said and done, there were seven pieces we never did find. You can see where the ones in the sky were, but can you find the other two?

A cute elephant night light from Bath and Body.Gradually the elephant collection grew, but the problem now is that I haven’t figured out where to put most of it. I think I need some more shelves, but…“No More Floating Shelves!”

You can kind of see here how there is some extra wall space to work with.

I’ve had my eye out for an elephant themed lamp, but so far this lamp I already had looks pretty good. There’s only been one complaint so far… “Mom, with all these elephants there’s hardly any room for me on this dresser!”