Ava's Therapy Room

***If you are here from Kelly's Korner, WELCOME! My husband (see his handsome face at the top???) is CW3 Cole Brewer. He is in the Arkansas Army National Guard. He is a blackhawk helicopter pilot, and flies medevac missions. He has served for 12 months in Bosnia, 18 months in Iraq, and most recently 12 months in Kosovo. We have one child, a daughter named Ava. She has a condition called Angelman Syndrome, which is a rare neuro genetic disorder. It is the same disorder that Colin Farrell's son James has. You can learn more about it by reading my blog or by looking here or here. Thanks for stopping by, and if you would like to keep up with our crazy lives, I always welcome new followers!!!***


When we first learned of Ava's Angelman Syndrome, I became focused on making our home safe, inclusive, and therapeutic for her. But I also still wanted our home to be beautiful and inviting for us and our guests. Our back bedroom that had been claimed as my craft room took on a whole new identity and purpose. My craft supplies are still there, as is Cole's workout bench- which has long been a point of good natured teasing and "arguing" in our marriage (I hate it and would love nothing more than to sell it...he is still sure that he might use it one day! HA!).

This is what the room looked like after we moved in. Not very pretty at all, but very functional for it's purpose...

Like I said, not pretty, but it got the job done! It is a very large room with a HUGE walk in closet.

This carpet was here when we moved in, and we decided to leave it because of the "utility" function of this room. Now that it is a full-time therapy room and only part-time craft area, we are revisiting the idea of flooring in here. Maybe some sort of cork floor? Or we might just put down matching carpet like we have in the rest of the house. We will see...

 And here is the after shots....

Play area right as you enter the room. This place filled up after Christmas!!!

Another shot of the swing/toy area

On the wall opposite from the play area is her chalkboard tree, where friends and family write encouraging messages to her.

My parents old computer armoire serves as my craft area now. It is great because I can open it up and work, and then just close the doors and have it out of reach for a curious Angel. :)

I found this little shelf at an estate sale, and painted it pink. We use it to store yet even more toys!

Inside of her tent. She LOVES her tent! Not bad considering Santa bought it as an afterthought! HA!

We have a little owl theme going on in the room...

This guy is a chalkboard owl.

It is a big room and we love having the different textures on the floor. Makes for one happy sensory baby!

This was about as good of an overview shot as I could get...sorry! I am a terrible photographer!!!

And while we are looking at before and afters, I am not sure I ever posted B&As of the kitchen! I am loving my granite, and am so pleased with the results! Sorry the "after" pictures are dark!!

The kitchen BEFORE...with ugly green counter tops and a white plain back splash.

And after! Love love love it!!!

Before, the "cooking" side of the kitchen.

And After (sorry it is from a different angle!)

Here is the back splash above the sink. We thought it needed a little something extra! We also replaced the faucet and got a new undermount, extra deep sink! I love that I can just wipe the crumbs from the counter top right into the sink! It is awesome!

 I will try to take some better "after" shots of the kitchen soon and post them, as well as some detailed shots of the back splash. You might notice I also changed out the hardware to be oil rubbed bronze. Slowly but surely, I am getting rid of all the brushed nickle and brass in this house!!!