$10 Dresser Alternative

With three boys sharing one modestly sized bedroom, space is certainly at a premium.  A couple months ago our youngest son moved out of a crib and into a twin bed, leaving even less floor space.  His dresser/changing table was also a bit tall and I was concerned about the risk of him trying to climb on it and tip it onto himself, so we sold it.  My stop-gap solution is a few bins set on top of his brothers' dresser.  This won't win any decorating awards, but it suits our needs and it didn't cost a dime since I was able to find the supplies around our home.  1 bin for tops, 1 bin for bottoms, 1 bin for socks & pajamas.  I simply connected the crates with one bungee cord on the front and one bungee cord on the back.

3 file crates + 2 bungee cords = good enough for us

If you don't have these things around your house, I've seen file crates for $3 each at this time of year and the bungees were $1 for 2 at the Target dollar spot.

What have you repurposed lately?

Small Room, Small Budget Laundry Room Makeover

When we moved to our home more than 8 years ago, I was delighted to get a real laundry room that was more than a closet with bi-fold doors. Since we are on the verge of adding our 4th family member since that time, even that laundry room was getting really crowded and inefficient. The size of the room is about 6.6' x 5' with an extra 3.5' x 2' section at the doorway, so it is definitely not large. With the help of my husband we set to to work to make it into a more efficient and lovely space.

BEFORE

looking in - hooks on the right and left, window shade in need of attention, claustrophobic feeling from clothes hanging from both sides, beige

further in - mismatched set of machines (saved us more than $200 when we bought them, but I would really love a matching set at some point), drying rack stored on the side wall, too much stuff

yet more stuff

Improving the space:
- painted the room using some leftover blue paint from the adjoining hallway mixed with a fresh quart of white, tape & quart of paint = $16.99 The color is an almost exact match to Valspar Air Kiss which is the color I had picked out before I decided to just use what we had mixed with white. What a happy coincidence!
- removed the hooks on the left and all the wire shelving
- cut off the vinyl shade to remove the torn part and sewed a new casing for the rigid stick at the bottom to slide through
- added shelves using lumber, brackets and paint we already had from previous projects
- added a shelf with rails and hooks, TJSIG hat rack from IKEA = $32.24
- removed the blue curtain and added a shear patterned IKEA curtain from a set received for Christmas and hemmed the new curtain to the length we wanted
- spray-painted the flat-backed metal bin white to go with the fresh white/blue scheme, this is used as a small trash bin
- removed lots of stuff from the space and consolidated the contents of remaining bins
- repurposed bins from around the house to contain new categories of stuff, such as baby wipes containers to store extra batteries, a heavyweight disposable pan to corral the laundry supplies used on a daily basis, a wood tote to contain the first aid & hair cutting kits, etc.
- removed the door to allow easier access for the kids to get in and out to take their baskets to put away their clothing and motivate me to not let mountains of laundry collect
- painted the mirror unit (previously dark wood) in the adjoining hallway white to match the trim, paint = $4.81
- gave the whole room a good scrubbing, cleaned out the dryer vent, and put away all the laundry so I could snap the after shots

And AFTER

bright & fresh

I love the new space! It is so pleasant to do laundry now and because I really enjoy the room I'm motivated to stay on top of our laundry needs. Because of this makeover my laundry routine has improved and seems so much easier.

Total cost = $54.04 including tax
Yield = one happy mama

Simple Valentine Garland {Project #4}

I'm quite late in posting this, but since I just took the garland down yesterday, I'll go ahead and post it anyway.

After Christmas I found these sweet felt heart cut-outs at Target that were intended to be used as Christmas ornaments. The price was right at 50 cents for 3 and I loved the Scandinavian look to them, so I bought 2 packages of red and 2 packages of white. I had some white small ribbon on hand so I used that to tie on 11 hearts. For symmetry I decided to start and end with the same color to make the garland.

Then I simply hung it from the finials of our curtain rods. I'm not a big seasonal decorator, but I enjoyed having something up after having all the Christmas decorations came down. For 2 bucks and 10 minutes, how can you go wrong? And I love that to store it away until next year only requires an envelope or a ziplock bag. Simple and sweet...I think I'm finally defining my style.

Living Room Mini-Makeover

After living here for seven years, I'm ready for some simple and inexpensive updates. Last month I wanted to lighten up our living room, so it was out with the old....



and in with the new....


The new curtains are drop cloths I picked up compliments of a Plastic Jungle giveaway I was blessed to win via Half Pint House. I washed them up on hot with lots of fabric softener and sewed casings for the rods to slip through. They are not perfect as the dropcloths were not exactly the same size or the same weight and a couple had flaws, only visible after I had washed them. But I think the change opens up the room and the neutral tone will allow for other little updates down the road. Because at this stage in life, time and money just allow for incremental changes, not whole room makeovers done in a day. Next step: blue accents. Further down the road: one really comfortable couch.

Celebrating Childhood Creativity: The Art Board

I've been wondering for a while how I could handle the constant influx of art and papers from church, the YMCA and school in a better way so they wouldn't just be dumped on the kitchen island and later discarded. But rather to put them out for display to communicate that we enjoy our kids and their creations and are proud of their efforts.

Inspiration struck in the 90% off aisle of Hobby Lobby. This very large frame was marked at $10.00. I'll take it. It was not at all in pristine condition, but I wasn't going to use it as is, so I was fine with that.
We gave it three coats of paint, using "oops" paint and a reused brush from this project. And I even let Sportster help. Can I admit here that I struggle with wanting to include my children in projects but also get them done quickly and with the results I am looking for? Can anybody relate?the painted frameThen I screwed in eye hooks on each side and strung picture wire between the hooks and hung the frame up in our front entryway. We attached the artwork with tiny clothespins. Here Smiley is pointing to his paper plate face.

As more papers come in, we'll choose the best and change some of the current collection out and I'll save in a box or a folder the ones I'll keep for the kids.

One more little step to enjoying the childhood of my children. This new art spot makes me happy!

The Book Nook

Our living is really short on wall space so I've been keeping an eye out for a tall narrow bookshelf for quite a while. I found one a few weeks ago at a nice secondhand/antiques store. We also have had a cabinet which I picked up at a garage sales a few years ago that was in need of some re-purposing and a makeover. So before the snow flew last week, I got to work painting these. I did this in our kitchen because it was the only place suitable with enough warmth and good lighting to do a decent job. I had recently removed the cupboard doors.I painted both pieces with part of a gallon of Oops Paint in a color called Oriental Silk (Behr), which happens to closely match another piece of furniture in our living room. After allowing plenty of time to dry, my kind husband secured them to the wall with shelf brackets to prevent any tipping accidents.With plenty of room for books, curriculum, puzzles and even tractor parking, the new combo is a hit! I used an extra old bed pillow and made a cover to coordinate with the room with some fabric from my stash.

Costs:
bookshelf - $19
oops paint - $5
shelf brackets - $2
cupboard - $3
Total - $29 for a great new addition to our living room.

Proof of enjoyment:

Small successes make me happy!

Spring Cleaning: More Bathrooms

I'm finally finishing up spring cleaning and the most recent project was tackling two more bathrooms. They are small areas, but certainly needed some deep cleaning. Here's my completed task list.
- washed/vacuumed floors
- washed baseboards
- scrubbed sinks, toilets and bathtub
- washed rug
- washed wastebaskets & emptied trash
- quickly organized cupboards & got rid of a few things
- shined mirrors
- washed fronts of cabinets
- washed and stored potty seat rings for our next installment of potty training (maybe beginning this summer....2 down, 1 to go)
- freshened up bathroom cabinet
Pictures are below.

Before - kids' bathroom

After - kids' bathroom

Before - half bath

After - half bath
Here is the refreshed cabinet. (Sorry for the photo quality...small darker room + bright vanity lights + necessary flash + poor photographer = bad picture. ) Anyway, I took a piece of scrapbook paper and printed it with the word "refresh", then taped it to the back of the cabinet door. You'll have to take my word for it, it looks better in person. This hides the visible clutter and seems to improve the whole room. A big improvement for about a quarter (the cost of a sheet of paper). This idea came from this blog and this blog.
Thus completes spring cleaning at our household this year. I didn't get to the garage, basement or yard, though those areas did not need as much attention and are generally in order. The main thing in the garage was to haul the recycling and Goodwill donations away and that did get accomplished. In the basement we decluttered a few toys and books and random things. The yard and basement received lots of attention last year, so we may be good for a little while longer.

Thanks so much to The Homespun Heart for hosting this event! With spring cleaning behind me I think we're free to get out and enjoy the season!

Make-It Monday

This week has started off well with one project completed which was started last week. For months I have been wanting to take some time to sew up a blanket for Smiley in anticipation of him moving to a big bed this summer. Last week I got started, and as with most projects I start, set it aside for later. Today I saw the blanket top sitting on my crafting table and decided to just finish it off today. I really like to piece together blanket tops, but always struggle a bit with putting all the layers together because it gets bulky and my machine doesn't really like that, and neither do I. This time I used polar fleece for the filling rather than batting just because I had a large remnant on hand and was able to find another one this weekend, which when connected, made a large enough piece. The blanket is not especially fluffy, but I think it will be really warm and filling with one layer of fleece was SO much easier than traditional fillers. So I spent $3.50 and was able to make the rest of the blanket with fabric on hand (thanks again, Mom!). This will coordinate well with the blanket I made for Sportster when he was about the same age as Smiley. Here is the finished product. Not perfect, but complete.


One goal I have for this year is to use up some of my supplies, the volume of which has grown far beyond my sewing and crafting cabinet. This blanket was a good start toward that goal.

What projects do you have around that you would like to get completed? My next project to complete is a biggie...catching up on scrapbooks for the kids and our family, which will first require having hundreds of pictures printed. It's been a looooooong time since we printed pictures. Maybe I'll get back to that in March.

Christmas Highlights

We had a great Christmas season. We enjoyed celebrating with our children at home before travelling to see loved ones for the weekend leading up to Christmas. It was a simple celebration with only one token photo taken. Putting the camera away while we opened gifts actually made the experience much more relaxing for all of us. We opened gifts early in the day so the kids would have time to enjoy them before going to bed and so they could show Grandma and Grandpa their new things via webcam that night.

Decorating at our house was light this year. We mostly just put up the tree and a few other things. We have two bins of Christmas decorations which is enough for us, but only one bin full of stuff was put out this year and our house still felt festive. To solve storage and gift security concerns, we decorated with wrapped gifts on our stairway plant shelves and on top of our kitchen cabinets. Just last year in late October our older two children found all the wrapped gifts inside a bag, inside a large box in our basement and opened them all right then and there. Let me just say the joy of wrapping the same gift a second time is just not quite as rich. I also purchased a live clearance rosemary "tree" for $2.50 which was all we spent on decorations this year. Another decoration was a 5 minute project of printing the word "joy" in red ink on scrapbooking paper and putting in a spare matted frame [photo at top of post].



We enjoyed our time spent with family, too, though we ended up "sharing the love" and the flu bug with each family there. Four of the five of us suffered its effects as well. I was able to attend a Julotta service at my parents' church on Christmas morning which was good since our church attendance has been sparse this month due to sick children, which is just par for the course in this stage of life. Our baby is growing up and enjoyed the gifts this year, especially the wrapped packages of others that he tried to run off with again and again.

We are now home and ready to un-decorate and work on getting things put away into their new homes. Happy New Year!

Photo Board

We are delighted each Christmas to receive cards and photos from friends and family and like to display those photos throughout the year on a place other than our fridge. We have had a fancy memo board hanging in our kitchen to hold these photos. It was a MOPS craft a few years ago where we used a picture frame and then inserted a piece of corkboard which I painted and backed it with cardboard. That board was getting too small for all the photos we receive so this year I came up with this. It is simply a painted memo boad (the same one as the advent calendar) hung by a pretty ribbon that was on a package I received this Christmas.

Advent Calendar Board

Last year I saw so many cool Advent calendars that I thought we should really try to have one this year. Being inspired by this catalog and its display of ornaments, I set to work to create a loose impression of this while adding special activites behind each number for our family to enjoy during this season as we celebrate the Savior's birth.

I took a corkboard we had and gave it a coat of deep red paint. It was already red, just not quite the right shade. I then punched out little tags of printed scrapbook paper, stamped numbers for each day and used a hole punch at the top end of each tag. I typed a list of simple, fun and educational ideas and formatted the ideas so two would fit on a 3 1/2 by 5" card when printed. I then printed the cards, cut them in half, punched a hole in the top of each half and mounted a date tag with a gold tack onto the board. The things we have done or will be doing this month include:

Put up the tree
Enjoy hot cocoa with Christmas music
Take a drive to see the lights
Read the Christmas story
Make gingerbread loaves
Deliver gifts to friends & neighbors
Read Christmas cards from friends & family
Go for a moonlight walk to see lights around us
Watch a Christmas movie
Go to the zoo
Eat a candy cane
Put up outside lights
Sing Christmas carols
Discuss Advent in general
First Candle: Good Shepherd / Hope / Prophecy
Second Candle: Forgiveness / Peace
Third Candle: Joy
Fourth Candle: the Son
Christ Candle: Our King has come!
Cut paper snowflakes and hang
Go get Daddy at work & get a holiday coffee
Bring a food donation to Care & Share
Attend a concert
Go see a live nativity
Decorate sugar cookies
Make cookies

So far the kids have enjoyed getting a card down to read and do each night and look forward to that time. This was a super simple project and was designed not to add more items to do this season, but rather help us be more purposeful with our celebration and family time. This was also a frugal project.
Corkboard - on hand
Paint - $.70
2 pieces of scrapbook paper - $.50
13 note cards - $.02 (clearance)
rubber stamps and ink - on hand
tacks - on hand
Total cost = $1.22

After Christmas is over we will store the cards and date tags for another year in an envelope and put the corkboard to other uses. Even though this is not elaborate, I hope we will be able to get a tradition going that will be enjoyed each Christmas in our home. As our children grow and it becomes easier to do some things outside the home we'll easily be able to change out the cards to suit our family's schedule, attention spans and resources.

Bed for a Princess

More than a year ago I found this bed for our little girl at a garage sale for $15. I bought it so quickly that I didn't notice the burn mark on one of the spindles. My intention was to paint it anyway for Sister's room so I wasn't too disappointed when I discovered that flaw once I got it home. So the bed has been sitting in the basement waiting for the day when I would magically know the right process for refinishing such a piece of furniture. That day never came, but I got tired of having that unfinished project hanging over my head so we headed to the local home improvement store and I picked up a quart of Zinsser 1-2-3 primer and a gallon of the cheapest white semi-gloss they had. I cleaned it and sanded it just a bit, then applied a coat of primer. It was then that I noticed the stamps on the back of the headboard that said "Solid Maple" and "Ethan Allen". I almost felt guilty for painting over a quality piece of furniture like this, but then realized I bought it with painting in mind and the burn mark needed attention in one form or another. Three coats of paint later and here is the finished product. I had been aiming for a bed with this look at a fraction of the price.

Now Sister is finally able to use the comforter I finished making for her more than a year ago, too.
Cost: under $35 for everything, with paint and primer to spare for other projects.
Seeing my girl's excitement in having a big-girl bed that isn't sitting on the floor: Priceless.

Fun Little Pillow

The little project of the week was to make a new little pillow for Sister's room. I have been trying to decorate her space but it has been very slow. Here is one little step in the right direction.

I took a striped seersucker adult sized pajama top destined for the discard bin and cut to the approximate size of the pillow I was going to use. The pillow I had was 14" x 20" so I added a few inches on every side for seam allowances and sewed it together with french seams. I love the button detail, that I didn't have to invest any time into because it was already part of the shirt. This will be a fun accent pillow for her and coordinate with her comforter when we get to that point. Total cost: $0. Total time spent: about 20 minutes.