Box Car Children

Forgive me for not making time to do my promised birthday posts last week. I value many things over blogging, and sleep is one of them....so I won't stay up late to blog.

My husband is also on Spring Break this week -- which reduces my computer time by a lot!

I thought this would be a fun view of our days. I recently ordered a booster seat for my son.

If you are interested, I bought a Britax Frontier 85...which is a 5-point harness up to 100 lbs that converts to a booster. I will most definately pay the money for the piece of mind for my child, as I wanted to keep him in a harness for as long as possible. But I suppose that is another post for another time....

Regardless of that, the box was an awesome treat for my kiddos!
We cut the box to make into a vehicular shape....is vehicular even a word?
This thing has been living in our home for nearly 3 weeks now.

The car/train/boat has windows....

and room for babies....without carseats. I guess I need to discuss the importance of safety with these little ones.

Since its creation, the box has been colored on and decorated with cut out shapes and various stickers. Wheels have been added with paper plates.

You can do this with any box.

Check with your local grocery store if you need some....they are more than willling to let you have boxes.

Seriously, hours and hours of fun for your kiddos.

This week...

I plan to tell you how we celebrated the 4th Birthday of my first baby!
How I turned this....

into this...

So look forward to posts full of recipes, money saving party shopping and even how to make your own pinata for nearly FREE!

Dining Chair Redo

I have been wanting to recover my dining chairs for a few months now.

I doubt you remember, but my son had a stomach bug and threw up on one of the chairs back in October.

Totally gross, but totally removable since I had already covered the original factory fabric.

You can read about that process HERE. But this is what it looked like the first time.

I love going into fabric stores.

I love being surrounded by the endless rows of bolts....the textures, the thickness, the colors.

Being in the fabric store reminds me of why I love shopping for clothes....

I love to shop by feeling.

I can immediately determine the quality and the comfort....whether or not I love it.

Truly, it is about the experience.

I DO NOT enjoy doing this with my children -- which takes the fun out of the fabric store for me.

But we had people coming to our home and Richard wanted the chairs to be recovered by then, so we had to search for what we wanted.

I had talked of changing the paint color of the dining room when we painted, so instead of trying to match to the awful burgonday color, I decided to with whatever we fell in love.

Richard met me there after his class because he wanted to help choose....after much debating, we settled on this.

We almost purchased another fabric so it wouldn't be so matchy matchy on all the chairs, but we really really adored the pattern and the color of this.

All the chairs now wear the new fabric!

So now, I just have to decide on paint colors....I want to appeal to the masses because I don't plan to paint again before we move.

I am not sure if I should stay neutral -- like a Gold or Orange/Tan.

Or I can do dramatic - like a blue or a navy.

Or ignore the color wheel's complimentary suggestions and do something different all around.

Remember our entry way is a pale green tan color.

Thoughts?!

White and Bright

Do you notice anything different about our home?

Yeah, I didn't figure you would.

You don't visit enough!

How about from this angle?

Several months ago (and I mean SEVERAL - as indicated by the lack of snow and green trees in our yard), we painted our front door.

The door was a hideous burgondany color that the previous owners had tried to color match to the front shutters. The same color was used in our dining room.

The paint was peeling off and looked awful.

So we wanted to wait until fall to paint.

Cooler temperatures meant low humidity (which is rare in Virginia!), so the paint would go on smoother and adhere better.

I put the husband to work.

Primer first....then paint.

I did help. I promise.

I took the photos.

Just kidding! I painted!

The paint took two coats even with the primer!
Ahh!

But the door being white reflects the light, so our home seems brighter when the front door is open!

And for the record, I don't have my Christmas decor up any longer!
Scroll up to reexamine the finished product!

More painting projects to be posted soon!

Rug: Before and After

I have a confession to make.
We have lived in our current home for THREE years come March.
And for the past three years we have lived like this:


Yes, that is a towel on the floor.
A towel rug, if you will....
Do you think I could market it?

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

But we have a dog, and a muddy yard, and it always made sense.
And because I waited for the towel rug fad to catch on, and it didn't, I finally decided to spend the money to buy a real rug for the entryways.

We started off with one.
You know, to see how we would like it.

I found a neutral and light colored rug (our doggie has white hair that sticks to everything)....
The rug also claimed to be stain resistant and came with a gripper on the back, so no additional money spent and it won't slide.



Can you believe what a huge difference a rug made in our life?
LOVE IT!
Instant warmth, and instant dirt catcher.




I went back and purchased the same rug for the other two doors in our home.

Have you ever made a simple and obvious change and wondered how you ever lived without it?
I have a million on them.

Valentine Storage Box

As we have snuck into February, there are only 13 more days until Valentine's Day!

Are you preparing special surprises for your loved ones?

Since my son is in Preschool, we have to send him to school with a decorated box to collect those sweet notes.

We found a kiddie-sized shoe box. You could also use an empty tissue box.

After sorting through my wrapping paper stash, we wrapped the bottom half of the box in a red and white stripe.

The top...I carefully cut a large hole in the center. We covered using white cardstock.

And then Lucas had a marvelous time decorating to his heart's content!

He covered the box around all the edges, insisting that each of the hearts were touching....

And the top was a piece of art.....

We used foam hearts with a sticky side (clearance after last year's VDay at Michael's!!).

I am certain that he will be more than prepared for the love notes from his girlfriends....oh wait, he is only 3!

Do you receive such a mass of Valentine's you need your own box too?

Are you making boxes with your kiddos?

I'd love to see!

Dresser Reveal!

I have been admiring our new dresser for nearly a week now.

After my last post, we successfully secured the piece that Monday.

The operation was quite eventful because it involved "repair" of a stubborn drawer before we purchased...which later had to be repaired (really repaired this time) by my husband.

Nonetheless, we decided to just go with the chest for now because our son was not very enthralled with the idea of getting a new dresser. Who would think a 4-year-old would be so stubborn?

Anywho, the big reveal.....

The chest fit perfectly between the windows....

The thing is in EXCELLENT condition, and we plan to keep it as is for now.

We really love it.

So what do you think?

Did we make a great decision?

Or should we have kept our $$$?

Do tell!

Dresser Update

Apparently, this photo has been sitting as a published post for many hours.
I am sure you were wondering where I was going with that....

I have had issues with blogger lately, so please forgive me.
Especially for posting a random photo of a stepstool and boots.

This is actually a photo of the location in our master bedroom that we want to put the chest of drawers.

And now that I look at it, I realize even my mirror is hanging off center....that's normal right?

We have found a chest of drawers we adore!
Only we didn't buy it on the spot, which can be a HUGE problem when shopping in a store like we were.

We were browsing in the store where we purchased Meredith's dresser and our kitchen server (remember, this is a USED furniture store).

My husband and I saw it independently of one another and loved it without discussion.
The piece was very 60's mod in a beautiful honey color, in excellent condition.

So why did we leave the store without it in hand?
Well, the chest of drawers was accompanied by a dresser with a mirror.

We didn't really NEED to get both, but they were so beautiful.
We considered purchasing the dresser to put in our son's room....his dresser is not very functional for a 28-year-old, much less an almost 4-year-old.

And on top of that, the owner offered to knock $20 dollars off the price if we purchased both pieces.

So we walked away.

We wanted to consider our options. Did we want Lucas to have the larger and more functional dresser? Did we want $20 to make it worth our time?

We have made a decision.
So now let's hope that it is still there when we return to pick it up this afternoon!

Cross your fingers!

Change of Drawers

We are constantly trying to reshape and reorganize our home based on how we live

Although it may take a while to figure out the flow of our life, making a change makes things a LOT easier!

Case and point!

For the past SIX years we have had a child-sized desk in our home.

This desk was quite old....an antique even. 

And not only was it an antique, the desk was passed down from my husband's grandfather.

I used it for my scrapbooking table for a while.

But I have always complained that it was too small. I couldn't spread out my "ideas."

I could barely get my feet to fit underneath, and I am a pretty tiny gal!

This is the only photo I have - and you can't even see what it looked like! 

 

Since moving to Virginia, the desk has been used as a dumping ground for clothes.

After years of debating its real utility, the hubs woke up one morning and said "We HAVE to get rid of this thing!" 

I told him to sit on the decision for a few days to make sure there were no regrets. Letting go of something you have had your whole life is quite difficult. After two weeks, we finally took it to a nearby (awesome) furniture store and "sold" it to them at the cost of a new pair of jeans -for me, not my cheap husband ;)

We have since been looking for a Chest of Drawers...so instead of creating mountains of clothes that do not fit in our dresser, we can actually calm the chaos.

 

I recently came across a site that sells modern furniture with FREE SHIPPING!!!

The CSN site offers an array of furniture, storage options and accessories. 

I have to show you some of the options available in Chests for the bedroom!

What do you think of the Taylor Chest?

 

Then there is the Applewood Chest in Cappuccino!

There are so many wonderful options, that I truly cannot decide which would be the best fit with our bedroom current furniture. 

I do know that I am definately ready for a change of drawers!

Do you have things that you are holding on to that you don't really love?

Do you have places in your home that could be better utilized?

Please share!

Seriously?

Two months have passed. 
I certainly didn't forget about you. 

Projects are always looming over my head! 
I can't believe I have fallen so far behind.

But there are priorities....like laundry or feeding ravenous preschool-aged children. 

And those priorities have seemed like such a chore since the loss of my mom. 
But she would be disappointed that I have let my mourning ruin the way my day goes.

So let's pretend that it is not mid-January, and that we are back on track with updating you daily on how to be the best domestic diva possible. 

My brother even tried to convince me to do a video-blog on what to do when the queso in the jar gets too low....because even he wants something to read about....even if it is as simple as a cheese annoyance.

And you know, the queso being on your wrist is annoying. 

But that would require a video camera!  Hello!!  Sony - I would be more than happy to review a video camera for you!!

And if you are reading this, thank you for hanging with me. 
So what have you been missing?
What would you like to have more information on?  Besides salvaging the little cheese left in the bottom of your queso jar? 

Let's talk soon!
Seriously!
xoxox