Our Home

My little family has been loving our new home. The updates have seemed never ending but the payoff is worth it. Check out the before & after pictures on my family blog.

DIY: Painting Stripes

Another DIY post today! My life lately has been filled with fix-it-up projects, thus the posts. I picked the colors for my house and new I wanted to redo my son, Beckett's room. I feel like you can be a little more adventurous in kids rooms, so I chose to do one of his walls in stripes. The key to making a stripped wall turn out well is your taping job. Here are the directions.

Materials:
1. Your paint (however many colors you want)
2. Tape (thick tape is going to be easier)
3. Paint brush
4. Paint roller
5. Chalk string

Directions:
1. Prep your wall by cleaning it with a wet rag.
2. Tape the edges. Tape your ceiling, baseboard, and wall edges. Take your time! You want to make sure your tape is straight and your press the tape down firmly, or you will get leaks.
3. Next, decide how thick/thin you want your stripes, measure each side of the wall and make a small mark with a pencil where your stripes will end.
4. Next, get our your string, get chalk on it (these are found at Home Depot). Hold the string from edge to edge of the wall, tightly (you will need 2 people to do this). Once the line is the correct height, pull the string back-it will hit the wall and make a perfectly straight line of chalk. This is SO much easier than trying to do it all with a ruler and pencil.
5. Tape off 1 stripe (press it VERY firmly against the wall to prevent leaks). I had 3 colors, so 3 stripes (cream, red, navy). To make it easier I painted the entire wall cream. Once that was dry I started with step 2. Decide which stripe you want to paint first and tape that off.

6. Paint your first stripe. Go around the edges by the wall with your paintbrush, then go over the entire stripe with a roller. Take your time, you don't want to get paint outside of your tape and have to go back and fix it.
7. Once dry, go back over it, I would do at least 2 coats.
8. Carefully peel off the tape. Re tape your next stripe, taking your time and pressing firmly.
9. Repeat step 6.

10. When all stripes are painted, carefully tape your tape off and VOILA! A beautiful statement wall.

DIY: Cabinet Makeover

As I previously posted about, we recently moved and have been overhauling our house. One of my favorite rooms in our house is the kitchen, and we changed just about everything! We got new counters, back splash, and appliances. In order to be more cost effective we decided to paint our cabinets instead of buying new ones. I must admit, I was skeptical at first,  I wasn't sure if painted cabinets would look nice or cheap or just plain bad. However, they turned out fabulous! I found a bunch of tutorials online and went from there.

Materials:
1. Paint (semi-gloss in a paint/primer mix)
2. Sandpaper
3. Electric sander or hand sander
4. Paintbrush
5. Paint roller
6. Any extras you want to update (Example: knobs, hinges)

Directions:
1. Take off all of your cabinets and lay them out on a clean surface (garage is a good place, or in your house on top of an old sheet). Make sure you know which cabinet door went where, some people suggest you write it on the back-I didn't do that.
2. Sand! Our cabinets were already white, but they weren't done well. We didn't sand them all the way down, just lightly sanded them. You want it sanded enough to where there is a rough surface, it helps the paint to stick and stay.
3. Wipe your cabinets/drawer fronts down so they are nice and clean.

4. Paint! Start with the paint brush first, covering all the edges and corners. Next use your roller to
paint the rest. How many coats you have to paint will depend on your color. I painted mine an off-white color, I did 3 coats on the front. Wait at least 4 hours between coats. Once dry, turn them over and paint the back. I did 1 coat on the back side.

5. When your cabinets are fully dry you can hang them back up. Once up, you can add your knobs.

BEFORE

(sorry, I didn't get a good before shot)

 AFTER

 (we also tore out the section of cabinets above the counter to open it up. There is one cabinet that we still have to get up)

 

 

 

DIY: Easter

Easter....already?! Believe it or not, Easter is just over a month away. I have gathered a good amount of decor for the other holidays but I basically have nothing for Easter. I'm sure you've seen banners all around lately, or you probably have some for your own home. I think they are an easy, cute, fun way to spice up your home. I made an Easter banner using scrapbook paper, cutout letters, string, and laundry clips-simple! The colors are a bit different than the 'usual' Easter colors, but I prefer it.

 

 Next, I HALF made an Easter basket. I saw a few ideas on Pinterest and I thought this would be a fairly easy task. I already had this green Easter basket from last year and I used leftover fabric. I didn't cut the fabric into strands, I ripped them so that they'd have the worn out edges. Then I got to work, all you do is wrap and wrap and wrap. I'm probably not going to use it as Beckett's Easter basket (too small), maybe as a candy holder. Anyways, you can do a lot with these two ideas and make them your own!

 

 

DIY: Growth Stick

Another DIY project was success! I saw a lot of different growth stick projects on Pinterest and was hooked. I remember having a growth stick growing up that my siblings and I shared. I remember how fun it was to get measured on our birthdays and record that on the stick. I wanted to continue that on with my kids. Online, I saw a BUNCH of different ways the growth stick can be done. I didn't really follow any of them, took some of their ideas and combined them with mine.

 

Materials Needed:

Wood Board (can be thin or thick, whatever you want!)

Paint or Wood Stain

Anything else you want to use for embellishments

 

Instructions:

1. Cut your wood board to the height you want. I had my husband saw ours off at 6 feet 5 inches tall. We are both on the taller side of life so you never know how tall our kids will end up being at 18 years old.

2. Sand! Sand your wood to make sure no little fingers get slivers.

3. Paint! I was originally going to stain the wood, using the leftover stain from our DIY coffee table. BUT, I changed my mind and felt that it would be better with a light creamy color. I wanted to keep the colors gender neutral.

4. While that was drying I painted 6 little wood plaques. I initially wanted to get wood number cutouts but couldn't find any in the size I liked. I painted them a dark red brick color.

 

5. Paint the numbers. This part took me the longest because I did it by hand. First sketching them on paper, tracing them on the plaques, then painting the numbers in. This took a lot of concentration!

6. Next, Measure your board and mark off the measurements. I marked off the inches and feet.

7. Glue on the numbers. With wood glue, I carefully glued them on my board. I then placed heavy books on top to make sure they dried evenly and securely.

 

8. To give the growth stick a little more character I sanded the edges here and there to make it look worn.

 

9. Lastly, paint a clear sealer on top.

 

DIY: Coffee Table

This weekend the husband & I put our heads together to update our coffee table. We have had this basic black coffee table from Ikea for a few years now and i've been a bit unhappy with it lately. This update was just what it needed! Here is how we did it:

 

What you need:
wood (enough to cover your table, choose the width you prefer)
wood stain
nails

Directions:

• Start off measuring & cutting your wood to fit the length/width of your coffee table. I was originally going to pick out wood that was wider, but when I was looking I decided on a smaller width.

• Sand, sand, sand. My good husband spent hours in the garage sanding those boards. 
• Next, lay out the wood and get staining! We picked out a good rustic brown color, it took 3 coats but it turned out perfecto.

• Then you are ready to nail! My husband did this part, as I am not handy with tools. He nailed the side boards on first, then lined up the top boards and nailed those on. We picked out black nails that matched the coffee table since they would be seen.
• Wallah, you have a new fabo coffee table!

I have to say I really like the end result, it turned out just like I was hoping. One of my new years resolutions was to make a DIY project that I was proud of.....Check!

Yogurt Bites

Okay, so probably everyone of you reading this has seen a picture or pin on Pinterest about frozen yogurt bites, or something similar. I was no different. My son has been a picky eater lately but has always liked popsicles, so I decided to try this out. I didn't read any of the tutorials on how to make these, it is pretty self explanitory. Here is my spin on it.

What you need: yogurt, ziploc bag, spoon, wax paper, food coloring (optional)

1. First I divided my yogurt into 2 small bowls. In one bowl I added blue food coloring (made it a little more fun), I left the other bowl the natural color.

2. I cut a VERY tiny piece off of one of the corners on the ziploc bag. I then filled the ziploc bag with one of the bowls of yogurt.

3. Squeezing gently, squeeze little dollups of yogurt onto the wax paper. Repeat this with the next bowl of yogurt.

4. When you're all done making the little dollups/dots put the wax paper in the freezer. I put the wax paper on top of a big pot lid I had so that it sat more flat in the freezer. These freeze pretty quickly, an hour or two.

5. When frozen and ready to eat, I popped off the yogurt dots into a bowl for my son to eat. They are super easy to pop off when you put them on wax paper. The best part? Beckett loved them! He thought the colors were fun and I think he thought it was candy since it was frozen. A great way to deceive little ones :)

Suggestion: If your children are little, I would recommend NOT putting food coloring in the yogurt. It makes it more visually appealing, but it is a bit more messy when they are eating.

DIY: Christmas Hanging Decor

I LOVE Christmas decorations! I have really added to my collection these past few years. This year I made a few new decorations that I think added the perfect touch. They all ended up being some type of hanging decoration, which was not planned. They were all SUPER easy to make and easy to make it your own.

 

 

1. Falling Window Ornaments: All you need for this are ornaments (various colors & sizes), and ribbons or string. You want to make sure you have a sturdy top to your ornament; I hot glued the tops to the ornament to make sure they wouldn't fall apart. Then you string the ribbon through the loop, your going to want various lengths of ribbon. After that, you're ready to hang them up, it's that easy!  I just taped the top of the ribbon to the backside of the blinds. You can make as many or few as you want and adapt it to the size of your window.

;

 2. Window Bells: I found a great deal on these glittery bells at Target, just $1 each! Just like above I hung them from string and hung them to the outside of the window. It added a fun little touch to the porch decor. I also liked them because they sparkle at night with all that glitter!

3. Falling Snowflakes: For this last decoration idea you need popsicle sticks (lots), a glue gun, paint, and string. First I made snowflakes using different amounts of popsicle sticks, hot gluing them in the center. When done I painted them, I did half red and half white. Once they were all done drying I hot glued some cute brown ribbon in between each one. In my house, I thought it would be cute to hang up two strands of these snowflakes, one on each side of the fireplace. I liked the outcome!

No Sew Christmas Tree Skirt

I've been married 3 years now and still haven't gotten a Christmas tree skirt! Growing up my mom had sewn hers and our stockings, so I've been biased ever since. Homemade is always better than store bought! This year I was lucky enough to spot this fab no sew Christmas tree skirt on Pinterest. It looked fool proof enough so I gave it a try.

What You Need:

• Old tree skirt, or cut your own out of left over fabric
• Fabric cut into 2 1/2" wide strips (as many different colors as you like, about 3 yards total)
• Glue gun and LOTS of glue sticks
• Ribbon to tie the tree skirt together (I made my ties out of the leftover fabric)

Directions:

• Cut your fabric into strips. I bought 2 colors of fabric, 1 1/2 yards each and I had leftovers.
• Start on the bottom edge of the opening of the tree skirt with your fabric & glue gun. You will glue the end down and with the rest of the strip you'll fold it over and glue it down as you go, creating little ripples. It's super easy! You keep doing that same thing all the way around.

• When you get to the next row you can change up your fabric or keep it the same, overlapping it a bit with the first layer. Do this all the way until you get to the top.
• When you're all done gluing the strips down you will want to cut out all of the little strings that appear from using the glue gun.
• Glue or sew your ribbon on the opening of the tree skirt.

• Option: You can sew this whole thing instead of gluing it. It's up to you! Either way will work great.

I really liked the outcome of my tree skirt. However, if I did it again I would have chosen more fabric options than just two. If you end up trying this out, let me know how it goes!