white house, black shutters

Dec 12, 2011

Scribble Christmas Trees

posted on: December 12, 2011 | by Ann Marie | 7 Comments

I got these HUGE sheets of green paper from my mother-in-law and since they were green, decided to put them to work as Christmas decorations ;)

Lily and I started out by coloring the huge pieces of paper. I would draw shapes, she would color them in. We then switched to having crayon races, and trying to go FAST! and sloooooow.

I cut the paper into three triangles, then cut some stars out of scrapbook paper, trunks out of a paper bag, attached glue dots to the back, then Lily helped me hang them up.

She was mad at first that I was cutting the paper, but once she realized that we were making Christmas trees, she got SO excited!

If we are ready for another project, I’ll have them add ornament circles!

I love how they turned out, they look so happy in the room, and she was so proud. :)

7 Comments

Filed Under: Christmas, free projects, kid projects, the kids' room

Nov 30, 2011

Kids’ Room Part 1,245: Three Beds in a Room

posted on: November 30, 2011 | by Ann Marie | 2 Comments

I got a free toddler bed, did you hear? Sprayed that baby white and we practically have a matching pair :)

How do I do naptime with two toddlers? Stagger bedtimes. Put one kid down, wait 15 min, put the other down. I didn’t do that yesterday and we didn’t have any naps… Don’t ask me how I’m going to do three, LOL. I HAVE NO CLUE AND I’M SCARED!

I’ll probably end up waiting until this little one is 6-9 months old before I even attempt trying to put him in here.

Also, don’t underestimate the power of blackout curtains. It’s like night time and so amazing…

Here’s what it looked like almost two years ago (TWO YEARS – CRAP!)

and today :)

I’m calling this room finished. If it stays like this, I’d be pleased as punch. If we get around to working on the to-do list, beautiful. But it’s come a long way :)

to-do list:
-get another toddler bed
-paint it white
-sort kids’ clothes, put away old, have bins ready for next sizes, Goodwill unwanted

~~-hang second curtain above bed~~

-take down/rearrange string letters
-figure out a solution to the drop down crib (either new one or fix old)
-paint window trim
-paint trim
-finish bookshelf
-add wall art (photos and drawings mounted to MDF)
-make a play corner here

and I just updated our Interior Tour with the new shots. What do ya think?

2 Comments

Filed Under: free projects, freecycle, the kids' room

Nov 29, 2011

Lamp, Statue, and Toddler Bed B&A

posted on: November 29, 2011 | by Ann Marie | 8 Comments

Do you know that the only gray things I have in my home are my clothes? I love gray, I don’t even know if I should spell it “gray” or “grey, ” I love wearing gray, I love greige, and I almost painted my whole house in a lovely warm gray tone until we realized it didn’t go well with the dark wood trim. That I’m planning on painting white. *shakes head* I should trust my gut…

My creativity has been starving lately, so I tackled some quick projects to feed it!

This is the first can of gray I’ve bought, and the first time I’ve used it. I LOVE THE COLOR!!!!!!

believe me, the picture where the brown bananas and cottage cheese snuck into the shot had the best lighting and therefore looked the best. I promise. ;)

While the gloves and mask were on (I’m being careful – although I can’t endorse spray-painting while preg.), I figured this .25 cent statue of Mary (from Dollar Tree) needed a simple makeover. Two coats of Heirloom White and…

And finally, I’ve been looking for a white or wooden toddler bed for a while now, but haven’t found anything outside of Cars or Dora themed at Garage Sales. I practically JUMPED onto my keyboard when I saw this listing on freecycle:

and then promptly did a happy dance when I saw this:

GASP!

First rule of freecycle, pick items up promptly because the person is trying to get it out of their house.

Second rule, don’t just send a quick “I could use this item. Please send pics. Thank you.” You’ll sound rude. The two most annoying things are no-shows and people who mass respond to every single posting because they can. Quickly, tell the person why you need the item, a little back story. Don’t go nuts, but be honest!

Give the person your phone number, a specific time you CAN pick up (but also throw in that you can come whenever THEY want), and a reason to pick you. My reason is that I have a van and that I’m not a no-show. I only respond to the things I could REALLY use, and want them to know I’m not greedy. (I hate greedy freecyclers…)

Third rule, leave a thank you note and/or (but preferably “and”) send a thank you email. I haven’t decided if I want to send her a pic of the finished project, but the before was WAY nicer than I expected. What do you think, would she would like to see my finished project? Would you?

(I’ve always been torn about this and would LOVE to hear what you think. I personally would love to see it, but that’s me.)

I had Doug start spraying it that night with a glossy white, left it in the garage for a week to cure, and moved it into their room today. Wah-lah!

We now have three beds in the kids’ room and everything fits PERFECTLY. Doug and I tackled that monstrous pile of neglected clothes last Saturday and now there’s even room for a play corner. So excited, I’ll show you more of the room tomorrow!

And that’s not me putting it off for another day, I’m writing the post and uploading pics right now ;)

Three projects – all FREEEEEEE!

What have you transformed lately?

If you gave away something on freecycle, would you be happy to see a picture of the person’s transformation or what they did with it? I really can’t wait to hear what you have to say about this one…

8 Comments

Filed Under: free projects, freecycle, spray painted, the kids' room

Nov 11, 2011

Toddler Bed Curtain Headboard (to hide the elf door)

posted on: November 11, 2011 | by Ann Marie | 6 Comments

There is a door behind this curtain that leads to the back of our tub. We lovingly call it our elf door. I’ve thought of painting it with chalkboard paint, magnetic paint, making it a cute little spot for her art, which all would have been lovely. Minus the chalkboard paint. I think more than half of these chalkboard paint projects have been conceived by someone who either doesn’t have a toddler, or doesn’t have much experience with toddlers and chalkboards…

But in a room with not so much room, we need to utilize every little square inch and this is where the bed works.

Here’s the elf door before it got a coat of primer (the paint never made it on).

Here it is with primer. Better, but it’s still there. Haha, I don’t want it there!

Using an oooold rod that I found in our basement, I jimmy rigged some 50 lb picture hanging hooks to be a bit more curved and fit the rod better. Nailed those near the ceiling, and took one of our curtains that are waiting to be hung in the dining room and hung it. I love the look!

Once we are ready to hang the curtains (umm, hopefully soon), I’ll hem and weight the bottom of the curtain to hang better. But for now, this works! I’m not hemming them until they’re in the right room, and it totally hides the elf door. :)

I like these Vitaminer Vimpals (lol) from IKEA.

and good news…
we could totally put another toddler bed in here and have plenty of room

Here’s the other side of the room, the crib still fits in here great although I probably need to replace my drop side crib now that they’ve been recalled. Sad face. This thing is 26 years old and STURDY. Not made with plastic, not likely to break. But it’s better to be safe I guess…

25 cents at a garage sale! They love ~~playing with this~~ having me play with this for them.

Here’s the other side of the room, it’ll be more of a play area of some sort. My legs are still bum legs and things are still piling up. I’ve been folding some of their laundry and putting it away, but this is the summer stuff, stuff that doesn’t fit. I need to go through it and put it away.

Not the end of the world.

Ben can take down the pictures off the wall, they’re now on the shelf. Also note the floppy “d,” that was him too.

And because they love to say “cheese” and actually want me to take pictures, we took some pictures

Love our new elf door cover and wall curtain! It really helps to define the space.