DIY Kid's Art Center

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years.  Our's was amazing.  Khloe is at the perfect Christmas age right now- she loves lights, presents, snow, Santa.... pretty much anything that has to do with Christmas.  I hope this stage lasts a long time.  Nothing is better than viewing Christmas through the eyes of an excited child.

It's back to work for us and I'm having a really hard time getting out of holiday mode.  I had the opportunity to stay home with Khloe the entire week of Christmas this year.  We made crafts, baked cookies, watched Christmas movies, played dolls... everything that I could think of.  Anyways, it's hard to come down off a week like that and go back normal everyday responsibilities.  But, I'm trying.

We started a Christmas tradition last year of making Khloe a homemade gift.  I love the idea of putting a lot of effort into something for my child.  Last year we made her play kitchen.  You can read about that by clicking the link below.

Khloe's Play Kitchen

I spent a lot of time this year on Pinterest trying to find the perfect gift to make.  Khloe loves drawing, coloring, stickers and crafts, so I decided to make her an art center.  Plus that would give me a way of organizing all those coloring books!  2 birds- 1 stone.

I started out with this little table my dad had given me.  He's always looking for stuff I can use :)

The leaves on the table made me a bit nervous- didn't want any pinched little fingers- and the decorative side panels weren't really my thing.  A few screws later and they were gone.  

I painted the table white using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations that I had leftover from painting my cabinets (Kitchen Re-do In Progress).  Same as always with this stuff, it took about 4 coats.

Sorry for the lack of in-progress pictures, it was the week of Christmas and I was struggling to get everything done.

I then painted pink stripes on the table.  Just measured it out and put down some painters tape. I wanted to match up the pink paint to the little Ikea stools that I bought, so I took a leg of one of the stools to Lowe's and matched it up.  I ended up going with Olympic Panama Rose in semi-gloss.  It matched up perfectly.

For the legs, I wanted to add a little pizzazz and since it was an art table, dripped paint legs seemed like a smart bet.  Fair warning- this is NOT a 1 person job. 

First I wrapped the top of the table in wrapping paper to protect it.  Then I poured pink paint into 4 styrofoam cups.  I put the cups to the left of each leg so we could pick up the entire table and move it over to go down in the cups.  After dipping the legs, Chris lifted the table and I quickly removed the cups.  We then quickly turned the table over to let the paint drip down the legs and dry.  It was nerve- wracking, especially since we had to do it inside due to the cold.  I had drop cloths everywhere!  I absolutely love the finished legs.  I think it's so cool to have paint dripping down an art table.

We set up the table on Christmas Eve night in her room after she went to bed and showed it to her in the morning.  I said "Khloe, now you can color whenever you want!"  Her response was, "And eat pizza!"  She's always making us laugh. This picture was Christmas morning.  She sat down and started coloring right away.

To finish off the desk, we put 2 spice racks above it to hold her coloring books, 2 Ikea stools (so she can have friends over), and three buckets on top to hold her crayons, markers and colored pencils.

Here is a link to the stools-  MAMMUT stools. They're only $7.99 each and they are crazy sturdy (my husband and I both sit on them regularly to color).

Here is a link to the spice racks- BEKVAM spice rack

The little buckets were from Target's dollar spot this summer.

Khloe loves the table.  She colors for at least an hour everyday (no exaggeration). Did you guys make any fun DIY gifts this year?

-Brooke

Linking up to:

Domestically Speaking- Inspire Me Monday

The Thrifty Home- Penny Pinching Party

Savy Southern Style- Wow Us Wednesdays

The Style Sisters- Centerpiece Wednesday

Fall Entry Table

Fall is in the air.  It was downright cold on Saturday.  It was rainy and in the 50s.  Made me want to snuggle under a cover and eat a bunch of carbs.  

I love decorating for Fall, almost as much as I love all the apple desserts.... okay not quite that much. I had already decorated the outside of the house before Khloe's party, but this weekend I went ahead and broke out the indoor Fall decorations.  This past Spring I re-vamped my entry table and decorated it for Spring.  You can read about that in these posts.

Entry Table Re-Do

Mirror Re-do & Spring Happenings

I mentioned that I would change out the decorations on my entry table for the seasons.  Here is the Fall version.

I kept the same flowers that I used for Spring and added a few pumpkiny, leafy accessories.  

Now the challenge is keeping little hands off those pumpkins.  PS- I've already failed this challenge.  

-Brooke

Spoons

Every since my kitchen update started here, I've been struggling with what to put on the walls.  It seems like whenever I try to decorate my walls, my scale is all wrong.  I need to go bigger.  I always think something looks big until I put it on the wall and then it's dwarfed.  So with the phrase rolling around in my head "GO BIG OR GO HOME" I started mad Pinteresting to find something for the big blank dining room wall.  Here's a before shot.

Holy moly that was a long time ago.  See what I mean about the scale?  The picture frame looked huge when it was sitting on the floor, but once I put it up.... it's Bilbo Baggins (Mom, that's a Hobbit movie reference, you won't get it).

Since I was already re-arranging things in the living room, I decided to steal my window chalkboard that was in the entry.  It left the entry empty, but I've got plans for that.  The window was big enough, but I still wanted to add a little pizzazz to the top.  Inspiration hit and I decided on wooden spoons.  Plain old regular size wooden spoons from TJ Maxx.  I didn't know if it would work, so I bought them with all intentions of not liking it and just throwing them in my spoon drawer.  After putting them up with my trusty Command Strips, I really liked them.

 I'm playing around with the idea of painting them, but for now I'm kind of digging the neutral vibe.  Here's a little pro (yeah right) Photoshopping to show what it may look like if I painted them fun colors.

I'm not sold.  Pretty sure I'm going to leave them neutral.

Here's a wide shot of the dining room side of the kitchen.

Here you can see the open space where there should be a door to the laundry room.  Yeah, that's a funny story I'll tell you at another time.  You can also see my DIY ruler growth chart that I'm waiting on my wonderful husband to hang.

It's amazing what some paint and new things on the wall can do for a room.

-Brooke

DIY Rustic Fall Wreath

Is it just me or have they started putting mums out WAY early this year?  Not that I mind, I love Fall.  I love the colors, the feel of the air turning crisp, the smell, the pumpkins.... you get the idea.  Also, what's up with this September?  It has been so HOT!  It's time to start cooling off... come on!

So, the Fall bug hit me early this year.  I've already broke out the pumpkin spice candles, started baking like a maniac and made a wreath.  I refuse to pay $40 for a wreath that I don't even really like, so I used what I had and made one that I love.

Here are my materials.

-foam circle (from Dollar Tree)
-sticks
-burlap
-raffia
-old t-shirt
-hot glue and gun

This was so simple to make.  It only took about 10 minutes.

First, I wrapped the foam circle in burlap, hot gluing the end to secure.  Then I broke the sticks to around the same length and stuck them in the foam all along the edges.  Most were pretty secure, but I hot glued any that felt loose.

I then made flowers out of the old t-shirt.  I roughly followed the tutorial here.

Hot glued the flowers on and hung with the raffia.  That's it!  Now I have a custom wreath that matches the rusticness (is that a word??) of my porch.

All in all, the wreath cost me $1.  I had everything except the foam circle.  Not bad, not bad at all.

-Brooke

Linking up to The 36th AVENUE.

Kitchen Re-do In Progress

I finally did it.  I tackled my kitchen.  While re-doing the kitchen has been something I've wanted to do since we moved in, it was always such a daunting task that I've just kept pushing it and pushing it.  At the beginning of the year, I made a list of goals for our house that I hoped to accomplish before the end of the year and the kitchen was on it.  With Khloe's birthday party being only a month away, I decided it was a good deadline to set for myself to have it done before the party.  

The re-do is in no way finished.  Really all I've done so far is paint the trim and the cabinets.  But wow, does it make a difference.

Here are the way befores.

Then we replaced the lighting and painted the trim.

Then it was time for the cabinets.  I used Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit in Pure White.  Last year I used this kit to paint my bathroom cabinet here.  I followed the same process this time except for a few changes.  This time I used a roller.  The kit advises to only use a brush, but the last time I had a horrible time trying to get rid of the brushstrokes.  So, I opted for a 4" foam roller for ultra-smooth surfaces.  I still used a brush for the grooves in the cabinet doors, but used the roller for everything else.  Another change from last time- I didn't use the decorative glaze this time.  I used it in the bathroom and it feels a bit dirty-looking to me.  I'll probably end up re-doing it at some point.  Also, since this was a kitchen, I felt like the cabinets were extra grimy from grease.  So, before I even began the steps outlined in the kit, I scrubbed everything down with soap and water.  Seems to have worked great.  Keep in mind, same as last time, it took me 4 coats of the base coat.  The box says it will only take 2.  Here are some of the in-progress pics.

Oh.... it was a mess.  It messed with my OCD so much that I ended up finishing it in 3 days so I could put everything back together.  

Without further adieu.... here she is all cleaned up.

It's so much brighter; it feels like we added about 17 lights.

I still have a lot to do.  Here's the checklist for now.

• Find and install a new pantry door
• DIY a backsplash of some kind
• Add a laundry room door (this is on the dining room side of the room)
• DIY wall art
• Replace curtains?? Maybe, maybe not.....
• Repaint cookbook holders ORB
• New faucet?
• Add accessories

I'll keep you updated with the progress!

- Brooke

Cheap Seat

Last week when I showed you our new porch roof here, I mentioned that I had saved money by buying an unfinished swing.

This year for Mother's Day, I asked Chris if I could pick out my own gift.  After he did his happy dance, he agreed.  All I wanted for Mother's Day was a porch swing and flowers for my porch.  

So I started scouring the internet trying to find a swing and quickly realized that I could afford nothing.

I did find this one on Lowes.com for $119... but also found that the weight limit was 300lbs.  Well... we could sit on this thing by ourselves, but both Chris and I together and.... let's just say I'm not 100 lbs.

Most of the other swings were $300 and over (too rich for my blood).  So I went over to HomeDepot.com and found this one.

It's unfinished, so I knew I would have to either paint it or stain it, but I don't have a problem with a little elbow grease.  At $99 and with a weight limit of 500 lbs, this baby was calling my name.  And it was 5ft!  That's huge!

Before ordering, being the eternal cheapskate that I am.... I wanted to look around and see if I would find this same swing somewhere cheaper.  Lo and behold, Amazon came through again.  

I bought this little baby and after shipping and everything, my order came out to $74.  And it was delivered in 2 days!!!

It arrived in a box and Chris assembled it in about 10 minutes.  I slapped on a couple coats of outdoor paint and here she is.

I was a little nervous because it had some bad reviews.  Some where saying that it felt flimsy.  When both of us first sat on it together, it did make a creaking sound.  But, I think that was just from it being new and the first time weight was applied to it.  Since then it actually feels very sturdy and doesn't creak or crack :)  I'm happy with my purchase and my deal finding skills!  

-Brooke

The Front Porch is Done!

Chris has been working his booty off this Spring finishing our front porch.  

Last Spring he built the porch, but not the roof.  At the beginning of this year, it looked like this.

I do NOT miss that!  

So, about a month ago, Khloe and I went on a trip with my mom and when I came back Chris had put up the roof!  Since then he's been putting on the finishing touches and as of yesterday, it is complete!!  

We decided to go with rough-cut lumber on the inside roof.  We just got the lumber from our local saw mill. I love how it turned out.  

Chris installed LED can lights on the ceiling which provide a TON of light.  But we also have a light box in the center.  We're still trying to decide if we're going to do a chandelier or a fan there.

On one side of the porch, we have a table, chairs and the grill (probably should have taken the grill cover off for the pics...)  

On the other side is my new porch swing and Khloe's corner.

I'll do another post on this, but I bought an unfinished porch swing for WAY cheap and painted it.  I also made the pillows.  My favorite is the middle one with my baby's hand prints :)

We're loving spending time out here.  

The rest of the yard is looking great this year.  The grass has really come in well.  Here is the view from the road.  We purposely set our house back this far because we love the privacy it provides.

Here's the view as you come down our driveway.

So that's our yearly yard update :)

-Brooke