Summertime

Summer is well on its way here, with its warm breezes and hot sunshine, fresh squeezed lemonade and oh so good bbq, swimming pools and Popsicles. Dont forget naps in the hammock..... Its seems like it took a long time for the temps to warm up around here and for the sun to shine. It was cold and rained a lot, here and it seems all over the place, seems as if spring is really just starting.  Hard to believe summer is only a month away!

Some of my favorite childhood activities during the summer months involved being outside- roller skating, pitching a tent in the yard, swimming or running through the sprinklers....Now Ive got my own children laughing and enjoying the same things I did, with the glee and spunk and enjoyment only children seem to have. And as a parent I get to relive summer in a whole different way.

Days are long in the summer, extending the fun well past bedtime. The warm nights are an extension of the day. Eating roasted marshmallows beside a campfire during camping trips, watching the stars twinkle, going to the drive in in the middle of the week, having ice cream and pie on the porch....I could list a hundred different things to do in the summer, and maybe I will in another post, but for now I hope to leave you all anticipating summer like a kid again. I know I am!

I didnt get as many postings up yesterday as I had hoped. I had a bunch of running around to do that took up too much of my time!!! Ill do a quick post right now of a very simple thing: a vanity seat, chair, and storage box all rolled into one. My daughter has a chair-a big black leather chair that is so comfy you never want to get up-but she needed something to use at her desk/vanity, and also another seat for when she has friends over. And I wanted her to have something she could use to store her toys too (she is still a kid after all!!), but space is limited.

Well, I thought a chest would be a nice thing, but have you seen the prices for some?? Then I thought my husband could make her something. But his time is limited, and the cost was still more than I wanted to dole out. THEN I remembered we have these little cubes from our childhood. Somehow my husband and I both wound up with these little wooden storage cubes with lids when we were kids. Go figure. Weve had them in the basement, using them to store things we (meaning he) were too lazy to get rid of. And whaddya know, they are the perfect size!!! Well, one is anyway. Its an exact fit for under the desk and doesnt take up too much space in the room when its out. PERFECT!!!

So, I got an old square throw pillow, some batting, a staple gun and some material, and turned a cutesy cube with papered kitties into a multi-functional piece of furniture, for less than ten bucks.

Here it is!

The material is velvet, which is the same as the curtain panels will be. I had originally added some tulle around the seats edge in her rooms colors, but she likes it better plain, so I removed it. The whole seat lifts off for storing her stuff. And were on our way to finishing the room!!!
Keep an eye out for my next post, because I think everyone will like what I did alot!!!

A quick re-do

It was at a garage sale a few years ago that I came across this lucky find; a pretty memo board, just begging to be re-done. I could never bring myself to tear the fabric off, because it was so pretty and well preserved, but it never went with my home decor, so it went unused and unchanged. Until last week.

I decided to use it for my daughter's bedroom instead of searching for the perfect one for her room. A new piece of fabric, some ribbon, batting and chalk board paint changed this:

Into this: 

Im pleased with the results (even though its not perfect!), and so is my daughter. She has already used chalk on it, but Ive put it up to keep it from getting ruined before we can hang it. That sort of stuff happens around here a lot....

Oh man, has it really been two weeks since I last posted?? I feel bad....but I'm going to make up for it! I have a few things to share; the befores and semi-afters (I say semi because we haven't quite finished) of our oldest's bedroom renovation, a few projects I've completed for her room, and Ill share a few quick and easy recipes that my family loves. Keep an eye out all day today for posts.


To kick it off, heres a look at the befores and afters of our "office to bedroom"
We haven't finished yet, but I expect to be done this week. And please, pay no mind to the mess we made!! We're really good at mess making!

The first is of the shelves before, they are staying for all her books and what-nots. The next is the whole desk unit we tore out (and all the junk we had stored). We had to patch a a lot of the wall where the plaster pulled away. The third is of the closet and bathroom doors, and the linen closet, which we did not remove. Picture number four shows our handy work with a paint brush, the newly empty space, and a bunch of crap on the floor from painting! The last is of her window and the bathroom and closet door space.