Finally a real mantel

As far back as I can remember I’ve looked forward to decorating my own house and the centerpiece in most homes is the fireplace mantel. We were so excited to finally be purchasing a home of our own, but I have to admit - the so-called mantel around our fireplace was a big let down to me. Just a facade on the wall with no mantel shelf to adorn with decorations. Not to mention the stark ugliness of it - why someone would glue random extrastrips of wood across the front of it I have no idea...? And I was not the greatest fan of the stain - especially when paired with the fleshy colored walls and the added brassy accents on the fireplace itself. Ew, ew, ew. A blight to my artistic vision! lol

We just lived with it as we tackled other more pressing needs and fixes a little at a time. Finally, this spring as Mike was getting rid of all the fleshy toned paint, we decided to do something about it. We wanted a wood accent wall, and we were definitely not going to build around and preserve that monstrosity! It was time for the ugly flat fake mantel to go!

I neglected to take before photos - so I scrounged through old photos to give you the idea of what the mantel looked like before:

Love this adorable model

And this one also documents that one time my child helped with the vacuuming... :)

Such a sad attempt at decoration, LOL!

Another one -- Trying to cover up a bit of the ugliness without spending a lot of money.

Tear down time!

In process..

No more brass! 

(Someday we may splurge for more realistic looking logs - like 2 different ones instead of 2 identical...but for now I am satisfied with the improvement)

Our first attempt at a stone surround with a curious little helper - we ended up going with something much simpler..

Almost there - better already...

And...

Voila!

The finished mantel!

- Finally a shelf to put things on! ...Still figuring out how to decorate it - I'm not used to collecting decorative things because we've never had a space to display them! Mike and I are artists, but we feel a little bit interior-decorator-challenged. Part of it is - we never want to spend a lot of money... We are way excited about how this project turned out though, and I'm so excited to have an actual mantel for our stockings this year!!

After doing the living room wood accent wall we loved it so much we wanted to do another one on the opposite side of our main living space in the dining area to kind of tie them together. Only for the other wall we decided to use a white stain to keep the room from being too dark and to not clash so much with our kitchen wood which carries over into the same area and is more honey toned so doesn't really go with the gray.

I love how it turned out. Here's a picture from Lily's birthday this summer.

It's crazy how making a few changes in your surroundings can effect how you feel. I love our little home so much more and feel so much more peace in it - even though it's still a little cramped for our family. So grateful for my hardworking husband and his perseverance on this project which I hope (despite his protestations) he will repeat in our next home, should we ever move from this one :)

The New, The Improved

Lily's Cardboard Kitchen!

Here is the finished stove and sink! 

A couple close-ups:

Sink = New

Stove = Improved.

Getting a little use (Lily would not cooperate for pictures when I took these):

I finally finished these a couple of days ago. (Woo Hoo!) I think they look kind of retro with the black and blue. Lily was disappointed they are not pink. She is going through a pink phase. "Blue is for boys!" "No, no...this is baby blue, and blue is for everybody!" -- I feel kind of bad now... I was being a tight wad and didn't want to buy the extra large roll (they didn't have pink in the small size). Why I get caught up in a matter of like $6 difference when the rest of the project was made entirely from cardboard I got free and packaging tape and items I already had -- I do not know... I guess I am in perpetual save mode. I need to gain a little better perspective on 'the big picture' when I am out shopping. Plus, pink would have gone so much better with her apron and tablecloth... Doh! I feel bad, but no way am I re-doing them any time soon. The doors on that sink were too much work to cover -- I am just happy to check that project off my list! 


Lily played with them quite a bit today...after she was done playing superhero with her silky green tied quilt as a cape. She made me a delicious soup out of Mr. Potato head parts, 3 noses and a muscly arm in my bowl. She let me taste the flower and mustache in her bowl. Mm-mm good! When I was done she made sure to wash my dishes. I think she'll survive her disappointment! She did tell me she liked the striped shelf paper I made for the cupboard, but I don't think she got the duct tape circle drain. We had so much fun playing today we just skipped nap-time. I will have to post a sound clip of Lily making up a story that we recorded on my laptop this afternoon. Fun times! :)

What are your Mommy Secrets?

So, these aren't really secrets, but I got this idea from a blogging friend and thought it rocked! She shared things she does to make being a mom easier. She has a private blog or I'd share a link, but she got the idea for her post here - in case you want to check out this other mom's list.

Please share any ideas of things you do - we all need all the help we can get!

I should preface this by saying my house is not spotless, nor do I manage to get dinner on the table every night. I am also lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who helps me a ton, even after a hard day's work. That said...

Here are my tips or shortcuts that make everyday life just a little bit easier on me:

1. When we're just going to be around the house (which is most days because I am car-less) I keep Lily in her pajamas until nap-time. After milk and stories we brush her teeth and wash up and she always gets her pj's wet - so we change her clothes last and she always goes into her crib in a fresh, clean set of clothes. I don't have to wash and change her sheets as often and she doesn't get sick very much. PJ's are so cute anyway!

2. I always buy the next size of diapers when they seem slightly small so I don't get stuck with a bunch that are too small, or have to deal with a bunch of leaks.

3. I made my own flannel sheets for Lily which I use most of the year. The crib mattress fits so tight I can just make it flat and tuck it in. It absorbs moisture better (because that girl gets sweaty) and is easier to change than a fitted sheet.

4. I made my own window inserts out of cardboard covered in contact paper so that for daytime naps and too-early of mornings the room is as dark as night. This trick got my baby (who I thought never slept!) on to a regular 2-3 hour nap a day - 7:30 am wake-up schedule.

5.  I've sung to Lily since she was a little baby. It's something that soothed her and it still helps her to get to sleep faster. Nice because you always have your voice with you without having to think about it, and it doesn't get lost or wear out like a favorite toy (at least not permanently). I've tried to mix it up with a good variety so we don't get too tired of singing the same old song, but even if you don't think you have a good singing voice - I think your baby loves it. When I had to be away for a week after my thyroid treatment I even sang Lily's bedtime favorites into a mic and recorded them on the computer to make a CD for Mike - though I don't think he used it :)

6. I don't give Lily a bath everyday unless she really needs it, and I still use the toddler bathtub inside the big tub most of the time because it uses less water so it's quicker and it's so quick to clean. I just rinse it out with hot water from our pull out shower head, let it drip dry and we're good to go. Lily doesn't care because it's the norm.

7. When Lily asks to get out toys for a new activity I get her involved in cleaning up whatever is out first. The mess doesn't get out of hand and she has incentive to clean. This morning she cleaned up her toys all on her own, before getting some right back out again :)

8. I always do laundry first thing Monday morning when I'm fresh, and if it needs it once more later in the week so it doesn't build up. I only do two types of loads - hot and cold. Yes, I put my husband's white Sunday shirt right in to wash cold with the dark colors - as long as there's nothing new that hasn't been washed yet. If there are more than 2 loads I might separate it out a bit more carefully, but it's so nice to be able to just sort everything into 2 baskets as we go. If anything need special stain treatment I stick it on top of my laundry basket lid so it will be right there to remind me to pre-treat it. If it's a major stain like chocolate I take it right off if I can and rinse it with cold water immediately. Vinegar in the wash removes odors and kills germs like thrush and doesn't smell vinegary once it's dry.

9. When I buy ground turkey (we don't do beef) - I season it and do it up into burger patties to freeze - 2 per freezer bag so I can knock them apart easily if I just want one. This saves so much time and money because you don't have to think what you are going to use it for until you need it. Just get out how many patties you need to have turkey burgers, brown for spaghetti, or whatever. I like to use just one patty in a recipe sometimes so we get the flavor while using meat more sparingly like the Word of Wisdom instructs. Goes farther and saves money too!

10. When I buy canned goods or boxes of dry goods I write the date (month/year) right on them before I put them on the shelf. It helps us to use the oldest stuff first when you can't always organize things perfectly right away. A lot of food containers have complicated date stamps and I don't have the time to go online to figure them out.

11. With pretty much 3 households sharing one kitchen it's pretty difficult to keep the dishes from piling up. For me, I just try to clean up after myself and not worry about the rest, because I just can't! When I cook I do try to think about how I can use the least number of dishes (ex: Cut veggies before meat on the same cutting board, use the knife for butter first and then to spread the messier condiments) and I clean up as I go. It's become a habit so it's not like I'm frozen, calculating, before making a move. As I go, taking dishes off the stove: I rinse the pots and pans or let them soak right away so I can avoid extra scrubbing.

12. Some of my favorite cleaning products:
Vinegar
All detergent - less perfume than special baby detergents.
The Works - toilet and shower cleaners - remove soap scum so easily!!
Barkeeper's Friend for stainless steel pots
Resolve Stain Remover Spray

13. I have an ongoing To Do List in an excel spreadsheet on my computer, another tab has my To Buy List, other tabs have goals and friend and family's addresses so all my organizational lists are right in one place and I can just print them off in a rush. I am working on organizing all my family's medical records into a single binder.

14. I try to plan a week's meals before we shop. Once I did a whole month in advance which was kinda crazy, but nice too. I want to switch over to a meal planning routine a lady at church shared with me, but I haven't gotten there quite yet. It's an improvement on what I was doing because you leave one day open to account for leftovers or going out, and you have a super organized grocery list and recipe book and schedule of all the meals you rotate.

15. I don't clip coupons - I just shop where I know the things I buy are typically cheaper like Walmart and Costco and one or 2 local grocery stores. I only use coupons when they fall into my lap because they make mess and just take too much time and energy for me - and shopping at fewer places saves money on gas - so that's good enough for me. If something I typically buy is on sale I stock up - just make sure you keep the expiration dates in mind.

16. When we eat out - we bring a to go bag for Lily - A large Ziploc bag with a cheap square plastic plate, a bib, and some kid friendly utensils. We usually just take a sandwich and offer her something off our plates rather than shelling out $5 for our picky eater to try one bite. When she's done we can just stick the dirty bib and plate back in the Ziploc bag and the server doesn't have to deal with Lily's mess.

17. When Lily first started eating solids I bought a large rectangle vinyl tablecloth and cut it in half so I always had a drop cloth I could easily wipe off protecting the carpet in our kitchen area. Suction cup bowls - love those!

18. Lily is a picky eater so to make sure she's getting more of the nutrition she needs I mix some liquid toddler vitamins in with half orange juice/half milk. She loves it and downs it no-worries every day! She also eats her yogurt better every morning with a sprinkling of Rice Krispies to make faces on her spoon. The best part is they don't have to look any more like faces than her scribblings look like what she says they are.

Well, that was more than I thought I had - I think I will stop there! I realize you probably already do some of these things and others might not work for you, but please share any tips you have with me! Anything to make life easier and give us more time to just enjoy living!

Making It Do: Ideas from me to you

Just wanted to share a couple cheap ideas I've had that made my life a little easier. I'd call this Making It Do if I had keywords for my blog posts, which I don't.

We've lived in a lot of different places since we've been married. Places that are often small and -so far- have always been considered temporary. That doesn't mean we want to live in disorder and just put up with a places annoying imperfections each day...we just don't want to pay a lot to fix them. Time to be creative and improvise! We built hanging screens in our old 19th century attic apartment that had none, screen material, a little strip of cardboard with staples at the top, and a dowel sewn in to a strip at the bottom and we were in business. Kept out the larger insects and birds anyway. We've hung curtains in corners to create extra storage areas, improvised all kinds of shelves, and made each place we've lived as much as we could into our own cozy home.

Mike and I are the kind of people who feel best in a clean organized space. Pretty much everything has it's place, even if it ends up being in a weird place. Living with my parents we still keep as much independence as we can, we buy our own groceries, and cook and clean up after our own meals. We don't want to make life any harder on them than we can help, or have it be too much of a shock when we are back on our own! Our living room doubles as our business office, toy room, pantry including mini fridge, and occasional guest room. I cannot tell you how I long for the day to house all of our bathroom stuff in the bathroom, kitchen stuff in our own kitchen, and have a full size fridge rather than 2 mini fridges in 2 different rooms! We live with daily inconvenience, but it enables me to be at home with my daughter as we work towards building our future, so it's worth it! A lot of families live together starting out, and we've done it starting out and starting over.

When we were expecting Lily we rearranged our bedroom to squeeze a baby into it. We ended up moving our king size bed into a corner and taking off our closet doors to fit our dressers in there. With only 19 inches of closet space to split between Mike and I, I figured there was no way Lily's tiny dresses were going to have a place to hang. In the drawer they would go. Then as those drawers got more packed with blankets and clothes for Lily to wear or grow into, I had to find another solution. A little shelf in the corner next to the changing table gave extra surface space for Lily's toiletries, and provided a nice little place to string a wire and hang Lily's dresses and sweaters. Now the only question is: What to wear?

 

 

If you wanted to you could put screws and wire, or simply staple a little curtain around the under edge of the shelf to make it prettier. I didn't bother with that for the sake of easy access. (My little sleepyhead is really growing up too fast!)

My next idea is a cheap alternative to black out shades. Since doing this nap time has become a dream! I didn't want to buy expensive shades to fit a window that isn't really mine. Who knows what size the window in Lily's next room will be. My solution: cardboard covered in contact paper. For a long time I had to walk Lily in the stroller to get her to nap...now that she's on a schedule just popping this baby in the window to dim the light and a mini version of the night time routine and she's out! Not the best in convenience or looks, but it works for me!

Looks and works better than ghetto tin foil or a random blanket hanging up there all the time. 

I cut cardboard boxes to fit in my window around my air-conditioner and created 2 sections that overlap in the center. I flattened cardboard boxes, but left two layers to make it sturdier. Then I covered them in white contact paper, with 2 layers on the side facing in to our room (Otherwise the cardboard kind of shows though). There wasn't enough on the roll for 2 layers of contact paper on both sides, but you can't tell the difference from outside. Then I created flaps with white duct tape around the edges to fold in and better keep out the light. I left the overlapping edges in the center flap free so I would remember which direction to pop them in. The tighter the fit the better, seriously turns the sunniest room dark as night. The only problem is whether you have a place to store them when they're not in the window. I just tuck mine behind our bed. Regular naps are directly connected to regular night times, so this light blocker has been a life saver for us! Nice little bit of extra insulation for single pane windows too. 

Every place has a different challenge, but I think it's fun to look for creative ways to make everyday life a little bit better. Anyone else with an idea to share?

For the Love of Movies

One project finished! Love that feeling-don't get it enough, I guess I need more simpler projects. I just converted our DVD's over to slim cases to save space. We essentially live in two rooms which serve as our shared bedroom, family room, play room, food storage including 1 mini fridge, and office to...how many home businesses do we have now? Needless to say, space is precious! I must be organized for my sanity. I probably spent more time than most people would to make our movie covers look nice, but this is our collection, and once it's made it doesn't need re-doing so I wanted to do it right the first time. I use photoshop all the time so it wasn't really so bad. I re-used the backs and fronts and just made templates for the side titles, I even threw in a little color coded categorizing for easy organizing. I just made 3 categories: Classics, Animation, and Live Action - which is basically any movie with live actors in it even if there is some animation too. I know technically classic movies are live action too, but sometimes we feel like a new movie and sometimes an old so this is how I did it for us. Yay! twice as much space means twice as much room for new movies! We are not into cable so we usually get each other movies & older TV series on DVD for pretty much every occasion. I love the no commercial and no worrying what your kids are watching aspects of having a personal library. This is what thrills you, Lissy? Well, I always thought it was a good thing to be easily amused and it is the little things in life that give you the most joy.