Tween Bedroom Reveal

It must be that age, right around ten years old - not old enough to be a teenager but too old to be a little kid anymore. They start negotiating and sometimes, even will bribe given the opportunity,  for bigger and better things to entertain themselves with. In addition, my boys have started negotiating for bedrooms that are not considered "boyish." 

We started with paint colors, of course - it's the easiest way to change the look of a room! The red-headed wonder decided on red, white and blue. He wanted blue walls originally, and with my master negotiating skills (maybe that's where he gets it), I was able to convince him to either a stripe or one wall or half way up the wall. He had to sleep on it.

Glidden offered some really great choices of red and blue and we were able to play with the "paint your room" app on their website. The color decision was made painlessly - rich navy
and cranberry zing.

The decision on stripe versus one wall required one more night of "sleeping on it." The next morning over a bowl of Cheerios, it was announced that a stripe would be pretty cool, but could it be a racing stripe? I figure how hard can that be? I must not have been awake yet.

After realizing just what I've agreed to, I decide to start researching painting racing stripes on Pinterest (yes, where else would I go?) and lo and behold, there's lots of advice! Once you get past the hurdle of measuring and taping, according to multiple pinners, you MUST paint the base color over the tape, so as to prevent the colors from bleeding through. Silly textured walls!

My favorite and most helpful post was this one: http://homeandawaywithlisa.com/blog/tag/man-cave

While paint was drying, we started shopping for football "stuff" for the walls. If I haven't mentioned it already, about one thousand times, Hobby Lobby is my FAVORITE store. They carry really great products, there's lots of stuff on sale ALL THE TIME, and they are closed on Sundays. Yes, I did just say that! When I first heard that, I thought WHAAAT? But, I have come to appreciate the fact that they allow their employees time to observe Sundays with their families. It's the way it used to be and quite frankly, we can use a little more of that nowadays.

Shopping with a tween boy can be quite challenging. They have formed their own opinions by this stage, and sometimes their tastes are not quite aligned with ours. But, we had fun. It's football decor, after all. I mean, that was a given fun experience for me! I think I was the one who had to be roped in a couple of times!

 Absolutely LOVE this quote!

After all, moving into the teenage years, this is going to become VERY important!


First up was hanging the new headboard on the wall. I used the fabric covered headboard tutorial found here: http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/02/diy-tufted-headboard.html. We had previously completed a headboard for our older son's room using particle board and drilling the holes for the buttons, but this was SO MUCH easier!

The secret is pegboard! Yes, pegboard has all the holes pre-drilled. Like I said, so much easier.

Jenny's tutorial was fabulous and the headboard was completed in one afternoon. MINUS the one incident! I should start by saying I consider myself to be a pretty handy "DIY" person. I am not afraid of power tools, I know my way around a workshop and I am brave enough to tackle most projects solo. However, on this particular day, I will admit that I was racing through - trying to finish in time for school pickup, and I made one grave mistake......I mistook the nail gun for the staple gun. Now, in my defense, they look pretty similar. And I skipped my usual step of making certain there were enough staples in the chamber. Had I done this I would not have needed to call one of my bestie girlfiends for her nursing expertise.

Yes, I used the nail gun and shot a finish nail STRAIGHT through my index finger, missing the bone by what I'm certain was only millimeters. At first, it stung and I thought it was a volt of electricity (the nail gun was hooked up to the air compressor, loaded with about 90 pounds of pressure). Not good - have learned a lesson here!!!!

I think the headboard looks great though!

Over the last few years, we've been replacing the blinds throughout the house. Proudly, I can say we are two windows away from every window having the same type and color of wooden blinds. Of course, once I changed out the blinds in the bedroom, I realized I really didn't care for the valance. It was one of those Target special buys hanging on a skinny curtain rod. It really didn't look "right."

I decided to use the same type of window valance that my friend's mom made for one of her kids' rooms. Seemed pretty easy and I just love the look of custom window treatments! We chose coordinating fabric to match the headboard and I was certain I'd have enough fabric leftover to do pillows for the bed.

 

After a few hours of our own version of TLC's "Clean Sweep" and piles of donations, we were ready to move everything back into the bedroom. Here's a peek at what it looks like....

When my son arrived home from school, and the big reveal took place, he shouted "This room is SO MUCH BETTER than before." So glad I was able to make him happy!

Now, off to my oldest son's room..... he has been dreaming of all sorts of cool stuff to do in there! I heard mention of a chalkboard wall the other day......hmmmmmm.....

Have a crafty day!

Birthday Planning...

My Beautiful Nephew at 8 weeks
 So, my little nephew is going to be turning 1 soon and my brother and his wife are trying to decide on a theme for the party. I'll be in charge of the cake (yeah! I LOVE making birthday cakes). But being that I no longer have those tiny little feet running through my house, I felt a bit out of the loop when they told me about the shows that my little nephew watches.

I needed to do a little research.....Turns out Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Henry Hugglemonster and both SUPER CUTE!!!! Oh my, how can you decide? Some of my favorites so far......

Jake and the Neverland Pirates - Fondant Cake

Jake and the Neverland Pirates - Buttercream Cake

Henry Hugglemonster & Friends

 

Henry Hugglemonster

For now, though, I will sit back and enjoy more time with this little monkey before his first birthday. 

He's grown so much already! 

Happy Almost Birthday!

Kisses & Hugs

So, tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I will be the first to admit, I was a little behind in getting the Valentine's together. This afternoon, in a bit of down time I was able to get ahead of the game. My goal was to keep it simple. With just a few supplies, I was able to pull off a couple of cute gifts.....

 The trusty Cricut and some red self adhesive vinyl, and a paper bag. Yup, a lunch size bag!

A little bit of ribbon and a felt tip marker completed the look!

Not telling what's inside, though ~ that's a secret until tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Super Bowl Sweets

Peanut Butter Football Dip, courtesy of Crazy for Crust

Ingredients

• ¼ cup butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter (your choice; crunchy or smooth)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (up to 2 cups if needed)
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips
• Chocolate sprinkles or chocolate chips for the outside of the football
• White chocolate or frosting for the football laces

Instructions

1. Cream butter, cream cheese, and peanut butter until mixed (using a hand-held mixer). Mix in vanilla.
2. Add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, and mix until combined. (If you want a stiffer mixture, add the extra ½ cup of powdered sugar.) Mix in chocolate chips.
3. Turn out mixture on a large sheet of waxed paper. Use your hands to form into a football shape.
4. Place the waxed paper onto your serving plate. (It helps if the plate has sides…less mess!) Cover in sprinkles or chocolate chips, pressing them into the surface a little so they stick. Pipe on the laces using melted white chocolate or some leftover frosting and chill until ready to serve.

Chores for Hire

It seems we've tried every chore chart known to man. We do really well with the system for the first week, then we forget about it. I scoured the blogs looking for something that was not too childish, but still was easy to follow. After all, chores are not fun - no matter how you spin it!




A few years ago, we had something similar to this, showcased at Money Saving Mom. The boys very quickly outgrew this, but it is perfect for the little ones.
 

 

Over at Home Made by Carmona, there is a new twist on the boring old chore chart. This seemed to appeal to everyone in our house, so we decided to put it into action.

We made individualized charts so the boys can keep track of what they need to do. It's all about helping out around here, and showing responsibility. We used the "Work for Hire" that Ursula Carmona designed as incentive for doing extras. These are grabbed up pretty quickly (although you can see that there is still one lonely one on the chart above. Apparently the door trim and doorknobs are NOT getting wiped down this week! For the most part, this has worked very well for us!

 



 

New Year ~ New House (Part Four)

The hubby and I used to tour model homes for fun. You know when the kids were little and they used to enter the doorway of the model, and scream "STAIRS!!!" Then we'd hear the stomping - I mean, pitter patter - of small feet above us, and realize we were so smart in buying a ranch style home while the kiddos were small. Seldom did I walk into one of those model home kitchens and NOT imagine myself there. After all, much of my adult life has taken place in a kitchen. Think about all the meal planning, cooking, cleaning - wait, don't think about that. Think about your dream kitchen (and while you're at it, someone else doing all the work for you) - what does it look like? Dark cabinets, light cabinets, sink in the island, sink overlooking a beautiful garden?  Some of my recent favorites have been ......

So, my goal became creating a space where I didn't feel the need to run away FAST. A kitchen that I could enjoy. And much to dear hubby's dismay, that involved yet another project. He was cringing at the thought. I saw the beads of perspiration forming on his hairline. Of course, what did I say, "Don't worry, I got this!" Oh, when will I ever learn?

One of the things I've discovered is that I'm not really good at remembering to take "before" pictures. Maybe in the future (should another project EVER be allowed to happen in the house again), I will be sure to take before shots. For now, here's one - you can see the dark cabinets.

Before we had the dark floors, the dark cabinetry did not bother me. Now, with dark floors, dark granite and dark cabinets, I began to feel as though I was in a cave. Not to mention we have the awful can lighting (that's next to go - as soon as I figure out how to do that). I began with finishing one door, just to see if it was going to be as fabulous as I anticipated. I instantly hated it. Yes, I know that's a strong word, but I did. It was ugly. I obviously made a bad choice. Thank goodness I started with the inside of the door.

Back to the drawing board I went. Scouring my favorite blogs, hanging out with my coffee cup at Home Depot and Lowe's - hoping that some color would strike me as "The One." As I broke the news to dear husband, he lamented over losing the dark cabinetry, but in the end, I'd like to think, trusted my opinion, and my overall design sense. We looked at so many swatches, they all started to look the same. Finally, we decided on two that looked right - at night! You see, one must see the color at night AND during the day, because of the wall of windows and french doors letting in the morning sun. The color we liked at night turned out to be too peach, almost bordering on pink - GOD forbid! In a house where the female gender is the minority, this would be a complete disaster. Thus our color was decided - Manchester Tan, by Benjamin Moore.

I quickly changed into my "work clothes" and began the ever so fun process of sanding everything down. Did I mention that only a few short months ago, my house was COVERED in dust? And yet, here I was again, creating more dust. Turns out, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

After a day or two of sanding and several days of refinishing the cabinet bases and cabinet doors, I was approaching the finish line.

 

Turns out I really am not fond of "open cabinetry" - I always thought that was a cool look. Or at least glass doors on some of the cabinets. As it turns out, all those cabinets would have to be neat and organized ALL THE TIME. Not going to happen! It was also pretty tough to work around the mess, but I couldn't feed the family take out for weeks on end. I would simply get to a stopping point - clean up my mess - pack away my brushes and start again fresh the next day.

My "breaks" from kitchen work gave me some time to look at pendant lighting (right now this is a dream) and backsplash tile (probably a dream too, for now). Although the addition of these elements I think would really complete the look!  

Some of my favorite tile backsplashes have been......

I also took a peek at some pendant lighting and found these.....
	This is an oil rubbed bronze, which is very pretty, but doesn't match the fan in the breakfast nook. This is the brushed nickel and matches the fan in the nook. I'm just not sure which one I like better.

Hanging the cabinet doors proved to be so much more exciting than I thought it would be. You see I was meticulous about keeping the doors numbered as well as the hardware. Yet, when it came time to soak and clean the hinges and dry them outside (you know where this is going, right?) they didn't end up in the same order. Two hinges per cabinet door multiplied by 16 doors - that's a lot of hinges all mixed up! I started hanging the cabinet doors on to the bases and noticed they were all crooked. Needless to say, this was upsetting. Coupled with the fact that I was hanging my doors just hours before I was hosting a SuperBowl party! Yes, I am THAT crazy lady! I had to enlist the help of dear husband again, who discovered a trick to identifying which hardware matched on each door. After this discovery, it was smooth sailing. I was able to get every door hung and chip and dip out before the doorbell rang! Too bad the game wasn't as exciting as the project!

I just LOVE my new kitchen!