Easy Magnolia Chargers

 

     Sean just finished building a show stopping 12 foot table.  Staging the furniture and taking pictures is my favorite part of all the hard work.  I definitely wanted to stage this table, because otherwise photos didn't capture how big it was.  

     The only hard part was I don't have a set of 14 dishes, or 14 anything really (except cheerios).  Luckily, Sean's grandma let us borrow her beautiful white dishes and I mixed them with ours to make a set of 14.  

     But, I wanted to add some color while keeping the budget tight.  So, I picked some magnolia leaves and made these chargers, for free!  I used real leaves because they were readily available and free, but you could definitely use fake leaves (then you could reuse them).  

All you have to do is cut the stems off your leaves and arrange them in a circle tucking the last leaf under the first one.  I used about 9-10 per wreath and hot glued them together.  

Then, I glued a small piece of cardboard (I actually used expired coupons, because...why not) to the back and ta da!  Done!  Stack your dishes on top and enjoy!

Toy Rotation and free printable

     Recently I have been trying to get my kiddos on a schedule and get more organized, for my own sanity.  As a stay at home mommy it can all feel overwhelming sometimes.  So, I needed to find some time for myself and look for ways to make my life easier.  

     The playroom has really been underused and the kids really just migrated to where ever I was to get into things I didn't want them to play with.  Joshua never has been one to play by himself and I had hoped it was something he would just learn to do as he got older.  But, this toy rotation has been such a blessing!  The other day they both played happily in the playroom for an hour by themselves!  I was shocked and couldn't decide between checking on them to make sure they were still alive and staying in the living room to not disturb them and jinx it.  It was amazing!

     So, I gathered all of the toys from all over the house (the playroom, living room, Joshua's room, under the couch, etc.) and started organizing them by category.  I went to Walmart and got a couple large tubs and 4 medium tubs (I already had the small shoe box size).  I packed all of the toys up and put them in Joshua's closet and made little labels to put on the outside.  Here is the schedule I decided to go with:

Toy Rotation Schedule

1.               Imaginative/ Role Play

2.               Play Kitchen/ Tools

3.               Cars/ Trucks/ Transportation

4.               Building Blocks/ Lincoln Logs

5.               Puzzles/ Leap Pad

6.               Train Table

7.               Figurines/ Dolls

8.               Baby Toys

                  On Monday morning we pack up the toys from last week (which is really simple since we can just throw all of the toys that are out into the same tub).  Then we put them back into the closet and get out the next tub.  We unpack the toys into baskets (that way we can throw them into the baskets to keep the playroom clean throughout the week) and let the kids go to town.  

Last week was imaginative play with all the dress up clothes, 

So here is Joshua as a police fireman

                

             I thought Joshua would be bored with only a few toys out, but he's not.  When he's asked about other toys I just tell him that they're packed for now, but we can play with them later.  That's worked for now, but I figure if there's something in particular he really wanted to play with we can get that one toy out.  This toy rotation makes clean up so much easier, the playroom looks so much cleaner, and the kids are playing happily; which makes me ecstatic!

Free Toy Rotation Tub Printable 

Shiplap Inspired Accent Wall

I love the look of shiplap and the fun accent it can be, but I wasn't about to spend hundreds of dollars on wood.  So, when I saw this tutorial on Bower Power and decided to give it a go.

Our foyer is pretty big and currently painted the same color of beige as the rest of the house.  They repainted the whole house before we moved in.  I had originally wanted to stencil on this plain wall in the foyer but after stenciling in our master bedroom and in Hannah's nursery I didn't feel like going through all that again.  So, when I saw this easy fix I was super excited to try it and figured if I hated it I could repaint the wall, no money lost.

 First I marked off every 10 inches and taped off the lines.  Gosh, I love projects that I can do start to finish while the kids are napping!  Anyway, then I took some black craft pain and dabbed a little on the paint brush.   Then, I tried to rub most of the paint off on a paper towel so my line would look less stark.  Then, I removed the tape after a couple of hours and stood back and enjoyed.

 







    At first, I really wasn't sure if I liked it.  I was worried it looked like I had taken a sharpie and drawn lines on my walls.  But, it's grown on me and I like the way it adds some interest to that wall and breaks up the beige.

Dresser Makeover

After scouring Pinterest for ideas for Hannah Grace's nursery I saw several furniture refinishes with these old dressers that I really liked.  I loved the detail and the curved lines.  I knew I wanted to refinish something because it would be a lot less expensive than buying a new dresser and I wanted to add a colorful pop.  I had been looking at garage sales and craiglist for months when I saw this dresser at Sean's moms house.

  

It even had a mirror with it, which I loved because that meant one less thing to find to decorate the walls.  The cream color with gold accents was not my thing though.  It was also pretty banged up and a little smelly.  But,  I knew it was exactly what I was looking for and just needing a little love... and it was free!

I set up in the garage.  I took all the hardware off and gave it a quick sanding.  Then, I painted a coat of primer on the whole piece.  It's not made of solid wood so the primer will help the paint stick.  I color-matched a piece of fabric I was using for Hannah's crib skirt to get the bluish teal color I was looking for.  I wanted to cut the pink with some blue, but wanted it to be a muted, dustier color than a baby blue.   The drawers were stinky and dirty so I primed them and painted them white.  I found this cute drawer lining at Walmart and put that inside the drawers.

I loved the look of the faux glass knobs I found at Home Depot and decided to put two on each drawer.  It turned out exactly as I was hoping and love the pop of blue it adds to her nursery.

The only problem was that it was a small dresser.  I really wanted a little more space, but when this dresser was free I knew I had to take it.  The Lord knew exactly what we needed because I realized the dresser in our guest bedroom was exactly the same style.  We had picked it up off the side of the road right after we bought our house and had painted it brown.  I was using it to store fabric but when I realized it went with Hannah's dresser we painted it blue as well and added the same knobs.

It really completes her nursery and we ended up really needing the extra space.