Framed

I was so happy with the way that our holiday card came out that I found myself sneaking peaks of the tiny printout version I made when we initially planned to do printed cards vs. an ecard. So when I saw that Aaron Brothers was having their One Cent Sale, I decided to make a larger version of our silhouette family that I could hang up and look at whenever I wanted to (and without having to squint.)

I stopped over at the store and found this nice frame in white, so I grabbed it in 8X10.Then I printed the image on matte photo paper on our color printer, popped it in and Voila!

I'm still deciding where this will live, but I'm leaning towards the hallway by our master bathroom. Oh, and I got the same frame for my one cent option, since we tend to lean towards white frames throughout the house. Not sure what will go into the second one, but I love having an extra frame ready to go.  

Rolling and Cutting

 I learned two things when I painted the kids room (all by myself) last weekend:


1) Painting without an extendable roller leads to extremely sore shoulders and legs (from climbing up and down a chair) and general grumpiness

2) Cutting in is an ENORMOUS and time consuming pain in the ass
 
So even though Christmas just passed, I bought myself two gifts this weekend:

When I stopped in to Osh to remedy issue #1 (normally I wouldn't think to shop there for paint-related home improvement items, but it was next door to the roller skating rink birthday party we went to on Sunday so I thought I would give it a try) I was thrilled to find a solution to issue # 2 as well.
 
Not only does the paint roller extend so I won't have to stand on a chair to reach the top of the wall, it holds paint in the handle so you don't have to refill the roller repeatedly while you are painting. And the Shur-Line is supposed to allow you to cut in (that's the term for painting a straight line at the edge of your baseboard/window/closet/moulding/trim) without worrying about mistakes, saving you the huge time commitment of taping off each of these areas.

I plan to try both of these out this week when I paint our bedroom, so I'll report back soon!

Un-mending Fences

Remember this excited post about our future fence? And this great glamour shot of the slatted wood walls that would soon be surrounding our yard?

Well, here are the slatted wood walls now:

What happened? Well, for starters, three fence companies came out to give us a quote for building a fence with these gifted slat walls (“we’ll save a TON of money!” we said) but those three fence companies told us that they would not use our wood. The problem we discovered, is that we have soft pine, which would not stand up to rain, wind and sun and would end up needing to be replaced in a few years time. To pressure treat the wood would cost as much as using new materials.

Looks like our best efforts to be frugal and environmentally sound were all for not. I was bummed, not only because that meant shelling out more cash, but also because my poor husband had spent an entire day renting a U-haul and lugging these things to our house, and they were HEAVY. Once in place in the backyard, leaned up against our house, there they sat for months while we tried to decide what to do. Use them for firewood, build a tree house, and make a headboard were all ideas that I floated around, but still they sat, untouched. And then the rain started. After almost a week of downpours the wood looked terrible.

Then on Christmas Eve, the Mr. took action, busted out his work gloves and began dissecting them until we had a wood graveyard behind our house. Habitat for Humanity will be here Monday to take it to the local Restore.

So it looks like the decision was sort of made for us, and we'll be shopping around this weekend for the right hedges to line our front yard. We'll all be happier when we have a little more privacy, security and a safely confined space for everyone to play.

Bottled Up

If you have kids, you know there are gifts that you are happy for them to receive, and gifts that make you cringe. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but honestly, if it’s “the thought that counts,” sometimes I wonder “what they were thinking!!” Every parent has their own criteria for bad gifts – for some it’s noisy or messy toys, for others with space constraints it’s oversized items, and don’t forget about the politically-fueled toy gun or Barbie doll to get people going.

That’s why I was thrilled when one of my dearest friends picked just the right gift for my kids this year. Not that I should be surprised – she somehow always picks great gifts for us and the kids (and she’s not even a mom yet, for another few weeks at least!) It was practical, useful, fun and creative….it was Crayola’s Create Your Own Water Bottle. 

Amidst a pile of Zhu Zhu pets and Wii games, my kids begged to work on these first. The kits came with everything you need to make personalized aluminum water bottles – especially helpful since they are ALWAYS losing theirs or leaving them at school.

We laid out some newspaper and got to it!

New Year, New Room

Happy New Year!

I couldn't let 2010 end without accomplishing one of the things that has been on my to-do list for months: finishing the kids bedroom!

With close to two weeks off from my day job I finally had time to paint and add the last few touches (for now) that have turned the room into a warm and comfortable space that the kids and I both love.

Just to refresh, here are some before's and mid-way points.

Since that time I've added these Urban Outfitter-inspired, semi-homemade pillowcases with an iron-on transfer, bought this rug (which I found in the as-is section of Ikea for $9 and had professionally cleaned for $45, saving me over $100), gave this side table a bright new look, and purchased these pillowcases from West Elm.

I also hung the silhouettes I created for the kids last year, as well as the Smokey the Bear poster I found at the thrift store (see more about that adventure here.)

Finally I chose a light, warm gray for the walls, Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl.

So, without further ado, here it is! I hope you like it.