Weekend project: decorating with reclaimed wood
A few weekends ago, we did a little home renovation that had a big impact, adding a reclaimed wood frame to our giant map and some shelves to an awkward alcove on the side of our fireplace. This is how the alcove looked first. It was an awkward space that was left after tearing down the wall to open the kitchen into the living room. There were some pipes in the wall that had to stay, so we were forced to build this little drywall box to hide them. We weren't sure what to do with it. We . . .
Design Dilemma: decorating our bedrooom
After living here for nearly a year, our "fixer" is nearly fixed. We've remodeled and finished every room in the house with one exception: our bedroom. It's a little sad, seeing as this is supposed to be our place of respite and sanctuary. But in our home, it's the room that has been aesthetically neglected. I started out with the best of intentions, choosing a nice celery green for the walls with big plans to work around that color. Except that the color I chose was less . . .
Decorating with maps
I made heavy use of Pinterest as I dreamed about how to decorate our new house. One thing that kept standing out to me was the creative use of maps as a focus wall. Since we’re a family that loves to travel, I loved the idea of having a prominent map that could help us visualize where we’ve been and dream about where we want to go. Here are some of my favorites Pinterest finds that feature wall maps: Sources: behind leather chair, in nursery, behind purple table, behind white dining set, . . .
BEFORE & AFTER: converting our garage into an office/playroom
It’s been several months since we moved into our new house but we have just finally finished converting the garage into an office/playroom. I have been working for home for 7 years now and this is the first time I’ve ever had a dedicated office space. Sure, it’s technically the garage . . . but home prices in Southern California are at a premium, which means that we have to use every square inch of space that we’ve got. Here is a quick look at what it looked like before, and how it looks . . .
DIY personalized bento lunchbox
I’ve been wanting to give the bento box concept another go. We had some a few years ago, and while I loved the idea of reducing waste with it, the kind I bought kept falling open in their backpacks. I’ve heard great things about the Goodbyn Bynto brand so when I saw some on Amazon for $9 I snatched them up. While we were pursuing the dollar aisle at Target, as we always do, India found a cell phone bling packet and had the idea to use it as decoration on her new lunch box. I thought it was a . . .
How to find ethically-produced kids clothing at affordable prices
I have been on a quest to try to buy more fair-trade items, and kids clothing has been a challenge. Then tends to be a huge mark-up price on ethically-sourced kids clothes, when can be quite a sticker shock when you are accustomed to paying Old Navy prices. I’ve found some great sources for kids’ clothes at affordable prices, mostly relying on flash sale sites. The downside of flash sale sites is that you have to check in frequently, but I have created a Pinterest board which I update with sales . . .