Easy & economical photobooth strip Valentine’s cards
I’ve been working on the kids’ Valentines this year. I’m typically not really a crafty person, but I do like making photo Valentines for the kids. I feel like they are more personal and a fun thing to save in their scrapbook. But on a more practical level, they tend to be easier to assemble than the store-bought variety, it allows me to avoid standing over 4 kids signing 25 valentines each, and it really isn’t all that expensive. The past few years I’ve done optical illusion Valentines using a . . .
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 swimsuit drying rack
This little hack for drying swimsuits may seem like a no-brainer, but the concept eluded me until this summer. We used to throw wet swimsuits over the shower curtain rod, which meant that the suits dripped into the bath but also out onto the floor. The other issue with this technique is that the kids could not reach their own swimsuits, and since they were in and out of their suits all summer it became frustrating for all of us that they required assistance to retrieve their suit. A . . .
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 . . .
Painting a piano (before and after)
It’s been over a year since I bought our piano (a $100 score at a local Goodwill – you can read about that adventure here). I had every intention of painting the thing, but as life happens, it never got checked off the to-do list. Once we moved into the new house, I was determined to get it painted, once and for all. But indecision about the color put things on hold (again). I couldn’t decide between bright yellow or turquoise blue. Or green? A simple search of painted pianos yielded so many . . .
IKEA hack: yellow toddler bed
In our previous home, the girls slept in a bunk bed. In the new house, India has a loft bed above the closet, so we wanted to get a toddler-sized bed for Karis, to free up some floor space. Finding a stylist yet affordable toddler bed is no small feat. Most toddler beds look like converted cribs in cheap white wood. I found a few modern toddler beds I really liked, but I wasn’t about to spend nearly $1000 on a bed she would only use for a few years. So these guys, while . . .
optical illusion lollipop valentine’s day cards
I’m not really a “handmade card” kind of mom. I think it’s lovely that other moms are, but at this stage in our family there is usually just not enough time in the day for me to indulge in my creative side . . . beyond staring at the things other people are doing on Pinterest. With Valentine’s Day approaching, though, I did decide to make some homemade cards, inspired in part by cards like this one. But, if I’m to be totally honest, it was also inspired by my desire to not have . . .
design dilemma: painting the piano
This week we officially moved into our new house. It’s been a rough go, though I supposed moving a family of 6 is never a smooth transition. We still have some work to do: we’re waiting on kitchen countertops so we are eating off paper plates and using a hot plate to cook, and there are boxes to unpack in every room. But we’re here. Now that we are in, I am second-guessing some of my painting intentions. When I do this, I tend to get caught in a web of indecision, and then I do nothing. . . .
design dilemma: can we make this built-in work?
Alright, all of you armchair designers. I need some design advice on a built-in in one of the bedrooms of our new house. There is this ginormous dresser/desk/bookshelf that I assumed would be moving with the previous owner. However, today she has all of her belongings packed up, and it appears that the built-in remains. So we need to decide if we can keep this thing and make it work, or if we need to scrap it. It takes up an entire wall of the bedroom that will likely be Kembe's room. Mark and I . . .
design dilemma: choosing a kitchen cabinet with broad appeal
Remember when I said I was going to be barraging you with questions about her home design? Well, I really wasn't kidding. I'm already in need of advice. I'm trying to figure out what kitchen cabinets to put into our new house. As I make choices for this house, I'm really trying to figure out what is the most appealing to the broadest population of people. The chances are that we won't be in this house for very long, if we do end up moving into it. I don’t think that this is THE . . .