Board and Batten Entry

 Our house lacks character like many typical homes.  We also needed a place to hang my daughter's backpack.  A place easy to grab on the way out the door to catch the bus in the morning and easy to put away when she gets home.  So, we decided to add character AND a place to hang a few things behind our front door. 

This is the space we had to work with - small and empty.  

Since this is such a small space I decided to sand off the majority of the texture on the wall instead of adding a super thin sheet of plywood to the wall. I'll be honest - it bothers me slightly but not enough to redo it.  I bet guests will not notice at all.  

Then my little helper and I used our rip cut to cut up some extra plywood.  I wanted this to be a super cheap project and to use up some of the wood in our garage.  (You know, to make room for other projects.)

We added the battens and wrapped them around to the front door.  We screwed these into the stud (we could only find one) and added anchors to make sure they could hold weight. The top batten is 5 1/2" and the other is 4 1/2"

Our walls have rounded corners so we cut the ends at a 45. It looks a lot smoother but if our corners were normal we would have left a regular cut and ended it right at the edge.  

Like I wrote above, we used what we had - which meant piecing together boards for the bottom.  I do not recommend that.  It is much easier to use a full piece.  But, with some putty and sanding and more putty and more sanding it looks great!

The boards going down are 2 1/2" and are spaced about 16" apart (the middle is centered on the wall).  I was planning to space them a foot apart and not put one on the corner by the door - but, it looked cluttered so we just put one in the middle and it looks great!  Makes the space seem a little bigger.  

Eventually we'll replace flooring and with that the baseboards, so no special cuts at the bottom for us - they actually butt up really nicely at the bottom.  

Last step before paint was to add a ledge at the top.  I'm not planning to put anything up there, but wanted to add more dimension to it. This was the only piece of lumber we bought at it was less than $2!  

Bad lighting, but it's beautiful! We cut the top ledge at a 45 by the rounded corner also - to match the rest of it.  

We caulked and painted it white.  LOVE!

I did 2 coats of paint and sanded lightly between each coat.  I sanded again ready for the 3rd and final coat and my sweet hubby put up the hooks while I was gone.  (He didn't realize it needed another coat) Someday I'll take the hooks down and put up that last coat of paint, but for now it is beautiful! 

The hooks were $4 each from Home Depot. So, all this character added to our little entryway cost less than $10!

Non Toy Easter Basket Ideas

I have Easter on the mind right now, It's only a month away!

If you are reading this you probably have too many toys in your house (or you are my mom, hi momma)! I'm a list person, so here are some ideas for your kiddos' Easter baskets that are not toys: 

- crayons, markers or colored pencils

- coloring book

- crossword or sudoku book

- craft items (pipe cleaners, googly eyes, craft sticks, etc.)

- paint (watercolors, finger paint)

- paper (colored, white copy paper or a roll)

- journal (my oldest would love this journal and this journal looks awesome)

- pretty pens

- craft kit (a bigger kit like this paint your own car or a small kit like this dog painting kit - there are so many at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Joanns, and even Dollar Tree)

- Boogie board (am I spelling this correctly?)

- swim suit

- rash guard or cover up

- towel

- sunscreen

- sunglasses

- sandals/flip flops

- beach / sand toys (can also be for snow!)

- rainboots

- raincoat

- umbrella (clear   so they don't run into everything or rainbow is so cute! so they)

- hat

- cooking or baking items (cookie scoop, muffin tin, donut pan - something they would love to learn to use)

- sprinkles (my kids LOVE sprinkles)

- books

- reading light (we LOVE this light and this egg light is also a favorite)

- clothes (new outfit for Spring or summer)

- belt

- underwear or socks

- hair items (comb, bows, detangler, etc.)

- seeds, bulbs, tubers, or even plants

- gardening supplies (hand tools, trimmers, gloves, watering can (unicorn - so fun!), etc.)

- root vue farm

- bubbles

- bubble gun or wand

- chalk

- card game (monopoly deal is on my oldest's wish list - uno is a favorite around here too)

- board game

- puzzle

- bubble bath

- bath bomb

- pajamas

- slippers

- water bottle (I'd love to try this style for the kids)

- take n toss cups (my kids love them!)

- reusable straws (we love our stainless steel and no chew marks!)

- makeup

- nail polish

- facial masks (my kids love to be monsters with green facial masks)

- lotion

- toothbrush

- toothpaste

- flossers

- ice packs (there are so many cute shapes!) 

- band aids

- sporting equipment (does this count as a toy? Basketball, football, jump rope, etc.)

- flashlight

- roasting sticks (I see my kids stabbing each other with these but a cute s'more kit sounds fun especially with camping season approaching)

- glow sticks

- snacks (fruit cups, bunny crackers, beef jerky, really anything your kids like)

- honey

- bug kit - ladybug house, ant hill, butterfly kit or even a net and little clear container for catching their own bugs

- bird feeder

- cleaning supplies (ha ha, I'm kind of kidding here but my kids love to make a mess, so a duster or a dust pan and mini broom would be appropriate for them)

- books - I know, this is the second mention but books are awesome! It could be a cookbook for your little cook, a music book for the budding musician, or a field guide to birds for your bird lover. 

I like to pick up things here and there for Easter baskets (I do the same with stockings) since it's easier to hide a few things a week from my kids instead of an entire bag of stuff. They are always with me, which makes it hard to shop for them! 

Organizing Kids Clothes

Last year, when the world shut down to flatten the curve my baby was 7 months old and wearing 9 month clothes ... then suddenly he shot up to 12 month clothes! Kids tend to do that. Clothing stores were closed and so were second hand stores. Only the big box stores were open and I did not want to drag my 3 kiddos into that chaos to find my youngest some bigger clothes. I decided to order him some jammies online to get him by until things opened up.  The selection was terrible and I had a hard time finding his size. So weird. I ended up ordering a few pairs from Target, Walmart, and Children's Place and having everything shipped to my house (side note, I love Target's drive up option but there was nothing in his size at the 2 Targets 30 miles from my house. Again, so weird.)

Then I waited ... 

And squished him into too small jammies.

And waited ... 

It took 4 to 6 WEEKS to get his jammies! I only ordered 6 or 7 pairs!  Seriously, one month of stuffing him into too small jammies and hoping the seams would hold. Let's be real, it was a minor inconvenience but still annoying. I save everything from my oldest to pass down to my middle but my little guy doesn't get the luxury of having a bin of clothes just waiting for him to grow into. 

But, why not create a bin of next sized clothes for him (and my oldest)? 

Brilliant! 

Now my little man is in 2T, we moved states and I've found an amazing online used kids clothing store called Mommy and Me Resale (go check it out and like them on Facebook).  I have no affiliation with them but ordered all the 2T jammies when he grew again. 

Things are open here, but when he shoots up to the next size over night again, I want to be ready. I like to buy used first because I can get better quality clothing for less and with 3 kids (and me not working) that's important! We save money where we can. When I see a great sale or something adorable I'll get it and put it in his bin. 

We have a great thrift store here called Deseret (there was one in Sacramento too but this store has a larger selection!). All of the kids clothes I've bought are less than $4 - you can't beat toddler wranglers for $3 or the cutest Levi's for $4! We also have an awesome store called Kidz Again - they have a huge selection of kids clothes! I got the girls some fancy dresses just because they were on clearance for $1! They wear them often! 

Back to the bin ... I made a chart to track what we have so it doesn't become a bin full of short sleeved shirts (you can see we currently have 8 yet no jeans or shorts). I can see at a glance what we have and what we need! I taped it under the lid to keep it handy. 

I also took a picture to keep on my phone so when I am in a store and see a great deal on his size I can check to see if we need it or if we are set on that item (another way to save - not buying too much). 

Hopefully, this will keep me a little more organized! Yeah for that! What do you think? Do you do something similar? 

Drawer Organizer

This was our first or second project when we bought our house.  Our drawers are big and our drawer organizer was small ... not a great look!  

Every time we opened the drawer this is what we saw ... or worse!  

So, off to Home Depot to pick up some boards!

I'm very visual so I cut up some scrap wood to figure out how I wanted to arrange it.  Tape was not cutting it.  After a million back and forth texts with my amazingly patient husband, 

I settled on our design. 

I cut up the boards, glued them together and used the drawer to make sure everything would fit perfectly.  

We used our clamps as spreaders and left the drawer to dry overnight.  

We did not glue to the drawer, I wanted to organizer to come out without damaging the drawer.  

Look at that - It's amazing and so so simple!  

This is where we left it until last week.  It looked nice and was functional but the knives kept sliding until the organizer (since it wasn't glued to the bottom).  Annoying!

So, another trip to Home Depot and my handy hubby cut down a thin sheet of plywood using our amazing Kreg Jig Rip Cut (seriously, this thing is amazing!).  

We glued and clamped and let it sit overnight.  

The finished product!  It's amazing and was super simple to make!  

On a side note, it you have kids you need these forks and spoons!  They are made right here in the US with recycled milk jugs.  They are sturdy, cute, and easy to replace when the toddler accidently throws them away or the school aged kiddo forgets them at school.  We seem to loose a lot of spoons ... seriously, where do they go?  They have plates, bowls, and cups too but we only have the forks and spoons and we love them!  

Anyway ... back to this amazing organizer ... it matches the inside of the drawer perfectly and is super functional!  

LOVE!

This is how it usually looks!  Empty.  How do we use all of our utensils every single day?  I'm searching for a new set ... or 4!  I have a set in my Amazon cart, but I don't like not being able to see and feel them in real life before I buy them.  Maybe in another 6 months that drawer will usually be full!  

Simple farmhouse beds

Much like our mattress, our kids have been sleeping on the floor for the last ... several months.  Long story short, we needed two matching twin beds for the girls' room and my oldest wanted a turquoise bed (her favorite color).  I was thinking of doing a metal bed (like this) - they are so pretty!  But figured we could build something pretty simple.  

We made this bed for our oldest about 3 years ago and decided to use the same plans and just add a top piece to make it more of a farmhouse bed.  This bed did make the cut to move with us, but is in brother's room and will be his bed once he grows out of his crib.  

We used the leftover plywood from our bed and the trusty Kreg Jig rip cut to cut the pieces down to the size needed instead of using 1 by 6s from the plan.  That saved us some time and money using up what is in our garage.

The only picture I took of the build was this:

LOL!  Once we put everything together there was a small gap at the corner so we added some molding to dress it up and hide the gap.  The molding was so small we couldn't nail it down so we glued it and used random bags from the pantry to weigh it down.  

The molding really takes it up a notch! 

Finished headboard! 

We added a 1 by 4 stacked on top of a 1 by 3 to the top (we cut a 1by 6 in half since the 1 by 3 was so expensive).

Let's be honest ... when I was staining them I had second thoughts - it was bright!  

Staining is SO MUCH easier than painting - one coat of stain and 3 coats of poly is what we used.  The hardest part was timing the stain to be done outside when it was warm enough.  The poly we put on in the garage and we used a heater to warm up the garage enough.  

In their room it is perfect!  

The horse sheets she got from Christmas last year have just a touch of turquoise which compliment the bed perfectly!

Love them together!  I was going to do matching bedding, but really love the mismatched sheets with the matching blanket.  The sheets were both gifts for my oldest last year.  

Since this picture was taken, we added king sized pillows (hubby ordered these and they are great!).  I love the look of a king sized pillow on a twin bed - it fits perfectly!  

This year for Christmas they got the cutest ruffle quilts, and super soft flannel sheets.  Since we live in a cold climate I made their beds with the top sheet (print down) then the grey blanket (this is the best blanket and it fits a twin size bed perfectly - I have bought several when it is on sale on Black Friday for $8) and then the quilt.  I am still debating on getting them a warm comforter to put under the quilt but they are cozy for now.  Flannel sheets are amazingly cozy and Santa got them from Kohls too!

So there it is - the girls have beautiful new farmhouse beds!

Now we just need to paint their room and decorate!  

 

King Size Farmhouse bed

When we moved to a new state, we gave away and sold so much!  I LOVED our bed, but with 3 kids that like to wake up in the middle of the night and come to our bed, our queen seemed to be shrinking.  So, we sold it for cheap and had a king mattress delivered to our new house.  

And there it sat on the floor for ... a couple months.  It was nice to know that the baby turning into a toddler wouldn't fall out of this bed, but also we are old and getting in and out of the bed was not comfortable.  Our dog also thought this was a giant dog bed.  

Side note - this is a ghost bed which is foam and it's amazing!! We got it at Costco and are so happy we did!

I had been wanting to build our bed for some time and had pinned many many plans but none were quite right.  We went with this bed meets this bed with some adjustments. We adjusted this plan from ana white (love her!) and made exactly what we I wanted!

Our first adjustment was using a sheet a plywood as the backing instead of 1 bys ... I liked the clean lines of the single sheet.  We also made it taller.  

We bought the kreg jig rip cut for the project (and then used it on our shelving project).  It's a very handy tool and I see us using it a ton!  We'll eventually get a table saw when our budget and space allow, but for now this works great!  

We used a 1 by 6 on the top and 1by 4s on the bottom, sides, and middle.

We decided to space it with a larger section in the middle - it's perfect!

We glued the boards on ...

And screwed them in from the back (this skipped to the footboard - forgot to take pictures of the headboard!

Not sponsored by Dewalt ... yet (lol) we just love their tools!

Added the 2 by 4s to the sides and attached with pocket holes in the back.  

We decided to do a 2 by 3 and a 2 by 4 on top to finish off the top.  Michael routered (this router is AMAZING and worth every penny) the bottom edge and bottom side edges of the 2 by3 and the top and bottom edges and sides of the 2 by 4.  

And of course we sanded and sanded and then sanded some more.  

This cordless sander is amazing!!

The stacked 2by3 and 2by4 really finish off the headboard.  

He also routered the inside edges of the boxes on both the headboard and the footboard 

So much sawdust everywhere!  It's way better than glitter!

Repeated the same steps with the footboard and we were done.

I wanted it to be black so we primed, painted with 2 or 3 coats (and lightly sanded between each coat) and finished it off with 3 coats of poly.  

Painting is more work than staining ... there I said it!

Set it up in the room and added 2 support beams (same as the plans) and 1 bys to support the mattress.  

2 of our helpers.  

One insists on wearing a swimsuit all the time and the other wants me to throw a ball all. day. long.  

There it is all set up!  LOVE!

It's simply beautiful!  Look at all that detail!

We made one minor change that made a huge impact with both how sturdy the bed is and how it looks.  We switched out the 1x6 with a 2x8.  That small change stopped the weird wobble that was going on and I like the heftier look. 1x6 above and 2x8 below.

I am so happy with our new bed!!  

It's so nice to have an actual bed that is not on the floor - it's more comfortable and I can put laundry on it to fold it ... so much easier on the back!

I feel like this bed is a symbol of our new like ... we started with a pile of wood and a plan and ended with this beautiful bed.  Hopefully we'll be able to build just as beautiful a life here in our new state!  If we can build this, I think we can build anything!  

Let me know what you think!