A work in progress

Do you remember when I told you that my kids requested to all be in the same room? That's three boys and three beds in one room. I decided not think about it and just dive right in. Let's start here.

Welcome to our play room. I love the fact that I can just close the doors when I don't want to see their mess. This is the room they sword fight, tumble, jump off the couch, slide down their fort, pretend to cook, shop, and mow.

One of the biggest incentives to this room make over is getting rid of the couch. It's the last piece of furniture my hubby brought into our marriage. It's so ugly, but he claims it to be the most comfortable thing ever.

so we started with this:



And ended up with this (temporarily).

I didn't move their beds into their room the first night because we wanted to make sure the boys really wanted to share a room. I just moved the mattresses and the next morning, it was confirmed, the excitement was still there so unbuilding and rebuilding we went. Even though, I did not like their beds, I decided I would go ahead and move them into the room temporarily until I figure out what it is that I really want. I do not like the sleighbed footboard in this room. I like the airiness of the middle bed with no foot board.

I haven't decided whether or not to keep the head boards, but the food boards will definitely go. I don't want a foot board that is higher than the mattress. It makes the space seem smaller.

The bedding will also definitely go.

The T.V. will go definitely...one day when I am able to lift the thing down stairs. It took 5 tough men lifting it to bring it into the room so for now it stays hidden in the corner.

That's my room update. My entire house is in shambles as I try to relocate what was originally in their playroom. There is still a long way to go. I need new bedding, more storage and new light fixtures (perhaps something less traditional and more modern). I look forward to finding funky night stands and a maybe build them a head board. I would like them to create art for the walls. The scariest thing is cleaning out the closet. It is stuffed packed with board games and toys galore. Fitting everyone's clothes into the closet isn't a big deal, but finding a place for everything that is currently in it is. That is a post for another day.

My muscles are sore from all the moving so I'm excited about the next step...shopping!

Christmas in the Kids Rooms

I've seen some people go as far as the bathroom and maybe kitchens for Christmas decor. Not, me. If you haven't noticed, I love Christmas so it goes in EVERY room in the house. That's probably why it takes me several days of several hours to finish decorating for this holiday.

For E.'s room, I changed out the roman shades from khaki to red. It adds a little Christmas spirit to the walls and he absolutely loves the color change.

Next, we need Christmas sheets, right? After all, you have to be getting some Christmas cheer while you sleep too. I asked E. which Christmas sheets he liked and instead of examining the different patterns. He took it one step further, by rubbing the sheets to his cheek. After deciding which sheets were the softest to his skin, he chose this set.

I also change out the comforter to match. I decided upon this red velor quilted one.

R. gets to decide upon his sheets as well. Despite the fact that he has his own room, he enjoys sleeping in E.'s room. He decides upon little penguins. So cute!

Of course, a room in my house would not be complete without a Christmas tree.

Am I crazy? The kids absolutely love having their own tree in their room. Price tag for this 6 footer was $1.99 at Target's 90% off sale a few years back.

Since the tree is in E.'s room, it must of course follow his Super Mario theme, right? I found these ornaments on ebay direct from China for only $10. There are so many ornaments on their tree, I had to tell them to stop. I must say, it makes me giggle every time I see it though because it reminds me of how excited they are to decorate their tree exactly how they want.

Halloween Decor

Here's my mantel for the summer. I'm not in love with the mirror, but I love the flowers and the colors.

To me, it's simple, bright and cheery.

I love Halloween, but I don't usually decorate too much for this holiday. However, I needed a break from all my studying so I decided to redecorate my mantel for the month of October. I shopped around and couldn't find anything that I was too excited about so after walking home with a single bag of candy corn, I decided to shop around my house instead.

I took some frames that were literally just laying around.

Next, I took some handmade scrapbook paper that I had on hand.

I needed some Halloween images, but my husband overtook my craft room which housed my laptop and printer so I found this pumpkin carving booklet and decided to use the images in the book.

The simpler the image, the better. I cut out the paper image and used it to cut out the image onto fabric.

I chose a cat and a haunted house (nothing too scary for my kiddos).

I placed the fabric image onto my scrapbook paper and framed it.

Since the frame is 11 x 14 and my paper is 12 x 12, I cut a piece of black fabric to fill in the empty space on the bottom. I used a green ribbon as a divider. I love the way it turned out.

And now for my mantel reveal.



From bright and cheery to....

a more goolish feel.

The total price tag for the change was $2.49, the price of a bag of candy corn. I want to also make a Halloween wreath, but I will need to muster up some more time to make another field trip to the craft store for that one. Until then, I am pretty happy with the way my mantel turned out.

Making Artwork from Your Computer

I am redoing J.'s room and needed some artwork for his walls. Since he loves playing video games. I decided to frame some of his favorite games on the wall.

I found a website that has wii box covers you can print out.

I cut off the back of the box cover using a paper cutter.

I took a frame that I bought at my company's surplus sale.

I think people thought I was nuts to buy this print. I wasn't looking at the print when I bought it. I was only looking at the nice silver frame that came with it. For only a buck, it was definitely a steal.

I pasted the prints on the back of the print.

I laid the images and then framed them.

I like it. I decided to make the second one with less images and I think it turned out better.

For only $2.00, I think this was a nice solution for some video game artwork.

New Bedding

I've been slowly redoing my master bedroom. It hasn't been easy since I am working strictly off of sales and bargains. My main focus for the past few months has been to find new linens for my bed. I haven't found anything that I like better than my paisley quilt.

I went searching for, you guessed it, another paisley print for my comforter, but I haven't found anything that I am in love with. There was a paisley print at PB I found online, but when I went to the store for a closer look, I wasn't impressed.

I have been working on redoing J's room as well and while I was shopping for him, I found this:

I don't know if I love it or not. It's a gray print with an off-white background. Gray has been my all time favorite color to decorate with.

From this angle, it goes well with my wall color.

Yet, when I look this way, the colors make me feel as though I need new curtains.

It will do for now. I am slowly trying to exit from my teals and browns. In my last house, my MB was gray and although I have sought out to make this room different, it seems as though I am slowly going back to my old ways. I guess, you like what you like, right?

Repurposing a desk

I was unsuccessful in finding a simple desk with straight lines for J.'s new room makeover. When I found the right style, it was made out of particle board and looked really cheap up close. There were a few contenders, but they weren't the right size. In the end, I looked in my own home and found a desk I already had!

It is simple and it has the straight lines that I am looking for. As for storage. I wanted floating shelves. These shelves aren't exactly floating, but the silver hardware is what attracted me to them in the first place. All the frames in J.'s room were silver so it went well. It also makes the room a little more modern. Since the desk was free, I didn't mind spending the $60 for the shelves. I could have made the actual shelves, but that wouldn't have saved me all that much as the hardware is what added to the cost of the shelves.

I'm happy with the way they turned out. They are deep enough for J. to store his favorite art pieces and lego creations.

I also LOVE this orange magnet board. It was the exact color I wanted in the room so it is definitely a must have.

He can hold up his favorite papers with the white magnets and keep his desk clear of pens and pencils with the silver boxes. Magnet board is $7.99, silver boxes are $3.99 and white magnets are $2.99 for the total price of only $15.00. I think it adds functionality as well as decor to the room. I love how his new writing space turned out.

Framing Jerseys

Since J. is really into basketball and his favorite team are the Lakers (thanks to Dad), I decided to frame some Lakers' jerseys for his room. It turned out really nice.

The thick silver frames against the gray wall was perfect. The little jersey was J.'s when he was little so it is over 12 years old. All four boys wore it, but it still looks brand new. I know the idea isn't new, but this is one of my favorite things that I have created for his room. What do you think?

New Headboard for J.

Two weeks ago, I was gung-ho about building the PB inspirational bed I loved. I was going to have the store make all my cuts for me. After talking with the person in the lumber department and making some test cuts for precision checking, I chose my wood and was ready to move forward.

After only one cut, we both discovered the saw was either inaccurate or needed to be calibrated again. I left empty handed as the cut was so bad, getting square corners to make the bed would be impossible.

Funny story would be that I received a call while I was in DC telling me the saw was indeed now calibrated for me. Isn't that dedication for you? I haven't had a chance to go back so in the meanwhile, I made this head board for J. as my temporary solution.

Since getting rid of the sleigh bed and lowering the bed, the room looks so much bigger.

Here's my head board I made for the cost of $0. I had a scrap piece of wood in the garage that I brought to the store to get cut. It didn't matter if the cut was perfect.

I measured and marked my hole spots.

Then I drilled holes so that I could tuft it later.

I layered foam and batting I already had onto the wood.

I flipped it over and stapled the corduroy brown fabric I also already had.

Next , I tufted the head board.

More detailed instructions on how to hang the headboard here.

I thought it was the perfect solution to what I needed. I do want to build the bed, but I don't know if I will have the time in the near future to do so. For now, the head board makes the bed complete.

Not spending anything on the head board, allowed me to splurge on the bedding. Since it was the exact colors we were aiming for, we had to get it. J.'s favorite color is orange and since the wall was a whale gray and and a boulder gray, the comforter set was indeed perfect for the room. The price tag of $102 wasn't perfect, but skimping in some areas let me splurge in others. I will say that although, the price was more than what I was seeking to spend, I did save 75% off the price tag so I did follow my bargain shopping rule of decorating on a budget.