Paint in my Hair

Barn Star

2011-02-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Here's an easy (cheap!) way to fill a little extra wall space. I don't remember where this idea came from...let me know if there's someone I should be crediting!

This barn star cost $3.99 at the Christmas Tree Shop, and I added a couple dollars worth of scrapbook paper. I tried applying it with Mod Podge but it didn't seem to adhere to the metal, so I ended up using double-sided tape. Took about 15 minutes:

Here it is in its corner:

What have you been up to lately?

Easy Valentine Door Decor

2011-01-25T07:12:00.001-08:00

This is actually a post from last year but since it was way before I had any readers at all here, I thought I'd bump it up and show you what's hanging on my door. These are two plates from Target that I hot-glued to a ribbon.

Easy Peasy!

Beefing Up Crown Molding

2011-01-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a great way to increase architectural character without spending a lot of time or money. Our living room had crown molding already installed, but it was skimpy with a capital S. For a room that was relatively large and with decent ceiling height, the crown that was installed when the house was built in the 60s was plain old wimpy. Here's what I'm talking about:

See what I mean? It's there but it's just not doing anything. Actually, I just found a photo from when we first looked at the house -- here, you can barely even tell it's there:

(let's not even talk about the carpet covering the gorgeous wood floors, the dated curtains, the brass fireplace, or the walls and trim which are painted the same color making the trim fade away even more...I know that all-white rooms are very popular right now, but this one CLEARLY didn't work!)

So, what's a girl to do? DH already installed crown for me in the dining room and family room, and after those endeavors he basically said "never again". (Personally, I say "never say never" - but I didn't want to use up all my favors from him to get this room done). So, I did a little thinking and experimenting, and guess what? LOTS of crown molding is made up of two or more pieces installed together and painted together to give the look of one finished product.

So off to the store I went, where I located a piece of 1.25" molding that would do the trick. I didn't comparison-shop at all (I had a bee in my bonnet that day!) so I ended up spending $63 at Home Depot, which I now know was about $23 more than I would have spent at the lumber yard (oops)...but even at $63, I am THRILLED with the results. Check it out:

Much better, don't you think?

We installed the new piece so that the top of the new piece is about an inch below the bottom of the original crown. Got that? So there's a strip of drywall between the two pieces (I of course failed to take a "during" shot of this) -- and then we just painted everything (both trim pieces and the strip of drywall) in a nice crisp white.

One great tip I picked up somewhere was using a "dummy" piece of wood as a spacer between the old and new moldings -- this made it very easy to get everything evenly spaced. Check out a shot of DH holding it while I nailed the new piece in:

If you stand on a ladder and stick your camera right up into the corner, you can sort of tell what we did:

But for mere mortals standing on the ground, it looks like one seamless piece:

The best part? I can honestly say that in 11 years of renovating and remodeling 6 different homes, this is the ONLY project I can think of that ended up being significantly easier and faster than we expected. As in, we installed it in one afternoon and total time elapsed from buying the molding to cleaning the paintbrush was about a week -- of course, we took this on in mid-December and needed to get it finished before we hosted people for Christmas. Deadlines are a wonderful thing!

More posts about adding character and architectural detail to our 60s-style home can be found here and here.

I am linking this to Sawdust and Paperscraps' Buid(Hers) party.

Winter Coffee Filter Wreath

2011-01-12T11:31:00.001-08:00

Hi there! Happy New Year and all that. I've been a little slow to get going in 2011 but have several things to show you, as soon as I can find time to photograph and type it up. Here's a quickie, though.

My Christmas wreath was feeling a little stale (doesn't it seem like Christmas was about 3 months ago?) but I'm not quite fully into Valentine mode yet, so I figured I'd do a little coffee filter "winter" action to tide us over.

Quick, easy and cheap! (What more can you ask for??) Directions here.

PS Have you seen the new blog Knock Off Decor? My girls' mural was featured there last week and I am loving all the great knock-off ideas.

New Years Interviews with kids

2011-01-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot of traditions associated with New Year's Eve and Day...I have given up on resolutions (and on big nights out and staying up until midnight!) However, I do make a point of "interviewing" each of my kids on New Year's Day each year. I type up their answers, print it on cardstock, and they add a self-portrait and signature. Someday I'll put them all into some sort of book for each child - right now, they're just sitting in a folder. But we love looking back at previous years' answers. This one, from Celeste (during a phase where she wanted to be known only as "Big Girl") is one of my favorites:

My interview questions, if anyone would like to "borrow" them, are:

What is your favorite…

Cereal:

Vegetable:

Drink:

Toy:

TV Show:

Thing to do:

Game:

Book:

Restaurant:

Place to go:

If you could change your name, what would you choose?

What is something Mommy says to you?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What are you going to do different this year than last year?

Who are your friends?

What do you wish for this year?

What do you love about each person in our family?

Do you have any special traditions for kicking off the new year or reflecting on the old?

Linking this to the weekend wrap-up party at Tatertots and Jello

Homemade Irish Cream

2010-12-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the photography...my camera broke and I am hoping Santa brings me a new one.

Bad pictures aside, I wanted to share a great recipe for homemade Irish Cream, which we made for some of the neighbors this year. It's delicious!

Homemade Irish Cream

1 cup milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whiskey (I used Jameson's)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 T instant coffee granuals
2 T chocolate syrup (hot fudge is also good)
- blend above ingredients 1 minute
add 1 cup heavy cream, blend 1 second
add 2 cups heavy cream, blend 1 second

Keeps in fridge approx. one week

Slainte!

Dressing Up a Store-Bought Garland

2010-12-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

I'm convinced that you really don't need to buy an expensive garland to get a lush look. In my opinion, the secret is to tuck in a few pieces of (free) real greenery so that you get that awesome smell and that natural, organic look that store-bought versions never seem to completely capture.

In this case, I started with a Hobby Lobby garland - it wasn't even in the Christmas section - it had a little bit of greenery, some pretty white "berries" and a few pinecones. The pricetag says $29.99 but we all know you should never pay full price at a craft store, right? I paid $15. However, it looked a little like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree...lonely and sparse.

I wired in a few dollars worth of Target non-breakable ornaments (just stuck a short length of florist's wire through the top of the bulb and twisted it onto the garland, then hung the garland-plus-ornaments on my railing. (sorry, I didn't take any pictures along the way...I actually did this last year and blogging it was the last thing on my mind).

Once it was in place on the railing, I grabbed a few extra branches that had been cut off the bottom of our tree, snipped off a bunch of pieces about 6" long, and just tucked them in throughout the length. I didn't even bother to wire or attach them - they'll have to come out anyway at the end of the season, and this way it'll be easier to pull them out and replace them next year. Adding the real stuff has the double advantage of making it both more substantial and more real-looking (plus, you can't beat the smell!)

Total cost: $17. Not bad, when you consider that Pottery Barn is selling almost the same thing for $59.

I just need to decide whether to leave it as is or add some beautiful bows. What do you think?

More Great Ideas I "Borrowed"

2010-12-07T11:03:00.001-08:00

Like I said before, I am not above shamelessly copying the great ideas you all share. I do have a few semi-original ideas to share soon, but in the meantime, here's a peak at some of what I've copied lately.

First up, some epsom salt candles. I "borrowed" this idea from Karla who borrowed it from Emily . And sure enough, it's as easy as they made it sound! Just spread on some mod podge (or, in my case, watered down school glue), then roll in epsom salts. My kids did these and I think they will be part of this year's teacher gifts:

Next up, some glitter trees "inspired" by the sisters at 1825 (why did I not discover this blog sooner?!). Theirs look even better than mine, due to that gorgeous backdrop, but I'm pretty happy with mine too:

Finally, after Sarah showed off her exterior decorations yesterday, I ran right out and bought the exact same bows she used on her lanterns. Now our front porch has just a teeny bit more punch:

Finally, I haven't had time to steal this one yet, but I'm totally going to. Robyn's candy cane display is simply too cute not to copy:

Oh wait -- one more. I don't know whose idea this was, but I'm sure it wasn't mine :) Hot cocoa reindeers, made by the kids:

Happy crafting!
Lisa

Linking this to Today's Creative Blog and Centsational Girl

Family Activities Advent Calendar

2010-12-02T12:05:00.000-08:00

I love the tradition of an advent calendar and the anticipation of wondering what's inside. The problem? My kids don't need any more sugary goodness and/or junky toys at ANY time of year, let alone in December!

My solution is to fill the calendar with slips of paper that tell us one activity per day to do as a family. Some of them are things we'd be doing anyway (getting a tree, baking cookies) - and I strategically place them on days where that's an appropriate activity -- others are just fun little ways to spend time as a family.

This year's list includes:

Make gingerbread men out of playdough
Make a card for your teacher
Make a present to give to someone else
Go to a Christmas concert
Pick out a new ornament for the tree
Have breakfast with Santa
Help wrap a present
Go see the bears at the mall
Go look at Christmas lights
Choose one of your toys to give to a child who doesn't have as much
Make cookie dough
Decorate Christmas cookies
Make chocolate-dipped pretzels
Sing Christmas carols with your family
Play a board game with your family
Say Merry Christmas to 4 people
Color a picture of Santa
Make a snowman art project
Make a red and green art project
Take a bubble bath and make yourself a bubble beard like Santa
Look around your house and find things that are Christmas colors
Make red and green food for dinner
Read a Christmas story with the whole family
Watch a Christmas show with the whole family
Have a very Merry Christmas

Let the countdown begin!

(image from Land of Nod)

a href="http://www.lovinmylovebugs.blogspot.com" target="_blank">

Easy $2 Wreath

2010-11-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

In case you were wondering whether I ever have any original ideas, I'm pretty sure the answer is no. But I love to copy other people's great ideas! My latest is this $2 wreath:

Want to make one? You'll need coffee filters (on sale at Target this week -- 200 white or brown coffee filters for 99 cents), a wreath form (mine is an 18" one from Dollar Tree), and a glue gun.

Take a coffee filter, fold it in half and then in half again. Twist the folded corner into a point and then fluff out the layers so it looks something like this:

I used about 100 filters on my 18" wreath. Twist 'em up and just start gluing them on. I found it worked best to lay down about an inch or two of glue, fill it up with filters, then do another stripe of glue. I did it in front of the tv last night and didn't pay attention to how long it took - maybe an hour or an hour and a half? Easy and fun! I'm loving the brown for November but I think I'll do a white one to take me through January and February.

Cooking up some Fun

2010-11-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe, but my two favorite girls are 5 years old. We celebrated last weekend with a cooking party for the neighborhood girls.

Invitations made by cutting cupcakes out of scrapbook paper and gluing onto plain white cardstock.

The birthday girls, waiting for their guests to arrive.

We put our little chefs to work making their own mini pizzas, which were a big hit.

Then, on to the marshmallow pops...what 5 year old wouldn't be in heaven with a spread like this?

We also made hershey kiss / pretzel treats...have you ever done these? Very easy and if you use seasonal M&M's, they're great for any holiday.

Decorating their own cupcakes required intense concentration:

The guests each took home their hat and apron, plus a box full of their creations and a few cooking-themed goodies.

A good time was had by all!

See here for apron instructions and here for chef hat instructions.

Child's Apron Pattern and Tutorial

2010-11-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite gifts for preschoolers is a child-sized apron. Combine it with a cookbook, teaspons, and a chef hat to make a terrific holiday gift.

This involves VERY minimal sewing. As in, I learned how to operate a sewing machine in 7th grade Home Ec, didn't touch one again for 25 years, and then was able to make these using my mother's sewing machine, which she bought at a garage sale in the 70s.

You'll need:

Two pieces of fabric at least 18" by 18". I used this adorable cupcake fabric from Joann's for the front, and plain pink for the back
a little more than 4 feet of coordinating ribbon. Mine is 1.5" wide, but any width would work.
Pattern for apron top and apron bottom - this is my pattern which you are welcome to use, but please credit me here.

Simple steps:

1. Print the two pages of the pattern, use the dotted line to tape them together, and cut along the solid black lines so that you have a pattern that looks like half of an apron.

2. Fold your front fabric the long way so that you have a rectangle 18 inches long by 9 inches wide

3. Place the long side of the pattern on the fold of the fabric and cut 1/4-1/2 inch larger than the pattern all the way around.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the back fabric

5. Use an iron to turn down 1/4-1/2 inch of the front fabric all the way around

6. On the back fabric, turn down 1/4-1/2 inch on two adjoining sides (such as the bottom and left sides)

7. Place the front fabric, good side down, on your ironing board

8. Line up the two ironed sides of the back fabric with the corresponding sides of the front fabric

9. Work your way around the back piece, ironing each side under. Use the front piece as a guide so that you end up making the two pieces equally sized

10. Pin the two pieces together, seams facing in

11. Add approximately 16 inches of ribbon at each hip; pin in place

12. Use 19 inches of ribbon to make a U at the top; pin in place

13. Stitch around the perimeter of the apron, 1/4 inch from the edge

14. Use a candle to lightly melt the ends of the apron so it won't fray. Hold it a few inches above the flame for a few seconds until it gets melty (if you put it right into the flame, it will blacken).

You're done! That wasn't so bad, was it?

Chef's hat instructions here!

Tissue Paper Chef's Hat Tutorial

2010-11-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of tutorials out there for making hats like these, but for some reason, I found them all incredibly confusing. So, I set out to create my own method.

Guess what? Mine is incredibly confusing too. I'll do my best to explain, though.

You'll need a hat band - I cut mine out of white posterboard, 3" wide by 22" long -- and two sheets of tissue paper (20" by 30").

Take the first sheet of tissue paper and fold one long edge over by and inch. Keep folding one inch at a time in accordian pleats, until there's only about 4" left unfolded. That didn't make sense, did it? Here's a photo - does this help? The 20" sides get compressed to about 5-6".

Do the same thing to the other piece of tissue paper.

Now place both pieces of tissue paper on the hat band, with the unfolded middles overlapping and tape them in place:

Tape the two pieces of tissue paper together with a piece of tape placed in the middle of the length of tissue:

Now here's the hard part: use one hand to gather the far end of the tissue paper:

While the other hand bends the hat band into a circle. The gathered ends of tissue paper get bent over so that they end up right where the hat band overlaps itself. Now try to take a picture of yourself doing this:

Staple the tissue paper and two ends of the hat band together, so that you end up with a hat band that has a stripe of tissue paper crossing over the top of the head and holes on each side.

Now reach into the first hole, find the edge of the tissue paper, and gently pull it down to the hat band. If the forehead is 12:00 and the back of the head is 6:00, you're working at 9:00 right now:

Staple the edge of the tissue paper to the inside of the hat band. Repeat at 3:00.

Pouf the sides to achieve the desired shape.

Would you believe that I used to write instruction manuals for a living? It's hard to tell on this one, sorry. But if you were sitting here with me, I could show you in 30 seconds flat!

Check back soon for instructions for making a matching apron!

Holiday Cards

2010-11-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the days when photo cards could only have one photo? I used to spend days (weeks? months?) trying to get a decent shot of all 3 kids looking at the camera. Thank GOD places like Shutterfly have so many more options now...I could kiss the person who started designing cards like these with multiple openings.

Click here to see the many, many options there are to choose from. They do a great job, too. Over the course of the past year, I ordered a photo book of my parents' anniversary party and several photo greeting cards as well -- all terrific quality.

This year, I have 4 photos I want to use (one of each kid, plus this one, which I just can't leave out:

So I've narrowed it down to 3 card options. Anybody want to vote on which one you like best?

Not that I want to bias you, but I'm leaning toward number 3.

*Disclosure: Shutterfly is providing me with 50 free photo cards for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

**ATTENTION BLOGGERS: You can get 50 free cards from Shutterfly too! Any size blog can participate, so don't miss out on this great opportunity! Click here to apply.

Dressing our Turkeys

2010-11-09T06:32:00.001-08:00

Have you ever seen such a fancy turkey?

We used this template and then the girls embellished with glitter, jewels, scrapbook paper, etc.

We are traveling for Thanksgiving, so this is the only turkey-making happening here this year!

Chair Makeover

2010-11-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not ready to show you my bedroom yet, but I am slowly making a little progress in there.

Part of the anti-procrastination week agenda was to give a little love to this chair, which was a curbside find 2 years ago. It spent a year and a half sitting in the basement, then another 6 months sitting in my bedroom waiting for some love. FINALLY, I bought a fabric remnant and hit it with a paintbrush.

Want to know a secret? I tried spray-painting it with Heirloom White and I HATED it! Way too yellow-y for me (I'm almost embarassed to admit that since HW seems to be such a popular choice these days). But I was much happier after I pulled out my trusty can of BM White Dove and brushed it on by hand. Even if it did take a million times longer than spraying.

total investment: $7 (for fabric)

Organizing

2010-10-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

I am not a world-class organizer. There are PLENTY of days where I'd be embarrassed to let anyone see the inside of my house.And my organizational system for my own work and projects seem to be "leave the papers all over my desk and hope I notice them there and decide to do something about them."

That said, there are a few things I've implemented that work really well for our family, so in the spirit of the Nester's 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest, I'm sharing them here.

All of these systems stem from the basic principle that 99% of clutter is things that don't have a home. So the real way to deal with clutter is to look around your house, identify those homeless items and find a home for them.

1. OUTBOX

This is a large rubbermaid tote that lives on the top shelf of my coat closet. It houses all the items that don't belong in my house in the first place. Currently it holds:

- a gift that will be given at a birthday party in a few days
- a few items I bought and then decided they didn't work - next time I go near that store, I'll pull them out of here and return them
- a book left here by a visiting child (will return it when I see them)
- a tupperware container that my mom brought food over in

If it weren't for the outbox, all of these items would be sitting on countertops or floors or would disappear into little hands and their little hiding places. This way, when I head for the right destination, I'll know exactly where to find the item that needs to be returned. Maybe someday I'll make it pretty, but right now I'm just happy to have a designated place for these things.

2. LIBRARY BASKET

Simple concept, but keeping library books separate from our own books makes it much easier to find and return them on-time.

3. STAIR BASKET

One at the base of the main stairs, and one at the top of the basement stairs. These hold all the items that need to be carried up (or down). Each time I go upstairs, I grab something out of the basket and put it in its rightful place.

4. KITCHEN ORGANIZER

We have no mudroom, and no options for adding one. When we enter our house we are standing right in the middle of my (tiny) kitchen - so where do you think backpacks, boots, lunchboxes, artwork, and the like ends up? (the correct answer here is "on the stove" since that's just about the only available flat surface). I am working on making better use of my pantry (I know, supposed to be for food, but you've got to work with what you've got). Here's what the back of the pantry door looks like:

Hooks down low so kids can hang their own jackets, and pockets above. I love these clear plastic shoe organizers. In the summer, this one holds sunscreen, sunglasses, and the like; in the winter it is stuffed with hats, mittens, etc. It also holds things like barrettes for last-minute hair fixes, Box Tops for Education, which my son collects for school, and other random small things that need a home.

5. MY THOUGHTS ON LAUNDRY

Nester says you should just get used to the fact that there's going to be laundry in your line of vision all the time - but that was making me crazy. It would get washed and dried - sometimes even folded - but then if it didn't get put away, it would end up all over the floor when someone went digging for their favorite shirt. So, I've designated two days a week as laundry days. Five days a week I don't even think about laundry (we have a chute so it just piles up in the basement). The other two days, I'm not allowed to go to bed until every last piece is washed, dried, and put away. I chose days where there's a good tv show for me to watch, and I just fold it all during a show, then put it all away and head to bed. And I don't have to think about it again for 3-4 days. This works much better for us than constantly having a basket of clean clothes calling out "fold me! fold me!"

Any great ideas about system that work for you?

Family Room Before and After

2010-10-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

The CSI Project challenge this week is 'Before and After: Your Favorite Room' -- and for me, that is definitely my family room. This is where I go to relax, and to be with my family. It's also the only space I've ever had that feels "done" to me. I'm not saying I'll never change anything -- it's not in my nature to pronounce a room "done" and never tweak it again -- but this is the only room in my house where I can't rattle off a list of exactly what I would change right this minute if I had the time/money/energy.

But it wasn't always that way. Here it is on the day we moved in:

I KNEW I wanted a room that was light and bright and open to the rest of the house. But this wasn't the cheap fake-wood paneling - it was the nice stuff. The stuff you're not supposed to paint. So I decided to live with it. I asked around and consulted some experts and the advice I heard time and again was to add bright colors to cozy up the wood. Doesn't it look so much better here?

Uh...not exactly.

So, we decided to ignore the experts. We got out our paintbrushes and we painted. And painted. And painted some more. All the paneling. All the built-ins. All the woodwork. It was a long and painstaking process, but we did it right - every step, the washing and the sanding and the prepping. We used a special paint called Cabinet Coat on the built-ins and I LOVE how they turned out - the brush strokes disappear and it dries hard, almost like a factory finish.

The overall result is so much lighter and brighter that it truly feels like a different room.

We also enlarged two doorways, adding big wide french doors in place of narrow, solid wood doors. This set leads to the living room; it has totally changed the flow of the house:

And this set leads to the patio. They let in a TON of light and have changed this room from a hunting cabin to a sunroom:

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut!

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Anti-Procrastination Week: Success!

2010-10-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! What a feeling! I cruised through my list (ok, there are one or two things I'm still working on)...but 29 items are crossed off completely! (yes, if you're counting, the list grew a little bit after my last post). It feels GREAT to have these things done and truly, it didn't take that long or cost that much. I think I'll make anti-procrastination week a regular thing around here.

There's not much to show as far as progress, since a lot of these projects were more about removing eyesores than about creating beauty. But let's just say that none of these lovely items are in my line of vision anymore:

Hooray!

Anti-Procrastination Week

2010-10-18T13:15:00.001-07:00

I have a bunch of tiny, annoying projects that have been lingering on my To-Do list for WAY too long. You know the ones: the tasks you dread -- for me, it tends to be anything involving hanging things, planting things, or sewing things. I put it off and put it off...and then when I finally do it -- it only takes 5 minutes! And it feels so good to have it done! So why did I put it off for so long? I have no idea.

So, this week I am challenging myself to completely clear the backlog. No more starting anything new until I tackle this list. Will you make your own list and join me? I promise that once you start, you'll find it's not nearly as bad as you expected.

Here's my list (I actually got a slight headstart over the weekend, so numbers 1-5 are already done or in progress):

1. Paint and recover chair for our bedroom

2. Minor sewing repairs (I did this last night...I am a disaster with a needle and thread but I fixed 3 sundresses and it only took 15 mins in front of the tv)

3. Fill the holes that were left in the kitchen and hallway walls when I moved art and curtains around

4. Fix the damage to the family room ceiling from when I thought it would be a good idea to duct tape plastic to the ceiling to keep dust out during a remodel

5. Plant a bunch of shrubs I bought on clearance

6. Hang something - anything! - on our bedroom wall

7. Hang shelves in the girls' bedroom

8. Fix the picture frame that fell off our powder room wall

9. Paint the screws in our french doors

10. Install doorbell

11. Replace house numbers

12. Install blackout shade in our bedroom

13. Hang kitchen artwork

14. Hang wreath in kitchen

15. Re-install missing piece of trim in kitchen

16. Re-install missing piece of trim in girls' bedroom

17. Add trim to bedroom lampshades

18. Change ribbon on glass jars in master bath

19. Repair or replace family room throw pillows

20. Replace kitchen soap dispenser

21. Clean or replace side entry mat

22. Remove stains from kitchen chair

23. Attach drum shade to kitchen light fixture

24. Hang hooks for kids' coats

25. Find a way to keep dust ruffle from sliding around

26. Replace curtain rod in master bedroom

OK, now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed looking at that...but actually, if I just start, I know I can get it all done in one week. So can you! What's on your list? If I can do 26 things, you can do 5.

Which Witch?

2010-10-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, the sun has come out!! I have been wanting to show you my favorite Halloween decoration for ages but it has been raining nonstop!

Meet my friend Witchy Witch:

This is a really simple project for anyone who wants to attempt it...she is just a piece of cheap plywood cut into the shape of a witch silhouette and then spray-painted black. We had the advantage of a projector borrowed from DH's office, so I just googled to find an image I liked, projected it onto the plywood and traced, then DH cut it out with a jigsaw (this was 2 years ago, before I had ventured much into the world of saws :)

Anyway, I spray-painted her black, added a broom and lantern from Dollar Tree, and we were done. Definitely under $20.

What do you think?

I am linking to some of these great parties:

Boo

2010-10-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Does your neighborhood participate in the tradition of "Boo"? It's one of the things my kids look forward to most about Halloween. We kicked it off this week by "booing" two houses with goodie bags for the kids and instructions for them to pass it on...half the fun is in running away without being seen (and the other half is in seeing whose houses will sport a "Boo" sign next).

You’ve Been Boo’d!

This sweet surprise is called a “boo”!
You’ll never know exactly who
Brought treats and then ran off unseen
To brighten up your Halloween!

It’s twice the good luck if you go
And “boo” two other folks you know!
Pack up a ghost sign, treats and gifts,
And add a poem just like this.

Pick a house and sneak on up.
Make sure it doesn’t already have a ghost.

Ring the bell – then run
Make sure you’ve not been seen! It’s fun!

(Instructions…make 2 copies of this page and the ghost sign…hang the ghost sign on your door so everyone will know you have already been Boo’d, then pick two houses that don’t have a sign yet and leave them a treat, a sign, and these instructions so they can pass on the fun. Don’t let them see you do it!)

How about you? Does anyone else play this game?

Touches of Fall and Halloween Inspiration

2010-10-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

Just checking in quickly with a few shots of fall decor. I'm not one of those people who has the time, money, or creativity to completely change my decor each season so instead, here are just a few little touches:

front entry table

Dollar Store pumpkins spray-painted silver

Family Room Mantle

My first flameless candles - these rock!

Witch cut from black construction paper (the buckle-looking thing is a reflection of our thermostat). Idea and template from the Pink Peony of le Jardin.

Finally, a few of my favorite Halloween ideas from around the web:

Witchy Dishtowel from Flamingotoes

Source Unknown, sorry

Mouse Motel Pumpkin from Under the Table and Dreaming

Witch Silhouette from Pink Peony

"

Buffet Overhaul

2010-09-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

One of the many reasons I haven't posted much lately is that I've been busy planning and executing a 40th anniversary party for my parents. It was last week and we had a wonderful time - I'm REALLY glad we did it. But boy, was it a lot of work! Mainly because the party was in my living room which has basically been neglected ever since we moved in. We threw in what furniture we had and then just left the rest for later. Well, this party meant that "later" had arrived.

The first problem was that there was no surface in the entire room on which to set food or drinks. The second problem was this corner of the room, completely forlorn, unused and unfurnished.

Compounding these problems (as always) was our limited budget.

Enter a $60 buffet from Craigslist.

It was a little too tall and neither of us loved the color. Luckily, the bottom shelf screwed right off (so easily I almost couldn't believe it) and a couple of coats of walnut gel stain took care of the color problem. Here it is looking much more at home:

By the way, all of the serving dishes pictured here came from the Christmas Tree Shop for $5-8 each. I LOVE the bargains there! And the "artwork" behind them is Marimekko fabric framed in Ikea frames -- a great budget-friendly solution for adding some color to your walls.

This anniversary banner (made with my new Cricut...did I tell you I got one for my birthday? This was its maiden voyage!) added some fun fall colors without breaking the bank.

Here it is all together and ready for a party:

Remember Me?

2010-09-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hi there, remember me? The girl who used to blog here? Sorry I've been MIA...school starts later here than in other places, and preschool starts even later than that - so today was my girls' second day. I have a LONG list of what I'm hoping to accomplish while they're in school...in fact, yesterday, all I accomplished was making the list, and today was supply-buying day. But tomorrow I should be able to really buckle down.

Topping the list are several half-finished projects that I hope to be able to show you soon. In the meantime, here are a few shots from my family room, where I am tweaking the accessories.

Someday soon I'd love to be able to show you the whole room....but we're definitely not ready for that yet!

Happy September!

Lisa

Thrifty Gifting

2010-08-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

Beth from The Stories of A to Z is either costing me a fortune or saving me a fortune, depending on how you look at it. Twice lately she has posted something so cute that I had to run out that very day and buy out the store.

The first was these little cuties...only $5 at the Christmas Tree Shop! (there was also a larger size for $8...both sizes were hidden WAY in the back of a dusty shelf and I never would have noticed them ). I of course bought every last one they had, figuring that these will make great hostess gifts and/or birthday gifts for some friends who I know will love them:

I know I've seen these in places like Target and HomeGoods for way more than $5.

Beth's next idea that sent me running to the store was a "seau de merde" (LOVE her fancy term for "bucket of crap"!) as a birthday gift for the millions of kids I buy for each year, as well as for all those school fundraisers and other events where I'm asked to contribute a basket of some sort.

Here are Beth's adorable ones:

She found the buckets for only $2.50 at Target (so, once again, I ran out and bought as many as I could find). This is a GREAT time of year to stock up on art/school supplies...crayons and glue are 25 cents each and I hit Michaels while many of their "summer" crafts were on clearance...

meaning that I could put together buckets like these for a total expenditure of about $8 each.

Not quite as cute as Beth's, but I think they'll be a hit!

Pottery Barn Typewriter Art (Knock-Off)

2010-08-17T14:02:00.001-07:00

Have you seen this? It's from last fall's Pottery Barn catalog, and I absolutely love it...but $349?! You've got to be kidding me!

Luckily, I came across a post on Meridian Road where Suzanne managed to do a very good knock-off for way less. Back in June when I borrowed a friend's Cricut, I cut the letters out of scrap vinyl. The letters are the hard part -- everything else is easy.

I happened to have a scrap piece of paneling that was 34x29, and I decided that would work (mostly because I didn't feel like making any cuts). I "dry brushed" (I think that's the right term...basically I just wiped most of the paint off of the brush before I painted) a few coats of BM Ballet White (because that's what I had), then with a tiny little bit of the paint from my bathroom vanity. After that, I wiped the whole thing with a coat of stain....I don't even remember what color; whatever I had on hand.

I divided the dimensions of the board into 6 equal parts and used a brown colored pencil to draw lines to make the squares, then I traced some sort of can or jar (I don't remember what...whatever I had in my recycling that day) to make the circles.

I stuck the vinyl letters in the middle of each circle, then painted over them with black paint. When it was dry, the vinyl peeled right off, leaving white letters on black backgrounds. The circles around the letters came from dipping a can into white paint, then pressing it down around each letter. I tried not to worry about getting it perfect, and I think it shows...but that's ok with me.

The frame is the only thing I spent any money on...I just couldn't find anything around here that would work, so I bought some lattice at Lowes (somewhere in the neighborhood of $15) and stained and cut it to make a frame. I'd tell you how, but I really hacked it together and I'm sure you could come up with something better!

So, here you have it: my $15 knock-off of a $349 original:

Linking to these parties:

Rocket Man

2010-08-10T14:07:00.001-07:00

Have you ever set off a water rocket? The basic idea is that you fill a 2-liter bottle about half full with water, then using a very simple launcher (you can make it yourself but I ran out of time and bought mine on eBay), kids can pump with a bicycle pump to launch their "rockets" WAY into the air. Great fun for the 5-7 year old boy crowd!

For Max's 5th birthday, we invited a few friends to a rocket launch. I spray painted the bottles and added fins and birthday hats as tips (just to make them look more like rockets)

Then the kids decorated to their hearts' content

and we headed outside to launch them. Here's the birthday boy:

It soared about 3 stories up...unfortunately I didn't get a picture. But as you can imagine, the kids LOVED it!

And of course, what party would be complete without a cake?

This was super easy...just a 9x13 cake with the corners cut off and turned into fins...M&Ms for rivets and gummy letters for his name. The candles made it look like it was ready to launch.

Blast off!!

Adding Molding to Flat Panel Doors

2010-08-09T10:53:00.001-07:00

I guest posted over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps last week but haven't had time to share this here -- a quick tutorial on how you can change the look of boring flat-panel doors relatively easily and for very little money.

Our house was built in the 60s and while the location and floorplan are perfect for us, we don't have much in the way of architectural detail. Our interior doors look like this pretty much everywhere throughout the house:

But with a little bit of paint and about $13 worth of molding, I was able to change them to this:

Want to see how?

1. Pick out some molding - we chose a piece of 1" cap molding from Lowes. It is sold in 7 foot lengths for about $5. Here's what the profile looks like if you want to try to find something similar:

2. Choose a style. I did two-panel doors because it meant less molding and less cutting than 3, 4, or 6 panel styles. But you could easily do any of those. Or, an even easier way would be to do just one big rectangle. Here's an upstairs bathroom that I did for "practice" when I was trying to decide whether I could really pull this off:

3. Determine the sizes of the panels. I went to Lowes with a tape measure in hand, found a stock 2-panel door that I liked and measured the sizes of the panels. Don't forget to measure how far from the edges of the door they should be placed.

4. Measure twice, cut once :) Don't forget to think carefully about which direction the cuts should go. In this case, the fat side of the molding always sticks out farther than the thin side.

5. Assemble your squares. I don't really have any advice for this part...it's just a lot of guesswork and trial and error to get everything lined up straight, even, and square.

6. I just glued them in place with good old Elmers wood glue and then placed some books on top to hold them in place (DH's philosophy books that have been moved with us COUNTLESS times finally came in handy!!!)

7. Caulk any gaps in the seams

8. I did one coat of primer and two coats of paint.

Voila! A custom look for very little $$.

"Master" Bath Update

2010-07-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

Would you like to see the story of the world's smallest bathroom?

Here she is, in all her glory.

This is considered our master bathroom, in the sense that it is attached to our bedroom. However, when we moved in, there was nothing "masterful" about it. The size is actually not an issue for us...we have never had a big bathroom and we have never not shared with each other (actually, this is the first time we're not also sharing with the kids). The blue, however...let's just say it was making me feel a little "blue." Mostly when it was time to clean...I could ignore it most of the time, but when it was time to get on my hands and knees and scrub that blue toilet, blue sink, and blue floor...all the scrubbing in the world was not going to remove the 40 years of gunk that had built up. And so the demolition began.

I was determined not to spend a fortune on this. Luckily, wallpaper removal is free and (in this house) easy. I have removed lots of wallpaper in my day - and I know how painful a process it can be. In this house, however, it has come down very easily, and each time I've started a new room, I've ended up saying a silent thank you to the previous owners who really prepped the walls right so that it would come off easily.

We skimped on a standard-issue white sink and toilet and also saved money by painting the existing vanity rather than replacing it. New knobs came from Lowes.

Our only big splurge was the medicine cabinet - in a space this small, every inch counts and we felt a recessed medicine cabinet (it is recessed into the wall so it does not stick out into the room) would help things feel a little less crowded. This one is custom-made by a woodworker who sells on eBay. We spent around $200 on it but it was our only big expense and we feel like it really was worth it.

And the final reveal...

from this:

to this:

Ah, much better.

Custom Baby Water Bottles

2010-07-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Just thought you guys might like to see a little something I whipped up for a baby shower today (I wasn't hosting but these were my contribution to the festivities:

I created them in Word using a table and some clip art, printed on regular paper (be warned that if you get these too wet, the ink will smear), and replaced the regular labels with these. They stuck right on using the glue that was left behind from the regular label, but you could probably use a glue stick too.

Side view (it says "Welcome Baby" - I need a new camera!):

And my favorite part:

These were easy, cheap, and looked cute on the table. If you're interested in making some and want me to send you the Word file, just send me an email or leave a comment. Happy Shower-ing!

Girls' Room Mural

2010-07-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

I really, really wish I could get a good picture of the mural I've been working on in my daughters' room..unfortunately it is really hard to photograph due bad lighting and silly walls that get in the way of camera angles (I think I need a good camera and a wide angle lens, but my Canon Photoshot is all we've got to work with, so here's the best I can do:

They are twin girls (4.5 years old) and if you can't read the lettering, it says "a sister is a friend forever". The photo above it is from their birth announcement:

They are hilarious...twins and best friends, but two completely different people with different personalities and interests. They have divided almost everything up between them (Celeste likes Cinderella, Alison likes Sleeping Beauty. Celeste likes cats, Alison likes dogs. Celeste likes stripes, Alison likes polka dots). So, they each have their own side with a bulletin board where they hang all their little paper treasures. Alison's bulletin board is covered in polka dot fabric and Celeste's is striped. Above are their initials (again, polka dots and stripes):

If you're interested in painting a mural but have zero artistic ability (like me!), I highly recommend this one. It's all straight lines...I went through a lot of blue tape, but I didn't have to free-hand anything. I'm sure you could easily modify it for boys too.

I am also especially proud of my budget for this project...$23 for the vinyl quote (the sister quote is vinyl, everything else is paint) was my only big expense. The picture frames came in a set of 10 for $6 on Target clearance (love their clearance prices!), the fabric...I don't remember exactly but it came from Joann, cheap to start with and even cheaper after a coupon. The A and C letters were a dollar or two at Hobby Lobby, and I used paint I had left from previous projects, except for the dark pink, which I bought a $3 sample of at Home Depot. Oh, and the bulletin boards were $1 each at a garage sale (DH cut them down to size for me). So I'd say under $40 for the whole thing.

I need to offer some serious acknowledgments and thank-you's here:

First, to Pottery Barn Kids, since I basically stole this whole idea straight from the pages of their catalog
To Karla at It's the Little Things, for her tutorial on making scallops
To Jodi at Back 40 Life for designing and fabricating the vinyl quote
To my friend Jeanne who babysat the girls for most of the hours I spent on this (and never once commented on the paint in my hair :)
And to my sister...I can only hope Alison and Celeste grow up to be as close as we are. Love you!

I'm linking this to

Tomorrow is Patio Day!

2010-07-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

After years of living with a cracked rectangular slab of concrete in our backyard, months of agonizing about what to replace it with, and weeks of waiting for Pete the concrete guy to be available...it looks like tomorrow is the day!

Of course, once he's done with his part, then the real work will begin for us. We still need to deal with some ugly electrical cords dangling down the side of the house, a strange little area where the house overhangs the patio, and a door that will have no steps to reach it (we decided that building some ourselves from stone slabs will be cheaper and more aesthetically pleasing than having them poured tomorrow. But that means we have to *do* it...and sometimes we're better at planning than doing :)

The other big thing will be fixing up the yard and lawn which will get destroyed by Pete's heavy machinery, and adding some landscaping around the patio to make it feel more like a real, defined space. Wish me luck!

One thing I'm going to be very happy to do is settle into this new furniture, scored on end-of-season clearance at Lowes last week (I love how July 1 is considered the end of the summer season...my kids were in school until June 22! Is summer really only 8 days long?! But hey...hooray for the fact that I can buy it on clearance and then still have almost the whole summer to enjoy it.

I sent DH out to buy this:

and the price was so good that he came home with these too:

We're going to need to strike the right balance between sitting in these with a glass of wine and finishing the patio details. If I never post again, somebody please come drag me out of my chair...

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

I hope you're doing something fun and special today.

Exterior Transformation

2010-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Want to see my favorite "before and after" of all time? Here's my house on the day we bought it, and then today:

Just looking at those makes me happy all over again!

Our house sat on the market for months before we bought it (and this is in an area where good houses go FAST). The interior was actually not too bad (unless you count a dated kitchen and a lot of wallpaper...but those are both things that you pretty much have to expect and deal with if you want to buy a house in this neighborhood.

But the exterior...well, no offense to anyone who likes dead grass, pink brick, and cracked cement steps, but it just wasn't "us" :)

It turns out there's a name for the way the top half of the house overhangs the bottom: it's a Garrison Colonial. I spent a fair amount of time googling that term and looking at pictures, and I became convinced that adding a structure to the front would take up some of the "blank" space around the door and also draw attention away from the overhang. I was also dead-set on painting that brick. I know a lot of people don't believe in painting brick, and I respect your opinions, I truly do, but we're not talking about pretty brick here. We're talking about 1960s pink brick, and in my opinion, it had to go.

I got very lucky that a kind, anonymous soul I "met" online did me the huge favor of photoshopping what the house would look like with a portico and painting the brick to match the siding. I'd had a pretty strong vision all along, but seeing her photoshopped version took me from 99% sure to 100% sure that this was the way to go. And more importantly, it took DH from being 99% sure that I was crazy to 100% sure that I was onto something. With him on board, we were on our way. I could have sworn I had a picture around here somewhere of us painting the brick (on the hottest day of the summer), but I've looked and looked, and it's gone.

Our next luck break came when my Dad looked at the photoshopped picture and said "I can build that." And sure enough, he was right. Thanks again, Dad!

Now I love the outside of our house every bit as much as the inside.

I am linking this to the CSI Project , Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After party.

Is it a crime to cut up a Lily Pulitzer dress?

2010-06-24T12:37:00.001-07:00

If so, I'm guilty. In my defense, my daughters had outgrown it and it had a small tear that prevented me from passing it on to someone else.

I actually cut up a lot of their old clothes...mostly the baby clothes and then a few favorites (like the Lily Crocodile dress) from recent years. I cut them into triangles like this:

and then stitched a ribbon across the top to turn it into a flag banner. We have used it as a birthday party decoration and also in their room (to learn more about this mural, click here):

I am posting this to the Frugal Friday party at the Shabby Nest

Summer Jobs

2010-06-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

I've decided to institute "summer jobs"...inspired in part by Laurel's summer system and in part by my own desire to (a) begin teaching my kids to be responsible for themselves and (b) share the workload. I went with the absolute simplest thing I could think of: each day, I will leave a list of one quick job per child that needs to be done before we start the "fun" parts of our day. I'm hoping that my 6 year old will be a real help with things like laundry and unloading the dishwasher. For the 4 year olds...we'll see. It might end up being busywork, but at least it'll get them in the habit.

Now here's the funny part: would you believe that they are crazily, insanely, super-excited about this? They CAN'T WAIT. Max was having trouble sleeping tonight because of the anticipation...it's like Christmas Eve around here! I am not quite sure why they're so excited, but I really hope it lives up to their expectations! I'll let you know tomorrow...

Quick Little Update

2010-06-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

This one's not very exciting, but here's a quick pic of the sconces in my downstairs bathroom. I spray-painted them with hammered metal spraypaint when we first moved in, then 6 months ago in a fit of cleaning, I decided to wash the glass globes...oops, broke one and couldn't replace it. That's what I get for too much cleaning!

I finally decided I'd be happier with shades than globes anyway and bought these little cuties for $1 each at the Christmas Tree Shop (sorry about the bad lighting):

Last week I finally got around to dressing them up a bit with this 99 cent trim from Joann:

I just glued it on with fabric glue. I love projects that can be done in 5 minutes or less!

End of School Fun

2010-06-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Seems like school here goes much later than in other parts of the country...today was our last day. And since pre-K finished yesterday, the girls invited a few friends over this morning to celebrate while the older siblings finished their last half-day. We kept it very simple with some fruit pizza and rainbow cupcakes. I have no idea why this cupcake picture keeps getting rotated!!

Then we did a quick rainbow craft

and moved on to a homemade pinata

As suspected, they don't care where the pinata comes from as long as there's candy inside!

Who ever said philosophy doesn't have any practical applications?

2010-06-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Garage Sale Success

2010-06-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you're the only one out there in Blogland that's not finding incredible treasures for pennies every single week? Sometimes I do :) But I did find a couple of beauties lately. $2 for the globe and $1 for the white thing (lantern? I don't know what's it's supposed to be!) but now the top of my bookcase isn't looking quite so lonely.

Cricut Love

2010-06-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

I've been hearing about the wonders of the Cricut for some time now, and a friend even offered to let me borrow hers. But it was this post from Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful that made me rush out to the Dollar Store and then on to my friend's house to take her up on her very kind offer. I started out pretty much stealing Amanda's sister's idea:

And then I started thinking about my cousin's upcoming wedding shower. I'd already purchased this little beauty from her registry...

but wouldn't it be nice to add a personal touch? I picked up a beverage tub for $2.50 from the Target Dollar Spot, and a couple of drink mixes from HomeGoods, and here we go:

Sometimes I wish I could get married all over again, just for the showers :)

Valentine Fun

2010-01-22T06:46:00.000-08:00

I wasn't crazy about any of the Valentine wreaths I saw out there - but these plates from Target caught my eye. So, for $8 and a little hot glue, here we go:

I'm quite happy with it!

My kitchen is...okay

2010-01-12T11:53:00.001-08:00

Here we go: attempt number 3 at getting this blog started. I am hoping that if I post this in Serenity Now's Decorating Dilemmas party and get some feedback, it will motivate me to keep posting...I do lots of cool projects I'd like to blog about, but somehow I always seem to move on to the next project before taking time to blog about it.

Anyway...the kitchen. I would love some feedback about how to give it some "wow". I feel like it is "just okay" -- it doesn't make me sick to my stomach (though there are several rooms in this house that do!) but it doesn't make my heart go pitter-patter either. Here's where we're starting from:

And here are some of the ideas floating around in my head...

1. Molding -- crown? beadboard on the back of that island? corbels?

2. It seems like most of my inspiration kitchens have light-colored walls...but I'm worried this will look totally washed out because my inspiration kitchens of course have amazing architecture and lighting to help them pull off the light color scheme.

3. I'm not sure about these window treatments:

I think I like the wood blinds but the curtains might not be right - what do you think? Here are the ones I am replacing - but I'm open to keeping them if you love them:

Same with this table - it is currently in the basement but could be put to use:

And as long as I'm digging out old pictures, here's a shot where I was playing around with crown molding -- do you think this works?

OK, I have rambled long enough...somebody, anybody, please help me figure out what's missing here...I just can't seem to get it right.

Please? I promise I will visit your blog and give you lots of great ideas :)

PS - Here is one of my inspiration kitchens and for the life of me, I can't remember which blog it came from...does anyone recognize it???? I am wondering if I could do something similar to my soffits:

Wow

2009-09-02T05:50:00.001-07:00

Lots of amazing things just happened:

1. I decided to start a blog

2. The username Metromom was already taken -- but when I looked at it, it had pictures of my house and projects I had done! Clearly, at some point (a year and a half ago), I created a blog, posted once, and completely forgot about it. I have no recollection of this. But this is actually a really great introduction to me and my crazy life - now you'll know what to expect (low expectations, people!)

3. That post from a year and a half ago? It had two comments! And one of them was from the famous and stylish Mrs. Limestone! I'm famous and stylish by association! And I didn't even know it.

Apartment Therapy Spring Cure: Week One

2008-03-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogland...this is my first post. And I don't have much time before the monsters awake, so I'll make it brief. Week One of the Cure involved making a list of necessary repairs -- only a few things on the list (light fixture with no globe, chip in bathroom door, toilet paper holder that's only tenuously attached to the wall). I decided to tackle the first one right away by replacing the light fixture with this one, which my sister was throwing away:

One down, two to go.

Also this week, I decluttered our guest room, which had previously been completely unusable due to stacks and stacks of outgrown childrens clothing. Most of it went to a local consignment sale, and I saved a couple of favorite outfits for sentimental reasons.

Before:

And After:

Finally, I started style trays for the family room and entry: