Quick Floor Upgrade

Boring builder heater vents. I've been staring at them for years and disliking them. We had new carpet installed in our house almost three years ago and put the same ugly heater vents back in place. There isn't anything wrong with them except that they hurt my eyes.

I finally decided "enough is enough"!
I bought new iron heater vents and like them so much better! I even propped a scrap piece of the new white trim against the wall so I could imagine how everything will look together...and I like it!

This was such a quick and easy upgrade--one that I'm mentally kicking myself for not doing earlier.

By the way, enter at A Bowl full of Lemons for a chance to win a Silhouette!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my little leprechauns!

Last night we had leprechaun pie for dessert and then this morning those dratted leprechauns tinted our milk green! Pesky little things! My five year old was not amused and next year he is determined to set leprechaun traps all over the refrigerator because he is tired of them doing that to his milk every year. Meanwhile my seven year old had to check all over our doors for leprechauns because she realized we have shiny doorknobs and leprechauns like shiny things. Alas she found no leprechauns hiding behind the doors.

subway art from eighteen-twentyfive

Have a great day--I hope the leprechauns don't play too many tricks on you!

St. Patrick's Day Teacher Gifts

Yesterday afternoon my little girl and I took some time and made a few small St. Patrick's Day gifts for her teacher and other key people at her school. I found a great tutorial for this project at Inspiring Creations and was able to find most of the supplies (except for the candy and little pots) in my stash of supplies here at home.
I mostly followed the instructions listed on the original blog, except I used a lollipop stick to hold up the shamrock (because I have lots of them!) and I didn't bother to glue the floral foam into the little clay pots, I just wedged it in there. The shamrocks are hot-glued onto the lollipop sticks and my daughter wrote little messages on a second green shamrock that I hot-glued onto the back of the stick.
Then we packaged everything up with a cellophane bag and tied with a gold ribbon and a cute tag (that I embellished with rub-on letters from my scrapbooking stash) and her little gifts are ready for St. Patrick's Day!

Bathroom Remodel in Progress

Hello, electric blue faux marble counters and rubber ducky decor that I've now used in two homes (so for almost ten years now).
Hello, Hollywood vanity lights and big plain mirror.
Hello, oak cabinets. Yes, this is the bathroom that nobody but my children ever sees! I'm tired of cringing when I walk in there though and have had enough of that vivid counter--trust me, it is much brighter in person! The budget doesn't allow for a full-scale remodel, but a small-scale remodel is something that we can do!
I was pleasantly surprised that the oak backsplash came off so cleanly. It was nailed on (and not caulked to the counter at all, thus providing no protection at all) and having it come off cleanly (without damaging the drywall) really opened up our counter options.
Next my husband removed the sink and the counter. We were hoping to reuse the sink (for budget reasons) but he accidentally chipped the sink during this step. Whoops!
Next it was off to Home Depot to buy a piece of stock laminate counter. Remember, we're working on a tiny budget in a children's bathroom that NOBODY ever sees--no granite going in here! This was the best option we found. My husband cut it to size and hauled it upstairs...and we had a problem. Notice the front edge of the counter and the ugly oak trim around the door? Not going to work.

Except, I didn't really want a backsplash on the counter. We only bought one with a backsplash because that was all that Home Depot had on the shelf and I didn't want to pay extra to have laminate custom cut.
Hooray! Cutting off the back of the counter worked! No more electric blue laminate and now the new counter doesn't overlap with the door frame. A win-win situation! Next my husband did boring (but essential) stuff like cut a sink hole and install the new sink and faucet. Meanwhile I was looking forward to the next project--framing out that big ol' plate glass mirror!
We framed the mirror with simple MDF boards with straight cuts to match the interior window trim that is going up in our house--not that there are actually any windows in this bathroom... The MDF is held onto the mirror by Liquid Nails. I can tell you that we tried multiple ways to temporarily hold the boards in place while they dried (me standing there, painters tape, me standing there plus painters tape, me standing there plus lots and lots of painters tape...) but the absolute best way was putting these little wood blocks under the bottom edge of the mirror and the trim. No tape, no need for me to stand there. Otherwise everything kept sliding down the mirror.
My husband was quite concerned about what the exposed edge of the mirror would look like. So if anyone else out there is concerned, here is what it looks like after it is painted. I simply painted the edge of the mirror as well as the trim. I think it looks fine as it is, but you could hide it even more if you filled it in. For me it isn't worth it because you only see this edge if you are getting out of the shower or if you stick your face against the wall. In other words, I really don't think anyone will be paying attention to the edge.

And, if you are wondering, our mirror does have metal clips holding it to the wall. My husband notched out the back of the bottom board so that it fits over the clips and we left the top board alone. We just couldn't get good adhesion with the bottom board without notching it.

Still a work in progress, but so much better!
Speaking of so much better, look what is above the mirror now! No more Hollywood vanity lighting! Again, this light isn't my dream light fixture, but it is a vast improvement over what we had and it is just fine for our budget and for the children's bathroom. Compromise--in this case, I'm compromising with the budget!
So far--new light, new trim on mirror, new sink, new faucet, new counter...
Next up--paint the walls and ceiling, paint the vanity cabinet white, new shower curtain, new towels...and let's not forget getting rid of the oak towel bars and paper holder. (Can you tell that I'm not a fan of oak?)

Someday--change the bathroom door to a white door, upgrade the door trim and millwork, put the light switch and fan switch on a single plate to eliminate one of the switch plates on the wall to the left of the sink...

Linking to Hookin' Up with HoH and Tatertots and Jello

M&M Science Fair Project

Pardon the lack of blog posts this week, but I have been consumed by my daughter's M&M science fair project--which unfortunately does not involve me consuming any M&M's!!
My seven year old has put SO much time and effort into this project! She has counted, sorted, thought, written, erased, rewritten, and put hours and hours of work into her M&M project. Her school science fair is coming up soon and, based on the results of that science fair, some of the children will have the opportunity to represent the school at the state science and engineering fair. Princess is very self-motivated and wants to go to the state science and engineering fair.
I'm doing my part and being a supportive mama--taking pictures, typing up her drafts, and tracking down the materials she needs.
Really though, this project is hers and I'm thoroughly impressed with the amount of work she has put into it. She is the youngest child in her grade (because she skipped first grade) and her academic skills amaze me.
Now her scientific report is written and we're working on the display board--and it is oh-so-cute!

First Reconciliation

My sweet (squinty eyed!) girl made her First Reconciliation this past weekend and is thrilled to be one step closer to making her First Communion. She was the first child to make her confession and was so excited to use the confessional. She had the option of using the confessional with a visiting priest or sitting down face-to-face with the parish priest--who isn't our parish priest because she made her First Reconciliation in the parish where she goes to school rather than at our home parish. At any rate, she chose the confessional because she is fascinated by it. She didn't tell me what she confessed (and I didn't ask!) but she did inform me that her penance was to say one "Our Father".
After she was done, she made her First Communion banner (which has her name at the bottom--I attempted to clone it out in PhotoShop, thus the odd shadowing!) She will be making her First Communion at our parish church (with our priest who baptized her) and then the following weekend will be walking at this church's First Communion celebration where her classmates will be making their First Communion.

It is hard to believe my little girl is growing up! I ordered her veil today from the woman who made my wedding veil ten years ago!!

Children's Reading Area

old family room and toy closet/play area

Prior to the spring of 2009, I had a very teeny tiny family room to go along with the teeny tiny bedrooms for my children. At a loss for what to do for extra space for my children's toys, I ended up turning a little used closet under the stairs into a toy closet for them.

old family room and toy closet/play area

They loved the space and it was a wonderful way to expand their play area without the expense of building onto our home. Fortunately in the spring of 2009 we were able to bump out the back wall of our family room and kitchen area. We added approximately 270 square feet to our house. Not only did this give us a larger family room, but it also enabled us to seat our entire family of four (plus a couple of guests!) at our kitchen table. This gave me the chance to move all of the toys OUT of the family room and into the room that had been the dining room. Moving the toys in addition to building the addition really made the first floor of our house feel bigger! (We're still stuck with teeny tiny bedrooms though...but at least they don't have many toys in them!)

After moving all of the toys, the toy closet ended up unused for over a year. Actually, it ended up being the place where I shoved all the stuff I needed to donate to charity. Finally I decided to reclaim it as a reading area for my children.
The little pink chair in the doorway is one I found in my old room at my mom's house. I think she bought it at Ikea fifteen years ago! I tossed a pillow on the floor as well as my children's Pillow Pets. (As an aside, I love having a "home" for these Pillow Pets! I'm big on toys having homes.)
I put Golden Books in a basket on the floor and put picture books in the book sling shelf along the back of the closet. The only item I bought for this reading area is the book sling I purchased from Amazon (it is by KidKraft and I paid around $50) but there are different versions at multiple retailers. Just like the rain gutter book shelves I put up in my son's room, I think it is great to have bookshelves that allow children to see book covers.
My children were so excited when I showed them their new reading area! They call it "The Book Nook" and love reading in there. It is a cozy space that they can make as snug as they wish. I love providing different areas for my children to read and this one definitely is proving to be a favorite of theirs.

Linking to Sanctuary Arts at Home's Refresh Your Room

New Windows ~ Grid or No Grid?

With the exception of our recently completed addition, our windows are original to our house and are 15+ years old. We have multiple breached and leaking panes and some of them are so leaky that we have moss growing inside in the tracks of our windows. Gross and not exactly energy efficient.

This spring we intend to get new windows in our house (we're waiting on a bid from our contractor) and I'm currently trying to decide whether or not my kitchen window should stay plain, as it is now, or have a grid in it to match the rest of the house. Most of our windows have a square grid pattern, but for some reason the builder opted to leave it off of a few windows. It was an easy decision for us to add it to those windows when we replace them, but I'm having a tough time with my kitchen window--I've become rather attached to the open view of the backyard and the greenbelt.
We put up some blue painters tape to simulate the look of the grids we have on our other windows. Now I feel like I have a very patriotic view...and I'm still completely undecided on what I want to do with the window.

I won!

Look what I just won from Today's Creative Blog and Just Ask! It is a Flip video camera! I'm so excited! I think this is the biggest blog giveaway I've ever won!

Stained Glass Cross Craft Tutorial

Last week I was looking for a fun craft for both my children and decided to have them make stained glass crosses. We had all the supplies on hand--tissue paper (that I cut into squares), clear contact paper, and black paper (that I cut into two cross outlines per child).
I taped down a section of contact paper (sticky side up!) for each child and put down a cross outline. Each child also received an individual bowl of tissue paper squares. Taping down the contact paper helped keep their projects from moving.
My preschooler went for the random approach for his stained glass cross.
My second grader aimed to cover every exposed area of her cross.
When your child is done with their masterpiece, put the second cross outline on top of the first (to hide the spots where the tissue paper overlapped the first outline). Then put a second sheet of contact paper down--with the sticky side on top of the artwork to seal everything inside. The final step is to trim around the project.

Beautiful!

Visit Lenten Ideas for Kids at Catholic Icing, Someday Crafts, and Weekend Wrap at Tatertots and Jello!