DIY: Toilet Paper Roll Artwork

I have just picked up a few more kiddos during the day so things are crazy lately! I haven't quite figured out my balance yet so I have slacked on blogging and definitely slacked with projects around the house but I can't stay away for long. :)

When we moved into our house a little over a year ago I really started to notice how empty and unpersonalized our rooms were. I checked online for artwork and even poster prints are out of the budget! I liked this set but different colors to coordinate in my living room and A LOT less expensive.

I bought a pack of blank canvases on the cheap awhile back at a craft store when they were on clearance like this only in a variety pack with different sizes. The canvases cost me about $10 for 5 of them. I grabbed my acrylic paints which I have gathered over the last couple of years for various projects as well as paint brushes, foam brushes, and toilet paper rolls.... wait... what?! Yeah! The toilet paper rolls are really handy when you are trying to make designs with a repeat. You can use the circle, fold it in half, cut it, there are a ton of possibilities. Here's what I came up with:

I was pretty excited about the results considering I am not an artist! I saved a ton of money making my own art that I think I will try this again. :)

Have you tried to make your own art? Share with me what you used!

DIY: Homemade Crib Rail Covers

When my little bug started pulling himself up in his crib a few months ago, he also got his first couple of teeth. The poor crib was getting eaten alive! There were so many bite marks on the top of the rails so I figured it was time to cover them up so further damage could not be done.

I want to keep this crib for awhile... it's one of those that can change as your little one changes and grows. I have a small stock of fabrics that I purchase when they are on clearance or remnants so I grabbed two pieces that would work into the nautical nursery. It was a navy blue and a red flannel which is soft too. I searched the internet before starting to get a few ideas. I came across this and thought it was nice...

But my super smart kiddo unties my shoes all the time... I feel like this would be doomed from the start! Plus it's kind of expensive for something that is so straightforward. This helped me figure out that I wanted to button it. The buttons would be on the outside so he couldn't pull on them (because I thought about the potential choking hazard) and I was going to sew them on really, really good. The crib is a little wider than the blue piece I had which I wanted for the front so I cut it down a little bit and sewed red pieces on each side. The nice thing about this project is that it is pretty simple - it's straight sides, rectangles. My sewing machine also has a neat feature that sews buttonholes which makes it even easier! After I sewed the edges to make it pretty, I measured and marked where the buttons would go between every few of the vertical bars on the crib.

Here's the before and after for you:

<-Kassy->

DIY Playroom Felt Board

I am telling you the weather outside is HOT! I don't even like going to get the mail or letting the dogs out when it is this hot/muggy. So I have been happy to work and play in the new playroom. :) I am slowly getting the room together with a handful of projects so hopefully I will get those posted here in the next few weeks as well!

But the most recent completed project is a felt board. I wanted some kind of board with flexibility for many different educational lessons. I considered a chalkboard - traditional but chalk is messy, a white board - markers didn't make me excited... and what if they thought writing on any wall was ok??? So those options were out and then it hit me! Felt! Felt sticks to felt and I can make anything I want out of the felt. BINGO! Plus it's still fairly inexpensive. I bought a large piece of neutral felt using a 40% off coupon for less than $10 and I bought a ton of felt pieces for under $10 as well. For a total of less than $20 I have an AWESOME board that we can play and learn with. :)

So here's what I used:
- Large piece of neutral felt
- Many (25ish) pieces of colorful felt
- Wood trim
- Nailer

First, we cut the felt to the right size as well as the wood trim. Next, I used push pins to secure the felt to the wall in the correct spot ensuring that it was flat against the well. Using the nail gun we nailed the trim pieces to the wall (finding the studs where possible) to finish and frame the felt. The trim makes it look official!

Lastly, the fun part! I cut out shapes, letters, and numbers to use on the board. I am working on shapes/objects that cover each letter of the alphabet but I have a few already.

So what do you think? Would you put this in your playroom?

<-Kassy->

DIY: Painted Doors

Last year I saw a few pins on pinterest for black doors and I was instantly drawn to it. When thinking about how you can make something so plain (a regular, builder grade, 6-panel door) beautiful, unique, and rich you would be please to find out how inexpensive this project is! It was just the cost of a gallon of paint!! We painted five doors (including a pocket door), the inside of our front steel door and both sides of the door from our laundry room to the garage.... and we still have paint leftover. Seriously, this cost less than $40 and what a huge impact!

When we took the first door down we tried a paint sprayer but didn't like the texture that it gave so we brushed and rolled the doors instead. We did not take down the pocket door because we would also have to remove the door moulding and thought that was unnecessary. We taped it and painted it while up and really it worked out great. We painted three coats on each door to make sure it covered the white so we were able to paint two doors a day.

So what do you think? Is this something you could see in your home?

<-Kassy->

Layered Floor Trim

We have been working on so many projects the past few months I have been slow to write posts about them. Slowly I am catching up. It's also been a busy summer.... Spending time with my little one at the pool and loving it! He brings so much joy. :) He is getting so much better at the back float and holding his breath when he goes under water.

Back in April/May we replaced our carpet in the living room and office because I accidentally spilled paint all over our living room carpet. We searched for a durable wood/laminate floor and settled on an inexpensive, light commercial laminate flooring that would last many years with our dogs and little one(s). I am very pleased with it! When we put the flooring in we left the regular old baseboards and built on it to make it more substantial. We checked out large baseboards but they were pretty expensive so using a couple other pieces to layer we can create a similar look but not as expensive. Additionally, it's more unique! We bought the same baseboards and wood mullion trim. I have pictures below from the Home Depot website (that's where we bought the trim) so you know what we used.

We ripped the same baseboard pieces in half and put them in front of the existing baseboard which covered the gap from the new floor. This was used instead of quarter round. The mullion was placed about an inch about the top of the existing baseboard which is pictured below (top right).

Since the bottom, ripped baseboard piece was deeper than the door trim my husband cut a small wedge to finish off the edge a little nicer than leaving a cut edge (pictured top left). When all the trim was up we filled the nail holes, sanded, and painted the trim including the wall space in between the existing baseboard and the mullion.

It looks pretty good with the new floors and the freshly painted (same paint I accidentally spilled on the carpet) doors, right?! The doors will be featured in an upcoming post. :)

<-Kassy->

DIY Wood Patio Table with Drink Storage

Update 4/7/14: Hello and welcome! Since this is one of my most popular posts I wanted to give you a special welcome and also suggest that if you like what you read here then check out some of my other posts and subscribe so you don't miss any new ones! It's on the left (sorry it's not available in the mobile version) and I promise you won't receive any spam or advertisements. I hope to see you more often around here. ;)

Last month was my birthday (they just aren't as exciting as they used to be... a sign of getting old I'm sure) but I was sooooo pumped when my husband surprised me with a new patio table for my birthday! He MADE it which was even more awesome. I am so lucky he is talented and handy and sweet. :)

We had a small patio set that I purchased a couple years back at the end of the season for deep discount. It was a square table with a glass insert and 4 chair with faded, torn cushions so it was well past it's prime but we weren't making plans to replace it yet because there were other things on our list.... until.... one day the wind blew the table over. This broke the glass and we suddenly felt more inclined to replace the set.

There was a table on Domestic Engineer's site that I saw a few months back that I sent to my husband telling him that should be our next patio table because it was awesome. There was storage in the table for beer/wine/drinks which was neat and would surely be useful for us.

My husband naturally looked for a short cut and put his touch on this project and it turned out great! The beer/wine/drink storage uses two planter boxes and for our table they are removable (to wash and ensure water doesn't gather in the box when not in use). Here are two pictures, one of the underside and one of the planter box in the inset space. You can follow the directions from Domestic Engineer and instead of making the slatted wood boxes for the planters just use two 2x1s across the underside to create a ledge for the planter to sit on inset in the table.

These were taken before we stained it. I sanded it starting with a really coarse paper to a very fine paper. I used about 5-6 papers and it took around three hours.

We used red cedar wood and the stain was a semi-transparent stain so we could still see the wood grain but that it would be a little darker to go with our chairs better. We did one coat it beads the water so it is perfect. The stain is supposed to last about 3 years. If the water beads it's still good, if it does not bead then you know it's time to stain/protect it again. This table will last us a loooong time! I love it.

By the way, the new chairs we bought are metal and mesh so we do not have to worry about soggy cushions but they are still surprisingly comfortable. The chairs were at Menards on sale for $19 and came with a $7 rebate and that is the best deal we have ever seen for solid patio chairs. We bought eight because three can fit on each side plus two on the ends. They stack nicely too. :)

What do you think? Is this something you could use in your backyard??

<-Kassy->

Homemade Granola

For the 4th of July weekend we visited my sister in Des Moines. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. Mason loved the pool and enjoyed the fireworks too even though he was tired. My sister treated us to some good eats but I really loved the granola she made. I have been interested in trying homemade granola and I am glad I did. I am a officially a convert to granola from cereal. It was delicious and it has all natural ingredients which is important to me.

Yesterday I made the granola and I am so pleased! Not only is it the perfect breakfast but it made my house smell amazing! I used this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food   minus coconut because I have never really been a ban. I also used two baking sheets instead of one and cooked it a few minutes less and it turned out nice a crunchy. If you like cereal then you need to try this! It is nutty and sweet with the cinnamon and vanilla.

I used old applesauce jars to store it so I could keep it fresh for the next couple weeks.

Let me know if you have tried this recipe or another recipe! I would be interested in some different variations.

->Kassy<-