Template 113
10 years ago
Showing posts with label kid's rooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kid's rooms. Show all posts
I'm trying something new. And I reeeeeeeally hope it works. I'm tired of walking past bedrooms and shutting the doors because I don't want to look at the mess. Seriously, I thought I'd at least have until their teenage years for this time. Yes, I tell my kids to clean their rooms, and yes I tell them to put away their laundry, but I feel like I'm having to say it ALL the time. And if I'm not completely specific as to what I'm asking them to do then they just won't do it. I can't say "please go clean your room" and expect a clean floor, a made bed, laundry put away, dresser straightened, because I didn't say those exact words. It's beyond annoying. When I say go clean your room, for heavens sake, I want it all clean. Is that too much to ask?
Here's my plan. My kids are VERY competitive with eachother. Like they have to race to the top of the stairs everytime. Maggie won't let Ty watch her do her homework because she doesn't want him to know what she knows. Anytime we approach the front door they all make a beeline for it because they want to be the first one in. It gets kind of old, but whatever. I'm turning their competitive spirits in my favor.
It's all about this little sign, combined with a bit of bribery.
A couple days a week I'll do a bedroom check without them knowing when it will be. If they have the cleanest room, they get the sign on their doorknob and a little treat. It doesn't sound like much, but knowing them I think it will be just enough to get them to actually CLEAN and not just scoop and dump, and shove and cram. Hopefully.
You might notice the award is for the "cleanest" bedroom, not the "clean" bedroom. I'm not expecting miracles overnight. But I'm hoping eventually they'll learn to be more thorough in order to beat the competition. Afterall, if they want the tootsie pop, they gotta step up their game, right?
I'm starting today, and they have no clue it's happening.
Here, here to competition and BRIBERY! - a desperate mom's best friend.
Funny how even though girls totally outnumber the boys in this family, there are some days when I feel like my world revolves around one thing - baseball. And then I go and do something to encourage it even more. WHAT am I thinking? I guess that I love my baseball loving kid. Ty's bedroom is taking on a bit of a baseball theme, despite the fact that I swore I'd never have a sports themed bedroom for my male posterity. I'm trying to deal with it the best I can. I guess what I don't like about sporty bedrooms is that they all look the same to me, with nothing unique that sets them apart from any other kid's bedroom. Which, now is a good time to declare to the world, or at least to my bloggy friends, that I don't like boy's bedrooms. That must be why I've been blessed with mostly girls. Flowers and pinkness is just so much easier to decorate with. Anyway, I digress.
So, Ty has a baseball bedroom. That's the way it is, and that's ok. But guess what. I like it. I do! It's coming along nicely and even has a few unique elements. One being that he does NOT have sporty bedding, and two his GLOBE. I found a yard sale globe for $3 intending to put it in the playroom where my intellectually minded children would choose to spend countless hours of free time memorizing the capitals of every African country and studying longitude and latitude in depth. BUT, since the globe turned out to be slightly damaged it needed a new use. Like uh, something along the lines of a giant baseball spinning on a tilted axis. Yeah. That sounds good.
Then with a little paint job...
Here's what it used to be.
Then with a little paint job...
I spray painted the whole thing, stand and all. It was much easier that way. Then I grabbed one of the hundreds of baseballs laying around the house to use as my guide, and drew "seams" and "stitching" with black and red sharpies. The funnest thing about this completed project is that well, it's not complete. All of Ty's buddies, cousins, aunts, uncles, or whoever he wants, get to sign his baseball. He's only collected a few signatures so far, but he's crazy about the idea.
Can't you feel the love?
I was finally able to fix up the Goodwill cabinet I found a while back. Let me refresh your memory.
I liked the original color, but it was pretty beat up, so it got a dose of new paint and updated hardware.
BEFORE
AFTER
One more cool thing.. I have to show you what's inside the cabinet .
Little clothing cubbies!...or at least that's what I turned them into.
It works like a charm for Ty's dresser. I love it because it doesn't take up a lot of space, but is big enough for separating his clothes. The little basket in the middle - that's for socks and undies. A perfect fit, or what! It was $1, if you were curious...and I know you were.
And remember this DI frame? It just so happened to be the perfect size for a flag. And not just any flag, my thrifty friends - it's one of those little cloth ones on a dowel that your kids wave around during parades. It was .20 cents! Love it, love it, love it.
A little patriotism mixed in with the baseball decor...I can handle that.
Since completing Maggie's room, Claire has felt like she totally got the short end. She's been asking for something "new and pretty" in her room because well, she cares about stuff life that. So for the last little while I've been on the hunt for new and pretty, and I tagged onto the list fun and cheap.
Last week I was roaming around Tai Pan Trading while visiting family in Provo, and dreaming and drooling. Oh, how I love that place! I was in search of inspiration more than for something to buy. I immediately fell in love with one of their displays and knew I wanted to recreate it for Claire's "pretty" request.
And I knew right away that I could totally do it! With some of these...
and a few of these...
Confused yet? Good. I love keeping ya'll in suspense. I can't believe I just said ya'll.
Lucky for me, I had the perfect branches left over from ahem, my little tree incident. I knew I was holding onto them for a reason. Each branch is about 24" by 2" in diameter, so the final result is quite massive. The wiffle balls came in a 4 pack from Dollar Tree. Then I snatched up a few bushels of silk flowers. You know, the kind that make you wonder what crazy lady would actually buy them and WHAT in the world could they possibly be good for. Yes, those would be the ones. Trust me on this one. If ever there was a time to use cheap and ugly silk flowers and even cheaper wiffle balls, (that break in half upon first meeting a bat - Ty proved it) NOW is that time!
Here's what I did. First of course, I busied these two little helpers with pretzels and baby dolls. That was by far the most critical step.
Next, I found myself somewhat uniform branches, but still ended up having to hack and saw away at knobbies and little pokies. My arm was jello after that. Then I arranged them in a grid-like configuration. Here's what I ended up with.
Keep in mind, these next steps all happened over the course of a few days. Next. I waited until Reas was good and accessible and he oh so willingly helped me lash all this together. We reminisced a bit, about how we never really learned what we should have at scout camp and girl's camp. It was very bonding.
Here's what the sticks look like all tied together. Quite a work of art if I do say so... and I do.
Now, let's put the stick project on hold momentarily and we'll attack the wiffle balls. Really. I attacked them with those horrible ugly flowers we were discussing earlier. I cut the blooms off of the stems and then used my glue gun to secure them all over the balls. I kept adding and adding and adding, until it was a big ball of smooshed together pedals.
Let's talk about your choice of balls here - ooh that does not sound good. Mom, hope you're not reading this. I used wiffle balls because they are super cheap. Styrofoam balls would definitely be a non-thrifty crafter's ball of choice, but come on. Have you ever priced those things? Anywhere from about 75 cents for the little ones and up to $4.00 for the big ones. Any kind of ball will work as long as it is very lightweight. I actually loved using the wiffle balls because all the little nubbies on the bottom of the flowers fit right into the holes. If you're working with small flowers you'll have to fill in the blank spots with extra flowers, but if you're using big blooms, there won't be any blank spots left. AND you can even end up with different sizes of flower balls depending on the size of flowers you use. It's perfect! The ball in this next picture is made with big flowers. I glued one into each hole and the flowers were big enough to fill up the whole thing without leaving spaces in between.
And just because I take pride in being resourceful, I used the leaves to make leaf balls too. You can see it in the above picture. Reas says they look like seaweed wraps. Maybe. But I bet mine taste better. Now, back to the sticks. Reas again came to my aid and screwed one of those swag hooks into the ceiling. I found mine at Home Depot for $3. It came with its own little anchor that expands behind the drywall, so no need to worry about hitting a stud...so um yeah anyway. It can hold up to 35 pounds. My hanging thing is only 8 lbs, so all is well.
I tied about 4 feet of wide ribbon to each corner of my wooden frame, gathered it all up in the middle and knotted it. Before knotting it make sure the frame hangs evenly. I left a little loop to hang it on the hook. Be sure to give lots of extra tugs to make sure the knot is secure. Falling flower balls and tree limbs are not what we are going for here.
Below is the view looking up.
Last step. I glued fun ribbon to each ball and then tied them to the frame. I added a basket of flowers for variety and called it good.
I chose to hang this over a cute little table and chairs that has been the favorite spot for many a tea parties. I love how it adds a little touch of fancy. The table is in need of some touch-ups, so I'll post a picture of the whole thing after I finish it. This flowery chandelier got an A+ from the boss. She was so excited to go to bed because she could stare at her flowers. I'd say that's a definite winner.
I'm so excited to finally have more pictures to share from Maggie's new room. We took a lengthy break from finishing it up because of a major inspiration freeze for one wall. I have one last little project to complete and then her room gets a big fat check mark next to it! I'm tired of waiting, so I'm going to show it anyway.
For now, there's room in her closet to designate the lower shelf for her books and other odds and ends. I'm hoping that will cut back on some clutter
This wall was so fun to do. Maggie did the artwork herself (inspired by this project), which she loves! The pink flower is a prized possession from her 15 year-old cousin/idol. I never quite knew what to do with it, but I think it's perfect here. My favorite for sure is the dresser. I can't get over how perfect the color came out! You can see it in its "before" state here.
All along, I was hoping the existing window treatments would be able to work. They were the first ones I ever made and this is the only window in the entire house that is the right size. I'm so happy Maggie gave them the thumbs up! I love how they add a little sophistication, but if you ask me, toile fits anywhere.
And there you have it. Ta da! A big girl, but not too big girl room. It was a labor of love for my sweet Maggie with touches of homemade everywhere. And just because I like to think about how much money I save, soon I'll be posting the budget breakdown.
I'm linking this post up to Just a Girl's Show and Share Day.
Poor Ty. His bedroom has been the neglected space ever since we moved in. There has been so much to do all over the house and it doesn't help that I haven't been feeling any decorating inspiration for his room, so it has just sat there. He DOES have the only two-toned room in the house and he finally got real bedding so I'm sure he doesn't care or even notice that the rest of the room is very VERY boring. But the wheels are finally turning and I think I'm formulating a plan. Yesterday Ty made his own wall art (with a little help from Maggie - and OK, I did play a part illustrating the giraffe, but he colored everything and provided the text). I love a good kiddie masterpiece. Best of all, it's FREE. I have some ideas for the rest of the room, so hopefully it will turn out like it looks in my head. That's the hard part.
The frames were Target Easter clearance (97 cents each!!!!! they were pink - nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix). Then I drilled holes to thread the jute through and knotted it all together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
