Negative Nancy, Major Messes and a New Wall...

So I've been a bit of a Negative Nancy lately. Bitter Betty, if you will. Until yesterday's glorious sunshine, I was just so utterly, epically, insanely sick of COLD and SNOW. The cabin fever up in here had reached unimaginable heights. I just can't deal with another snow day stuck in the house. I.Just.Can't. I daydream daily about the amazingness of warm weather, the sun, OUTSIDE. Being stuck inside all day has become torture. I have nothing left to entertain the girls with. 

So of course, being me, stuck inside with three small children for eternities at a time, I decided to embark on a few new house projects before the next shower I am hosting on March 8. Naturally. My problem is that I start 17 things at once, fail to finish any of them, then have to restart said projects because they get totally screwed up by my housebound children. 

One source of major angst for me is the failure of my kids to clean up after themselves. I get so excited to buy them all these fabulous things. After what seems like a nanosecond, pieces are lost or broken. Games. Games are my nemesis. There is no point to a game if you don't have all of the pieces. We got the girls Hungry Hungry Hippos for Christmas and I seriously went psycho keeping track of those little balls. There are 20. At one point I believe we had four with the game. It became a celebration whenever we found one of those little suckers. You can't play Sorry without all of the little Hershey Kiss-looking pieces. You can't play Jenga if you only have six blocks. You can't play a Barbie Matching card game if half the cards are gone. You can't play Operation without the little pieces to extract. You can't do a 25 piece puzzle when you only have 14 pieces. You can't draw with markers if they are dried out from having their tops left off. You can't play with rock-hard play-doh. I question at times if I have unrealistic expectations of them... but I really don't. A two year old can certainly put a freaking marker top back on. I have just failed at being consistent and making them do it. 

By bedtime, I am practically pushing them into their rooms. I don't want to deal with the slowness and distraction of cleaning up. I'd rather do it myself, quickly, properly, putting things in the right place. The problem with that is I don't always have time to do it. I try to send them down to the basement to get out of my way while I am trying to cook dinner, and I end up calling them up, never actually stepping foot down there... and when I finally do, it looks like a bomb hit it. Then my blood pressure goes through the roof as I furiously put away what always looks like every bin dumped out and stirred together. The same thing goes for their art area in the office. I was so excited to create a space for them to be creative, and I swear they purposely put a sheet of paper or something on the floor to cover every square inch. It is incredible the amount of mess and chaos these girls can create in such little time. Oh, the bags of stuff... the bags of stuff kill me. For whatever reason, kids just love to fill any bag around with pretty much any random item. And they take it to a different location and make a mess there. I'm telling you, it's a thing. The randomness I have found in an old purse in the bathroom is sort of hilarious, if it weren't so annoying. Basically my point to all of this is that I have royally screwed up my girls in this department and I am not quite sure how to get back on track. I don't want them thinking we can just "buy more" if their markers are dried out. They need to take care of their crap. 

So in trying to make sense of their inability to clean up, I decided to try to reorganize their toys. I wanted to see if I could figure out a better system that would help them be able to know where everything goes. Kind of like my psycho clothes labels (which have totally worked by the way... yes their room can be a total mess, but they are able to clean it up because they know where their clothes go). What I hate most about reorganizing is that you need to essentially make a bigger mess before you can actually accomplish it. So I proceeded to try to box up old baby toys they don't play with and sort through the endless chaos. After a while, I was to the point of just roaming around and moving things from one place to another. It just wasn't working. I took a break from that and went upstairs to start on my new gallery wall. I got stressed from hanging placement decisions so then I started on the toys in the family room which were overflowing from the basket. I began to find a mixture of toys I was just working with downstairs and got overwhelmed again. I went back to hanging pictures. 

So at this point, the family room is a disaster, the basement is an epic disaster, and I have a few pictures hung on the wall. Not awesome. The only thing I have (sort of) finished since then is the wall. 

To make things worse, all of the sorting work I did the other day in the basement has now gone completely to waste. My sister is throwing a shower this weekend and I have been watching her kids for her a few days this week to help her out. Combine a six year old, a four year old, a three year old and two two year olds in the basement because their shrieking got way too loud for my sanity, and here is the result: 

Yeah. I know. And this is just one corner. I'm also pretty sure that every one of those five children has bled at one point these past few days. Cousins who act and fight like siblings... There's nothing better. 

Yesterday I went through the books in our cabinet and had them perfectly sorted into hard cover, baby, beginner reading, chapter books, etc. Approximately 12 seconds later it looked like this: 

At least I finished hanging all of the frames and whatnot on my wall. I'll take a small victory.

So this was before: 

I did it quickly and without thinking too much. It turned out way too symmetrical, which is so annoyingly me. I measure psychotically. My sister painted curtains (don't ask), and she came over to my house so I could measure for her. She is the artistic one. I am the OCD one. "Eyeballing" gives me nightmares. 

So the wall drove me insane, and I ended up amassing a lot more frames, pictures, and a big focal piece I had custom-made from Etsy. 

The shop is Little Monkey Business. It is way adorable and they were awesome to work with. I also got our wedding date framed for Christmas from my mom... my cousin makes these and I'm obsessed. Basically, if you invite me to your wedding, this is what you will get. Here is the link to her website. She does really amazing stuff. 

I got help with the layout, did some eyeballing while hanging, and this is the result (ignore the lack of actual pictures in the frames. One step at a time): 

I had to get Emmie in it again. :o) So I love it. Some symmetry but enough randomness. It makes me happy every time I look at it, even without pictures in frames. Don't look too close because I haven't done any of the final official leveling of everything since I haven't even filled the frames. 

***updated pictures***

I also got a ginormica clock. I'm talking 49" diameter. Now I do a lot of things I probably shouldn't attempt, but I know I am only 62" tall. That ratio does not seem to work in my favor. So I was actually intelligent in this situation and asked a very handy neighbor to come hang it. It is a massive statement piece (needed, because the ceilings are so high). 

No one will ever be able to complain that they don't know when 5 o'clock is at our house... 

With my new and improved wall, and my huge clock, the space above the entertainment center looked very lonely. My sister gave me a fabulous idea (which I am half-excited/half-want to kill her for putting in my head), which I will show you when it is done. Shoot me now... 

So that is what I have accomplished over the last week. Well, in addition to an amazing 80's Valentine's Day party (The Reagan Years performed if that means anything to you. It didn't to me, but they were great). I also printed, addressed, and sent out 87 (zero exaggeration) invitations. And went to gymnastics: 

Cursed more snow: 

Went to two rescheduled Valentine's Parties (we had all those extra days and we still didn't get the Valentine's done until the night before): 

Oh and had a dance party: 

This weekend we are off on a snow tubing adventure, because we just haven't seen enough snow already this winter. Sidenote... I most definitely bought waterproof fishing gloves instead of ski gloves. My hands look like claws. Aghhhh

Happy Thursday! 

Laminating-Mania, Busy Bags and Customer Service...

A few observations and experiences from this week: 

-It really sucks being sick when you are a mom
You all are very fortunate to be getting this post today. I finally succumbed to the 34897 different sicknesses that all my children have been passing around amongst themselves. Layla had a 24 hour stomach virus in the beginning of the week, Olivia still had a cough from her last cold and then decided to go for round two. I then got a legit call from the school nurse on Friday... Summer had apparently thrown up in the hall. (I felt so utterly bad for her and was slightly worried because those kinds of things can follow you around for years. Fortunately a friend was walking her to the health room so there was only one witness. Phew. Kids can be cruel). I have to say I do enjoy the  "she hit herself in the eye with her zipper" call much better than the puking one. So on Sunday, it got me. Everything at once. I felt like death and barely moved from bed all day. I couldn't have been happier that this happened on a weekend so Matt could take care of the girls. There are few things worse than feeling that miserable and having to be mommy through it all. 

-I have found a passion for laminating
My sister saw this shirt and made a very specific phone call just to tell me about it: 

Story.Of.My.Life. I become obsessed with organization, labels, etc... but then I never keep it that way. I like to, I'm just too scattered... but then that drives me insane. It can be tough living inside my brain. So on my continued quest to provide some independence for the girls around the house, my next mission was to eliminate all excuses for not putting their clean clothes away. Enter: clothing labels. So before I began this project, I had an irresistible urge to buy a laminating machine. I don't know why, I just really really wanted it. Amazon (obvi) brought me to the perfect, amazingly reviewed, budget-friendly beauty that I would receive in two days with my fab prime membership. I mean I don't know about you, but there have been what seems like upteen times that I have thought to myself, "I really need to laminate this." So after the excitement of the laminator delivery, I then scoured the internet in search for the perfect clothing images... far harder than I had anticipated. After saving a trillion to my computer, adjusting them, printing them out, re-outlining them myself, and pasting them onto adorable paper (Layla- green, Summer- purple. I had to switch them after depression ensued)... my laminator went into action. Here are the results: 

Shirt Types

Leggings/Sweatpants or Jeans

Pajamas, Underwear and Socks

I attached them to their drawers with an adhesive velcro coin so I can change location of things when I want or with changing seasons. Good news: Layla and Summer put every last piece of clothing in the proper drawer, easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. HOORAY!! My stupid work paid off, but now if I can just get them to put their DIRTY laundry where it belongs...

-My kids need to learn to PLAY BY THEMSELVES!!!! 
With this recent colder weather, I have come to the unfortunate realization that outside is just not going to be an option for much longer. I know they would be fine, but let's be serious... I don't want to freeze my butt off. We spend A LOT of time outside during the other seasons, so to have them cooped up inside all winter is sort of a nightmare... unless I want them to watch TV all day. My sister had told me about "busy bags" years ago, but the girls usually just played with each other. Now with Livi totally alone three days a week (totes not what she is used to), she epically sucks at playing by herself. Layla isn't great without their fearless leader Summer either. My work commenced. So I started off with a semi-ghetto puff ball situation from a yogurt container with a hole in the top. 

I don't know why pushing those puffs through the hole and dumping them out is entertaining, but it is and that is ALL that matters. 

Next up was a matching picture game. My printer is basically out of ink so I will be redoing these, but I just printed a few animals pics, cut them in half, laminated them (obvi), and voila. 

I then decided to order a few items to make things more interesting. 

Velcro Craft Sticks. Literally just stuck the velcro coins on them.  


















Clip the clothes pin with the number that corresponds to the dots (More laminating! And educational!! Bonus!!): 

Match the upper case top part of the egg to the lower case bottom part: 

And a felt board situation: 

Okay I bought the last one... do you know how annoying it is to cut out all of those shapes?!?! And judging from the dog hair visible in the picture, they have already played with it. 

I have a few more in the works (stringing beads, dry-erase shape/letter tracing, etc), and I have been figuring out different age-appropriate ones for Layla vs Olivia, but the point of these is to bring them out, have them play with them for a period of time, and then put them away. Don't let them get sick of it. Since I have been working on these I feel like they have been watching more TV than normal, but you have to reach your goals somehow... I am just searching for more things to laminate. 

-I use curbside grocery pick-up because I DON'T want to put myself through the hell that is known as shopping with my children
I have previously discussed this fantastical service that Harris Teeter provides. I shop online at home (my specialty in general. Lucky Matt), select a time to pick it up, they load it into my car, and perfection. No tantrums, screaming, sweating, forgetting things, buying extra things, 57 cookies, mania that is shopping with small children. There are few things I hate more. So the night before I pulled up all of my items, chose the pickup time for before I drive carpool for Layla's school, and went to sleep at peace knowing that the next day we would actually have food in this house. Now the customer service at Harris Teeter is beyond exceptional. I actually regret each time I go to Safeway because despite the convenience of beer and wine, someone always does something that is just so irritating that I internally re-avow my allegiance to the Teeter. So prior to this time, I have never had a single issue with an order. My produce is always phenom, meat fresh, and all items accounted for. Now there is one employee at HT who is just a little... shall we say, odd. Very nice, just different. First bad sign: I received four phone calls the morning I was supposed to pickup my order, asking about substituting the things they were out of, giving me bigger cans of this, that, etc. She was rambling on but I did hear her say something about a bigger can of tuna and a bigger can of pumpkin puree. No prob, whatever, I can deal. When I opened my trunk for my groceries to be loaded, I see her and immediately become concerned. I become more concerned when she makes a side comment about how heavy my meat is (pork tenderloin... should be 2 1/2-3lbs). I am increasingly concerned when she has me sign two different receipts, with the main one significantly more  (like over $20) than I had been anticipating (the second one was for items she had added later. I know, I was confused too). Unfortunately I had kids to pick up from school, so dissecting my receipt was not a possibility at that moment. When I got home and started to unload the bags, I am met with the meat... and yes, she had every reason to make a comment about how heavy it was. Instead of giving me the small, normal package of pork tenderloin as I had ordered, she gave me a ginormica of a pork loin that had to have been three feet long. I mean it was as tall as Layla!!! It also weighed in at nearly TEN pounds. Hereeee is the extra $20 on my bill. I still got it half-price, but paid $27 instead of the $8 I was supposed to. So oh well. We have the mammoth meat. Matt looked up how to cut it up and we essentially will get like 10 meals from that one behemoth. The next morning I get up and go to make the girls breakfast and that is when I discovered: no bananas. I requested six bananas and they are nowhere. I checked the car too. Okay so mammoth meat and no bananas. I fish out my receipt to check everything else. I find that I also paid for an extra can of tuna and I was given a large can of pumpkin pie filling instead of 100% puree. Not okay considering I was making a dessert that day with the pumpkin puree that needed to be chilled overnight. 

Due to these fatal errors (and the fact that I was nearly out of deodorant and didn't want to use Matt's for three days again), I did the last thing in the world that I wanted to do (which is why I use this service), and packed up Layla and Livi to go to the store. I kindly explained all of the issues to the home shopping manager person (who was off the day before, natch), and she proceeded to make corrections. She gave me money back for the can of tuna AND another $20 for the difference in meat. I got my pumpkin puree (they were NOT out of it... look with your eyes and not with your mouth, as my mother would say) and my bananas. All the while my kids are snotty, whining, crying, and miserable.... and I am sweating, trying to explain the problems, and chucking cookies at them in hopes of silence. Meltdowns started happening and I was spastically trying to get out of there, so as I was turning to go the woman yelled after me that she would add another $5 credit to my account. While it doesn't erase me having to come into the store, they did try to compensate (and I got my deodorant). I don't blame the odd woman (total lie), but I hope they make sure she stays in a position that she can succeed in (aka not picking out my groceries). Maybe other people have the luxury of not caring, but I am not one of them... I have too much laminating to do. 

-This is my blog so I get to have a proud mommy moment
I had my parent-teacher conference yesterday for Summer and she started out, "Before I get into the specifics can I just tell you that you have the sweetest, cutest little girl." :o) I knew that, but hooray. Nothing but advanced and proficient in absolutely everything. AND she has slept in her OWN bed ALL night for FOUR nights in a row. YESSSSSSSSS!!!! I had Layla's parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago and I will say, it was the first one I have ever been nervous for. Not that Layla is bad, she is just so completely different and one of the youngest in her class. I wasn't sure how she really was in school. My worry was silly because she got 100% raves as well, and it was from the same teacher Summer had last year. So basically, my kids are great for everyone else and total hellions for me. At least it isn't the other way around.

The madness continues... Wish me well. 

Happy Wednesday! 

Death by IKEA and a Happy Laundry Room...

I have a true love/hate relationship with IKEA. I mean, it is so cheap, has a trillion things, is so colorful and happy... but yet it can feel like the devil's playground when you are overstimulated and suddenly feel frozen with indecision when you swear you knew exactly what you were coming for just mere moments before. 

In my silly overambitiousness, my recent quest has become to promote independence with the girls. I want them to be able to get their own clothes out, put them away, get their own coats or jackets, etc. I figure I can't expect them to do things if 1. They can't even reach it. 2. There isn't an actual place to put things. Herein started my quest for uber-organization. So obviously I started 15 projects and have yet to finish one. Sometimes I just don't know why I do things. 

My first ambition was to make the laundry room a fun, happy place to be in. I mean, no one likes to do laundry... I might as well make it random and awesome. I wanted fun bins to bring in a bright color that I was going to paint one of the walls. Quest accomplished at Home Goods where I found these orange and grey bins to go on the shelves. 

So I went with an orange wall, did a grey chevron roman shade, pulled out a mason jar and put on a chalkboard label for items left in pockets, ordered a decal from Etsy, and hung a framed "Martha Stewart stain guide." 

I hung an old shelf with hooks on a lower level so the girls could have a place for their main jackets, backpack, my purse, etc. Put up a hook for items that need to be hung up immediately, an ironing board hook and also a broom/swiffer caddie thing behind the door: 

Here is a random 'before' picture: 

Here is the after: 

Laundry is miserable. This needs to be a happy room. End of story. 

So that project is mostly finished (the cabinets need to be organized... they are ginormous but I am not utilizing them, perhaps because I would always need a ladder). My other project is redoing the closet in Summer and Layla's room. I had previously gotten some drawer units and whatnot, but the high shelves and place to hang their dresses just didn't work. They couldn't really hang up their own clothes, and I just thought it was a ton of wasted space in the closet. I found an idea that would work from iheart organizing that looks something like this: 

I wanted to get additional shelves to hang above the lower rods for smaller bins for hair things, belts, etc. Their closet currently had the one builder-grade wire-ish shelf that hung across the top. Not good. 

So I planned ahead for this IKEA trip. I even got someone to watch the girls. We had dinner plans with friends that night, but I had what I thought was a good amount of time to gloriously shop without children. I thought I was being smart about this. I know I do plenty of stupid things, but taking multiple children to IKEA when I need a large item is something I never want to do (again). I had a list... expedit shelves, bins for the shelves, and three frames. I also wanted to look at wall shelves. That's it. 

It was a rainy afternoon, but no one was on the ICC per usual so I made it there in good time. I smartly parked at the exit, proud of myself for thinking ahead. I brought my list, notebook of measurements (just in case), and purse. So my first mistake was not grabbing a cart by the entrance. I hesitated but thought, "No. All the stuff I'm getting is on the lower level." I ride up the escalator and am met with the happy, modern, bright patterns and adorable setups. It's this joyful land filled with things that are so cheap but they make look so good. I snag a yellow bag and put my annoying notebook in it, grab a brochure and pencil. My trip officially commences. 

Almost immediately I see curtains that look like a perfect color for our bedroom AND they have the grommets at the top... oh wait, miracle upon miracle, they are long enough (I have absurdly long windows in EVERY room)!!! And they are only $27.99 a pair! I can't believe it! I put two sets in my yellow bag and it is already awkwardly heavy. I'm not even through the Living Room showroom. Oh well, I usually have three kids with me. I can carry a bag no problem. I continue on my way, stopping to look at the different wall shelves. There are so many of them, and they are everywhere... and when I think I like one I end up running over to another set-up thinking I like different ones and low and behold they are the same exact wall shelves. I plow through sofa-beds and get to the wall units and media storage. Here I write down the article number, aisle and bin for my expedit shelves like a pro. But then... wait, there are cute inserts with drawers that I could get for these shelves. Oh no, there are multiple types of bins in slightly different colors. Crap. What do I need. Losing focus. I jot down the insert article number and the names of the different bins. I can make the official decision later. I can't think right now. My arm and back are throbbing from this awkward bag. I start second guessing the curtains but I know if I put them down I am never finding them again. I see more wall shelves that look good. Ugh, those are the shelves they put products on. I run through Kitchen and Dining trying to get back on track. In Workspaces I slow down when I see all of the fantastic looking organizational stuff. Our office needs a better system... I could get this stuff to help that out.... no no no, stop, focus. I am continually seeing different shelves with different bins and fabulousness and my mind is whirling over what I actually need. Ohhhh the closet systems in bedroom are amazing, I want all of it. I somehow blow through children's IKEA with the sheer motivation being my back is aching from these stupid curtains and I make my way downstairs. Alright, I only have 30 minutes to find all of the stuff down here and get on the road. Crap. Here is where it went majorly downhill. I grab a cart to appease my back. Ohhh a trashcan would be fantastic to hold wrapping paper in. Hmmmm these $3.99 spice racks are all over pinterest for their book holding qualities, I should get a few. Bins. Oh these bins. I agonize for several minutes, finally grabbing two in turquoise (??? I need five). I get to curtains and I am now met with another set that I think I like the fabric better but they don't have grommets. Decisions. This woman won't get out of my way. I hate her. I think I like the grommets. Ugh do I really need these right now? No, I don't. These can wait. I put them back twice before I put them back in my cart. I get to the frames section with mere minutes left before I am supposed to leave. I can't find the ones I want. Wait which ones do I want? I liked it best when it was a bigger mat, right? Aghhh I have no idea. None of these look like the ones that I want. Ten minutes later I frantically grab several and nearly sprint to the massive warehouse area. 

The expedit shelves are on aisle 1, bin 24. I find it promptly but I am met with an extremely large box. I mean, I know how big these shelves are (they are the ones I made my bench from). But are they really this big? And heavy? Over six feet long and 50lbs? My cart won't do, I need to get one of those other flat-bottom-big-things. I backtrack to the front of the warehouse to grab one of them, and push both carts over to the shelves. While holding the back of the cart with my foot, I try to finagle the huge shelves onto my cart. Profusely sweating and running severely late, I must have looked like I needed help because a woman came over to hold my cart in place while I maneuvered the shelves. I thanked her, then loaded my stuff up on top of the new cart and shelves. These curtains. I mean, they can wait. I take them out and set them aside. NOOOO I forgot to write down where that adorable pink insert with drawers was. The computers are all occupied. And I never did find the correct shelves or decide on anything. Oh well, whatever, I have to leave. I am so late. I am running to get in line. Finally grab one that doesn't look too long and try to look like I am not utterly frazzled and sweaty and irritated that I have no idea what I bought or what I even need anymore. No, checkout woman, I have no idea where my IKEA family card is. Clearly you have to scan it before you start scanning my things because you are standing there waiting for me to find it. Ah YES here it is. Did it even do anything? No. I paid and left, thinking to myself how I was going to get these shelves into my car by myself. Determination presided. Despite the awesome pouring rain, I lifted them up and pushed them partly in, then ran around the other side to lift it over the console. Went around back again and pushed it in fully. Success! At least it is raining so my profuse sweating isn't too noticeable. I packed everything else in, already regretting not getting the curtains. Ahhh rainy traffic. I can feel a migraine coming on. I finally get home and throw on some clothes. My hair and makeup is a lost cause. The entire ride to dinner I sat in the way back between Summer and Layla. Neither of them shut their mouths the entire ride and all Summer wanted to teach me was some 'Avocado' song/game she learned with her friends at school. I barely did it one time when I decided the 'quiet game' was essential. That didn't last, but we finally did get there and I had TWO lemon drop martinis and prime rib. I'm pretty sure most things can be solved with two lemon drop martinis. 

So I got the shelves but only two bins. The frames were the wrong size. I wish I bought the curtains. I never found the wall shelves. And I keep thinking, that trip could have been MUCH worse. I could have had children with me! I have since made an updated list with EXACT items (along with article numbers) and I may just go straight to the lower level and get the things I need. That was just out of control. 

So I am now mid-23498 projects (I am also moving their old drawer units into our closet and reorganizing), with none of them completed. Which kills me. Oh and did I mention we drove to North Carolina for a wedding last weekend?? A total of 17.5 hours on the road between Friday and Sunday. (I knew we were going to be driving to NC, but in my head that meant like 4-5 hours. I didn't process that it was Charlotte which is significantly farther. Geography lesson learned the hard way). It was Matt's cousin who was getting married and it was actually perfectly amazing. A GORG venue and tons of fun people. The girls were invited and considering we are going to Nashville without them in two weeks, we figured we would bring them. While they struggled a little (Livi fell asleep during the ceremony which I was THRILLED about but then she started snoring...) we all had an amazing time. All of them were on the dance floor until they dropped. 

They were also big fans of the photo booth: 

Weddings are just so happy, especially when the couple is flat-out adorable and their love is SO obvious. Next time we'll fly and it will be even better. 

And lastly, did I mention Matt is out of town?? He had to be in Virginia on Sunday afternoon (we dropped his car off there on the way), and yesterday he had to go back down to North Carolina until Thursday. Sorry, there has been no "Girls Only Weekend of Fun"  this time... it has been pretty rough. Counting down the minutes until tomorrow night.... 

Happy Wednesday! 

Pinterest Projects I have actually accomplished: Part 1...

So I have never been one of those crafty, creative people that tries projects and arty things. It just isn't me. I am a perfectionist, so the whole DIY stuff can drive me insane with my quest for precision. Then I entered the world of Pinterest. Talk about feeling utterly inadequate in every decorating, cooking, mommy, craft, organizational way. I am half-relieved, half-jealous that it wasn't around when I got married. It can seem so vast and ridiculous that these people actually DO these things. I mean, who actually has time for this stuff? People have absolutely amazing ideas, and tutorials on how to attempt them are fantastic. A lot of these projects really aren't that bad, and when it comes down to it, most people are trying to take the easy way out in any way they can. 

So, my sister was telling me about some article she read about how things don't HAVE to be perfect. They can be perfectly imperfect, which can be just as fabulous... and no one really notices the teeny place that fabric is misaligned in the corner of one window. I do. But I need to get over it. After we moved, I finally decided to attempt some of these projects... with some success! Here are two of the many I have done (mostly at 1am when the girls are sleeping, of course). More to come in future posts. 


Storage Bench 

This bench has been an utter lifesaver in the kitchen. You have absolutely no idea how many shoes these little girls somehow accrue and leave EVERYWHERE. I did it the weekend of that massive storm last fall (Sandy??). I went to Home Depot and everyone was getting batteries, generators, flashlights, bottled water, etc... ya know, things to survive. Here I am getting supplies for a Pinterest project. I got the instructions here at IHeart Organizing (I'm literally obsessed with this woman. I mean, she has amazeballs colorful labels on EVERYTHING.), and I will tell you how I did it. My apologies for not having step-by-step pics. I wasn't doing this blog yet so documentation didn't really happen. 

Materials: 
-IKEA Expedit Shelves $59.99
-MDF board at Home Depot  $6.27. I brought the exact measurements of the shelves and I had them cut it for me there. 
-2" foam sheet-- $58.99 but I got it from Joanne fabrics with a 40% off coupon so it was around $35
-Fabric of your choice (I have gotten tons of adorbs prints from fabric.com. I ordered 2 1/2 yards for this and it was beyond plenty). All of the stuff I have ever gotten has run from $6-$8 per yard.  
-Fabric glue (see pic below. I got it from Michael's or on Amazon) usually anywhere from $7-$10. 
-Velcro- (to eliminate the cushion from sliding off when someone sits down) I got a pack from Michael's but you could get this from Amazon for $5-$6. 
-Baskets/Bins-- I recommend getting them from IKEA so they fit perfectly in the shelving. I got these for $16.99 each but there are some cheaper options. You could also order extra fabric and do these amazing DIY bins (I plan on doing them myself very soon for other parts of my house). 
-Knife (for cutting foam to size. Much easier than scissors). 

• Build the shelves per lovely IKEA instructions (fortunately these are super easy).

• Lay the foam out on the floor and put the cut MDF board over. Use a sharpie to mark and then cut (a knife because it was SO much easier than scissors). 

• Decide how you are going to have the pattern (if you have one of course) appear on the cushion. (I recommend ironing your fabric before. Possibly wash it if that is what is recommended for your particular fabric). Lay the foam and MDF board on top of the fabric. Cut your fabric leaving several inches around the edges to allow you to glue it to the MDF board. 

• Spray the fabric glue and pull as tight as you can (the fabric may stretch over time when people constantly are sitting on it). 

• Apply the velcro by adhering it to the bench itself, then carefully lay the covered cushion on top (make sure it is lined up how you want it to be). 

Extremely easy and it can somewhat contain some of the chaos that is constantly everywhere. Each girl has their own drawer and I use the others for hair stuff, rain boots, etc. It also has provided great additional seating in the kitchen since we always seem to hang out there. The only other thing I would recommend is to scotchguard it if it is in a high-traffic area or in the way of grubby hands. 

No-Sew Roman Shades

Let me preface this by saying if you can sew, you are amazing. I most definitely cannot, which is why I chose this fake-me-out window treatments option. They are not functional (aka can't go up or down) so they aren't the best in a place where you need privacy. They are super easy and inexpensive. I found several different tutorials, but I ended up using a combo of a few.  

I did these for both the windows in our breakfast area as well as the window in my laundry room (hence the different fabrics in the pictures). If you are making a bagillion (I have six windows in the breakfast area), it can get tedious. The one I did in the laundry room took me just 20-30 minutes. 

Materials: 
-fabric (once again, fabric.com). How much to order depends on your window size and how many folds you want. The width of the fabric is typically around 56". For the smaller window in my laundry room (25"), one yard was plenty. For the six windows (33"), I got 10 yards and I have tons, TONS leftover. 
-tension rods (a few dollars at Target. I got three per window and so I have two folds in each shade. You can do whatever you think looks best). 
-Stitch Witchery (from Michael's, see picture below). This stuff is magical. 
-iron
-towel (white is best so you don't transfer any color to your fabric, and don't use one that is nice and you want to use again).
-bowl of water
-ironing board (or some other hard surface... but I don't recommend doing it on your new kitchen table even if you do put like 20 towels down. It WILL make marks on the wood and you will be extremely angry with yourself. Good news is after six months, the marks will eventually fade). 
-wooden dowels (Michael's. I got the ones with the red on top. Around 50-75 cents each)
-hand saw 
-measuring tape 

• Measure window width from the inside of the window where the tension rods will go. Add one inch to this measurement so you can make 1/2 inch creases on either side.  

• Iron the 1/2 inch creases on either side. I did one side first, then measured the fabric to the width of my window (no more than 1/8 inch smaller). Continue to re-measure as you go. 

***Sidenote- geometric fabric is great because you can line it up, but you can also see if it is off at all***

• Unroll the stitch witchery and place it underneath the crease. Spread a wet towel (not soaking, but definitely wet) over the crease carefully (make sure the stitch witchery doesn't move from underneath the crease). Place a hot iron over the towel (it will hiss) for 10 seconds. Voila! You have a non-sewn hem. Repeat for both sides of the shade. 

• Take one tension rod and place it at the top and pull the material over it to create a loop for it to hang on. 

• Repeat the stitch witchery process. You can also do this on the bottom (but make sure you know the length you want before you do that). 

• Adjust the tension rods to fit your window width. Place one at the top with the material looped through. Place the others below, maybe 12-16 inches lower (you can readjust until you like the look). 

• Use a handsaw to cut the wooden dowels just slightly less than the width of the shade. 

• Insert a tension rod through the loop you created and place at the top of your window. Let the material hang in front of the other tension rods. Several inches below the next rod down, fold the fabric back up so it goes over and behind the rod, creating your first fold. Put the dowel inside the fold/pocket to weigh the fold down. The rest of the fabric should be hanging down in front of the next tension rod below. Repeat the same process for how many folds/tension rods you have/want. 

As I mentioned before, you can create another pocket with the stitch witchery for your final fold to keep the material on the last tension rod. I did that for some of the window, then I got ghetto and sort of just taped it to the tension rods. Readjust the fabric, distance between rods, folds, etc until you love it. 

I have gotten SO many compliments on these, and while I tell people not to look too close, they have been the perfect addition to the windows. 

You will see a picture of the laundry room chevron ones when I post my laundry room transformation (coming soon). 

All-in-all, I am so happy I have attempted to adopt the 'perfectly imperfect' thought process. It is far better to have all of these awesome things in my house that I did myself than to just daydream or attempt (and fail) to save endlessly for everything (since everything seems to cost a schmillion dollars). Hopefully these instructions make some sort of sense. I promise, it really isn't as hard as you think. 

Happy Tuesday!!