Girls’ Room Reveal!

Okay you know those AWESOME room reveals all over the internet that have amazing before & afters, and pretty much blow your mind? This isn’t one. For several reasons. We rent. We can’t  paint walls, and most of the furniture isn’t even ours. It’s our landlords. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here, but we know it’ll be awhile, so we don’t do a ton of nail holes (because I’ll just have to patch them all), and our girls have very strong opinions, so they get input on their room. In parts. Okay, so with all that said, here’s their room. Some stuff you’ll recognize, but some stuff will be new, and this will just show it all working together, mkay?

First off, do you remember (if you’ve been here awhile) how Thing 1 told me she wanted a Fancy Nancy room? Like so:

So little by little the past month, I’ve been doing things for their room to make it “fancier”. (she reminds me of the checklist all the time!)

Remember the bedspread I showed you here?  Yeah, I sewed that bedspread. It took forever. But not as long as Thing 2’s bedspread, since I hand-dyed everything for that.

Do you remember the sparkly pillow from a shirt? I made that cute ombre heart pillow from using 2 tutorials from V and Co. This one for the heart and this one for the ombre pleats. Then I made the turquoise shag one using this tutorial from V and Co. Pretty pillow? Check!

Yeah, that bedspread and pillows. Okay, back to Thing 1’s bedspread.

Feather boas strewn across the headboards, set in place with thumb tacks. Feather Boas? Check!

Then you can see the Flower Canopies I made on each bed with my Command hook rent friendly tip. Canopy? Check!

Let’s see, above the bed is some of my rent-friendly polka dot décor. It used to be spread all around the room (but the room is GINORMOUS), so I took them all off, and put them on one wall, and layered some of them.

I kinda love them, so do the girls. You can also see the Christmas Ornament lamp (about halfway down the post) my hubby helped me make.

You can also see the mini gallery wall that they helped me paint all the frames, and the blessing dresses I made for each them when they were born.

The little banner is sweet. Thing 1 wanted to try sewing, so we used hole punches to cut out bunches of shapes, then she sat on my lap and helped me sew them together.

Right by the bed is the microwave cart bookshelf I revamped from my Grandpa. Plus a diffuser to prove that they’ve been sick for the last 2 weeks….Ugh.

Right by that is my first upholstery project. Still love the chair, still going strong! Can you see the woven rug I made on the floor? Fancy Rug? Check!

Right next to the chair is all their bows I’ve made them on the bow holder. I showed you a few bows here, and Nat showed you some here.

Then the mirror I “fixed” with washi tape. Love that stuff! Hanging on the back of their door is this:

They have so much crap. Little rings, necklaces, etc. I get so tired of stepping on things, so we hung up this and put on labels.

With pictures on them so they know what goes where. They helped decide so they keep it a lot cleaner now!

I forgot to show their mismatched curtains. I made the yellow one for our previous rental, but it didn’t work by itself on a this larger window, so they picked out the other curtain from the DI (a thrift store), and they think it’s fancy to have colorful curtains. There’s also a strand of Christmas lights strewn over the top and side that they love. (Lights? Check!)

Hung over the top of the closet doors is a strand of turquoise (a fancy word for blue) beads I got on clearance at Target after Christmas.

Then there’s the kitchen I made for them last summer, and the growth chart a few months ago.

My hubby painted this dresser we got from my parents way back in our first house when we were expecting Thing 1. It was already blue, so he painted the minty-turquoise color with a crackle paint.

I still have a project I’m working on for above the dresser here. It’s pretty fantastic in my head!

Hanging on the wall is my thrifted painted owls, and more of my free cornstarch art. Then, there’s the stuffed animal storage I made, and an old bookshelf that was painted the same time as the dresser.

This other dresser I got from my grandparents, and painted a few summers ago, but I really would love to strip it down and refinish it. Maybe something like this?

(source)

Finally, right by Thing 2’s bed is the dollhouse I made 2 Christmases ago for the princesses.

Speaking of princesses, all of their dress up clothes currently reside in their closet where they can reach them, and mostly stay put away…

So, there is the reveal. Eventually when we do move into our own house (whenever that is) the girls will probably not have a HUGE cavernous room. Plus, we’ll have to get a bit of new furniture. So, I just did touches of fancy to make them happy, and they love their room. It’s fun to look back and see all of the projects that have come together to make their room theirs. If I can finish the awesome art I’m working on (think pallet art) then it will be that much cuter.

I’m trying to decide if I should enter the contest Creating with the Stars. It’d be awesome to try, but I just don’t know if I can do awesome things when I’m in a (basement) rental and on a very tight budget. Are you going to enter?

March Fab Five

Since Valentine’s is over, here’s some inspiration to get you thinking about what’s coming up next….

I pinned this forever ago from Zulily. Really the reason I pinned it was because it’s name is Clovis. Nat understands.

I thought this mantel was sweet from A Little Tipsy.

My SIL does a tradition with her family where a leprechaun causes a ton of mischief. Think Elf on the Shelf for St. Patty’s. This cracks me up from a Differentiated Kindergarten.

Really, I love St. Patrick’s day, and the food and silliness that is the holiday. I have a board here that has more ideas, kid crafts, printables, and food ideas if you want to go check it out. I think it should be easy to decorate for, since Emerald is the Pantone color of the year too….

Onto Easter, since that is coming right on the heels of St. Patrick’s.

Love how Chocolate on My Cranium has this countdown to Easter to remember we’re celebrating Christ, not the Easter bunny.

In my hubby’s family, Easter egg decorating is a REALLY big deal. They are all really artsy, and creative, so their eggs are literally works of art. Then they roll them down a hill to see which ones last the longest. So I have a lot of egg decorating ideas on my Easter Board.

How about a cute Easter manicure from Holiday Snob?

I may try to make this this year. Then again, maybe not. But this egg garland from Craft Endeavor is pretty awesome.

This is awesome. But alas, it links to a private blog, so just admire it mkay?

So there’s more ideas, specifically printables, egg filling ideas, basket decorating, etc. We’ll be sharing some of our own over the next few weeks. Have a great weekend!

Earring Makeover

Today is Valentine’s Day.  Do you have any awesome plans?

I do.  I’ve got a fun dinner with my guys planned.  I hope they like it.  Heart shaped personal pizzas, heart shaped carrot slices, heart shaped garlic parmesan breadsticks, red Jello, red punch, and a heart shaped chocolate layer cake.  Mmmm…I can hardly wait!

Since today is the day of love, I thought it would be fun to have my Valentine’s day nails, and dress in red, white and black today.  (I need to match my Valentine’s Day décor!) I whipped up a red ruffle scarf…Ash is right…it’s insanely easy and fun!

I also gave my favorite earrings a makeover.

That was also quick and easy.  About a year ago, I got these cute, fun earrings on sale for a dollar.  Score!

But, they tarnished after just a few months.  I guess that’s what happens when you buy such expensive jewelry!

I remembered that (a very, very long time ago) one of my friends did her science fair project on rust.  She found that nails that were coated in nail polish (he he he!) didn’t rust, and others did.

That’s what sparked my idea for this earring upcycle.

I decided to paint them red with nail polish…

…and I just LOVE how they turned out!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Curing Bedwetting

Yep.  I’m still talking “potty talk.”  Just stick with me on this, this is some pretty good advice if you’ve got a bed wetter!  :)

I had a few bedwetters.  Most of my kids outgrew it by the time they were five, but for those that didn’t we used this:

This bed wetting alarm is kind of expensive up front, but it is the Best.Investment.Ever.  It helps your child realize they need to wake up and go to the bathroom.  Besides, it’s less expensive than spending years in Underjams.

This book has wonderful information and works great alongside the bed wetting alarm:

After a few weeks of using the alarm and the book (on more than one kid…) we’ve had dry nights every night.

A lot of people don’t talk about bed wetting.  When I was trying to help my kids overcome it, no one would talk about it.  They didn’t want to embarrass their kids.  I get that, and I respect that; BUT, I needed help.  Thankfully, I had a mother share this advice with me.

It happened quite by accident, too.  When Monkey was a teeny, tiny baby, I took him to the pediatrician for a bladder infection.  I asked the pediatrician if this would cause bed wetting, and our conversation took off from there.  He suggested we try different kinds of medications, testing, etc… to find out if it was a hormone/kidney/bladder problem.  When none of that worked, he wanted to send us to a Pediatric Urologist.  His nurse then suggested we try the alarm.  She said it had worked on more than one of her kids. 

I am so thankful she shared that little piece of advice with me.  I honestly think that without it, we’d still have wet nights.  I’d still be washing sheets every day.  If you try the alarm, be prepared for a few sleepless nights.  Don’t worry, it won’t last forever, and when it’s over and you child stays dry every night, you won’t regret it.

I don’t want to embarrass any of my kids by sharing this advice (that’s why I didn’t say which of my kids had the problem), but if it will help someone out there, then it will be worth it.