An organized baby girl closet!

As promised in my last post, I'm ready to share a project that we worked pretty hard on! The closet system for our nursery. 

I just LOVE how it turned out!

Did I mention that we did all of this for under $80?! 

To purchase something prefabricated would have been $120+!

As usual, we got to work pretty quickly, because when there are free time and materials we must get to work. There is mess in the first before shots from my bonus daughters as this was their room before we decided to make it the nursery. 

Before we get too deep, here is the before shot:

It was your typical builder grade closet with one bar the full length of the closet and a shelf at the top that you could only pile stuff on top of one another to fill. We ripped that out pretty quickly before we remembered to take our before shot, but I'm sure you get the gist. 

I did some research and started a pinterest board for kids' bedroom and closet inspiration.

I sat down with a trusty mechanical pencil and lined notebook paper and wrote out what we needed to accommodate in this closet. For example, we have a tiny house and this is the best closet to house the vacuum, so it was necessary to build a specific place for the vacuum cleaner. Other things were onesies, swaddle blankets and sleep sacks, pants of various sizes etc. 

I started getting hand me downs at an alarming rate and so grateful I was since it kicked our butts into gear! I sketched out an idea of what would work for us in this space. The sketch is embarrassing... I'm great at many things but drawing and even just sketching out is not one of those things

We measured the closet space and adapted my sketch to the measurements to make it work.

Here is a shot during the process: 

The details:

We used these simple plastic shoe boxes on the shelves. 

Since baby socks are so tiny and tend to get scattered all over the place I also didn't want to waste a whole drawer for these. 

We still have a shelf (reused) at the top of the closet, it is just more compact. I put swaddle blankets, the breast pump and two sleeping bags up there. Probably more of a temporary storage solution at the moment, but it works loads better than the last shelf with too much room.

I separated the clothes by size which is a tedious and exhausting task!

I used the closet hanging tabs that we'd purchased when Mr P was tiny, but I'm not the biggest fan. So I used the different levels of dowels to create a better visual separation.

0-3 month clothes on the bottom and 3-6 and 6-9 month clothing on top. 

I have a storage container in the garage filled with 9+ months clothes, but I figure by then I'll be ready to go through clothing again!

We incorporated this dresser that we found on the side of the road then painted. All I really did was add the fabric flowers I made behind the drawer pulls.

Off to the left up top we added pre drilled melamine to accommodate the navy baskets from Dollar Tree. If we choose to switch things up later, we can simply move the pegs and the shelves. 

Lastly, at the bottom I wanted to be able to contain laundry and toys.

I purchased two laundry baskets from Ikea, they were $4.99 each. After researching we designed this space for the two to nestle in here side by side. 

The one one the left will hold dirty clothes and the one on the right will house baby toys.

We took the doors off since you couldn't see the whole closet or get to the middle of it. We added a dowel kit to the top just under the track and these thrifted curtains that are Pottery Barn! They were only $7.99 for the pair! Now we can close it up or open it all the way up to get to the things we need!

This is the smallest bedroom in the house and needed to have the most organized closet to make sure that life with all four kids at home this summer will run smoothly!

All I have to do is make labels for all of the baskets and bins so that when mommy brain sets in I have a system of checks and balances!

One more look at it:

The girls and Mr P will be sharing a room for the summer! 

Stay tuned on how we will make that work!

Hope baby girl's closet inspires you!

DIY Fabric Flower Drawer Pulls

I'm really excited to share a project with y'all from this weekend for our baby girl's room!

I can not believe that I'm already in my third trimester and that I'll have a baby girl in less than 3 months! It just blows me away how fast this pregnancy has gone by.

OK, on to the project! It is very sweet and simple, but packs a lot of punch in the cuteness department :)

Take a peek!

We found this dresser on the side of the road in our neighborhood a couple summers ago on our way home from the park. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination... and we didn't care. 

We painted it white as soon as we got it home, and it was good enough for the time being. Now that I am pulling together a nursery for the new baby I wanted to glam it up a bit. 

I was inspired by this post that I have seen pinned a million times. However for our nursery the look was too clean looking and I wanted something a little bit shabbier.

So, I'll tell ya how I did it!

I used:

Scrap fabric

Sharp Fabric Scissors

Round Objects from the recycling bin

Polyurethane Spray

Scrap Cardboard

A scribe

Cheap Ikea Drawer pulls

Screw driver

1. I cut out various circles using jars from the recycling bin as a template. I chose my patterned fabric to be the back and front and my solid fabric as the middle two layers.

2. After cutting graduated sized circles, I scalloped the edge of the two patterened circles (the smallest and largest) buy just winging it. Then frayed the edges with my thumb nails. This can get very messy, so I'd recommend doing it over the garbage can.

3. I cut into the circle of my solid fabric making chunky petals and frayed them all by pulling them and running my thumb nail across them. 

Here is a photo to give you an idea of the steps above:

After I frayed all of my edges to my liking I wanted to stiffen the fabric up so my flowers wouldn't be floppy around the drawer pulls.

So...

4. I laid my frayed circular shapes out on a scrap piece of cardboard, took it outside and sprayed my fabric with a polyurethane spray. I could have opted for mod podge, it probably would have dried faster and would have been less stinky, but I didn't want to mess with getting fabric pieces in my mod podge and I was trying to make this happen as fast as possible :) 

5. I let my sprayed fabric dry for several hours in the garage.

6. The fabric pieces stiffened up just as I wanted them to! I crumpled them up a bit and layered them up biggest in the back down to smallest in the front and poked a hole through the center of the fabric with this handy tool that my husband has. It's called a scribe, and I'll tell you it worked quite nicely!

7. I stuck the screw for the drawer pull through the drawer from the backside and popped my flowers onto the front side and screwed on the drawer pull in the center. 

8. Last, I fluffed up my flower petals around the pull. I could not be more thrilled about the final product!!!

I think I'll take a little sand paper and some stain to the dresser to rough it up a bit, the white is just a little too clean looking at this point :)

 One last look up close!

You can go here for a look at the changing pad cover that I whipped up for the nursery in the same color scheme.

Later on this week I'll reveal what the rest of this closet looks like in baby girl's room!

If you decide to make your own fabric flower drawer pulls, I'd love to see what you come up with.

Hope your weekend was great and your Monday is sweet to you :)

Our Pinterest Inspired Bathroom!

I have to tell y'all that I have no idea where the original image came from, if you know please leave the info in the comments section so that I can give credit where credit is due! This particular photo links up to my Home Sweet Home board on Pinterest.

Isn't this stunning?!

I found this photo on Pinterest a few months ago, and could not stop thinking about it.

Well, Happy Hubby and I got to work!

We already have the dark gray in our home, so we popped open the old can and slapped it on the wall, though we all know painting, even only one wall, takes way more time and patience than just "slapping it on..."

Happy Hubby made me some of his amazing brackets, and we painted some pine board white for the shelves and hung them. 

And this is what we came up with!

It is very difficult to photograph this little nook of the bathroom, so I apologize for the photo, but you get the gist!

Whoop! Whoop!

Here is the view from the mirror :)

Happy Hubby just framed it also, btw!

Next we will touch up the white paint, finally install a tp holder, and spray paint all that brass to look less 90's!

Thanks for letting me show off my Pinterest Inspired Master Bathroom!

Stay tuned!

Menu for the month Monday...

Y'all ready fo dis?!

Our food/grocery budget started over on Saturday.

I realize that I didn't share one other thing with you in my last post about our budget. And that was this: the Sunday paper and coupon clipping has not proven to be work it. Unless you need a new tooth brush for the kids, in which case you can probably find that coupon on line. It is nice to know when things are on sale, but it makes me want to spend more money, not save and the coupons are all for processed crap or skin care products with chemicals in them. That's not how we roll.

Here is the food we have planned for the month!

8/25 out to eat tacos
8/26 (turkey)BLTs with salad- we actually use cabbage in place of lettuce in these and in our tacos etc.
8/27 Lentil Burritos
8/28 Grilled chicken with veggies and mashed potatoes
8/29 Quinoa and Blackbeans- we use trader joes roasted corn and add kale
8/30 Mexican Pile - I'll have to explain this one later...
8/31 Pile! - again, I'll have to explain it later. It's delicious.
9/1 Tostadas- baked
9/2 veggie night- all vegetables all night ;)
9/3 Turkey Lettuce Wraps- I use this recipe for inspiration
9/4 Tuna salad stuffed portobellos topped with cheddar and side salad
9/5 Crock Pot Marinara for a simple pasta bake
9/6 Crock Pot Black beans for black bean burgers
9/7 Pile!- it really never gets old, never
9/8 Crock pot chicken divan
9/9 Homemade Pizza and Salad
9/10 Sweet Potatoes and Black Beans served over rice or quinoa
9/11 Tostadas baked
9/12 Crock Pot chicken tacos- There are a million recipes on the www for this
9/13 Mexican Lasagna- no chicken only beans
9/14 Veggie Night
9/15 Turkey Burgers with salad and potato wedges
9/16 Preston's Birthday! = Party food
9/17 Chicken Parm
9/18 Ouinoa, Black beans and avocado
9/19 Curried Chicken and vegetables
9/20 Pile! and salad
9/21 out of town
9/22 out of town
9/23 (get home) Tostadas are easy :)
9/24 Vegetarian Chili and GF corn bread with salad
9/25 NEW BUDGET!

See, that wasn't too bad!

As you probably noticed, we make things in big batches and use them for all different meals- for example - mexican pile has mashed potatoes and we are also having mashed potatoes with our chicken. Black beans made in a big batch and portioned out for different meals etc.

As you see, we repeat some things and it's ok. :)

We also have some kind of salad with almost every meal for example; spinach salad, kale salad , romaine lettuce salad or even home made cole slaw on occasion. For our all veggie dinners, we hit the farmer's market, it is truly amazing!

When we go out of town at the end of the month, we will still take some of our food with us, for example; I'll make bread and probably some quinoa salad or pasta salad etc. We are going to my in-laws and with Preston's food allergies it's just easier that way.

Did I miss anything?

What are you eating this month?!

How we make our grocery budget work!

$500.

It seems so small, yet like such a large sum of money. 

Doesn't it?

This is our grocery budget for each month.

I finally came to terms with the fact that I have another job.

Household Manager.

It is kind of like being a stage manager, only the stakes are higher.

It's life or death, really.

We eat a lot of organic. We do not eat red meat. We eat a lot of beans. This number includes paper products and cleaning supplies. There are sometimes 5 of us, and sometimes only 3. 

Regardless, the Budget stays the same.

And I am going to share with you how we do it!

I have to start off by saying that I have read a lot of posts on budgeting, freeze ahead meals, meal planning, cooking one time a month etc. But it really seemed like the meals were not very healthy. 

This process has taken about 4 months to refine and nail down, but I have found out a system that works for us, and I am so very excited about it!

Decide when your budget starts and stops, keep it the same every month. Happy Hubby gets paid on the 26th of each month, so that is when our budget begins!

I'll start by saying what all of the other budget blogs say. 

Make a meal plan.

1. Ask family members what they'd like to have for the month, and make a list of 30+ meals that you can hang onto for future months. Also, know your schedule. I teach some nights and it is way easier on us to have crock pot meals those nights. (Really, just about anything can be turned into a crock pot meal these days!)

2. Write it on a calendar where everyone sees it. Highlighted so there is no doubt. We use a calendar template printed for free from the internet. On big paper.

3. Make a list of ingredients you will need for each meal.

4. Go shopping at the beginning of the month for the whole month, other than produce.

5. Keep a weekly allowance for weekly fresh produce and "uh oh, I forgot" items. This is usually $25-$30 per week for us. 

Here is my plan written and highlighted.

Go Shopping

1. Buy big and buy in bulk, you will need to freeze things. Don't worry, we just have a regular tiny freezer too! Costco/Sams/warehouse shopping is so very much worth it!

2. Compare prices. Things are not always less expensive in bulk. You can keep receipts or write down prices to recollect what a "good price" is.

Yes, that IS 25 lbs of brown rice flour... I make our GF bread.

3. Compromise. You don't always have to buy name brand, and it's not always "better"

4. Know your ingredients. We rarely buy crap boxed cereals or snacks. Other than tortilla chips and tortillas. For snacks we have fruit or veggies with peanut butter, homemade granola bars (they're so easy to whip up!), breakfast bars, baked oatmeal, muffins, smoothies, eggs (cage free organic etc), grits, pancakes with honey etc. We don't need all of the chemicals in the products that come in a box.

Make big batches of pancakes, breakfast bars, muffins, whatever and freeze them, it'll save you!

5. This will seem contradictory to what is listed above, but buy treats. This month it was ice cream and spinach artichoke dip. We mindfully ration it out. We believe this keeps us from feeling like we are confined, and we then won't run out to buy worse food like french fries and frosties! lol

I should note too, that we don't use paper towels, they're too wasteful. We washcloths from Ikea with color tabs that are used in their absence and washed daily. We also use cloth napkins, since I make them! However, I assure you we wipe with toilet paper ;) We are not THAT far gone.

More on 4 and 5 in a minute....

Try to hit all of your shopping in 1-2 days to get all of the effort out of the way! 

Prep and put it away:

This is so great for us, no moldy cheese and this amount lasts 2 months.

This amount lasts two months. It is about a once a week treat, if even that when we buy it. 

Freezing it in the muffin tin works out to be the right portion size.

We buy lots of onions from costco. These last us 2 months. We chop them and keep them in jars.

We also chop some and freeze them (in a little water) like the artichoke dip.

Here are old classico jars we use for chopped onions and excess beans.

We buy dried beans and sometimes sub them for meat in recipes- we get the 20 lb bag of dried pinto beans from costco. We make them in the crock pot. Super duper easy!

Here is our teeny freezer packed up!

On the night you do all of your grocery shopping, plan something so very easy or eat out!

Like chicken hotdogs in tortillas with cheese!

Keep your receipts with a log to track your budget and keep tabs on prices. I write mine in my everything notebook. 

And that, my friends is how we feed/wipe/clean a family of 5 on the tight budget of $500 per month!

Check back on Monday for this month's meals!

What are your budgeting tips and tricks? 

I'd love for you to leave them in the comments as there is always room for improvements!

Sock Monkey Towel Hooks

I realize that I have not yet posted photos of full rooms, only glimpses of our bedroom here and here and our entry/mudroom - which those photos are terribly outdated...

One day, I am making that promise now... Please hold me to it!

I guess the point that I am trying to make is simply that you've never seen Preston's room, but the theme is traditional sock monkeys...

We wanted to run with that theme for the kids' bathroom as well, only make it more fun with more modern sock monkeys in brighter colors.

This was the only room that we hadn't painted and it was a very cold blue that made me feel not so warm and cozy.

Here is the before photo:

The photo actually makes the bathroom look better than it really is :P

I painted the wall straight ahead a color called Exotic Isle and made some hooks for the wall for the kids to hang their towels. Oh I as so tired of towels hanging over the banister, over chairs, balled up in corners and on door knobs.

Remember my birds on a wire coat hooks?

I decided to make something similar only square and with fabric! 

This Sock Monkey fabric is by Moda

In use! 3 kids' and the dog's towels hanging up = one happy mom!

Up close and probably the truest green to the color on the wall:

Washing the towels, the hooks look lonely but still adorable!

Paint

modpodge

fabric cut to size

modpodge on top of fabric

rustoleum enamel in gloss on top 2x

hooks screwed into the blocks and studs or anchors 

And here's what we get!

I'm loving this sock monkey bathroom. It needs a little more TLC and paint :) 

but nothing is ever quite done!

Tell me where you could use some hooks in your life?

DIY nightstand from old wood- a free project!

Some people see these old shipping crates and think, "junk."

I see these shipping crates and think, "victory!"

I found them on craigslist, and sent my amazing, willing, forgiving and oh-so-compassionate Happy Hubby to break them apart and bring it home to his creative wood loving wife. 

Wow, I did just type that...

I know pallet projects are all over the place, and I love it!
They are cheap, they reuse/recycle (I'm a huge fan!), and they are so darn cute!

My side of the bed has sadly been looking like this for awhile:

Yikes! That's embarrassing! 

Looks like a dorm room. 

Needless to say I was eager to turn free loot from the pile of crap above into a functional less of an eye sore nightstand... 

So, we got to work.

we cut.

we screwed.

we sanded.

and sanded.

um, and sanded.

we painted.

we sanded.

we sealed.

and here she is...

The shelf to the right is going to go soon...

We are looking less like a dorm room! Yipee!

Not bad for free huh?!

free wood.

white ceiling paint left over.

spare screws.

left over poly-acrylic. 

(Yes, it yellowed a little, which was fine for this project.)

I'm considering adding a little something to the front of the shelves... 

we will see how that goes, you know you'll hear about it when it happens ;)

It compliments our homemade headboard and our luxurious pin tucked duvet cover from old Rit dyed sheets! 

Happy, happy homemaking- one project at a time!

Do you have any free projects or pallet projects you'd like to share? 

Post a link in the comments, I'd love to see 'em!

i.n.s.p.i.r.a.t.i.o.n.

My bonus daughters are here for spring break! 

We have been so excited for them to finally be here for longer for a weekend :) This allows us to have some quality time with them. This extended time also helps us prepare for the summer with them, since they are here for 9 weeks straight!

I'm sure y'all have noticed, but I have decorating A.D.D. I just can not focus on one space at a time, and those of you who can truly inspire and amaze me!

We started working on the girls' room last Christmas, they got a red wall, a new bed and a chandelier! We also installed some shelves and a desk. Now I'm back at it...

I am determined to have it finished before they are here full time for the summer!

Here is my inspiration:

I can not wait to get the ball rolling in their room again!

Like the rest of our home, their room is pretty small and we have to maximize as much space as possible for play, slumber and study. Wish me luck!! 

Do you have any tips or tricks for small bedroom storage/organization?

If so please, please inspire me!

xo

Fabric Covered Laminate- Paula's Photo!

I love to inspire and I love to be inspired!

This is the reason I love blogging :)

Paula read my fabric covered laminate blog post and she was inspired. 

I told her that I would love to see what she comes up with for her drawers, and a few days later Paula sent me this photo of her stacked laminate drawers!

Aren't they gorgeous?! I am so proud of her hard work, they turned out amazing!

If you are inspired by any of the projects I post and you try them out yourself, I'd honestly love to see what you create! 

This is why I do what I do! Inspiration is a delightful thing, isn't it!