Month: July 2010

Bird-serk

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I have had a mild bird obsession lately.  It’s fair to say I’ve gone bird-serk.  We have a bird print or two, bird candle holders, figurines, banks, and salt and pepper shakers. 

V loves this little guy from Target:

I’m considering painting this one, but for $1.00, it’s not so bad.

I like how this set of salt and pepper shakers from Target perch on our plate rack, watching over our dining room.

So, technically this isn’t a bird, but it is a bird-cage candle holder.

I saw this felted wool pincushion on Etsy.  I hesitated to buy it, but figured, I save money on other things, so why not splurge on something handmade?  He’s cute and he comes in handy while sewing. 

Ev has a little owl bank hanging out with his pig and turtle friends.

I still haven’t satisfied my bird obsession, either.  I have my eye on two Amy Ruppel prints.  Remember the other from this post?  How adorable/clever is this little pillow?

I may have to do a little DIY version…

Baby Shower Power

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My sisters and I recently planned and threw a fiesta themed baby shower for the fourth sister we never had and her baby boy.  I really love some of the details we added and wanted to share. 

The first details are these cute and convenient napkin and utensil holders.

To make these, I printed two cute logos of a B with a baby bird perched on top per page.  I printed these on plain ol’ white printer paper.  Then I cut the printed pages at 5 1/2 inches.  I folded the sides in to make a 5 1/2 inch tall by 3 inch wide pouch, securing with scotch tape.  Then I folded the bottom up 1/2 inch and added another piece of tape.  I folded our color coördinated  napkins in half to fit the pouch.  Add colorful utensils and pop into colorful metal buckets to make a cute accessory and a user-friendly buffet piece. 

I also made cute, coordinating favor boxes filled with Jolly Rancher and Starburst candies.  I printed simple 1 1/2 inch square stickers.  Then we tied lime green, bright blue and dark blue ribbon to add more color. 

We wanted to use decorations that were also useful, so we made a clothes line filled with adorable baby clothes.  We bought miniature clothespins from Michael’s and they worked perfectly. 

We also hung the handmade bird mobile as a party decoration. 

My sister made a taco bar, including ground beef, spiced chicken, sautéed peppers, olives, lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cheese.  We also had home-made guacamole, salsa and taco dip with chips.  I saw an edible arrangements commercial and decided I would try to make a fruit bouquet.  Two hours later, we had a beautiful arrangement:

We used cantaloupe, honey-dew, grapes, blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, and kiwi.  We weighted down our bucket with rocks covered in aluminum foil (to keep things sanitary) then added a few bags of rice.  We pushed our fruit onto wooden skewers and arranged them just like real flowers.

Do you have any tips to turn a good party into a great one?  Or unique decoration ideas?  Do tell, please!

Basement Progress: Man Cave

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When we posted about our basement living room aka the Man Cave, we were just getting the trim on the walls.  Well, we’re back to show the recent changes we’ve made to Ben’s favorite room in the house. 

After filling and sanding 1 million and 1 holes, taping and masking off areas, we were ready to start priming the walls, ceiling and trim.  We opted to use a paint sprayer to apply the primer because we had so much area and detail to cover.  After about four hours, we had the entire basement primed, looking like this:

This shot shows the small hallway and stairs. 

We waited 24 hours for the primer to dry and began spraying the ceiling with Glidden’s Bird Song.  Pass another 24 hour, then we taped the ceiling off to use the sprayer and painted our trim Behr’s Vermont Cream.  We removed the tape and HATED the ceiling color.  We decided to paint the ceiling Vermont Cream, too.  After three coats of white paint on the ceiling, crown mouldings, and trim, we were ready to add some color to the walls. 

I had planned to paint the basement living room Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage, which is one shade lighter than our guest bedroom color.  We had the swatch color matched at Wal-Mart to order 5 gallons.  We started painting shortly upon returning home, but we had major clumps on in our paint.  It turns out, the bucket had been on the shelf past it’s prime, leaving a semi-dry paint clump in the bottom of our bucket.  We returned the paint and got individual gallons.  The paint assistant converted the 5 gallon formula to 1 gallon formula wrong, so the new paint color is in between Silver Sage and Sea Green. 

We were on a huge time crunch, with one week to finish before my due date, so we unpacked our rug and sectional.  This is what our Man Cave looks like today:

The sectional is so comfortable and it can seat a ton of guests.  We still need artwork, cabinet doors and storage, but it’s usable now.

Our 42 inch Insignia TV, which hails from Best Buy was a great buy-on sale because it is last year’s model.  Ben did some internet searching to find the star of the room, his Onkyo 9100 sound system.  He got a great deal because there is a small chip on the back of the subwoofer.  It still works perfectly, shaking the couch during loud action scenes of movies.  Of course, Ben loves it and shows it off to almost every visitor we have. 

We have some finishing to do, like build, prime and paint our sliding entertainment center doors to hide the ugly toys, add shelving and make some pretty storage for DVDs, but all in good time. 

I’m curious to know if we’re the only ones to tackle a project with a short deadline.  Tell me your project and what your deadline was.   The arrival of a guest?  Selling your home?  Or were you having a baby, like we were?

Let There Be Light

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Ben has a lot of great ideas, especially when it comes to accent lighting.  When we added this trim to our master bedroom, Ben got the idea to add hardwired rope lights inside.  After taking the time to drill through each header, Ben had the wiring ready.  Ben bought 3 to 6 foot long rope light strips from Home Depot.  The lengths of the rope lighting depended on the width of the door or window they would go over.  Ben plugged the lights in and wired in a dimmer switch.  We love how handy the lights are, especially now that we’re waking up in the middle of the night to change diapers.

I had been planning my office for quite some time, but over looked the lighting.  Ben suggested we install halogen puck lights to create task lighting.  We have two sets, one on each side of the upper cabinets.  The lights have two hidden switches located under my marble desktop.

I love how much task lighting I have now.  It makes my work so much easier!

How To: Store Toys

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We have two boys under the age of three with grandparents, aunts and uncles that spoil them rotten.  That means we have a ton of toys.  Fortunately for us, we have created custom built in cabinets to hide most of their toys, books and diapers.

I’m still searching for the right size, cheap but durable storage bins to house V’s toys in this cabinet, but for now, it’s okay.

This red metal bin holds up to V’s abuse and it contains most of his stuffed animals.  After all, three-foot tall Mickey and Minnie cannot fit in a small bin. 

We don’t keep all the toys in one area, as they are hauled all around the house anyway.  We have some toys stored in the Man Cave entertainment center.  Once the doors are finished, the mess will be hidden away, similar to our living room built-in.

V has some larger Tonka trucks, which are stored under Ev’s crib, hidden by the crib skirt. 

Basically, we don’t have a lot of baby/toy clutter because I refuse to keep large baby items like swings, bouncer seats, and exersaucers in the house.  I also go through the toys somewhat regularly and throw out or donate broken or unused toys.  It also helps to send noisy, annoying toys to grandma. 

One major tip I can offer is to use closets and space under the bed.  Keep items in bins labeled by size to organize items such as children’s out grown or too big clothes.