Update on the Girls' Bedroom

I've done some more to Livvy and Tobi's bedroom since the last post and I figured I'd stop by and show you guys. The trolls were bought at Goodwill, I paid four dollars total for all of them and all but one had on their original outfits. I couldn't resist them, they take me back to my childhood. I also spent five bucks on the cute princess poster at Walmart, I couldn't resist it because I got Bubba one too and it's only fair you know. The cursive "love" wall decal looks like it was made of metal but it's really just cardboard that I cut out and painted black and then painted over with a silver glaze. The shelf belonged to their Aunt Megan, Brandon's sister- she left it at the house when she and her husband moved out.

I felt like the yarn initials I showed off in another post weren't quite done, I felt like they were missing something and for a few bucks I got a baggie of little plastic rhinestones from Walmart that I glued on to "pretty them up"- the girls love when things sparkle!

So, what do you guys think? Got any other ideas for me? I think I'm gonna be finished till I can get more firniture moved in. Comment and follow!

More on Bubba's Room

Just an update for that mean little boy and how I'm doing decorating his room on my slim budget! I framed the wall art I showed you in the previous post, doesn't it look so much better? The definitions are a little crooked but oh well.

I also bought him a 5$ poster from Walmart that has all the Marvel comic book characters on it, his favorite are The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, and Iron Man. He hasn't been introduce to the Thing yet but I think he'll flip out over him too. I'm still loving the shark kite- I think it really rocks the room out.

I took some buttons and made a sign that said "Bubba" to hang above his dresser. Bubba's very colorful and eclectic so I made sure to make the sign just like him. All I did was take a light colored marker, write what I wanted, and then hot glued the buttons down.

This one (below) is proof that I just don't pin on Pinterest because I like the way it looks, I really do use the pins for inspiration or just to copy. I told everyone when I pinned the paper airplane picture that I was going to make it and I did! I love it and think it's adorable, I have it hanging over his bed. The boards I used for this and for the Bubba sign above are around 4$ a pack at Walmart, in the craft section. I've used them before and they're really sturdy. They'll be with the stretched canvases, which is kind of what they are, just not as thick- they're kind of thin actually.

This is a close up of the really long valance I got at Goodwill for a dollar or two. I was able to cut in half to perfectly fit over both windows. I like the sports theme and I have some more sports stuff put away somewhere... I think. I know I'm definitely going to get a nightstand and paint it up like a baseball which I mentioned, here. I also can't wait to make one of the lamps that was in the same post. Let me know what you guys think! Comment and follow.

Bubba's Room

I've been working hard to get the rooms together and make them look nice. So far I've done a little on the playroom, Bubba's room, and Livvy and Tobi's room. This post will be for what I've done for Bubba's room so far. This first picture is of some drawings I did for him, I will eventually frame them and they'll definitely look better. The words that make up the baseball are "Let the field be joyful and all that's in it, which I got from Pinterest of course. It came from here (etsy). The next one says "Snips & snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of"- which is very true of my Bubba. The third picture I found here (Trading Phrases- a place you can buy phrases and sayings like this in vinyl decals for your wall). The last picture is obviously the batman symbol. Behind the symbol is the names of so many characters from Batman it's ridiculous. There were characters on the list I'd found that I'd never even heard of.

I seriously scored at Goodwill the other day. I spent quite a bit in all honesty but I came home with some great stuff. One of the things I found was a really long valance, pictured below. When I found it at Goodwill I wasn't sure that it would work, it was only one valance then, but for a dollar it was hard to pass up and I was seriously hoping it was long enough to cut down the center and fit over one window. As you can see, it was the perfect size. I also found the Spongebob blanket while I was there. The shark in the corner is actually a kite hanging from the ceiling, it was in the back of Brandon's closet- still no idea where it came from but it's pretty large and fits there well. I originally wanted to get a dragon kite to do this with, but a shark will do just as well. I told Bubba that there weren't any monsters in his room when we had that discussion. I showed him the monster repellent that I mentioned here and I also told him that monsters were afraid of sharks. That turned out to be quite a funny conversation mainly because he couldn't understand why monsters would think that the shark was real. Oh, the irony was hilarious. I'll definitely post more as I go, I just wanted to show off what I've done so far :)

 

UPDATE: I finished the majority of what I'm going to do for Bubba's room for now and you can see the finished projects here on a newer blog post, go check them out!



My Inspiration (and some for you!)

Tobi and Livvy's Room-

The first thing I did to the girl's room was to cut out a bunch of paper butterflies from construction paper. To make my template so that they would be even all I did was fold a piece of construction paper in half and then, from the creased corner and out I drew one half of the butterfly so that when I cut it out (still folded) and opened it it would be symmetrical. I used three styles all together, I don't know if you can tell. The tiny white butterflies are all the same and the colors differ between two styles- a thin elegant looking butterfly and a big full butterfly. Then, all I did was use tape to attach them to the wall.




My girls both have the same initials. I did not do this on purpose but it's turned out to be pretty convenient for me. I decided I wanted to hang some yarn wrapped letters in those initials ORS. I also decided to use cardboard. Because it's free. The yarn was left over from other projects and I used the three colors that the girls loved the best; a very light pink, purple (which you'll recognize from the throw I made for Brandon), and white. First I grabbed an empty diaper box and broke it down, making it a flat piece of cardboard, then I cut out my letters- freehand, like so:

That's little Olivia's hand trying to grab the S

Then, after the kids went to bed, I set to wrapping the yarn around the letters, which took a lot longer than I originally thought- I won't be doing that again in the near future. When I created the bows to hang them from I tried to alternate the colors so that the hangers weren't the same color as the letter they were attached to. So what do you guys think? Follow and comment please!

Snickers trying to get in on the action!

UPDATE- I've done more to the girls' bedroom, if you want to see it, it can be found in a newer post here

My Inspiration, and some for you!

Playroom School House/ Play House

Well, I did manage to get a lot done during my "weekend" I decided I wanted to make a playhouse for the kids to put in their play room. Now, their playroom is the laundry room as well. I want to get some magnets to stick to the washer and dryer as I'm not sure I want to move both of those appliances into the kitchen yet. This is just part of what I'm going to do, as these are the supplies I had available. Before I start, if you're curious as to what the front of the house is made of, it's drywall. Yeah, we had a ceiling problem that got fixed eventually and it was left over. Seeing it started the idea process because it's sturdy. I then remembered the particle board desk we had in the garage, and the kids did need an entertainment center for the TV.



I started out by tracing the holes I wanted, as you can tell they're not perfect, and I didn't want them to be. Then I cut the holes with a steak knife. Why? Because a serrated blade is best for drywall and I didn't have the special knife so I improvised. Yes, my hand was sore afterwards but it wasn't as hard as you'd think. I didn't take pictures of that part of the process. Sorry, I forgot. But then, I found some red paint in the garage and began painting (with an old towel I was going to throw away anyway. Why? No paint brush. Stop asking stupid questions). Then I decided to trim the door and window with white (also found in garage). It reminded me of an old school house, so I went with it.



I really felt that it was still missing something, so I went ahead and painted a picket fence across the bottom. I wanted to add grass and flowers too but guess what? No other colors were suitable in the garage so I moved on.



Here's a picture of the kids in the playroom next to the desk. If you'll notice in the cabinet of the desk are VHS tapes. I like these best because it seems that no matter what I do all the DVD's I buy for them get destroyed. I love the little closet behind Bubba, it's got shelving like that on both sides and is perfect for their toys and games and such.



Here's the almost finished project, after attaching the school front. I did this with tub caulk/sealer. It's easy to remove if I have to but it's not going to fall off either. I have no idea where that sock came from, I'd swear it wasn't there when I took the picture.



The finished...well, almost finished project! After some minor argument with Brandon I got him to bring in the TV for me (it's so heavy) and put it on top. I'd really love to add a "roof" still, with some broken down boxes and black construction paper,but I haven't decided yet. Also, I have a mailbox in the making for the front, as well as some curtains and a door. I'm going to try to locate a set of Christmas lights to string inside for light.






Here's a picture of mine and Brandon's entertainment center. We're never going to use it again as it's purpose because all the televisions we now own are way too big to fit in it. The boxes are a "sneak peak" at one of my next project for the playroom. I love this thing because it has two drawers at the bottom to hold their mega blocks that they love so much. I'm also currently collecting old clothes to crochet a rug out of for the floor, boxes to put up like a chalkboard (BECAUSE CARDBOARD IS FREE), and a tension rod style payhouse/ puppet theater for the closet door. Oh and the reading nook is going to be a huge surprise for the kiddos. My inspiration for this project came from all the entertainment center turned kitchens pictures floating around, which I still wanna do for the girls in their room. Kind of like this one, it's my favorite so far.





These are the solutions that I've come up with for my small space. Money is always tight at my house so I do my best to make every thing that I can and utilize what we already have. I'd be interested in seeing what other people have done with their kids to save money if you'd like to leave it in a comment! Or just click the follow button to get updates on all my posts!

Tobi and Livvy Share a Room

I smile because you're my sister... I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it!

                                       

For the girl's room I was obviously, again, on a tight budget. Livvy and Tobi like a lot of different things- like Bubba, but they tend to focus on the basic princess flower type of genre instead of being all over the place like their male counterpart. Again, I'm going to have to be generic. Character stuff is just way too expensive these days just because it's from a kid's movie or show. The girls, being that generally focused, were a lot easier to come up with ideas for. I've decided to go with an outside kind of theme. Sort of a field full of flowers type of idea.

As far as their ceiling goes I'm still undecided. I like the idea of draping fabrics a lot like what's in the picture below. I feel like it would add a lot of much needed color. However, I'm really really in love with the idea of doing just your regular sky. The cloud mobile type hangings would be perfect for the field of flowers theme. The ceilings are kind of low in this house because it's older so the draping of the fabric may also make the room appear very small to us adults. Another reason I seriously want the clouds is that I can completely cover their ceiling with glow in the dark stars. Walmart also sells a remote control moon. A moon you guys, and it's only around 20$. It's basically a night light, but guess what else it does? Go on, guess! Not only does this moon double as a night light and operate easily by remote but it goes through all the moon cycles too! Is that not the coolest thing ever?! Yeah, gotta have one of those for each of the kids rooms.

                                                                  


As for the wall decorations I would really like to do butterflies "flocking" and paper flowers. Both very cheap and inexpensive. I really like the idea of slowly collecting butterflies to put on a random wall kind of like Bubba's eclectic wall. I see butterflies of all kinds at thrift stores and dollar store around Spring. There are the old plastic ones that used to be in style and brass ones and of course the cheap metal ones meant for gardens. I really do love the butterfly stakes you see that are made out of a stocking type material. I want all different styles and sizes of butterflies for that wall. The flowers I'll make myself.
                                                                  


I'm also going to put up cute canvases in their room, like Bubba's. Just more girl oriented.
                                                               


Over the girl's beds I'm going to put mosquito net type hangings made out of tulle and hula hoops. Both my girls share the same initials so over the center of their night stand I'm going to put up yarn wrapped pink, purple, and yellow letters. I'd like to pin strings of little paper or felt butterflies to the mosquito nets too.

                                                           


So what do you guys think? Do you think my girls will absolutely love it? Won't it be cute?

Bubba's Room

BUBBA AND MOMMY!

Every thing has been so hectic getting moved. We're trying to figure out our new schedules, room placement and where we're going to get all the furniture we'll need. To be honest I've got that last part figured out already. Thrift stores! Yes, you should have seen that coming. I thrift store almost every thing! Even though we haven't gotten moved yet I can't help but to think about how I'm going to decorate the kids rooms now. The creative side of me does not allow me to not think about it. I have to. It's like a mental deficiency. If I don't plan these things out they'll keep me up at night. Even then they might still keep me up at night! So, I've been planning out the rooms.

Unfortunately, I have a very tight budget. A very tight budget. That's what makes me me though! I adapt to my situation and being "thrifty" is how I adapt. Re purposing and creativity also helps a lot. Right now I've got friends saving me their diaper boxes because I know I'll use them in decorating somehow. Brandon is really good at woodworking so that solves that issue!

Bubba's room is going to be a little harder for me. He's interested in so much stuff. Bubba likes bugs and super heroes (Iron Man, Batman the Hulk and Spiderman mainly), cars (and the movie), sports and just about everything that's boy related. Right now I can't afford to buy the nice character stuff so that knocks that out. I think we're going to have to stick with a general mish mash of generic boy type stuff. Bubba is very eclectic so I think that's how I'm going to make his room.

I've only found a couple of ideas so far, which I'll supplement with thrift store finds.I really like this baseball picture. It's psalm 96:12 and says "Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it". I love that!

I also really like this Peter Pan silhouette that I found through Google images. You can attach this to the top of a lampshade and when the lamp is turned on it will look like Peter Pan's shadow is on the ceiling- just like the movie!

this is definitely going on his wall!

I also want to print out a couple of cute sayings in a cute font probably KristenITC and frame them for his wall. I like this one "Boys will be boys or so they say, but I'm raising my boy to be a man one day. Shouting is not nice, and kicking hurts. No one likes their face in the dirt. So boys that fight, and kick and shout will be boys that sit in TIME OUT!" I feel that if you knew my son you'd see how perfect that is. I also like this one; "Brothers Are Forever. I'll look after you and I'll always take your side...Even though we grow up and travel far and wide...But I'll let no one hurt you or tease you today...'cause I'm your brother and beside you I'll stay."

As for the furniture I really want to stay eclectic. I like the way this night stand is painted for him, I could do this easily with a thrift store find, and some paint. He would love this! I'm thinking I might already have a night stand that's perfect for this type of project. I'd also like to go to Lowe's and buy some decorative knobs in a sports theme to go on it. Maybe a football and a soccer ball. I'm probably going to do the Lego table at the top around the same time, and keep it on the other side of the room with his toys.

This lamp will be going on the baseball night stand. Well, not this lamp exactly, but one just like it. He's gonna love this! This  firetruck lamp will be on something for sure because that is just too cute and can be done super easily with a lamp kit from a hobby or craft store!                                                                   

I'm definitely going to be putting this on his wall, most likely under the cute little framed sayings. It will look very eclectic when I'm done but I'm hoping I can tie it all in together. Packages of three of four canvases can be purchased really cheaply at walmart. The little tubes of paint that I like to use are less than a dollar as well. On another wall I'm just going to be eclectic completely. In the center I'm going to put up yarn wrapped letters that say BUBBA. One will be brown and made to look like a football, another one will be green with those little plastic frogs and leaves glued to it, there will also be one made to look like a race track, a monster and a snake. Around the BUBBA will be all the random things. What I really, really want to do is find a way to get a plaster mount to hang. Preferably a rhino. Why? Because I saw one once and couldn't stop thinking just how "bubba" it was. I still have no idea how I'm going to go about making that, but I'll figure it out. I always do! I've also got my eye on a football shaped rug at Walmart, but it's 40$. I'm hoping I'll be able to find something else before I have to spend 40 bucks on a little rug. It is awfully cute though! However, I am totally willing to spend 28$ on this basketball bean bag chair. I sure am. Walmart also sells a material that's got holes in it, think like the

same material professional football jersey's are made of. I'm going to make curtains out of that. Yeah, I've put a lot of time into this, but not as much as it seems. Not at all, this is what I'm good at! Just wait till you see his bed! If I can't find a car bed or something similar for cheap (craigslist!) then I'm going to make something out of cardboard. That's a big secret though and will be another post. All I have to do after that is accent with some fun throw pillows and blankets and voila!