Hodge Podge Room Turned Kid’s Play Cave- Revealed.

You remember how this all started, right? I entered a design makeover contest over at MakingItLovely, submitting my sob story of how I needed a this Modge Podge room to turn into a purposeful place for my kids. The contest found a lucky winner to have her Oak Park bedroom redecorated.  It forced me to put this into my own hands and give it a go.

One thing I’ve learned about having a full time job, two kids, a dog, two cats and general life going on— it’s really hard to get a project done in a short span of time. Unless you hire someone to do it*, which isn’t really my style. I like to do things on my own (with help from family members, of course) because I can be proud that I accomplished something. You’d think a project like would not take very long, but without boring you with the details— we had to dismount and store away over 6,000 CDs from the wall, remove the shelving and then move a 208 lb. large Expedit shelf from Ikea from one side of the house to the other. The prep work alone took the most time.

This project’s infancy started in late January 2012 and finally, in May is near completion. I have a couple more things to install like the chalkboard/magnetic door and some more artwork, plus some home made curtains, but why wait?

So here’s what the room looks like before.  It was our office/media room, with playroom elements to it. I wanted to make it 100% for the kids.

(But something that I’d enjoy looking at too, naturally.)

Pre-Play Cave.

With a lot of inspiration from my head (and Pinterest), here’s the kids new Play Cave! My favorite part of this design is that we barely had to buy anything new. Just paint, a rug and two shelves. Everything else was brought up from our basement (lots of my treasures I had as a kid) and used as part of the design. I saved all my Smurfs, Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears and Pez Dispensers thinking that one day in my life, I wanted a pop culture room of sorts. Turned out, it was worth lugging them around for 20 years!

Ikea Expedit Shelfs are the best storage invention ever. This used to hold books. Now it holds all the kid loot.

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Painted walls “Hummingbird Blue”- part of the Martha Stewart Collection. I had it made with Behr with Primer at Home Depot since that brand has not failed me yet and usually needs just one coat.

Cubbie Expedit Shelf ($199) from Ikea was something I already had in our house. It stored a TON of books, but now stores all the kids books and toys. Still working on organizing each section, but I’ll get there. Even when the kids get older and no longer need to store toys, this shelf can be used in countless ways. That’s why I love them so much.

The Lusy Blom rug is from Ikea and around $40. I loved the design on it. So fun and perfect for kids, but suitable for adult rooms too. I feel like they can grow with this design.

*I semi-lied when I said I did EVERYTHING by myself. I totally didn’t.

There huge thanks that I need to give to my Father in law. He’s a handy guy and painted this entire room in a matter of hours. He also help secure the shelves. Without him, this project could have gone a little longer than I wanted to. My husband also helped hang the Beatles prints  and shelves, but more important—-he made huge sacrifices by moving his CDs to the basement. Definitely a hard decision to make, but this room looks awesome for it. Shows his true fatherly love.

Pretty (large) Women Need (pretty) Clothes Too (and we’re willing to pay for them)

Does the fashion industry think that large women don’t have money to spend? Do they think all we blow our cash on is Ben and Jerry’s so that we can buy these works of design genius on eBay?

Or… are they THAT put off by large women that they don’t want them wearing their clothes?

I have money, seriously! I’m willing to pay full price for your cute prints and styles.

Here’s the thing. I’m not a Small girl, or even Medium, that’s the truth. But I’m apparently not even your definition of Large?

Unless my mirrors are totally messing with me, I’m a normal large. I used to be a size 12, until someone moved the line in the fashion sand.

I’m also 10 months off of having baby #2, having a full time job where I sit on my duffer most of the day, so admittedly, I have some fluff to shake off of my belly. I have a substantial boob rack, so I’m a little top heavy. But in the meantime, I’d like some awesome clothes until I can get back to a body that I’m comfortable in.

And right now, you (fashion industry) are NOT helping.

Would it be too much to ask your designers to add just a LITTLE more fabric to their clothes so that I can wear what I want? I think you can manage to use a little more thread and needle to expand your customer base. And I don’t want it with patterns that make me look like a curtain. Or a Pollack canvas. I want the CUTE stuff. The Vintage, adorable, classic and  girly clothes.

I want you. But you don't want me.

Yeah, I’m talking to you Anthropologie and J. Crew. Finding clothes that fit me in your store is like finding an extra cube of cheese in a room full of mice.

Target, don’t think you’re going to get away so fast. You are one of my favorite stores and yet all your cute, hip clothes are reserved for the Junior section. Who ever said when you get older, you lose your desire to dress fun? It’s not like I want to buy a mini-jean skirt and sport a mid drift. But why do you have to dress me like I’m a “Before” shot who has just given up on herself? Please. Don’t make me go to Lane Bryant. I. AM. BEGGING. YOU.

Round of hand claps and hugs to Old Navy and (shockingly) H&M. They are able to keep me fashionable at dirt cheap prices when I need a little shopping pick-me-up. But they are in the minority.

This rant has been said and is tired, so where is the change? I walked into a local boutique this week called Vintage Charm and would have bought up an entire rack of clothes

if only I could have gotten my arm to squeeze into the sleeve. I tried on a “Large” vintage skirt with an elastic waistband and I got it JUST above my knee before it stopped and would have ripped in half if I tried to hike it up any further. I felt pitiful and ridiculous. I am pretty sure even the sales woman there glanced over me because they knew I wouldn’t squeeze into anything but their shoes, hoop earrings and a couple throw pillows.

I kinda felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she got booted from that store on Rodeo Drive. Except maybe I’m a couple dress sizes up from good old Vivian. And I’m not a call girl.

Then I remembered. These clothes are probably exclusive and just aren’t meant for pretty women like me. In fact, they are reminding me that they don’t think I’m good enough for their clothes.  In order to fit into them, I’ll have to do a couple hundred sit ups every night and eat lemons and maple syrup. And hate myself in the process.

I’m 37 and I haven’t seen much of this changing. Maybe when my daughter is older, there will be cute vintage clothing stores (or whatever style you like) that will open their sizes up to everyone. Not just a size 8 or below. That and I’m hoping she doesn’t have to battle weight issues and can bypass all this body drama.

But for those stores who just might listen NOW and see the great win-win opportunity, please know that I do have money to spend. I don’t need to be treated like a 2nd Class citizen just because I can’t fit into your clothes that might fit my three year old daughter before they fit me.

If you change and expand your waistbands, I promise to not only buy them, but totally rock your clothes, even if I am not the model you are looking for to wear them.

Growth Spurt: Months 8, 9 and 10.

Clearly haven’t figured out how to manage a full time job, take care of 2 kids, 1 dog, 2 cats, 1 husband mess around on Pinterest/Facebook AND regularly write a blog. With very little time to spare in the day, I’ve finally found a few minutes to catch up and scribble down some thoughts.

Speaking of baby, last I left off, Benno was 7 months old. And then I went on to start working on that Hodge Podge Makeover. I’ll get to that later.

So he was 8 months. Began to sit up and more teeth started to pop through.

I'll sit up for 8 months!

And then 9 months came along. And so did the crawling. As if on cue.

Leapin' Lizards! I'm crawling right on time.

Which brings us to 10 months, which was on April Fools day.  Now, he can crawl and push  to sit up straight. The teeth count is at 8 and starting to babble and since started to pull himself up on things. And the food. He LOVES the food. The more the merrier he is. He’s even taken after his Wisconsin roots and can’t get enough cheese and pasta. There is a lot of yelling if it’s not served promptly.

No April Foolin'. I'm 10 months.

And the food. He LOVES the food. The more the merrier he is. Definitely taken after his Wisconsin roots and can’t get enough cheese and pasta. There is a lot of yelling if it’s not served promptly. If I didn’t love the guy so much, I’d feel more like a 2nd class citizen.

See you at 11 month mark!

Inspired by Pinterest – Cascade Toy Holder

Oh dear box, what can I do with you besides throw you into a recycle bin?

I’m convinced looking at the images from the very talented Esty crafters and DIY’ers on Pinterest  taps into a part of your brain that releases some neurons that help people in tap into their creative side. I hardly have the chops or the photography skills to be a “Pinteresting”, but I do have some good ideas you can use.

Do you have little toys scattered throughout your house? Do you use Cascade Action Packs to wash your dishes? I always felt bad about tossing the container into the recycle bin because I figured it would be useful to hold SOMETHING, but didn’t want to store things in a box labeled Cascade. (No offense to the brand, just like pretty things. )

In comes Pinterest to remind me about Modge Podge and how you can pretty much use it to reface any surface to make it pretty and useful in your home.

Take one of these plastic containers, grab your Modge Podge and some scrapbook papers and make your own decorative holder. We use ours for storing Little People toys. I’m waiting to go through a few more boxes so I can store more little Knick Knacks for the kids. (Wow, it’s been about 80 years since Knick Knack has entered my vocabulary.)

 

Makes a great, customized tiny toy container.

Once I get a few more created, I’ll display them and will be working on sorting pieces and labeling them for storage. Y’know, so it looks pretty when the guests arrive

Tonight’s Meal: Blue Men Ken

Tonight, Abby make dinner. I call it “Blue Men Ken”— must be her version of Chinese food or something. The funny part about this is that I made these “drink coins” for Ken’s 40th birthday. I decoupaged about 10 different faces of him growing up on these coins (a project I don’t ever want to recreate). She seemed drawn to the Blue Man phase and skipped over the rest. The girl cracks me up.

The Hodge Podge Room Challenge

Remember when I wrote about my Hodge Podge Room? It’s the room in our house that’s half kid play area and half workspace. Every time I walk into the room, I’m reminded of how it needs to change.

We need a space.

The kids need a space.

The two areas should not co-mingle any longer.

My house also has another Hodge Podge “nook”.  It’s got a big book shelf where we keep our library and the rest of it is filled with toy stuff. Again- it’s half adult space, mostly buried in kid stuff.

I give credit to Pinterest for subconsciously replanting the creative seeds in me and helping me come up with a solution to both rooms. An idea so simple that I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. Maybe because the work to make this idea happen is not so simple?

Here’s what’s going to happen- Hodge Podge room will be a fully-committed room for the kids and the Hodge Podge Nook will be just for us. A true sign of love for your children when you give up the big spaces for the little faces.

More to follow. Off to pack up all the books and CDs and desk stuff to get this project rolling. Oh, and I guess I gotta see if Kenny will buy into this idea too, right?

(nah)

File Under: My How Times Have Changed.

Woke up. Got out of bed. Found this in my shirt (hidden between my…uh…boulders). I suspect Abby had something to do with this.

Well, Jasmine, I hope you slept nice and cozy.

More Fun with Modge Podge

My neighbors that lived down the street moved out suddenly and kicked a bunch of kid stuff to the curb. If you can imagine me driving down the alley, late for work (of course) and seeing all these kid tables and chairs sitting by the trash. None of it would fit in my Mini Cooper, so I just hauled out of my card and ran it down the alley, back to my house. It was a silly sight for sure. My neighbors must think I’m a nutjob.

They left a plastic table with red and blue legs and two blue stools. You already heard my gripes about kid stuff in primary colors, so you know that this table and chairs is not my first choice. Luckily, I can see beyond the primary color stuff and as long as I like the overall style, I can make do. And decoupage is the best way to turn something not so unique into something awesome.

Here are the chairs. Blue and white. BORE. RING.

Blue (Blah) Chairs

I already showed you my Modge Podge job of a kiddy kitchen, so you know the drill. Once again, I got out my paint brush, scissors and scrapbook paper. An hour or so later, this is what they ended up looking like.

Chairs, after I breathed life back into them

My next project is to tackle the red and blue legs of the table that came along with this. Soon to come!

The neighbors also ditched this little handmade craft table, which came with the built in drawers. They painted it green color and I haven’t got around to painting the body of it, but I was able to fix the top of it, using the same scrapbook paper.

Abby using her water drawing pad by B Toys.

Hand made table with drawers and a touch of Modge Podge

 

7 Months.

Oh. My. Garsh. My little guy is 7 months old.

Team Bennett!

4 teeth. (entering the “Twilight” phase with new fangs for Christmas!)

All smiles. (most of the time)

Sleeping okay. (New moms- never tell anyone your baby is sleeping through the night. It’s the ultimate jinx.)

Eating those stage one foods. I got out my Beaba babycook and started whipping up apples, mangoes, sweet potatoes and apples. He loves it all and yells at me if I don’t shove it at him fast enough.

Babbles. Lots of babbling. And I swear to god he waved “HI” to me yesterday.

With all his turning over, he’s making a GREAT pet hair/lint roller. Time to start vaccuming every other day again.

Showing signs of sitting. I keep a boppy behind him in case he flops over. At least until he works out balancing that big body of his.

It’s overall a time of lots of cool changes, but it’s not my favorite phase. He’s on his way to eating solids, but I still have to feed him. On his way to crawling, which means I actually have to WATCH him now (oh for the love…). He’s no longer this thing that just sits still, yet he’s too young to not keep an eye on at all times.

But it’s all good. You only get these times in life a few times. Once if you’re lucky. I’m just enjoying all I can with this one.

Resolutions? I have none.

Are you liking 2012 yet? So far, so good right?

The holidays had us all sickly and I survived it until New Year’s Eve. I was at a party with some old high school friends and caught the cold my family was passing around all week. To make it worse, Bennett decided to stay up and party (not in a good way) the whole night. In short, it was not a pleasant way to spend my New Years Day.

Resolutions? I have none. I stopped doing those once I recognized I don’t keep them past a few weeks. Not going to promise to lose weight, no promises to find a new job. I’m not going to be any more organized. If it happens, it will be later in the year, but I don’t like to disappoint myself too early in the year.

I’m just going to be more present in the next year. Find some time for things I enjoy and focus on making things happen, not just thinking about them.

Less talk. More action.

Wait, didn’t I just say I wasn’t going to resolve anything?

Maybe just a few realistic expectations…