Decorating kids style

We are really lucky in our new house that the kids have their very own "play room", it is a small open space upstairs.



Kate had taped some notes up on her door and Thomas was not to be outdone, so here is what he came up with....

The little playroom area is right by Kate's room, so she is the one that has been using it the most. The "wall art" are stickers from Dollar tree - I got 2 packs of them - so spent $2, and the kids helped me make this pattern on the wall.

There were some little holes up there by the ceiling - so I just stuck some more dots to cover those up!

and some more holes where there had been curtains hung before..... so more stickers here.....

a close up of the polka dots - the bigger ones have dandelions (I think that's what they are) on them

entertainment center - kids style - it is good to have one place to keep all their videos and DVDs - and Kate's books are here too, Thomas has a bookshelf in his room. In the basket under the tv there are extra pillows and a blanket. The message / picture board I made by wrapping an old pillow case and putting it in this frame and I used a staple gun to attach the ribbon.

There is plenty of room to put a queen size air mattress up here - so this is where Kate and her friend sleep when she stays over.

Kate and Thomas' room have a bathroom in between.

But where are the toys you ask? I am using this closet (I guess it's supposed to be a linen closet) for toys and games, and they both keep most of their personal things in their rooms.





Thanks for visiting! I mostly made this post of the fam in NZ to see but feel free to comment if you are reading!

Thrift Store Thursday

The first two things I got from our local "online" yard sale. The items are listed, usually with pictures, then you just e-mail the seller and arrange to pick up the item.

This lamp was brand new and never been used, it was $10.

This footstool I was thinking about painting it and recovering the cushion like Centsational Girl did in THIS post, but when I picked it up I found that the seat part was wicker, the wood was in good shape the color goes with other pieces of furniture I have, SO I will leave it as is for now and it is just sitting in my front living room which we don't really use for anything yet, but I am slowly filling it up with my yardsale and goodwill finds!

This little brass container I got at a garage sale for $1 I think. I liked the pedestal feet and the shape and pattern on the side.

I spray painted it with satin ivory color paint. I hadn't spray painted metal before and I don't know what I did wrong, or if it was the brand of paint, but it was very 'drippy' so the after picture is the better side. I still like the way it turned out.

It looks good in my kitchen with the newly painted cabinets, but it is sitting in my office / junk collection area on this little shelf I keep scrapbooking papers in. So it may end up being a container for scissors and other supplies, or maybe go in a bathroom with a couple of washclothes and some soap in. Any other ideas?

Kitchen painting, done!

I'm adding this post to Metamorphosis Monday. To see more before and after pictures go HERE

Here is what the kitchen looked like before I painted the cabinets:

I am really happy with how everything turned out. I started with all the bottom cabinets and painted the inside of the doors too. By the time I got to the top cabinets which are pretty high and I had to stand on a chair to paint those I decided to just paint the cabinet fronts and not the inside of the doors too, who is going to open and look inside anyway?
It really lightened and brightened everything up. I really like how it frames the cabinets with our china and pretty things inside (I may still paint the inside of these cabinets at some point).

We are going to get knobs for the cabinets and drawers soon.....

To see more pictures of the kitchen before see HERE
Here are the "after" pictures:

Thrift Store Thursday

I am participating in "Thriftstore Thursday" at Homebody Holly's blog. Click the link above to see more.

Here's a few things I picked up this week:
The green fabric drawers were $3.99 (will use this to organize in my office)
Disneyland book .97c
basket .50c
little glass pitcher and jar - .79c and .50c (will be for my classroom in the fall for practical life work)
brass candlestick .25c
basket .50c



















Another little project in the kitchen. I used some baskets I'd picked up at Goodwill and garage sales to help organize the pantry.

before


























and after. I used plastic baskets for the oils, syrup etc, and baskets for most everything else
























To see some other garage sale finds from last weekend see this post.

The beginnings of a kitchen makeover

I really love our kitchen, it is about 10 times bigger than our old one, and it is open to the family room, but I love the look of painted cabinets, so this week I am starting the process of painting all the cabinets. I like to paint, but the quicker I can achieve my desired outcome the better. So I found this paint at Lowes - Zinsser perma white - "Two coat system, no priming required!" I was sold.
The color I am using is a Sherwin Williams paint color (Softer Tan). I saw pictures in this blog with kitchen cabinets painted this color. It is a soft cream color. So I bought a quart of the Zinsser paint with the Softer tan color mixed in to try out. I painted one end of the counter and the island. And the 2 coats really do seem to cover well. It is just a long process, but I am really happy with the results so far.

Here is a before picture, this was about a week after we moved in. Kind of dark with the brown wall color and then the cabinets too.


















and the kitchen chairs got a makeover too - I spray painted them black (used Valspar grey primer and satin black paint). They now co-ordinate better with the black appliances and granite countertops - I may paint the table too, still thinking about that.




















Here is the island after new paint! I am very happy with the big change so far.


























now I have to paint these...... (I am thinking of a different color for inside the cabinets with open shelving, any suggestions)





















and these.......

and these too.....

eventually we will buy hardware for the cabinets too, but it won't be cheap - I have counted and we need 27 knobs and 14 drawer pulls. I think I want to get the bronze color to match the fawcet.

Maybe by next week I will be done with the painting the cabinets. I have to buy more paint first......

Yard sale finds

I am participating in the "I love Yard sales" blog party hosted by Rhoda at Southern Hospitality, make sure you check it out.

My friend Heather and I went to some local yard sales this weekend. Getting up at 6am on a Saturday, on my first weekend of my summer break from teaching did not seem like a great idea at first, but I'm so glad we went, I found some unique things.

First up this old shutter with the paint chipping off. It is old and shabby, but I really like it for an art piece and it was only $3.
It is in my front living room by this $2 original art piece I picked up at a Goodwill store in San Antonio. The old dresser it is sitting on is from a yard sale - it was $15.



















































Next is this sewing table, which I passed up earlier in the morning - it was marked $5. Heather bought a piece of furniture at the same sale and when she went back to pick it up the sewing table was still there so Heather picked it up for me, FREE! This is after I taped off the top and spray painted it black (it was scratched up). I liked the dark color of the wood so the rest of it I just touched it up with a stain pen.



Here is the table re-purposed as an end table in my family room.




























This picture shows my favorite ever yard sale find - this green chair was $24.
The shelf beside it I picked up on Friday at Goodwill for $12.99. It is old and rustic but the things in this room are starting to come together. The white chest I talked about in thisprevious post.
































Last but not least, this heavy iron chair I also found on Saturday with Heather - it was $7. Over the upcoming weeks I am on the look out for more patio chairs and things like this for the back yard!





















"Mommy when are you going to stop taking pictures and look at my Star Wars guy?"