Rooms in Progress

We've been working on our home renovations every Saturday for the past month or so.  Because the husband & friend team both have other full time jobs their efforts are limited to this one day a week.  But they've really accomplished so much already.  I'm saving the before & after photos for the final reveal, but here's a peak at our work in progress.

The rooms are located all in a row on the back of our 110 year old brick home.  Which explains the rosy plaster and brick walls.  Soon we'll be adding hex tiles in the bathroom, an additional window to the laundry room and wood flooring in the office.  The final reveal should be pretty amazing.  You can subscribe to this blog via email or a reader so you don't miss anything. 

This Saturday will be spent adding more drywall and drilling a hole for the dryer vent.  What are your plans for the weekend?

Toy Bin Tags

Part of our home remodeling this past year has been decorating and organizing my little boy's bedroom.  Being the first grandchild on both sides of the family, he's been showered with more than his fair share of toys and gifts.  And I really needed a way to organize them that was pleasing to the eye - because he doesn't have closet doors yet and everyone can see where we keep his toys.  I loved the bins that came with labels on them but they were a little too pricey.  Solution: make my own.

I chose these bins because of they were economical and offered so many color options.  After designing and printing the tags, I trimmed them to the shape I wanted, punched a hole and snaked orange embroidery floss through the tag and then a slat in the bin.  I put a picture and a word on each of the tags so little ones who can't read will still know what's inside just by looking at the picture. 

My son only needed three tags, but I had so much fun designing them that I went ahead and did a whole sheet which I have here for you to download!  Have fun organizing!

 

***UPDATE: Find even more toy bin tags in the second sheet I designed.

baskets and bow ties

While working on a yet-to-be-debuted project for my stationery line, I created some felt bows and flowers.  With Easter coming up, I decided to make one of the bows into a bow tie for my little boy.  I love bow ties on little boys! 

 

I also realized that the only basket we have in the house for him to use this Easter was one that had pink roses painted on the front.  It did fit with the spring theme, but just wasn't the right fit for a little boy.  So I changed it using some craft paint, fabric and hot glue. 

I'm thrilled with the results.  Hopefully the basket will last for years to come and the bow tie will be adorable, even if it only lasts a few Sundays and special occasions.  These projects have been so much fun to work on that I'm also planning to make a headband for my niece out of one of the felt
flowers.  Won't the two of them look cute together on Easter morning?