Saturday, August 31, 2013

Beanbag Floor Pouf




If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed recently there is a room in my house that keeps showing up that isn’t in my house tour...or is it? Formerly a blank slate known as the sunroom: the playroom. 


Its a work in progress that I can’t wait to complete and reveal to you! But in the meantime, I’ll be sharing each project as I finish it. We may not be there yet, but progress has definitely been made.

Paint
New ceiling light fixture
New wall light fixtures
Table
Shelf for globes
Art area (for Anna)
Sport area (for Graham)
Bean bag poufs
Toss pillows 
Window seats
Toy storage
New table base
TV/Entertainment area
Artwork
New flooring
Baseboards
Area rug under table

Today I’m going to share one of the two sewing projects for the playroom. I’m pretty inept when it comes to sewing. Luckily my Mother is a sewing ninja. Like alterations, home decor, clothing, quilts and a few wedding gowns. Yeah...total ninja. I told her what I was looking for, we looked around on the internet, and she whipped a few of them out when we were recently home (in Boston) for vacation. 
Here’s an inept seamstress’ blog post of a sewing ninja’s project:


We were wanting seating for the playroom that could grow with our kids. I’ve seen a few amazing floor pouf tutorials around the blogosphere. (One of my favorites was at Living With Punks). This is our adaptation of her original post. If you want the complete step-by-step, check her out. A few of our changes were:
A longer handle that spanned seam to seam vertically (as opposed to Living With Punk’s horizontal handle). Hopefully this puts less stress on the fabric as its toted around the house.



A zipper (which allowed us to take 4 “deflated” poufs home to Illinois and later be filled) Don’t see the zipper? Oh thats cause its hiding behind the handle. See?? Total ninja. 



A taller seat for our growing kids. Our poufs were 17” tall...but read on...



Bean bag “beans” as opposed to poly-fill. We were able to buy this at WalMart. For $12/bag. It took me 2 1/4 bags. Seriously...had to run and get a third bag. Dagnabit. Lesson learned: we would’ve made the poufs a little shorter had we known we would’ve had to buy a third bag. But having the bean bag beans inside makes the poufs sturdier and suitable for people that are over 3 feet tall and may or may not have more junk in their trunk.


Using outdoor fabric. Obvious reasons. Just as easy to sew with but a lot more durable.



Kids love it. I love it. Happy Happy Happy. The fabric makes me deliriously happy. If I were any happier with this project, I’d have to be medicated. So yeah, the table needs taller legs, but we’re getting there. If everything was perfect and I never had to adjust things...what would I blog about?

Spoiler alert...fantastic paint job ahead.


.:Tanya:.

Monday, August 19, 2013

1st day of school tradition: DIY Chalkboard


 
Last year was the big year. My little girl started Kindergarten. So this is our yearly tradition for the first day of school. Everyone always talks about how its such an emotional day for the mom when their children start kindergarten. Emotional- yes, crying emotions not so much for me. Don't get me wrong it is sad that she's not a baby or toddler anymore. But it's so exciting that she is growing and learning. My son on the other hand was teary eyed and cried that he was going to miss her, as if we were leaving her at the school forever.
 
 
 
 
 
So here we are a year later. With some changes on the chalkboard and a lot of changes in the little girl. Look at how much taller she is now!
 
 
 

 
 
 
So here's the scoop on the board. I just bought a piece of plywood from Lowes (pick any size, I chose the taller one so that I could write more things on it).  You can purchase a can of chalkboard paint at Lowes for 9.98 and it really does go a long way. I have used this one small can on many projects and still have some left.
 
 
 
 
 
For all the other days of the year that I am not using this chalkboard as a prop for pictures, my kids enjoy drawing pictures on it.
 
So make a chalkboard, keep track of your kids favorite things, and make some memorable photos.
 

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Packing made easy: Lunch edition


Here we are T minus 24 hours until the first school bell rings.
One thing that comes with starting school: daily lunch. 
Having all of the necessary items all located in one centralized location was definitely on the to do list for before school starts.
And I finally finished putting together a lunch cabinet or lunch pantry...
I'm not sure on what I will call my newest project.
 
 
 
 
This cabinet I found while shopping my house, it was just hanging out in our sunroom with just a few outdoor items in it. I cleaned it up, painted the outside of the cabinet grey and the inside "swim". I picked up these baskets at garden ridge. The labels are just the chalkboard sticky labels found at hobby lobby and then placed on the inside of a cereal box then hot glued onto the basket.
 
 



 
 
This cabinet is right next to the fridge that has all of our other lunchy items that have to stay cold. Most of the time I just buy individual baggies (100/$1) and make up perfect portions of chips, pretzels, teddy grahams, grapes, celery, . . . and that way everything is a pretty easy grab and go and also there hopefully won't be as much wasted.

This will cut down on time spent searching cabinets every night or early morning.
 
 
Do you have any lunch packing tips? We would love to hear them. 

Friday, August 16, 2013

Junk Cabinet, Junk Drawer - No More


Organization day #2. This year I have a first grader.
And after meeting the teacher at the open house this week that means more homework.
We are always searching the house for pencils- sharpened pencils.... okay pencil
sharpener. I tried thinking of all of the commonly used items that we can't seem to put our fingers on just when we need them. My "junk drawer" is right next to the area where we have designated as our "homework spot" and so instead of this drawer collecting everything that I didn't want on the counter top, I decided to make better use of it. I already had the white baskets but the plastic white drawer organizers I found yesterday in the dollar section at Target.




I not only had a junk drawer but also a junk cabinet. Anything that didn't really have a place or paper work and junk mail I didn't feel like going through went straight into this cabinet right here... on any shelf anywhere I could find room. Now I have a place for everything and everything in its place haha not quite. But for now I feel much more organized. I found the bins on the top shelf at the Dollar Tree and then added Chalkboard labels that I found at Hobby Lobby. These are my handy bins. Having cards easily accessible will make it a whole lot easier to send a note or card. And The Cord bin houses all of the cords... chargers, usb, some of them I am not even sure what they are but my husband knows where to go when he's looking for them. Each kid has there own file slot to keep school info papers like upcoming events, etc. The right side of the files are for address book, phone book. my to do pile, and then my budget binder. The bottom shelf is my favorite. I found these great baskets on clearance at Garden ridge. These are to store items like headphones, our keys, name badges for work.





Sorry about not having any junky before pictures, I was so ready to jump right in and get busy that I forgot to snap photos. But here's to a more organized year.
Next up- working on a lunch cabinet. Check back :)
 
 


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Dry Erase Calendar

 
School starts this Monday for my daughter. I don't know about you but
 I have been trying to come up with the best ways to start this school year off organized.
So here is where I started-

 
Yep, just a simple oversized poster frame that I found on clearance at Target.
 This is one of those items that I bought a few months in advance,
without knowing what I would use it for but knew I would need it someday.
And So here it is-
 
 
 
I opened up the frame and used the paper that comes on the inside,
 I flipped it over used my ruler and a sharpie and now a have an -insta dry erase calendar.
Pretty good size too (16x20). Big enough to keep all of the busy-ness on it.
 
 

Monday, August 12, 2013

Bookcase: Before & After

 Afternoon fun! I found this treasure hidden in my grandmas garage and
 I knew just what to do with it!
 
 
 It appeared a bit mistreated. But after sanding, caulking, and a fresh coat of paint-
 here you have it new life :)
 
 


Pretty simple project and everything I used I already had on hand.
So go find you a treasure too!
 
 

Friday, August 9, 2013

Shedding Some Light ... In The Kitchen


Where's the sunshine? Our kitchen is stuck in the middle of our house.
 It has only one over the sink window looking into our sunroom,
so there's not even an outdoor view.
 
 
 
 
 
I was so excited to start this project and now I'm just as excited to share it with you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here it is- Rust-oleum Cabinet Transformation in "Espresso".
That along with some primer and a new can of paint created a brighter future.
Whoot whoot!!
 
 
 
 
 
And here it is I also added the jewelry of cabinetry- Shiny Hardware!
 
 

 
 
As soon as the room was painted different, It really felt so much bigger in here.
The Cabinet transformation seemed like my kitchen was in pieces forever but that is partly because there were 25 cabinets and 7 drawers and only 1 me. It was totally worth it.
 
 
 
 
 
And there you have it. A lighter brighter kitchen makeover for under $250.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Liz's Home Tour

Hey there! I'm Liz - full time wife and mommy to an incredible husband and 2 amazing kids...Part time RT at our local hospital. . . and lover of blogs and DIY and you know all of the fun things that come with decorating our home.
 
Come on in and check it out! (Virtually I mean ;))

 
 
 
This has to be one of my favorite places in the house..
 
 
 
I'm enjoying making our house our home ...always changing things
 to better fit our lives and trying to add in a little bit of fun in there too.
 
 
 
These next two rooms are rooms that are very busy and loved rooms.
 
 

 
One thing that I'm finally learning is how to love what I have. I want to live life enjoying everything that I do. No my house isn't always clean and yes I usually have clothes left in the dryer ( I may over use my "wrinkle release" button). The two little people that are growing up here won't always be little. So the mess can stay and we will play, it makes it a beautiful mess anyway.
 
 
 
 Here is a small 1/2 bath for a small little girl. She was so excited when we made over this room. Try picturing yellowing tile going most of the way up the wall and some very 70's wallpaper along with a massive home made vanity.
 
 
I love to arrange and rearrange things quite often.
 I remember even doing that in my bedroom as a kid. 
 
 
Below is our front sitting area. I love that this room is like a blank canvas.
I have lots of ideas floating around about what to do in here.

 
There will still be plenty for you to see. Lots of work being done in our family room right now.
 A post on that soon to come. I'm pretty excited, I can't wait for you to see it.
 
Like us, Pin us, Share us with friends. We can't wait to hear from you!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Tanya's Home Tour



Welcome to See Girls Blog. A place to come see for yourself: our homes, projects, discoveries, and inspiration. Everything. Including our beautiful mess. 


I am one half of the Girls, Tanya. Nurse by day, blogger and Mom by every other minute. We stay pretty busy around here between life and the whatnots but this blog is a way for you to See Girls share some creative encouragement and thoughts on house and home. 


After a few short years of marriage I have managed to live in all sorts of places and spaces. A parsonage, crashing with family, and a couple owned homes. Three states and two children later, I’ve learned to enjoy our home and make it ours, whether or not the trends and styles are the latest or the colors are “in”. 


Part of this blog is my personal journey. We just recently moved into our new home in January of 2013 and are busting at the seams with ideas for each room. So this blog is a fresh start, and a way to document each project as we go.


Instead of waiting until we live in our “dream home” why not BE here and enjoy the now. Even if it isn’t perfect, its ours. And that makes it pretty perfect to me.


We promise to be real here at See Girls Blog. After all, we do live here. Don’t hate me because the dog fur doesn’t show up in the photos. I promise you, its there. 


With a small herd of children to keep up with between the two of us, sometimes a blog post is hard to come by. But thats the beauty of a pair of bloggers. You get double the perspective for half the mouse clicks.


As we grow and develop into whatever this beautiful mess will become, we want to hear from you, our readers. Like us, pin us, share us with friends. Comment and email, ask questions or share tips. After all, what is a community if only one side is doing all the talking?  


We will share our finds, tips, and failures. We will give credit where its due, and promise posts with lots of eye candy. (And if you’re still reading by this point, props to you...you deserve some real candy). The majority of the photos come from our own homes. 


Paint what you don’t like, toss in texture, and chalkboard in almost every room. If you love it and don’t know where you want to put it, get it anyway. Found it for a great price? Get two and share.


If its not being used, sell it or donate. Put everything into a bin or basket and people will think you’re house is immaculate. Its not, I swear, we just hide our junk in pretty little things.