Occasionally, I do write more than 2,200 characters (thanks for the limit, Instagram), and when I do, you will find those words here. I also love participating in Calling It Home’s One Room Challenge, which happens every spring and fall. You can find past rooms I’ve worked on here. Want some help with your own One Room Challenge? Let me know so that we can get planning for the next round!
It’s the first week of October, which means it is time for the One Room Challenge. For the non-design nerds among you, twice a year, Linda from Calling It Home invites 20 bloggers to fix up one room in six weeks. Home viewers with a penchant for crazy can play along as guest participants. Last year, I took a small, weird side closet in our new house from weird side closet to family room in (a little more than) six weeks.
Read MoreToday, I’d like to introduce you to Lilly. Or rather, I’d like to introduce you to Lilly’s room.
Lilly is 10 years old and wanted a room that looked more like the tween that she is without giving up her collection of horses or stuffed animals. Lilly’s mom wanted to declutter Lilly’s room, give her more space, and do it all for $200 or less.
Challenge accepted.
Read MoreThe Legos. They are all over your house. Am I right? You try and try to manage them but it is almost as if they multiply overnight. And if you have a daughter who is into building and likes all the things and is spoiled by most people’s standards but is the apple of your eye, you also have 8,000 little Lego people all over the house from the 8,000 friends and princess sets that she has “collected”.
It took me no time at all to complete this project but - I’m not going to lie - it took me forever to start it and forever to get it on the wall. You won’t need more than an evening to make these frames once you have all of your supplies. This is a simple project that involves simple tools. You will need a frame, a level, a ruler, tracing paper or vellum, a pencil, really good glue, and Legos.
Read MoreThose of you who know me or have read this blog for any length of time know that I am a total magazine junkie. I’ll take all the magazines, please and thank you. Pinterest was made for people like me – idea hoarders with binders of ripped out magazine pages, collected over years and years of information consumption. I digress.
This summer, I picked up a copy of Traditional Home in an airport enticed by the cover’s headline “Living with style and kids too”. I mean, right? Who doesn’t want to live in style with their kids? Boy was I underwhelmed. I was reminded at first glance of a page in a kids’ book (“What Are You So Grumpy About?” – you should totally get this book) that asks if the kid is grumpy because he had to go over to so-and-so’s house and not touch anything and listen to adults talk about boring junk. You were a kid once. You know this place. I’ll tell you what. The pages of Traditional Home’s July/August issue were filled with don’t touch anything rooms.
I decided to write a letter to the magazine outlining why these featured homes were completely unattainable and prone to depressing those of us parents trying to live the dream surrounded by daily kid clutter. Ever the recovering lawyer, I went back to the magazine for fuel to support my position. You’ll never guess what I found.
Read MoreWelcome back to the tiny family room One Room Challenge makeover, also known as holy moly there are only two weeks left in this challenge! If you are new here, you can find week 1, week 2 and week 3 just below this post or through those lovely little links.
Let’s get right down to it. This week, I did not get anywhere on my plan for the family room. The painters came to paint the rest of the house, and lucky for me, painted my little family room as well. It is REALLY hard to pick the right white paint and boy did I get lucky. This paint (Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace) made a huge difference in the feel of every room in the house.
Read MoreWelcome back to week three of Linda from Calling It Home's One Room Challenge. Last week, we destroyed the silly shelving in the pantry/laundry/sun room/closet to the back of our new house and looked at some inspiration for making this odd after-thought addition into a working family room. In this episode, we will explore every floor covering ever. Not really. But the amount of time I’ve spent on the internet and in my car over the last week searching for the perfect rug borders on the insane.
Read MoreIt’s week 2 of the One Room Challenge and it is time for a game plan. Last week, we discussed why I am working on this room. Quick refresh: our family needs a play space that is slightly out of the way, but close enough for kitchen time supervision (not hard in 1,100 square feet). We would also like to keep the TV out of the main living room.
Read MoreConfession time. I’ve been stalking the One Room Challenge for the last couple of years. It is the source of some pretty amazing ideas – both from professional and amateur designers. This challenge seems to feed really good design. It showcases places that you really want live in. And I want to accept the challenge. I almost have. But putting yourself out there is tough, especially when you are putting yourself out there with something as personal as your home or even something as personal as (gasp) your dream job. What if no one likes my room? What if no one even reads this?
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