Time to start Christmas

Last year I posted about our felt Christmas Tree for the playroom.  Read that post here.

Today I bought a new pack of command strips and put it up.  I can't wait for the kids to see it tomorrow, they're going to LOVE it!

Our felt Christmas Tree

One super popular pin from Pinterest is the Kids Christmas Tree.  You make it out of felt, make ornaments, presents, etc and stick it up on the wall for the kids to play with, hoping that they leave the real tree alone.

I bought a yard of green felt from Joann's and cut out the tree.  Then I had smaller felt squares that I used to cut out the ornaments and presents. 

At first, I tried attaching it to the wall with scotch tape but that didn't work well.  So as suggested in one of the Pinterest links, I tried the 3M Command strips.  Well, as I discovered with the scotch tape, nothing attaches to felt.  So I sewed the strips on.  Next year, I'll just buy a new pack for the wall.  

The lightbulbs I bought from a friend and local small business Playful Path Felt Stories.  They even sparkle and are a great addition to our tree!

The ornaments were all cut freehand.  Some are circles and some are supposed to look like diamonds.  The command strips work great and the kids love it.  And my tree is left alone!  The whole project cost about $5 for the felt and two sets of command strips.  The ones sewn on to the tree will be permanent and next year, I'll replace the ones on the wall.  

Isn't it pretty?  Adds a bit of Christmas to the playroom!

Slow Start to Spring Cleaning and the Secret to Keeping the Living Room Clean

Spring is only one week away and despite the recent snow here (WHAT is up with that?), it's time to clean house. For some reason our house has been a disaster. I had been doing my best to tackle one room, one area, one task at a time, but could never quite get a good handle on things. Finally, after a good clean of the kitchen tonight, and two days of staying out of the living room, things are starting to get back under control. If I keep my fabric and sewing things downstairs, in the sewing room, then the living room isn't as cluttered. If I keep clean laundry folded and put away, then the living room is even less cluttered. AND if I keep the kids in the playroom all day, then there are no toys or messes to clean up in the living room. And what better way to end your day and relax at night than in a clean, tidy living room?

Happy Spring everyone!

photo from http://www.ragerlaw.com/PostcardImages/PostcardTulipsAndSnow.jpg

Time for an intervention-and some before and after pictures

Today, the kids were sleeping, I was wasting time online and I decided to do something pretty extreme for me-turn the computer off. This was at 2pm. Sometimes my computer addiction gets pretty bad and I felt like it was time for an intervention. So I flipped the switch. Well, actually I powered down safely, but I did it.

So then I wandered around the living room and did some tidying up. Picked up the last of the Christmas clutter, threw some laundry in the wash, did some dishes, and then thought, now what? So in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to re-organize my extra kitchen pantry. It's been a great place to store all our extra small appliances, kids dishes, baby bottles and food and other random stuff. But the shelves weren't organized anymore and everything was just getting shoved in there, so I fixed it all up. As I've said before, I'm horrible at taking before pictures, but here's the after. It even has more room if we need it!

While I'm sharing pictures, here's the locked cabinet in the toy room that I'm very proud of. Again, no before picture, although I should have taken one, it was brutal.

All the art supplies are organized, along with toy bins at the bottom with baby toys, puzzles, books, etc.

And finally, my ensuite. This was a huge source of stress for me in the townhouse. We lived there for five and a half years, knowing the whole time that both bathrooms would have to be redone. First came the wedding, then money and time issues, then the baby, then an injury and finally, we decided to move, and HAD to get it done. When we moved in here, and the inspection showed possible water damage behind the ensuite shower, I swore it was the first thing to get done. And it was. The tile has been done since the spring. And just in the past two months, we chose a paint color for the wall. The holidays in there kind of put a slight delay on the job, but we haven't even been here for a year and now it's done!

Bathroom before (and my preggo belly):

Close up of wall color and tile before:

After looking in from the door (with my new towels on the counter):

Looking towards the door from the shower:

Ok, that's it for pictures for now. I've said before it takes one year to really move into a house. We have about 2.5 months left, and I really feel like we're almost there. I just have to finish organizing the office, and get some wall decor/pictures put up and we'll be done.


Until we look at the rest of the renovations we want to do...new flooring, new kitchen, new roof....