May 4th-6th, 2024
Click here for great deals: https://liketk.it/4F4yu
5 Ways I Control The Clutter Chaos in My Daughter’s Room
Here is everything used in her room: https://liketk.it/4nY34
My daughter has an amazing imagination. She sits in her room by herself and plays with her toys for hours. She has a LOT of toys which I don’t mind (because she actually plays with them) but we’ve been struggling to figure out the best way to store them. I needed to implement a process that was easy for her to handle on her own. Otherwise, cleaning her room always ended with tears and her begging me to help her. I think we’ve finally figured it out!
- Her Barbie Dream House doubles as a night stand. There really wasn’t much room to add more furniture so the “Barbie room” closest to her bed is where she stores her alarm clock, water, and remote control (yes, she has a tv in her room. I know that’ll be frowned upon by some but it works for us.)
2. We found this huge basket to store all of her stuffed animals. Before, they covered her bed or floor. This makes it easy for her to control the mess.
You can see how tall it is in relation to her below. It’s about 2 foot tall and 2 foot wide.
3. I mounted her own cork board on her wall at her level. She was actually using tape to hang up pictures she drew or her friends gave her. Now she has her own space that she can manage. She can display the art work that’s important to her and even switch it out seasonally if she chooses.
4. She has started to really enjoy reading lately. I mounted these book ledges and we keep seasonal books on the lower levels for her to easily grab. The remaining books are neatly arranged at the top of her closet. Every few weeks, we rotate them to keep her interest.
5. The biggest help in her room has to be the wire shelving and labeled bins/ baskets. She does have a cube storage cubby in her closet but she needed something for her larger toys. I like the fact that you can clearly see what is sitting on the shelves.
I asked her what are the top items that she plays with and that is how she labeled the storage bins. I figured the more control she had over this project, the more likely she’d be to stick with it. So far, it’s worked really well.
She does still use the cube bins but we’re down to only one “random” bin which is great since it used to be everything just randomly dumped into all of the bins. She definitely thrives in an organized space.
Again, she had full control of what she wanted to label each bin. Some were pretty specific and some, not so much…
I hope you found this helpful! Here are all of the items used in her room: https://liketk.it/4nY34
Black Cat Halloween Decorations
The other afternoon, a neighbor’s cat wandered into our yard and my daughter said, “I wish we could get a bunch of black cats to hang out in our front yard for Halloween.” So, if you need me, I’ll be here trying to make that happen.
We have wood left over from previous projects so I put one up on two saw horses and started sketching (and erasing, and sketching again) cats. Once I got it right, I outlined it with a sharpie to make them easier to see.
The next step was to cut them out. I use this corded jig saw and it worked like a charm. This thing is so simple to use! https://outlook.office365.com/mail/inbox/id/AAMkADYyZTBmNzA0LTgxZGUtNGNkYy05Mjc0LWE0Y2ZlNGVlMDM4NwBGAAAAAADjzLN%2BiUlyT7C3uqlCh4aiBwCHFPe2R4sySaIvHM7xsXwuAAAAAAEMAACHFPe2R4sySaIvHM7xsXwuAATNoDu%2BAAA%3D#:~:text=%EE%A5%B2-,6.5%20Amp%20Corded%20Variable%20Speed%20Jig%20Saw%20Kit%20with%20Kit%20Box,-rstyle.me
After I had them all cut out, I painted them black with left over paint I had from (you guessed it!) a previous project.
I had to do two coats on each side. Once they were dry, we brought them inside to paint the eyes. We did two coats of white craft paint and two coats of this glow in the dark paint. Then I went back with the black paint to add pupils.
https://rstyle.me/+8bJOaMfzSEAKPpAjJyqeZA
This is the finished product! Now, when it’s dark it looks like a bunch of creepy glowing eyes in the yard. But then, when it’s light outside, it looks like cute little black cats. The plus is that these guys are so thin that they should be pretty simple to store until next year.
You could also make these out of cardboard with scissors if you only need them for a short time (like a Halloween party).
This Year’s Halloween Decor
This is how we had the skeletons displayed last year. Since then, we’ve removed all of the shrubs so I had to get creative on how I was going to secure them and make them look like they’re climbing on the house.
We had a lot of extra wood in the garage from previous projects so I decided to make a ladder out of it.
I wanted it to look spooky and imperfect so I just eye balled the measurements and cut the “steps” to somewhat fit.
Then, I used my nail gun to secure the wood.
This is how it came out. Perfectly imperfect.
I secured the skeleton with zip-ties. To secure the ladder, I added garden stakes to the ground and zip-tied the legs of the ladder to them. We already had a screw under the soffit so I used a string to secure the top of the ladder to it just in case we got any late season hurricanes.
This is how it looks now. We have a few more skeletons to add but I’m liking how it’s turning out so far! This project took me a total of thirty minutes and cost nothing (since I don’t throw out any extra lumber)!
If you’re interested in any of the Halloween decor I used, click here:
https://www.shopltk.com/explore/Fixin_Up_The_Place/posts/21247fa0-5c7e-11ee-b445-0242ac110003
Here’s Your Sign To Start A Garden!
This post contains affiliate links.
We have a section of our yard that gets amazing sunlight but wasn’t being used for anything. I’ve been wanting to start a garden for a while so this past spring, I pulled the plug! I was planning on building a raised bed but once I figured up the lumber prices, I decided it was a lot less expensive to purchase a galvanized garden bed. This is the one I purchased and it was so easy to assemble. I plan on getting two-three more!
The one thing I completely underestimated was just how much dirt I would need! I ended up getting sixteen bags (5 bags of Black Kow compost, 5 bags of garden soil, and 6 bags of top soil).
I planned to add green bean plants but quickly found out that I was a little behind. I went to multiple stores and ended up only finding three plants at Lowes and they were on their last leg. I actually got them for 60% percent off. I planted them and bell pepper plants on one side of the garden. I added four rows of Blue Lake green bean seeds on the other and a bag of onion bulbs.
You can tell the difference in the below photo. The plants on the bottom left are the ones from Lowes. The seeds are on the bottom right and they came up nice and strong. The bell pepper plants are at the top left and the onions are top right.
The seeds grew quickly and produced beans within a few weeks. Unfortunately the squirrels were just as interested in my garden and started to eat the veggies and dig holes in the dirt.
I got three 10′ pieces of Conduit and deer fencing to rig up a make-shift cage. I used zipties to secure it all so that I could easily cut them when it was time to harvest and not destroy the fencing.
This is what I used:
Once everything was nice and protected, the garden flourished! So far, I have gotten four huge bell peppers, a few large bowls of green beans (still more to harvest), and plenty of chive shoots.
Along with the raised bed, I planted a few other things in pots. Currently, I am growing cherry tomatoes, rosemary, lavender, oregano, mint, basil, and cilantro. I also have two blueberry bushes but they haven’t produced fruit yet. I tried growing strawberries but the dang squirrels eat them before they ripen. I need to build some kind of cage to protect them, too. I also have a lime tree that is covered with limes; just in time for summer margaritas!
We live in a normal neighborhood with an (annoyingly strict) HOA. You do not need a big piece of property to start a garden. As a matter of fact, since mine has done so well, I’m thinking of adding a few more raised beds and turning the whole side yard into a garden. But I kind of want to pull up the grass and add pea gravel with a stone walkway, an arched trellis for grapes, more fruit trees, and the list goes on and on. I’ll be sure to share whatever I do so stay tuned!
Please let me know if this inspires you to start your own garden. I did not have any clue what I was doing when I started, but I am really happy that I tried. I do have to say that I’ve been able ti get my super picky eater to try some new veggies because she “helped grow them” so that’s a plus!
Client Entryway Upgrade
My client wanted to upgrade her space at the front door and make it feel more like an entryway. Originally, we tried to add a few cabinets for storage but there wasn’t enough space for it, unfortunately. We decided to do board and batten and add hooks for backpacks, purses, jackets, etc. She has two little ones so any organization is helpful.
Here is how it started:
Their walls are textured so I had to add backer board to the bottom half of the wall.
The backer board is 1/8″ thick so once I added it to the wall, the outlets were sunken in. I added these outlet extender clips (linked at the end) that worked perfectly.
Once the outlets were flush with the wall, I primed the backer board and added horizontal and vertical pieces of MDF.
This how it looked before wood filler and a lot of caulking.
It took about three coats of paint but it was worth it. We added the hooks and this is how it looks now. What do you think? I love the new lights!
Here’s everything used: https://liketk.it/4cLza
Medicine Cabinet Upgrade
When I redid the bathroom, I knew I wanted to remove the medicine cabinet. I wasn’t really sure what I would do once I removed it, though. Sometimes when I don’t really have a plan, I just start and hope that it comes to me. So far, that plan (or lack of) has worked out.
This is what the medicine cabinet looked like before. Since this is a guest bathroom, storage wasn’t really a problem so I wanted to remove the mirrored cabinet and add open shelving.
Once removed, I was left with the exposed drywall (and instant regret). I painted it like the walls but of course that wasn’t enough.
I’ve always wanted to attempt tiling so I figured this small area was the perfect place to give it a go. Turns out, it’s a lot harder than expected. I used way too much mortar and the lines definitely did not line up perfectly. Once I grouted it, you really couldn’t tell how bad it was. I used extra wood from previous projects to frame it out and add a shelf.
I also added a frame around it to make it look more finished. Because I used too much mortar, you could see it coming through the grout in certain areas. I found a black Sharpie paint pen and colored over the exposed mortar. I’m not going to lie, I was even surprised with how well it worked!
What do you think? Improvements? Or should I have left the mirrored cabinet ?
Click here to see more of the cosmetic upgrades made to this bathroom: https://www.fixinuptheplace.com/bathroom-upgrade/
Click here for all of the items used to update this bathroom: https://liketk.it/48mkb
Bathroom Upgrade
It is not in our budget to fully remodel our guest bathroom right now but it is the one used by everyone that visits. I wanted to do a few cosmetic upgrades to make it a little prettier until we can fully remodel. Here is where it started…
Beige and boring, like most of the house. Eventually I’d like to replace the vanity and retile the shower but this is definitely an improvement until then.
I started with paint. I chose Pinecone Hill by Behr. I love how it turned out. Since it is such a dark color, it really helped the existing tile look more bright white. The beige seems to make the tile look dingy.
I also decided to remove the medicine cabinet. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do once I removed it, I just knew I didn’t like the mirrored look. I really like how it turned out.
Click here to see the process of upgrading the medicine cabinet: https://www.fixinuptheplace.com/medicine-cabinet-upgrade/
I also replaced the mirror and the light fixture. Not bad for a few cosmetic upgrades!
Click here for all of the items I used for this room: https://liketk.it/48mkb
Quick Easter Ideas
I posted this last year but it’s just so easy and fun that I want to reshare it. If you’re wanting a festive snack for your kid’s class party or even just to jazz up their lunch in April, these cheese ball carrots are perfect!
What you need:
. Cheese balls, goldfish, or anything else orange
. icing piping bags
. green ribbon
You can order everything from this link: https://liketk.it/40PtU
Just fill the piping bags with the cheeseballs and tie the end with the green ribbon. Make sure to curl your ribbon with scissors. That’s it!
How cute are these?!
And if you have an Easter party to go to, here is a super quick appetizer idea. Take two store-bought cheeseballs and squish them together. Form them into the shape of a carrot (you may have to use a knife to cut it at an angle) and add sprigs of parsley to the top. Add crackers and you’re done! Check out the reel I made for this here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CcbhElRAHai/?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=
Let me know if you try either of these!
