![Hi, you! I’m swapping blogs with my friend Monica today. She has amazing taste and is like a project completing machine in her lovely home! I asked her to share the secret sauce she uses to get it all done with three littles in the mix. I think you’re going to love her. Oh, and I’m writing about what scares me over on her blog aboutprogress.com. Come see me too! [Optional Post title: Guest Post: House Projects with Young Children] [Family Photo Here] Hello! My name is Monica and I blog at aboutprogress.com. My blog is about making progress in our lives without hyper-focusing on perfection. Come visit me there to see posts on food, parenting, exercise, interior design, DIY and more! (I’m a bit all over the place…) I am also a mom of three littles, ages 4, 3, and 10 months. (That’s why I’m all over the place!) We’ve owned our little home for 3 ½ years. It is still in its original glory, ala 1949. We have loved every square inch of it and worked hard to improve it with what pennies we could spare. I love interior design, so I’ve always got a project up my sleeve. Here is a sampling of the projects we have personally done ourselves: Painted 6 rooms, two of them twice. Painted ~20 furniture items from Salvation Army and Craigslist. Painted the whole exterior of the house, including the trim. Made an upholstered headboard. Replaced a toilet. Installed light fixtures inside and outside the house. Removed and replaced an old brick mailbox. Pulled out a million weeds and little trees growing on our front lawn. Rehabbed our front and back yards. Filled in a doorway, making a better entrance into our house. Created a brick barrier along the sides of our backyard. Re-hauled our fireplace including demolition, tile installation, and refacement. (And a 100 other small DIY things, including lots of IKEA hacks and organization.) [Fireplace photo here] My husband is great and has really been a partner on those bigger projects, but he can only help on Saturdays—so I’ve done most of that above list myself. And 100% of the time, my young children were present, alive, and (mostly) well fed. People often ask me, “Monica, how do you do it all? How do you do all your house projects with those young kids at your feet, constantly asking to be fed?” Just kidding! Nobody asks me that. But if they did, here’s how I’d say we’ve done so much around this little house despite our well-meaning “helpers:” 1) When the Cat is Away…: Most of what I do is when the kids are asleep: naps or at night. That means my “me” time is gone during our more time-consuming projects and my own sleep is limited, but I don’t have to worry about them drinking paint or accidentally hurting themselves with my tools. 2) Get Them Distracted: Sometimes, the kids have to be around when I’ve needed to do something that doesn’t involve endangering them. I’m thinking things like plastering nail holes, yard work, laying out a tile design, sanding furniture, or hanging things. I’m not a huge fan of letting my kids have more than 20 minutes of screentime a day. (When I do, they act like entitled demons. Seriously.) So it’s worth it to me to take a few more minutes and get them properly set up with a real activity that will keep them busy. That entails: finger painting, coloring, doing puzzles, playing with their trains/dollhouses (or whatever toy(s) they recently forgot about), etc. Sometimes, it also means just shuffling them into the backyard with some bubbles, chalk, or a snack, and giving them a time limit before they can come back in. (I actually set the timer, so we’re both accountable!) If a project is necessary to do during the day and the kids aren’t cooperating (or it’s simply unsafe for them to be around), I turn to my next tip… 3) Trade Off: Brad and I largely team-tagged our fireplace project during the day a few Saturdays in a row. Trade off with a spouse or even a friend when you need to get things done during the daylight hours. For example, we’ve had a friend watch our kids so my husband and I could make a big Home Depot run. Get your friends in on it and return the favor! 4) Get the Kids Involved: This one is trickier. Obviously, you can’t let your young children help paint and use power tools. But sometimes, I give my child an unused paintbrush, a cup of water (or no water!) and ask them to “paint” a certain section of the wall or piece of furniture. Keep in mind, that still entails careful instructions and mom’s attention. We have found that yard work is a great way to get your kids involved. When we recently added the brick divider around the fence in our backyard, we had our kids picking up sticks and pulling weeds while we did the hard labor. We were out there for hours at a time. Lately, my older two have been getting paid a cent per plum they pick up from our neighbor’s tree along our shared fence. A lot of encouragement and rewards go a long way in simultaneously helping your kids be entertained and learning the value of hard work. Finally, when all else fails, just turn on a dang show! And since I’m all about progress, not perfection, I thought I’d end this post with a picture of what my house looks like mid-project. You are welcome. [Picture of messy home.] What tricks do you parents have up your sleeve for getting house projects done with kids?](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNH5fPgkacinb0pAfqNDNbmuQ_FSScy8sidjJz6uS4QVnaSNgk6To4z_ANoFPBJsmJv6Y-K9T9zczQ3jLemnm9cDEfiohBDYFUW7z_HkmWdDDIKIAdzFZN6l5WdRtdzD_Egz2OAsVgQw2/s1600/IMG_7684.jpg "How to Get Decorating Projects Done with Kids")
Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts
Guest Post by Monica: Tips for Getting Decorating Done, Even With Kids
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
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Armoires In Every Room, Please
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
I've been blogging for, maybe, ever and my blog has stayed pretty small and I'm okay with that. Over the years I've had lots of requests to do posts featuring different products but I've just ignored them because I generally (always) only want to write about what I want to write about because I am the boss of this blog!
But I finally received a request that I can't say no to; Chairish asked me to share some of my favorite ways to use an armoire and since armoires are one of my favorite pieces of furniture (fastest way to Narnia, amIright?) I am doing it. Yes! Still, I'm not being compensated for this-I just really like the topic and their website is super awesome for furniture/decorating addicts like us.
So here are my first ideas, based on the fact that I have a bathroom with zero storage.
I'd absolutely love to have a gorgeous, vintage armoire like the one pictured here from Charish that I would fill with big, fluffy, MATCHING towels (please let me one day have all matching towels).
Plants love bathrooms so I'd apply my greenish thumb to growing one that would trail beautifully over the top of the armoire.
I put a picture of my favorite room spray by JR Watkins because every bathroom needs that, organized or not. And speaking of nice smells, we cannot go wrong with an Anthropology candle.
And finally, that sink with the built-in hand towel hangers? Genius.
Of course, bathrooms aren't the only good way to use an armoire. I love the one in our guest room here.
EEEEEP! This would be perfect in my green bedroom.
And I can't even handle how much I want to just exist in this happy room.
So what do you think? Is there room for an armoire in your home?
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Entryway Reveal
Friday, October 2, 2009
I tried every which way to get a good picture of our narrow entry way and here, finally, are the three best shots.
I don't usually hang family photos; I like them in albums, but I think that was a mistake because I love looking at these every time (all the time) I trot up and down the stairs with a basket of laundry.
I told Marc that I like it because it makes me feel like I am in the home part of the house as soon as I come in the door. That's a problem with split levels, it feels like that little landing and staircase may as well be the stairwell in an apartment building or something. But this goes a long way towards fixing it. I highly recommend it if you have a split level that you battle with like I do.
So I explained that all to Marc and he gave me the "whatever" look and said he's glad I'm happy. He'd better be too. Dinner is much more likely when I'm happy. And other things too.
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Fall Decorating
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Marc ended up working on Saturday so we didn't paint the family room. Sigh. So I decided to entertain myself by fancy-ing up the entryway.
I saw this picture on this website (a new love) and thought family pictures going up the stair well would be a pretty idea. I found frames on sale at Target and got to work scanning pictures.
Due to my technical difficulty (missing brain parts) it took me a really long time to scan and print. Marc finally had to save me. But the pictures look GREAT!
As soon as I hang them I'll share pictures. I will hang them as soon as I decide if I want to keep them with pictures I have already so laboriously scanned and printed or if I want to scan and print a whole NEW set of old Halloween photos to display next month.
Isn't that a cute idea! A cute, stupid, will drive me crazy if I do it and will drive me crazy if I don't, idea? This is one of my favorites.
Then, all I will need is an area rug and some fall like table stuff to finish up the teeny space. I'm not sure if the fall stuff should be attractive fall foliage, or plastic eyeballs floating in an apothacary. What do you think?
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Paying for it
Friday, August 21, 2009
The problem with spending my day on this DIY project:
is that I don't get to this do it myself project. 
How did the shoemaker get those elves anyway? I mean, I'm nice. I'll make some little clothes or something. They just won't get washed.
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"The Nester Said" Table Make-over
Friday, May 15, 2009
SO...I did a table makeover inspired by The Nester (click that link so you can see what I was trying to do). Seriously, I just tried to copy her as much as I could without buying anything and only shopping my own house. When I saw the picture of the table she decorated I got so excited because I have one that looked a lot like it sitting at the top of my stairs. Our house is two stories, but you come UP to the main living areas so this is the second thing you see when you enter our home. The entry way is the first thing, and I have big plans for that little project too.
Kind of anemic, right?
So I got to work trying to copy the Nester. I tried taking down my painting and leaning it but since you view this table from down low as you come up the stairs, it needed something high on the wall. I decided to hang it a little higher, and then add some leaning pictures below it. I had some frames with pictures of my girls in them living in the entryway closet (what, you don't keep your old pictures there?) so I decided to pillage them.
The Nester said to use black and white prints. Don't have those so I went with this great photo of my Mom and Dad taken 30 years ago that has rested in the drawer of my coffee table for many moons. I've never actually had it up, but I think it is so cute!
I wanted to layer my pictures (like The Nester said) so I brainstormed how I could get a free print. I considered printing something off of the internet or painting my own but then had the, fabulous I think, idea of cutting some pictures out of a book I got from the discount book section at Barns and Noble, like 7 years ago called "The Pressed Plant."
That came out good didn't it? It's actually two pages taped together but, wait for it, "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!"
The Nester also suggested using a tray and a sphere for visual interest. I have a silver tray in desperate need of polishing, but no polish. I used it anyway because I figured it would just tarnish again anyway and let's face it, I won't keep it polished. I tried all kinds of things for a sphere and finally settled on this glass paper weight with a little silver plate I had from a thrift store under it.
Arranging the small stuff proved to be the hardest for me.
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