waste management

Why, oh why don’t cars come with a built in trash can?   I don’t need anything fancy like the car from “Back to the Future 3” that runs on trash.  I just want someplace to collect it all in a neat and tidy fashion, you know?   My fancy SUV is loaded, I mean LOADED with all kinds of crazy things like air conditioned seats.  Really.   Keyless ignition, hands free parallel parking which I’m waaaay to scared to try….but a space to throw my trash?  Nah.   Just toss it all on the floor.

 

I saw this idea in the vast and never ending land of Pinterest and thought it was worth a shot to corral trash in my car.  It’s a plastic cereal container (that I previously used to hold my home made laundry detergent when I went through that little phase).  yah…I don’t miss that phase at all…..

I rolled up some extra plastic bags to keep in the bottom of the container.  Now this thing rolls around on the floor , but all least it’s contained I guess.   I was excited to show my mom this little contraption when she took a ride in my car.   “How’s that working for you?”  she asked.   “uh…not that great, I guess” I had to admit.  But at least I had a good reason to pull out my fancy little vinyl cutting machine to make a label, using the positive AND the negative cut out so that both sides are labeled.  

What do you do about trash in the car?  Any waste management tips for on the go?

vintage suitcases

“Are you shipping your kids off somewhere?”  my friend asked, looking at the little suitcases lined up in my living room. 

I actually use them to store games that have lots of pieces.

The big green baby is full of wooden blocks.

The medium brown holds Mr. Potato Head and his family.

The cute little blue one has magnetic dolls and accessories.  

Everything else gets tossed in the huge toy chest, the sea of lost and random toys, but I’ll take even limited organization.

I cut out some vinyl with my Silhouette machine to add a bit of interest to these yard sale suitcases.

I picked these up at three different sales for $2 each.  I guess that’s the going price for old suitcases?   Before I buy, I do a sniff test to made sure they don’t smell like mold or nasty stank. The little blue one smells a little bit like old lady perfume, but it’s not too bad.   Then I check the interior for any suspicious yucky spots.  Then I check that the latches work well. 

The kids use the suitcases EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. but mostly as step stools, or building blocks or “walls” for a fort in the living room. 

These suitcases are CLASSIC!  I love the the hard outside cases and the way they snap open and closed.  They just don’t make them like that anymore, right?

Play Room

I switched things around at my house….again.  I decided to put the girls together in one bedroom (beds and dressers) and use the extra bedroom for toys.    I’ve tried all kinds of sleeping arrangements in our four bedroom house trying to find the right set up.

I painted one wall of the play room dark purple as an accent wall. It’s actually called “grape jelly” and I love the color.   The pendent garland is made out of scrapbook paper that I folded in half and then sewed together.  I used it as a party decoration, but decided it looked fun in this room too.

The girls helped me paint this $20 book shelf I got from Craig’s List. It’s perfect for doll houses, and My Little Pony villages.

Papa John made the play kitchen as a Christmas present one year.  It’s been down in my real kitchen for a couple of years, but this is one of the best things we’ve moved to the play room!   All those dishes….all that plastic and wooden food. 

I painted the flowers on the walls a few years back and both of my girls slept in the wooden cradle when they were babies.  Awwww.   Now we throw stuffed animals in there and it helps with organization a little.

 

Sometimes the room looks like this…sometimes not so much…..

 

The best part is that I can just close the door and the toy room “disappears”.

Living room built ins

Brian really wants to finish our basement and have a more comfortable place for the kids to play.  (They play down there anyway, but I think *he* would like it to be more comfortable!)   My sewing dungeon is down there and I wouldn’t mind some upgrades either.  In the process of finding someone we’d like to work with, we’ve hired out a couple of smaller projects.   I think we found the guy:  Adam

He built these amazing built-in bookshelves from scratch.  There’s lots of storage on the left side for all of our movies and “equipment” and then board game storage on the other side.

Just like people talk about a doctor’s bedside manner, I think contractors need to have living room manners.  I think there are lots of people with skills, but if someone is going to be in my house, around my kids and building something for me to use, I want him to be a nice guy too!

It took me almost 2 weeks to paint it all white, with all those nooks and crannies, but I saved a boat load of money doing it myself.  Brian hooked up all the wires and speakers, which also took about the same amount of time.   It’s totally changed our living room layout and I love having something new to decorate.

 

Here’s a couple of “before” pictures of the mantle:

A container for my containers

I love a good container.   I try to only save the “really cool” ones out of the recycle bin, but sometimes I get carried away and end up with more Pringles cans, jelly jars and Altoid tins than I will use.

I spray painted an ugly old popcorn tin that has been sitting around my basement.  

 

Maybe it’s a tad obvious, but hey, I like to label things.

When this “container” gets filled up with awesome containers, that’s it.  No more.

I’m containing my containers.

closet storage

I stalked Craigs List for a couple of months, looking for the perfectly sized chest of drawers for my closet.   We have a walk in closet, but the organization of it wasn’t great.   I gave all the good spots to Brian, because he needs all the help he can get in keeping his clothes in the right spot. ( lol) 

My socks and undies were stored baskets in random spots and it was basically a giant mess.  I am a huge “hide it away” type of girl, so I knew I wanted drawers of some kind.

This dresser was listed for $60.  I offered $50, and the guy even delivered it to me.   AWESOME.   The laminate oak finish and gold-ish handles were not so awesome.

I primed it and painted it white, both with spray paint.   I’m not sure laminated spray paint finish will hold up for the long haul, but for now it looks fine.   I even spray painted the handles with ORB  (oil rubbed bronze)  At some point I may switch them out with some super cute, cheap knobs….

It fits in my little 2 foot space perfectly!   One drawer is still empty.   SHOCKING.

I found this strange little plate at an estate sale for 5 cents.   FIVE CENTS!   It has a little chip on the back, but that doesn’t bother me, and it’s perfect on top of my dresser for earrings and spare pocket change. 

Vintage suitcase storage

I snatched up this $2 old suitcase at an estate sale.  

It’s so tiny!  I can’t imagine ever using it for an overnight bag, or for any kind of travel, actually.

The kids helped me scrub down the outside and I reattached the red lining using some spray adhesive and my hot glue gun.   Isn’t that red color gorgeous?

Now it’s the perfect home for the potato family and all their accessories.

Gutters on the wall

My husband rocks because.....


when I say I want to put rain gutters up on the wall, he said "Sure, sounds good."
It took 4 trips to the hardware store, but they are PERFECT and WONDERFUL and JUST what I had in mind.

Instead of this hot mess of books.....

....I have this beautiful forward facing book shelf so the kids can see the cover of the book they want to read.

It cost about $40 to make these two 5 foot long shelves out of gutter pieces.
I found the inspiration and instructions at Raising Olive's site.

ribbon control

Do you have one of these hanger things? I can't tell you how many times I've put this in a pile to donate, then grabbed it back at the last minute. I think it was designed to hang multiple pants on one hanger, but I don't have the patience for finagling it. I couldn't get rid of it because I knew it had the potential to be used for something really cool.... And I finally found it on this website.

Awesome! I got 38 rolls lined up on that thing!
It's organized, accessible, and pretty to look at.

I'm just not sure what to do with stuff that didn't fit on it...

There's nothing pretty about this basket, but I might try this idea.