Indoor Hopscotch using Painter’s Tape

indoor_hopscotch_painters_tape

indoor_hopscotch_painters_tape

When the weather outside is frightful and your kids are less than delightful, lay a roll of painter’s tape on your floor and soon your kids will be having fun indoors.

How about that for a quick little limerick? Well, this project is almost as quick. All you need is a roll of painter’s tape (I used ScotchBlue for delicate surfaces, but you can use any type) and a pair of scissors.

scissors_tape

Lay out your hopscotch grid on the floor. (It was easy on our square tile floor because the tile layout acted as a guideline for our course.) [Read more...]

Recovering This End Up Style Kindergarten Chairs

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How-to-recover-this-end-up-chairs

As a parent of two elementary school students, I always ask my kids’ teachers if they need anything for their room. Usually the answer is markers, wipes, or snacks. But, my kindergartner’s teacher knows about my secret identity after having taught my older son for a year. So, she didn’t hesitate to ask me if I could possibly recover a few really sad looking chairs that had seen their fair share of kindergarten butts. ;-)

old_school_chair

These poor chairs were still very study, but the fabric was nubby, pilled and stained. I love a good challenge, so I took all three of the chairs home over the Christmas break.

The first task involved removing the seats. Before I touched the seats, I flipped over the chairs and marked the front side of the chair so they would fit together perfectly when I put them back together. [Read more...]

Camping Themed Boy’s Room

NolanBedView
NolanBedView
I have been having the best time meeting most of my favorite bloggers at Blissdom.
Dear sweet Home & DIY bloggers, y’all really rock!
A few of those rockin’ women bloggers:
Sandra (
Sawdust & Paper Scraps), Rhoda (Southern Hospitality), Shaunna (Perfectly Imperfect), Ashley (Pure + Lovely), Erin (Two Story Cottage) and Layla (TheLetteredCottage)

While I am here, I figured you might love a good before and after. Here is my son’s bedroom shortly after we moved into our home.

NolansRmBefore2
NolansBeforeRoom
Pretty boring, huh? Poor guy didn’t even have a bed frame. But, frankly, it let me sleep better at night knowing he wouldn’t roll out of bed.
Two plus years later, we moved beyond the rolling out of bed phase AND something divine happened. I met a “real” mural artist and it was like finding a clone of myself! I promptly hired my clone to help me paint a mural in my son’s room.
A beautiful woodland and mountain theme!
DayWall
Tom Barber (mural artist in Raleigh, NC) painted most of the background and I painted the animals (because wildlife illustration was my major in college.)
NolansNightWalls
I bought some corner rounded shelves at Home Depot and installed them in the corner where Tom painted a big tree.
SecretCloset
A perfect spot to curl up with a good book.
CornerNook
The closet is my son’s super secret hideaway.
HiddenCloset
When you open the door you are met by a tent.
Tent
Pretty Handsome Son can either close it up or secure the tent flaps on the sides with the velcro tie backs.
Tieback
The tree is made from some crepe myrtle branches that we had to trim from our trees out front.
Tree
The lantern in the tree was an old oil lantern. I drilled a hole in the bottom and inserted a candelabra light kit. It is the perfect amount of light for him to read stories by.
Lantern
I used a larger branch for the curtain rod. And tied the rod to the shelf with some rope knots.
WindowView
CurtainRod
And I had to add this adorable bird that my son made in preschool. No kids room is complete without his or her artwork.
KnotandBird
He sleeps soundly under the light up moon on the wall.
BedView2
The bookshelf was re-painted and I mod podged old US Geological Survey maps onto the back.
mapbookcase
Thumbtacks
I wish I had a room like this when I was a child. Heck, when he outgrows it (which I hope he never does), I’ll move in to his room!
Before:
After:
BedandTree
Bedding from Target Woolrich collection.
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