Zombie Blog (and a Kid's Room)

It's alive!

Just when you thought the blog was dead, it has returned from the grave like something out of a horror movie.  I find I always have good intentions toward it but kind of think of posting as one more thing on my to-do list.  Just finding time to get projects done is iffy, so finding time to do them and then write about them...not so much. Maybe it will come easier with time, but right now it is what it is. Sporadic.

Anyway, I thought the project of redoing Miles' room over Memorial Day weekend was worth a mention, mostly because I actually finished it in a weekend.  It was a true weekend project, unlike most of our other weekend projects that take months.

Here's what it looked like before, with an underwater theme.  We first did this room when I was pregnant with Lucas, so about 6 years ago. As you can see, we were a little...heavy-handed, shall we say, on the themed kid's room concept.  But it was fun, and how many times do you get to go nuts and paint fish on a wall?

Now that Miles is ready for a regular bed, I thought I would take a different approach and redo the room more neutrally and make it kid-friendly with accessories.  It makes things easier since we are not sure how long we are going to stay in this house, to show off the room as a potential adult bedroom or office or whatever.  But I still wanted it to be fun for Miles, because what kid wants to be stuck with the 'converted office' bedroom?


Anyway, here is the 'after', forgive the photos, it's hard to get an overall shot in a room this small!:

I decided to go with a neutral blue-gray (Behr "Blue Fox") and bought some colorful bedding and a window valance from Target.  I really like their DwellStudio line, although I had to order online because they didn't carry the one I wanted in the store.  I was really happy with the quality for the price though.  The sheets have a really nice feel to them and wash up really well.   The  window valance is also from Target, although not part of the same set (to avoid looking overly matchy). I chose the duvet cover instead of a bedspread because it is easier to wash, and I just filled it with an inexpensive comforter from Ikea.  The toy storage, bed, and frames and accessories are also all from Ikea.  When Miles gets a little bigger the bed flips over to become a mini-loft to make more floor play space, like this:
Kura Bed
which is good because this room is pretty small.  The wardrobe piece is a built-in that came with the house that we just painted white when we did the room the first time, but it is mounted to the wall so Eric had to rip it off and move it to another corner to make the bigger bed fit.  Also the changing table in the 'before' pic is really a built-in desk that we mounted at the right height for a changing table.  Now we took it down and will put it back in the room as a desk when he is bigger and the bed is flipped over (there's no room for it now.)

All the artwork is from Feed Your Soul: The Free Art Project here
(Thanks to Nicole @ enzy living for pointing it out here)

I liked the birds and got a kick out of the fact that they go with the hippo bedding (hippos and birds have a symbiotic relationship...I know...no one will notice that except me!)

I still think the room looks a little empty and one thing I miss from the nursery is the mobiles that were up (you can't see them really in the before pics, but we had 2 hanging mobiles up of swimming fish). I am hoping to find something to hang when we go to Mackinaw Island this summer to add another element to the room.

In the Works

I know - I have been slacking on this blog.  We have many projects in-process in our house, (which is as it always is), the problem is I don't really have much of anything exciting completed right now to talk about.  I could go into rambly details about how I organized my hall cabinets that hold cleaning supplies and medications, but there is not a whole lot to say about that except apparently we hold on to medication in this house long past the expiration date.  I started with big tupperware containers full of medicine and ended up with a bottle of Tylenol.  Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, the proper way to dispose of prescription drugs is to either take them to a pharmacy that accepts them, or take them out of their containers and mix them with coffee grounds or kitty litter.  We had coffee grounds so that is what I did, and it made quite a mix - there was everything from old ADD meds to painkillers to antibiotics.  Seeing it with the coffee grounds made me briefly wonder what would happen if someone were to, say, brew it, but I digress.

Hopefully soon I will have jewelry stands made custom by Eric, as I have been hinting and hinting (by hinting I mean sending photos and talking dimensions).

But our next big project is redoing the back yard by regrading and re-sodding and breaking up a concrete pad and tearing out a retaining wall.  We also have to finish a room in our basement where we took up the carpet and now are trying to get the glue off the concrete underneath so we can make a finished concrete floor.  Unfortunately the glue is, well, sticky, and any method we have tried (grinding, sanding, scraping) is tedious and soul-crushing.  So if anyone has any methods for removing carpet glue off a concrete floor, please share!

Command Center

A project that has been on my list for a while has been making over our kitchen desk area into a more usable space.  Looking for ideas online, I see that one name for the type of area I want is a "Command Center" which I like because it makes it sound exciting and not just like a place for school papers and calendars.  I can say things like "meet me at the Command Center, stat!" and "The Command Center compels you to fill out this form by Tuesday."

Here is a jealousy-inducing photo of one I used as inspiration, and also a great blog:
Command Center

I don't have a real mud room or good entry space that isn't crammed full of coats so I am setting it up with a desk instead of a bench.  Mostly I need a place to keep track of the kids' school and daycare paperwork, but I also want Eric and I to each have our own spot for that odd paperwork that you need to keep for a while but not permanently.  Right now it kind of floats from the fridge to the desk to the entryway and I like consistency.  So I did some online shopping at The Container Store (on my 'wish list' of stores I wish would come to Grand Rapids, along with Ikea and Trader Joe's...someday I may compose a whole love post about Ikea, but also a rant about their terrible online store). I really recommend their folders for heavy use, they seem sturdier and just a little nicer than your standard issue ones.  Target provided a cheap bulletin board.  Eric had wonderful plans to build a cord organizer/charging station to mount on the wall, but I was concerned it would take away focus from the Lego Storage Project (he has now drawn up starting plans for!) so we compromised, by which I mean I bought one from Overstock.com.

I am not a crafty person but my plan was to cover the bulletin board with some cool looking fabric I found on eBay.  I even bought spray adhesive and batting.  That is about as crafty as I get, folks.  I debated also covering it with ribbon like I have seen on some other people's, but  I liked the fabric pattern too much to criss-cross over it with ribbon, and it seemed like work.  Eric suggested sewing pockets into it but I don't have a sewing machine, and although I could get access to one as my mom is a terrific sewer, it was just another added step that I wasn't sure I wanted.  So using his concept I figured out a way to just put one pocket in the bottom by folding it tight and ironing the creases in.



Here is the 'before' picture I took of the whole area:

 And here is the 'after':

 

It has been set up for a few days now and seems to be working pretty well, but I am sure it will get tweaked a bit as we figure out what works about it and what doesn't.  I thought about adding a calendar but we pretty much rely on Google Calendar to keep track of everything now.  I could write a whole post about my love for Google.  We do have a dry erase board on the fridge also that shows one week at a time - partly for Lucas now that he is starting to read, he can keep track of his homework and events, and partly because I still like to see the whole week laid out in front of me.

Maybe I should take another picture in a month so we can see how it will really look when it is being used!

Exhibit A

See, this is exactly what I am talking about. While searching for Lego storage, I found this little gem.
Take a look. Not bad in concept, it is the closest thing I could find to what I was looking for. Nice red color, at least partly wooden, has segmented trays that come out. Great. Now, look at the price. But put down any beverages first.

Lego Storage

I snorted when I saw it too. Are the drawers lined with gold? Does it come with the elusive diamond and ruby Legos? Now surely, no one would purchase this item for that price. But wait! Glancing over the 2 reviews (I love Amazon reviews) you will see that the people like it but grumble about the size (too small) and of course the price. Apparently not enough to keep one of them from buying a second unit though! Seriously. That person spent $800 on Lego storage. I vow to that person, if you ever read this, for $800 I will personally come to your house, follow your child around, and sort all his Legos myself.

This is when I realized 2 things:
#1. Truly, the seller of this wooden red box is a genius. Unlike all those other suckers out there who would have to sell dozens of these products to turn that much profit, you can tell he decided to only have a few and thought to himself, I can just sell them for $400. Scoffing at any Econ 101 rules of pricing, he boldly made up a price...out of nowhere. And it worked. My hat is off to you.
#2. Genuinely good toy storage is wide open for some competition, my friends.

Get it Started

So why a blog?

I spend a lot of time and energy searching for things that can make my life easier. Products, methods, electronics, etc. I have 2 boys and a job and a dog and I need ways to give me as much free time as possible. I also complain a lot about things that Fail. If I buy something and it comes in bad packaging, is poorly designed or just doesn't serve it's purpose, I let my opinions be loudly known (to my husband). To the point where he often says to me, you have strong opinions about this kind of stuff, maybe you should rethink your career. To which I say, to what? Retail tester of some kind? Professional person-who-points-out-why-your-product-is-dumb? I think he is just tired of my rantings, so this is the next best option. Here in the land of internets, I can rant, rave, complain and recommend to my heart's content. Also, share things that do work so that hopefully, everyone will buy them and things I like will become best sellers and all companies everywhere will cater to my whims.

I also have a tendency to tell my husband (Eric, as he is known) things like "I want a bookshelf, kind of like this one, but with sides like this one, and I don't like any of these, and they all cost too much." To which he responds, "I could make that better and cheaper." And I say, "by all means, do so!" And sometimes he does, although more often he does not, so that "I could make that" is kind of a running joke at our house.

But we have come to realize, that in addition to having the good fortune to be married, we also have good ideas together - me in telling him something I want to exist, and him in coming up with a way it could actually be made, and then me again in nagging him to actually do it. I am hoping that together, we can come up with ways to solve all the world's organizational problems, and all the children will join hands and live together in peace and harmony. Or at least that I can have that bookshelf, and post some pictures of it so others can do it too. Or at least show their husbands/wives/children and say "look what this person made! Why don't you make this" as I do so often now.

I figure even if no one else is interested in this kind of thing, I can claim to be famous on the internet (who isn't) and get him to make all kinds of things in the interest of "the readers."

The first project we shall embark on is a way to store and organize the piles of Legos (Lego? Is Lego plural?) and K'nex in our house. There have been many tears in our house over lost Lego pieces, tipped over boxes, sorting and re-sorting, and brothers tearing apart creations. Join me as we begin the search for the holy grail of Lego storage, inevitably fail, and try to come up with something ourselves.

If anyone already has the perfect Lego storage, tell me! I am all for buying something as-is if it is out there.