A Giant Measuring stick {DIY projects for kids}

I decided quite awhile ago that I wanted to make one of these. What is it you ask? Well remember when you were a kids and your dad stood you up against the door frame, drew a line above your head and marked the date? Maybe all those cute little markings are still in your childhood home? Memories. Love it. But what happens when you move? What if you could take that doorframe with you? Or what if instead, you had this cool, giant sized ruler to mark your own kids' heights as they grow? That way, if you ever move, those memories come with you. Well, I don't plan to ever move again but I just happen to think they look really cool. And I have the perfect spot in my house for this.

So...I thought about making one and then I got lazy and thought about buying one and then I looked on etsy and they are selling for like $75. Are you kidding me?  Its a piece of wood. I can buy that at home depot for $7! So I did. I bought a piece of 1" x 6 " x 6 ' pine at home depot.

 And I stained it, using some Miniwax stain in dark walnut that I already had in my basement from my coffee table project.

After it dried cured for about a week in the garage, I measured out the lines with a tape measure, because I couldn't find my yard stick. I definitely recommend a yard stick for this project because the tape measure slid around a lot and made it difficult to get perfect measurements. Ah. Who needs perfect measurements anyway.

I decided it would look way cooler and more authentic if the lines and numbers were actually engraved in the wood and not just painted on, so I consulted one of the smartest guys I know, the head custodian at my school. He recommended the perfect tool, AND he let me borrow his. This dremel.

I tried it out and I loved it. Now I want one. I am not sure what else I would use it for but I secretly love tools. Shhh. Don't tell my husband. I still like when he drills holes for me. But anyway, I want one.

So I used the dremel to "carve" out the lines, and the numbers. Definitely far from perfect. I am getting MUCH better at just living with imperfection. 

I had originally planned on painting the lines and the numbers, but when I went to search for a paintbrush, I happened to notice a sharpie laying on the countertop and I thought, "Hmmm. That would be much easier." I also figured if it didn't work or if it looked all janky, I could certainly paint over it, no biggie. But sure enough. The sharpie did the trick. 

I LOOOOve it. It has its blemishes....but that makes it even more authentic, right? That's what I tell myself anyway.

I was going to hang it in our hallway near the dining room where it could be seen more often, but than the hubs had the brilliant idea to hang it right between the doors to the kids bedrooms. Why didn't I think of that?

And here is is in all its glory....ready for its first markings....I can't believe how tall my kiddos are already. Wish I had made this right when we moved in.

This is the view from my bedroom into the kids' rooms. I'm so happy. It makes me smile.

Have you DIYed anything that makes you smile lately?

Kids Come First {Girl's Bedroom Makeover}

So the very first thing we did after moving in was order pizza. But moments later, we began decorating the kids rooms. Not the living room or family room or dining room or master bedrooom. The KIDS ROOMS. Its fitting that we would start there, because of course, as everyone knows, once you have kids, they come first. Many, many, MANY of the things that were so important before kids (i.e. manicures, shopping for clothes for myself, long hot baths, working out!) suddenly fall by the wayside and you live and breathe for your kids. In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I have painted my own nails, let alone gotten a manicure in the three years since Cooper was born and I seriously wouldn't have been caught dead without perfectly manicured nails BC (Before Cooper).

Anyway...We started Coop and LucyLu together in Lucia's room, which suited them just fine, because they were sharing the tiniest of tiny bedrooms at the duplex just a day earlier. Ironically after the crazy months of adjusting to finally get the two babies in the tiny room together without waking eachother up at night, they eventually ended up loving being together so much that Cooper often crawled out of his crib and crawled in with Lucy and we would find them all curled up together in the morning like two little puppies. Just melted my heart. Thus, I was thinking that the transition to a new house and separate bedrooms might be a bit much for them and sharing for a couple weeks while we worked on the rooms would be just fine. SO....let me give you a before shot of Lucia's room with the two cribs in there.

Pretty bad, I know. And those stripes were a pain in the you know what to sand down. UGH! Red dust everywhere.

So after A LOT of sanding, two coats of _________ paint (gotta look back at my swatch for the name) and some DIYed curtains later, it looked like this:

Here's a look at the curtains up close. Okay, okay. I didn't sew these myself. I could. If I wanted to. And if I had a sewing machine. That's truly what's holding me back. (Mom, if you are reading this, feel free to donate your machine when you upgrade to that one that you really want.) But I did DIY by doctoring up the store bought ones from Land of Nod. You see I wanted really long curtains, that I could hang high and wide to make the window look much bigger, but no one sells cute girly, yet sophisicated ones that don't cost an arm and a leg. So I bought these pink ones from the Land of Nod and then bought one extra panel in the same pattern in green and cut it up to add an extra 10 inches to the bottom by using iron on tape and this cute pink polka dot ribbon to cover up the seam. See? What do you think? OH! I almost forgot. I used the extra green material to recover the cushion on the bench at the end of her bed. Perfect fit.

Here's Lucia's little "art gallery collage" that I created on the wall above the dresser-made-changing-table. I created four of the seven pieces of art by using paint, tissue paper, and decoupage. I saw an artist online once that made similar children's art and I coldn't afford the price tag, so I thought I would try it myself. SO I can't take credit for the method nor the designs. But I think they turned out alright. I also painted the mirror pink and the beautiful watercolor framed art on the other wall, hanging over the crib (which you can also see in the mirror) by an artist named Judie Bomberger was already framed in that cool wood frame, so I just painted it pick to coordinate with the pink from the curtains and the mirror.

So that's that. My little girly girl room for my little girly girl who also happens to be a monster. A LuciaMonster. More about that later.