Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts

Guest Bedroom Turned Nursery On A Budget

 Hi!

We converted our guest bedroom into a nursery for baby boy. I cannot believe he will be here in just 4 short months. Nesting has definitely settled in. We transformed our super plain guest bedroom into a nursery. We did everything ourselves and I am so pleased with how it all turned out. It is so peaceful and calming, and cozy which is always the vibe with my home. 


I am 24 weeks here! :-)


First things first, Pinterest! Y'all know this is the first stop for inspiration. The walls in this room were super plain so I knew I wanted to do wallpaper, decal, adhesive wallpaper or paint. I just could not decided which. Luckily prior to this project we cleaned out our attic. I recommend doing this first because I found two rolls of a adhesive wallpaper and a canvas animal art that we ended up using. Clean your space first and declutter. You will be surprised at how much you already have that can be repurposed. I'm always excited to save some money buy using what I already have. 


Looking like a total hot mess. Very intimidating lol


After doing some research I knew I wanted to paint half the wall and use the wallpaper we already had for the other half. We started by using a laser level to try to tape off the wall as level as possible. 
Extremely challenging when this is not your expertise.  I then went to Home Depot to search for colors. I knew I wanted a rusty, terra-cotta color. So I picked up a few color sheets from the store and taped them to the wall before deciding to go with Rusty Gate by Behr.





Initially I wanted to go for a hunter green color but the sofa in the room right next to this one is green so I changed it to this burnt orange color.

We loved this paint. This is our second time using this brand. It is is easy to work with. We used two coats. 



Now it was time to apply the adhesive wall paper to the top portion of the walls. I used adhesive wall paper in my oldest sons room. It is a great temporary, inexpensive option to spruce up a wall. It can be tedious at first but I was able to do almost all of this project by myself at 5 months pregnant. So trust me, it can be done alone if you take your time. We ended up using 3 rolls of this paper and had some left over.
My sister and I did this portion in about 35 min. We left the ends uneven because I knew I was going to add a border there so it would not be seen. This helped speed up the process a lot. 


Adhesive wall paper seems to be fairly popular now and you can find really cute patterns online and in stores. I love it because its so easy to use and when your bored with it you can just peel it off by heating it up with a blowdryer. 




This room is fairly large so we decided to keep the queen bed and dresser and night stand in the room. To make it flow I stripped the existing bedding and went with all white. I also removed the knobs from the dresser and night stand and spray painted them with matte black spray paint I already had in my garage. 


I have had this dresser and night stand since my sophomore year of undergrad! Wow! It has a few dents and nicks but it has held up well.


Now it was time to decided the easiest, most inexpensive way to create this border to separate the paint and the wall paper. After searching blogs and pinterest we went with the cheapest option. Decorative crown moulding from amazon.  After reading reviews I was sold. I purchased two boxes and painted them with two coats of the same Behr paint to match the wall. 






To adhere these to the wall we used the laser level along with 7 tubes of Loctitie glue. Honestly, this was very hard to do. It was tedious and took 2 people and a lot of precision. We took our time and got it done. After we applied the moulding, I took the box/paper cutter that I used for the wallpaper and carefully removed any adhesive wall paper that was peaking out from under the border. Lastly, I went in with a small paint brush and applied paint to the wall or border where I saw it was needed. 







This nursery/guest room revamp took us about about 5 days to do. I wish you all could see it in person because the pics don't really do it justice. It is so tranquil you would not believer it. I don't know if its the warmth of the paint color, the plants or the fact that it was a labor of love that makes it such a vibe but I love it!

This is my moms old chair. I love the color and I'll probably never get rid of it. The plant stand I found in my garage and the planter is from TJ Max. 

This black mirror is a hand me down and the money tree plant came in the pot that actually matched the paint! How lucky is that!

This crib I found online at Wayfair. They always have sales and coupon codes so I try to wait for that before I purchase. I put this crib together myself! Clearly I'm too proud about that. 

This is a ikea caddy. I figure we can store diapers, whips and what nots on it for changing and cleaning up baby boy.

I converted my dresser from 2008 into a changing table. I seriously cannot believer I've had this thing that long. If only furniture could talk I'm sure this dresser would have hella embarrasing storeies to tell. The mirror is from Target along with the clothes hamper. The black vase I found in my attic. 




If you have a pathos plant. Propagate it! Before you buy an new plant you could've created 3 from one mama pathos like I have done.

Book crate is from Marshalls. 



As time goes on we will make this room more unique to our child but I think this is an awesome start. I seriously can not believe we did this ourselves. Cheers to saving some coins and making memories with your family! 

Love,
ALW










Langston's 3rd Birthday Monster Jam Edition


 I can hardly believe my baby boy is the be THREE! THREE! Like seriously, I can't believe it. Ok I can believe it because he is huge now. Time flies! This year we had yet another quarantine birthday party. Since COVID is still here we decided to play to safe and just do a small party with close family only. 

This year we went with Monster Jam/Grave Digger theme. Young, wild and three! Langston is obsessed with monster trucks and Grave Digger so it was a no brainer, plus I already had lots of stuff left over from the race car theme for his second birthday. So clutch! 

First things first, Pinterest! I love it over there. So much inspiration and so many DIY tutorials. That is always my first stop when planning a shindig. I knew I did not want an expensive cake this year and since my best friend makes custom cookies it was a no brainer to email her for an order. Her cookies not only look phenomenal but they taste delicious too! You must place your order 3 week in advance, so I made sure to email her first. Next, I picked up some green and purple balloons from Party City. I tried 3 different dollar trees and all of the colored balloons were sold out. Whomp whomp. 

Two days before the party my sister and I blew up the balloons and tied them. The night prior to the party my husband and I assembled them along the balloon string to create the garland. 


This took us about an hour to make this without skipping any holes. I used this balloon kit from amazon.

Next I went to canva.com and created a backdrop. Mind you, I procrastinated this entire party. For some reason I thought I could just make a backdrop and get it printed in a large 70 x 48 size blueprint paper at office depot. Well, I was strong and wrong! Office Depot could not print my image at that large of size. 


I love using Canva. I make my moms thumbnails for her youtube channel with Canva too.


Had I not procrastinated I could have got this printed on a proper backdrop paper at a local print shop. I put in inquiries at a few spots and the turn around time was 3 to 5 days.  I will definitely do that next time. Since this was a bust I did the next best thing and ran to my computer and went to Amazon. Of course they had a cost effective alternative. This is the one I went with. I ordered it and prayed it arrived in time and it did! Amazon always comes through!

So, balloons done and I was tracking the backdrop delivery every hour because I am crazy. Next up on the to do list was get some snacks. The night prior to the party I went on Amazon yet again and put a bunch of snacks in my cart from Whole Foods. Some grapes, cheeses, olives, pickles, crackers, dried mango, almond butter filled pretzels, carrots, brocoli and some vegan ranch. I placed the items in my cart at about 11:00pm. When I woke up the next morning it allowed me to select a 2 hour delivery window of 9:00am-10:00am which was perfect! 

As soon as we put Langston down for his nap my husband and I started to put everything together. To hang the back drop we used a simple thumb tact. To hang the balloon garland used command hooks and string. It works like a charm every time and the garland stays up for days. The plates and tire shaped cups I had from last years party. I ordered them from orientaltrading.com. I really like their site.


The large remote control Grave Digger my husband bought from Target. Huge hit! That and the basketball goal were his favorites.

Please don't judge my cupcake icing skills. I did my best lol. The toothpick flags were from amazon from last years party. 

How cute are these cookies?! I ordered the snickerdoodle flavor and it was amazing! Not too sweet and very soft! So good! Please check her out! She ships too! @reidandcocookies on Instagram!

I was very happy with how everything turned out! Langton loved it! It was very inexpensive too! Which is always a plus to me. I am not mad at these quarantine parties lol. Totally over Covid but super small gatherings, yes those an stay. 

Hope this helps someone!

Love,

ALW

Powder Room Remodel


Hi Everyone! 

Quarantine, yes we are still in quarantine, got me again. I decided to remodel my powder room. Power rooms don't get enough love. I mean, its not like tons of people are visiting but when guest come over the powder room is one of the most used rooms in your home. I decided to spruce mine up a bit, and by a bit I mean a lot. All credit goes to Anna Mae Grooves. Her entire home is lovely! She is lovely too! I've been loving her content lately. I saw her powder room remodel and had to do mine too. 



Lets jump right in! 
Here is what my powder room looked like before. I liked the shelves, so I knew I wanted to keep those. But the oval mirror and light fixture had to go. 



I went with my go to, Target for the shelves and mirror. I purchased the light fixture from Shadesoflight.com This was my first time using that site and they have a ton of inventory and decent prices. 


I used thumbtack for the shelf and light fixture install. I have used thumbtack a lot and I have never had an problem with the handymen or the app itself. 


I knew I wanted to do something to the walls but I didn't want to be bothered with paint. Initially, I picked out 2 different peel and stick wall paper patterns from amazon. They have some good options. I also saw several that I loved on Chasingpaper.com . Then I stumbled upon Anna Maes' Instagram page and fell in love with wall decal concept. I searched Urbanwalls site and was blown away! They have some amazing decals and peel and stick wall paper on their site. I am also obsessed with their Instagram and pinterest page. 

Cons to using the decals:
1. The decals on urban walls site are kinda pricey. I waited until they had a sale and was able to get a coupon code from their online chat as well. 
2. Their shipping is also kinda slow. I know....first world problems. They are made to order so mine took about a week and 2 days to arrive. 
3. When your decals arrive they come in long sheets. You have to cut each image out of the sheet. I found this time consuming and quite tedious. Take your time though. The cut out does not have to be super concise but you don't want to cut any of the decals either. 



Pro tip: Because all of a sudden I am a pro right? lol place your decals on the wall before putting your fixtures back up. I'll tell you why, just keep reading.



I used painters tape to stick the decals in spots to get an idea of how it would look before committing to sticking them down. 



To adhere the decal I used paint smoothing tool, I have no idea what it is called, but it worked well. The Urbanwalls instructions recommended a credit card for smoothing. Had to ask my husband to help since I'm so short. 


Next, I knew that the faucet, towel holder and tissue holder would have to be swapped out. Initially I purchased a gold faucet and tissue holder you see above from amazon. It ended up being the completely wrong color of gold. It was hideous and did not match the brassy gold mirror frame or light fixture. I ended up retuning it at Kohl's (they are an amazon hub so you can return your items there if you have on close to you). 

I went with a dark brass colored faucet, towel holder and tissue holder. I also switched out the light switch and outlet for brass colored set I found at Home Depot.

Somebody was supervising my every move. 

See how the decals are coming out from under the fixtures. This is key. It makes the decals look more like wall paper when you apply them before your fixtures. 

I did the same thing here. I love how it looks. 


Here is the final product! I really like how it turned out. I may swap the shelves out for some darker colored wood shelves I already have. I think it may make the dark brass fixture pop more. What do you think? Have you tried peel an stick wall paper or decals before? I love this because its less permenant. A little heat from a blow dryer and they peel right off! So cool!




Stay well,
ALW




Simple Mess Free Christmas and Kwanzaa Arts & Crafts

 Happy New Year!!!!!

I wanted to share some super easy holiday arts and crafts activities to do with the kiddos!

For Christmas, I wanted Langston to make something to give to his dad, uncle, aunt and grammy. 

We used items we already had around the house. We created two cute little reindeer and christmas trees. 

Christmas Tree Art

Supplies...

-cardboard
-construction paper
-paint or marker
-mini candy cans
-hot glue gun




 Instead of cardboard we used these wood boards from an old puzzle. I drew a struggle tree on the board and Langston used paint markers to decorate the tree. You can also have older children glue colored cotton balls, noodles or candy canes on them.


I love these paint markers. They are pretty much totally mess free and non-toxic.


Reindeer Art

Supplies...

-cardboard
-markers or paint
-googly eyes
-candy canes
-hot glue gun


Cut your cardboard into a triangle. Langston colored in the nose red. I applied the hot glue to the eyes and candy canes and allowed him to press them on to the cardboard. He really enjoyed making these. You could also apply string to the top a turn your reindeer into an ornament. 





For Kwanzaa instead of giving gifts for each of the 7 days and principals we decided to do arts and crafts for each day. Langston got way too many gifts for Christmas so we skipped out on gifts for Kwanzaa this year. 

Supplies

-construction paper
-markers or crayons
-glue stick
-hot glue gun
-beans
-macaroni noodles


For day 1 of Kwanzaa-Kuumba we created links to chain. We used Kwanzaa colors and wrote each principles for each day. Since Langston is only two years old  I used it as a good opportunity to review Kwanzaa colors and their meanings.


Ujima fell on a daddy duty day. My husband drew the principal Ujima on cardboard and let Langston color it in. It's simple but still a very good activity for toddlers. It helps develop fine motor skills, it boost confidence, and it gives them time to concentrate on one small task (less screen time).






On the last day of Kwanzaa we created a caterpillar named Imani-Faith. 
This one was a huge hit. I simply cut a circle for each letter for they Day 7 principal. Clued them together and we used black eyed peas for her eyes and macaroni noodles for his smile.



All of these can be easily tweaked to suite your child's age. I also think these are a good alternative to gifts for Kwanzaa. You could even have them give their art to their friends or family as gifts. 

Happy New Year!
Stay safe,

ALW