Happy List: #225
Hello, hello! Welcome to today’s Happy List! This week on the blog I shared the charging bench we made to hold all of the phones and tablets that need to be charged around here. I also found and shared 13 gorgeous wreaths that give off all the best fall vibes. If you aren’t following along with us on Instagram or Facebook stories, I invite you to hang out with us there. There’s usually something going on around these parts! Also, if you create something I should see, please tag me! I love to see your ideas come to life! Now, here’s what you showed up for, the Happy List! GREEN THUMB…
13 Fall Wreaths Now That It is Finally September
It is finally September, which means it is now socially acceptable to slap pumpkins on everything, including your front door wreath, and celebrate fall! Never mind that it still feels like summer in my part of the world. The seasons don’t change of their own accord. We will them into existence, especially fall, with our pumpkin spice-flavored lattes, cereal, candles, muffins, coffee, milkshakes, and deodorant. Yes, pumpkin spice deodorant is a real thing. I swear. Not to mention all the effort that goes into placing mums and hay bales on suburban front porches and taking the family on weekend apple picking excursions. If all of that doesn’t make Mother Nature…
DIY Charging Bench for Electronic Devices
If charging all the electronic devices in your home has become a chaotic nightmare of jumbled cords, let me introduce you to my DIY charging bench for electronic devices. It’s a way to hide all of your charging cables and devices in plain sight. It’s my answer to the kitchen charging drawer because I’ve always wanted one of those, but we’ve never had a spare kitchen drawer with outlets in the back. I won’t promise this charging bench will eliminate all the cord chaos, but it can help you hide it. That’s half the battle! A charging bench can be made from any bench that has a hidden storage compartment. The…
A Deep Breath Before School Starts
I’m taking this week off the blog to take a DEEP BREATH before school starts. My daughter starts high school later this week. My son starts middle school next week. You can bet we’ll be celebrating the start of those milestones! But maybe not the early bus schedule. Lord have mercy. My kids were not in a classroom at all last year, so this is a big adjustment back to whatever we are calling a return-to-school these days. The real world? Our new normal? At a bare minimum this adjustment is going to involve my kids wearing real pants and not pajama pants to school. It’s a real bummer when…
Happy List: #224
Hello and welcome to this week’s Happy List! Oh, this week has been interesting! In between all the regular stuff and doctor visits for school physicals and required immunizations we snuck away to go river rafting with the kids. It’s so much fun to do stuff like this with the kids now that they are old enough. This week on the blog I shared how our painted pool coping has held up. Yes, I know this was an ultra niche blog post, but I write about our projects whether or not they appeal or pertain to the masses. However, I think the masses do like autumn pumpkin season, so I…
9 Pumpkin Crafts to Make This Fall
I hope it’s not too soon in the year to publish this “9 Pumpkin Crafts to Make This Fall” post. I don’t want anyone pumpkin spicing my lawn in protest because summer isn’t over. Wait…maybe I do. Hmmm. This is the point in the year where I’m not ready for summer to end because summer is awesome! But everything feels a little wilted, including yours truly, because it is so dang hot and I’m looking forward to the more manageable temperatures of autumn. Please note I said I’m looking forward to autumn not winter. Winter can take a hike to get me more pumpkin spice. Now back to the program!…
How to Paint Metal Pool Coping with Marine Paint
This post is for a super small percentage of the population who have a really old pool with metal coping and are wondering if they can paint that metal pool coping. Yes! You can! (Editor’s Note: I wrote a blog post with an honest assessment about how the paint is holding up after 2 years. You can read that here. To find out how we painted the coping and the paint we used, continue reading this blog post.) If you aren’t familiar with the term, pool coping is what caps the edge of a pool. Modern pools are built with pool coping made out of concrete or stone, but some…
Happy List: #223
Hello and welcome to today’s Happy List! I enjoy sharing the things that made me smile, think, or otherwise sparked my imagination this week. This week on the blog I discussed my love for the Mansard roof and shared the age my kids start doing their own laundry. I have not shared the age my kids start doing MY laundry because it hasn’t happened yet. Trust issues. Ha! If you’d like to see what we are up to this weekend, please follow along on Instagram or Facebook stories. If you create something I should see, please tag me! I love to see your ideas come to life and how you…
The Age Our Kids Start Doing Their Own Laundry Plus a Laundry Hamper Makeover
Our kids start doing their own laundry when they start middle school. Why? Why not? 11 and 12-year-olds are perfectly capable of starting the washing machine. It’s true! Psst! They can run the dishwasher and vacuum too! Plus, learning how to do laundry is a great way to teach kids responsibility and time management skills. If you want a clean shirt for school, then you need to plan ahead and wash and dry a load of clothes. It’s that simple. I did not do my own laundry until I went to college. COLLEGE! I can’t believe my mom didn’t even show me how to do laundry until then. Of course…
In Praise of the Mansard Roof
Do you follow the Mansard Monday hashtag on Instagram? It’s a good one if you are as smitten with Mansard roofs as I am. What’s a Mansard roof? Glad you asked. Even if you don’t recognize the name, I know you’ve seen the style. Remember, I’m a fan girl, not an architect, but here’s my amateur explanation. A Mansard roof is a 4-sided gambrel-style hip roof. Woo! That’s a mouthful. What’s a gambrel? Think of a classic barn roof like that Fisher Price barn toy your kid had growing up. It has two symmetrical sides and each side has two slopes. What about a hip roof? With a hip roof,…
