DIY and Home Projects

So, like many of you, I have jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon, and have gotten addicted looking at the kids section.  I don't actually do any "pinning" myself.  I just find ideas of mostly DIY projects, take note, and then try them myself.  Here are a few DIY and home projects I've been up to lately.

I've been looking for a way to record Brylee's height as she grows throughout the years, and as her first birthday approaches, I found this really cute 'ruler' idea. The reason I love it so much, is that it is portable.  I just hung it on the wall like a picture, and if we ever move, or hopefully have other kids in the futer, I can move it and add to it as I wish (vs. marking her height on the wall somewhere and then not being able to take that with me if we ever move).

 It was a pretty simple project, really.  I bought a $7 6' x 12" x 1" pine board at Lowe's. I stained it the color of my choosing one night after Brylee went to sleep.  The next day during nap time, I marked the board off in inches (with pencil first), and outlined the numbers at each 1 foot incrament, then traced over it all with a black paint pen.  You can see the full tutorial I used here.

 I also saw a cute idea for a card table play house, and remembered playing as a child under our kitchen table in a "playhouse" that my mom had. I had a bunch of fabric left over from making Brylee's bedding, so I used that to make this adorable slip cover table playhouse.

 I added a small peep-hole window to one side

 And left the back covered

Here is the one I used to play under as a little girl

   I intend for this to be a birthday or Christmas present for Brylee, but wanted to see her "test it out" first.

 I doubt she will remember she has already seen her present!

 We also have been doing some work in our living room... finally! For the longest time we had moving boxes and tv dinner tray tables holding up our cable box and dvd player.  We finally got this simple piece of furniture, and use the pull-out baskets to hide some of Brylee's toys and dvds. We also hid the wires of the tv behind the dry wall, which makes for a much more finished look.

 I covered some of our old pillows with new yellow & green fabric, and have stuck with the yellow/green/brown theme in adding some accents to our living room.

 I added an "art piece" to the back wall, which was also a DIY project I found on pinterest.

I bought a few pieces of shelving board for about $9 and had Lowe's cut them for me into 12" x 12" squares.  I covered those squares with cute, modern fabric I found at this great fabric store, City Craft, in Dallas, then hung them in the pattern I liked best to make 3 x 3 square. I added a brown wire cross to the middle left square for a little more 'artistic' feel.

 I also spruced up our mantel with some spray painted candle holders, clock on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and some picture frames we had to take up from our end tables because Brylee was pulling up and reaching for them.

 In the kitchen, I sewed some simple curtains from fabric I also bought at City Craft.

 I had found some new rugs with a modern twist on primary colors at World Market a few weeks ago, and liked the idea of adding color to the kitchen to make it young, modern, and kid friendly as we start adding children's art projects to the fridge.  I have a few more DIY projects to add to the wall in the kitchen, but haven't found exactly what I need to make them yet.  More to come...