DIY Kitchen Island

I spotted it just as the rain began. A sweet little farm house table on the side of the road waiting to be destroyed by the rain, or end up in a landfill. I couldn't pass it by.

I had been wanting a kitchen island for some time, and this seemed like it might fit the bill with a few altercations...

The first was the height. Definitely not tall enough to use as a work space in the kitchen. I know it needed to be at least counter-height, which is a standard 36 inches. With some suggestions from friends, I decided to add a shelf and legs to the bottom.

If found these 6" legs at The Home Depot. They came with a screw already in the bottom, but after

talking to one of their super-helpful employees, he suggested I use a double-headed screw to get through the half inch plywood I was using. He took out the screw for me with some tool (I think he called them chandlers?) and then put in the new, double-headed screws. Thank you Mr. Home Depot!

 For the plywood, I had the board cut slightly larger than the distance between the legs. Then I used a power drill with a bit to start a hole and I could then screw the legs in by hand.

 It definitely looked awkward at first. I brought it inside and the height was just right.

I trusted that once it was painted it wouldn't look so... unfinished.

 Now the REALLY fun part began. I had been dying to try Chalk Pain, by Annie Sloan. It's made specifically to use without having to prime or prep the surface of whatever you're working with. The only place that sells it around here is Pottsies in Levis Commons. The paint is pricey but totally worth it. I kind of want to paint all the furniture in my house with it now. It was so easy and turned out beautifully in just two coats. I also applied a protective wax coat, which gave it a bit of a matted finish and sealed it.

 I also used some white paint I had to do the trim. And I spray painted the knob on the drawer.

 When I first moved it inside in November, I hadn't yet acquired the crates and boxes

I desired for underneath.

Now, between some treasures in my father's attic and an amazing, dusty, old crate
some friends got me for my birthday, it's just what I had envisioned. 

The Gift of Experience

I'm over the Christmas lists. Already. I have enough stuff and so do my kiddos. Don't get me wrong: we are so richly blessed and thankful for the things we have. With 4 separate sets of parents/grandparents, there is always an abundance at birthdays and Christmas. And for that I am grateful. Many times the monetary gifts we receive at Christmas will be our personal spending the rest of the year. With a tight budget of $10 a month of personal money these days, I am SURELY looking forward to some of the blessings that will be flowing our way this holiday season. Don't get me wrong.

It's just the stuff. Okay, I'm talking about toys. We've got a closet full of them downstairs and bedrooms stocked upstairs. Even a few bins in the attic that can be rotated in on a rainy day.

For the past several years, I've had this inkling to simplify. To purge. And not just to purge the excessive amount of kids' stuff in our home, but my closet, household products, etc.

But it's HARD. Especially when it comes to my closet. I like having lots of options. But I also like having a tidy, well organized closet with hangers that are neatly spaced apart from one another. If you think that's strange, I'd just like to say that I've come a long way from previously color coding and arranging from sleeveless to long sleeve. Baby steps.

So while these ideas of a simplified and more minimalistic lifestyle have been tugging at my heart, I needed to put it out there. There is something about telling others about the things living in your head that make them real. That invokes action. And maybe I'll even find some fellow sojourners along the way. I know you're out there...

Along with cutting the clutter from my heart and my home is the desire for my kids to cherish experiences and time spent with others or serving others over stuff. It's been a blast and a blessing to ask for a received gifts such as a pool pass, Imagination Station membership and Zoo membership in the past. These things are a good start. But I want to foster a love for seeking, exploring, doing and serving. I believe that these are true gifts, and deep, meaningful blessings can come from such things.

My dear friend and pseudo-mother, Laura Grace Weldon, often writes on this idea. She's onto something, has been for years. You can read about it here.

And so the question remains. Amidst my counter-cultural bend and good intentions, how do we keep gifts simple? Keep CHRISTMAS gifts simple? Please know that I am not anti gift-giving. I don't want to be a ba-humbug! Right now I'm just searching for a balance and to cut the excess. I'm looking for ideas and some friends who are along for the ride with me. Don't be shy now... :)

Big Boy Room Makeover (and other budget savvy decor ideas)

I've been itching to get these pictures up ever since Asher's room was updated for his 3rd birthday in August. When we moved into this house he was barely two, so we just transfered all the nursery decor  to his new room. However, we decided that his third birthday would be a great time to put him into a big boy bed and add some other big boy touches. Check out the before and afters:

The details:

The wall decor above the bed was made with fabric and pizza boxes! I love the look of stretched canvases, but these were a much cheaper option. I simply stapled the fabric to the box after wrapping it around the edges like you would when wrapping a gift. Seriously took less than 5 mins for each.

The blue shelves I found at a thrift store for $2.92 each. One was pink and one was purple, so I painted them with leftover blue paint from another piece I painted for Asher's room. A few of the picture frames I also got a thrift store, painted with craft paint and then spayed with a clear gloss enamel for a finished look.

The crate (50 cents) was originally unfinished wood that I spray painted white and believe it or not, I got the Lightning McQueen pic at Goodwill too! Although it was a bit of a splurge at $5 ;)

And like every time I am kid-free at a thrift store, I got a little sidetracked by a few things. One was this cute little crate. Just perfect to hang on the wall for a small shelf in the downstairs bathroom. 50 cents.

Then I spotted some really great fabric. Turns out they were two very long pillow cases. Also turns out that they fit perfectly draped over the bare curtain rod, also in the downstairs bathroom. Linens were half off that day, so that brought them to a quarter a piece- 50 cents total.

So there's some decorating-on-a-dime ideas for ya! Okay, so closer to decorating on 50 cents, but still, not too shabby :) Would love to hear other cheap-o home beautifying ideas!

Free

It's big trash week in BG. And yes, it's just what it sounds like: a week in which people put out their big trash. Furniture, old TV's, mattresses (ew), swing sets, you name it. But amidst the true, trashy-trash there are treasures to be found. I went out really hoping to find some type of furniture for our front porch and deck. My friend Lindsay was looking for shutters (decorative purpose) and maybe a desk for her apartment next fall. Within the first 10 minutes we found 2 of the 3. First we spotted a sweet little desk that would just need a touch of paint. Then, at the very end of that dead end street was an intriguing, medium-sized pile of trash. The items were arranged as though they were gifts under a Christmas tree. Here, Lindsay scored a round table with wooden legs and a glass top. The glass was neatly wrapped in a Hobby Lobby bag with a table skirt and some other fabrics inside. The legs were tied together waiting to be assembled and the wooden top looked brand new. Also in this arrangement were 2 wicker ottomans/end table type pieces and a short wicker table. Beautiful. Those were the only things we took, but there was a steamer in good condition, a foosball table with the balls placed in a baggie and taped to the table and some other really great stuff. I have a feeling whoever those people with the wonderful trash were, they knew that they were blessing someone. Later that night we did score some shutters, just as we were starting to lose hope. What a fun adventure.

Couldn't resist but to pick up this tot-sized table for the kids' playroom, too :)

I've always been excited by finding a good deal. But FREE is even better. Free with no strings attached. Just a true, genuine, gift. As I was reading in Ephesians this morning I was struck by the word free. 

"...to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

 -Ephesians 1:5

The Message puts it this way:

 "Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!"

Wow. Makes my free trash seem lame. But today I am grateful for free- both the tangible an the intangible. Thankful and quite overwhelmed by the free gift of a new day, a new try, another chance and the free forgiveness from my God and from those who walk in his ways. 

Frugal Food

In light of my efforts to stay within our monthly food budget, I started doing things that I thought were a waste of time before. Like cooking beans. The time it can take to cook them seemed ridiculous. Especially when canned beans are fairly inexpensive and duh, easy. However, thanks to Pinterest, I came across Budget Bytes. The author of this blog breaks down the cost of her recipes per serving and they are so tasty and even pretty good for ya! My favs so far have been hearty black bean quesadillas (seriously one of the best things I've ever put into my mouth), cumin lime chickpeas, and her homemade taco seasoning. She just posted a recipe for lentil tacos that I cannot WAIT to try. So, back to my original thought... I've been trying to cook recipes with inexpensive ingredients. Beans (and lentils too) seem to fit the bill. And thanks to Budget Bytes, they are now even less costly. The genius behind the blog, Beth, shows how to cook them in the crock pot. Basically you take 6 cups of water for every pound of beans, 4 hours on high in the crock and bam. You've got soft, delicious beans. 

Rinse 'em off in a strainer.

Then divvy them up using a measuring cup to scoop roughly 2 cups worth of

beans into freezer safe containers. Each container equals about 1 can of beans. 

I get about 6 or 7 "cans" worth out of 2 pounds of beans. And other bonus: less packaging waste and far less sodium and preservatives. It's really amazing to see the amount of salt, sugar, and other such things I've never heard of that are in a seemingly innocent can of beans. Before I started cooking my own beans I found myself buying organic canned beans because of the junk that was in canned chickpeas and kidney beans in particular. Canned organic beans run about $1.25 a can. Now I'm paying only cents more for an entire bag of beans that I can get at 3 cans out of. Granted they're not organic, but they are much more pure. It's a good thing to see when the only ingredient listed is: beans :)

Attempts at Living Frugally

Oxford American Dictionary defines frugal as:
-sparing or economical with regard to money or food: He lead a remarkably frugal existence.
-simple and plain and costing little: a frugal meal.

I think it all started with the food budget. We blew it every month. It's not like I didn't keep track of my spending, because I did. It just wasn't working for me. I wasn't using what I already had. Last year I started planning my meals around what was in our cabinets. I'm not a big stocker of food, unless there's a crazy-good sale. Our cabinets and fridge aren't usually brimming with all types of food. I've got staples that I use frequently like rice, quinoa and certain spices. But for the most part I use what we have then replenish. I re-evaluated our food budget again recently because it didn't seem to matter how many "budget" meals I cooked, we were still going over. One thing blared loud and true. Eating out, even once a month, seemed to tip the scales. And eating out for us is Panera, or Qdoba, or Subway even. Not places one might expect to find a big bill. But that extra $20 was a big factor in our over spending. And so was coffee from Grounds for Thought, and individual cups of Greek Yogurt and other little niceties like gum and orange juice... :( So anyway, as I've been evaluating spending in our food budget, the thought of using what I already have has been haunting me. It's been a good kind of haunting though. As I decorated our home for the first Easter we would celebrate here, things looked far from festive. I mean, we have a lot of extra space now so the couple of decorations that seemed to over-crowd the Enterprise house seemed a bit sparse here. I began to brainstorm how I could use what I already had. I really wanted to buy some fresh flowers for a centerpiece, but we only budgeted for a certain amount extra for our Easter celebration and I had used that on food for brunch and an egg hunt for our Easter guests. So I grabbed a cake stand, some wooden eggs, a candle I was saving for a special occasion and cut some flowers from outside. A touch of brown rice kept the eggs from rolling and added some texture.

Then I was really wanting something festive with a little bit of height to sit on the armoire in the living room. I loved the idea of an Easter egg tree like we always had growing up, and I was fortunate enough to find the ideal egg-hanging branch right outside. It fit perfectly into a vase I had sitting empty under the kitchen sink. Add some ribbon that I had collected from old gift packages and used some of the left over eggs we weren't using for the hunt and Voila! I grabbed a frame that I had normally hung on the wall but was now replaced by a hanging wooden Easter egg and a lantern that set on our dresser upstairs as finishing touches. The plant already lived in the spot previously. Just the arrangement I had been hoping for!

As for the kiddo's Easter baskets, I did break down and purchase them. But 50 cents a piece at Goodwill plus the cost of spray paint wasn't too bad :)

They were filled with some kid friendly gardening tools, a little pot with a sun flower seed to be planted and a ball to play with outdoors. Best of all, we got them the Big Picture Story Bible. Best Bible for toddlers ever!

I've also been trying to be frugal with our clothing. We are so blessed to have so many clothes (and cute ones at that!) for the kids passed down to us. It is SO tempting to buy new outfits for them, especially the girls stuff, but it makes me a little sick inside to buy something new when there is so much used floating around. For myself, clothes swaps or give and gets have been a HUGE blessing. It is so amazing to be able to do a clean sweep of my own clothes and then walk away with something that someone else is done with for FREE. Mosaic has also been fun. I've made money selling some of my own things and have used that money to purchase some items there. In fact I was really hoping (and checking the store weekly) for a dress for Easter, but was not having any success. I was really hoping for a dress just right for this special holiday, but didn't want to spend more than 10 or 20 dollars and was desiring to buy something used. As a last ditch effort, the day before Easter I hit up Goodwill and found the perfect Easter dress. It was a sheer chiffon with a beautiful floral print in different shades of purples and white. Right next to that dress was a dark purple dress from H&M that I grabbed to try on underneath since the dress was so sheer. Despite the scuzziness of that Goodwill dressing room, I rejoiced in finding something so perfect and so affordable, all without buying new. Each dress was $5, so I walked away spending a grand total of $10.07. I was thankful to God for giving me the patience and self control to not run out to Target earlier that week like I SO wanted to do. I'm still riding on the high of this killer find and can't wait to wear it again!

Those are just some of the ways I've been attempting to be a better steward of what God has given us. Buying used can definitely take extra time and even extra work, but it's worth it. We reap the benefits in our pocketbook and sense of a job well done. And our precious planet benefits as well! So go used when you can. Just pause to think about what you already have. Or when you need to make a purchase, think of what you might find at a Goodwill or a consignment shop instead of at Target. (no offense, Target- you still have a piece of my heart!)

Swap Strikes Again

It sounds like a news headline and well, it is kind of an event. Each year it grows. More ladies. More clothes. More donations. This year, along with donating a dozen or more bags and boxes of gently used pants, shirts, dresses, shoes, you name it, we also donated packages of new underwear- one of the top 10 most needed items for the Cherry Street Mission.

If you're not familiar with how a clothes swap works, the idea is to clean out your closet, bring your items and peruse the items that other ladies bring. If it fits- it's yours. The excess is donated.

One thing I particularly love about this set-up is having other women around to give me their opinions.

"Whatdaya think of these sunglasses?"

"Mmm.. not the greatest."

I appreciate the honesty.

Here are some pictures of the swap in action. We tried to have a bit of organization this year by having separate piles for spring/summer tops, fall/winter tops, spring/summer bottoms, fall/winter bottoms, jeans, skirts and dresses, pjs and sports wear, bags, shoes, jewelry, etc.

Hosting a swap is pretty low maintenance. All you need a little organization and volunteers to haul it all away. And there are endless ideas of things you can swap: toys, books, baby clothes, home decor. The only trick is ending up with less than you brought!

Project Let's-Get-Some-Stuff-DONE

Last weekend Asher went to Nana and Grandpa Bill's (or Gampa Bol as Asher would say). We've got some before and after shots of projects that we worked on and finished! How lovely it was to be able to start something and see it through to a final product!

Here is a shelving unit I picked up at a garage sale for $8.

(Thank you purple house ladies)

After sanding it down and a few coats of paint, it makes a perfect shelf for Asher's room!

I added this cute fabric over the peg board backing for a personal touch. I'd like

to make valances out of this same fabric. Asher loves his doggies :)

While I worked on the shelf a few other things out in the garage, Ben was busy adding some color to Millie's room. I wanted to do a deep teal to contrast with her white furniture and pink bedding and valances. We kept two of the walls a neutral since the teal was really bold and I think it would have been a little too much to have the entire room done in that color. Will post more pics once we get her wall hangings up.

Before:

Hi! I LOVE having my own room.

After:

And quite possibly my favorite part of the weekend, Sunday afternoon my girl and I walked downtown to run some errands. Just mother, daughter and Moby wrap.