Craft room {in my closet} home tour

I am so excited to be taking part in The Country Chic Cottage craft room tour today!  I don't have a conventional craft room, but instead, you can find my craft/sewing room tucked away at the back of my closet. Hopefully, it will leave you thinking outside of the box if you are looking for an area that is all your own.

My husband actually built this area for me, installing can lights, extra outlets and a desk with three shelves. I just have to show you what the area looked like before. What a mess! 

This is a huge improvement on my old closet space don't you think!

I bought the little vintage stool at a garage sale. It's surprisingly comfortable and provides the perfect blend of seating and storage. The top of the stool opens and has thread storage and a large inside area where I put my yards of burlap. 

Let's take a look around to see the rest!

Lazy Cleaning Tricks for a Spotless Home

I like a clean home. I feel overwhelmed with clutter and messes. I just don't love to clean my house. I know there are people out there who love to scrub every surface, to spend their free time sorting and organizing every closet and cabinet. I'm just not one of them. 

I was hoping that as my kids got older that maybe I could put them to work doing the stuff I don't like to do, but to be honest, they really aren't that great at cleaning either. Don't get me wrong, they are super great at making messes, but the cleaning up part is their downfall. 

After nearly 20 years of having a home of my own to clean, I've got some lazy cleaning tricks up my sleeve and I'm spilling the secrets today on how you can have a spotless home the lazy way.

Driftwood succulent planter

It's no secret that I am crushing hard on this succulent trend. I bought a whole huge flat of succulents at a garage sale this summer and they have done so well that many of them are growing new blooms. I needed somewhere to plant these new shoots and happened to have a large piece of driftwood that I found on the beach this summer.

With a little help from my handy husband, I was able to make a driftwood planter for my succulents that I am in love with!  The best part is, it cost me next to nothing!

Want to know how?

Aspiring musician in your family? The secret to surviving the learning years!

Our oldest son drummed on everything. It started when he was a toddler and it seemed to continue with no end in sight.  He would drum on pots.  He would drum on boxes.  He would drum on the table.  He started asking for a drum kit and our response was always no.  Why?  Because drums are loud!  

As parents we encourage our kids to practice their musical instruments, but let's be honest, sometimes it's brutal! There have been a lot of screeching notes and the same song on repeat more times than I would like to remember!  

Learning music is tough, but it's so important.  Find out how you can make it a little less painful on everyone in the whole family!

Floating shelves for the kids bathroom

Last month, I shared with you all how one of my goals was to start taking my pins off of Pinterest and making them a reality.  I started a blog series I am calling From Pin To Reality.

The only silver cleaner you will need!

I have a hard time passing up anything silver at garage sales and thrift shops.

Especially when it's only $1!

I found this medium sized dish last weekend and it was pretty tarnished.

I thought I would try a trick that my husband's grandma taught me.

She explained how she used aluminum foil and baking soda and salt to clean vinegar.

I tried it on a silver pitcher in the spring and while I had some success, I don't think I had the precise ingredients and it didn't work as well as I would like.

I did some research and some tinkering and found a recipe that will become your best kept silver cleaning secret.

It's easy and uses ingredients you probably have on hand.

Start with 6 cups of boiling water.

I heat my water in the microwave, so while it's warming I get my other supplies ready.

Line your sink with aluminum foil.

Make sure that your foil is shiny side up in your sink.

This is the fun part!

Invite your kids to come help you in a little kitchen science experiment!

Mix 6 T of salt and 6 T of baking soda and pour it on top of your aluminum foil.

Slowly pour in 3 cups of white vinegar and watch it bubble.

Add your boiling water and place your silver on top of your aluminum foil.

It worked immediately!

I used the aluminum foil to rub the tarnish and was amazed at how quickly it worked.

This is the after.

It soaked for under two minutes in the sink and came out a whole new silver dish!

It's pretty amazing!

Go try it. I promise it will feel more like fun and less like work!

Vintage mirror and frame gallery wall for under $40

My daughter just turned 12.

She has vintage taste just like her mama and she has a lot of ideas and changes her mind a lot,

again, just like her mama.

Isabella has had a vision for her room for the past few years that has changed and before I made any quick design changes, I wanted to make sure she had a clear idea of what she wanted to live with.

It all started with a vintage mirror I bought last year at a garage sale for $3.

I used a dry brush technique to paint it white and when I was going to take it to the shop to sell, my daughter convinced me to let her keep it.

Her idea of a mirror gallery wall began with that one mirror and over this summer, I have spent time finding any mirror or frame that might look amazing on that wall.

These are just a few of the mirrors and frames that I found at garage sales that finally completed our hunt.

I painted each one with a dry brush technique

and then Isabella took a dry paper towel and wiped off excess paint to let some of the gold shine through.

Once the paint was dry, we had to come up with a way to hang the mirrors on the wall.

I had Isabella make outlines of every mirror using newspaper.

{and for the biggest mirror wrapping paper}

Each paper had a number that coordinated with a number on the frame/mirror that it matched up with.

Using painters tape, I taped the frame outlines up on the wall.

We moved and shuffled things around a bit, but in the end, this is the final result we came up with.

For under $40 

{the bulk of the expense was a new mirror from Target for her birthday}

we completed the mirror wall.

She absolutely loves it!

And if I can also point out the $3 chair in the corner from Goodwill outlet 

{I painted the arms of the chair, but the coral fabric is original...and awesome!}

and the desk {$10 at a garage sale}

as well as the lamp {I exchanged some crafty stuff for it from another crafty gal}

 That side of her room is complete!

Now to figure out how to use a jigsaw and make a headboard.

Mouse pad makeover with mod podge

My husband is the greatest.

There is a bin at work with cast off office supplies that he likes to bring home from time to time.

This amazing blue ocean mouse pad was one of those treasures.

I've lived with it for far longer than I would like to admit and finally decided to cover it with some fabric I have been hoarding that I got at the Goodwill outlet.

These are the supplies you need if you would like you cover your own ugly mouse pad.

fabric

mod podge

scissors

small paint brush

I cut my fabric piece in half, larger than my mouse pad.

I then took mod podge and painted it on the backside of my mouse pad.

I laid my fabric down over my mod podge and smoothed out any wrinkles.

Then, I trimmed around my fabric.

I cut close to the edge on the back side.

I then repeated the process of painting the mod podge on the front side of my mouse pad.

Once I smoothed that fabric down, I cut a wider edge around the fabric.

You will be folding the fabric from the front, over the lip of the mouse pad and securing it to the back.

To make folding around curves easier,

you can cut notches into the edges.

Use your mod podge and your paint brush to seal the edges of your fabric to the back side.

Let your new mouse pad dry.

Enjoy your new {way prettier} creation.

So what does your mouse pad look like? Be honest. Does it need a makeover too?

How to paint perfect lines on textured walls

This post brought to you by FrogTape Brand Painter’s Tape. All opinions are 100% mine.

Every wall in our whole house is painted in the same khaki color.

All 3300 square feet of it.

After nearly four years, it's gotten a bit, how should we say it?

Old? Monotonous? Boring?

Yes, all three!

I've been needing a little change, so when I had the opportunity to try FrogTape® textured surface tape, I knew I needed to give it a try... I just wasn't quite sure where.

I settled on my laundry room.

With three active kids and a dog, I spend a lot of time in the laundry room!

My laundry room is nothing special.

It does have a sink {that rarely gets used} but for the most part, it's just pretty functional.

And in this case, functional is code for boring.

Just this past week, I was able to take my laundry room from boring to bold!

I'm excited to show you how you can paint straight lines without the paint bleed on your textured walls.

When I grew up in the Midwest, I never saw a textured wall that I can remember.

They seem to be common here on the west coast.

If you have ever painted a textured wall, you will wonder why.

{and not in a good way}

Paint bleeds through the small gaps and leaves you with a less than stellar line.

But not any more!

FrogTape® has done it again and come out with a new tape made just for textured surfaces complete with liquid paint block sealer.

FrogTape® is the only painter's tape treated with PaintBlock® technology.

PaintBlock® is a super absorbent polymer that reacts with latex paint and instantly gels to form a micro- barrier that seals the edges of the tape, preventing tape bleed.

This tape bleed is common when painting on textured walls, so FrogTape® took this technology one step further and added a liquid PaintBlock® sealer.

If you thought FrogTape® was awesome before, you should try it now!

It's extra awesome!

I started by having my engineer husband figure out where my lines should be.

Anytime there is math involved, I think it's best to consult with him.

We {and I use that term loosely} decided that the lines should be on the wall at 14", 27", 40", 53", 66" and 79". 

It's like those "find the pattern" questions that you get asked in math class.

We started at 14" up on the first line and then have a line every 13" after.

The wall height didn't break up into an even measurement which is why they aren't all 13" apart.

We {again, we meaning him} used the biggest ruler known to man 

{seriously, this ruler should be off the highway next to the biggest yarn ball ever and be listed as a tourist attraction}

and marked out where the lines needed to be on the wall.

I used the pencil lines on the wall that my hubby made and strung out the tape.

If you notice the x's, you may question why.

It's genius people.

The x's are the lines that aren't being painted.

It was a lifesaver because then you don't have to think.

Thinking hurts your head and no one wants that.

Once your lines are level on your wall,

take a straight edge {I used my Hilton Honors card--it's not doing a lot for me otherwise} and went over each of my tape lines, making sure the bubbles were smoothed out and the edges were sealed.

Use a damp cloth to activate the PaintBlock® technology.

The final step in sealing your lines is to squeeze on and apply your liquid PaintBlock®

It goes on milky like glue so you can see where you have applied it.

Let the liquid PaintBlock® dry for 15 minutes and then you are ready to paint.

I painted three coats of white paint on the walls, waiting for each coat to dry to the touch.

Once your final coat of paint is dry to the touch you can peel up your FrogTape®

I seriously did an audible gasp and then proceeded to sound like an infomercial to anyone with in earshot 

when I peeled the tape up.

I couldn't believe what a straight line the FrogTape® made.

Seriously.

Look at these lines!

Sometimes with painters tape on textured walls you end up getting lucky and are actually able to paint a straight line without the paint bleed,

but there is no way you can get the results across the whole wall if you don't use FrogTape® for textured walls.

I actually love walking down the hallway and seeing my new fresh laundry room.

I can't even believe how straight these lines are!

You can get more FrogTape how-to here.

Don't forget to follow FrogTape® on Twitter for the latest news, inspiration and updates.

What are you waiting on?

Go create with FrogTape®!