a new direction

It’s time for a change.   I’m taking this blog in a new direction away from frugal & cheap decorating tips to a more green, sustainable, frugal way of living.  I’ve been thinking on this for some time (as many of you can see from my lack of posts).  And now is the time to start making that change. 

It’s not that I don’t love decorating.  I love making things pretty and organized.  And if I can do it for cheap, even better!  It’s a rush!  But I noticed that I was spending more and more time worrying about a new project or how to squeeze a couple more dollars into the new project.  It became a worry and a stress and took away from the most important part of my life – my family.  When I look back on my life I know I won’t think about how well decorated my house was, but about the time I spent with my husband and my kids.

We live on one income.  Right now Steve is the breadwinner and I am the student.  These roles will switch once I complete my education and Steve goes back to school.  We will be living on one income with student expenses and daycare expenses for the next several years.  Fitting decorating projects into this just doesn’t seem feasible or responsible.  Not to say I won’t have the urge and occasionally paint something or reorganize something (in fact, I’ll probably reorganize a lot as I am always looking for ways to make things more efficient), but big, unnecessary projects are a thing of the past.  *I hear my husband thanking God at work 30 miles away.*

I don’t consider us rich by American standards, but we by world standards we are rich.  We are in the top 2% of income.  We have SO MUCH!  We, as a family, as a society, need to start living on less.  We are going to start making this transition.  It will be a slow transition, but a transition nonetheless.  It helps that a lot of the changes we will make will not only lessen our environmental impact, but also our expenses.  Our family has lots of debt to pay down (credit card, student loans, car loan, mortgage).   It’s time that we live more within our means, pay down our debt, and live with less. 

Along with this, Steve has been asking for years that we become more prepared for a disaster.  He has volunteered his time with the Red Cross in multiple areas and knows how important it is to be prepared.  I’ve been putting this off as an extra expense.  I no longer see it as an extra expense.  It is a necessity.  We will be faced with some disaster at some point, be it natural disaster, economic disaster, job loss (which happened to us in 2011).  Being prepared is responsible and necessary.

I hope you follow along with this new journey!

silhouette art

This little craft has no inspiration piece (not that silhouette art is unique, by any means).  I was reading through a couple of the blogs I subscribe to and one of them mentioned that they wanted to do some silhouette art of their kids, but that they hadn't gotten around to it yet.  I thought that would be a fantastic addition to Madeleine's ballerina princess room. 

At the last trip to IKEA I had picked up a bunch of frames for the art I wanted to make.  I ended up getting a couple extra frames when I came across these Kvill frames.  I thought they would fit perfect into Mad's room, even if i didn't have a plan for them yet.

butterfly wall art

Are you ready for some super cute, super easy, super girlie artwork???  Ok then.

When I was looking all over pinterest for inspiration for Maddie's room I came across this adorable wall art from notonthehighstreet.com

I loved everything about it - the swirly letters, the patterned butterflies, the shadow box.  But the price tag was $82.65.  No thank you.  Not that it's not worth it, it's just not in our budget.  But not to worry.  I figured the idea was simple enough, so I decided to make it on my own.

Here is the supplies list
1.  Picture frame
2.  Computer/Printer/Paper
3.  Scrapbook paper in 1 or more patterns
4.  Small butterfly punch
5.  Craft glue
6.  New pencil (or something to press the butterflies into the glue)

I gathered and purchased the supplies I needed.  First was a Ribba frame from IKEA.  Since the IKEA white was not what I wanted I ended up spray painting it pink.

I also bought a small butterfly punch and 2 pieces of scrapbook paper from Joann Fabrics.

DIY Tutu Table {IKEA Lindved Hack}

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a bit of an IKEA fanatic.  Maybe more than a bit.  Okay, so I’m a full blown IKEA junky.  I still remember when I was pregnant with Madeleine I would drive to IKEA just to walk around the store.  I guess it’s only fitting that I include some IKEA furniture in her room.

The IKEA Lindved table was not what I first had in mind for the table in this room.  I saw this picture on pinterest and wanted to find a wooden table just like it.  

I searched craigslist for a while but found nothing.  Tables were either too expensive or not the right shape, and none were white (meaning more painting).  So on a trip to IKEA I took a closer look at this table and decided it would be a great fit for it.  There was a tiny lip under the table I could hide the knots and it was a great price (only $20).  So I snagged it.

a bed fit for a queen {...or princess...or ballerina}

Maddie’s princess bed is coming together, slowly but surely.  It helped that we already had the bed and the bed frame as a hand-me-down from mommy and daddy.

The wrought iron frame was a total score from craigslist.  I had been looking for bed frames for Steve and I for several months.  We had purchased one that wasn’t a canopy bed from craigslist that, according to the ad, was in good condition.  If good condition meant a giant bend in one part of the frame that made the bed tilt at a 30 degree angle.  So we cut our losses and sold it to someone else – making it clear it needed to be repaired before it was usable.  I kept searching and finally came across this beauty for…wait for it…$10.  Yes, that’s right, ten dollars.  One zero.  I couldn’t believe it either.  The couple said they had tried to give it away but no one wanted it, so they listed it for $10.  Talk about a score.

Then Steve and I decided to buy the “marriage saving king bed” so the queen, and it’s beautiful frame, were booted to the extra room/guest room.  That room became Maddie’s room and the bed became Maddie’s bed.  It even has a feather bed on it, a very awesome gift from my great friend Megan’s parents.  I was sad to pass that on, even to my spawn.

Once we decided to make the bed and room hers I began searching pinterest for ideas.  The bed is fairly geometric for a canopy bed and doesn’t have lots of scrolling or other princessy traits.  I had to ballerina princessify it.  Here were some of the cute ideas I found.

This canopy bed was linked from hometrenddecorating.com.  I loved the pink and white and the bows.

from night to day

Mad’s room is making some great progress.  I try and do a little project or store run or something every day (or at least every other day). 

This room has gone through some major transition since we moved into this house.  It’s probably been the room that has served the most purposes.  It started as an office, then was Maddie’s room, then Evie’s room, then a guest room.  All that in only 3 years.  I was able to dig up some pictures of what it looked like in the past, so here is a bit of “the room in review.”  :)

Here is what the room used to look like right after we moved in.  At this point there were no plans for a second child.  Well, no definite plans.  Obviously things changed since then.   With the dark furniture and dark walls the room was pretty dark.

Look at my little baby Madeleine :)

did you miss me?

I was going through the last post I left everyone with before the unexpected and unannounced hiatus.  It seems like I left a lot of things up in the air.  Let me update everyone one where we are now…

Cars

Oh, our cars.  This topic makes me want to curse.  After selling the Sante Fe we did end up finding Steve a truck.  It’s a smurf blue Rangers.  I think it’s a late 90’s model.  We thought the truck would be a great idea since we could definitely use a truck around the house for projects and Steve likes driving a truck.  Well, turns out not so much.  We had a small budget to buy (like $3K).  Unfortunately neither Steve or I are very car savvy, so “fixing up” a car is not in our forte.  We opted for the best we could get and it ended up costing us a pretty penny down the road.  We went over our budget and bought a truck for $3,500.  And after about a week of ownership had to immediately put in over $1,000.  And just a couple of weeks ago we had to put in another $1,000.  I know old cars require more maintenance and such, but geez.  And now Steve uses that truck on a regular basis (baseball and such) and I use it for occasional kid free work days (now that we are down to one kid car) and I feel like it’s going to give out on us at any moment.  We have been discussing getting another small car that gets good gas mileage to use for the regular hauling kids around car, but I just don’t know how our budget can manage.

Julie Keating, NAC?

Yes, don’t worry, I’m still certified.  They didn’t call me back and say “oh, there’s been a mistake!”  No, no.  I just put the question mark because I opted not to find work as an NAC.  Instead I’ve been clocking some hours in at Harborview as a volunteer and just started working for a friend of mine who recently became a nurse practitioner.  The job is great because I can do it from home and it gives us the ability to keep Maddie in preschool.  Unfortunately, that’s all it affords.  I wish I could say I now get to throw some money in the community pot, but no.  My paycheck comes in and it immediately goes out to the preschool.  While it is a bit discouraging working for essential no monetary gain, it is fantastic experience, and if it is what I must do to get into nursing school, so be it.

The Leak

Another topic that makes me want to curse.  The @#%$^# leak!  I tried a repair kit from Home Depot and that lasted about a day.  I did some research and found a company that did crack repairs.  They came out fixed the leak and sprayed the tub.  I wasn’t in love with the results (the tub had a giant lump where the crack had been and the covered coating didn’t match).  We also had to spend the night away from the house because of the fumes.  But the tub was fixed and no more leak…right?  Wrong.  The tube cracked again in the same place.  They “guaranteed” the work so they came out and inspected it and told us our tub was one that the regular patch didn’t work with.  They would have to order a super strong patch and repair it again.  OK.  So they did, and they did…a month later (because the guy who did their tub repairs blew out his knee the day he was supposed to fix our tub).  OK.  Again, results not great (lumpy, not matchy) and another night away from home.  But to finally have the tub repaired I would do pretty much anything.  So for about 3 weeks we were happy…and then the tub cracked again.  It cracked in the same spot AND on the other side.  The company is now telling us they’ll only refund $250 (less than half the cost) or they’ll try and fix the tub again – but that requires us to rip out all the drywall in our downstairs so they can access under the tub.  I would do that, if I knew it would work.  But with they past experience I’m betting it’s not.  And not only that, but both times the finish chipped off and looked terrible.  I’m not sure what we are going to do now.  The tub repair was expensive, but replacing a tub is EXPENSIVE!  For the moment the cracks are covered in duct tape and we are trying to make up our minds.

Lights

The lights downstairs look awesome, but are still missing the shades I’m planning to make.  The bedroom is slowly but surely coming together.  We got our new king bed and purchased new sheets.  We got a dresser for $30 off craigslist that I’m planning to paint & stain.  I found some nightstands off craigslist too.  Curtains and artwork are hung and it’s finally starting to look like a bedroom.  Well, more like a bedroom anyway.

Other updates

I have an office.  Mad’s room is painted and I’ve gotten a couple of projects done on that list.  Our living and dining are in some major transition.  AND, we may have gotten a dog.  :)

Sorry for the lack of pictures, it’s been busy, busy around here. There are lots to come.  But you’ll just have to wait a few days