Technically Organized Mama

For the Little Man’s first birthday, I was trying to distract myself from being emotional about how much he had grown, or how I might shed a tear each time he outgrew another clothing size.

I had no idea what to get for him for his birthday and to make matters more complicated, I have deep-rooted rules about acquiring stuff, more specifically useless stuff. We’ll chat more about that someday.  Anyway, I finally settled on the idea of purchasing a table and chairs for him. I usually go to IKEA for this type of thing and was eyeing the KRITTER or the SUNDVIK. One small problem- we now live 229 miles from the nearest IKEA! And while I love IKEA and I could always use a fix, I’m not driving 8+ hours round-trip to Charlotte, NC. While I could order a table and chairs and have them shipped, it would cost $30. That’s 50% of the total order- yikes!

So, I was itching to try out one of Ana-White.com’s plans for furniture building but forced myself to be realistic. I don’t have the time available to work with power tools in the garage with a 1 year old hanging around . When I came across Ana White’s plans for the Clara Table and $4 Stackable Chair, I thought it was the perfect opportunity.

I was able to follow Ana’s plans and make the table and chair {still have one to assemble} just in the nick of time. I didn’t have time to paint it but as it turns out, I’m kind of glad. He got some crayons for his birthday and demonstrated his art skills right on the brand new table top.  I wasn’t upset in the least, I love the idea of having his crayon scribbles preserved in layers of paint years down the line.

For my next project I’m going to sand, prime and paint first, prior to cutting and assembling. I realize that I’ll have to touch up where I cut but we’ll see if I like that process better.

I used my circular saw {on my table saw table}, Kreg Pocket-hole Jig and cordless drill/driver on that pile of wood with those materials and made both the table and chairs.

Oh, and before I got started I made a table saw cutting jig so my brain wouldn’t explode. I’ll provide more details on that in my next post.

Here’s a super-hot picture of me operating the circular saw and double-checking some deets on my very favorite tool {my iPad}. Though it kills me to print things I won’t need in the future, I think I’ll probably print out some of the plan on future projects.

Some “during” shots: table cuts, chair cuts, table complete, tabletop assembled {left to right, clockwise}.

I definitely have a healthy fear of cutting tools so I’m impressed that I was able to do this all on my own. And, I’m even more proud of the fact that I built my son his first birthday gift Icing on the cake? He climbs into his chair and sits to play at his table almost every day. Awesome.

Have you built anything that you’re super-proud of? Or maybe have a DIY fail you’d be willing to share? Please share in the comments.

Hey, there! I’d like to ask a favor. Are you trying to lose weight? Struggle to get fit? Want to know how to raise children who are fit & healthy? It can be soooo confusing and overwhelming.  Low fat? High fructose corn syrup? Artificial sweeteners? If you don’t already know, I’m a professional organizer and my husband is a sports dietitian. Being married to someone who is passionate about fitness and nutrition, I’ve always considered myself lucky to have a direct resource for getting my questions answered.

Simply. In plain English. No BS.

Now that we have expanded our family, I’ve had new questions about the ever-changing nutritional needs of a little one {and my own changing fitness and nutrition requirements prenatal and post-partum}, how we can incorporate fitness into our family life and how to give our son the skills he needs to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle.

I’ve been thinking how there may be others out there with those same questions and some of your own about growing a fit family, too. In addition, because I’ve learned so much over the years I’m continually frustrated about the misinformation, sensationalized research reporting and false advertising that occurs in the media and within the fitness and nutrition industries.

Because it is in my nature {sometimes annoyingly so} to want to share what I’ve learned {I hate wasted time & energy- mine or anyone else’s} AND my husband is soooo good at what he does, I thought why not do some more research and find out what YOU struggle with related to nutrition and fitness for yourself  and/or your family!

Is it worth convincing him to start sharing his skills and knowledge in a bigger way? Whaddaya think?

You can complete the quick survey I created here OR feel free to leave a comment below telling me what your biggest challenge or frustration is re: nutrition and fitness for yourself and/or your family.

While I would love to keep our kitchen counters clear, the reality is that we’re using {and washing} bottles, formula and rice cereal constantly. My chosen method of organizing is for function first. So, I just thought I would share how we deal with having these items on the counter and keep the clutter to a minimum.  Ideally, I would store these items in an easy to reach bin in a cabinet or drawer but that doesn’t work with our kitchen configuration.

First, this spinning, 2-tiered bottle drying rack from The First Years is perfect for us. There are prettier ones like this and this but they definitely would not have met our needs with all of the bottle parts we have. Precisely why I look for function first.

We use Dr. Browns and they have the bottle, nipple, caps, collars, vents and vent reservoirs. Count ‘em- that’s 6 parts per bottle! We use 4 oz. bottles with a level 2 nipple for rice milk and the 8oz. bottles and a level P nipple for the formula.  For those of you not familiar, the level indicates the flow and we learned that flow of a level 1 was too much for the baby, so we purchased the “preemie” level.

The little label on the nipples is a little tough to see {especially when you wake up in the morning after 2 consecutive hours of sleep}. Can you see it? Yeah, me neither.

So, after washing, the 2′s go on the top of the short vent reservoirs and P’s go on the tall reservoirs. This eliminates any time wasted identifying bottle parts. And with a hungry, crying baby nearby, that’s a good thing! All collars and vent caps get paired together, 40z. parts on the top and 8 0z. parts & caps on the bottom.

Next, we keep formula, medication dispensers, dry rice cereal and measuring spoons in a basket right next to the drying rack. In order to make it a little prettier, I transfer the rice cereal into a mason jar. Everything is prettier in a mason jar. {You can see here on my “Mason Jar Love” Pinterest Board}. I don’t have a jar large enough for the formula and we go through that a lot quicker. I didn’t feel it was worth my time or potential spillage {can you say powdered gold?} to transfer it into a jar. Your mileage may vary. I keep a dedicated set of measuring spoons that fit into the bottles here, too.  This is an example of when having duplicates is very efficient. Everything we need is at our fingertips. Plus, it’s particularly helpful when you have visitors helping out.

And, while it may not be the most beautiful setup, beauty is in the eye of the beholder… and “eye” see simple!

Do you have any tips for organizing bottle parts, etc.? What have you done that works for you? I’d love it if you would share them in the comments!

Ciao for now!

Lauren

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y! I have completed this DIY Sunburst project I’ve been working on for over 8 months. Ok, well not really 8 full months. I purchased some of the supplies, finished 1/4 of the project, gave birth to a human, moved to another state, pretended to sleep for 7 months and finally finished it this past weekend. I originally started the project to hang over our bed in the master bedroom in another state.  And, while I would still love to have a piece to hang there, this niche {or whatever you call it} in our open-concept living room has been calling out to me {please ignore the black coaxial cable- that’s next on the list}

Niche above fireplace

I got inspiration from basically copied Shelley from Crazy Wonderful’s Sunburst Mirror DIY. I loved how substantial it was and, of course, the price tag. If you’re looking for inspiration for your own Sunburst Mirror, Pinterest has plenty here to choose from.  I’m not going to do a step-by-step because I basically followed Shelley’s post. But I’ll tell you what I did:

• I found my mirror for $12.99 at Ross
• Used the 18″ Shims from Home Depot as is- I did not trim them.
• I used gray spray paint as a base coat for the pewter glaze

Some additional tips:

• I glued my shims in groups of 5 & 7 like Shelley {It’s a great project to do while watching TV if you’re so inclined} and used my handy-dandy rubber band ball {Thanks, OfficeMax}. I made them flush on the front side by using a flat surface.  This made it a bit more challenging when it came time to glue the back side aka. uneven shim sides down to my wood flat.  So, after gluing the groups, I would recommend gluing each group together to give the piece more stability.
• You’ll need more than 8 packages if you’re using them at full length.
• I purchased my shims in two batches at separate times and they were distinctly different. One batch was more finely finished than the other. It was no big deal for me, I just mixed them up to make sure it wasn’t really noticeable in the finished product. It only adds to the charm IMO.

Some pictures along the way:

Aaahhhh. So glad this is finished and I loved checking this off my list- literally! Do you have any projects that you’ve been working on for a while? What’s holding you up? Anything you’ve recently completed that you’d like to share? I’d love to see it.

Thanks for stopping by and Ciao for now!

Lauren

I recently posted about these sliding closet doors I built for my foyer. In preparation for the arrival of our little one earlier in the year, I took on another closet door update. We had the same type of doors on most of our closets. Though the doors in the nursery were made of some type of hardboard panel covered in thin vinyl instead of mirrored glass.

They had seen better days, to say the least. They vinyl covering was peeling, puckered and d-i-r-t-y. I had considered painting but I wasn’t sure if that would adhere and/or make the cover pucker more. I had briefly considered removing the doors but feel like curtains-as-doors is too reminiscent of dorm room decor {not judging, I lived with them in my entry for over two years}.

I shopped around for wallpaper and found that only commercial wallpaper comes in widths wider than the doors. That meant I was going to have seams. In order to get the most bang for my buck I needed to find a relatively small repeat in pattern. I also wasn’t sure how the creases in the vinyl were going to look, so perhaps something textured? Grasscloth wasn’t exactly the look I was going for in the nursery and I wasn’t sure how complicated it would be to hang. So, I finally settled on some Anaglypta-type wallpaper. I considered this faux beadboard but was afraid the vertical lines would only highlight if the doors or walls weren’t square. I found this pressed tin paintable wallpaper and at $12.97 per roll, it was the winner!

To prep the surface first, I used my handy Magic Eraser to remove all of the dirt and grime. It even worked to remove the arrows that someone had drawn on in marker. Next, I used a carpet knife to cut the edges of vinyl and pull off where it wasn’t adhered to the backing.

After prepping the surface, I followed the directions on the wallpaper and hung it on the closet doors. I would have liked to take down the doors to place the paper on a flat surface but was too afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get them back in the track correctly. Anyway, the seams were surprisingly {for me} easy to line up due to the geometric pattern. I just needed to keep going back and sliding the paper into place as it dried. The result…

And a little closeup of the pattern, which is more distinct in person.

And a little Before/After comparison for you. Even in the sub-par photo you can see a huge improvement this project made.

I love them {even though we don’t live there anymore}. Have you made any closet door improvements that you’re in love with?

Ciao for now!

Lauren