The kid's bathroom...part 1

I am FINALLY starting on the kid's bathroom redo.  If you missed the "brainstorming" post, check it out here.  My kids have some strong opinions about decorating their bathroom.  Caleb wants nature, Abby wants stripes.  I want wallpaper and my husband wants nothing to change, and has banned wallpaper from the house.  Argh.  But what about Nate?  He is just plain adorable...he can have whatever bathroom design he wants.

I decided to attack the new shower curtain first.  And of course, I couldn't just go buy a shower curtain. I had to be difficult and fall in love with this fabric during my last visit to Ikea.

I had orginally bought the fabric thinking that I would make curtains for the kid's treehouse.  But alas, curtains were voted out.  I had bought 4 yards and a standard sized shower curtain is 70 x 72.  And my fabric was 59 inches wide.  So I cut it at 2 yards, and laid the two pieces side by side, and found where the pattern repeated itself.







I pinned it very carefully...I really wanted the seams to be lined up perfectly.  I pinned them overlapping, instead of back to back.  The good news, my trees are perfectly lined up.  The bad news...it was really hard to fit all of this fabric side by side in the sewing machine.

This is the moment I changed from boring shower curtain to fun shower curtain.  I decided that I wanted an extra long shower curtain.  And with grommets.  But there is no Ikea in TN, so I couldn't go buy more fabric.  So I grabbed one of my clearance shower currains from Target.

I cut as much white fabric as I could, from the top.

I like grommets but I don't like installing grommets.  This seemed like a good way to cheat.

The sides were already hemmed, so I just needed to hem the bottom.  I decided to do a wide stitch, since this thin fabric would be holding up a much heavier fabric.  I really don't know if that helps anything...but I'm going with it.

After hemming the tree fabric on top and bottom (and trimming the fabric since I made the pattern line up), I attached the white top and tree bottom.  I wanted my seam in the middle, and I pinned the fabrics back to back.





All I had left was to hem the extra wide tree sides to fit the size of the white fabric.  I could have cut off 5 inch strips from both sides...but I opted to create huge side hems.  Three reasons...one, I thought it was pointless to have 5 inch strips of wasted fabric.  Two, I noticed that the tree fabric was fraying easily on the sides that I had cut.  The fabric had a nice finish edge on both existing sides.  Three, I'm lazy.  So I folded the fabric over and made huge hems on the sides.

I headed down the hallway to hang it up.  My helper came with me.

And here is my awesome shower curtain.  I really wish I had a better picture.  The bathroom is long and narrow, and it is really hard to get a picture of the shower curtain hanging up.  Everyone loved it!  (Win!!)  Even Mark said that it brightened up the bathroom.































This is a picture from the sink - literally.  I am standing/squatting on the sink.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  It really looks awesome.

Next up, painting the walls.  Caleb still wants me to paint the ceiling blue...and they are talking about painting clouds on the ceiling.  Hmmmm, I am going to have to work my design around that request... without painting clouds.  I am not too excited about that idea.  But a blue ceiling might work.

Pinterest reality.

Pinterest has so many fun and enticing projects...just waiting for me to try.  And when my hubby left me at home with all 3 kids with no car on a Saturday, I got a little board.  I don't blame Mark...he was running the Muddy Buddy race (which he rocked!!) and needed the car with the hitch.  Maybe I blame the kids for all of their argueing and whining.  Maybe I was just plain board.  But I decided to bake some of my cups.

These are the cups that came with the plate set we registered for at our wedding.  I rarely use them.  Mabye twice a year...for book club.  So I decided to "spice" them up.

I grabbed a sharpie, like all of the pictures I see on Pinterest.  They tell me to go to the dollar store and grab a cheap mug or cup.  Like I said before, this set of dishes needed to be "spiced."

See below...simple, safe...dishes.

The instructions say to write whatever you want with a sharpie, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  At first I thought it was immediately permanent.  But when I made a mistake, I could remove the writing with a little elbow grease.

Here are the beautiful plates, already "baked..."

And after they were "baked", I couldn't rub off the writing.  I decided to use our verse (Proverbs 3:3, 5-6) on the dishes.  They were a wedding gift, right?  And I must say, it looked pretty good.

The only problem...I washed my dishes.  I know, crazy.  Here are the bowls...

We used the plate tonight.  Here is the view after washing...

So, lesson learned.  Pinterest is fun and full of projects.  But the pictures aren't always the real story.  I wonder if it would have worked on a cheap mug from the dollar store...  Speaking of mugs, my cups still have the writing on them.  I guess they won't be washed until next book club.

Tree house - update

Here are a few pics of the finished product...come on over and try it out!

We added a swing under the deck of the tree house.  This swing use to have a home in the kid's playroom...but the playroom walls were starting to look a little "worn" from the spinning swing.  So it has found it's new home.
















The gang plank has a hinged bottom.  If we find the proper crank, it could be a fully operational draw bridge!

The kids were given 2 bells for their tree house...and of course they insisted on using both.





The silver bell has an eagle handle and a bull frame.  Our sweet 85 year old neighbor gave it to the kids...I need to ask him where it is from!  I haven't been able to figure out the eagle/bull association.

I made a rope railing...Caleb was my big helper on the project.

The pulley and rope have been upgraded to what the kids call the "chunky" pulley.  This is a source of endless fun.  I already caught Caleb trying to lift himself up in the pail.  I still have a scar on my head from my childhood "fort", where I also tried to hoist myself up in the pail.  Maybe it is a right of passage...





















This awesome plaque is from a naval ship and was given to Caleb by his Great-Grandfather.  The kids have a sign in list for the "crew."

Last but not least, Mark put roofing material and fascia board on the tree house.  It is officially waterproof.  When the temperature cools down, the kids are going to camp out in the tree house.

We also have a secret trap door...we are hoping to add a slide one day.  Everyone needs to have an emergency exit.

Anyone want to come play?  We love our tree house!  Thanks Mark!

Patio - update

I haven't had very much time for updating my blog.  Summer is here, and having all three kids at home is a new experience.  Fun, but busy.

Every spare second has been spent on finishing touches for the patio and treehouse.  The patio is so wonderful.  We are so glad we did this project.  Here is a reminder of what it use to be...

Can this be?  This crumbling brick was turned into this beauty:

We got an AMAZING deal on a teak patio set on craigslist.  I think I want to grill out every night.

And flowers are blooming...

I have my swing up...and I love this cozy spot.

And Mark has his grill.  An awesome grill.




























I love our new patio.