Posts Tagged ‘Kinsey’s Room

There’s something about myself that I haven’t ever told you guys.

Are you sitting down? {Well, dur, you probably are if you are on your computer!}

Okay, here goes nothing…

I. am. super. paranoid. and. neurotic. about. random. things. that. probably. really. aren’t. that. big. a. deal.

Like for example, I love roller coasters, but once I’m on one, all I can think about is “what if an earthquake hit RIGHT NOW? This coaster would crumble and I’d be thrown from it.”

Or, before I fly anywhere, I worry myself sick that I might die in a plane crash. I’m not so worried about me dying, just the fact that my kids wouldn’t have a mom anymore.

When we are on the freeway, I freak out when people brake in front of us and I don’t think Ben is braking fast enough. WHAT IF WE GET INTO A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT?

When Ben is out of town, I make the kids sleep in my room. What if the house catches on fire in the night and I can’t get to them?

Most people would say I’m paranoid. I like to think I’m cautious.

One of the many neurotic tendencies I have is to worry the children will get hurt, or worse, will do something that will cause death.

Having a 2 story house has only exasperated this paranoia of mine. I worry they will fall over the half-wall into the foyer. And I especially worry about windows.

Or, more specifically, that they will open a window on the 2nd floor, and will then proceed to fall out of said window. And will die.

Most of my worries end in someone dying. Very glass-half-empty would you say?

Anyway, for a few bucks I found the most awesome window locks. Ever.

I got them at the hardware store but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them at Walmart as well.

Basically, you put it where you want it, then you just turn the little knob until its secure.

I’m extra paranoid that the kids will try to take it off, so I turned the knob with a pair of pliers. These suckers are not going anywhere.

I installed it high enough that they can still have a little breeze action if they’d like, but low enough that their noggins can’t fit through the window opening.

When you open the window, it hits the lock so it can’t go any higher. Best. Idea. Ever.

I know what you are thinking…

“But what about a fire? How will they escape?”

Well, considering we don’t even have any fire ladders anyway, I guess their options could be a) die in a fire, or b) die from jumping out a 2nd story window.

If the kids really REALLY need to get out of a window upstairs, they can climb out of the office window. It has a roof below it.

So anyway, for a few bucks I’ve given myself immense peace of mind knowing the kids can’t kill themselves falling from a window.

Just don’t get me started about them jumping on the trampoline or riding their bikes in the street…

The gallery wall in the stairwell is outta here!

{15 months ago…}

I tried. I really tried. But this gallery wall has been a thorn in my side since day one. It makes me cray-to-the-zeeee!

I thought the issue was the wall color. So I painted the stairwell yellow to match my foyer (I also painted under the railing white).

The frames also ended up with a nice coat of white spray paint.

Still hated it. So I took all the little kitchy crap and shelves down. Maybe it will look better with just frames.

Even worse.

Then one day… I was just over it.

Totally over it.

This sofa table was moved to Kinsey’s room last week, leaving an empty spot at the top of my staircase.

See? No more table.

When I “borrowed” the table for Kinsey’s room, I didn’t really have a plan for replacing the table with something else in this now empty spot.

But two days ago, I’d looked at that eyesore of a stairwell gallery wall one. too. many. times.

And something just snapped inside me. Before I knew it, frames were a-flyin’ and I was a-huffin’ and a-hollerin’ and a-hammerin’.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Orange Mocha Frappuccino! Er, I mean…

HALLWAY GALLERY WALL! Woop woop.

I gathered up all my supplies; frames, nails, hammer, level, chair to stand on, and I just started hammering and hanging frames.

Some people pre-measure and cut out newspaper the size of the frames and tape it to the wall.

Oh please, girl! Do you even know how fantastically lazy I am? I mean really? That would take way too long.

Plus, who cares if I screw up. It’s only a teeny tiny little nail hole. It’s not like the house is going to fall down around me.

Basically, the method to my madness consists of grabbing a frame, holding it up to the wall and eyeballing it, and then hanging that sucker up.

This honey badger don’t care! She just does what she wants.

And if it looks like gar-to-the-capital-bidge? Take it down, pull the nail out, and hang it somewhere else. Trial and error baby. Trial and error.

Finally, after a heart thumping 45 minutes, I was done.

Kinda.

I ran out of white frames.

So I started grabbing other frames to fill the gaps. Don’t worry chicklets. They will get painted white in due time. Like, either tomorrow, or whenever I decide to get back on board with this project and finish it.

Could be a day. Could be a month. You really never know when you are dealing with me.

But for now, this is the final result.

I freaking love it and think it’s so fantastic. I grin every time I walk by.

You are probably saying “oh no, girl. No no no. That does not look very good.”

Of course you are saying that! The ugly frames haven’t been painted yet. But trust me, just picture everything white. It will look fab.

And sorry the picture itself sucks so bad. I had a nice camera a year ago. And then I dropped it on the ground like 25 times. And now my photos look like that. Sorry.

Ben says when he can trust me with a camera he might consider talking about getting me a new one. I don’t blame him. I break every camera I own within a few months. Weeks. Days.

Once, when I was in middle school, my parents bought me a camera for my birthday. I was like 13 I guess.

In fact, here’s a picture of my sisters and I on my new gallery wall. Can you guess which one is me?

I’ll give you a hint. Back Right. Oh, sorry, that wasn’t a hint. O-well. And Merideth, please don’t kill me for posting this photo of you. Just tell people it was your “awkward phase”… In fact, I’m pretty sure it was everyone’s awkward phase judging by the photo from 1993.

Anyway, I just got a new camera for my 13th birthday.

I was tearing open the package to retrieve my very first, brand spankin’ new camera that was mine. All mine.

My dad says while I’m opening the brand new camera, and I quote, “Allison, be careful. Don’t drop it on the grou…”

Doh!

The camera slipped out of my hand and smashed on the tile floor.

The rest is history. Me and cameras are mortal enemies.

I’m that way with vacuums too. Don’t bring up “oreck” and “Allison” to my mom. I’m pretty sure she had to purchase at least 4 of them before I moved out.

Where was I?

Oh, gallery wall… Here’s a view from the game room.

For those of you that are so nosy you are squinting at your monitor trying to get a good looksie at my family, I’ll make it easy for you…

This is Travis 3 years ago:

Adorable? I think so. Drives me bonkers? You betcha.

And this is Kinsey (again, 3 years ago):

Prettiest and most ornery 4 year old I ever did meet.

Us goofing around:

Ben and his brothers like 10 years ago, maybe more:

(Ben is in the middle)

Can we all get a collective “awwwww”?

I won’t bore you with every picture on my wall. I’ll save that for when I am totally done, the frames are all painted, and new pictures are inserted. That’s when I’ll bore you to tears.

Wondering about that big ol’ empty stairwell now?

I have some BIG plans swirling around in my mind for the stairwell. You will just have to wait and see what concoction I’ve got up my sleeve for that one.

For now, I’ll leave you with my purposely-asymmetrical gallery wall. I like everything to match, but I get bored with too much symmetry.

I’ve determined people either LOVE gallery walls, or LOATHE them.

What team are you on? Team LOVE or Team LOATHE?

Do tell!

Have a great weekend!

Well hey there! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. We’ve been busy around here just trying to get this place organized once and for all! Maybe by the end of 2012 I’ll feel like everything is in it’s place.

Last week I showed you my 7 year old daughters room makeover progress. I had just hung some floating shelves (IKEA Lack shelves) above a little sofa table. Eventually this area will be for all her jewelry, (play) makeup, nick-knacks, and desk area.

Unfortunately, all this switching around in her room has left quite a huge mess of toys on her floor.

The solution?

Another trip to IKEA.

This time for IKEA Expedit Shelves.

I decided to go with two of the 2×4 squares Expedit shelves.

I wanted to have a lower shelf that Kinsey could reach the top of to act as a table top, but I also wanted one that was taller to maximize the amount of storage she has. The solution was two shelves, one placed horizontally and one placed vertically.

And just as a quick tip, if you are going to be putting together IKEA furniture it is MUCH EASIER if you purchase a Hex Bit Tip set for your electric drill from the hardware store instead of using the manual “Z” shaped Hex bit that comes with the furniture.

I also decided to splurge and get her four IKEA Knipsa baskets. They had cheaper baskets, but I really love the look of these and feel that the overall look of her room will benefit from them (once I finish the room).

The Knipsa baskets are $16.99 per basket, so I could only justify four at the time. Eventually I plan on snagging a few more of these baskets before all is said and done.

Want a closer look at how I’ve sorted out her toys? This is by no means finished or final. Her room is still VERY MUCH a work-in-progress.

On the tall shelf, one of her new baskets holds all her baby doll stuff, while the other is her new barbie doll storage.

The wide shelf holds her music (she LOVES music)…

…and all her American Girl stuff…

I’m really torn on her huge pink Disney Princess framed poster (on top of the shelf). On the one hand she likes it. A lot. In fact, she’s totally in love with Belle.

But on the other hand, it REALLY is NOT the look I’m trying to obtain while decorating her room. I’ve been planning on hanging the poster above these new shelves, but I just can’t stomach it! I am NOT a Disney Princess type of person. In fact, I am opposed to pretty much any character decor of any type.

She loves the poster though, so I will probably end up sucking it up and hanging it for her (I mean, it is her room after all!).

Here’s what her room looks like with her new Lack floating shelves and Expedit shelves.

And from the hall when you are walking into her room, this is what you now see….

Instead of this huge disaster:

Ah, much better already!

My next big goal with her room is to get her a new bed.

(If you want to know why you can read all about it in this post.)

I know this isn’t as exciting as a huge “reveal” and before and afters. But at the rate I get things done around here (really slow) if I waited until her room was finished to blog about it, I’d probably never blog ever again. lol

I figure I’ll just share the progress of my house as I go along the way. This is real life after all, and in real life, things don’t move as quickly as they do on a 30 minute reality show.

One last thing I want to mention…

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D. Lawless Hardware is the bees knees and has offered all HoH readers an additional 10% off your order! Hot dawg! The discount code can be found on their site through this super-special HoH link.

Have fun shopping and saving money.