Our Home

I've neglected to post these pictures, because I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for everything to be "perfect." Now, nearly 5 months after we've moved in I've figured out that it'll never be perfect. What's the fun in never getting to change things up, anyway? So, here's our home. :)

Family Room

Zoe refused to leave! ha.

I made the curtains from material given to me by a friend.

Zoe again, and her "place" (blanket on the floor).
 IKEA bookshelves that we love. A fraction of Daniel's collection. :)

planning to recover that chair - not a huge fan of animal print.

tons of light in this room. It's a beautiful place to sit all times of the day.

Our Room:

unfinished beg skirt. :)

bunting from dictionary pages, mirror I found in the trash and repainted

IKEA bed we bought for our 2 year anniversary

Bathrooms: (nothing too exciting)

"The Man Cave"

I only took one picture, but what isn't pictured here are the two other walls
that are wall-to-wall of mismatched bookshelves, the desk and a craft/storage closet.

Laundry Room:

SO nice to have one of these!!

Kitchen:

love the yellow and the sunshine

lots of counter space

my grandmother's curio cabinet

Have plans to refinish this and recover the chairs. So excited!

Alternative to junk drawers: junk baskets. lol.

We also have a back deck and a front porch. We have plans to get some furniture and make those a little homier. Once we do that, I'll show pictures.

What about Ralphie's room? Well, that, my friends, gets a post of its own... as soon as I finish the final touches.

Cheers!

DIY: Wipe Solution

Hello friends!

Did you know we're cloth diaper fanatics around here?

Well, we are.

And along with cloth diapers come cloth wipes.

The post about all the pros of cloth diapering is soon-to-come but in the meantime, here's this sweet-smelling, easy to make, healthy-to-boot, wipe solution to clean your baby's bum.

Can I say you don't even have to use it for diapering. It has all the essentials for a hand sanitizer, or just a clean spray to wipe down Baby's face after a hot day. I love it.

5 ingredients:

2 cups water

1/8 cup baby wash of your choice

1/8 cup coconut oil

8 drops lavender oil

4 drops tea tree oil

Shake. Spray. Smile.

So, why these ingredients, you're wondering, right?

Tea tree oil is antibacterial, antiviral, anti fungal and antiseptic. Used alone, though, it is very harsh on the skin - great for zits, bad for babies. Adding water and oil help to calm the harshness. 

In addition, the water rinses, and the oil smooths. Coconut oil has hundreds of uses (here are just a few), but for this solution it works as an excellent moisturizer, and also has all the anti-germ properties of tea tree oil. 

The soap cleanses, washing away the traces of germs. 

And the lavender... well, that just smells soooo niiiice. 

Total Cost? So cheap I didn't even bother doing the math. 

Mama's Lil Helper

Cutest. Face. Ever.

Ralphie helps me make the bed most mornings.

 See that ridiculous grin on his face? That means he likes it.

Chubby-wubby!

Daddy's mouth and chin

O, them eyes. They just kill me.

Our Home: Family Room [in progress]

It's taken me long enough to get pictures of the new house up... Confession: I was trying to wait until everything was perfect. I have since realized that with limited dollars and time there is only so much one can do, so I've decided to post as-is pictures. In six months time, maybe I'll have all my projects "done" and can repost new pictures???

Our new house is cute. That's how I like to think about it. The owners painted the rooms cottage-ish colors, and all the open windows bring in so much light. I love those windows. I also love the wide, white crown molding/baseboards around the ceilings, windows and floors.

When you walk in our front door, this is what you see:

From the four corners of the room you get this:

We put our IKEA shelves with the "prettiest" of Daniel's our book collection on them. They've been great conversation starters... :)

The beautiful fireplace mantel... I hope to print some canvases to hang above, but for now, I really like it.

As I polish off this room, here is some inspiration I'm keeping in mind:

These palettes: greens, navy, tan, whites and grey.

Eventually, I'd love to create these no-sew roman shades with a fabric similar to what's below. 

We're also looking for a cute (I'm thinking white) coffee table, and some end tables. I'd love if they have room for storage, to help keep things organized and off of the floor. (EDIT: And a big shag rug for that floor)

So, we'll see how it all comes together over the next several months! Setting up house is fun... I seem to get things settle just in time for us to move to the next one. :-P

All Natural Laundry Detergent

After some experimenting with a liquid recipe, and several months on regular Arm and Hammer laundry detergent, I was ready to give a powder laundry detergent recipe a try.

After several months of using our liquid laundry detergent, Daniel and I were shocked to find that the first two weeks we used the store bought kind our skin was red and itchy! Nasty chemicals.

I wasn't crazy about the liquid recipe I used though. I didn't feel like my clothes were fresh enough, and never felt like I got the detergent to gel just as it was supposed to. And it didn't lift stains hardly at all.

We'll be cloth diapering our little one, so I've been on the look out for something gentle enough to use for Baby, but powerful enough to wash our clothes, and towels with.

I really, really think I've found it. Of course I won't know how well it works with mustard colored dirty diapers for another month or so, but if towels and very dirty clothes are any scale to judge by, I'd say this stuff is AWESOME. Not only did it clean my clothes superbly, the clothes that I laid out to dry that usually end up stiff and uncomfortable were dryer-soft!

1 bar Dr. Bonner's soap  - your choice of scent. I used lavender. (about 4 bucks)

1 cup washing soda (about 70 cents)

1cup Borax (about 70 cents)

1/4 cup Eco-store pure oxygen whitener (about 91 cents)
(oxyclean works, I've heard, but then you're getting into those nasty chemicals again...)

I went ahead and bought the Eco store whitener, because oxy clean just smelled too chemically. I love the Eco stuff already. I'm very impressed with it. It was about the same price per ounce as OxyClean, too, so I felt like it was well worth it.

Directions:

Grate the bar of soap - 

Blend all the ingredients together:

Add to a jar for storage:

Use 1 Tablespoon for a light-normal load, and 2 Tablespoons for a heavy load.

Enjoy fresh, clean laundry without chemicals, phosphates, dyes, perfumes or chlorine.


And at a fraction of the cost. Did you do the math when you read the recipe? A batch of this detergent makes about 60 loads and costs roughly  $6. 


Yeah, you heard me. Six. Bucks.


And if you buy the Dr. Bonner's on sale, or at Vitacost it might even cost you a little less.


I've already decided next time I make it to triple the recipe!

Our Bedroom - Progress complete?

I love picking things up as I find them at thrift stores and on clearance shelves. Consequently, our home decor is a continual work in progress. Someday, when we have our house o' dreams I hope things can be more permanent. But that's not the stage of life we're in right now, so I'll enjoy my occasional thrift finds and bargain hunts. :)

So that the clutter doesn't accumulate, and the spending doesn't get out of hand, I try to keep mental lists of rooms and areas I would like to update, of certain items I'd like, and/ or projects that I'd like to do if ever the right supplies come along.

For about 6 months now several of the things on my list were a good collection of pretty silk flowers, white vases and baskets, and white frames to decorate the IKEA bookshelves we bought back in September.

I'm very pleased with the way it all came together, and thankful that between a $50 IKEA coupon and some great snags at thrift stores I spent about $40 (curtains and rod included) on everything! Coolio, huh? :) 

linen curtains on clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond 

Frame $3.99 at Goodwill - Added lace that I already had

Flower bouquet from Salvation Army. I loved that it doesn't look ridiculously fake. $3.99

Vase @ Sal-Val for $3 - added silk flowers and dragonfly, also from Sal-Val for < $2

silk flowers, wooden vase, basket, picket fence box - various thrift stores

The complete works of Victor Hugo - booksale years ago for $1 a book -
 bird house left over from wedding decor - silk flowers from sal-val

Free frames from IKEA!

pretty books, thrifted frame, handmade clock from an elder at church, old family Bibles
 and a boring bottom shelf I'm still working on.

When I asked Daniel what he thought, he smiled and said he liked it. "It feels like I'm in a garden."

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