Doll Stroller Makeover



This little doll stroller was a gift from one of J's aunts. Kind of a funny story. We were visiting them over night a while back. The next morning Aunt J came in from her run and said "a woman was sellling this at a garage sale for $2 bucks. I happen to have a couple of bucks on me and I knew J would love this." I could just picture her running back with this little stoller in hand.
So here is my garage sale and much loved before and after doll stroller.



Before



After





Meal Planning

I'm trying to get organized while I wait for our little ones to arrive. One of the areas I've been working on has been meal planning and cutting cost at the grocery store. Here is what I've come up with to date.

 

 

 

Our Paint Colors

 

 

Front Door Update...

BEFORE

AFTER

Dining Set

I hope to have this table and chair set refinished.

 

 

To match this

 

 

Spring Wreath

Happy Spring! I am ready. I love spring, it's my favorite season. The trees and the grass begin to get their color back, the weather is just right. So in the spirit of spring I put up a new spring wreath today. I use the same plain grapevine wreath over and over again and just add new flowers as I please. I try not to hot glue so that I can save some money and save a trip to the store. I keep a pretty good selection of fake/silk/dried flowers and such around the house and garage. I can change my mind as many times and I want. And that happens a lot. You'll soon discover I reuse and rarely have to buy anything from the store, although I can't say that never happens. I was inspired by this wreath. I had a letter on my wall (that I was unsure about anyway) so I took it down and added it to my new spring wreath.

Here are the specifics:

14" (about) grapevine wreath

2 long/tall flower stems (I don't know what the name is)

4 smaller bunches of wildflower/daisies

vintage looking buttons (can you see them?)

green ribbon

4" gold letter A from Hobby Lobby

Floral wire

UPDATE: Just gave the door a mini-makeover. See that awful door knob and numbers? They match now! Pictures to come.

New Magnetic Board

I went to IKEA the other day...dream....I love that place. I forgot to bring a list (bad idea) but I came across this magnetic board and I remembered a simple idea that I had a while back. We have a stainless steal refridgerator and they are not magnetic. I have always wanted to provide my kids with a place to play with magnetic letters and numbers, so I thought I'd add one somewhere in my house. I finally took the trip (4 hours) to IKEA and bought this great magnetic board. I odered these letters from amazon.com. Now I'm just waiting for them to come in. Yeah! So excited that I get to she gets to play with them!

To be safe I replaced the outlet with an outlet cover.

The item in the top right corner is the magnetic board in white.

Ran into a snag. The wall is bowed.

What shall I do?

I found these in my misc hardware drawer and thought I'd give them a try.
They are these 1 inch round spongy black washers. They work like a charm. I just placed them between the screws and the wall and it made up for the space on either end of the board.

All up and ready for the fun letters. I just hung up some random large magnets that I had.

She'll figure it out.
(Sorry for the terrible picture. Playing in action)

Play Kitchen Renovation

I looked high and low for a re-painted play kitchen and I only found this one. I was so excited to see that someone had actually acomplished this. My sister is so awesome. For Christmas she gave my little girl all of her kids play kitchen stuff including......read in a "Price Is Right" voice.....

A Brand New New To You Play Kitchen!

I don't have a good before picture, but I found this picture.

BEFORE

The only difference is our kitchen had a maroon counter top, which was the main reason for all this change to begin with. The maroon was bothering me. Call me crazy, and I'm sure if you are interested in reading this you might agree, but I don't know anyone who has a maroon countertop. I don't, so I thought it would be fun to calm down the design of this kitchen and make it look more like Mommy's kitchen.

First I took the whole thing apart. It only had a few screws in it. It came apart in 5 pieces. The two top sides, the "window", the countertop, and the base. Next I tested out the paint on the countertop. I actually had Krylon Fusion spray paint in a cream color already on a shelf in my garage. I was thrilled that I didn't have to go anywhere or buy anything to do this project. In testing I found that I had to sand the surface for it to stick. Once I sanded and wipe down the whole countertop, I sprayed. And I sprayed. And I sprayed. It took quite a few coats. After all was done I finished it off with a coat of heavy duty semi-gloss spray poly. Next I took off all the "decorative" stickers (and even added one that was missing) and added a new backsplash, some left over faux tin tile from a project that never happened. And here is the finished almost done product. I LOVE IT!!!!! I just have to figure out what to do with the "window". I may just add a new window picture or make it into a "chalkboard".

 

AFTER (sort of)

Food Baby!

Strawberries and Blueberries on the bottom, Apple on top. Yum! She loved it.