Growing skills in parenting and organizing.
This post was sponsored by Window Covering Safety Council as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
I’ll admit that I had never thought that I needed to baby proof our windows when we had our kids. If you are like me, we didn’t start baby proofing until our kids started rolling and pulling up on things. Then all of a sudden it became urgent to make everything baby-friendly.
Having the diaper station all organized and ready is one of the final steps to preparing the nursery for a new baby. All the diapers lined up and little sleepers ready to keep your little one all comfortable and sweet.
Your diaper changing station is command central for all your baby essentials. It not only has to be pretty but needs to be functional too. Pretty quickly you find out that keeping the diapers in a drawer just doesn’t work when you have a diaper blow out or a little boy who has decided the cool air when opening his diaper has made him need to “go” now. Everything needs to be accessed with one hand.
Walking into a newly built home always brings house envy to me. The fresh smell and new fixtures makes me realize that our house needs some updating. It is the little things in a house that makes it feel new or out of date. The few things I always feel makes a home feel new are door hardware, lighting and fresh carpet.
About 6 months ago we replaced our rug in our living room. It helped to freshen up the space but I was ready to get to step 2 immediately…replace the door knobs.
A few months ago, I upgraded my little girls room from toddler bed to regular bed. The colors had to be just so, I was being very picky. I scoured the internet and stores for just the right bedding. My list grew of favorite girl comforters under $70 and wanted to share them with you.
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My daughter Britton is 4 years old and just recently made over her room into a little girl’s pink and blue bedroom. The first thing we did was upgrade her to a big kid bed. Yes, we kept her in a toddler bed just a wee-bit too long. 😉 I am a firm believer in lots of sleep for kids therefore I stick with what’s working. My kids stayed in cribs until they were 3 and I kept her in a toddler bed until 4 1/2.
When I finally decided to make over her room, my only caveat was that I had to keep the blue rocking chair in her room. She really likes girly colors so I had to scour the stores and internet to find a girly comforter that made the blue chair work in the room.
We were recently at a party at a friends newly constructed home and my husband was so excited to see these outlets. He wanted one in our house too and went straight to Lowe’s the next day. It is such an awesome thing to have with all the power cords we need for our iPads and iPhones. I am going to have him give you some tips on how to update your outlets to USB ports too. Here is Matt, my awesome and super handy husband….
There are multiple options when it comes to selecting an outlet with USB ports. We went with the one pictured, one normal plug and 2 USB ports. The Best of Both Worlds if you ask me.
Make sure you turn off the power at the breaker before starting to remove the original outlet. You can do this a few different ways, I use a volt meter as seen in the picture below. Another easy way to do it by yourself is to use a clock radio. Plug it is and turn it on with the volume up sort of loud. You need to be able to hear it when you are at your breaker box. Most of the time your breakers are not well marked when it comes to wall outlets, so it becomes a trial and error to find the correct breaker. This can mean a lot of running back and forth if you are by yourself. This little trick will save you a lot of trips to the breaker box. When you don’t hear the music, you found the correct breaker. It is now safe to go to work.
The only thing to remember is that when you buy the new outlet, you will probably need a new wall plate too. As can be seen in the pictures above, the wall plates are different. The old one just had cutouts for the outlets themselves and the new one is a rectangular cutout.
Thanks Matt, I need to have him become a regular on my blog. He is not afraid to get into things and try to fix or build it himself. An awesome skill that I wish I had, he will tinker with things by himself to try and figure it out first before asking for help while I am just the opposite. I scream for help at the first little frustration. Can you say no patience? Ha Ha.
And now our home is up to 2015 technology, well at least one of our outlets.
Our Christmas tree is up and beautiful. We have a new 12 foot tree and I love looking up at it. One problem that is highlighted by this tall tree is our ceiling fan. I would love to replace it with a chandelier. After having 8 years of kids in this house, it is time for some replacing and changing of several items in our family room.
After looking online, I have found several options. I need a big pendant light that has a lot of light bulbs. It also needs to be large enough to fit in with the two story ceiling. It can get dark in this room so I need to brighten it up. Whenever my father comes to visit he constantly talks about how dark it is in here and that I need more overhead lighting and lamps. I also want to change my family room to a more coastal feel. So here are my favorites.
This would fit the bill. I just went thru some pendant lights at ParrotUncle.com. They have great affordable options for large pendants and chandeliers. I love the antique wood and metal finish. It looks like a substantial light that would fit the space.
I also need a floor lamp. I put away all our lamps when we had twin toddler boys. They would climb everything and I was worried they would knock them over. 🙂 I am hoping at almost 8 years old I can trust them not to climb on the tables. I need something by our chair so I can actually read or work in comfort. Working at the kitchen table is getting old and I would love to have another option to sit but it is too dark to even read a magazine sometimes.
These wooden floor lamps are definitely the vibe I am going for, coastal and modern.
There are several that I would love to add to my room. I am a terrible decision maker, it took me 6 months to decide on a new rug. I’ll do a rug update in the next few weeks too. Luckily I remembered to do some before shots and would love to do a before and after post on my room changes once I get it completed. I am taking down the red curtains and going to change them to a blue-green color. I think it will really brighten up the space as well as some more lighting.
Are you thinking what I am thinking? That Santa needs to bring me a chandelier/pendant light to replace the ceiling fan. Happy Holidays!
This year is the first year I have hung anything on my front door. As my kids have gotten a little older, I have started working to make my front porch pretty. First I added flowers, then this past summer I attended a painting party at a friends house where you paint a front door decoration. Next thing I knew I was buying a hook for over the door and my door really looked great….
Until…..
Dreaded scratches in the paint!
