Make room for.....

So, with TJ going back to school we have decided that our tiny apartment will have to do for a bit. And we have come to terms with it. While we came to terms we decided we wanted to make things feel more adult like, right? Well, what about our kids room? That room was tinier than ever and I knew that if we wanted to de-clutter and try to save space we HAD to do something about their room.

So, we got the idea to do bunk beds. We told Marley, if she slept in her bed for a few weeks without crying or needing us to come in than she would get a 'tower bed' (she is into the Rapunzel phase and she also WOULD NOT sleep in her bed. Like at all. It was always on the couch or in our bed and it was terrible-she went to bed super late and woke up grouchy). She agreed to those terms and we set a good sleeping habit again.

I started to look into bunk beds online. Not just browsing occasionally anymore but looking for the best deal. Truth of the matter is- Bunk beds are not cheap! the cheapest ones I could find were about 400 for the frame alone and not the beds or the sheets. I knew this wasn't going to be cheap but we would need them soon to keep the promise and save space.

I first started looking at prices on mattresses, I wanted to find the best deal I could before I wanted to commit to this bunk bed idea. Twin beds are expensive too! I kept seeing beds that started at 150-300. All for a twin bed! Well, as I was almost to my ends on giving up I looked at RC Wiley again and a bed had just gone on clearance. 59.99 for a firm spring bed-and it felt really nice like it would last many years to come. I had to tell TJ about this and he had a great idea!

TJ's dad was in town helping family with projects and TJ had one day off. He talked to his dad about the possibility of building the bunk beds and what the cost would be. And this way I could get what I wanted. He was all on 'board' about it (sorry, couldn't help myself there) and with wood and all the tools to put into it the total cost would be under 150! We HAD to jump on it!

We went down on a Monday after TJ got out of class, we went to pick out the wood and built a bunk bed! This part was so confusing to me, they talked measurements and how they 'wood' do it (see, there I go again!) and they had lost me. All I said was to point me to the wood they needed and I would pick it out based on the color and splints. I feel like we collected a pretty solid group of wood!

Next was picking a stain. I headed to walmart to find a stain I wanted. This Walmart....had nothing! I was there seriously an hour looking for ANY stain. We had ONE night to get this project done and I knew that the stain was the important part to get done so the oils wouldn't ruin the wood. I called TJ with the news and he told me they were already half way done! They had cut all the pieces and were starting to assemble-crazy fast timing for just barely an hour!

Marley had decided she wanted to play at Grandma Carney's house so I went to pick her up and get headed back to the bunk bed madness. It was getting late (after 7 by this time) and I had to go pick up the mattresses at the will call by the airport. They closed at 9. I knew the guys wouldn't be done yet to make it down there to pick up the beds so I had a little adventure.

I had promised TJ's dad to get him some pizza for all the help and they closed at 9. So did the will call. I was going to go to our pizza place down the street but by the time I got to RC Wiley it was past 8:30. So I found one that was 15 minutes away and had it ordered and ready-I just hoped to be there at or before 9! Having two mattresses topped on your car and not knowing if they would fly away is terrifying. Especially when you have a deadline on where you need to be, driving on a busy freeway with wind. I just prayed those mattresses would stay put and that my car could handle it (haha, I say that like I have a wimpy car- I don't....I am just wimpy and freak out ;) )

Long story short, I made it to the pizza place, grabbed the pizza, made it home without loosing any mattresses, AND made it before the guys got there! So I brought the mattresses in (with help from my dad) and took the kids to pick out sheets for the beds. Mind you this is now 9:30ish and my kids go to bed at 7- so they were NOT too happy about this idea.

We get to Walmart and they had absolutely nothing. Nothing super cute and Marley like. They did have Batman which Corbi loved but the set would have been way more than I wanted to spend. So we came home empty handed. Started the pizza and turned on a show while we waited.

The guys showed up around 11 and we got back to work. Now the bed was not stained or sanded or set yet. We knew we would have to do this but not right at the moment (haha). We put them together and my oh my, they were beautiful! My Dad-in-law is so seriously talented! instead of building a separate ladder he build it in with the head and base boards- so creative! And this way we can still make shelving units on a later day. The kids LOVED them (this word is an understatement). They got to play with Papa for a few minutes and we put them to bed, they were out before we got to the end of the hallway!

This was such an amazing project that we did. I am so glad that TJ and his dad got this cool bonding time to help make the kids their new beds. They love them so so much and play on them all the time. Corbi can't climb down so he just normally sits on the top bunk and yells for me to come get him ;) He loves climbing up bright and early in the morning to wake up our threenager, who in return tries to push him off the bed because she doesn't want to get up.

TJ had to work 10 straight days and we had already planned on the weekend off we would get the beds sanded, stained and set. So to skip all the boring processes, we sanded forever, stained one bed and then went to bed. Saturday we sanded the second bed, then TJ decided it was a great time to get sick. So I was left to staining the second bed and setting them both. This wasn't so bad, it was just repetitious, haha! But hey, the beds are done and back together now!!!

We let the kids pick out their own bedding on what they wanted. Like I mentioned Corbi is in LOVE with Batman. The Batman set was too expensive so I was trying to find an alternative. Both the kids LOVE Star Wars, so I knew we would probably end up getting one set of those.

WE went to Burlington and had a few selections to choose from. Marley picked out Elsa -which was not a huge surprise and she was even happier the blanket was purple (her favorite color). Corbi had a tough pick, it was between star wars and batman and he wanted star wars (we kind of convinced him of that-its nice when you can still do that). But when he got to picking it out he saw a superhero set with iron man and Spider man. (He has a few spider man Jammie's and books that he thinks are pretty cool) So we were there for a few minutes trying to decide which one he wanted. He finally landed back on Star wars and we were on our merry way!

The kids truly are so happy with their new beds and so am I. I love that it is something special we can look at and know that Papa and dad built those, and I helped too. We put so much heart into them and I know they will be with us for a long long time! We ended up putting their dresser in their closet to make a little more space in their tiny room and they just are in heaven!

I am so glad that we did this project instead of buying a set. It gave us some good bonding and special memories but by golly I am so glad it is done and I cannot wait for the poly smell to go away!

 Corbi was SO excited he wanted Papa to help him climb up on the tower bed. Also, the ladder is on both ends!

 Marley and her Elsa bedding she picked out. the blanket is reversible with Elsa on it- she was happy with the purple!

 Corbi has now tried to sleep with Marley a few times because he loves being up on the top. But I am not new to this mom gig, I know they would never sleep!

 Corbi's cool Star Wars bedding

 Once again, Corbi LOVEs being up on top and will just snuggle into the covers and wait for Marley

This is the whole thing. Not completed with the stain job yet but it still looks SO good!

 I know it is hard to see and tell but this is the 'before' stain

And this is the after sanding and the stain.

I should take a final photo with this all done and completed...my kids are asleep and I don't want to risk waking them for a picture of the done done project. (Yeah, I know I am lazy too ;) )

Anyways, I think we are good and done with this 'project bug' for a bit. Though we still have our dresser to do so I hope I can catch it again before I get another 'bug' that will prevent me from doing the dresser project. (huge run-on sentence but, whateve.)

Any who, that's all! Goodnight!

Patience

So it has been some time since I have even thought about blogging, so I figured I would catch up on it. So where did I leave off? Oh that is right, Corbett's birth story. So.....he is almost 2! Hahaha! Crazy it has been that long and he is getting that big!

The kids are doing great, learning and growing and driving each other bonkers each day. They love to play outside and run around like crazy kidlets. they also enjoy seeing who can make the biggest mess in the house; to me its all a tie ;) Marley is 3 turning 13 (we call her our threenager because its all drama queen and tantrums-haha) She does say funny things on the daily and I try to remember all the funny things. The hardest part is disciplining her while she says something funny-keeping a straight face is a new game for me and I still cant win! Corbi is our little short guy. He looks like he is the size of a 12 month old but is so crazy adventurous! He loves to jump and fall off things (we are so lucky he has no broken bones!!!-*knock on wood*) He is starting to talk so much now, he is learning new words every minute. My favorite is when he calls for Marley. He really loves his big sister :)

 Our Sunday walks on our nature walk way by our house. The kids love the go play in the water and throw rocks. They have such an amazing dad who loves to play with them!

 Playing in our Utah down-pour. Splashing in puddles that were bigger than them. They loved it!

 Enjoying outside in the sun. But seriously, this kid gets herself dressed and the things she puts together.

 This girl LOVES Darth Vader. She had a Vader birthday party and got this outfit. Its great because she pairs it with high heels and a purse.

 Overalls are so stinking cute and without shirts...how could I resist!

 Handsome boy crashed after church. Thanks 9AM!

 I love this kid. He is getting better at letting me take pictures of him. McKenzies mom was able to get this one and he was such a ham!

They love going on "neighborhood" walks and their babies. They are obsessed with babies right now. Thanks Daniel Tiger. 

I took this past year to work on me. I started a weight loss journey to feel better about myself. I was focused this time on being more confident in myself. I was in a pretty low place and not happy. PPD hit and I just wanted to feel better about me. I put on so much weight after having two babies back-to-back and nursing that I wanted at least a year that was dedicated to me. So that is what I did. I started working out daily and eating better and watching my portions. It took some time but I finally got to a point that I was happy weight wise. I lost over 40 pounds! But even better is I gained so much confidence in myself. I cut off weight and majority of my hair. I went for the spunky fun mom that I wanted to be. I also got to the point of wearing pants all the time and I hardly ever stay in yoga pants. I just feel so good about myself right now, so its a really good feeling! I have since felt good enough to stop taking meds for PPD and sometimes its still a struggle but I just remember to work on myself and it seems to help. I always try to find time in the day for me. And I look forward to it when I am having a rough spot. It also rocks because my kids love to work out with me- it is super cute watching them participate and just want to spend time with me!

 Like I said, I cut my hair. And I am wearing PURPLE lipstick. I got real spunk. 

This was me in January, March(?), April (?),  And August

TJ has had a life change! haha, his story is way cooler than any of us. He has started going to school again and decided to do a job change as well that would work better for going to school. So he goes to school Monday-Thursday and works those days as well. He is going to school and work full time and still be a dad as well. We are just starting this journey but I am so proud of him and his hard work and dedication to our family!!!

Okay, so here is the main part of this blog post. With the news of school and work out of the way, we have decided we are going to be staying in our tiny two bedroom apartment for awhile (probably the duration of school). So we decided since we cant move and get more space, we would make the most of it! We did a 'grown-up' remodel of our place so we felt more at home and not like our place was taken over by toddlers!

We got new shelvings that have cubbies to hide all the toys and extra stuff that was laying around. Our living room actually looks more open and such. Next step is to take new family pictures for the fall and put them up on our wall.

Next was our room. We wanted to change things up so we could have more room for a computer desk so TJ could do his homework in a quiet space that wasn't taken over by children. So we did a little remodel but that is for another day. THat project is still not complete. (Sorry El, more patience)

Okay, so now what the moment I have been waiting for. I have been wanting a new table SO badly!!!! If you know me, you know I HATE the table we have right now. I hated the chairs, I hated the added drawings on the table. I just HATE the table and have wanted a new one since forever. Well, I was trying to think of ways we could get one with our budget. Nothing I liked was in our range! (go figure) So I did the next best thing. I took matters in to my own hands and I decided to redo our chairs.
Yup, you heard right. I decided to suck it up and use what I had. SO now I am going to walk through the how-to process. This took about two days and it was not all that hard, but our hands sure hurt from all the hard work!

I hated the covers we had. They were hard to clean and just looked awful! (the colors blended in with the floor so it was just gross). I was thinking of what I could use that would be easy to clean and still look nice. Then I remembered my wonderful mom LOVES to buy lots of fabric. LOTS. So I went scrimmaging in the forest of bins of fabric! I found 6 pieces I thought would look nice and brought them home for TJ to see. He aprroved so we got to work. So far I have spent 0$ on our project. Winning!

Now the next step. I knew that the thin fabric would not approve of a chair, we needed something to be strong and durable, easy to clean with having two little ones that make messes easily. I looked up clear vinyl. As silly as it looks, I was looking more for practicality. Like I said, two young messy toddlers and I like clean.
I googled prices for vinyl and the cheapest I could find was at Jo-Anns for 4.99 a yard. I had NO idea how much that would cover, and I needed to cover 6 chairs. So I did some thinking while at home Depot picking up staples. What about a shower curtian? It is clear and vinyl, and its big enough to cover at least 4 chairs! So we tested it out, and by golly it worked!!!!! Guys, I spent less than 9 bucks on vinyl going the shower curtian route than picking some out at Jo-Anns. (I am guessing I would have needed about 3-4 yards. that could have easily been 20$)

Anyways, we got to work removing staples from the chairs from the previous remodel job (this was tough work and our hands are still sore). Then we put the fabric over the chair and the vinyl on top of that. Then for the bottom we added a different color to give it more fun!

We ended up hair-drying the chair to shrink the extra vinyl down, so that was a......fun.....process. I felt my dryer was going to quit on me!

But in all the days work I find this a success story and really like how they turned out. Our next project is to stain the table and possibly the chairs but again, a project for another day. I do have a few more projects for the Fall season so be on the watch out!

Pictures of our project!

 *shudder* hideous chair cover. You can kind of see the floor matching the chairs.

 My kids know how to make a mess of anything! markers, food, I think blood too, maybe? Its a gamble. 

 This was the 'fun' process of removing a gazillion staples from each chair. Seriously, the people before us used so many staples to make sure they didn't budge.

 Tada!!!!! one chair down (purple is Marleys fav color so she gets the purple chair. The long process of drying the vinyl to shrink. *LOOOONNNNNGGGG*

 Hidden pop of color on the bottom to cover the bottom piece of wood

 And the final product!! I used all matching designs just in different shades (Thanks to my mom for her quilting days and getting matching fabrics in all sorts of colors)



Okay guys, that is it! All in all I spent 9 bucks on  shower curtian vinyl and 3 bucks on staples. The next step is to stain so if anyone has helpful tips on staining a table.....I am dreading that already because I have little patience to get little details and have it not show.  Help a sista out!!!