Creative Curtains

Try using creative ways to bring more soft touches to your home. Old table clothes and bed linens can be transformed into curtains and room dividers with a few simple tools. Tension rods and curtain clips might be all you need to turn an infrequently used linen into a bit of personality in your room.

A white matelasse coverlet is used with curtain clips through a metal shower tension rod as a room divider between the bathroom and bedroom hallway.

This is table cloth folded almost in half over a white tension rod in a bathroom window.

Dress Up Your Lamp Shade!

Home Depot lamp shade, Home Goods lamp, and POM POM FRINGE! Using a hot glue gun I adhered pink pom pom fringe to my home depot lamp shade. It's a fun pop of color in my daughter's room and she loves it!

Morning and Evening Routine Chart part 2

So its the night before the first day of orientation week at school and I finally finished our morning routine chart. Unable to leave well enough alone I spent far too long today revising and adding to the charts' pictures which are available here. We now have an evening routine chart as well. Both are hanging in acrylic magnet frames on the kids' bathroom wall. I wonder if it would be better if the pictures were in a complete vertical line. Perhaps it would be good if I had one for each kid and they could cover the picture with a magnet as they completed the task, however I have a feeling that in my family this would be a huge distraction. 


 I have a miniature version of the charts hanging on our communication center in the kitchen as well. Hopefully this will help my kids stay on task. Nothing is officially glued down so that I can change it as needed.

Morning and Evening Routine Chart part 1

With 22 tardies last year and only one kid to get out the door, the thought of two kids and a start time of half an hour earlier has made me re-think the efficiency of our morning routine. Last year our mornings started with my wake- up time as late as possible at 7:40. My husband would then lay in bed for even longer, but claiming that "I'm up, I'm just not out of bed." I would get up and find my son, usually in his pajamas, with a freshly started art project on the floor of my office. Quick to the kitchen to get him some cereal, make his lunch, make my husbands lunch and get the coffee pressing. By 8:20 I'm usually shouting out commands to get teeth brushed, and socks and shoes. My son would be totally ready minus the socks, I'd send him into his room to put them on and five minutes later I would find him sitting in his closet with his pants off, mindlessly staring off into space.

This year I hope for less chaos, less yelling, and for my kids to have more responsibility in preparing themselves for the day. I can at least hope right?

The kids and I sat down and made a list of all that needs to be done in the mornings.

Next I drew quick pictures of each item on our list. My plan now, after scanning them, is to print them off and have the kids color them. I'm going to post them in their bathroom on one wall, with a similar picture list of our evening routine on the opposite wall. We'll see how this works and if it will help keep the kids focused and aid in their time management skills. Meanwhile I'm also working on developing a chore chart.