Hall Desk Redo

In July, I decided it was time to get the guys to finish painting the hall trim by completing the little hall secretary, I think that is what they used to be called. I call it a desk. I use it for my Mary Kay products and business supplies. It was painted as a changing table area several years ago but I don't do babies in my preschool anymore so I stopped using it for that and it because a junk cabinet. 

It WAS painted blue and pink. Then it got painted the color of the hall. We kept the color of the hall but wanted to do black trim since it looked so good in our bedroom. I love how it turned out. I am very pleased. I can't wait to see how the kitchen cabinets turn out!

This is just a simple paint job. Black paint. Doesn't take a lot of money or a lot of time to make things look better. I love how the hall looks. I do need to get some kind of liner for the shelves to keep things from sticking. Also, the desk has an issue with paper trying to stick to it. Maybe I can get some of that stuff that you paint a clear coat on and it makes a hard surface. 

Until next time...blessings to you. 

DIY Fence Easels

If you are a teacher, homeschool mom, or home daycare provider you might be like me and get catalogs from school supply companies. I love those books. I look through them and day-dream about what I could get for my kids. One of the things that has always caught my eye was the fence easels. But those things are around $80 for ONE. And I mean one easel per kid. There was no way I could allow myself to spend that kind of money on it. 

I have been doing a lot of thinking since re-opening my home kidcare/preschool about what I could do with the back yard to make it more fun. I have been "window" shopping again online and in books. I found those easels again and my longing to have them increased. But as I looked them over I began to think in a whole new direction...

I can make those, or more precisely, my husband can help me make those. I printed out pictures of what I wanted, one of the single and one of the double just to see what we might need. I put the measurements on the paper so we could estimate how big they should be. Then off to Home*Depot we went.  

First thing we needed to look for was the backing to use for the boards. We were intending to make double easels. We found a large sheet of white panel board. John measured it and figured we could cut the board into four equal pieces and they would be long enough for three children to use per sheet. We asked the man that worked there to cut it. He was thrilled to do it. He actually ended up helping us come up with the things to hold it to the fence instead of having to make holes and finding hooks that would work. He found us large green clamps to put on each end and one in the middle. Plus right next to those were the small ones to hang the paper with. I was thrilled, they matched. 

We are able to use small sheets of paper or the larger ones. I have been so blessed because friends have saved used paper for me and we use the side that hasn't been used. This is one way we help save the resources God provides, our own way of recycling paper. 

We looked all over the place for something to use that would hold the paint while the children painted and had a really hard time. I had purchased these wire racks at Dollar*Tree a few years ago and thought we might be able to make them work. My husband was able to make it so easily. And they lift right off when it is time to bring everything inside.  

I found the Melissa & Doug Easel Accessory Set through Amazon* for under $27/each. They come with the four buckets for paint, four brushes, four bottles of paint, chalk pencil set (can be used on paper, or sidewalk, or chalk board), a large roll of drawing/paint paper, one dry erase marker and a dry erase eraser. I need to get more dry erase markers and will have to replace the paint as we use it. I purchased one for each easel. I got some cheap Artist Aprons to use until I can replace them with better quality. 

The shorter fence is perfect for younger children. The older children use the higher fence. These store very easily, too. They aren't bulky because the racks come off and stack on top of each other. The boards are stored standing up against the wall. I keep the clamps in a bag. My paints are stored on a shelf in the garage with other art supplies and outside toys. 

The kids love dry erase boards so this works out GREAT. No marker stink INSIDE the house and they get to have fun. They can draw pictures or even play Hangman, which is something the older kids love to do. 

Here is our supply list:

1-Thrifty White Panel Board (cut into 4 equal parts) $11.97

12-2"Spring Clamp Metal Heavy Duty (3 per board) $11.88

24-Mini Spring Clamp (6 per board, 2 per child) $8.88

4 wire baskets (1 per board) $4.00

Nuts and Bolts to attach the baskets with (he had them already)

Cost to make four easels for up to 12 children to use $36.73 plus tax (I saved myself OVER $900)

Here is another quick project I did. I took a oil pan and used Command Strips to stick it to my front door. We can use any magnets we want on the board. They make numbers and letters and even animals. We will be using this board for a lot of different projects with the kids.

The board itself I found at a auto supply store for $10. I had the Command Strips already. You can use Velcro strips if you have them. I just used what was available and I knew would work. 

Most magnetic boards that big are well over $25, if not closer to $40. So I saved quite a bit on that project, too. There are no sharp edges on it so it is totally safe for children to use. I got this idea (minus the way I hung it) from that great pin board! 

Until next time...blessings to you.

Preschool Room Redo - Wall Border Removal

I haven't posted this information on here yet but I am re-opening my Kid Care & Preschool as soon as I get the preschool room fixed up. I am really excited about it. The kids are excited, too. They were not happy when I closed it a year and a half ago. 

The first thing we are doing is painting the room. Before we can do that I had to take down the wall border that ran across the top of the room. Eleven years ago when I bought that wall border I loved it! Mostly, I just wanted something other than white walls and I was going for a very floral look to match some pictures I had gotten from Home Interior. But as we changed this room into a playroom for my business it just didn't look right anymore. Yet I didn't feel like I could change it at the time. Now that we are in a transition from being closed to opening back up this is the perfect time to get things fixed up. (We painted the walls pink to match the flowers. This year we started to paint the walls white but leave the border but it just didn't look good so we stopped at this one wall.)

At first John wanted to just paint over the border because he thought it was going to be really hard to take down. I did a search on painting over wall border and found out that is a HUGE no-no. I also found out some simple ways to take the border OFF! 

Step One: Pull the border off the wall. I tried to get it in as large a piece as I could as I pulled it off. Most of it came off just fine in one big strip but other places it tore in strips and I had to work a little harder to get it off. The yellow you see under the border is the glue.

Step Two: Spray the paper/glue with either Windex or warm water. Both work, in fact, I used both. Coat the area and let it sit there for a couple of minutes. Use a sponge to keep the water from running down your wall. You can also use it to pat the water into the paper to help it soak it up. The more water that soaks into it, the easier it comes off. If you start to scrap it and it doesn't come off easily, spray more water on it and let it sit for another minute. Waiting those few minutes make it easier.

Step Three: Use a scraper to peel the paper off in long or short strips. I used my scraper that came with my cooking stones. Those things come in handy in many areas of do it yourself projects. If you have the paper good and soaked, it should come off in long strips. If there is any leftover glue on the wall, spray the wall with the Windex and use your sponge to get it off. You have to make sure there isn't any left on the wall or when you paint it there will be problems. 

And that is how you remove wall border without buying other products that might or might not cost a lot of money. I did this on Monday afternoon. My daughter helped me by picking up all the border that I scraped off the wall and vacuuming the rest. I am so excited to get to the painting part AFTER John finishes patching and texturing the parts of the wall that need it. 

Until next time...blessings to you.

My "Professional Haircutting at home" Adventures

In May when I went to the Home School Book Fair in Arlington, I found a booth that wasn't there the year before. A home school mom of 8 who is also a professional hairdresser. She put this video together to teach how to do a professional precision haircut. It has 8 basic haircuts for men, women and children. The video is called Professional Haircutting at home: A Complete In-Home Course on Haircutting. 

I had all the supplies gathered up to do it, even professional sheers but I waited. I had many excuses but the real reason I didn't try it was fear of messing up. Finally, John said, "when are you going to cut my hair? I need a haircut." I wanted to start on Jennifer because her haircut is the easiest. So last weekend I cut Jennifer's hair. It turned out alright. I just cut about two inches off. She has a "all one length" haircut. Then next was my husband. I watched the two men's videos and then set out to do his hair. The neat thing is I have the TV on and I am watching the video as I cut and pause it when I need to. It took awhile to do his hair but the instructor took her time, too. I didn't take pictures of his before and after but it turned out pretty good, for a first time. And he didn't make fun of me or get mad at me, so it couldn't be THAT bad. 

I didn't use a round brush to curl her hair under when I dried it so some went up and some went down. In another week I will do a small trim to make sure I get the ends better. They are just a little off, I think. With practice I think I can get it right. That is the idea, anyway. Jennifer wants to know when she can do mine!

Jonathan is NOT going to let me do his hair because there isn't a video of HIS haircut, he says. He is right. There isn't. So for now, he will still get his hair done by our good friend, Cathy.

That was the big project for the weekend AND our latest attempt at saving money wherever we are able to cut corners (no pun intended) and do it ourselves. 

Until next time...Blessings to you!