A Dress Fit For a Tween

My twins have a little bin in their room that's stuffed to the brim of clothes that need to be altered to fit them (and so does their mom).  *eye roll*  We find something at a thrift store or somewhere that's super cute but too big and we toss it in, again, again, and again.  But time eludes us, giving priority to school and sports...you probably know how it goes.

This weekend though, Phia and I found a minute (or 15) to grab something out of that bin to refashion.  It's a dress my sister sent me during a closet purge that the girls love but that is obviously too big for them right now.

Obviously...

How to "Hide" an Electrical Outlet | DIY

Hey!  Hello!  Guten Tag!  

It's been a minute.

We are getting nicely settled into the new normal that having a baby brings about and, while I can't say each day is highly organized and all of the gears shift together, I can say that...well, organization is for the birds at this point and I'm not even sure all the gears are here.  Hahahaha...hahaha...ha...like I said, new normal. 

This new normal has allowed for some quick and easy projects (emphasis on quick and easy) and one of those involves painting baseboards. You might remember that we laid new floors last Thanksgiving.  They're still awesome and we still love them but we don't love the baseboards above them that we just haven't gotten around to painting...until last week, when I started the process in the dining room. 

 

I'm slightly ashamed of how long they've been the yellowy-beige color (we bought the house with them this color) but really only slightly.  Baseboards aren't one of those things you first notice when walking into a home and so I guess I've really relied on that fact...or at least lied to myself and gotten away with it.  ;)

Either way, the dining room baseboards finally look fresh in Pure White by Sherwin-Williams and match the ceilings and crown moulding.  Side note:  If I could go back in time, I would have planned to paint them to match the wall color.  I've felt myself drifting towards painting all trim to match the wall color lately but I pre-painted the base shoe moulding before we installed it after the flooring went in and I really don't like spending time painting trim (it's the worst) so I'm not going to go back and repaint everything.  Maybe some other day in the far future.  What do you think?  Are you team moulding is all the same color, different from the wall color or paint them both to match?  Maybe it depends on the room...

While I was painting the baseboards though, my eyes crash-slammed into the electrical outlets in the room.  

Hi!...atus

Welp, I didn't mean to be away so long from our online home away from home but here we are, already about to jump right into MAY!  

You might know the reason for this little hiatus if you're an Insta follower but if not, here HE is...

Faustin Anthony - a big surprise in the first place and already boasting two months of extrauterine experience in this thing we call life.  While it was possible to do big things like help lay new floors and paint stuff while he was safe inside my bell, outside of it has made anything like that relatively impossible.  We've literally been just surviving and maintaining our home.  The unpainted baseboards and light fixtures I want to replace have been calling out to me but I've been calling back "not yet".  I fully intend to start doing again and blogging all about it but for the time being, we're going to keep on keeping on, soaking up this baby and keeping our back burners fully-loaded for later.  ;)

Christmas Art-Making with Kids | DIY

We don't have our Christmas tree up yet even though it's not abnormal for us to wait until we get closer to Christmas, but we do have some treeS hanging out in the breakfast nook.  

And nope, I'm not talking about the plants.  I'll zoom in for ya in a minute but let's start from the beginning.  Awhile ago, when the blue patterned linoleum floors were still being walked on in here, I whipped up that big 'ole painting on the left wall to add a little fun and color (you can actually purchase a digital download of mine here or follow my lead and paint your very own!) 

The Case for Matching Hinges to Cabinet Color

I've become very passionate about something.  It started out as something I tried in our first house down south years ago and since then, I've done it a few more times and I now won't ever deviate from not doing it.  It's maybe a small matter in the grand scheme of painting cabinets but I feel like it's not so small in the impact it makes.  

Hinges.  Specifically, like it gives away in this post's title, matching the color of your hinges to the color of your cabinets.  I know that these days, most cabinets are made with hidden hinges so this is a moot point for most truly modern kitchens but if you've got old cabinets that you're hankering to paint or have already painted, take note.  You might agree with me and you might not but here's my argument...

If you're doing a little kitchen makeover (or bathroom...or anywhere there are cabinets that could use a fresh coat of paint to modernize them), it's only natural to then replace the old hardware on them with new.  New pulls and knobs go a long way in updating cabinets.  You might even go a little farther and want to replace the hinges on the cabinets to match that pretty new hardware.  Makes sense.  It's logical.  But here's where things could go two ways.  You could get new hinges that match the hardware - you know, brushed nickel hinges to go with your new brushed nickel hardware -  OR you could scrap that idea and either buy hinges that match the paint or paint them to match.  If the color you're going with is black or white, you probably won't have the hardest time finding new hinges in those generic colors, making the switch fairly simple.  But, if you're going with the latest trend of green, blue, tan, etc...you'll probably end up having to paint your hinges.  Lucky for you, you can pretty much find every color of spray paint on the planet these days so finding a match may not be that difficult.  (I'd recommend this primer* first though along with several light coats.  Opening and closing the hinges between coats also helps them not to stick in the process.)

Do I sound crazy?  Or are you smelling what I'm cooking?  Let me give you a few examples...this is the fun part.  This whole idea of mine started here in our master bathroom back in our second house (click here to get a whole tour): 

It's hard to tell at this angle but it was the best I could find.  Can you spot the hinges?  They're the same color as the cabinets.  They're definitely not invisible but they don't stand out like a sore thumb either.