Kids Bathroom Remodeled at Less than $50 USD

Hey there,

When I went to work this morning on the kids bathroom and taking off the green masking tape for my stripe design I posted yesterday I was hating the color combo. It clashed way too much even though the colors, individually, are great. I guess it looked better on Pinterest or in my mind but Rich Navy and  Yellow did not work for me. I decided to use Charcoal Gray that I had in my leftover paints collection (yes, I do keep all of those!) and paint over the Navy.

After letting it dry for an hour, I applied another layer of paint and used a small painting brush to re-adjust the lines and my oopsies' marks and to fill in the corners with the gray paint. Using a large paint brush on the wall corners always messes me up and I get paint on the ceiling. You know that always ruins the job. Fortunately, I've learned to use a small brush for those corners and get a clean finish.

I must admit, I thought I was going to make my own shower curtain but Target just happened to have a clearance on 6 or 7 different shower curtains as low as $4 and high as $9. Shower curtains at Target usually range from $19.99 to $24.99 which is an okay price but I couldn't resist the $5.98 shower curtain that had a Black * White print - and no, it's not Zebra.

Ross is next door to my Target, which is quite nice for my shopping convenience. I bought a metal Wall Holder for $16.99 which was large enough to fit towels since my kids bathrooms has no wall space available for rods. Arizona houses are weird like that - they forget to make a bathroom convenient. I attempted to put up my towel holder with Molly bolts and that was a complete fail. The molly's broke while I was screwing it in and became permanently stuck in the wall so I just hammered it in all the way and redid it without Molly's. The job seemed to be easier to do without them even though every construction guy I know has said always use molly's - yeah? then why do they break so easily! Stupid plastic.

I also love love love the Salon and Body section that Ross has. This may sound absolutely dorky but I got Bath Bubble Soap and Handsoap in yellow, so it matched the colors of the bathroom. I know, I know but if it was purple, it would ruin "the look", ya know? Anyhow, those were $2.99 and $3.99.

To calculate my total cost in repainting and redecorating the kids bathrooms (although I still need bath rug, sink rug and I think I want a blue shower matte in the tub since it seems kinda dirty)...

• Walmart - Yellow Oops Paint: $10.97 (+ AZ 9.1% Tax) = $11.97
• Target - Shower Curtain: $5.98 (+ 9.1% Tax) = $6.52
• Ross - Wall Hanger + Le Jardin Handsoap and Ardsley Honey Bubble Soap = $23.97 (+ 9.1% Tax) = $26.15

The total of the bathroom comes out to $42.46 

A Bath Mat at Target is $14.99, well the one I'm looking at in Blue is which is pushing my budget. I'm not sure if Ross has them but I think I've seen them there before. I want it long enough that it takes up the entire tub though so will need to measure! 

The bath rug and sink rug I can't decide what color I want - yellow, white or black. I have a few days to decide but today is not the day. 

Here's a picture of what my kids bathroom now looks like. 

I can't redo the cabinets since I'm a renter but I was given permission to change the wall colors and when my landlady visited me last, she loved the colors I chose for the house - so I think I'm in the clear. Plus, paint is one of the easiest things to change in a house. I'd love to put one of those cool circular mirrors in place of the large mirror but I don't want to break the glass...

Any how, I think I want a picture underneath the wall holder... seems like a big yellow spot but maybe it's just my camera viewpoint... Either way, I'm done for the day in there. Hopefully the kids will find it cool and want to actually use their own shower now... 

Redesigning the Kids Bathroom

Sorry for not posting in so long. I have had the worst case of allergies out here in Arizona. My eyes are very itchy, runny nose at night and waking up a lot to blow my nose. I'm taking cold medication which seems to help a little during the day. I tried the Netti Pot and while it flows through like it should, I'm still extremely congested.

Anyhow, I've been meaning to get back to my projects and this weekend was the beginning of it.

The kids share one bathroom. It wasn't a friendly looking bathroom either so I thought while I had the weekend to myself - my husband went to Florida for his mothers' memorial - I wanted to upgrade their bathroom into something that's both masculine and feminine. It used to be this weird sponge color of brown and burgandy and while it looked decent, it's not very appealing for the kids to use as theirs.

Here is what the bathroom looked like yesterday while painting it:

I put the ladder in the tub and stabilized it so it didn't move around at all. I know you're seeing no light-bulbs in the sockets but we only keep one in there to keep energy levels low. It does look quite silly so I'm thinking about changing the light situation to one scone or two - haven't gotten to the point yet where that decision is necessary. 

Here's the other side of the bathroom. It's kind of a small bathroom and a weird triangle shape. 

The following pictures are today's work and yes, I'm probably the slowest painter in the world but I hate rollers. They are messy and ruin everything and I don't own tarp or cloth that I can happily ruin. I use a hand brush and while it's slow, I get it done within a day.  

I bought the paint at Walmart. It was in the Oops section and for half off. It was marked mistinted but the color seemed great to me. It was one of the choices I was looking for without breaking the bank. It's a pastel yellow which looks great with the Rich Navy color I also got from Walmart. 

I was kind of nervous doing stripes but I really think the navy wall needed some blend of the yellow. I started  to use the masking tape at the very top and very bottom of the wall section that I was going to create the stripes. I then met the tape halfway in the middle and then separated again. The green masking tape will remain navy in reality and the yellow, while larger than the navy stripe, will hopefully look cool and "retro". These colors are out of the norm for many bathroom households but the brown and red just kills me now. I can't tolerate it. It's so cliche and everyone has them. 

For decor, I took out the towel rack over the toilet since it was a bad location for towels to begin with and when I was at Ross the other day, I saw a $19.99 towel rack wall hanger that seemed pretty cool and very fitting for the overall look I want in this shower. 

The shower curtain rod will likely remain the same one, unless I can find one at Ross, but there's no demand for it, really, I'll just clean up the one we have. I ordered on eBay a blank canvas shower and I plan on making a black and white chevron shower curtain since the one's that I like pre-made are Urban Outfitters and cost around $40. I'd rather spend the $5 for the bank canvas shower curtain and another $4 for the spray paint can. I'm not sure how I'm going to create the Chevron look without being uneven and sloppy looking but I'll look at other blogs to guide me. 

Hopefully this will be done by tomorrow and I'll have the remaining pictures up - except for the shower curtain, since that did not arrive in today's mail. Thanks for viewing and hopefully this turns out as planned !! 

Weekly Meal Planners or Menus

I took this weekend to spend some time looking at recipes and figuring out what everyone will want to eat this weekend. This month has been a bad budget month since we are over on our monthly budget of $400 on food as well as spending on gas and restaurants. My hubby had to pay out of pocket for a business trip which he is supposed to be reimbursed for but right now, we are $450 out of money. The hotel was $230 for 2 nights and did not have a fridge. We couldn't stock up on groceries and save. We had to eat out which cost us another $150. And let's not mention the gas it took to get to his destination! I think we spent $70 every day on gas for 3 days. We drove 7 hours and over 300 miles. While the weekend event was enjoyable, our wallets are hurting now that rent is due on the 1st and we don't have enough. But hopefully the landlady will let us pay on the 3rd.

I have been checking out everyone's meal planners and while I do like the idea of pre-planning meals, my family does not all agree on one meal. The kids don't like the adult food and while we try to eat healthy, they sometimes just want to eat Ramen noodles or Waffles, even for dinner. Instead of creating one-meal choices per day, I did a restaurant style menu where people can choose what they want to eat based on the ingredients we have. When the item can not be made for the rest of the week, I'll cross it out or mark the Menu to let them know we are out and not running to the store for that until the following week.

I also made a section for Requests. Since this isn't a restaurant, I think it's a good idea that my family can request foods that they want to eat for the following week/weekend. If no requests are made, then I (who shops) gets to choose the menu items.

Here's what it looks like and what we eat on a regular basis.

I strongly believe in eating meat at dinner-time as it fills up everyone's bellies very quickly and the price of meat is pretty reasonable when bought in bulk. I like bulk items! That doesn't mean I like Costco. That's another ball-game. I just shop at my local Fry's (grocery store) and since it's less than a mile from my house, it's super convenient. If their cereal's are buy $5 and save $5, then I buy them. I tend to check out what their 5-for-5 or 10-for-10 deals are since I can stock up for two weeks on many items instead of one week. Things that are usually 10-for-10 are pastas and asian foods, such as Rice boxes. I tend to buy the bag in bulk instead.

All the summer foods (or poolside snacks) can be purchased at the Dollar Store too, such as chips, dips and sodas. I tend to stay away from those until it's 120 degrees outside in Arizona and only have them around when the kids are here (Friday after school to Sunday evening).

If you guys have any recommendations on kids meals besides Mac n Cheese since they are not big on that, leave a comment! It's hard to satisfy them being so picky but they do enjoy the fruits and yogurts. The youngest one won't eat until you put it in front of him; his "busy" schedule just makes him forget to eat. The older one though eats a lot! She is always snacking so I need to come up with affordable snacks, unlike the Fiber One bars or Oats N Honey crackers. Her favorites are now ridiculously expensive so I'm learning to substitute but she's not quite learning to accept the "unbranded" kind. We'll see. Kids are kids.

DIY: Patio Chairs

I really had zero intentions of doing anything outside today when I first woke up; however, the cool wind and not-so-terribly hot sun made for a perfect day to fix up some outside furniture without spending over $20.00 on supplies.

I fortunately had two (2) spray-paints of Rustoleum Flat White to spray my two (cedar wood, I think) bar stools for my outside bar. These bar stools were kind of handed down to us, but if you don't have bar stools and you really want some, Goodwill has great ones as low as $19.99 a piece. They are easy to fix and upgrade. After I had spray-painted the chairs white, I had to run to Home Depot to get an extra white. I was using Rustoleum Flat White. When I realized the chairs were way too bright, I decided to go with a Dark Gray Spray Paint and Navy. I prefer dark gray over light; looks better that way.

I didn't bother sanding or priming, unless you call spray-painting it white first, "priming" because that I did do. I don't see the point in sanding, priming and then sealing. These chairs are not going to last probably another year; this is just temporary. Plus my Black & Decker Sanding charger was stolen out of my garage, so I cannot sand. Any how, I used Acrylic paint that I had in Blue and painted the rest dark gray. The dark gray paint can be used for exterior but I doubt Acrylic can be, which is why I am going to use my Polyurethane Sealer tomorrow (letting the paint seep into the pores of the wood for a good 15 hours) and seal the paint from UV exposure. In Arizona, things go bad very quickly when not protected with any sort of sealant. Usually my chairs are in the shade too so they don't see too many hours of sun, with the exception of mornings.

Here are my end results on my first chair. The second chair will probably be done tomorrow. I think they turned out cute, now I just need to figure out what wonderful fabric I want on my cushions....

The brown cushions will be re-covered at a later date since they obviously don't match but for now, in case my man wants to sit outside tonight, the cushions stay.

Memorial Book Created via Blurb

Hey there,

I have been away from the blogging world because I had a deadline to meet on finishing my book for someone special. I used the site Blurb to create the Memorial Album. My husband's mother passed away March 2nd and I had this little idea to put her life into a book via pictures. I got to know her in a very different way by doing this. My husband does not know I have created this book but he does know I am up to something since I asked all family members to send me their photos of his mother.

His mother passed away due to Parkinson's and while it was diagnosed in late 2010, I could clearly see the changes in her face and posture as early as the '90's. Based on these photos, I truly believe she should have been diagnosed then instead of late 2010; however, she is gone now so I cannot say much. All I know is she lived a good life and had no enemies. She was kind and loved animals. She was even kind to those who weren't so kind to her. She died at age 70 while her twin sister lives on in sorrow.

I created a Memorial Album on Blurb for her twin sister to pay my respects to the family, as I am new, and to insure that the memory lives on. I cannot make it to the Memorial being held in the state she resided in so the least I could do is provide a sentimental gift that would mean the world to only those who knew her and loved her.

My husband will get his own copy on next paycheck. I created 28 pages (that is if you include the hard-cover and two blank pages at the end). Some photos are in color and some in black and white. It took me roughly 30 hours combined to complete the scanning of the images, editing them and sorting them by year. My deadline was Friday but I am two days late - even though the real deadline was the book had to be received before her Memorial Date, May 5th. Mission accomplished. The entire cost of the book was going to be $44 but I found a 15% discount coupon online and was able to only pay $38.94 for a 28-page colored album hard-cover with dust-jacket book.

Why Won't My Printer Print In Red?

I was so close to looking on Craigslist Ads for a used but in working order printer. However, I gave Google a chance and found a YouTube guy who was able to fix his printer by printing. Who'd have thunk that one, huh?! Not me. I did a Nozzle Check and a Head Cleaning twice and the printouts were worse each time! It has been a month or so since I've noticed the printer did not print in blue or red. When I did the nozzle check, blue barely showed up and red, nor yellow showed at all. Only black was working without any issues.

I had no idea until this evening browsing the web and reading how a printer works that all a "head cleaning" really is is a "dump" into some ink reservoire. Once that bucket is full of ink, your printer will shut down, forcing the owner to buy a new printer. At that point, your printer is beyond repairable. This is what companies want you to do, hence why a clean is really a dump. I don't know how much ink I have in this "reservoire dump" but hopefully I am just in the nick of time for saving the printer all-together.

As for how to actually get your printer working right, there's a few super easy steps involved. First of all, I have an Epson Workforce 610 Printer that are notoriously known for FAILING to print in red. I didn't know that either until I myself had issues with the red ink. Other than this super common issue, I love the Epson Workforce. It has done great printing jobs and rarely jams. Also the SD card and scanning function is superb. Gotta love that!

Here is how I fixed my printer in just one hour (but if you don't have the supplies, it may take longer):

1. Print the Nozzle Check only under Maintenance Settings. Do not hit "clean" once the nozzle check is done. 
2. Notice what color is NOT printing. For me, there was no red or yellow ink on the page. There was some blue but it had streaking (where the line is not solid)
3. Make notice of your inks. Are they genuine? I had a spare CYAN ink cartridge that was genuine Epson. I noticed the original one in the cartridge was not genuine and immediately assumed that this was part of the reason my blue was not printing correctly. 
1. Once I had snapped in the new cyan cartridge into it's correct slot, the blue started working again! 
4. Place only genuine cartridges in the ink slots. If you have all OEM versions, trash them. They are not working in your printer; maybe your printer has been designed to unrecognize it... you never know how the Engineers over in Japan think...
5. Open up a Word document. Write the colors you intend on printing. Start with the basic colors. Red, Yellow, Black and Blue. Make the font large, bold and underlined. It helps to clearly see the yellow when your document prints. Go to File > Print but before hitting "okay" on the Print, select your "Printer Properties" button and choose "Best Photo" for printing. It will spill the ink onto the page rather than into an ink reservoire within the printer. 
6. It may take more than one print job to get the ink flowing but it shouldn't take more than three. Get that ink out of the printer and onto the paper. I now have 3 working colors. I just know that when my Magenta comes in (just ordered); it will work again. I know this because the two colors I was using under OEM were Red and Blue. I had a genuine blue one laying around and now used it. Blue is working again. So Magenta / Red is all I need to get the entire printer working again. 
7. Never do a head clean. It just spits junk into your printer. Only commit to a Nozzle Check when things aren't printing well. 

Hope this helps everyone! 

DIY Patio Cushions (Part II) - No Sewing Machine

Yesterday my fabric came in the mail from fabric.com. They ship their fabric on poly mailers which surprised me. I think they purchase those in bundle on eBay since they are super cheap; however, the fabric itself does not look cheap at all! The fabric is beautiful. I will definitely order again. To remind my viewers, I ordered Richloom Solarium Outdoor Fabric. That link shows you the search results for all the choices you have for that brand of outdoor fabric. I ordered the styles in Kiwi and Navy.There are others but I truly love the Richloom Solarium the best because it's designed and pre-sprayed with Scotch Guard or some other equivalent fabric protection spray from UV rays and other weather conditions.

Now let me just tell you, I am probably one of the serious newbies on re-covering old cushions. I have never taken a class or learned previously on my own how to work with fabric, needle and thread. I don't like to spend a lot of money and even at a store like Ross and Marshalls, outdoor cushions were as low as $25 per cushion (minimum $100 for 4 cushions)!!! I spent $35 on 4 yards of fabric (my cushions are pretty much $8.75 each) that I plan to use to cover 4 to 5 cushions. I am estimating to have a small bit of leftover fabric as well for other projects. I think I need another yard; however, in a different fabric design for smaller cushions for back-rests. It would look adorable!

Okay let me tell you how I actually did this project with ZERO experience and NO sewing Machine. (I've owned two but got so frustrated using them since my foot could not control the speed at all and my sewing got out of control... so I prefer to go by hand until I get comfortable with stitch). Baby steps...

Here are my steps:

1. Watch some videos on YouTube about how to cover patio cushions and/or make pillows
2. Buy your fabric: 2 Yards in each Fabric will cover about 3 cushions if they measure 19.5 x 19.5. 
3. Know how much a yard is in fabric. I learned that it's about 36 wide and whatever length the company designates the length. When you order the fabric they will tell you on the listing or description the length is 54" or 64" etc. 
4. When you receive your fabric, get super excited and squeal at how awesomely pretty it is!
5. Use a long quilting needle (its about 2.5 inches in length) so you have firm control over your needle and no issues with breakage on the needle or thread. 
6. Use heavy-duty thread. Use a color that goes well with your fabric because your last seam will have to show the thread. 
7. Lay your cushion over the fabric and re-adjust its position until you feel your fabric will cover the entire cushion. Make sure you have a minimum of an inch on each side of the fabric too for the rounded part of the cushion. You wouldn't want to be short on those sides. 
8. I used a ruler on the backside of the fabric and marked a straight line that I want my thread to run on. I created a second line above that about a centimeter apart for my second lined stitch. I did a straight line all throughout the fabric and then a criss-cross stitch between the two lines. It may be over-stitching but I was worried it wasn't going to be durable enough and fall apart on me. I wanted to do it right the first time. 
9. I had the back-side of the fabric facing me and sewed the two sides together on the lines I had created. I didn't want to have a crooked stitch and it helped to have a place to pinpoint the needle quickly. 
1. On each knot that I had created when running out of thread, I used fabric glue to seal the knot and let it dry for 10 minutes. 
10. On the last open side, I flipped the fabric to the correct side and checked my seams. Then, I stuffed the old cushion inside (did not remove the fabric on that cushion at all since the interior of that cushion had horse hair in it instead of foam... kind of grossed out by that discovery but didn't want to deal with removing all that hair)
11. I folded the fabric about an inch inward (toward the cushion) and held it tight. I began my stitch like that and did one line all the way across first. I went back since I had extra thread and did another line across and tied the thread with my initial knot's excess thread. I knotted it like 5 times. 
12. Again, even on the outside, I had glued together my knots to seal them really well and protect them from breaking. 

Here are the cushions that I used to have. They were green and brown but have faded into a terrible and hideous color. 

Here is my upgraded cushion (and remember, I have zero experience and no sewing machine). It took me a day and a half to complete just one cushion. I know, I know... with a sewing machine, it'd take me a few hours but like I said, I'm not too good with a sewing machine. 

When I'm totally done, I'll upload a picture of all 4 and on their proper chairs. For now, it's back to work... on cushion 2....