Mom News
One Kings Lane: Mixing Vintage and Modern Styles
The internet is an amazing place! In my opinion, the most amazing thing about the internet is being able to share your ideas in hopes that it may inspire someone else. Whether it is inspiring them in cooking, organizing, or even DECORATING!
Well, I couldn’t believe it when the awesome online store, One Kings Lane contacted me and asked me to share my ideas on how I like to mix vintage finds with more modern ones. They are a fantastic store that have sales on one of a kind finds. They and I, both, are loving this style right now.
I absolutely LOVE these old army boxes that my Dad brought me a couple of weeks ago. Not only are they cool, but they tell a story. I love to imagine who it was who used these boxes and what their life was like at the time.
I decided to stack them on top of each other and use them as a bedside table, since I was needing one in my spare bedroom.
I decided to pair them with a modern style lamp and vintage pictures of my Mom and Dad. By the way, I think that is a great way to show guests they are important!
When a guest is visiting you and you have pictures of them, try placing them in the room that they are staying in. It personalizes their room and I bet they will get a kick out of it!
I happened to have this old vintage picture of my Dad as a young boy,
and this one of my Mom with her beloved cocker spaniel when she was a child. They really appreciated the gesture when they visited.
You also probably remember the lockers that Z brought home from a job that we painted and used in the entry way. They are still a “work in progress” , but they are just so cool and because of that we used them in the rest of the house as well.
We recently purchased the coolest light that has a vintage look to it to go above the lockers.
The pendant lights over the kitchen bar add to the vintage/modern design we love.
Of course, little man had to have a “superhero” red one……
and the girls’ got blue and purple ones.
I picked up this vintage sign at a flea market shop down on Ocracoke Island several years ago and it has had a spot on my wall ever since.
I bought these plates at the State flea market in Raleigh 5 years ago.
They are an unexpected piece of art placed on the wall next to modern style office accessories.
I have had this milk jug forever. I love these things. If I ever come across them, it is so hard to pass them up. I think they add such great character to any room and are great conversation pieces.
If you aren’t really sure about what category your style falls into, One Kings Lane has a great new feature they are offering to help you figure that out. It’s called their Home Decor’ Resource and you should definitely check it out!
I personally think I fall into a lot of different categories. I love so many styles! Don’t be afraid to explore and check out all the great deals they offer too!
Speaking of deals, I just fell in love with this drink dispenser! Those who know me well, know I LOVE a cool looking drink dispenser! I’ll be back in a little while! Got to go check out! 😉
XOXO,
Esther
Make your own Command Center!
Have you heard of the new concept of “Command Centers”? Well, I reckon it’s a new thing? Whoa, I just said reckon, but I’m not ashamed.
Basically, if you are short on space, or you don’t have a designated area for an office, you can take something as small as a corner or a wall and turn it into a COMMAAAAAAAAND CENTER! (I imagine some crazy loud man with an echo saying that)
That is exactly what I did in the corner of my dining room.
You can put whatever you want in your center. It is the area in your home where you typically take care of your bills, schedules for your family, organize dinner menus (etc.) There aren’t really any set rules because let’s be honest, everyone’s home runs differently than the next home.
What I did, was take 4 plain, wooden clipboards that I picked up from Office Max for $2.99 each, only to be horrified later when I realized I could have gotten them from The Dollar Tree for…… you guessed it!
However, the ones there were not exactly the same. They didn’t have the circle at the top that made it easy to hang on a single nail and would have been difficult to hang as a result. Some of the things I put on my boards that help me were a blank grocery list that I grouped into areas of the store so that I wasn’t playing ping pong back and forth throughout the store while I was there.
Then I did our weekly menu for meals, my monthly calendar, and a great household planner I found at the The Confident Mom to help organize MY LIFE! LOL!
All of the templates other than the one I created for the grocery store, I found online by searching “free calendar printables” or “free menu printables”. I don’t have the links to the ones I used, but….
Here are some great examples of other Free Printables:
Shining Mom (Free Printable Monthly Calendar)
The Suburban Mom (Free Printable Monthly Calendar)
Sweet Bella Roos (Free Menu Planner)
Posh Ideas (Free Menu Planner)
Next to the clip boards, I have one of my bulletin boards that I keep fun things on, important reminders, appt. cards and so on. I love showcasing some of the sweet artwork the kids bring home from school too!
I also have an area for my files with important things I need and a basket that I labeled for mail overflow.
Overall, I love this little nook and what we turned it into. I forgot to mention that most of the things I used, were things I already had. That is the best part about one of these command centers. Try your best to use items that you already have. I already had the desk (Target), chair(Old Time Pottery), bulletin board (Homegoods), baskets (Goodwill finds), and file folders (Office Max).
I bought the clipboards and slipcover for the chair. Again, the clipboards were $2.99/ea. and the slipcover was bought from Pier 1 for $39.95.
If you have the time and want to organize your Family day to day life…… or simply your own life, seriously consider a Command Center!
I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Happy Decorating!
XOXO,
Esther
Fun Shared Girls Room (Reveal)
I have been literally obsessed with finishing the girls’ new room, and honestly it isn’t really finished yet. There are a few things to tweak here and there and paint. There are also a few DIY projects that still need to be done, but don’t worry! I will definitely share them once they have been completed.
The girls’ new room is our old bonus/playroom that never got played in! Doesn’t that irritate you? Well, it DID irritate me! LOL!
What to do?
Answer: MOVE THE GIRLS UP THERE!
I need to back track a little though and let you know why I decided to move the girls upstairs. First, like I said, the room never got used even though we had tons of toys to play with up there. Our home’s lay out is to where the downstairs is our main living space and everything upstairs was considered (for us) bonus. One big bonus room, a bathroom, and another bedroom.
The girls shared one of the downstairs bedrooms and a king bed and were still fighting ALLLLLLLL the time! “She touched me! She looked at me! She FARTED on me! ” You know, the usual stuff.
Then, one day, I just looked at my husband with those ” I have an idea” looks. After I chased him down into the other room and made him listen to me, I told him I thought we should move the girls to the bonus room and maybe their own space would make things better.
So far, so good! I am really happy with how it turned out. A friend of mine said that it reminded her of a cool dorm room.
I knew that if I wanted to make this happen, it was going to have to be on a tight budget. Other than the beds, I didn’t want to have to spend much. I kind of had no way around purchasing the beds. I did, however, go to Walmart to buy the twin beds/box springs which I felt would be the cheapest alternative.(*around $300/each bed) The metal frames were universal ones that I picked up at Sam’s Club. ($38 each)
The hilarious thing is that they are happier with smaller beds. They went from sharing a King, down to a twin bed. I think something can definitely be said though for having your own space……. and not being farted on….. right? Sorry!
I wanted to visually divide the room to allow them to have their “own sides”. I already had these toy shelves in the room and decided to arrange them in a way that they both could have their own things stored on each side. It is basically 4 of the units that I picked up at Walmart for $17 each with fabric containers picked up at Target a while back.
This is one of the projects that still needs tweaking. My idea is to attach them with screws and put molding around the creases with maybe a top to match their desk tops. This way, the piece will look more like one piece, instead of 4.
Next off, the DESKS! I am extremely proud of these desks and I’ll tell you why. They cost me a total of $ 4 . 00 !!!! No, that wasn’t a typo!
Let me explain:
I actually took an old dining table that I had on my back porch (that I wanted to move) and cut it down (since it was a pub table), along with the chairs and attached it to the wall to make their desks. The only thing I had to pay for were the roller casters on the back legs, which I scored at Ollies for $ 4.00.
I had looked and looked on Pinterest for all sorts of ideas. I found some great ones, but they all were going to cost around $300 to $400 to complete, which definitely would have had to wait a while. *Remember the tight budget?
If you look closely, you can see that one end looks like it is coming out of the wall and only has 2 legs.
That is because of this:
I thought I was going to have to buy wood from the store to do this, but instead, we were able to reuse pieces from the original table! SCORE!
To let the girls personalize their own space, I generously gave up a few of my bulletin boards from my office I bought at Homegoods a while back.
This is my youngest daughter’s side.
This is her older sister’s side. I think you can guess which one has “HOARDING” tendencies……. LOL!
Here is a view of the chairs. When we initially cut them down, we didn’t allow for the fact that they all naturally leaned back, so we added the roller casters to the back to level it off. We didn’t want to have to cut two more of the four chairs that were left, in case I come up with more projects…… for my husband to do……. 😉 * He would have preferred to cut them all up and use them for a bonfire, I’m sure. Love you honey!
By now, you have probably noticed in a previous photo that the girls have LOCKERS in their room! This is all because of their cool daddy! While doing a painting project for the local Sheraton hotel in our city, they were getting rid of them!!!!!! There were 6 in total!!!! So, you know what that means…………. they were FREEEEEEE , aside from the paint that we purchased to paint them. They were originally a stale tan color like most lockers are.
You may not be able to tell so well in the pic, but the one in the picture above is a light blue since that is my youngest daughter’s favorite color.
The one in the previous photo further above is a light purple for, you guessed it, our oldest’s favorite color.
The girls and I did a really cool Pinterest DIY project for them. I bought one sheet of mosaic tile backsplash. Then, we pulled individual tiles off and attached peel n stick magnets to them.
Now, the girls can stick things on the lockers since they are magnetic! Lots of fun! They love it!
I love how they are able to express their own style and keep it on their own sides of the room.
There are so many things I love about this room, but one of my favorite things are their headboards.
I was really nervous that what I had envisioned would not come out right, but I am SOOOO happy with it!
Again, I had looked and looked on Pinterest for all kinds of ideas. I found so many great ideas. However, they all involved using a thick plywood for the base, which would have been fine, except I was determined to not have to ask for my husband’s help on this one. He was projected out by this time and I was wanting to do this one on my own.
I would have had to have him cut it and that just wasn’t going to work for me.
I decided instead to buy a very large canvas at AC Moore, which was on sale and went from there. Mom and Dad were visiting the weekend I decided to do it, so I sweet talked Mom into helping me. She was a trooper! I asked her because while I might have wanted to go it alone, it is definitely easier when you have two people tugging and stapling. Thanks MOM!
I will be posting a DIY post on it later.
The one above is my youngest’s. The stripes were actually a result of things not going exactly like I had planned, but then again, they say that some of the best things come from that and I think this turned out better because of it. It also allowed their headboards to be slightly different.
Here is a closer view of it.
Here is a close view of my oldest’s. I kept hers plain without stripes so that she could have, what I considered an older look. By the way, that is a painter’s drop cloth that is on the headboard. 😉 More on that in the DIY post.
AND this is the BEAST that I will be taking on next. The plan is to paint it a dark gray and add a long mirror above it. For this, I will definitely be needing my “painter husband” ‘s help. Once it is done, I will add a tutorial! *Maybe my first video tutorial? What do you think? 😉
Well, there you have it. This is the girl’s room ……… for now.
Anytime I add anything, I will make sure to let you know!
Until next time……
XOXO,
Esther
Sidebar: The bedding was bought at Target.
Turquoise comforter : $27.99 (comforter/sham),
Purple Comforter: $ 24.99 (comforter/sham)
Both Sheet sets: $ 17.99 (flat/fitted/pillow case)
Quilt on purple bedding: Gift from Nana for birthday
When life hands you lemons…. (Make a Ridiculously Good Lemon Cake)
It’s been a while since I did a blog post. I have been buried waist deep in these awful things called taxes. Have you ever heard of them? Oh my word, they are awful! I’ll have to tell you about them sometime……. maybe some OTHER time…..
The important thing today is cake! Not just any cake. The kind of cake that makes you wanna slap your momma! *Sorry momma! I never liked that saying. At least not until after I became a momma!! 😉
You know, I have to say, I really surprised myself on this one. Even though it was the easiest of cakes to make (more on that in a minute), it didn’t taste like it was.
It all started with my oldest turning 10 at the beginning of the month. We usually make whoever’s birthday it is, their favorite meal and their favorite cake or one of their choosing. I had just bought these premade “lemon bliss” cupcakes, or so they were called from Sam’s Club. Lee absolutely fell in love with them…. and so did everyone else.
It was decided that she wanted a cake version of the cupcakes. Now, if I were really organized and thinking ahead for this blog post, I would have taken a picture of them. But that just wouldn’t be me. 😉
So instead, picture a lemon cupcake with a dollop of lemon pudding on top with a thin ring of buttercream icing around it.
Oh, how I love lemon!!!!
While I didn’t decide to use buttercream….. only because I felt it would have been just too much for the entire cake. I decided to go the whipped cream route instead.
This is what I did:
I took a lemon boxed cake (yes, boxed) and 2 packages of instant lemon pudding.
I did my best to evenly distribute the cake mix into two pans so that the layers would be as even as possible.
Now, here comes the stacking. However, what this picture doesn’t show is that right after this, I decided to put wax paper under the first layer to allow for spills with the whipped cream icing.
I took half of the lemon pudding and spread on top of the first layer. Then, I topped it with the second layer and spread the remaining pudding on top.
I spread it out to the edge as far as possible without dripping over.
Now, time for the whipped cream. I used my tried and true whipped cream recipe. It’s the same one I used for my Mixed Berry Tartlets. You can see it here. However, I added a teaspoon of lemon extract to amp up the lemon taste for this recipe.
Then, I just dumped it all ( a little at a time) because, well, WHY NOT?
I love whipped cream because it spreads so much easier than buttercream. I actually looked like I knew what I was doing in this pic.
Then, I just sprinkled some lemon zest on top and voila! I carefully pulled the sheets of overlapped wax paper out from under the cake and it made it look very clean.
I was so happy with how it turned out! It wasn’t just pretty, it was RIDICULOUSLY GOOD ! This recipe would be great all year long. It is light enough for Summer, even though I fixed it in the Winter.
If you fix this, I would love to know what you think !
Here is the Recipe:
Recipe: Ridiculously Good Lemon Cake
– 1 Lemon Flavored Box Cake ( I used the Very Moist Version) *You will also need oil, eggs, and water according to cake mix.
– 2 Boxes Lemon Instant Flavored Pudding
– 1 1/2 Cups Skim Milk
– 1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
– 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
– 1 Teaspoon Lemon Extract
– Lemon Zest (Optional)
Directions:
– Prepare cakes according to directions. Allow to cool completely.
– When cakes are completely cooled, prepare lemon pudding by mixing together 2 packages pudding mix with milk. Whisk for 1- 2 minutes or until pudding becomes thick.
– Prepare whipped cream icing by mixing heavy whipping cream with sugar and lemon extract with an electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks.
– Start layering cakes by first, laying wax paper pieces in an overlapping patter on top of a cake plate. Put first cake layer on top of the sheets.
– Spread half of the prepared pudding on top of first layer.
– Top with second cake layer and gently press on top, allowing the pudding between layers to spread slightly.
– Spread prepared whipped cream over top and sides of cake.
– Sprinkle with (optional) lemon zest.
*For best results, refrigerate for 1 hour prior to serving.
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