Monday, December 30, 2013

DIY headboard

Do you ever get antsy when you haven't done a project in a while? I do. Plus it allows me to have a good reason to buy fabric and procrastinate cleaning. So we decided that we needed a new bedroom look. Right now, we have this monster in our bedroom. My H came into the marriage with it, and it was pretty useful when we rented and had access to oversized bedrooms.
But now...not so much. Add to it that between the toddler and the cat, things were CONSTANTLY falling on my head as I slept, and it was time for a change.
Buy a new headboard, you say? Oh no no no! (Says I) Have you seen how much those cost? I know I can do better than that!

My dad helped me, so when I say "we" for this project it's typically him and me. This was a surprise for my husband for Christmas.

*Warning - I don't actually know what I'm doing, pretty much ever. I do not use technical words because I don't know them, so if you are looking for exact directions, sorry. If you want guidelines and ideas, read on!*

First step was picking up the wood at Lowes.



I used the cardboard to draw a pretty curve for the top of board. I just used a random round object (some sort of tray) I found in my dad's garage to trace the curve. Then my kiddo stole my pencil.






Next up was sawing. I detest  am terrified of power tools, but Dad was in a teaching mood, so I had to do it myself. First we sawed the curves that I cut out. (Note the strings hanging from my shirt, DO NOT WEAR  LOOSE CLOTHING around a saw. I was bad. I was lucky. Don't do it)



Look at that pretty curve.

After cutting the top curves, I went through with the drill and drilled holes for the tufts. This is where it is really helpful to have furniture you can wreck a little if needed. While I managed to not drill through the table, it was always a possibility.


Meanwhile, my mom was on kid duty. Look at that big girl going down the slide all by herself (with grandma to catch her if she stumbled at the bottom, which she didn't, go Bug!). I'm still not quite sure where this big kid came from, and I'm certain my kid is a little snuggly newborn, right?


Next up was attaching the foam to the plywood/sheet of wood/whatever with the staple gun. I hate staple guns, and not just because they scare me. They also make my hand hurt.


I used a foam topper for a full sized mattress that I found at K-Mart for just $14.99! It was a little too short lengthwise, and a little too tall heightwise, but we just folded over the top and added some foam to the sides later and called it good.


This is when my mom, the fabric whisperer, took over. We lay the fabric down and carefully measured it. Bug made sure the board didn't try to run away.


Then more staple-gunning after we pulled the fabric tight. Bug entertained herself by finding my purse (the blue thing) and taking my wallet out (the purple thing she is holding). It turns out, the knots in the wood are exactly penny sized, and she had great fun filling them with pennies.


"Peek, mommy! Peek!!!!"



Now it's tuft time. I found some very thick, almost leathery thread in my craft room and a large needle. I passed the needle through the holes I drilled earlier.


Then through the fabric and the button loop (I used the kind of buttons with holes on the back, not through the front of the button) and then back to the back.


Dad's idea was using the washer, and it was pretty dang brilliant. I would put the washer on after the first pass, and then tie a tight knot after it came back through from the front. While I was confident in the tight knot, I also tied another knot further down on the thread and then staple-gunned that onto the board.




Fast forward a week, and I got my Christmas present! YES! While our power screwdriver/drill is awesome, it's too heavy for me to easily use. This little gal is PERFECT (yes, caps necessary). 


Using my nifty new tool, I quickly screwed in the awesome french cleats that my dad found at Lowes. After carefully measuring. And measuring again, and making my dad measure just for good...measure...



Then we put the other part of the system on the wall. It came with a built in line-level. It's the little things in life.


We hung up the headboard, added our new side-tables and lamps, and voila! I think we gained a good 3' of bedroom space by getting rid of the monster, and the room feels soooooo much nicer. Bug also approved of the new set-up.


Ta-da!

Cost breakdown (because this part makes me happy)

8' by 5' thick plywood board thing - $22
Foam mattress topper for Full bed - $14
Fabric (I believe I got 4 yards to be on the safe side) - $15 (on sale, plus coupon)
Fancy hanging doo-das - $10 for 2

throw in the side-tables ($59.99 each at Target)
lamps ($12.99 each -including shades - at Target)

Saturday, December 14, 2013

A new project and new cause

This is going to be one of those times when my author life comes into this blog, because the book I'm currently researching/drafting has had a huge impact in my life.

See, it started off with me wanting to write a young adult novel about high school, specifically about how high school can sometimes suck, but will get better and has some bright spots. Okay, really it started off with me wanting to write a book about a 30 year old starting over in life, and she needed a back story, which would be the YA novel. That's not the point.

Except the main character for both books turned into a foster kid, and my life was turned upside down. I never really thought much about foster kids, I've met adopted kids in my life (my husband and his sister were each individually adopted, his cousin is adopted, my ex-bf's father was adopted, etc), but never really had personal interactions with foster kids.

Holy totally different world. I had a scenario in my head, 16 year old who was abandoned by her parents, drifted through a few foster homes in a few years, had a hard time, etc. Since I had no clue was what normal, I talked to a worker at my job who works with foster kids. Talk about eye opening. I left our first meeting feeling drained and broken, and utterly shocked and ashamed that there was a world of struggle I had never known about.

On an average day, 400,000 kids are in foster care. 400,000!! That's...I just...wow

11% of the children who exit the system "age-out", which basically means that they turn 18 and the state is no longer required to help them. I can't even wrap my head around it. 18 and no home to go back to, no parents to co-sign for an apartment, probably no job, probably no car, and a whole world of emotional insecurities and problems.

I've been reading many blogs about foster kids, the most informational being I Was a Foster Kid and they are breaking my heart. Being a kid is hard enough, but then you add in the struggles that these kids go through and it's no wonder that they feel lost and forgotten. They act out because they want to feel loved, because they don't feel loved, because they don't know any other way to be. Can you imagine having to learn a new set of rules every few months, being in a new house, a new bed, with new siblings/roommates? Can we really expect them to be stable? Think of how huge of a transition it was for many of us to go to college for the first time, and have the experience of roommates. Now do that several times a year, but you are between the ages of birth and 18.

So a lot of this has been swirling around in my head as I write about my character, 16 year old Alyssa who has been through hell and refuses to give in. And I hope that the book can be an eye-opener to those, like me, who just had no idea, and that Alyssa can be inspiration to others who are going through hell to just keep walking until you reach the other side.


Here are some links for those who are interested in fostering, adopting, or just want more information

ChildrensRights.Org
Adopt Us Kids
9 Ways to Help Children in Foster Care
Forever Family

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Making life a little easier

I keep coming up with new little tricks and tips and need to remember to pass them on!

Many a day I feel like I'm stuck in a hamster wheel of doom. I clean, it gets messy, I clean, it gets messy. How am I supposed to stay sane? I'm not a neat freak by any means, but I don't want people to walk into my house and think it was robbed. So here are some tips (specifically for moms of toddlers) to help just a little bit.



1)  Those damn letter mats. We all have them, and if you are like me, they drive you nuts. My kid LOVES her letter mats, so much we have 2, and it's a fabulous way to keep her off the icky carpet that we don't want to replace quite yet, but boy do they make a mess instantaneously.


My trick with this one, take out the stupid little pieces that fill the holes in letters (like D, O, etc). This seems stupid, but helps cut down cleaning time significantly.



Putting toys where the kid can reach them.
Okay, this sounds counter-intuitive, because the more toys your kid can reach, the more mess they can make, but bear with me on this one. I hung up this cute little shelf (which is a prototype, my cheap and quick version of the adorable fabric shelves seen on Pinterest) to hold some of her stuffed animals.

This was actually pretty awesome in our house, because we had been storing stuffed animals in mesh laundry bins, which resulted in the kid dumping the entire bin to get the animal on the bottom. Yay only grabbing one toy at a time.