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I seriously can’t believe that my kids go back to school next week. It’s one of those bittersweet times, isn’t it? It will be so nice to get back into a routine as a family, but I’ll miss seeing their little faces so much! In honour of back to school time, I’ve created this simple DIY mini homework station to help my girls do homework or crafts.Continue reading
Do you have a bathroom dedicated to your kids that’s in need of some unique storage solutions and some cheerful artwork? I did, too! Let me show you how I organized our girls’ shared bathroom, plus I’m sharing some free artwork that you can download to make you bathroom brighter.
When you’re working with a teeny tiny bathroom like our 25 square foot powder room, you have to be really smart with organization ideas! Let me show you the simple ways I’ve organized our main floor powder room, plus make sure to check out my Organization DIY + Home Decor Challenge playlist on YouTube to see some more fabulous organizing ideas for the new year!Continue reading
With three young kids in our home, I need to be really mindful about what kinds of furniture we bring into our home and how we can clean and protect it. I’ve had the honour of working with The Brick for just over a year now (you can read my first blog post with them here that explains our partnership) and it’s been so rewarding. Not only have I learned a lot about furniture, room styling and making videos, I’ve also had the privilege of working with some amazing people that I really admire. Plus, I’ve been able to test out some beautiful furniture in my home so that I can give all of you some new home decorating and DIY ideas! My girls have been testing it all out too over the past year, so I thought that I’d share with you some tips on how to keep furniture looking fresh and clean with small children at home. I’m not the greatest housekeeper in the world, but I DO have some easy tricks that will keep your furniture looking great if you too are a busy mama with kids!
Protect It
I like spraying any light coloured fabric furniture my kids might touch with a fabric protecting spray like Scotchgard. This helps repel any stains or spills on my fabric furniture so that they’re easier to wipe clean. Just make sure to follow the directions on the label when applying products like this. My off-white Moriann counter stools are a high-use item, so I’ve treated them with Scotchgard before we put them in our home.
Consider Leather
Genuine leather and faux leather are great fabrics for furniture because they’re so easy to clean! I love our leather sofas (now they’re in the basement TV & playroom) because they’re so durable. And don’t feel frightened when looking for a trendy style of leather couch! There are some really streamlined, stylish options out there; check these options out.
Buy Furniture in Colours that Hide Dirt
Our dining set chairs (which are treated with Scotchgard) and our living room sectional are really close to the colour of the dirt on our acreage! They’re both a medium, warm grey which hides any dirt or stains really well so that they stay looking new. I do have a few white pieces of furniture in our home – I love white! – but I keep most of those pieces washable or in an adults-only space.
Keep Fabric Cleaner at Hand
If your little ones accidentally spill their apple juice or spaghetti sauce on your fabric furniture, have your fabric fabric cleaning spray in a spot nearby so that you can quickly wipe up the mess. I don’t want to constantly be worried about spills and messes because I KNOW they’ll happen, so having a quick and easy clean-up method helps us all deal with the mess and then move on.
With these simple tricks, we’ve been able to keep our furniture looking clean and tidy. It’s SO nice to have kid-friendly furniture in our home that we all love and that I don’t have to constantly worry about! It makes me feel happy to know that our furniture is well used and enjoyed by our whole family.
Want more tips on how to decorate with kids in mind? Make sure to subscribe to my mailing list to get a free copy of my e-book: Pretty & Practical. I talk about all sorts of family-friendly decor ideas like double-duty furniture, toy organization, how to get kids involved in decorating and more!
Happy decorating!
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by The Brick. As always, all of the opinions here are my own. I only recommend companies that I use and love myself. This post also contains affiliate links.
It’s still unbelievable to me to think that Little C starts grade 2 this month. What?! She was just a teeny tiny bum-scooting baby a few years ago. As I wrap my head around this, I’m also a little terrified because I’m not the most organized person in the world. At all. I need all the help I can get when it comes to cleaning and organizing my life and my kids’ activities. With this in mind, I made it a priority last week to tidy up our kitchen command center for back to school and make some new chore charts for my girls to help us get back into a routine.Continue reading
August is a great month to get your kids’ bedrooms organized and ready for the school season. I know my girls’ rooms are definitely messy and disorganized right now – tidying them up and finding a spot for everything would definitely help us feel like we’re more ready for Fall! Let’s talk about some kids bedroom organization ideas that aren’t too tricky to do, plus I’ll give you a little peek of my friends’ daughters’ bedroom that we’re decorating.Continue reading
Next Friday is the start of the Edmonton Renovation Show and I’m excited to be a part of it this year! I created something for the Ultimate Upcycle Challenge Unhinged! presented by Rust-Oleum in support of Habitat for Humanity Northern Alberta. We were asked to make something from an old door we found at the HFH Restore, and I created a DIY message centre. Today, I wanted to share how I made it so that you could make one too, how you can bid on my door creation (with the proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity) and how you could win 4 tickets to the Edmonton Renovation Show next weekend PLUS front row seats to hear Bryan Baeumler speak next Friday night!
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I’m not the most organized girl on the planet but one thing I DO have under my belt is the completion of a household organization binder or a “family binder” for our home. I put this together last year after I installed our kitchen command center, and let me tell you – it’s SO handy! Here’s what I put in ours and some FREE family binder printables I made just for you!Continue reading
I’m following along this great declutting challenge from Home Storage Solutions 101 the best I can. It’s great! I love how the decluttering sessions are limited to around 15 minutes per day – now THAT I can do! This week, we’re focusing on organizing our kitchen cabinets. Mine are pretty decent since we’ve only been in our new house for 18 months or so, but there are some cabinets that are already pretty out of control. One of them was my spice cupboard, and I wanted to share with you today a fun & free spice storage solution that I came up with.Continue reading
With Little C’s first day of Kindergarten fast approaching, I’m starting to get nervous thinking about how I’m going to stay on top of everything. I’ll be the first to admit that I definitely fall short in the organization and cleanliness categories – I’d much rather be crafting or baking than cleaning or bookkeeping! I’m determined to be more organized this year (I was that mom in playschool that lost everyone’s birthday party invites and forgot to sign all of the field trip forms) and I’ve come up with a fun spot in Our DIY House to help me. With some help from Staples, I’ve transformed the side panel of my fridge into a back-to-school kitchen command center to hold all of my organization tools in one spot. It’s cute looking, it’s functional, and it will help me be more organized this year as we embark on our new journey of school-aged kids.
I'm Christina - a DIYer and decorator living on the Alberta prairies in a home we built ourselves. My goal is to inspire you to create a cozy home and life you love!
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