School At Home
This year has been a wild one, that’s for sure. It’s been so different from the norm for many of us. But, one things remains the same. We want our kids to learn, and we want them to have the best opportunities possible. So, no matter what type of schooling you are doing, these ideas can be for you!
We are doing online schooling this year. Classes are via computer, but mom facilitates. Optimal? No. But we are making the best of it. My best tip so far? Find a space and make it for learning. Boundaries and expectations help learning go well!
You don’t need a whole room, maybe a corner, or a table, or even a certain table cloth, and when it comes out, its time to learn. I had always worked from home a lot and happen to have space in my office that I was able to convert to a learning space. Don’t worry, even if your space is much smaller, these ideas can help you too!
I have several tips for routine, but this will just be about supplies for today.
My second?! Keep it fun!! Third tip?! Get a map!
Look at how we combined both with this animal map canvas from Photo Wall! How cute is this thing?!
Photo Wall is amazing for any Wall decor really. They make wall decals, framed prints, posters, and canvases. You choose the art, the size, the material, and can even customize it! These would be amazing in kids’ rooms and nurseries, or even as an awesome accent wall!
Its details like this that really make your learning space fun and keep kids engaged. We knew Brantley needed a map for a lot of his Social Studies work, and looking things up on the computer really wasn’t cutting it. This map not only shows what he needs, but keeps his interest with the animals and details. He’s taken such an interest now! I plan to add a few more maps like this now too! And of course, you can fit them to your space.
Human anatomy? Plants or leaves? Turn them into a fun canvas or poster to make the learning fun!
Tip 4 & 5- Have your supplies accessible, and keep them organized. Again, your space doesn’t need to be huge, but if you can find your supplies and access them easily, you will be more likely to do so. Hands on activities teach concepts so much better. Like using the scissors, ruler, markers, paints… engages and sinks in. It could even be a tote of supplies that comes out with the table cloth when learning time is happening!
I’m no pro yet, but I can tell you that I’m learning right along with the kids. You can do it, and even better with some simple tweaks!
And back to my gushing about this map canvas, because it really is my pride of decorating the classroom. 😉 Here is my map link. And use code makemineeclectic25 on your purchase from Photo Wall too! Your walls will truly thank you, in a classroom or not!
What tips would you add for schooling at home?!
XX,
Jess
Deck Reveal
Its been a two year wait since moving into this house and several weeks of work this summer… but she’s finally done! We have a deck!!
Now mom has a spot to relax and watch the family magic happen! 😉
Yes, its huge! The land directly behind the house used to be another house attached. This left the ground hilly, dead, full of bricks and glass, and in general, useless. So, cover it up we did. We filled in two giant cisterns and started a deck slab. Next year we will add a pergola to the blank spot of house where the table is now. We will put a pool in down below and then the following year add another piece of deck to half wrap around the pool. It will be the ultimate dream area when we are finished.
We do still want to add trellis to the bottom to keep everything out, but that will happen this fall.
One thing that was super important to us when adding the deck was having some shade, as we have very little from the one small existing tree.
My favorite umbrellas?! From Abba Patio! (You can use code La10 on your order with them too!) The 11 foot red stripe is gorgeous! And so easy to use. We custom installed it with brackets we made, but it can go on a table or a base as well. This keep it so much cooler in the shaded areas!!
Next I need to find some outdoor rugs to tie in the different areas. Suggestions?? I’m being so indecisive!
Also, looking for an outdoor sectional. Maybe a hot tub?! 😜
The table and chairs are from Menards. The wood lantern is from Walmart, along with the orange striped pillow and turquoise planters. The beach bag below is from Amazon.
The kids table is Step 2 and an awesome thing to have if you have littles. We use it all the time!
Tip- use a beach bag or tote like the one below to hold your deck or patio essentials. We take it in at night and bring out each day. Super helpful to keep things corralled while not getting ruined being left outside. We keep sunscreen, bug spray, santizer, sunglasses, beach towels, a speaker, and anything we want for the day inside. So handy!!
XX,
Jess
Bathroom Update
I thought we were going to live with the 85% bathroom update for a while. But we got a little shove to take it to 98% done now. 🤣 What this means is that we redid the flooring! Yay! And we added a mirror and a couple more custom shelves in the laundry room.
We used snap-in wood and vinyl flooring and it was super easy! Except for dealing with the uniqueness of an antique house with crooked walls and missing trim, etc, but we managed and it’s been amazing and seems super durable already. We ended up going with large quarter round as trim because we need to hide some of those flaws from a very old house. But I love the look here!
The ONLY thing left is to replace the faucet. Soon. We are going to live with the sink and counter top for a while, but I can deal with that.
How cute are the little shelves holding laundry items?! We made them the same way, with plumbing pipes and hand whitewashed boards.
Remember, this is a mini refresh, (see the before shots, yikes, 2 posts back!) not a total overhaul, so this girl will still have to dream of one day having a stacking washer and dryer and wall cabinetry. This is gorgeous to me for now! 😉
Xx,
Jess
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Bath/Laundry Room Update
We knew we wanted a fixer-upper, and we sure got it with this one! But we are enjoying putting in the work and making it into what we want for a home. The bathroom was no exception. We can’t afford a complete gut and overhaul of every room (I wish!), so this is a little refresh.
Before:
After:
We will put a new faucet in soon and plan to redo the bath and laundry room floors in a few months. But for now, wow. Its clean. Its peaceful. I’m in love.
We made the bathroom hook boards because in old houses you are at the mercy of where the studs may or may not be when hanging things. Attach the hooks in the spacing you want and then attach the boards to the wall where the studs allow.
We also made the shelves ourselves and hand “grayed” the boards by smearing white paint with fingers. Tedious but so worth it. The brackets are plumbing hardware and can be found at Mendards. We painted the parts with a light oil rubbed bronze spray paint.
We made the jar light fixture by painting the old silver fixture with oil rubbed bronze paint and adding the jars. We took solid jar lids and made holes in them to fix the jars to the fixture. Once it’s all painted you can’t see what method you used to attach them.
All on a budget for a quick fix up. We did add a new shower, as ours was a walk in when we bought the house and we needed a tub for the kids. Paint and curtains, and especially shelving, make a huge, but affordable difference!
Here are some fun detail shots.
A few detail links:
What do you think? Any recommendations?
Xx,
Jess
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Boys’ Room Reveal
I’ve worked on it for a year and I can finally say it’s as done as it’s getting right now. 🤣 When we moved to this house a year ago and I was pregnant, we decided the boys would share a room. This way I could have an office, and the office would double as a play room/workout room, so that kids could be in there while I worked if needed. I also knew that I wanted an outdoors-y theme that could work for both a baby and a young boy. Brantley already had a farm theme as a baby, with many pieces we wanted to incorporate, and he asked for camo bedding in his new room. If you’ve been here before, you also know that when we moved to this house it needed a lot of work. A lot. We ripped carpet out of this room, added electrical outlets and a light fixture, painted… and we still have more to do…eventually. But for now, here it is!
Each of the boys has a bit different theme on their side of the room, but with light gray walls, tree curtains, tree decals, and some animals throughout, it seems to flow for now.
Barrett’s baby shower theme was woodland animals, knowing that I would use the animal and nature idea for his room.
Brantley has kept some of his farm theme and added the camo to just be plain outdoorsy!
I made both of the boys’ mobiles, which Brantley has outgrown the need for, but are both too cute to get rid of for now.
What do you think? The way we organize clothes will change as the boys grow and we remodel some more. The room currently has no closet. Thanks, old 1862 house. It’s an evolving work in progress. But the boys love having their own space and even love sharing for now. 😆
XOXO,
Jess
The Fake Chimney
This ancient house once had a chimney, two actually. In fact, one is still partially there. In the living room, you can see the shape of the old chimney up one wall. Usually I love character and uniqueness from times past. In this case, though, they covered this chimney up since there was no longer a fireplace. Then, since you could still see the shape of it, they added faux brick to it. Horrible, ugly, pinkish faux brick. It didn’t stand out nearly so bad when the little old lady who lived here previously had the room dark, dingy, and covered in nude paint and odd decor. But once we painted the walls grey, lightened the room, and completed changed the style, the chimney stood out like a sad, sore thumb.0ec56792a3b0f484bcf03c32a4763bf50bca28e68adedf8191
You get the picture here, but unfortunately this is even a mid-project shot. I really wish I had a picture of the drab room when the previous owner lived here to show!
We debated for a while. Do we tear it out? Do we paint it? Do we just take the faux brick off and embrace the odd shape in the room?
One day I said I was painting the bricks white and because we owned the paint and this was “free”, it would at the very least be a temporary solution and that we could always do something different down the road when we had more time. (Ha!)
No one stopped me, so I went forward with a brush and some paint. My plan was to add a couple of coats and make them completely white. One coat in I found that it was actually a bit difficult to get the paint down in all the crevices. We left the one, imperfect coat to dry for a night. The next day we realized the this “whitewashed” look was it. I didn’t need a second coat at all.
Then I wanted a faux mantel to finish it off. Several weeks of debating with each other ensued. I had a very specific picture in my mind of color, shape and size.
We finally have that little mantel, made of 100-some year old barnwood, added to our chimney. And I LOVE it.
Sometimes tiny, simple, easy projects turn into more lengthy and complex ones. Ok, usually. But, when you are done and sit back and look at your work, that makes it all worth it
Don’t mind the empty wall next to it, at least the Christmas tree fills the space for now. I have plans for huge floating shelves all up and down there as “built-ins” for the room. Any guess how long that will take us? 😂
Teen Bedroom Redo
So, I’ve mentioned that this new-to-us old house is in pretty ugly shape and that we have been redoing all the rooms bit by bit. One of the rooms that hadn’t gotten any love since we moved in was Jordin’s room. Check out these dingy, bland, old lady looking photos:
We hadn’t even hung anything on the walls because we knew we wanted to paint. Poor girl! Plus, the rooms all need to have more outlets put in (how is one outlet nearly enough?!) and overhead lights with switches added (hello?!). Needless to say, she was not thrilled in her set up. But, enter her 16th birthday, and we had the perfect excuse to make ourselves get the room beautified and surprise her with completely glammed out digs. Annnd… after:
Ta da! Total teen girl. Her jaw dropped. Win!
This was the mint turquoise color she had picked for her bedroom at our previous house and she was really wanting it again. It is super pretty, and not quite as bright in person. She also loves pink and peach. I added some navy to calm and tie the colors in and some gold hints for glam factor. Sounds busy. Totally goes.
Some old, some new, plenty of Hobby Lobby help. She wanted a little girly and a little rustic. She also wanted “fairy lights” so fairy lights she got.
We can’t change the brown furniture (it was her grandmas), and new carpet isn’t going to happen just yet, so working with what you’ve got sometimes has to just work… but…
Truly I love how it turned out. Dont tell her but Santa is thinking about a rug and a chandelier, along with new knobs for the drawers. 😍
Quick Paint Job
Winter is always my dreary time. Usually I don’t seem to get much done. But lately, I have been on a roll of projects! Last week I whipped out a tiny and speedy paint project. I used the same charcoal chalk paint from the small wall in the kitchen and painted the opposite facing wall in the dining room. I didn’t like the green, but love this dark, fresh color now! Here is the (messy) before:
Check out the after (forgive the Christmas decor that wouldn’t normally be there :)) :
And I just adore the new canvas of B! I’m even thinking about painting the small chunk of wall going up the stairs behind this wall. I think that will balance everything out well. Small bits at a time. After all, I have to paint after little man goes to bed 🙂 What do you think?!
Mini Paint Project
I have finally completed a tiny project that has bugging me on my to-do list forever now!
Remember the little downstairs bathroom with the cute antique cupboard… (tiny room = bad photos, sorry!)
Well, here is the very sad, and a little scary inside of this cupboard…
So, a little paint and some pretty things to make the cupboard useful, and… viola!
The cupboard is antique, and therefore has many bumps and cracks, so it will never be “perfect,” but now its not such an eyesore. When company is over I will not be so embarrassed to let them reach in for another roll of toilet paper or necessity!
I even did a bit of decorating to the necessities in the cupboard. These antique jars got new fun lids. And a small box got a bright cover to hold small things.
Aah, much better! What do you think? More projects on the way too! 🙂
A New Chair Love And Wedding Tid Bits
I fell in love with another chair. That happens often, doesn’t it? My wonderful, loving fiance drove me an hour away to pick the cutie up. Now, we have one more seat in the living room. Best part of this little guy though, is that it would work in just about every room of the house as things evolve.
What do you think?? I’m in love. I love the navy and white stripes, but my favorite part is the nail head trim that goes all the way around the back. I think he is pretty old and was redone with changes to the bottom half and I just adore how they did it! He even has casters, which make it easy to reposition for company. And once the walls are painted I think this will work so well in here.
Also, we have been super swamped with wedding planning. I have made every little detail by hand, and wold love to show you all, but also want them to be a surprise, so that will have to wait! But, I did want to show our framed engagement picture. This will be used at the wedding too, but also will be on the wall in our living room, somewhere! Notice the same feel of the stripes? Not intended, but I love it! I took an old frame and painted it, then roughed it up. The mat was also painted in one of our wedding colors. I think it turned out really well.
I think the two new additions go so nicely together in the living room! And, the rest of the wedding details are coming along too! Can’t wait to share! Only three months from today! 🙂
