Master Bath Shower Curtain

How many of you out there have young kids? Or maybe you remember what it was like to have young kids? It's a typical lament of moms: the fact that once you have kids all privacy goes out the window. 

When we moved into our home in Saint Louis, I had just given birth to our 4th child six weeks before. She was adorable and I had no problem sticking her in her bouncy seat in the bathroom while I showered. Even having my then almost two year old hang out in the bathroom with us wasn't a big deal to me. However, I also had a five year old and four year old in the mix, and at some point your worried you're going to scar you kids for life if they keep barging into the bathroom all the time. 

There really is no place to hide when you have a free standing shower like we do. 

Funny thing is- it doesn't seem to get much better as they get older.  I still get visitors even though the oldest is now 12 and the baby will soon be 6. 

What's that you say? Lock the bathroom door? Yeah. I've tried that. But do you have any idea how difficult it can be to hear a little one's complaints over the sound of running water and a closed door? Most times those complaints are of no consequence, but there are times that it's legit and I need to speed things up.

So, what to do when you don't have walls to put a rod between and your husband says no holes in the shower surround and nothing inside the shower stall. {I mean, we can't have it be too easy, right?!}

The answer came when I was looking for supplies for another project. These nifty little brackets are meant to allow the user to adjust the curtain distance from the wall. 

(picture linked)

But when you pair them with these L-brackets

(picture linked)

And rotate the adjustable piece of the curtain rod bracket 180* and insert the screw upside down...... You end up with a little bit of magic!!!

I did this little trick on both ends of the curtain rod, but left the decorative end off the end by the wall. 

The kids can now come in the bathroom to cry, complain, ask questions, argue, whatever!! - and I can keep my privacy!

Just add some shower rings and a curtain of your choice, and this can fit into just about any decor theme. 

What to see the rest of my master bath? Take a look at my post Master Bath Reveal. 

Keep loving Life!

**Bonus tips:

- Make sure you tighten the small screws where the rod sits.

- Measure the width of the shower where the brackets will sit to make sure it will fit over it easily.

- Felt could easily be added under the bracket to protect shower surround from getting scratched. 

Getting Organized for School: Part 2

I laid the ground work for this series Monday with Part 1.  Go take a look at that if you haven't, yet.

Today is all about the calendar!

It's taken a few years to figure out a good system for me, but here are a couple of things that have consistently helped me the most.

Wall Calendar

I'm such a visual person that I have to have a wall calendar in a very obvious, in your face spot.  And, since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, that's become the calendar's home.

It has morphed a bit over the years that we've been here, though.

 These white board calendars were purchased from Walmart a few years ago.  I'm sure I didn't spend more than $12 per board. {I'm pretty cheap when it comes to things like this.}  I have LOVED having two boards!  My original intent was to switch the boards back and forth as the months changed.  I even put them up on the wall with the Velcro Command Strips so it would be very easy to rotate them.  And it was.  But, I got tired of doing that and now every other month the months are backward.  No big deal to me.

Why two months?  Well, I was constantly not prepared for the start of the next month.  It really bugged me!  I would make overlapping plans or I would procrastinate on getting the next month written up and miss an appointment.  Having two calendars allows me to start planning for the next month and keep it visual.

Ok.  So, having two months up has worked well.  The clutter at the bottom was starting to really get on all our nerves.  I thought the Rust-Oleum Magnetic Paint would be the help I was looking for.  Sadly, it wasn't.

While technically the paint works, it's not worth the money or the time.  Yes, it will hold magnets on the wall, but even the stronger magnets won't hold an appointment post card to it.  I also had to put several more layers of paint up than what were recommended.  Now I have a ridge where the black paint is.  Lesson learned, though.

When I figure out my alternative method, I'll be sure to share.

This is what I now have on my wall.

It's not a complete Command Center, but what I have is working nicely.

I also added this little dry erase board in between the larger boards.

It has really helped to have a place to quickly glance at and see the highlights for the current week.

Now that we have the wall calendar covered, let's move on to electronic.

Electronic Calendar

Having an IPhone, I was using the calendar app that came with it.  It was fine.  Had all the features I needed - calendar, location, multiple alarms, and so forth.

What it lacked was being able to connect with my husband and others.  Maybe I didn't know how to use it to it's fullest potential, though.

Now we use Google Calendar.

The set up definitely works for me.  Our local church group is able to post different activities on the calendar and it automatically goes to my phone.  Whenever Kevin adds an event or appointment to his phone it automatically goes on mine and vise a versa.  I get to color code the events so I can glance and quickly know if an event pertains to family, church, school or work.  (Visual, remember)  It has made things so much easier for me to keep and stay on top of my life and my family's.  It also keeps Kevin and I from double scheduling our life.  

These are all very simple, inexpensive fixes to such a big part of life!  While the family Command Center is still a bit of a work in progress, what I have is working.  Working so well I rarely miss an appointment or special event.  The older kids are able to add school activities as they come up and help keep our life a little less stressful with fewer last minute surprises, too.

Now that you see what I do, I'm curious what everyone else has come up with to keep your events organized.  Do you keep a calendar or two (or three!) on your wall?  Which app do you use on your phone?  Or are you one of those people who can keep it all tucked away in your mind and never miss a beat?  Share and let us all know what you do!  Hop on over to My Life on Facebook and comment or post a picture.

Look for the next on Friday!

House to Home: Master Bathroom

I've been saying for years that I need to start decorating my home.  I have a lot of trouble settling on what I really want when it comes to making our house a home.  I don't go for a modern look.  It's just not me.  {That's one of the great things about each of us having our own spaces to work on, I guess.} I'm more a cosy, comfortable, traditional kinda gal.

One day it hit me - I was living in my house of 5 years and I really hadn't made it a home yet!  So, I got started.

Of all the rooms I decided to tackle first, I'm really not sure why I went with the master bathroom.  Maybe because it isn't seen/used by many others besides my husband and myself.  I could get the tools and supplies out and not have to worry about putting everything out of little ones' reach whenever I had to stop for the day.

Whatever my reasoning, or non-reasoning, that's where I started.

Here's a few before pictures! (Have to have those, right?) These were taken on our initial walk through before purchasing.

Tub and Shower Area

Sink Area

It's not bad.  It's actually a really great bathroom with lots of room and beautiful fixtures.  I can't take any credit for the choices made, though.  The people who built the house and then didn't complete the purchase, did a great job picking them out.

Soon after moving in, we realized the lights over the vanity weren't going to cut it in lighting up our whole bathroom.  This fixture was found one night while wondering through one of our favorite home stores on clearance for about $25.

Thankfully, Hubby is very handy and was able to run a new line and box to the area where we wanted the light all by himself.  {Really there wasn't enough space in the small attic crawl space for both of us to fit.  And... I wouldn't have been any help anyway.}  It's even on a separate switch!

Things kinda stalled at that point.  Life has a way of creeping in and taking over completely - we had another little one, kids started school, lasting medical issues, and many more just everyday things.

Fast forward to my little epiphany about not having a home, and I quickly got a gallon of paint in Gobi Desert, unearthed all my tools from the basement, and got started.

Yep.  Neutral.  Not exciting; but, I feel that I will be able to switch out accent colors as I want.

Current accent color?  White! With a bit of black thrown in.

Tub After

Sink After

Shower

Behind the door I have a couple of hooks to hang our towels on.

When the decorating started, I made this no-sew valance for the large window.

I liked it, but I really like this and it's more what I originally had in mind.  Cafe rod and window scarf were both purchased from Walmart.

These wrought iron wall decorations I've had for years, and they fit in perfectly on this side wall.  The towel rod is Sienna by Moen - very pretty and easy to put up.

Overall, I am soooo pleased with the results!  It's simple, relaxing and uncluttered.

Sink Before and After

Tub Before and After

Now on to the next room!

House to Home: Dresser Redo

Last week was a great, productive, week for me.  So many projects, big and small, completed in such a short amount of time.  (I'm now looking back on the time before I had kids and wondering how I could have possibly wasted all that time!!)

First project up for your viewing pleasure is this lovely dresser.  Well, this is how the dresser started.  Can you see it?

This is the only picture I could find of a 'before' shot.  Here's a little closer.

Basically, it's a six drawer dresser that is about 34" high and 46" long.

This dresser has been in our family for years.  That fact would make you think it's a prized antique.  Um..... it's not.  It's just old.

I had it in my room growing up and my parents were nice enough to let me have it when I got married.  (I think my mom may have even had it when she was growing up.)  Maybe not the most attractive piece; but, free is always great when just starting out right?

I finally got the go ahead from Kevin to overhaul the dresser in the summer of 2012.  I think?  Or maybe I just decided I wouldn't be in trouble for cutting it apart at that point.   Because, you know, once the drawers start to fall apart and the remaining drawers make awful squeaking noises when being pulled out or pushed in, you no longer have to worry about really messing things up.

Anyway.... This is how far I got that summer.

The kids were getting ready to start school, life was busy and we ended up getting blindsided by some medical issues, so the dresser got put on the back burner.  (Read more about all that on Madi's Milestones. Link to first post.)

Not to say that those three years leading up to today were all hunky-dory, but I'm glad I wasn't able to  finish the dresser before now.  The darker the surface, the more dust and dirt shows.  And black shows everything!

So I decided to go with the color white when I picked up my paint brush last week.  No dust showing on that surface!

I covered the dresser with 3 coats of Behr Premium Plus Paint & Primer in One in Ultra Pure White from Home Depot.  Both a brush and small roller were needed to do the project.

Obviously, the inside needed to be painted since it all showed.  This really sucked up a lot of the paint, but having a 'paint and primer in one' helped to get the coverage needed.

I also skipped painting the areas that wouldn't be seen unless you are sitting or laying on the floor.  (Just stay on your feet if you come visit, m'kay?)

You can still see the grooves from the original construction where the front drawer supports were.  I decided to leave them as is instead of filling with wood filler.  Adds a little charm to it - at least, that's what I'm telling myself. 

This is the new home for this piece.  It fits just about perfect along a short wall toward the back of our living room.  

To make it useful and not just pretty (ha!), I had several bins on hand that fit perfectly.

These little fabric bins were purchased from Target when I first started on the project.  I already had a vision in mind and knew if I waited I wouldn't be able to find them later.  (I have no idea if they are available in the store, but I couldn't find them online anywhere.)

I also found some Threshold Milkcrate Decorative Baskets at Target on a different trip.  They've worked great as toy bins in our living room for a year or so.  Nice and roomy storage, but don't scream 'toy bin' when you see them in the space.

All the bins fit perfectly in the space!

In the small bins, we have puzzles for the younger kids.  The big two house all the Duplo Legos.

I took one of the lamps that we rarely use and set it on top.  Little by little, I'm sure I'll fill the space, but for now I'm pretty content.  Family pictures will be printed off and used to cover the wall above the dresser, too.  That will be done with a couple of friends who have a better eye for that kind of thing, though.

So, this is where we are right now.

So pleased with the results!!  Let me know what you think!