Home Tour (Part 7) : The Family Room

  Wow, it's been several months since I shared the next instalment in my Home Tour. It's about time I showed you another room! 

  I must admit to you that the reason I haven't showed you this room is because I'm not in love with some of the furniture. We are hoping to be able to replace some of it soon, but for now it is what it is. 

  So here's the family room as of last week...

  Sorry about the bad lighting. This room is hard to photograph since it's in our basement & there's no natural light.

Here's what this room looked like when we bought the house. 

Pretty much a blank, boring, & somewhat dirty slate.

(And look how little my daughter is! That was almost 5 years ago now...)

 
  So, as you can see, we ripped up the old, dirty carpet & laid laminate flooring. We painted the walls & trim (No more periwinkle door!) and we updated the lighting.

My Ikea Expedit Bookshelf which I love!

Here are my ideas of how to spruce up the space while we wait for some new furniture:

• New artwork above the couch (I'm in the middle of working on this one & should be able to show it to you next week.)
• New artwork for T.V. wall
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

And because we all enjoy before & after shots...

Ta-da!

So, be sure to come back next week for the art project I'm working on for this room.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Haha! Can you guess what it is?? :)

Have a great weekend! See you next week!

Coconut Bounty Bites

Okay, friends, if you like Bounty candy bars, raise your hand...

I see those hands! :) 

Then have I got a treat for you!

They only have 4 ingredients & there is no baking required... so easy!

Mother's Day Free Printable

I've created my first printable for Mother's Day!

You should be able to click on the image & print it off. 

Or, click HERE.

Enjoy!

Check out the great parties I link up to here!

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subscribe by email, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

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This printable was featured at:

Mission: Kid's Toy Organization

As a part of our Easter break & spring cleaning, our kids & I had a mission:

To sort & purge all their toys, games, puzzles, books, & other loot.

Look at the mess that had been going on all winter...

Audrey's room:

Ponies, Princesses, & Pet Shops, oh my!

Messes scattered everywhere because all the storage space was full!

We came to this conclusion: they just had TOO MUCH STUFF! 

So, before we started, I explained to the kids what we were going to do & that they would have to make some choices as to what they wanted to keep & what they were willing to let go. 

As an added perk, I told them that if there were toys & other items in good condition that they no longer wanted, we could try to sell them on Kijiji & they could use whatever money they made for spending money on our vacation this summer.

I must say that the kids totally surprised me in the amount of toys & stuff they were willing to let go!

They did SO well!

Here are my daughter's bins after we sorted & purged...

I also googled & found pictures of the toys she wanted to keep. I printed off those pictures & used packing tape to label the bins so she can see what goes in each bin, since she can't yet read.

In the middle of the job, I ran out of tape, so that's why the top photo doesn't show them all complete. :) 

Off to the store for more packing tape!

Labels for her bins:

Purses

My Little Ponies

Littlest Pet Shops

Crowns & jewelry

Strawberry Shortcake

Balls

Doll accessories (bottles & clothes)

Tea set

I left a few bins un-labeled just because the toys that she had left really didn't fit into a "category". 

Those toys I leave up to her as to which unmarked bin she wants to put them in. 

Parker's room:

His toy bin was pretty full so the top of these drawers was always a dumping ground... 

hence the housecoat, gas mask, parrot, & play back pack... 

only in a boy's room would you find such a random assortment of items in any one place.

  After organizing all the books, toys, games he wanted to keep, throwing away all the broken toys, & making a pile of toys & books to sell or give away, here is my son's closet. 

Even though he can read, he was happy to have the picture labels on his toy drawers too.

Labels for his drawers:

Top - games

Middle - electronics

Bottom - colouring books, activity books, & markers

The rest of his toys go in the big bin on the left. He has a smaller, separate bin just for his lego as well.

All the other places that were dumping grounds are much neater. 

They are finding that it's a lot easier to keep things tidy when everything has a home that isn't overflowing. :)

Look at the huge amount of toys, books, games, & puzzles that the kids gave away or sold!

And because we all like before & after shots...

So much better!

And another thing I can cross off my spring cleaning list!

Enjoy your day!

Check out these great parties I link up to!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, feel free to become a follower, 

subscribe by email, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Spray Paint & the Frog

Do you remember this guy?

No? Then let me refresh your memory. :)

I purchased this ceramic golden toad on a thrifty adventure last fall. 

At first, my kids informed me that it was a poison dart frog, but after some more research, 

we discovered that an orange frog is actually called a golden toad. 

You needed to know that, right? ;)

I finally got around to giving this chap a few coats of black spray paint...

He now holds a place of honour in my kitchen with his pot scrubber at the ready. 

He sure adds a touch of whimsy to the kitchen. And a touch of nostalgia as well. 

I remember my mom having something similar next to the kitchen sink when I was a kid.

Good memories. :)

Another successful mini makeover!

Enjoy your day!

Check out these great parties I link up to!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, feel free to become a follower, 

subscribe by email, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)