Menu Board

One of my New Years Resolutions this year was to get back on the menu planning wagon. My friend Crystal suggested we take a little inspiration and make menu boards like these. I am so excited about how mine turned out.

I started by making a list of about 30 recipes that our family enjoys. Then I wrote them on my cards (I used white index cards that I cut in half horizontally). My plan is to write the ingredient list on the back of each card to make meal planning even easier, but I haven't finished this yet.

This was especially easy for me to make because Rowdy in Room 30 had all of the printables available! So, I just printed and cut. For my actual board I used an old picture frame that I had turned into a chalkboard awhile back with chalkboard paint. I used clothes pins for my days of the week. To make my card and pen holder I just used an empty toilet paper roll that I taped on the bottom. Then I hot glued everything on.

My family loves this menu board. They love looking and seeing what is for dinner. I also thought it would be fun from time to time to let them help plan the meals by going through the cards or letting everyone pick a card for the week.

I also made extra cards for nights for nights when we have other dinner plans, "Dinner with Family", "Out to Eat", "Leftovers", "Peine Family" (our small group), "Freezer Meal".

I think this is going to really keep me on track with my menu planning. Plus, it is pretty to look at... win/win!

Make Your Home a Haven

Do any of you follow Courtney over at Women Living Well? I found her blog several years ago and it was one of the first Christian woman/mom blogs I started reading. It is still one of my favorites today. I love how Courtney has a such a heart for her family and home and she gives lots of practical advice for homemaking. And even more, Courtney loves the Word of God and she shares practically how to study and learn from the Bible.

All of this to say, Courtney has been doing a challenge over at her blog called, Making Your Home a Haven. She is sharing ways to make your home a peaceful and beautiful place for you and your family. I was sold on the concept immediately. Right now with three young kiddos, another one on the way, a dog, and a cat I wouldn't say "peaceful" is the first word I would use to describe our home right now!

The first week Courtney challenged us to light a candle in one of the main rooms in our house and have it burning all day. Not only does this look (and smell!) wonderful and peaceful but the candle is then used as a reminder to pray for peace in your home. I love this. I have been doing this everyday. I have my candle right in my kitchen. I blow it out if we go anywhere but as soon as we are back home I try to remember to light it again!

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This week's challenge was to play soft music in your home. This is never something I have really done. However, I really want to give it a try! I found a classical Christmas station on Pandora and made breakfast this morning to instrumentals of my favorite Christmas songs.

This was huge change in the tone of my morning. I usually feel a little stressed in the morning (I am not naturally a morning person, I joke often that no one should even talk to me until I have had a cup of coffee) but this morning, honestly, I felt anything but stressed. The candle and soft music combined with the fireplace on and a yummy cup of coffee from my new Keurig started my day off right! What a huge improvement from cartoons on in the background and kiddos fighting over which show they want to watch!

It makes me wonder how often there are little things we can do to make our home a happier and more peaceful place for our families? Sometimes it takes a little more effort and thought beforehand to light candles, turn on music, etc. but what if it could turn around your entire day? I am willing to make a little extra effort!

What kinds of things do you do to make your home a little more of a haven?

Take a Seat

We have lived in our house for just over 3 years and until recently the walls in our staircase were totally empty. My Grandma had donated some boxes of things for our small group's garage sale a few months ago and in one of the boxes I found a collection of miniature chairs. Empty staicase wall? Not anymore...

I have considered spray painting them all the same color in the future. But for now I think they are kind of funky and fun the way they are.

Max's room

One of my other spray paint projects a few weeks ago was spray painting a cheapo headboard and footboard I found on Craigslist for $10. It was beat up but solid wood. And, since my sweet 5 year old had been living with just a mattress and box spring on the floor (classy, right?) I felt like he needed a "real" bed!

Here are the pieces before...

I ended up just using the headboard for now. We don't have the parts to attach the footboard and I think I might just like the headboard. It is small (the mattress set is really tall) but I think for the price it works great. Since we are thinking of having the boys share a room down the road and getting bunk beds I didn't want to invest much money into this bed.

I think Max's room is looking pretty cute!

I heart spray paint

Just wanted to pop in and show one of my completed spray paint projects from last week. We had this cheapo piece of furniture we bought when we were first married and living in our town home and had like, no storage! The doors of it broke  off in our most recent move so it had been sitting in the garage. I was looking for a piece of furniture to put in our laundry room to hold shoes and such and since I was working on a small budget I knew I needed to use something I already had. Enter the old shelf! With a little spray paint, some new knobs, a tension rod, and a fabric drop cloth from the hardware store this is our newest piece of furniture! Here is the before and after!

Before and after

 Do you notice the "very dramatic" before and after?

I am a spray painting fool today! I will post all of my fun projects later this week!

Fresh Start

I know a lot of people think of the New Year or even spring as a fresh start, but for me, fall has always signified a fresh start. Maybe it comes from years of being in school and the start of a new school year, but something about fall just seems to remind me that God says that he makes all things new. I love the start of new activities, getting into a routine, and I even love to rearrange my home and spruce things up in the fall!

The above pictures are a few of the areas of my home that have recently been "made new". And I love that while I have been busy sprucing up my home, God has been busy sprucing up my heart!

Sneaky Peaky

Gosh, summer seems to be just flying by! Can you believe it is almost July? 

I have been busy with a few projects around the house. Here is a sneak peak at my latest endeavor... repainting the living room! 

I am excited to give you all the full reveal. But first, I have a coffee table to paint! And I might need to rearrange the room a few hundred more times first :)