Project 6: Contain The Pieces -Complete-

I swear to goodness, every single day of my life I am picking up the tiny, endless pieces that go to the many puzzles, games and who knows what that we have in our house. My 2-year-old lately thinks it great fun to open boxes and dump the contents on the floor. I pick it up, he does it again. Repeat. It is beyond frustrating. And then my husband comes home and comments on the mess in the house. I would like to know how people maintain these lovely homes with children. I am finding it quite difficult. So this project is about finding a way to contain and lock up these mountain making, spreading, frustration causing bits and pieces.

It has taken me several days to settle on this cabinet. I wanted a larger space for all of the games, puzzles, play dough, and other stuff that seems to end up everywhere but in their respective boxes or containers. The larger spaces we have are not easy to lock, which is the whole point. So after much deliberating I have decided to make this space work, as is is lockable with one of these doohickeys --

These are pretty good. By the time the kids can get this off, I am hopeful they will be responsible enough with the stuff that we'll keep in here. (hopeful......)

This looks neat and tiny now....but I know there's ton more stuff that qualifies for this cabinet! We'll see what we can fit. Maybe having a couple of things out at a time is the way to go..... Anyhow, I pleased to have this done. =)

Project 5: Medicine Safe - Complete!

This is something I've wanted to do for a while. This is a cabinet filled with medicines, vitamins, supplements, essential oils and related items. The kids don't hesitate to climb up and help themselves to Bandaids and whatever else they can get their hands on. Time to lock them up.

Consulting with hubby, we both like the idea of finding a small, locking something-or-other that will fit right into the cabinet. Let's see what I can find.

I am feeling so good about myself! I went online and started to look at locking safes, locking cabinets and locking medicine cabinets. I found many, but few that looked close to what I was looking for. None that were perfect. I told hubby that I thought we'd need to go shopping and actually look at what was available, to be sure we got what we liked. Then I said that perhaps with the huge quantity of stuff we have in our house there might be something we could use. I headed down to the basement. (with 2-year-old in tow =)  ) I found this! A picnic case, complete with plates, silverware and napkins. The case has a double zip on it, which means I can lock the zipper pulls together! Perfect! I am very pleased with my ability to rethink and reuse!! And it saves me a trip to the store, which is really a pain with the kids. So here goes....the transfer of the meds.

Transfer complete! I know I'm going to have to pull half of this stuff out every time I want something, but it's worth the peace of mind knowing that my kids won't get into something they shouldn't.


I love my essential oils! =)

This project was like the shower head project. Once I started, it was done very quickly. It's one of those that makes me wonder what took me so long to get started on it. (grin)

Project 4: The Art Wall -In Progress-

I love my children's drawings and art. I do! But I think this could be neatened up a bit. My immediate thought was to cover it in cork board. Wow, the stuff is expensive! To cover the wooden area next to my fridge, it would have cost just under $40.00. Yeeks! So instead I went to ebay, and found a 2'x4' roll for $17.00. Still way too much, but whatever. So I bought it, it'll be on its way soon.

Well, the roll of cork board arrived. I didn't count on it being so very thin! It is simply not possible that a regular thumb tack would go into and stay there. I don't get it. How does one use this stuff? I'm still pondering ways to make this work. Maybe I should use it to create something else. But that doesn't solve this problem. Back to the drawing board....