Monday Mentionables: Upcycling Ideas & Wall Decals

I cannot believe summer is practically over and fall is around the corner. However that does mean the munchkins and I survived many days that were hot, long and boring (according to some little people)! Although I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with them and the lessons I learned about patience (grr! haha), I think we are all ready for the structure and busyness that school brings. 🙂

Today, I’d like to share with you all some things I’ve been doing to make our house more of a home. I realized this summer has been the first time in a long time that I’ve had the desire or energy to make improvements to our abode. Some projects are still in progress, but here’s what I’ve done so far.

1. Upcycled T-shirt Wall Art. I took an old shirt of hubby’s (one that was definitely well loved because it had many holes in it), cut out the back and glued it on a piece of styrofoam. Voila!

This little reminder of Hawaii is now hanging in our master bathroom.
I love the quotes on it – so funny and true!

Kimo’s Kauai Rules

Never judge a day by the weather.

The best things in life aren’t things.

Tell the truth – there’s less to remember.

Speak softly and wear a loud shirt.

Goals are deceptive – the unaimed arrow never misses.

He who dies with the most toys still dies.

Age is relative – when you’re over the hill you pick up speed.

There are 2 ways to be rich – make more or desire less.

Beauty is internal – looks mean nothing.

No rain – no rainbows.

2. Upcycled Art Supply Rack. I got the idea from this website to turn an old wine rack into a holder for the kids’ markers and crayons. We used to keep all the supplies in an old baby wipe box, but it soon became a very disorganized mess.

Yes, that’s Chloe and her beloved chicky trying to hide from the camera.

With some paper cups and a glue gun, we now have an organized collection of random art supplies! 🙂 Don’t you love how each color has its own spot? It’s amazing how happy this little project made me (yes, I am still a bit square when it comes to organizing).

Each cup that is glued on the rack has another cup in it
so the kids can remove the whole cup for the color they need. Brilliant, huh? 😉

Isn’t upcycling cool?! 🙂 Check out this site for many more ideas, such as turning glass jars into snow globes or tennis balls into towel holders.

3. Wall Decals. I had originally wanted to paint this wall of our family room a cheery yellow color, but I kind of lost my “will to paint” a few weeks ago (which explains why our upstairs bathroom is only half done). So I turned to a much simpler way of upgrading the walls – decals! They are just like stickers, but are also repositionable so they make decorating so much easier and fun! They did however take more time to apply cause I wanted to get them “just right”. It was a great lesson in patience for the kiddos who were helping me, though they did get a little antsy after I redid the bottom right branch three times. 😉