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Decluttering Your Home for Fall and Why You Should

I love having a clutter free home. But every so often, the clutter creeps up on me and I don’t even realize it. When we moved, I thought I had gotten rid of lots of stuff that I did not use or did not really enjoy. But apparently, I was wrong. As I was (and still is) in the process of figuring where things should go and what I actually want the space to look like, I am realizing that I still have lots of items that make me feel so cluttered. Maybe not too many items compared to hoarders but still a bit too much for my taste. Trying to find a spot for all the things was bringing me more frustration than I knew it. My solution? Go through all the bins and boxes of decor and clothing items and get rid of the ones we don’t use.

One main set of items that added to my frustration were the loads of wall decor (think picture frames, mirrors, wood signs, etc). I cannot tell you how many times I unpacked them all with intention to hang them up but got discouraged and put them right back in their boxes and bins. There were just too many – I finally decided to set aside some time to sort through them again and do away with the ones that no longer were bringing joy. Some were given away and others got thrown out. I also decluttered a bunch of clothing items that were no longer used but were just filling up space.

It is always helpful to do some decluttering before a new season begins. Personally, I am not a fan of adding clutter upon clutter. Keep in mind that what I consider clutter may not be considered as clutter by others. But I am loving the simplicity before bringing in Fall and I plan to keep it simple. Simple elegance is something I am learning to embrace as too many things tend to make me feel so disorganized. My home is not run as smoothly when things feel out of sorts. 

faux-flower-centerpiece

How about you? Does your home feel cluttered to you? If it does, then maybe it is time to dedicate a few minutes a day to make your home feel lighter again. Remember that clutter to you may only mean a few extra items in your home that you don’t need where as to someone else, loads of items. It boils down to what makes your home happy and what is best for your family. If you need a little bit of motivation, here are five ways you can declutter your home for Fall (or anytime): 

  • Give away or sell good items that are not needed
  • Throw away broken, damaged, not salvageable
  • Clean out and get rid of dust and dirt
  • Switch out seasonal decor
  • Embrace simplicity

Download the free printable five-ways-to-declutter-your-home-for-fall and use as a motivator if you need it.

five-ways-to-declutter-your-home-for-fall-season

Your home will look and feel much better. It will create more room and allow the day to day home operations to be a bit smoother. Also, decluttering your home before a new season will help avoid the potential clutter added upon clutter. And as always, if you think that you do not have the time for it, think again. 10 minutes a day goes a long way and you will begin to enjoy your space much better.

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five-ways-to-declutter-your-home-for-the-fall-season

Are you planning on doing some decluttering before ringing in Fall? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments about what you plan to do. Here is to less clutter and more home.

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Home is My Happy Place Free Printable

Hi friends, today I have a special little surprise for you. Do you love free printables? I have a beautiful oneย made just for home.

my happy place free

Every now and then, I get a desire to create something special for the home. This is one of my recent creations. You all may have seen some printables I created in various posts, especially the loads for kids activities. They do take time, so many times I don’t always get to them as fast as I would like. But I have been working on creating more printables to add to my home decor and also to add to Etsy. I have been on Etsy for a few years now and created a shop a while ago. I even made a bunch of printables way back to add to that shop but got so busy that those printables neverย made it to Etsy yet. If you are into making printbles, you know how time consuming these things could be and you want to make sure you have them done right.

Anyway, if you need something pretty for your home, you can downloadย My Happy Place Floralย printable (no strings attached). Not only will it look pretty in your home but it will give you a bit of inspiration to appreciate your home. This will fit in a 11×14 photo frame that is matted to 8×10. My picture exposure is a bit brighter than normal plus I printed it in draft setting to save ink but this is really a lovely print.

My Happy Place

Hope you enjoy the free printable. And if you need more inspiration like these and other budget friendly tips for the home, don’t forget to join us by signing up below.

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First Day of School Memory Keepsake Printables – for Smaller Children

Who doesn’t like printables? I love them and I have been creating them for quite a while. But maybe not as often as I would like because sometimes, they could be time consuming. But when your first child enters school for the first time, you want to make it special. I have taken photos, thrown a small family party, and made some printables to celebrate. Too much? No – the kid is excited and we want to encourage her on.ย I am sharing with you all three printables I made as “first time in school” keepsake. If you have smaller children in school, first time or not, I hope you would find them useful for making memories of your little one’s school adventures.

school coloring page

This printable describes a child’s first day of school. Print this out and help your child fill in the answers. If they cannot yet write, then fill in the information as they tell you the answers.

First day of school memory keepsake

This one is for drawing and coloring. Your child may not be able to draw his or her teacher but they can draw a face to represent.

First day of school drawing and coloring printable

 

This last oneย is oneย of myย personalย favorites. Simply print out this frame, preferably on card stock paper. Have your child glue his or her photo from his first day of school (hopefully you took one) in this frame. If you did not take a photo of the first day, then maybe the first few days or first week. You could also add this to a regular 8 x 10 picture frame to display it at home.

My first day of school

 

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first day of school memory keepsakes for smaller children

How do you like these? Hopefully, your kids will love them and will enjoy keeping their first day of school memorable.

 

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Free Back to School Cupcake Toppers

Recently, I shared our daughter’s new adventure into school. The post can be found here. To celebrate this new milestone, I threw here a small surprise party with us at home.ย I made her favorite carrot cupcakesย and decorated them with cute cupcake toppers.

cupcake toppers

I included words that described going to school for the first time and others that describedย school in general. Then I printed, cut, and glued each one to a Popsicle stick. These are geared toward smaller children from K5 to maybe 2nd grade. While we love the the cupcakesย the cute cupcake toppers were a hit. The kids loved playing with them when they were done eating their cupcakes.

party for k5

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Free cupcake toppers for beginning school

Do you have smaller children who are about to enter school for the first time or who are going back to school? Why not throw them a surprise by making something special for them? It does not have to be a party but it could be simple as making a few cupcakes or a cake and decorating them with these cute cupcake toppers. Your kids will love them.

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A Kindergartener and a New Season

Kind of hard to believe that our first daughter is now a kindergartner. Feels like yesterday I myself was in school. I remember when this little girl was just a baby and people would make comments about how fast they grow. It is so true. At five months old I could not imagine it but now five years later and I am looking back with amazement! Here she is all grown and ready to do this school thing. Let’s do this!!

first day of school

I am excited for our little girl! As I look at her dressed and ready for school each day, I cannot help but think about how fast she has grown before our eyes. I also cannot help but remember my own momย getting me ready and taking me to school back in the day! I am typing this with mixed emotions – of excitement that she has reachedย another milestone but of worry now that she is no longer under my watch 24/7. I am sure you moms know exactly what I am talking about. Letting go is not as always easy as I may have thought. Now I understand what our moms feel when we go off to school or move away from home.

shenice shool

Initially, the plan was to homeschool. But for various reasons, we decided to try another alternative to see how it would work out.ย I don’t know what other five year old children are like but this little one is very active. She is ready to get out of the house and try new things. Last year, she watched as her friends entered school and desired to go. She was only four then and there was no real reason to send her to school. Our little pretend homeschooling was enough to help her learn the basics, ABCs and 123s and what nots! Plus she was good at coloring, drawing, cutting, gluing and all the pre-skills that she needed to know.

She is so excited for school and even wants to go to bed early so she could get up in time for school. It is a new experience for her and I get it. She gets to meet other kids her age, interact with them, and develop age appropriate knowledge and skills. Although I think all the excitement waned away once we got to school the first day. I saw her face (she was not crying) but you can tell she had a look of not knowing what to expect and a slight panic aboutย all thoseย new faces. Honestly, I quickly hugged her and looked away once I snapped the picture. I was afraid she would start crying and if she did, I knew I would also be a mess. But she didn’t. She went through the entire day and had so much fun and wanted to go again the next day.

This little girl is so full of energy and maybe was even a bit bored with home. She always wants to go out and just have fun. I think it is great that she has a daily outlet to let all that energy out. (Below is day 2). Her personality is one of “I am a bit shy, but I love to explore and use my skills” ย – think gymnastics, ballet, music, art – that girl loves to get moving. She loves kinesthetic learning and I love that about her. Don’t you think she’ll make a great gymnast or a great athlete? She sure has the physical for it.

school day 2

 

So now that she is in school, what does that mean for the rest of us? Well, it means a change in routines and schedules. Kindergarten is from 8am – 2pm andย it has been a bit of adjustment around here. The other two kids have been getting up way earlier than usual, too. I am talking even as early as 5:45 on some days and other days around 6:00. That is not the usual for our kids. In fact, it is not usual for me either. I have been desiring to going back to waking up earlier but I really had no real reason to get up at 6. Well, I take that back. I have tried getting up earlier to get a head start but on the rare occasion, a kid always woke up, too. I used to be an early riser but after 3 kids, late nights and all… you get the idea. In anyway, I am loving getting up early again but the other two have been thrown off their sleep schedule. Sometimes, they are excited to get up early and other times they are cranky because they woke up too early.ย Our middle child is such a good sleeper but there has been a change. Hoping things will settle down and we could get back into a routine.

As a side note: A few days ago, I got up super early around 4:am to get a head start with blogging. I am so behind and really want to catch up. One kid got up at 5:45 considering he went to bed around 6:30 pm. He never goes to bed at 6:30 but like I mentioned, naps have been earlier so he was tired. Then another kid woke up at 6. Honestly, I was ย not happy. Here I am trying to get up early to catch up and here they were right behind me. And boy were they cranky. No one was really happy but we got through it. And no, I still did notย get caught up with all I wanted to do. I say this as an example to give you an idea of the changes. But all in all, priority is priority and we do what is best for our family. No matter how sleepy or cranky or joyful we are around here, school is in and that is our priority right now. We’ll get through everything else in due season.

kids school

first day

This is all still very new for us so we are giving ourselves grace. It is a new season of life and going with the flow. Her sister and little baby brother sure miss having her around the home to jump around. And frankly, she kept them occupied most of the times. They have gotten somewhat used to her going daily and is always excited when school is over.

We even threw her a little surprise party last weekend. She couldn’t be more excited. Anything party is this kid’s name!! I wanted to do a separate post on this but my pictures did not turn out well.

cupcakes and table decor

It was only with us (her immediate family) and it was short and sweet. It wasย really easy to put together since I had everything on hand what I needed.ย We kept things pretty simple by doing this after lunch on Sunday.ย I was already making our daily lunchย anyway. All I needed was something for dessert.ย She seems to love carrot cake whenever we go out to eat at one of our favorite buffets. So I made her carrot cupcakes and decorated them with minimum frosting and DIY cupcake toppers.

party for k5

Then she and her sister did a back-to-school drawing and coloring activity and then made lovely bead necklaces from a set I got herย as part of her gift. They loved it and our daughter wears the necklace to school all the time.

school coloring page

kid

first day

So that’s our new season story.ย Hope your back to school planning is coming along nicely and things go well whether your kidsย are new to school or has been to school before.

Decor & DIY

Organized Kids Playroom and Multi-Functional Room

Organized spaces make me so happy. I tend to function much better when things are organized and I can easily find them. Plus, what is that saying? When mom is happy everyone else is happy right? So let’s make mom happy:)

office area

As part of my monthly inspirational home post with At Home, I am showing you how I organized the kids play room using some of their products. This room also serves as a reading corner, homework station, kids craft area and home office area (So it is sort of a multi-purpose room). One of our kids has started Kindergarten and we needed to get organized for easy access of school necessities and all the papers that have already started to circle in from school. There are yet so many other areas around here that still need organizing because nothing gets all done in one day when you move. At first, I thought I would work on the laundry room/mudroom. In fact, this lovely print was purchased for that reason (laundry room inspo), but then I decided it would be more beneficial to get the this room done first.

Might I be so brave to show you a before? It is actually how it looked when we moved in – we put everything in there until I figured how to organize it. These were all in different kids rooms before so maybe putting them all together like this shows how much junk kids accumulate. And this picture does not even show the boxes of toys still in boxes. Hmmm, I wonder where all these things came from. I thought we got rid off a bunch of stuff before moving. Sigh.

school room before

It took a while to get it done because every time I went in to set something up the kids came right behind me and made another mess. I finally decided that enough was enough, got rid of a bunch of stuff and got this room organized. I still need to get rid of some stuff they no longer enjoy. But for now, I love that it is organized and everyone can find their stuff.

Note: What you will not see is a fancy high class room that limits the kids. But what you will see is various organized little corners to accommodate the needs and wants of the kids and that has been working for us. So welcome to the tour. You can find the links to the various items I used from At Home at the bottom of the post including the link to this gorgeous print.

Hello Gorgeous

This is my printing corner and other organizational pieces I already had. In our home, a printer is so necessary. I feel like I am always printing something. My husband also uses it when he is not at work and needs to print something, too.

printer area

office and homework station

This is the homework and activity corner. Those empty picture frames will be used for displaying kids art or whatever they create on paper. I glued a tiny clothespin unto each one to hold the papers in place.

homework station

playroom office homework station

My kids love the reading corner. That chair is a keeper! Only problem is that it is a struggle to see who gets to sit on the chair. Most times, two will sit on it at a time. That “Dream Big” pillow though. Don’t we all want our kids to have big dreams and to do great things. I thought it was very fitting to include it here. It is not only for bedrooms.

I had another really cute white pillow with pink tassels that I really loved. We had seen it before and my daughter who was with me at the time, loved it, too. But when I went back to purchase it I got side-tracked in the store and forgot to put it in the cart. On that day while I was out shopping, I was also invited to a Back-to-College event with Maria Bailey from Mom Talk Radio and At Home stores. In the process of meeting and chatting with other bloggers in the local area and taking videos and Instagram shots, I forgot all about cute pillow with tassels. “Dream Big” is standing alone and rocking this area, though!!

chair

These large letters make such a statement in this corner. You definitely cannot miss it! They are of two different styles – one plain and the other more rustic. Love them both.

Read

Every kid should have a reading corner, don’t you agree. It is such a great way to encourage reading or watch picture books. Although this little one is in school, we still love to encourage reading at home whether alone or with a parent.

read letters

The cute pink and white chevron fabric basket holds a few favorite books. And that little table has got to be a favorite. I found it on sale at half off. When I was carrying it to the register it dropped from the cart and I was so worried that it had broken. It didn’t but it bruised a bit. An additional 10% of the already marked down price was taken off. I love it right next to the widow and reading area. It will hold various school papers that need to be sorted – one drawer for “to do” and the other one for “done”.

reading corner in room

The other side of the room is really nothing fancy. Everything has its place over here. But it is not always easy to keep it looking this way. When the kids play, things get all over the room. The good news? It is easy to organize again because everything has a place to call its own.

play room organized

Here is a sample of their dress-up clothes. I bet they have one of each of Disney’s 12 Princesses dresses and more. And don’t even ask about the shoes – 8 pairs of princess slippers maybe? 

Princess dress up corner

The girls love playing dress-up. But between birthday gifts from us and from friends and after Halloween clearance, and a few thrifted ones from earlier on, they have accumulated so much of their play dress-up items. During our recent move, I decluttered some dresses that were falling apart; it might be time to go through them again. 

Note: One kid was playing dress-up with a Cinderella gown while I was taking these photos. 

princess corner

Yesterday, I showed you how easy it was to make this P.L.A.Y sign. You can see the post here. This play kitchen did not come cheap, I tell you. It was an investment a few years ago but some of the parts have chipped off a bit during moving and not to mention all the times I moved it around in our previous home to find the correct corner for it. 

Play room area

P L A Y Sign

Play sign

kids play room

Next to the kitchen, I keep another organized area with a few toys, kids craft supplies, and extra school supplies. These other fabric baskets, aren’t they cute? They are really handy for organizing various items and could be used anywhere in the home. Seriously!! 

baskets for organizing

I love how they are hiding the little things. The bigger one is even large enough to fit another organizing container inside. 

basket things

organized school stuff

organized bottles

And finally, organizing with cubicals. I have always had a bunch of them around the home and did away with two when we moved. Now I want them back!! But these are inexpensive and easy to use for organizing.

Organized cubical

play room play area

If you are wondering why I organized everything to the wall and nothing in the middle here is why. I am a big fan of opened spaces for kids to play. Kids love to run around, roll on the floor and just be kids. I like to keep their play areas opened so they can feel free to play without bumping into things. So that’s why there is nothing in the middle. And no curtains? Nope for now. The room is a bit dark with this paint color. Opening the blinds and letting all the natural light in is one of my favorite things to do.

playroom and office

And because I want a fur chair like this in every corner in our home, I’ll share it again. It is such a fun cozy and comfi chair to have around. Don’t you just love how comfi it looks?

So that is our organized multi-functional room. I may need to go through and declutter some toys. 

reading

Here is a link to all the organizational items or similar that I found from At Home stores:

Faux Fur Folding Butterfly Chair

Small Accent Table

“Dream Big” pillow

“Hello Gorgeous” Print

Wooden Letters 

Fabric Baskets 

Have you organized your kids space yet before things get crazy with back to school yet? I would love to know about it in the comments.

This post was written in collaboration with At Home Stores, but all text, images, and opinions of the products are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help support At Home with Zan. 

Decor & DIY

DIY Colorful Playroom Sign

I made this colorful playroom sign for our kids play area and I am really loving how it turned out. It was so easy to make, too.

Play room sign

Bright bold letters on white background – I couldn’t be happier. I kind of want to be a kid again just for that sign!

P L A Y Sign

In the past, I have been wanting to get some of the bigger sizes of these wooden letters (following image) to hangย somewhere where the kids played. But we did not have the space separated for this. Now that the kids have a separate room to play, I thought it would be perfect to hang the letters.ย I could not find all the letters to spell P. L. A. Y in the larger size so I opted for the smaller ones (I am doing another post soon with what I used the larger ones for). The one problem though is that the smaller letters only came in red and black.

Large Letters for diy project

Have no fear, paint to the rescue! A couple coats in different colors and my letters were as colorful as I wanted them to be!! I used folk-Art Acrylic paint for the letters – not regular kids acrylic paint. One of the first things I did when we moved was restock my paint stash for when inspiration hits.

DIY play sign with colored letters

Once the letters were dried, I glued them with gorilla glue unto a piece of shiplap wood. Like I mentioned earlier, I would have preferred to hang the letters by themselves if I had found all the letters I needed in the larger size. But when that idea failed, I decided to glue them unto the wood so they would stand out a bit more.

Originally, I purchased the wood as a memo boardย on clearanceย for like less than $5. It had no words and I did not really know what I would use it for. At one point, I attached clothes pins and hang the kids photos on it. And then I made a sign out of it for our bedroom. Remember this DIY coastal sign? Since we moved, I have not hang it back up so I thought it would be great to use for another project.

DIY coastal sign

I’m telling you , paint transforms anything! Don’t you love the power of paint?! I sure do!!I used chalk paint (Rust Oleum Linen White) for the wood. Generally, there is no sanding required to use the chalk paint but I had to sand a little to remove the previous painted wording.

Painting Letters for Playroom

P L A Y Sign

Just as a recap and to make the instructions easier here is what to do.

Materials needed:

  • Wooden letters in preferred size (s)
  • A piece of wood (board) large enough to create the sign
  • Wood glue or Gorilla glue
  • Paint if necessary
  • Picture hooks to attach to the back of the sign if you are going to hang it (or if the wood does not already have hanging hooks).

What to do:

  • Paint letters and wood and let them dry if they are not in the color you want (be sure to use a contrasting background color on the wood).
  • Glue the letters unto the wood – line them up nicely.
  • Attach hanging picture hooks at the back, if needed
  • Display sign where-ever you wish.

P L A Y Sign

Play sign

I have an upcoming post about how I organized the entire room and this sign is definitely one of my favorite pieces in the room. Stay tuned!!

Play room sign

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DIY Colorful Playroom Sign

So what do you think? Do you have kids area that could use a little sprucing up with something like this sign? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments.

Breakfast

Nesquik Chocolate Smoothie

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #StirImagination #CollectiveBias

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a post about myย little one off to Kindergarten this year. As you would imagine, there areย lots of adjustments for us as we enter this new season. Apart from getting up earlier than normal, I have been creating easy and healthy meals that make morning routines smoother and help us get out the door on time. One of my newest creations is this chocolateย smoothie usingย NESTLร‰ยฎ NESQUIKยฎ Powder. I serve it along with breakfast or as part of an after school snack on scheduled mornings and afternoons. It is such a delicious addition to our menu.

Nesquik Chocolate Smoothie

I shared our love for smoothiesย before and how I enjoyย coming up with new ways to create them. Our 5 year old daughter is always amazed at my smoothie creations! Weย usually do a lot ofย fruit related smoothies because we enjoy all the seasonal fruit. But we are loving this new addition to our list. Adding in aย banana or twoย provides our fruitย while still allowing us to savor that delicious taste of Nesquik. Not to mention, it providesย 7 essential vitamins and minerals – I’d say it is a win.

Nesquik Smoothie with Chocolate Powder

We’ve been working on being more intentional aboutย cutting out foods with all the added un-necessaries. I love when I can find foods withย no artificial colors or flavors. Nesquik chocolate powder is such a fun way to provide that chocolate-y taste while still providing the nutrition that our kids need since it has 45% less sugar than the leading chocolate syrup brand.

Nesquik smoothie for breakfast

This smoothie could be served both as a breakfast or after school snack for little ones. The one thing I always do when I serve smoothies for breakfast (depending on the type) is serve it along with toast, a breakfast sandwich, or some other side dish. I want to make sure that we get a complete meal and people are not hungry 10 minutes later.

nesquik smoothie with banana

As a kid, I have always loved the taste of Nesquik and still love it as an adult. ย Most of my intake though was mixed with a glass of milk. Did you know that Nesquik providesย 8g of protein when combined with 8 fluid ounces of low-fat milk? That is awesome but discovering more great ways to use it other than just for Chocolate milk is always a welcome experience.ย My girl proved to meย that she lovesย the new taste when I served it to her. She even said “mom, this is really good!”

Nesquik Smoothie for snack time

If you are in need of a quick, delicious, and nutritional breakfast addition to help jump start your kiddos day or for an after school snack, try my easy Nesquik chocolate smoothie recipe. Be sure to serve it along with additional side dishesย to ensure your child gets a complete meal.

 

Nesquik Chocolate Smoothie
Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup NESTLร‰ยฎ NESQUIKยฎ Chocolate Powder
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 small bananas
  • 2 cups crushed ice
Instructions
  1. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Pour in two individual tall glasses and serve.
  3. Note: Use half the ingredients to for less and frozen bananas may be used in place of ice.

You can find Nestle Nesquik Powder at Target and use the Cartwheel App between 8/21/2016 – 8/27/2016 to saveย 15% off 18.7oz Nesquik powder and 10 packs of Ready-to-Drink Bottles.

Nesquik Chocolate Powder at Target

Nesquik smoothie recipe

Have you used Nesquik in your recipes before.ย I would love to hear about your creative back to school breakfast or snack recipes using Nesquik chocolate powder. How will you use it?

Decor & DIY

Hanging Plate Wall – What I Used to Create It

When I created our dinning room space a few weeks ago, one of the things I wanted to include was a hanging plate wall. I always love seeing plate walls and I am pretty satisfied with how this one turned out.

Dinning room wall with white plates

My overall dinning room decor is simple, with just a few touches of summer. But I love walking into it and savoring the simplicity. My family loves it just as much as I do. Adding the plate wall is definitely one my favorite DIY wall projects of this space (aka the only DIY of the space).

Summer dinning room reveal

I know there are so many fabulous plate walls out there with all kinds of fancy plates and antiques. While I love seeing those, I decided to stick with the simple to see how it would turn out before trying anything else. I think this was the best decision for this project. And did I tell you how easy this was to create? You would not believe it! Seriously, this took me about 20 minutes or less.

Dinning room reveal - white plate wall

How to Create a Simple No Nail Hanging Plate Wall

First, I picked up some simple Porcelain plates of two different shapes and in various sizes. I went with plain white to contrast the colors of the orange wall.

procelain Plates

I did not want to put too many holes in the walls so I searched around on Pinterest to see what others were using to hang their plates. I found some options but then my husband came across these damage-free hanging command strips for hanging pictures. When I saw that these could hold up to 4 lbs (and they come in various sizes depending on the weight of your items), I figured they probably would work well for some light weight plates. And they sure did! It has been almost a month since I made the wall and not one plate has fallen down.     

command damage-free hanging

The command strips are two sided with tape on one side and Velcro on the other. The Velcro is pretty sturdy which really works well to keep the plates. 

Note: According to the package, it says “damage-free hanging” so I am hoping for the best. I did try removing one strip after a few weeks to see if the paint would peel off. A tiny bit did chip off indeed. Could it be that I removed it too fast? Not sure.

velcro for plates

I did not get very clear images, but here is a shot of the back of the strips (if you have  not worked with command before). The backs are sticky once the tapes are removed.

velcro

To use this for hanging pictures (or plates), I placed two strips together on the Velcro side and pressed them until they clicked (per the instructions on the package). The clicking sound means it is now safe for hanging.

Hanging Plates velcro command

Then I removed the tape on the back of one piece of strip to reveal the sticky part. I then pressed the sticky back firmly on the back of a plate. Once it is firm, remove the opposite sticky back that is facing upward (as shown in the picture) and press it firmly on the wall.

Note: Once the strips were attached to the plates, I started to let them wait a while before hanging for fear that they might come off. But there was no need for to wait as these command strips are pretty firm. 

Procelain plates with velcro command

The wall was so easy to create and I actually did not plan out where I would put the plates. If I get motivated, I may rearrange them for an even more un-even look and maybe add in a few fancy plates. We’ll see.

Summer Dinning Room Reveal - White Plate Wall

Overall, I love the addition of the plates to the room and the pop they add to the orange wall. Even more so, I am happy to have something separate for dinning away from the breakfast nook every now and again. 

Dinning room reveal

Pin - It New Hanging Plate Wall

What do you think of this simple plate wall? Do you have one somewhere in your home? How long did it take you to create? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

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Update on Our Recent Move

Hey friends, hope you are getting used to the changes on the blog (still working on it) but today I wanted to give you an update on another change – our recent move. Not the recent blog move but the change of homes. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to share about it. Lately though, things have been slow around the blog. It has been a bit more difficult to get a post in. The move, kids, family, all these things are taking priority. Plus my lack of motivation is not helping either. I had to tell myself to “snap out of it” and get this post. Still didn’t finish it last night so I had to squeeze some extra time this morning while the kids did a “quiet” activity. 

new house

 

If this is the first time you are hearing about our move, then I am happy to inform you about it. I think it is only fair to inform readers about certain changes. After all, you all are my support (read, comment, encourage) and that keeps me going here on the blog. Plus you have seen our previous home over and over on the blog so there is no point in leaving you hanging. This little (long) update will answer some of the questions that may be floating around in your minds: 

  • Wait what? Did they expand their home and added more walls or something? 
  • Did they add another room?
  • Did they paint with different colors?
  • Did they move?

If you guessed the last one, then you are correct. We moved at the end of June and let met tell you, finding a place to move into was no easy task. I will explain a bit further down this post but here is a first image of the new. I did not mention our moving on the blog earlier because we were not sure if our home would sell fast. You know, it is hard to tell. You sing a song and at the end of the day, your home still remains on the market. But once things were confirmed, then I felt it was OK to talk about it (new home image).

New home front door

Back in 2012, we bought a small home in an upscaled city where my husband grew up. It was a fixer upper with two bedrooms and two full baths. Our girls shared one of the rooms. My husband along with a friend worked tirelessly to renovate and make our place new. We moved within two weeks after we purchased with all the updates (light fixtures, kitchen reno, bedroom reno, bathroom reno, paint, and all other renos big and small completed. It was like walking into a brand new home (well it actually was). Back then, my blog was picking up and I didn’t taking before and after pictures. And most of them must have crashed along with my previous laptop. I think I have a few somewhere – will have to search through to find. Anyway, while we loved our little place, we decided that we wanted a bit more room to host our growing family (baby #3 was on the way)!  

We decided to put the house on the market and search for something with a bit more room. After 7 showings the day after we put the house on the market, we had about 4 or 5 offers. People were literally offering way more than we expected to have that town home. The area was nice and quiet and people like to retire there, too. But because it sold so fast (closed in 3 weeks), we had to find another home quickly. I don’t three weeks is enough to rush into buying a home unless you find the perfect one right off the press. At the end of the day, we ended up picking something that none of us truly really loved. But we had to stay in a hotel for 3 weeks while we awaited closing. I spoke about that here. It was a single family ranch home with a bit more room with an added family room that made it stood out among the similar ones in the area (old home).

home 2

Neighbors or others who visited seemed to like it and always gave some good comments. Overall, the house was really clean. Despite my endless efforts to make it warm, cozy, and functional, there were some underlying issues and some areas that could use a bit of updating (older model). Remember our main bathroom? I was not too impressed with it and the kitchen either but there were some talk about renovating it. All in all, we looked passed these issues with the intent to work on each area overtime (see the tiny kitchen in the old home).

kitchen

That house was only one town over. It was very familiar grounds as some of our shopping were already done in that area anyway. We had loads of church friends who lived there. More so, my husband’s grandma was in a home care in the general area. My husband wanted to keep an eye on her and wanted things to be easy for visiting and such. All of his other family members had already moved away from where he grew up (in that area that I mentioned earlier with our first house). So it was down to him to take on the responsibility. All in all, the area itself was not bad at all. Park right there, head cop right next door, Walmart, Target, Ross, Kohls, you name it was only a “stones” throw down the street. And they opened up a new Michael’s craft store just when we were moving:( 

park

But you know, I don’t think we really loved the house. There was just something about it. Every so often, one of us would talk about how much we sort of missed the little town home. Don’t get us wrong. We liked that our son had his nursery but the functionality of the house in general just was not working out too well for us as we hoped. It seemed like we moved from one starter home to another. At one point, my husband thought that the housing market wouldn’t be so friendly to us if we decided to sell. So we kind of left that option right where it was. Plus grandma needed someone close by.

Then one day, we were talking about the layout of the house again and some of the struggles we were having. I hadn’t realize that he was struggling with it as much as I did. But I guess we both were trying to put on a “good” face about it and trying to make it work. 

coffee table style

After my husband’s grandma was gone, he felt like there was no real purpose for us in that general area anymore. There was nothing really keeping us back from moving. Deep within, we both felt a longing – a longing for a change. We needed a fresh start. Our first daughter and if we were 5 so we were going to enroll her in Kindergarten, we definitely did NOT want to enroll her in the schools in the area. The ratings are just too low. We’d have to enroll her in the private school from our church (which was where we lived previously). It is a huge school that attracts many who really excel. Just in case you are wondering, children are not required to attend school here until they are 6. So we are still in the deciding process with outside school or home school (living room in the old home).

house

My husband contacted a realtor to inquire about the housing market. To our surprise, other homes in the same area were selling for a good price. Keep in mind that some of these houses of the same model were smaller than ours because we had that additional family room (family room with me trying to make it multi-functional – to no avail).

family room

Our house went on the market in April and had 3 bidding within one week. That first contract fell through and the house went back up on the market in late April. We were able to close within 2 months with the second contract.

The part you might be more surprised with is that we are now renting. We wanted to rent a bit to try to figure things out before rushing into purchasing again. I admit that in the past, I couldn’t understand why people would sell their homes and go rent. Seriously, it was beyond me. But now I get it. People have various reasons. (Big fenced backyard in our old home).

backyard in other home

Finding a house to match our desires was not the easiest. There are many lovely homes out there big and small but some of them just was not falling into place. Now our must haves were not too many as its only a rental but we wanted:

  • a house (prferable single family but town home would have been ok, too).
  • a fenced backyard
  • no tiny kitchen
  • an extra room for play
  • FUNCTIONAL
  • Good schools

It didn’t have to be the largest house on the market. In fact, we had gotten beautiful smaller rental house when we first put the house on the market. It was not too big but not too small and just seemed so perfect. My husband had his mind set on it but we had to decline since our contract fell through. There was a wait list for other renters and we did not feel right keeping the Landlord waiting. 

So back to the search. We wanted to make sure we weren’t moving from one non-functional to another non-functional. So many of the houses we saw missed that “one thing”. Either it had a fenced backyard but no extra room, or it had the extra room or rooms but no fenced backyard, or just did not fit our taste. We were pickier this time around and it was only going to be a rental. There another house we thought that may have worked out and even had a pending lease on one. But it was just too far away.

On the last minute, we got accepted with this one and we are happy with it. Confession: It is way bigger that we had in mind for renting and the price is definitely higher than what we wanted to pay but we couldn’t keep looking. Staying in a hotel for 3 weeks like we did when we sold our previous home was not going to cut it! Our kids need someplace to call home and we were just tired of looking. The Landlord (who lives in another state) was willing to bring the price down a bit because the house had been sitting empty for 4 months. He had terrible renters before who did not pay their rent. Still no fenced backyard but at least it does not back up to the streets. And it’s big enough that the kids could play outside on warmer days (close up front).

new house

So now that you have a bit of background as to why we moved, I thought I would show you some photos of where we are. You have already seen the front but if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you have probably been seeing rooms with all different colors. I take one look at my Instagram and gasp at the colors!

Take a look for yourself – every room is a DIFFERENT color. Really? Who does that? Our bedroom and the guest room are the only two rooms painted white or something light. Sigh. Not sure I am really digging the paint colors, especially that YELLOW. . .  and the green. . . . and the burnt orange. . . . and that. . .  I prefer somewhat a consistent feel and I won’t mind the bedrooms being personalized to one’s tastes but everything else . . .  We do have the option/permission to paint but it is not going to be cheap unless we do it ourselves. And my guess is that it is not going to happen. So I will have to learn to deal with it because the house itself is beautiful. 

Tell me, would you all go through the hassle and paint or would you try to deal with the multi-colored home? So far, we only signed for one year. 

new home tour down stairs

A few rooms in view as you enter (living and family rooms). 

new home tour family room - living room

New home tour 1

Another room (which I am currently turning into a play room)
playroom

new home tour hallway

Lovely huge kitchen

new home tour kitchen with desk area

Dinning room when we first moved in

dinning room

Laundry

laundry 

I did not take much of the upstairs as I was trying to snap a few before we moved our stuff inside. That’s the girls room. It is a Jack and Jill kind of set up that goes through their bathroom into our son’s nursery on the other side. Then our Master (and it is a Master) plus an extra room that I plan to decorate as a guest room. The girl’s wanted to keep sharing as they are still very small. 

new home tour kids room

The kids favorite spot

slide

While I will like to have everything set up all in one day, I have to remind myself that Rome was not built in one day. The only two areas I really worked quickly to get set up were the dinning room and the backyard. When you have a collaborative post, you got to get moving. I was happy for the push, though!

Remember these posts? Dinning Room 

dinning room reveal - with plates

Backyard

backyard - outdoor

Down the street

Every thing looks lovely. Only downfall is that we don’t own the home:( But the neighbours have been so welcoming. That house with this car is right next door and the neighbors keep bringing us Italian meals from their son’s restaurant. Their home has the most beautiful front entrance. Thought of taking a few photos and showcasing it on the blog as I could only imagine it decorated for Fall or Christmas. Think they’d let me? 

New home down the street

Evening walks – excuse the flip-flops after work!

evening walk

One of our favorite attractions in the neighborhood (which seems to be everyone with mall kids favorite place as well is the community’s splash park. The kids love it!

splash park

S and the dolphin

kids in the spash park

water

Anyhow, that’s where we are. We are happy with the choice and I don’t think we can really say that we miss our old place. Sadly, we tried to make it work but decided to end the frustration and move on. Hope you have gotten some insight as to where we are with our home. And thanks for stopping by to see what Zan’s doing at home, LOL! Thought it would be funny to include this in the closing (goes along with the title).

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New Blog Name – The “Why” Plus Two Free Printables

Hello friends! Today I want to talk a little about the new direction that this blog is going. I have officially rebranded my blog to At Home With Zan. As you may already know, I have been wanting to rebrand this blog to something that feels more like me. I have sung the rebranding song for a while and have made a few announcements about names. But guys let me tell you, this rebranding “thing” is no joke. Every time I thought of a name, it seems like someone already had it. Or I felt it was too quirky. Or it just did not feel like “me” after a little while. I even debated whether I should just go with my full name or part of my name. It took me a while guys but I wanted the name to feel like me plus has some kind of clue as to what the blog is about.  

Do what you love edited 2

“At Home With Zan” fits what I do at home and is specific but general at the same time. I am a stay-at-home mom with an M.A. and state license in Teaching. In this day and age, choosing to stay at home is such an awesome choice! I love what I do no matter how difficult it may be sometimes. So I wanted the name choice to kind of reflect “things I do at home” in a way. At Home With Zan was a choice I had debated on over and over but did not want to be just another “At Home With. . . .” out there already. After all, there are quite a few of these out there. But the other name choices just did not feel real to me. Flourishing At Home was my first name pick but I always just felt that it was not really connecting and that it was a bit too broad for my taste. But because I had it for so long, changing it did not come easy. 

To be honest, I am excited but kind of scared at the same time. But I do feel better about this name and well, it is totally me. I still have a lot of changes to make as far as theme tweaks, social media updates, networks information updates, etc. But I am working “solo” so that will probably take a while. I considered bringing in outside help but paying for a rebrand can be quite pricey. Just a few tweaks in the theme was going to cost me over $150. And that is just for a FEW tweaks. I read a book from this lady who rebranded and she paid over $1,000! “Aint” nobody got money for that. But I guess if you want your stuff to mean business, you invest in it. I may not be quite tech savvy but I have always set up my themes and other blog related things for myself. It may take me a little longer but that is OK. While it may be nice to have things look different on the day of rebranding, there is no rule in a book that says they absolutely have to.

at home with me

Truth be told, I was working toward having everything changed over before rebranding but it was only prolonging the rebrand. Typing this post to inform you about the rebrand then moving things afterward is working out much better for me. It is less pressure to have everything polished on rebranding day. As far as the content, I am looking into polishing it up and adding in more decor & organization, a bit of DIY, and overall budget-friendly family and home ideas. 

Thanks for putting up with me (or not) on this rebranding journey guys. Hope you all get used to the new name and no judging please. Only someone who has rebranded will truly understand the struggle. If you have ever thought of rebranding, be sure to have a plan in place and that the new name resonates with you. 

If you would like, you can download these free 8x 10 printables as a thank you for your support.

Do What You Love – Download here: Do What You Love

Do what you love edited 2

Stay Awesome! Download here: Stay Awesome

Stay Awesome Edited

Let me know what you think about the new name. I am happy to listen to your comments as always!!

Decor & DIY

Five Favorite Summer Home Tours – A Recap

Now that we have come to the end of our Summer Home Tour series, I thought it would be great to revisit the homes we have toured. I know you enjoyed the tours as much as I did so I wanted to see which ones you loved best. Each person has a different style and different taste for decorating so it’s totally OK if one resonates with you over another. 

Favorite Summer Home Tours

Remember this lovely clean beach cottage from The House of Silver Lining? I know many of you loved it. Who wouldn’t love a beach home? 

Coastal Home

Then we saw this awesome Farmhouse style home from Love Grows Wild. She really knows how to bring it “farm style.”

Celebrate-Summer-Home-Tour-10

And the beautiful Eclectic Vintage home by Eclectically Vintage. I love how Kelly gets real creative and mixes a bunch of stuff to create her home.

crab-shell-pillows-coastal-decor

How about this oh so creative Modern Vintage Mix home by Craftivity Designs? Everything in this home gives me such a homey feeling. So beautiful!

IMG_4368_edited-1

Then finally, we stepped into this Colorful Modern home by Place of My Taste. I tell you, this girls knows how to mix colors and DIY some serious projects to decorate her home!

summer-home-tour-49

All of these homes are so lovely and they each bring something different to the table. Hopefully, these gave you some ideas of what is out there and how people’s homes vary. No one is ever the same even if styles may be similar. And if you needed some fresh ideas, I hope you got some. But remember, your home is what you make of it. So let the ideas be your inspiration and not a copy or else your home would not be a reflection of you. Speaking of homes, I mentioned a few weeks ago that I will be sharing an update on our move soon and how we are creating our home.

Of all five, which one was your favorite? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments and thanks for touring them all with me. As for me, I loved them all. That’s why I featured them in this fun series.