Beth L's Profile

Display Name: Beth L
Member Since: 8/13/12

Latest Comments...

Would love to see a cleaning list for hosting an OUTDOOR party! Hosting my twins 4th birthday party at our house (silly husband thought it would save money!) and have invited half their preschool. The inside has suffered! Top of the indoor list is bathroom and clearing clutter. Our outdoor list is much longer:
- pull weeds
- mow lawn
- plant annuals
- add mulch
- prune dead flowers
- fill cracks in flagstone/make sure all surfaces are flat and level
- build a deck! lol

I'm always tempted to do some big DIY project before a party... how to resist?!

Yes, my friends see the house for the disaster that it is, but my future new friends should at the very least be treated to a clean bathroom and no clutter!


The Stress Free Plan: How To Clean House for a Party
5/16/13 1:53 PM

@thorndale - my twins go to a Montessori school. What makes this "Montessori" are a few things:

OPEN, LOW SHELVES
The Montessori method encourages kids to be self-sufficient. All the shelves are low and open with projects prepared so kids can pick up and put back the "work" on their own without help.

TRAYS AND BASKETS
They take one project off the shelf at a time, usually arranged on a tray or in baskets with all supplies gathered in one spot for the activity. Then sit down, do the work, clean up and put the project away on the shelf by themselves.

HIGH QUALITY LEARNING MATERIALS
The materials themselves matter. No cheap plastic alphabet letters. They have metal and wooden letters and shapes for tracing. Some sets can last decades, be used daily, and still be in good shape.


A Montessori/Waldorf-Inspired School at Home for Bea & Friends
5/8/13 1:20 PM

@Amber - Love your site and pinterest board! Some great ideas there!! Attempting to make my son a cardboard car costume this weekend, and daughter some frog feet :)


One Minute Tip: Creative Cardboard Kid Costumes for Halloween (and Beyond) Apartment Therapy Videos
10/27/12 2:14 PM

I usually clean (my home office desk, or otherwise) on three occasions: when company is coming over, when I'm trying to avoid something else, or when I'm talking on the phone. I think I need to talk on the phone more often.


The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Desk
10/20/12 2:07 AM

OK, my first response was YUK! No way! Blech! And that stayed true for all the sofas except #3 from decor8. Maybe because it is a salmony/peachy/coral pink, less pepto pale pink. Pink is really not my thing. I've always been a blue girl. I think you really have to love pink to buy a pink sofa.

If you do buy pink, it is better, I think, if there are only a handful of pink options so you don't regret or question your decision later. Picking from 50 different pinks would produce a heavy case of pink regret.


Will I Regret a Pink Sofa?
10/19/12 1:52 PM

I'm in the middle of remodeling my home office to accomodate my 3 yr old twins, so I know exactly what you are going through! Space you can occupy together while keeping an eye on her.

From your picture, I'm seeing a long low storage bench along that wall, with "blank" spaces to tuck in a chair or two. Similar to the IKEA kids' low storage bench/desk with rolling drawers. Doesn't look like there's too much space for a kids' table floating in the room... not pictured?

In my own space, I'm bothered by random furniture bumping in and out of the wall. I just want a clean console with lots of room for the kids to spread out their activities and easy clean-up after they are done. Better yet, clean up they can do themselves. That can mean low open shelves with baskets. For kids, color isn't as important as function. You can use color matching so she can learn where things go on her shelves or in her bins.

You could paint that wall just behind your desk with chalkboard paint, many colors are available. It does encourage a bit of drawing on walls. If you make it clear where she can draw she will learn the limits eventually! Alternatively, you can paint a framed cork board with magnetic primer and chalk board paint in your choice of color for a nice portable worksurface for her. I have two like that with the alphabet written in chalk so my twins can match their magnetic letters to the chalk letters.

You might want to replace the curtains and/or the rug with something not white if you are allowing crafts in that corner. I made the mistake of painting much of my house white and immediately my twins saw that as their very own painter's canvas. I have an entire piece of furniture they covered with early tagging "MOM MOM MOM". Oh was I ever proud they could write, but please, not on the TV console... Washable pens are a given!

One thing you might want to ask yourself as well is how long (in a day) will she use the space? Will this be her primary play area in your home? At 20 months kids are bouncing around all over the place and probably won't stay in the designated area for more than 15 minutes at a time if you are lucky. But you are creating a space she can grow into, so I think storage and worksurfaces are the key. I like those 4" shelves from IKEA where you can prop up artwork or books or ?? Installed low on a wall or behind a door they are great for kids imagination.

Have fun, and be prepared to change things around as she grows!


Ideas for Daughter's Play Area in My Office? Good Questions
10/19/12 1:52 AM

Not done making mistakes! We are remodeling, have been remodeling, our house since we moved in 4 years ago. We did a few things before we moved in, new furnace, ducts, removed asbestos popcorn ceiling and banished the white carpet. Have been fixing one room at a time. Slooooowly. Just because you do it slow doesn't mean you won't make mistakes. Lookie here!

Biggest regret - not finishing more of the house before we moved in.
Second biggest regret - remodeling while pregnant and then with infant/toddler/preschooler twins in the house. Nothing gets done! Remodeling a kitchen while hosting a playdate for 10 of said twins lil 2yr old buddies. Just glad one of the moms was married to a plumber...

Kitchen: Thinking the finish on our birch cabinets will "warm up" with age. There is a distinct pink cast to the finish that does not go with our yellow toned floors. It's now all I can see when I walk in the kitchen. Guess it makes it easier to ignore the pile of dishes and sippy cups.

White walls. Why? There are so many colors, why did I choose white AGAIN? S'OK, the kids will keep them colored. We are skim coating every single wall in the house to get rid of the texture. To keep the dust down, we are not sanding, but doing a light rough damp sponge. It takes 3 coats. I can see where I got impatient and did only 2 coats.

"Rhino" area carpet. To soften the inevitable blows from learning to walk, we had a carpet cut and edged to go in our LR. I picked some awful shade of light colored dirt from big 2x2 samples in the store while distracted by kids. I was thinking that would hide dirt better. Not really, it just looks dirty even when clean. This will be the easiest mistake to remedy, just roll it up and move it out.


What's Your Biggest Design Regret?
9/25/12 3:05 PM

I have worked at home for the last decade. While it is sooo tempting to never get dressed and wear pjs all day, I would do it anyway to transition from night to day. Now I'm a mom and I'm just happy to have booger/peanut butter-free clothes to wear each day.


How Hot Do You Look At Home?
9/19/12 2:22 PM

My 3 year old said it best, "mommy, you need to get all the people here to fix this spotty floor". Get help when you are too stuck to move on!


Renovation Lessons: Learning To Finish What You Start
9/19/12 2:08 PM

"..just observe, for a week, how your home works"

Best advice right there. Been thinking a lot about that lately. My kids just started Montessori school. The crux of the Montessori philosophy is to observe. Watch without interference. Works for so many areas in life.

Watching is active.

It's not passive slobbering on the couch zombie watching! A Montessori school room tends to be very uncluttered with kid selected projects displayed on trays. The stuff kids ignore is removed. There is constant feedback as the environment is determined in large part by their interests.


Getting Organized: The Big Picture
9/19/12 1:51 PM

We live in a 2-story house. Getting out the door is our biggest battle in the morning with our 3 yr old twins! I keep all their shoes and socks in baskets downstairs by the door so I don't have to run up and down the stairs to their room hunting for favorites (but you simply loved hello kitty and thomas the train yesterday!)

Personality also plays a big role in finding the best approach to organize all of our stuff. My son is the type who needs to see everything before he makes his choice. He literally flings things over his shoulder as he is looking through a box or a drawer. He does better with open shelves, flat display boxes, shallow storage, pens in a tray vs pens in a cup so that he doesn't have to make a gigantic mess on the floor just to see what his choices are. He wants to see it all, which means limiting how much he has!

My daughter doesn't need to see everything (thank you!). She knows and remembers what she has. She just needs things where she can get it herself with one or two easy choices. Drawers, boxes, layered storage. She actually gets overwhelmed if she has too many choices in front of her. "Mom, I have too many dresses, I can't pick". For her, limiting choice and what is on display is better.


Getting Organized: The Big Picture
9/18/12 2:29 PM

Carpet gets so dirty and nasty. I'll take the hardwood option every time! Even my 3 yr old twins know how to navigate up and down the stairs safely - no horsing around on the staircase. I think one would naturally be more cautious on hardwood steps - carpet gives you a false sense of security. A happy medium would be cork steps. Softer than wood, durable and easy to clean. Do they even make stairnose out of cork??


Slipping, Sliding & Safety:
Carpeted vs. Wooden Stairs
8/13/12 7:21 PM

Find an image or print you like, turn it into wallpaper. Cut to fit the niche. Now you have a backdrop to display several skinny, tall objet d'art that strike your fancy. The thing about entries is they are not static. People and things come and go all the time. The niche reflects you for a moment in time. Don't be afraid to try new things and change it up when it starts collecting dust!


What Can I Do with Shallow Wall Niche? Good Questions
8/13/12 11:57 AM