COVID19 keeping you home? Ideas to keep you busy!!!!

Okay, I am not here to discuss the Corona Virus. I want to focus on mood lifting, therapeutic things we can do while laying low and praying this virus vanishes! I actually just put the baby down for a nap, shut off the news, put my phone aside, opened the deck door and sat down with my MacBook. Since I have been home on maternity leave, my mind is already FILLED with ideas and projects to keep me busy so I figured, why not share them! 

Olivia (my 4 month old) and I have a nice routine going on these days. Part of our late afternoon involves running errands... UPS, Target, Homegoods, Lowes, Dunkin', Walmart, Marshalls... ya know, the basic stores in my town. My husband and I sat down last night and made the decision to not bring the baby anywhere... and then also decided to limit going out in public altogether. 

So, here we are. Home. Now, for those of you who have never read my blog before I focused ONLY on home decor but I have decided to extend my blogging focus... mom stuff, educational stuff (I am a teacher!) and of course, home stuff. I renamed my blog already and am taking advantage of this time at home to plan SO many new posts. So, please follow along! I find this to be one of the most cathartic things in the WORLD and am always amazed that people read and enjoy my posts. 

Now, let's get down to the good stuff! How do we keep busy for the next few weeks? 

1. Organize (ANY LITTLE THING!) Here are some visual ideas. 

 

Pantry, junk drawer, coat closet, bedroom closets, any drawer, under the kitchen sink, bathroom toiletries... the list goes on! I'd like to add that you don't need to spend $1.3 million dollars at The Container Store. My bins and containers are from Walmart and Target. If you can't get to the store, Amazon has cheap options. 

I am sure our fridges are stocked! Clean them and organize them! I don't have any fancy containers in my fridge but I definitely keep it somewhat organized. 

One day this week, I will for sure get in here and sanitize, purge and organize! 

2. Clean- Not your regular cleaning. Deep clean. Pull out the couches, move area rugs, rent a steam cleaner (I borrowed my parents steam cleaner and cleaned the sofa in the family room a few weeks ago- DIS-GUST-ING and Ohhhh so rewarding!), vacuum behind your bed and dresser (scary!). Clean heat/AC vents, dust trim and molding, pull out the washer, dryer and fridge. Trust me. This will take hours of your life. You might love it (like me) and you might hate it (like most) but I bet you'll feel good once it's done. Really! 

Laundry rooms are sooooo dusty! Get in there, move your appliances and clean! 

3. Purge- Get rid of all your crap. I have been doing a little every week and dayyyyum, it feels good. 

Our kitchen utensil drawer had SO MUCH unnecessary stuff. Literally, it was OVER flowing with crap. I emptied the entire drawer and made two piles. Keep and toss. 

When purging, you can either throw it all away (sad), donate (amazing!) or sell it if it's in good shape (ohhh yea!) I use Let Go and Facebook Marketplace to sell. Have made good cash selling, too! 

Clothes, shoes, belts... get rid of things you don't wear anymore! Buh-bye. 

4. Cook and bake! Who knows... you might love it!

5. Self Care- relax, read, mani/pedi, nap... ya know!

6. GO OUTSIDE- I went outside to weed and do a spring clean up in our flower beds and it felt AMAZING! I generally don't LOVE weeding and stuff but for whatever reason, this felt so great. This is a perfect example of how an activity that you normally might not love to do can still make you FEEL good. 

7. Laundry? I know, I know... but honestly, it feels SO GOOD to be caught up on laundry. SO GOOD! I hate nothing more than folding laundry but it's much less painful to fold 1 load a day verses folding 8 loads on a precious Saturday morning. Barf. 

8. Technology clean up- This one is sooo time consuming and I need to do it desperately! Emails, photos, texts... they take up so much space. I have WAY too many photos on my camera roll and some of them are ridiculous. Do I really need a picture of my manicure from 2015? That's a hard NO! Then my phone pics get "iCloud-ed" to my Mac and then I have these ridiculous photos in 2 places when they shouldn't even be in ONE. So, technology clean up! 

Don't do 50 things a day, either. Spread them out. I have learned to slow down a little and take in moments of my day vs. being a lunatic and doing hundreds of chores all within 5 hours. 

Hope this list helps! Feel free to add more ideas in the comments section. Stop by for MUCH more home, mama and educational content coming soon!! Thanks for reading and supporting. 

Patio Overhaul

Okay, overhaul might be a tad dramatic but hear me out. We bought our home almost 3 years ago... within 1 month of moving in, I had just about every room (minus 1 bedroom) decorated and furnished. Now, I have made some serious changes in the 3 years, learned SO much, made mistakes and then corrected said mistakes but I was committed to making this house a home... except the patio.

This tiny, little, square space remained "blah". And by blah I mean sad, empty and kinda dirty. 

 It's small. Very small. But that should never be an excuse. Small spaces are often the most charming! My Mom gave me a vision (because she loves doing yard work) and I loved her vision so much I made it a reality! Try and picture it in your mind before I do a reveal. Ready?

1. Power wash the heck outta the patio. 
2. Move the hose unit to the left and make a flower bed there.
3. Move the grill to the bottom right corner (if you're standing facing the sliding glass door head on) 
4. Area rug, centered
5. Fire pit somewhere lol
6. Chairs

I started by raking the dead grass. Our yard is filled with plush, green grass. (worked REALLY hard to get it that way!) So why, you ask, is this one small strip of grass yellow, dried and dead? Allow me to explain... one fine day, I was mixing a weed killing solution in my handy, dandy spray can. Said spray can BROKE, I freaked out and dragged the weed killer along this lovely strip as the can basically exploded all over. So cool! (insert my new favorite eye rolling emoji) After feverishly raking, I sprinkled some grass seed and water every night. 

Here is a close up of how filthy the patio had become... yuck! I power washed (that's a funny story I will share NEVER... seriously way too embarrassing!) 

Then it was time to make the flower bed. I bought Ashland Empire Concrete Edging Stone from Lowes. The color I chose is different than the link. I moved the hose unit further to the left and pulled out the weeds and grass. Placed the edging stones (5 pieces) and filled it with soil. Here is the before... 

Picture it... ready? 

I'm really happy with how it turned out! I also think it will be gorgeous once I add some green! In the fall, I am going to plant some dwarf boxwood. (yet another vision from my Mom!) 

Okay, here are some pictures of the completed patio... I also added a source list with links below. 

Here is a night time view- LOVING the fire pit and the white lights. :) 

Outdoor Pillow- Lowes

Patio Rug- Lowes

2 patio chairs- Resin Wicker from The Christmas Tree Shops (clearance $19.99) 

Garden stool- Homegoods 

Plant holder- Homegoods

Let's play the "dream patio" game....

Now, if I had NO BUDGET and were able to do anything to this space, I would expand the patio space (double it), allowing for bigger furniture. I frequently spend hours browsing online at Arhaus. I found some gorgeous pieces I would love to use on this dream patio of mine. Brian and I are going to most likely finish off the basement sometime in the next 6 months and the theme will be very neutral. Since the patio is right off the basement, I would love to just make it an extension of the basement. I love this Hamptons Outdoor Teak Chaise  SO much. Again, since I would ideally double the size of the patio, I would be able to fit 2 of these Teak Chaise lounges. My favorite fabric is the stunt pebble. Typically, I am a sucker for color but again, I would want this to be very neutral.  I would definitely upgrade our fire pit and stick to a neutral rug, like this one. I fell in LOVE with this accent table and would add lighting and coziness with these lanterns. I would finish everything off with industrial outdoor light bulbs like these from Target. 

Isn't it FUN to dream?!?!?! :) One day, maybe! 

As always, thanks for stopping by! 

Cyndi

(See previous posts on the dining/living room, the most recent family room pics, a full family room tour here, although not current, and kitchen although again, made some changes, like finally buying a valence for the window.) Wow, writing out my changes made me realize that I should probably take updated Home Tour pics!