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Whodonit? (Plush) Shark Attack and Restoration
The Crime Scene One morning, our son woke to find his beloved shark stuffed animal savagely mauled outside his bedroom door. Poor Sharky. There were no eye-witnesses, but preliminary forensic evidence pointed to a list of usual suspects thought to be in the vicinity at the time of the incident. The Suspects: Ridley: 7 years old, brother of Samus, cuddle bug, verbslizes hunger every morning, has place at family dinner table, Hadley’s disciplinarian, clean record Hadley: 14 months old, spotty record, expert chewer, high energy, toy thief, occasionally poops household objects Samus: 7 years old, sister of Ridley, get-off-my-lawn face, murder button permanently engaged, loves coffee, cuddles in order to…
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Indoor Monkey Bars
We have a long hallway in between our bonus room and the rest of the house. One day, while walking down it, I realized it would be a perfect place for some monkey bars! We needed something for the kids to climb because they were quite literally climbing the walls. Supplies: 2×4 lumber (We used a total of four, two on each side. You will need the length of your monkey bars x2) 3/4-in x 10-ft galvanized steel pipes OR you could buy them pre-cut, if you can find a length that works for you, like THESE 3/4-in galvanized 2-hole pipe straps 3-in screws Paint for 2×4’s (optional) Tools: Tape measure…
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Indoor Swing
We are always looking for ways to make our house more fun. When I saw indoor swings online, I thought our bonus room would be the perfect place to try them out. Here’s a girl and her puppy hanging out in the bonus room before the swing: There are a lot of different options available, from chairs, to pod swings, to more hammock-like versions. We decided on these Harkla swings: The swings themselves are pretty cool but we found you could only twist so far before you recreate The Helicopter move from the playground. We found a swivel you can add in between the ceiling plate and the swing so…
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Ikea Hack Bookcases for a Home Library
I’ve aways wanted a library in our house. Sitting in a room by a fire, surrounded by interesting books, and reading all day sounds like paradise. In our Portland house, we had a front room that was begging to be turned into just that. The problem was that built-in bookcases were beyond our budget. The solution? Ikea!I had seen ideas before about turning Ikea shelving into built-ins and I thought it was time to try it for ourselves. We found that adding Ikea Billy bookcases to make built-ins was the perfect solution for our home library. Supplies: Bookcases – We used Ikea Billy Lumber – 1×4 on bottom, 1×12 on…
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Cardboard Castle
Trunk-or-Treat happened to fall on the day of our birthday girl this year. She wanted a birthday party and the other three wanted to go to trunk-or-treat. As you often do with a family of six, we compromised and decided to host a trunk that was birthday-girl themed. She was already heavily into princess-mode for her costume so the trunk plans quickly became a birthday castle. We needed materials that were temporary, easy to move, and not too expensive since it was likely to be a one-use castle. We had just moved so we had a LOT of boxes. Cardboard castle, here we come! Supplies: Cardboard boxes Heavy duty scissors…
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Play Area Under the Stairs
When we moved into our house, we found that the previous owners had left us a tiny door in the attic. Someone had a fun project planned that never came to fruition. As soon as we discovered it, I knew we had to find a way to use it. I have always loved the idea of hidden play areas and secret worlds. I blame the The Chronicles of Narnia for my obsession. Supplies: Tiny door (You can buy these online, pre-framed) Drill Oscillating multi tool Reciprocating saw Vacuum (so much debris under the stairs) 2″ Wood screws Molding – or however you want to finish the outside of the door…
