Lay, Ladies, Lay

Maya & Julia enjoying their new beds!

After a loooooooooong pause in updates I am proud to post pictures of the girls' beds from Crib Bed by Mountaincraft!

The girls LOVE their beds! They are very sturdy, look nice and are made well! They both jumped on the beds, squealing in delight the day we got them!

My niece with Julia & Maya

It has been a trying several months since my last update. I am excited to be back on the blog with the news that I won a $20,000 Kitchen Make-Over from Platinum Kitchens & Designs, Inc!

I will happily update the progress of our new kitchen here!



Julia loves her new jungle themed room!



Repainted bookshelf

Repainted Wardrobe

Wall Stick-Ons added to ceiling fan

Highlights of some of the other decorating I've done! Both the bookshelf & wardrobe were repainted from white to bright colours to match the new theme. Both pieces can be seen in their original form in "before" post!

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

We have purchased two new swings to take the place of the IKEA swing.

We will install one chain to the ceiling beam with a hook which will allow us to change swings. Will post pictures & reviews of products when we're done!

This is a less expensive mini-version of platform swings used in sensory therapy for vestibular issues.

$138 at especialneeds

The Airwalker Swing! A favorite of every child at Hearts and Hands Therapy

 $296 at especialneeds

Other great sites for therapy products:

Southpaw Enterprises

Amazon

When you purchase online at sites such as Amazon, Target, Home Depot, and 100's of others visit

Give Back America

first, then click on the participating retailer, and that retailer will donate a portion of your sale to

the Dare To Hope Foundation at no extra cost to you!

Shiny Happy Color

I just finished painting the upper walls! I love the color-it's very happy!

Thank you all who voted!

Sensory Overload: AKA "The Basement"

It is time I mentioned the side-project gone awry, turning the basement into a more functional play & therapy room. This immediately went from "Julia & Maya-proofing the basement" to "major project".

Before:

The weird-looking apparatus is a mook jong, for martial arts training



Ikea Swing: great in theory, but the girls have low muscle tone so they must be monitored in it at all times.
Translation: it's gots to go!



Trampoline (a favorite), climby-thingy, and tons of wires & hazards to be removed

Shout-out to Troy for WiFi help! Old computer set-up in the basement for You Tube Yo Gabba Gabba videos, HiYa, and Dynavox programming! We hope to get a "Big Mack" switch for the girls to use computer learning programs like they use in school!

Special thanks to Miss Mary from Clesia Ventures for taking time last Saturday to help me clean out a good deal of the basement hazards! Not only an awesome speech therapist, but a fantastic decorator as well!



Maya enjoying speech therapy with Miss Mary!
(which usually involves a lot of snacks)

 Now that the basement is cleaned out, we have both an Airwalker Hammock Swing & a mini-platform swing to install in place of the Ikea swing. I plan to paint one of the walls in brick colors & install a blacklight over it.

I will post pictures & links to where we got everything as I post the new pictures!!!!!! I am very excited for Project Basement to get under way!!!!

The Final Countdown

Options 2 & 4 are neck-in-neck. I'm having difficulty deciding how to paint the room! I need to start painting next week the latest!

Here is a picture with the top 2 paint samples & decals:

On the left is the light purple on top with the dark green on bottom. The right is the light green on top & keeping the same purple on the bottom.

Left or right? Whatever will I do?

Rug-O-Rama

I am far too excited over these rugs I found today! I felt the need to share:

by coffeeandtv

 Julia's favorite toy is her Zebra Bounce & Spin (how fitting for a jungle theme!) which needs to have a rug under it.  

Julia loves her zebra!

    

Twistin' the night away



I am having trouble deciding which rug to get!

I wish I had room for them all.

The circular one would fit the zebra really well, but I just can't get over the cuteness factor of the lion, cheetah and tiger! And of course, I can't pick between the three!

Ideas? Opinions? I'm in "cute over-load"!!!!

Color My World

I bought stuff today!!!!!!!

Now I'm getting a little bit more excited. I am holding a yard sale on Friday to sell off the Princess & baby stuff to make money & room for a JUNGLE THEME!!!!! See below for pix of today's purchases, but first:

TAKE THE POLL!!!!!

For those who know me, you will be shocked that I waited until Blogpost #3 to bust out the poll feature. But it is here & I need YOUR help!

WHAT COLOR SHOULD I PAINT THE WALLS???????

Refer to the previous post, (Just Like) Starting Over, to see the walls with the picture rail & window frame. The pink & purple used in the examples will be the same. Vote for the winning combo on the right side of this page!



Option 1



Option #1

AKA: "The Lazy Option". Don't vote for this out of pity for me unless you really love it! Walls remain the same pink & purple it is now. Base board, picture rail & crown molding will be a light green. The window frames will be pale yellow.



Option 2

Option #2

Keep the purple on the bottom & paint the top a pale sagey-green. All trim will be pale yellow.

Option 3

Option #3

For those of you paying attention, this is remarkably like option #2. However, in option #3 the base board & crown molding are yellow, and the picture rail & window frames are pale pink.



Option 4



Option #4

"The Tinkerbell": dark foresty-green on bottom, pale bluish-purple on top, all pale yellow trim.

TO HELP YOU DECIDE:



Wall clings I bought


With the aid of my assistant, Heather, I bought these adorable wall clings today. The plan is to use the second & third ones on the walls on the upper section and use the first on the wardrobe (which I can say with 90% certainty that choosing the colors to paint the wardrobe will be the next poll).

Close-up of wall clings I bought



Example from web





Photos from the Babies R Us web site-I plan to do something similar to the walls in the picture.



Our new switch cover!



And the new switch cover I bought today which I absolutely adore! Ta-daa!

Happy voting! Think about this hard! I have about 1000 paint strips from Home Depot waiting to go!!