Spot of Tea Designs

Calming Master Bedroom Mini Makeover

DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this post contain affiliate links, which come at no cost to you. Know that I only promote products I personally use and stand behind. To learn more about my affiliates, please review my disclosure policy here.

Changing the mood of your bedroom doesn’t have to be expensive. With the help of a different paint color and a change in textiles, you can easily update a boring beige bedroom into a calm oasis with a bedroom mini makeover! That’s what we did in our master bedroom and now we love the new look and get a more restful night’s sleep! I am SO excited to share today’s blog post showcasing our master bedroom mini makeover!

First let’s review the before. And wow can you say #bloggerfail? We began making small updates to this room and before I knew it I realized I never took proper before photos!

The only thing I was able to drag up were some non dslr photos of very early versions of furniture arrangement.

Room Challenges:

2 windows that are different heights and challenging for furniture placement
Limited wall space for a bed with a headboard
Cheap and flimsy window blinds

Now let’s take a step into the after.

I went to school for art so my color theory radar was kicking in. We didn’t want to spend a ton of money on an update but I knew that drab beige was not doing us any good in there.

With a simple change of paint color from that boring beige to Sweet Mint we now have a much calmer and relaxing space. Pair that with some rearrangements in furniture and we seem to have better flow.

The far window, which was previously blocked by the bed’s curved headboard is now a perfect spot for my makeshift vanity to capture some natural light. (It’s actually a computer desk with a pull out drawer that houses all my makeup!)

The basic builder blinds have been updated to custom cut wood ones that help filter out the light better and the dark brown short curtains have been replaced by longer ones. Tip: we didn’t want to do the whole spackling holes and making new ones thing but if I had to do it again, I’d hang the curtains higher to help create an illusion of more height in this space. #Rookiemove

The curved headboard how has an empty wall behind it and no longer blocks the light in the room.

With new wall colors came new textiles. It’s the first time I’ve ever had a dust ruffle on my bed. And of course we have lots of useless decorative pillows with great embroidered accents.

What’s on my nightstand you ask? I just pulled out Gone With The Wind to start reading it per my 40 Before Forty List. In case you didn’t know, I’m named after the plantation, Tara, in the book. I found this 1936 copy at a used book store near my house. It’s the second of this printing that I found as if you remember I turned the first copy into a ring box for our wedding rings that our best man carried down the aisle!

The tall dresser is now under the TV and the longer one included more open space above. Some wall art may be needed in that space in the future!

This post wouldn’t be complete with a great set of before and after photos because who doesn’t love those?!

We now have a lighter, brighter, calming and relaxing space to rest our head for those precious moments of sleep we now get with two kids that (mostly) sleep through the night! Hope you enjoyed the walk through on our mini makeover!

Resources:

Paint Color: Valspar Sweet Mint
Blinds: Lowes
Curtains: Manhattan from Bed Bath and Beyond
Furniture: Raymour & Flannigan
Vanity: Anywhere Desk at Target
Vanity Stool: Home Goods
Bedspread: JC Penny

Save

Lessons Learned as a Girl Dad

Father's Day, Holidays & Occasions, Parenting

Growing up with a dad who has helped raise two daughters I didn’t really think about all the things a male would need to learn when raising girls. Now that I’m watching my husband, Derek, experience it with our girls, I have a whole new understanding to this dynamic. While this is by no means a list of everything fathers have to learn when raising daughters or do I assume all family lifestyles interact the way I’m showcasing here, this is the experience I’ve seen with the shortlist of lessons a girl dad has to learn when raising daughters.

Today’s post is not only written as an observation of myself but was a combination of answers given by fellow girl moms and girl dads I polled. Forward it over to fellow girl dads or soon-to-be girl dads so they can freshen up on what’s ahead with a life of a girl!

Expect more talking during playtime. Boys can roll around trucks for hours quietly by themselves but girls seem to require more chatter during creative pretend play. Dads, don’t expect to just be sipping that fake tea she made. Describe it. Tell her what else you want with your fake food plate. Bring a baby doll along and know you’ll have to burp it and rock it while you fake sip your drink.
There are so many more shoe options. There are more than just sneakers for girls. Boys may have play sneakers, school sneakers and MAYBE dress shoes. There might be lots of options when it comes to characters on their shoes or whether they are velcro or tied. Girl dads learn about all these other shoe categories and styles boys don’t have: jellies, Mary Janes, and strappy sandals, just to name a few.

Boots can be for fashion. In a boy’s world, you put boots on for rain or to do outdoor activities like fishing or hiking. Girls meanwhile wear certain boots for those purposes but also have other boots worn JUST for the sake of fashion.
Shorts or bloomers are required under dresses. Maybe this is more for the younger crowd that isn’t as discrete about keeping their dress down during playtime but dads have to learn that you can’t just throw a cotton sundress on for summer with your two year old.

Girls like outdoor projects too! Even if mom isn’t into power tools, shoveling snow and the dirty part of gardening, it doesn’t mean your daughter won’t love those things! Engage them in these activities if they show an interest as really it’s all about time spent with dad.
Picking out outfits can be a process. Sure, toddler boys can be particular about what they want (Lego batman or Superman today?) but girls seem to take a lot longer with this outfit choosing process. (and it only gets worse!)

How to brush long hair. Most women know that you don’t start at the top to brush long hair but first do smaller strokes at the bottom to get the knots out first. Then you go back to the top. Took lots of tears for a girl dad to understand this.
Long hair needs conditioner. A man’s shower may consist of one bottle which is a shampoo/body wash combo. But girls need much more, including shampoo AND conditioner.

How to put in a pony tail. As a woman, I take this easy act for granted but watching a dad try this out, I can see it’s not intuitive for all.
Put their hair up before applying sunscreen. Are you noticing a trend? Guys who never had long hair don’t really know what to do with it sometimes. I can remember Derek squirting sunscreen into his hands to put on Brielle then realizing how much hair was in the way that he couldn’t move when his hands were covered. Now he knows to put it up first but that first year at the pool had a greasy haired Brielle running around!
Their accessories have accessories. Not only does your real daughter need her sippy cup, blanket and hair tie before getting in the car but her baby doll needs HER sippy cup, blanket and hair tie!

The girl dad in your life might also enjoy this post from two years ago, 10 signs he’s a good dad to a daughter!

Save

Father’s Day Kids Craft | World’s Greatest Daddy Banner

Crafts & DIY, Father's Day, Holidays & Occasions, Kids' Crafts

Looking for a last minute idea on how the kids can make tomorrow’s Father’s Day holiday special? Have the kids hand paint him a banner! Grab your smocks, roll of paper and finger paint and get to work on a World’s Greatest Daddy banner to welcome him to breakfast tomorrow morning!

Kids love finger painting and their dad so putting two and two together seemed like a no brainer.

The setup was also super simple as we already had all our favorite art supplies on hand. I grabbed a marker and wrote out “World’s Greatest Daddy” with a mix of script and block print.

Honestly, if you watched my Instagram stories yesterday you saw that my first thought was that this was going to be a disaster. I gave each girl a bowl of paint, a paintbrush and put on their smocks and thought they’d get paint everywhere.

I mean, they haven’t done too much stand up free form painting yet so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Plus toddlers with a bowl of paint ready to flip or spill was the recipe for chaos.

To my surprise it wasn’t a disaster at all! The letters on the banner gave them a focus on where to keep the paint and since it was pretty large they both had plenty of room to get creative.

Can you tell which side Brielle did vs Hailey? Together they made a fun banner to hang up tomorrow morning and welcome daddy to his third Father’s day! They will be proud to tell him he’s the world’s greatest daddy as they gift him things made at school!

Should you don the smocks and get painting of your own banner, tag me as I’d love to see those kiddie creations!

Save

Year of Fun Dates Bridal Shower Gift (Guest Post)

Crafts & DIY, Gifts and Toys, Wedding

Friends, you are in for a treat today! Today’s post comes to us from Liz, a longtime friend and past coworker of mine who has graced my pages many times in the form of handmade gift she’s made me and my girls. Today she’s sharing a handmade gift she and her godson created with the use of her silhouette machine: a year of fun dates bridal shower gift!

Yes long time SOTD readers will remember that I and a group of bridesmaids had done a year of date night gifts for my bestie, and SOTD contributor, Allie for her bridal shower. Each month the couple is allowed to open their next gift and enjoy a date night that was planned out. For this version, Liz helped craft up this adorably fun gift with her godson Ben to give to his brother, Roy, and his soon-to-be-wife, Andrea, at her bridal shower. This is the ultimate reader’s feature submission that needed it’s own post! The date ideas are just too darn cute and the crafted elements to gift them are so awesome. Check out this super thoughtful year of fun dates gift Liz and Ben put together!

Background: Roy (the husband to be) was to be stationed with the Coast Guard in Key West, which doesn’t have many chain restaurants or big box stores. Being that Ben (the brother gifting this gift) is in New Jersey, he had to get creative on the gifts he wanted to give and the date ideas. Most included money for the date but had a theme around it that was very cutely decorated.

January – Theme: missing home and the cold (since Roy’s from NJ but currently stationed in Florida). It included packs of Starbucks hot chocolate and a plush set of fake snowballs. The card encouraged some hot chocolate and to have a snowball fight.

February – Similar to what I did for the February date, this one included a date out to the movies! Gift included money and a box of their favorite candy in a faux popcorn box.

March – Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a tradition from their family growing up – green milk and green pancakes! Ben included a box of pancake mix, green food coloring, chocolate chips and a gift card to McDonalds to grab some shamrock shakes. The hat is actually a Tupperware container that was painted green like a leprechaun hat as a cute accent!

April – Ben gave 2 gifts because he’s a jokester. In honor of April Fools Day, the first gift was a “fake” one booby trapped with duct tape. Once they manage to open the box, they would discover it was empty except for a card that said “LOL” on the front and told them their date was time spent figuring out how to open the box. On the back of the card it said to look for the box marked May with a smiley face on the tag.

That was the real April date – money for sushi take out and an egg decorating kit for Easter.

May – Celebrate Cinco de Mayo! A set of margarita glasses, mini bottle of tequila and money to go out for Mexican food.

June – In honor of hockey season and the Stanley cup finals (a big deal for this hockey loving family) they were gifted money to go to a sports bar. (where he hoped they’d see the Rangers win the cup!)

July – BBQ season! Gift was a hamburger press and money for the makings of a BBQ.

August – Picnic and day at the beach followed by ice cream sundaes at home. The gift included money to buy sandwiches and ice cream, two glasses of Riesling wine, a kite, and toppings for the sundaes.

September – Date night at home. Money for takeout, some microwave popcorn, and a dvd of 50 First Dates (Ben’s favorite date movie)!

October – Pizza and a game night. The gift included money for pizza, a menu for a place in Key West and game to play together.

November – A road trip! Since he wouldn’t know where they have already been or what they’d be interested in, he included a mix! A map of Key West and Miami, as well as, brochures for local museums and an event schedule in a cute travel themed bi-fold pocket.

December – A month notorious with shopping! Just as I had done for the December date I gifted, this one is spent Christmas shopping doing a photo scavenger hunt at the mall! Ben included a gift card to Starbucks to get the day started.

While Liz is a big time crafter, Ben is not. She says he got a whole new appreciation for what goes into crafting these kinds of gifts as he helped assemble all the pieced together designs and wrap the finished projects as part of this large gift concept.

Save

Resources:

Spot of Tea Tweets