Home Improvement

Vacation has just started for my kids and it is chaos and mayhem as usual around the house. Toys are everywhere, papers and crayons are around and I always hear, “Mom, I’m bored!” every hour. It’s not that they do not have anything to do or play with in the house. It’s how disorganized and cluttered everything is. They can’t seem to decide which ones to get and play with since toys ARE EVERYWHERE. So I have been thinking of revamping their little play area and do a bit of spring cleaning!

I have scoured Pinterest for inspiration and here’s what I found:

The little padded baskets, when properly labelled, will be such a big improvement for the kids and make it easier for them to find toys and pile them away.

These are all IKEA pieces:

I often wish there is a good coupon code like a Cymax promo code for IKEA. I can totally built everything in our house using all IKEA supplies. Coupon Codes would give us such huge savings.

To give you an idea how much each piece costs, here is a kid workstation built mostly using IKEA supplies. A good friend pinned this and actually did this for her son.

I am an organizing junkie these days. I seem to want to organize and label every part of our home. Moreso when Martha Stewart launched her Home Office Collection at Staples! I have always admired Martha Stewart ever since I planned my wedding. Now I am now into city mini gt stroller and kids’ crafts but my admiration for Martha has never waned.

I wish there is a way for me to get her collection without outrageous shipping fees! I am not ashamed to admit I want them ALL!

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Are you one of those people who spend the last days of 2011 cramming what should have been done at the start of December – cleaning up the house and throwing trash to make way for new trash aka gifts? Most of my friends are on vacation right now, enjoying some of the best hotels in orlando and taking their children to DisneyWorld. Us? We are spending it with my husband’s side of the family and we will be enjoying it 22 floors up!

I have been thinking of getting digital antennas for our house since we do not get a lot of signal for our cellphones, cable or even wifi internet. A lot of stuff has in my mind as well because of too much clutter in my house. I think I need to try these hideaway storage ideas:

You’d be amazed at how much wasted space lies underneath a staircase. Make the most of it with these pull-out closets.

Store your clothes under the bed and even under the floorboards.

No extra room for an office? No problem. Turn a closet into an office.

You can’t really hide it away, but you might not know it’s there unless you look up!

One of my biggest challenges is to control clutter in our house, especially with two kids around. Everyday, I throw things in the trash can only to realize that somehow more than ten things have since added up. I do not even know where to put the zumba playstation my husband is seriously considering buying already.

Somehow, when I have babies again, I would likely try and do this to a wall. It will surely help them be occupied for awhile and at the same time let them learn their alphabet early.

Magnetic wall + chalkboard + dry erase + sliding ladder = amazing art activity wall

You can learn how to put them together here.

I am a person who gives great importance to memories, that’s why if there is ever an insurance for pictures, I probably would have gotten it – I actually invested on two back-ups to our photos (you can never be too sure). This is aside from having them printed.

Here is another idea for displaying pictures at home – have them displayed under the table with a clear glass!

Both my husband and I work from home. This is why setting up a strong network between our computers is a must. Since I do not know a thing about this, my husband is the one who sets up everything, including buying the network cable needed.

It is better to have our computers synced since we do not need portable USBs to share files and even access files from different computers.

Ever wanted to remember a peg of the special occasion dresses you printed before but cannot seem to find it among piles of paper in your desk?

Pinning it on corkboards will help. It might even help you remember things better, with important stuff pinned to it regularly. I love Martha Stewart’s DIY Corkboard inspiration:

A corkboard is handy for posting reminders, but it’s often difficult to find a suitable spot for one on the wall. Instead, cut one to fit inside a door or a cabinet panel. Measure the dimensions of the space. With a straightedge and a box cutter, trim a piece of sheet cork (available in many hues at home-supply stores) to those dimensions. Affix cork to surface with nails.

The news of the great New Zealand earthquake just a few days ago is still fresh. The video footages of the devastation as the earthquake ruining houses, cars and buildings is chilling and you can only feel sorry for the people who lost everything. I am sure they can rise up from this temporary setback. They have always shown they can be resilient in whatever hard situation they are faced with. We are lucky to be spared from such destruction.

However, we can never tell when it is our turn to experience such a calamity. It is always best to keep in mind that preparation is always important. Be sure to have your cell phone batteries charged and always have a spare one ready. A mode of communication even if the electricity goes out is key that’s why you always have to be wary of your cell phone’s battery life. It can never hurt if you try to find where the cheapest but most reliable discount batteries are. The knowledge of where the nearest battery store is for all of your electrical needs may come in handy even before the time disaster strikes. Have ample food and water always whenever there is an alert for an impending disaster.

Printing labels can be tedious and mundane especially if you have other more important things to do. However, custom labels can be very useful whether for personal use or for a big business. It is a good thing that there are now a lot of companies that offer printing service or custom printing. If you need to deal with labels too then below are some tips to help make this task easy and to make your labels more effective.

• Go for quality. You do not want the sticky part of your labels to get stuck everywhere. You also do not want to end up with labels with smudged prints. So go for quality materials every time you need to have labels done.
• Test prints. Ask your printer to do a test print. Do the same especially if you are printing your labels on your own. This will save you from printing numerous labels that needs to be corrected.
• Print extras. Most of the time, companies that offer printing services allow you to order in specific quantities only. Do not order exactly the quantity that you need. Instead, order a little bit of more to make sure that you have extra labels in case you might need them.