When my parents-in-laws bought Dannica a playhouse for her Christmas present, I was blown away by their generosity and also secretly wanted to play in it myself! Many of you who follow me on instagram have asked me about her playhouse.
The original playhouse is the Aspen All Cedar Wood Playhouse by Backyard Discovery. You can find it here. We absolutely love this playhouse–it has a small built in kitchenette, working mailbox, a mini fence, dining cafe bench, and other cooking accessories. Here it is before we made it over:
I loved the house, but I really had this vision of it being a summer cottage by the beach rather than it being a wooden log cabin in the mountains 🙂 With that in mind, I poured over the colors because I definitely wanted to go with purple accents, bluish grays for the exterior and simple white for the interior. The key to gray is to pay close attention to the undertones. Do not pay any attention to paint swatches because those rarely if ever convey the true colors in real life. Gray is such a subtle color that any undertone will completely overtake it. So if it is a gray with a slightly blue undertone, you will end up with a wall that looks pastel blue. A color more suitable for your firstborn son rather than a summer cottage.
The first step is to dismantle the house so that you can easily paint it with minimal taping. Another tip is to sand the house down if you want a smooth finish. I personally didn’t sand the house down because I wanted a rougher finish. If you like the paint colors I chose, the roof is Kendall Charcoal, exterior walls are Stonington Gray, all trims, fence and interior walls are Simply White, and the bench and front door is Chelsea Gray (all paint colors are by Benjamin Moore’s exterior paint). By the way, my favorite all time accent gray is Chelsea Gray and I use this color a LOT.
Next was just sprucing up the inside and adding textures and textiles to make it feel more homey and warm. The floral garland is by Fancy Free Finery, the drapes and small end table (which I spray painted white) are from Ikea and you can purchase the kiddie sized Adirondack chair here. The “Oh Joy! Rainbow” and “Home Sweet Home” welcome mats are both from Target. I later added a small rug inside that isn’t pictured here, but it is the perfect size and the perfect little outdoor rug for only $6.99 from Ikea (you can purchase it here). All other accessories are from Michael’s.
This playhouse has already provided hundreds of hours of fun for Dannica. I hope you enjoyed this little playhouse makeover! And of course, please feel free to ask me any questions!!
I was so touched by the overwhelming response to my post about photo tips on lighting. So many of you have then followed up with me and asked specifically how I manage to work with an uncooperative toddler! This is such a great question because it took me a lot of trial and error in figuring out how best to take photos of someone who absolutely refuses to take directions 🙂
Dannica is almost 21 months old right now and for all the many months before that, she absolutely refused to take directions and could care less about photos. When I told her to sit, she would stand up and walk away. When I told her to walk around, she would sit down and sulk. When I told her to smile, she would cry. You get the idea. Things were going nowhere. The first and most obvious tip is that they really are in control. That being said, you can set yourself up for success!
The second tip is that your toddler will always be your x factor. So make sure that every single little detail outside of your toddler is ready and set to go for your photo. For me that is usually figuring out what angle I want to take the photo and where to position Dannica and Bella with respect to the lighting (see previous post on lighting). So once you have all the details figured out, then all you have to do is have your toddler come over and then you can just take the photo–you have zero time for fiddling and adjusting.
The third tip is to keep it fresh and new for your toddler. Put him or her in a new environment, or interact with new people, or reach for new things. You will be amazed by how easy they can be when they are simply exploring their new surroundings.
The fourth tip is that distraction will be your best friend. For me that usually means Bella (our Cavalier King Charles dog), but it can also be his or her favorite toy, or snacks, or flowers, or anything for them to hold, eat or interact with! Sometimes I use all those distractions to my advantage at the same time! You can go through all my Instagram photos and see that Dannica is always holding something, or eating something, or just sleeping.
And finally, be an observer. Let your toddler just be a toddler. I realized that the popular and most favored photos are always the more candid and natural photos where the picture tells a story. It’s more fun to capture a moment than to create one. Once you have your spot picked out, and your lighting just right, and brought your babe’s favorite snack and toy, all you can do is just let them be. And more often than not, it will be just perfect.
Many of you have asked me about Dannica’s play kitchen in the past few months. Honestly, if you’ve ever wanted to start on a small and simple DIY project, this is the perfect one for any DIY beginners to dip their toes in! It really is fool proof and the result is so worth the extra hour or two in constructing it.
The base of the kitchen is IKEA’s Duktig play kitchen which you can purchase online or at their shop. The kitchen built as is looks like the photo below:
The first step is to lay out all the parts and spray paint all the wooden parts (front and back) white. You can purchase affordable white matte spray paints at your local Home Depot. Make sure that they are completely dry before you flip them over and paint the other side. **If you love the look of a farmer’s sink, then you can purchase a can of glossy white and spray paint the sink.** The second step is to spray paint all the fixtures rose gold (my choice of color was rose gold, but you can choose bronze, copper, anything that suits your fancy!). Don’t forget to spray paint the small tiny hooks as well as the faucet and burner rims. If you keep the plastic covering of the burners on, then you can quickly spray paint the rims without taping anything.
While everything is drying, you can start on the faux marble countertop. I bought mine from Amazon and was so happy with how it looked and turned out. You can cut out the portion where the sink and burners go in and all the other nail holes, I simply nailed through the contact paper and that worked out perfectly well. The final touch is to add the stove and oven knobs to the front. I bought the knobs from Amazon and simply Krazy glued them on after marking a placeholder with a pencil.
I’ve seen so many people do fun back splashes (I am trying to do a subway tile back splash and still on the hunt for the perfect tiles) and paint the insides of the cubby holes as well. If you search IKEA Duktig makeovers on Pinterest, there are hundreds of different hacks that people have done. I personally settled on this one because it was my dream kitchen colors and aesthetics growing up!
It really only took around 1-2 extra hours on top of the time it takes to actually assemble the kitchen. I hope this inspires you to do one as well! You can see below for sources and of course, please feel free to ask me any questions below!
Ikea Duktig Kitchen // Faux Marble Contact Paper // Apron // Kitchen Appliances // Potted Plants // Stove Top Knobs
Washcloth is from Joann’s fabric, all other accessories are from Target, and misshapen cupcakes were baked by yours truly.
With Easter right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to round up some of my favorite looks for the big day! From egg hunting to Sunday service, here are some outfit inspirations for your littles. ~Please see below for sources~
My husband had his 15 year reunion in Durham, NC so while we were out there, we decided to make a short road trip over to one of my favorite cities in America. Charleston! And it is as darling and lovely as I remembered it.
The city is just so charming and each and every block is overflowing with history and character. We loved walking down the city streets and I swear I have never been to a more picturesque city–the vibrant and colorful homes, the mature trees, the over abundance of pretty stoops, resting areas and window planters…I could just spend a whole week walking around downtown Charleston.
Many of you have asked me for tips on how to take photos and more specifically, how I take my photos. This is such a broad question that it is impossible to cover in one post. There are so many aspects to consider when taking a photo–lighting, styling, location scouting, flattering positioning of the subject(s), editing, story telling, and so so soooooo much more. When taking photos of a toddler or a dog (or even BOTH, like I do!!) there are even more factors to consider and little tricks you can pull out of your hat to make things go (somewhat) more smoothly. I promise to eventually go over all of them (you can comment here if you would like to read about a particular topic more so than others).
I am by no means a photographer and I do not pretend to even be one! I have far too much respect for professional photographers and their knowledge of their craft to call myself one. What I can do, is just speak from personal experience on what worked and what didn’t. I also take all of my photos on my iPhone, so everything I am going over here is iPhone specific. And what I learned is that lighting is EVERYTHING.
Natural light is your best friend. I believe that everyone and everything look their best in natural light. With that being said, you want the right kind of sunlight depending on whether you’re inside or outside. When you’re inside, you want maximum sunlight. So if your home is always flooded with light, you’re golden. It’s also nice to know which part of your house gets the most sunlight throughout the day and take photos when you know that area will be at its brightest.
When taking photos outside, it is ironically the reverse! I realized that on those bright, sunny and perfectly blue sky days, taking a good photo is nearly impossible. People are always squinting, their skin looks too shiny, there are sharp and distracting shadows everywhere, and anything in white or subtle colors are completely lost or destroyed. So I found that my favorite days to take photos outside is on a warm, overcast or cloudy day, or even better, right before the sun settles for the day. They call this the “golden hour” for very good reason. The sun casts that perfectly soft golden hue everywhere and all photos just turn out magical and enchanting. It really is the best, best, best time to take photos outside.
So I have always wanted to be a mother. Even when I was six years old, I was basically like a mother hen to my younger sister. I volunteered all throughout high school as a summer camp counselor, and then worked as an assistant at my college day care center looking over the most delicious babies. I think I had baby fever ever since I was a baby!
After I moved to Colorado and got married, my husband and I wanted kids right away. But it didn’t happen that way. We found out that I had several fertility issues (PCOS, pre-diabetes, a misshaped cervix and uterus–a lot!). We underwent several IUIs and IVFs and I was able to get pregnant twice. One I miscarried and the other ended up being an ectopic pregnancy. I was admitted into the ER late one night because I was doubling over in pain, and the ultrasound showed that the baby had implanted in my left tube. The doctors insisted that I had to abort the pregnancy and I went through two rounds of Methotrexate (a form of Chemotherapy). I remember feeling so broken and betrayed by my body. I felt like I was drowning and my life was spinning out of control.
My husband and I decided to pause on the fertility treatments and just live life. After a while there was just so much sadness and hurt over the loss and pain that I forgot about all the other blessings I had in life. It was time to stop mourning. So we adopted a puppy whom we fell madly in love with. And then that very month we brought Bella home–I found out I was expecting. Two little angels. Two little miracles.
And thinking back, I honestly would not have it any other way. It made our marriage stronger and deeper. It brought us to Bella, who gives our family so much joy. It makes us celebrate every single day we can call ourselves parents. And to finally have a healthy baby girl, to feel her heartbeat against my chest when I snuggle her, to see her take her first wobbly steps, to hear her say mama and dada…we would do everything all over and over and over again.
I never thought I would ever get here. It’s been a little scary, but also exciting at the thought of taking the blogging leap. At the end of the day, I felt it was the perfect way to document our everyday lives and at the same time to create a space where I can connect with other like-minded moms.
Ideally my goal here is to inspire and to see the whimsical and fun side to the everyday and mundane mom life. I personally love to see something that makes my heart skip a beat or makes me forget the 513 things that went wrong that day. I love when I see women realizing their dreams and potential. I love when I see these women teaching their children to do the same. And I hope I can do the same.
If you already follow me on Instagram, that’s really where all this started from. I wanted a better way to address comments and messages that people were leaving behind. These feedback ranged from how I got my two girls to nap together to how I edit my photos to where I get all of Dannica’s outfits and inspirations from (speaking of, does anyone else envy their daughter’s closet?!) With that being said, please leave a comment if you’d like me to post about a particular topic! If not, I’ll just continue onward with more baby spam 😉