Saturday, January 24, 2015

Handmade Home #14

A while back I had asked Jimmy to make me a laundry cart when he had time. I had an old one of which I really liked the design, but it was too small and kept falling apart. I asked Jimmy for a sturdier version with 4 bins instead of 3. He decided that was what he would make me for Christmas.  
Our laundry room is pretty open to the rest of our house, so I was excited about getting rid of my other junky cart. Besides that I don't really find any other household chores relaxing, but I love doing laundry. It is a big stress reliever for me. I hang a load of laundry on the line every morning. It is part of my routine. I'm just saying this was the perfect gift and affects my life on a daily basis. 

With the metal he had on hand, he only spent about $12 to buy wheels and some hooks. I used some old sheets to make the bags. Pretty good price for a custom heavy duty laundry bin! The top lifts up when needed and I can even roll it around the house if I want, haha! I love it!
We thought we had Eden's present taken care of back in the first of November. It is really hard to find decent toys in Petén. They are super expensive and don't usually last very long because of the quality. So you have to plan ahead and try and buy presents for Christmas and birthdays on furlough unless you plan to make them. This year when we were in the capital we found a good quality play kitchen we could order for E. They said it would make it in plenty of time for Christmas, so we did. Well less than 2 weeks before Christmas after WE called them, they said, "Nope, middle of January." So there we was no present and no refund any time soon. 

I had picked up her birthday present in the States, it was a couple pieces of doll house furniture. We were planing on building her a bookshelf style doll house (but not in a week). 
Anyway, Jimmy got on that too! Again, we had some wood on hand, so all he had to buy was the plywood for the back piece. My mom and I had picked up some pretty paper from Michael's for the wallpaper while on furlough.
  
Here it is, ready to be painted. 
We hid it in the guest room while we painted it and told Eden we were making her a baby Spiderman for Christmas.  I don't even know how that got started, but she was excited and it kept her from getting mad at us for not letting her in that room.
I spent a couple nap times working on the accessories. All the light fixtures can be moved around and the wall art is velcroed on, so it can be swapped out too. I'm sure one day, E will want to make her own stuff.
I really wanted to make the walls magnetic, but they don't sell magnetic paint in Guatemala that I have ever found. But seriously, that would have been awesome. The furniture that looks homemade is, haha! The rest is Hape and Plan brand pieces that I am really happy with. An almost 3 year old cannot destroy them. MaG brought her down some pieces too and lots of dolls to go with it... even 2 twin brothers! 
 Eden's favorite color is pink, so I really tried to embrace pink! The pieces came pretty gender neutral, but I don't think they look like that now.
 I knew the nursery would be the most important room to her so I spent the most time on it. The first thing she grabbed was the shelf of baby toys. Yay! The little baby gets played with the most.
{I want ikat pillows on my couches!}
 
So at the last minute, Eden ended up with a pretty spectacular Christmas! It has room to add to it over the years. The empty room on top is supposed to be an open balcony, so maybe some patio furniture next year. The other room will be a kids room. Fun fun fun! Nice to be around some girl toys after years of superheros and weapons!
Eden loves it! We leave it in the living room for now so that she is with us when she's playing. 
SWEET ITEM OF THE DAY:
My lovely friend Bonnie brought me these a couple days before Christmas. I love entertaining and I have already used them several times. I love handmade things and these are beautiful!

1 comment:

  1. That is so sweet! I wish I had the patience to actually make the things I have created in my mind! My hat goes off to you both. You have the perfect personalities to be missionaries. So innovative.

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