Outdoor Shower DIY

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The only good thing about the Corona Virus is all the home DIY projects we've been tackling! Always a silver lining, am I right? 

Our outdoor shower has proven to be one of the most useful and practical projects we've done. No more dripping wet children trekking across our house and marching upstairs to get their hair washed. And when you have blonde kiddos you've got to wash every time to avoid the "green sheen." 



This outdoor shower could have been done so many different ways (according to you tube) but we really just needed something simple. We could have had our house piped but that would have cost an arm and a leg so we just went with this outdoor tank-less water heater from Amazon. You attach a hose and a propane tank to it. 



Matt grabbed a fence from Home Depot and cut it in half and secured it together (with a nail gun and some scrap wood support pieces). He sealed it with Thompson's water seal in clear. He originally bought a cherry red wood seal and I had to say "Nope. That is not the look I want." Haha back to the store he went. 



I stenciled the concrete after seeing my friend Ashley do her front porch. That is a whole other tutorial in itself and she does a great job explaining it on her story in her highlights under "porch" (@_ashley_noel_ ). I grabbed my stencil from @royalstencils . My one tip is don't use a lot of paint at all on your brush... it causes major bleeding under the stencil. Practice first on cardboard. Also, embrace the imperfections! It adds character ;). 




We added THIS anti slip top coat as a last step. 

I've listed the links below to the rest of the shower items:



I hope this was helpful and be sure to leave me a comment with questions or DM me at @natyouraveragegirl !

Happy Campers Birthday Party

Thursday, August 20, 2020

 We had a party so it's time to hop back on the blog! We celebrated our (mostly) happy campers on the 15th and I'm SO pleased with their party outcome... but not for reasons you'd think! I hardly bought anything for their camping themed birthday bash... I used Christmas decorations for the most part! Aside from getting in our garage attic mid-August it was a huge win! I even convinced Matt to set up our Christmas tree. Such a good sport. :) 

 


















We had a great time swimming and eating Mexian food... when you have a birthday in August in Southern California that's pretty much all you can do haha. 

I was so pleased with how the cake turned out... it was actually a Pinterest win! WAY easier than it looks... my kind of project! I'm not giving a tutorial because there are some amazing ones already on there. I'll list sources for items below but honestly it's mostly my home/Christmas decor. 

Wood backdrop: Target $5

Chalkboard: mine

String Lights: mine but from Target

Buffalo Check Placemats: Target doller section years ago

Wood Chargers: mine but from Hobby Lobby ages ago

Bear Plates and Trail Mix Bags: Target

Cookies: @morgieporgiepuddinpie

Cake: me, but Pinterst inspired! 

Lantern: mine

Tree: mine but from Target

Teepee: Matt built this for Blair years ago

Blow Up Fire: Oriental Trading Co.

Brown Camping Signs: Oriental Trading Co.

Tackle Boxes: Target Doller Section (sold as flash card boxes)

T-shirts: Target (the whole family!)

Office Makeover

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Every year Matt and I decide to tackle some big project in our home. We do a lot of things ourselves but this project was out of our league. We wanted to add a wall between our office and formal living room. Yup, you read that right... ADD a wall! It's not often that adding a wall in your home improves it, but in our case it made a huge difference!

I worked with my friend, Michaela, who helped me with the design elements and I love the way it turned out! She was so knowledgeable and easy to work with. I highly recommend her! If you'd like to work with her she is offering my readers $25 off her consult package. Just mention my name. Take a look at the before and afters below:



As you can see there was no door prior to the remodel. I wanted to make sure we still had natural light coming in through the office window so I opted for a glass french door. It arrived primed and I painted it black and added the matte gold lever.





At first it didn't cross my mind to do anything other than slap up a textured wall like the rest of the ones in our house. Luckily it dawned on me that I should add some interest by using shiplap. And whew! so glad I did! The contractor installed it and I went back and painted it myself. I love the character it adds to the room but I purposely brought in other modern design elements to keep it from looking too "country" or full blown farmhouse.




Remember the Barbie house monstrosity?! Maybe not...I clearly don't try to advertise it haha. We moved the Barbie house up into the girls' bedroom and Matt put a ton of shelving inside the nook to make it a closet. The contractor framed it in and added  the sliding barn door.

In order to give the barn door a bit more of a modern feel I went with a shaker style door (instead of the typical X style) and added the track to it with a modern handle. Can I get a hallelujah for how much better this space looks?!


If you turn around to exit the room you'll see the magnetic chalkboard Matt made for this space. Instead of cluttering my refrigerator with all my kids' *darling* art I tack it up in here. They still feel special with their masterpieces on display but it's in a more conspicuous location. Win-win!

Sources are listed below... let me know if I missed something you're interested in!

Matte Gold Door Lever: by Emtek, purchased at Amazon
Braided Rug: Pottery Barn Outlet
White Kids Table: Ikea
Toy Storage Unit: Target
Seagrass Storage Baskets: Amazon
Seaglass Blue Lamp: Crate and Barrel
Artwork: Minted
Letter Board: Letterfolk
White Craft Storage Drawers: Ikea
Metallic Plant Basket: Target (old)
Black Desk: Ballard Design (old)
Matte Black curtain rod: Amazon Basics
Pinstriped Curtains: Pottery Barn
Gold Floor Task Lamp: Target (old)
Magnetic Chalk Board: DIY
Barn Door Handle: Amazon
Light Fixture: Shades of Light
Faux Fiddle Leaf Fig: Ikea
Large Basket: Yard Sale Find
Desk Chairs: Target (old)
Ask Dad Sign: Hobby Lobby
Black Picture Frames: Magnolia Market
Floor Pouf: Target
The paint on my walls is called "Simply White" by Benjamin Moore. Ace Hardware carries it. I hope you enjoyed the tour! Stay tuned for the formal living room!

Logann's first birthday party: ONE of a kind

Sunday, May 17, 2020

It's been a minute since I've blogged... nine months to be exact haha. However the blog is not dead and I wanted to post about Logann's first birthday party! She had the time of her life and ate her weight in cake. 

I went with a "muted rainbow" theme and the phrase "ONE of a kind." Quarantine wasn't about to rain on my party!















Lolo, you are a dream baby. We've had the absolute best year with you and are looking forward to so many more fun memories. We love you, sweet girl!

Rainbow Balloons (long): @shopsweetlulu
Macrame Wall Hanging: borrowed
Brown "table cloth" (it's a baby blanket): @Mebie.Baby
Rainbow Cake Topper: @hello_dearheart
Rainbow Garland: @littlee.design
Wood Letter Board: @maderamodern
Larger Daisies on Door: @merimeriparty
"One" cake topper: @everartisan
Balloon Garland Kit: @blushballoonparty
Daisy Garland: Target
Pom Pom Garland on Chalkboard: Target last year
Cupcake Toppers: DIY
Wooden Rainbow: Amazon
Rainbow Cookies: @morgieporgiepuddinpie
Pink Vase: HobbyLobby
Small Wooden Cake Stand: Magnolia Market
Large Wooden Cake Stand: Home Goods
Rainbow Garland on Mantle: cut from the invitations by Olive and Iris