Age Appropriate Chores

Readers,

My two oldest girls attend a Montessori school in our area and have from an early age been introduced to age appropriate chores or activities in an effort to increase the kiddos independence and self confidence. In the preschool they wash dishes, clean tables, make their snack, for example spreading jelly on a sandwich.  The little ones tend do a fabulous job in all the areas and if there are messes they are instructed to clean up after themselves, whether it be water on the floor or jelly on the table.  Adults instruct and show them the task and the kiddos are gently asked to finish.  I love the philosophy Maria Montessori  wrote about so many years ago and so thankful we have an increasing amount of schools in the US that teaches her core philosophy. 

So we have taken her philosophy and brought it home~the girls do some chores around the house every week or so.  They do get compensated for them, which has been such a great motivator for them~my oldest can't wait to purchase more American Girl accessories.  So here is a list of some chores we do around here..

My oldest chopped up the Green Beans

Emptying the small trash cans

Washing and Rinsing the dishes

My 5 and 6 year old have learned to make one recipe~Banana Bread

Sorting Laundry

Some other chores we do include~

Reading to younger siblings
Helping with dusting

Making Lunches for School

So what are some chores you do with your little ones..Do tell please.

Thanks for reading and Happy Weekend

XOXO
SK


Check out Montessori Education here

Distressed Footstool with Handmade Pillow

Readers,

While putting together our guest bedroom, thought I would add this cute footstool, long forgotten in the storage room.  This footstool needed  a quick fix and a little paint.  I distressed the furniture using latex flat paint a combination of both white and off-white and distressed with fine sandpaper.  After drying I added Ann Sloan Wax.  The pillow is made of linen, my favorite fabric for  decor projects and  hot glued rosettes (tutorial here).  This cute footstool is at the end of the bed for now, but I might move it as time goes by.  Take a look at some pics of my low budget foot stool makeover...It probably cost about $5.00 to redo.  Hopefully this will inspire you all to take out an old piece of furniture and make it your own work of art.

Linen rosettes at the foot of the bed

Distressed footstool with ballet slipper ties

I linked up this project with Simply Inspired Blog and that do it yourself Party~link up with her today aswell.  Have a lovely weekend, hope it is great!

Thanks for reading friends

XOXO

SK

Thrift It Challenge

Readers,

I recently read of a" thrift it" challenge on one of my favorite blogs.  Liz Marie blog.
She challenged her readers to redo a thrifted piece.   Thought I would share with you my thrifted piece, a vanity stool.  So here is the before and after pictures.

The Before Image of the vanity with gold fabric.



The gold fabric was in good condition, however it didn't work with my homes color scheme, so I reupholstered in linen fabric and hot glued this rosette (tutorial on this is here).  Here is my thrifted piece after a little work.

Here is another version using small rosettes.

As always thanks for reading this blog and hope this inspires you to thrift a piece and make it a reflection of you.

XOXO

SK

Decorating on a Budget

Readers,

Ever since we moved into our house something has not been quite right about my oldest bedroom.  I loved her room in our old house, but for some reason the room didn't feel right on our new home.  I toyed with the idea of completely changing the decor, but that would have been costly, so my next solution was a room rearrangement.  I love how just a few tweaks in furniture arrangement and accessory placement can create a an entirely new look.  Check out the before and after.

Before

After...I think the panels frame the bed beautifully

Used the canopy for a" book nook"

Chalkboard on the other side of bed with her initials

Hope your weekend was lovely, for my oldest it was wonderful~she absolutely loves her "new" room.

 XOXO

 Check out some of these sites for additional info on rearranging furniture from Apartment Therapy and BHG.com

Pantones Color Choice

Readers,

Pantones color choice for this year happens to be one of my favorites.  This versatile color can be paired with almost every color on the spectrum.  It is the color of nature, it can be bold or subtle in the outdoors as well as in interiors.  Take a look at some of these lovely pictures.

Green-The color of Nature

Source: pantone.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Beautiful Pairing of Turquoise and Green

Source: cecyj.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: magnoliamerryweather.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Neutral with pops of color.

Source: access.decorati.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Love this Pillow.

Source: google.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: la-belle-vie.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: bravotv.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: elledecor.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Tobi Fairley Beauty

Source: traditionalhome.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Mary McDonald bold use of color

Source: bravotv.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Thank you for reading.

 XOXO

 SK

New Year

A brand new year and  a time for reflection...This past year was wonderful, we moved into our new home, have made new friends, I have decorated a new house and now just a couple of short months ago started an Etsy shop and blog.  I am feeling so inspired lately, their are wonderful blogs, a fabulous blogging community and this year I hope to become more involved and see where this road takes me.
My goals are simple and attainable for this year..

1.  Family..Nothing is more important to me than nurturing a loving relationship with my husband and children.  I have committed to reading The Five Love Languages again and also books about child-rearing.  Each year this continues to be the most important goal...raising independent, self-confident, loving children and maintaining a loving supportive relationship with my Love.  Along these lines, I will plan to focus daily on being a great role model for my children, slow to anger, self- confident, loving, caring individual.

2.  God..I would love to focus more on our God and  our Savior Jesus Christ.  Finding time in the morning for a prayer and a moment of reflection.  My husband does this so well and I plan to emulate this one goal consistently this year so as to become more of a habit.

3.   Blogging...I will aim to blog with intention, not just for the sake of blogging.

4.  Etsy... Create a few signature pieces.

I am so excited to see where this road takes me and look forward to connecting with many more of you this year.  So what are some of your goals or intentions for this year?  I would love to hear from you.

As Always Thanks for Reading.

SK