TRYING TO SAY YES MORE OFTEN

he's been dying to make a triple decker sandwich. Guess what I said? "YES!" ;) 

When I was growing up, one thing that my dad always, always said was, "I try to say 'yes' as often as I possibly can." It sounds great in theory, but it's actually really hard to put into practice.

My boys are constantly asking for things that are dangerous or messy or outrageous, and my first instinct is always to say no. Of course I won't let them do anything that would put them in danger, but instead of always saying no, I'm trying to say "yes" or offer an explanation as to why it's a bad idea so they understand my reason for saying no.

But when it comes to little things around the house, like making a fort, spreading their own peanut butter and honey on their sandwiches, jumping on the couches, or painting pictures inside, I'm just trying to say yes no matter what because they're kids and it's fun, and messes can be cleaned up.

My husband is majorly OCD about a clean house (he keeps the house much cleaner than I do), and not just a tidy house, but actually clean. No dirt, fingerprints, dust, etc. But it's basically impossible with a stampede of little children plowing through our house with sticky fingers, dirty shoes, and spit-up.

So I was super excited to team up with STAINMASTER to try out their line of carpet cleaners, because try as my sweet husband does, we have lots of dirty carpet and upholstery.

We tried out the Carpet Stain Remover and the Rug Stain Remover (they also have a super highly recommended pet cleaner!) and I was instantly impressed. I've used other carpet cleaners that left residue after the stain was removed, or smelled super strong, but this one did neither. It gets super sudsy so it cleans everything up, and then it's designed to block future stains. Basically a dream come true for my clean-fanatic husband.

We also tried it on our upholstery since our couches and ottoman are so dirty. And it worked beautifully (I'm kind of embarrassed to share this before and after, cause the before is so nasty, but I just have to). Basically now I'm going around cleaning all the fabric things.

And in the last week I've said yes more times than I can count because who cares about the mess -- STAINMASTER will help me clean it up later. Try it -- pick up some STAINMASTER carpet cleaner, then say yes to all the stampeding, jumping, messing you can. I promise you'll feel instantly like a better mom!

my sweatshirt is from here and my jeans from here!

photos by rad and happy

created in partnership with STAINMASTER

READING NOOK + HOMEWORK STATION

wayfair writing desk c/o, wayfair cork bulletin board c/o,  wayfair wooden stools c/o

This year both of my boys are going to school. I can hardly believe little Fos is old enough to go to preschool!

With two big boys now, I wanted to make a few changes to our home to make a space for the boys to do their schoolwork. We have a little space off of our family room downstairs that was originally a playroom with a little table and chairs, a chalkboard, and a play rug.

They were starting to outgrow the space, so I teamed up with Wayfair to create a homework station and reading nook. Wayfair has tons of great furniture and accessories, and with their Back-to-School sale going on right now, it's the perfect time to pick up a few new things to make your own homework station.

Plus I'm sharing the easiest DIY of all time to make fun and modern pencil, crayon, pen, and marker cups!


This was the sad before:

And now, so much better.

I had originally planned to put two desks and two stools in the space, but with the addition of the bookshelf it was just too crowded. But this writing desk is perfect width for two little stools, so they're able to share it without a problem.

Since we nixed the idea of the second desk, that made extra room for something else. My boys are huge readers, so I had the idea for a cozy little reading nook. A couple of layered rugs, a pouf, and a few pillows, and now they want to sit there and read all day long.

Wayfair has tons of great pillows, and lots of cozy rugs! I think layered rugs make a space feel more homey and lived in, and throwing a sheepskin rug over another rug is always a good choice. As soon as I did it in the reading nook, the space was perfect.

And just for a fun little modern touch on the desk to keep everything organized, I made these little tin can pencil holders. They're so, so easy to make in four easy steps.

Take a tin can -- I chose beans, but anything works. Open it up, empty the contents into a bowl or tupperware to be used later, and then clean the inside and remove the wrapper. Repeat for several cans, and then display on the desk with pencils, crayons, markers, pens, or whatever else you'd like.

Go check out all of Wayfair's back to school sale right here!

created in partnership with Wayfair

photos by rad and happy

POWDER ROOM TRANSFORMATION

I'm so excited to share this bathroom update with you today! Besides sewing, house projects are my very favorite kind of project, and seeing a space completely transform is so fun, don't you think?

This little half bath at the front of our house has stumped me for the three and a half years we've lived here. The architecture is strange with angles and cut outs, and it's so tiny so it's hard to really do much in there. So we kind of just ignored it because I didn't know what to do with it. 

I did a project with Walls Need Love a few months ago for San's nursery, and right around that time I discovered that they carried removable vinyl wallpaper! My mom loved wallpaper when I was growing up, so I've done tons of wallpapering and know how big of a pain it can be...to put on and take off. But an easy sticker that you stick on and then can peel right off? Now that's a wallpaper I can get behind. It's also a perfect non-permanent solution for us as renters. 

Philip and I looked through Walls Need Love's wallpaper selection and this handwriting paper instantly caught our eye. It's simple and elegant, but also bold and unexpected. It's just so chic and we completely fell in love with it, and I knew it would be the perfect thing to freshen up this powder room.  

It took a couple of hours to hang all the paper, and after it was done we could not stop commenting on how gorgeous it was. And then I had a total decorating bug and had to update a few other things because a room this pretty couldn't stop there. We took the ugly oval mirror off the wall and replaced it with a black framed mirror, we replaced the dinky frames on the wall  (that I'd never gotten around to actually filling...) with a beautiful graphite print, and then added little homey touches with a candle, fresh hand towels, and greenery. 

I cannot even tell you how thrilled I am with how great it turned out. I love, love, love it.

** And I'm excited to tell you that Walls Need Love is generously offering 20% off your order of $30 or more to all my readers! Just use code peelstick20 at checkout -- it's good through August 1st! **

They have tons of other beautiful wallpaper -- I love this gold honeycomb pattern paper, this bold navy and white floral, and this black and white dot pattern. This simple gold pattern has a herringbone feel to it and is subtle and gorgeous. They just have so many pretty papers. And don't forget to use code peelstick20  to get 20% off your order of $30 or more through August 1st!

  And because I love seeing BEFORE & AFTERS, I have to share these ones so you can see how much better this room looks!

And don't forget! You can get 20% off your entire purchase of $30 or more with code peelstick20 through August 1st!


ROOM DETAILS: 

wallpaper c/o walls need love
hand towel
rug
candle
soap
plant
basket
fake succulents
salt lake city temple wall print
mirror

thank you to Walls Need Love for partnering on this post  ||  photos by Rad & Happy

FOUR TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR HOUSE CLEAN WITH KIDS

The reality of life with kids is that things get messy. But as a work-from-home mom, I've come to realize that I just can't function or work or be creative in a messy space. I mean, I make messes as I sew and create, but in order to have peace and calm and creativity in my home it needs to be clean. And even when I'm not working, I'm a much more patient and calm mom in a clean space. 

I've spent the last six years since B was born, working on ways to keep my house clean with kids, and how to strike a balance between crazy clean up mom and out of control clutter. So today I've teamed up with Munchkin to share four ways I've worked to maintain that balance and keep a tidy home, despite having little kids. 

1. Get the kids involved. From pretty much the moment they could start making messes, we've tried to teach our children responsibility for those messes. If they make the mess, they clean it up. Of course we're there to help, but they are responsible for the majority of it. I also almost always try to make it a game -- a race to see who can pick up legos the fastest, an assembly line as we pass toys from one person to the next, or see who can toss the most cars into the basket and make it (followed by cheers or "boo's" depending on if they make it or not). Also, I'm not above a little incentive. There are some chores that are just required of them as part of keeping the family home, like making their bed and putting their clothes in the hamper, but there are a couple of chores like unloading the dishwasher or taking out the trash that earn them a nickel or two.

2. Straighten up every night. Before bed, the boys have to clean up their room and all the legos need to be put away. But after that, Philip and I go around and straighten things as well. Philip does all the dishes, wipes down the counters and sink and starts the dishwasher every night, I sweep or Philip vacuums the kitchen and dining room, and then we straighten up the family room so everything is ready for the next day. Waking up to a clean and straightened house every morning is such a great way to start your day. 

3. Give everything a designated spot. There will be a few odds and ends that don't have a home, but for the most part everything in your house should have a spot. This makes it easy for your kids to learn how to clean up. Cars in one bin, art supplies in another, legos in another (or in 10 bins in our lego-obsessed boys' case), etc. And do the same for your things -- mail in one spot, school papers in another, work projects in another, etc. I used to be a "pile" person, where I'd just stack everything up and pretend it looked clean, but having a spot for everything and then training yourself to just put it away when you're done with it makes such a difference in the cleanliness of your home, and makes cleanup so quick and easy. 

4. Eliminate Odor. There is basically no point to a clean home for me if my house smells bad. And three boys can get pretty stinky! We just recently potty trained Fos, but before that a diaper pail was absolutely essential to keep our house not smelling like a giant diaper all the time. But now with a new baby in our home, we're back to a million diapers a day, and we still have pull-ups for Fos at night that we put in there. Munchkin's STEP Diaper Pail is best in class with odor control, with a lavender scented baking soda "puck" that absorbs the odor and keeps our nursery smelling fresh and clean, no matter how many billion diapers we stuff in there -- seriously, I forgot how many diapers newborns go through! And even better yet, this diaper pail isn't a giant eyesore in my beautiful, modern nursery. Its sleek white stainless steel design is modern and pretty, which makes me love it even more . We try to get our boys involved with taking care of the baby on some level, and throwing away his diapers is often top of the list since they love to step on the pedal to open up the pail. So even with a million dirty diapers, it's easy to keep our house smelling, looking, and feeling clean, all with the help of our kids...and this awesome diaper pail.

Consistency on these four things is key, and the more we do them and involve our kids, the easier it becomes. And I'm such a happier and more productive person with a clean house. 

Do you have any more ideas for keep your home clean with kids?  Share in the comments! 

thank you to Munchkin for partnering on this post  |  photos by rad and happy