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Do you guys like board games? My six year old just got a few new board games and he is completely obsessed with them – as you can see from his serious “game face” above. To be honest, the rest of us are too, so much so that we decided to host a family game night once a week. I am a big believer in making “mini events” at home, so whether we invite friends to drop by, or it’s just us, we plan on making game night special. Here are a few fun ideas how to create a fun family game night…

Printable Scoreboards

If you’re like me and have a few hard core competitors in your family, let them keep score on these super cute score cards from Celebrate Magazine that you can print yourself.

Get Poppin’

My kids (and husband) absolutely love when I make popcorn on the stove. (Full disclosure, the first time I tried this was this past summer.) It’s such an easy process and it really does taste better than the microwavable option. Here’s a recipe for the perfect stove top popcorn.

Prizes

I usually stock up on small, inexpensive items at Target or Party City and break them out for game night. I put them in a bag and let the winner pick one at the end of game. If you’re hosting adults and kids it’s probably best to have two bags. Unless your adult guests like yo-yos!

Go Retro

Game night is the perfect time to teach your kids that you can have fun without playing Wii or Xbox 360. I promise your kids will laugh more playing charades with you than they will playing their latest video game.

Do you and your family have any favorite games? I’d love to hear about them so I can add them to our rotation.

When HomeBidsOnline owner John Rowan and his family recently relocated from Portland to So Cal, they realized they needed to make some changes to their new home to make it their own.  Filled with enthusiasm, they began looking for a contractor for their home improvements and searched for ways to find Orange County contractors easily.

Watching his work-from-home wife become extremely frustrated by the stress of meeting with multiple contractors (and often their lack of punctuality) he decided there had to be a better way to find Orange County contractors to bid on their job without the hassle of meeting with each one personally.

With 30 years experience in the construction business, John thought to himself, “What if I could take the measurements and lay out the specs for the job one time, and then take the whole process online where different contractors could submit bids on the job?”

Which is exactly what he did when he created www.HomeBidsOnline.com!

Here’s how it works:

- Tell HomeBidsOnline about the home project you need done (all size jobs welcome)

- At a time that is convenient to you, a professional HomeBidsOnline representative will come to your home, take detailed laser measurements, high res photos, video, and job-specific notes on anything you would want to tell a contractor bidding on the job.

- They build your HomeBidsOnline profile with details about your project.

- You send it to any builder or they find one for you.

- You sit back and watch the bids from licensed, bonded and insured contractors roll in all through their site so you don’t have to use your personal email to track the communication.

When contractors compete – the homeowner gets the best deal and you get all of this for FREE! 

HomeBidsOnline has been a big success with busy Moms like John’s wife who just don’t want to deal with a bunch of different people traipsing through their home taking the same set of measurements as the last guy.  The business is also popular with older people, who can often be afraid of being taken advantage of.

Furthermore, John knows the industry and will be the first one to tell you if a bid comes in too high.  Or he’ll be sure you notice that a contractor’s timeline doesn’t match up with yours.

On the flip side, contractors are seeing the benefit in taking the process online as it saves a lot of their time and money driving all around for a job they might get.

The way the economy has been over the past few years many families are deciding to stay put in a home they might not have imagined staying in long term. And I don’t know about you, but the longer I stay in one place the more I get big ideas of how I could tweak this, or maybe move that wall, or create a built in there…

It’s nice to know when the time is right we’ll have John Rowan and HomeBidsOnline in our corner.

Here’s a video with more info about how Home Bids Online works:

(HomeBidsOnline is a Tiny Oranges Sponsor- we love sharing new ways to help make our Mommas lives easier!)

During these busy December days, I use my iComfort Sleep System by Serta and Motion Perfect Adjustable Base as my own holiday retreat to bring me peace and make my spirits bright.

From elevating the feet after a long day of shopping to using it in TV mode for family movie night – here is a demonstration of all the ways my iComfort mattress and Motion Perfect Adjustable Base help me through the holidays!

[Disclosure: I am a very blessed participant of the 2012 Serta blogger program and received my iComfort mattress and Motion Perfect Adjustable base complimentary to facilitate my review. 100% of my opinions are my own. I love my bed so much it makes me want to cry. Seriously.]

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

To get you up to speed, this past summer was a game of musical bedrooms for us, one that started when my girls were receiving new larger Serta iSeries mattresses for their bedrooms.

Given that we were going to be receiving larger beds, I had to re-look at our spaces to see what made the most sense, and called in Shanna for help as it was more than I could wrap my head around!

Best decision EVER.

Please click here to see Reveal Post # 1 and fun un-girly blue and green modern girl’s room she did for my three year old daughter.

Please click here to see Reveal Post # 2 and the ultra girly feminine, pink and white girl’s room for my six year old daughter.

So now we are on to the third room, our guest room.

Given that it doesn’t get used that much, we scrimped as much as we could budget wise.  I still can’t believe what Shanna was able to accomplish for us on the amount she did.

This room was previously my youngest daughter’s room. It is a tiny room, and given that we squeezed in many big pieces of furniture always made it feel even smaller.

Here is a before…

And here is how Shanna transformed this space into a lovely, modern gray and yellow guest room…

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

On the pillow, she had our last name embroidered on it. Isn’t that a cute idea? Especially because the people that come to stay in that room in our family all share the same last name.

I also LOVED this idea: she took a child’s wall book holder we did not end up using in either girl’s room and mounted it on the wall in the guest room to use for magazines.  I would have never thought of using a wall book holder like this for magazines in a guest room, but it turned out so darling.

To further personalize the space, she took out the prints from two old frames, and had me enlarge two 8×10 black and white family prints showing the people that would be staying most often in this room. Enlarging them to 8 x 10 made them look like an art print (top of the shelving unit.)

 And I am in love with this inexpensive shelving unit. Such a great find. Visit Shanna’s blog for a complete sourcing list for this room.

After the fact, I also picked up a luggage rack for the guest room. I think having thoughtful touches, like a place for guests to put their luggage is a nice touch.

What do you do in your guest room to personalize it and made it more comfortable for guests?

Shanna is an interior designer who I met through blogging and her blog www.MyFavoriteEverything.com.

She has gone back to her designer roots after having three girls under 3 years and is taking on clients specializing in family living spaces and children’s bedrooms.

Having three little ones herself, believe me mamas, she knows exactly where you are coming from!

Shanna blew my mind and our expectations with the project she did for us.

For a complete sourcing list or to contact Shanna, visit www.myfavoriteeverything.com.

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

Welcome to design reveal post 2 of 3 on decorating ideas for a six year old girl’s room ~  or what we now affectionately call the “Pink Palace.” This pink and white girl’s room doesn’t get much girlier. It is so her and she LOVES it. I do too. I almost wish I could move in there!

To get you up to speed on this home design project, last summer we redid three of our bedrooms, which all started with the girls’ new Serta iSeries mattresses and the desire to re-do their rooms for the next phase of their life.

It was too much of a project for me to get my head around, so I called in the help of local OC interior designer for families, Shanna from MFE Designs and the blog www.myfavoriteeverything.com to help.

You can click this link to see the transformation she did to create the most amazing modern, un-girly, fun blue and green room for my three year old daughter, my first reveal.

Now we are on to Emma’s room, my six year old, who now as a first grader is more girl than little girl. Shanna asked us what we wanted out of her room to which I answered:

1. Storage…  

…storage, and more storage. I wanted to get the bulk of the girls’ toys out of our great room and into their rooms so we could reclaim our living space again after 6 years of looking at ugly plastic toys.

2. Room for imaginary play.  

She loves Barbies, dolls, playing school, etc. so I wanted a cozy area where she could play with her friends in her room.

3. Photos of family and friends.

She is very much into her girlfriends, so I wanted lots of spaces to display pictures so her space was truly her own.

4. Clothes organization.

Like Morgan’s room, I wanted to have a way to organize her clothes in a more efficient way.

5. Barbie Dream House Solution.

I never wanted to see the Barbie Dream House in my living room again so I asked Shanna to find a way to bring it into her room!

Now the BEFORES!

Emma moved into our former guest room, which was a beach themed room we decorated about seven years ago and due for a major update. The guest room will be the next reveal!

The first thing we did was tear down the seagrass wallpaper and my husband put up a DIY paneling job on the lower half of the wall.

Next, we replaced our carpet flooring with hardwood, which we love. It completely transformed the look and feel of the bedrooms and hall.

Here was our former guest room (Emma’s new room):

And the AFTERS!

Behold the Pink Palace – a six year old girl’s dream room! Visit Shanna’s blog for the complete sourcing on this room.

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

To say we love it is an understatement. I love how Shanna used the space under the white bed frame for cute storage baskets. One is for her stuffed animals, one is for Barbie clothes and accessories, and one is for play school gear.  The deal on this bed was so good, we had to use them in both girl’s rooms.

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

Shanna took a photo I pinned on Pinterest of a canopy bed look, and created our own subtle canopy effect by having a piece of wood custom made and then hanging sheers from either side.  I adore how it turned out. Princess-y without being TOO princess-y. But who are we kidding, it’s princess-y!

This vanity is something I never would have thought of, but it is so useful for her hairbrushes and accessories. I also love that we are able to display so many of her photos with friends under the glass top. Shanna made it extra cute by making a little seat cover for the chair to match the bedding and tie it into the design.

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

Opposite her bed, Shanna created a wonderful, and functional space with this cube shelf, where the cubes are used to store the Barbies, My Little Ponies, and books.  I love the little girl’s headband display for her headbands, a great way to keep them organized.  Plus, easy to see all of them.

Next to the cubes is a fun board she can write on with washable pens to play school. And of course, what girl’s room isn’t complete without a dress up box?

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

And now, please allow me to show you my TWO favorite aspects of this new design that I love so much I could almost cry. For real.

The closet is made up of two sections, more than we needed for her clothes, which fit easily in the other section, so Shanna took the Barbie Dream House and put it IN the closet, out of sight, easily concealed, and  taking up zero space. Best. Idea. Ever. We put it up on a shelf so the Barbie cars even have their own underground parking.

[Photo credit: Tankersley Photography]

And the second idea for a hamper system, which is sheer brilliance.  Shanna took two white pillowcases and made them into custom behind the door hanging hampers!  By taking the same fabric to tie in her bedding, they fit with the design, look cute, but take up ZERO space. Again, brilliant.

Even better, after the fact, I took them to a local embroidery shop and had them embroidered with “Lights” and “Darks” so that she can sort her laundry before putting it in the hamper.  My little one has the same hampers in her room.

I can’t tell you how much easier it makes doing laundry when the kids’ clothes are already pre-sorted! LOVE!!!!!!!!!

Shanna is an interior designer who I met through blogging and her blog www.MyFavoriteEverything.com.

She has gone back to her designer roots after having three girls under 3 years and is taking on clients specializing in family living spaces and children’s bedrooms.

Having three little ones herself, believe me mamas, she knows exactly where you are coming from!

Shanna blew my mind and our expectations with this fun girly pink and white design.  Girly, but more grown up for my six year old.

Look out for the reveal of our guest room makeover. Post coming next week! Stay tuned!

For a complete sourcing list or to contact Shanna, visit www.myfavoriteeverything.com.