Tag: home

Wooden Crate Shelves – DIY

On By reneemarie31In homeLeave a comment

I have been slowly turning the dining room in our new house into a library for myself. There is one awkward nook in the corner that I wanted to use for more shelving/storage space.

I looked at several different narrow bookshelves, but was also trying to stick to a budget. Searching Pinterest, I came across the idea to use wooden crates to make my own shelves. In addition to low cost, another benefit of this plan was that I could stagger the shelves to maximize the use of the space. So I went to Lowe’s and bought 7 wooden crates.

First, we sanded them down to get rid of some of the roughness.

Then I used paint that we already had from our old house to paint the crates. I painted most of the crates a white color and the bottom of the crate a purplish-gray. Since I knew certain parts of the crates weren’t going to show, I did not have to paint the entire crate.

Once the paint was dry, we set them up in this staggered pattern. I didn’t even attach them to each other. I’m just using the support of the walls to keep them tight in place.

Now, I’ve got extra storage for books and pens and such. My printer even fits perfectly in the bottom crate. It isn’t perfectly styled, but it is functional and cute and I’m proud that I made something!

My Christmas Tree

On By reneemarie31In Family Life1 Comment

Tonight, my daughter and I decorated our Christmas tree. We are not the kind of family with super posh and coordinated holiday decorations. But I loooove my Christmas tree.

My husband pulls the fake tree out of the closet. I turn on the Hanson Christmas albums. And we start decorating.

As I place each ornament on the tree, I smile and reflect on a special memory. You see, while my ornaments may not all match, each and every one is part of my story. I love to travel. On every trip I take, I carefully select an ornament to add to my collection. Each year, as I decorate the tree, I get to think about all of the places I have been.

These are the ornaments that I collected just this past year in 2019!

I have so many favorite ornaments that I cannot share them all. Here are a few.

  • Father Christmas from Germany
  • Girl Scout from Savannah
  • Handmade cat from Key West
  • Hawaiian Christmas from Maui

Of course, we also have lots of Disney ornaments, so I get something different each visit.

Not all of our Christmas ornaments are from travel. Many are special because they were handmade by my grandmother. She has given me many homemade ornaments over the years. These are just a couple.

She made these elephants for my baby shower.
These even have a special tag on the back to show that she made them.

Some ornaments don’t represent my travels, but rather my home!

St. Charles streetcar and a Mignon Faget oyster shell.

Other ornaments represent important life events. The church plaque pictured below is where my husband and I got married. The long thin Santa shell was bought on our honeymoon. The angel shell is from my daughter’s baptism.

And of course, like any good tree, there are the Christmas ornaments made by the hands of a small child at school or elsewhere.

My tree is eclectic. But I wouldn’t have it any other way!