Girly Stuff - The Latina Next Door

December 31, 2017 By Yami Leave a Comment

Girl’s Nursery Before

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I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. My kiddos and I have been getting over the flu, pink eye and several other things over the holidays. However, we have been trying to make the best of it and have been getting better little by little each day, which has mainly been the reason I have not been able to write in a little while.

Now with the New Year I plan on tackling several spaces in our new to us home and I have plans on making it happen on a budget. One of the first rooms I am tackling is my littlest’s ~~nursery~~ little girl’s room.

Why start with the youngest’s room?

Well just have a look….

The wallpaper in this room is enough to give me nightmares, I couldn’t imagine putting my baby girl there (she’s been sleeping in our room since we moved in).

I mean, it’s not just one wall….

It’s everywhere! ?

FOUR.WALLS.DEEP.

So my plan is to take all of that horrible wall paper down….

If you recall, when I redid her nursery in our last home, I had an accent wall with pretty gold decals from Portland Wall Art along with another coral accent wall.

I actually loved the coral, but it was just a little too dark for a little girl’s room.

I plan on creating more of a “Farmhouse Princess” room with a lighter shade of coral. I want it lighter and brighter and I have a plan for a beautiful accent wall, if executed correctly, should turn out amazing.

But I will admit, I have never removed wall paper before and I have a feeling I won’t enjoy the process.

Cause it’s a whole lot of wallpaper! Gah!

Okay, moving on…

The furniture will stay the same except for the crib. I will be giving her my older daughter’s single bed and giving my older daughter a larger bed to grow in.

I will say I cannot wait to start making these changes and share them with you!

I will be back in your inbox soon!

March 9, 2017 By Yami Leave a Comment

Daughter’s Nursery Before

*some of the links in this posts are affiliate links, see full disclosure here*

One of the things I would like to do this year is finish my children’s rooms. I have done small things here and there to all of them, but nothing that would be showcase worthy. I feel as if we have neglected our littlest’s nursery the worst, as we haven’t done much to it at all.

She’s our third – need I say more?

Usually by the time you have your third you aren’t nearly as uptight about every single aspect that involves them, their rooms, their clothes….. but the mommy guilt is killing me! #thestruggleisreal

Basically all we have done to the room is paint and add furniture.

Blah.

I feel terrible about it. It seems like time is passing way too fast and I need to hurry before she grows up!

She really is the most spunkiest, free-spirited, fearless, happy little girl. She’s also has the sweetest smile and is best cuddler- she loves hugs more than anyone I know!

So I thought I would do a little something special to add some of that sweetness and fun into her room.

It seems silly to be decorating a nursery now since she will be 2 years old in May, but she is the “baby” so I still get to do it!

Right now in the room we have 2-tone walls. I’m into neutrals, but I thought I would try something different for this room and add an accent wall….

I’m still debating whether or not I like it.

The dressers are from Ikea, the Hemnes Collection. And the glider, we purchased from Wayfair when my son was born. It’s not the prettiest chair, but she loves being rocked in it so we will keep it in her room a little longer.

That changing table cover and matching basket insert, I sewed myself along with this easy DIY bedskirt for the crib.

The oval mirror, I removed & reused from the powder bathroom makeover.

The “Never Forget That You Are Loved” artwork I got at Kohl’s, but they don’t carry it anymore unfortunately.

I had to look online for a simple bright white baby bumper since I couldn’t find any at the local stores. I purchased one here and I was surprised at how good quality it was!

As you can see everything is pretty bare…

For now, the first thing I would like to do is add some character to that back wall. It is so plain it kills me!

Perhaps decals or stencils and maybe add a hanging element to the ceiling…

I want to change the ugly knobs on those dressers too since the black makes them pretty big eye sores.

And I also think it would be nice to add shelving to the walls.

What else do you think I could add? I am gathering a ton of ideas from all over Pinterest, but I would love to get your thoughts well!

February 15, 2017 By Yami 6 Comments

Pottery Barn White Sofa Look For Less

*some of the links in this post are affiliate links for your convenience, see full disclosure here*

So as you already know, I like to have a nice and beautiful home, but there are 2 factors, hindering this severely.

I have 3 kids, 5 years and under. My house is never “guest ready”.
I am a SAHM mom and while I am finally seeing the fruits of my labor from both of my blogs I still cannot afford ALL the things that I wish I could. Plus, it has never really been in my nature to spend ridiculous amounts of money on things I can live without…. oh, but they’re still pretty to look at. 😉

One of the things I am trying to do is give my home a facelift. I feel as if no matter how much I try I still cannot get things to look the way I want them to. Currently, we only have one living area on the main floor since the den is being used as an office/craft room/playroom at the moment.

And we have had this big sectional in our family room since we moved in.

WOW. Has this room seen a change?! I am almost embarrassed to show that! Paint samples and all – you can even see my little guy taking a nap on it… #justkeepinitreal

Since this photo was taken we have gotten rid of the leather recliner and painted the walls.

Unfortunately my kids have used the heck out of that sofa, spilled drinks on it and jumped on it to the point that some cushions just aren’t the same anymore. So, since this is the room we sit with guests, I decided we needed to do something to it to make it look a little more sophisticated, but kid friendly.

We have 2 (even older) couches in the basement which haven’t gotten much use since we moved in, and they are a doodoo brown that I am NOT super fond of.

I decided to bring them up and take the sectional downstairs to the basement (and get it steam cleaned in the near future). It’s a completely finished basement and super cool in the summer. We plan on using it more this year – we haven’t in the past because since moving in 3 1/2 years ago, I gave birth 2 times and it was kinda hard using another level of the house with the kids being so little.

My littlest is now almost 2 years old so hopefully we can use it more now.

Now, with these 2 couches I was faced with 2 more problems:

The couches don’t match the new decor.
The kids will most likely spill stuff on it.

Dilemmas, dilemmas, and more dilemmas….

So I decided to look online for some slipcovers that don’t look like blankets hanging over my sofas.

And after hours of searching, low and behold I found some!

I searched based on 3 things:

Color – I needed a color that matched my gray walls and I love these beautiful white pottery barn couches and I thought it would be cool to replicate. I know what you are thinking… white? Really, you just said you have some messy kids, right? Well, yes. But I LOVE white blankets, white bath rugs, white towels, white dining chairs…. my parents think I’m kinda crazy, but I like how they remind me of being on a vacation in a hotel by the beach and they can be BLEACHED! Yes, bleached. Oh yeah, get those nasty stains and germs right off with BLEACH. Ha!
Price – I wasn’t looking for anything pricey cause if that was the case I might as well be buying new couches.
Durability – I needed something that could withstand A LOT of washing and ironing (cause there is no way I am putting wrinkled slipcovers on my sofas).

Finally, I found this white Surefit slipcover that I liked, however, I needed 2 of them so I knew I would be spending over $200 for sure and I wanted to keep it under that number… so I did a little more digging and actually found almost the exact same white slipcover from the same company in Bed Bath & Beyond FOR LESS! You cannot purchase them at the stores, only online.

And I was even able to use the 20% off coupon, plus I got FREE shipping! They arrived super fast and I couldn’t wait to try them on.

I was so pleased and relieved they didn’t suck!

The best part about them is that they fit just fine, even with a little bit of extra fabric to make up for different sofa designs – the video they have on their site shows you how to tuck away the excess.

The fabric is twill which is a jean material. While it is not as thick as regular jeans it is durable and you can’t see the brown from underneath. BONUS!

My kids actually like the new look and surprisingly enough they don’t jump on these. We had a “talk” and they understand that these are the “nice” couches. It’s actually a nice feeling because it does feel like we have “new” furniture.

And they do channel Pottery Barn so this mama is happy!

Definitely check these out if you have been searching for an inexpensive way to update your sofas. I highly recommend them!

I have made a few more changes in this room, so stay tuned. I hope you enjoyed this simple makeover with a huge impact.

April 21, 2016 By Yami 4 Comments

DIY Crib Skirt

Hello there! Hope you all have been having a fabulous week! Today I am going to show you how easy it is to create your very own crib skirt. I am not the type to like “theme” bedspreads so naturally when I was trying to figure out how I was going to decorate my littlest’s nursery, I knew I was was going to do it myself. I wanted something easy because I knew I wasn’t going to use it forever, and easy it always good. So here is the play by play for the purdy little crib skirt….

*Some of the links below are affiliate links for your convenience, for full disclosure please go here*

First you will need to pick the fabric of your choosing. I picked duck cloth because it has a little more weight than just cotton, but cotton will work fine. You can also use linen, it’s just a little harder to keep it ironed.

****Make sure you wash your fabric before you start anything. This ensures you have no shrinkage later and your skirt doesn’t look all jacked up****

The rest of the supplies:

Fabric Scissors or Rotary Cutter
Ribbon
Sewing Machine (the one I use)
Fabric Tape Measure
Iron-on hemming tape (for the no-sew option)

Okay so here are your measurements:

You will cut one piece 15″ x 54″ and the other 15″ x 27″ to get it the length and width you see in the picture. Just be mindful that at this height, the skirt will be too long when you place the mattress in the lowest setting. This is something you can always adjust later, but if you don’t want to bother, use the following measurements so that you don’t have to make adjustments as you move the mattress down over time:

10″ x 54″

10″ x 27″

Once you hem the borders the measurements will be about an inch less which is what you want.

The little V’s on the top of each panel in the picture indicate a ribbon which I will explain in a bit…

So first thing’s first – you need to sew the sides and the bottoms of each panel first. Leave the part of the fabric that will be the top part undone.

Take your fabric and fold. I would suggest you iron it so it stays in place.

Then fold over again.

Sew the double-folded borders, staying close to the inner fold. Do this to all 3 sides.

Then for the top part you fold like the rest, but this time you will add 7, 14″ inch long pieces of ribbon, folded in half by tucking them underneath the fold. See below.

Secure it with a pin. Then when you position all 7 ribbons, you will sew the seem. When you get to each ribbon you will flip the ribbon up as you are about to sew it. See below.

This is how it will look.

You do this so the ribbon sticks upward and not down behind the fabric since these are what you are going to use to attach it to the crib. Repeat this for all 3 panels.

****TIP, in order to keep these ribbons from fraying, I held a lighter near the ends and the ribbon tips melted and fuzed. No fraying till this day!****

When attaching the panels start with the sides. All you do is tie them to the springboard.

You want the fabric to come over the frame just a little bit. Then you do the front panel.

The front will overlap the side panels and that is okay. Here is the finished product.

Now if you don’t sew you can do the following:

You can use iron on hemming tape.

All you do is fold the fabric once over the tape.

And then iron over.

For the ribbon, you can cut a piece of tape and use it to fuse the ribbon onto the fabric or you can sew it on with a needle and thread….or if you are really lazy, you can use fabric glue.

I gotcha covered! 😉

And that’s really it. I even went above and beyond and made a matching basket insert.

This is where I keep her diapers next to the diaper changing pad (which I also covered myself).

Not bad for my first!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and if you are like me or know someone who is and doesn’t like any of the animal print nursery bedding, you can personalize your nursery by creating easy little touches like these and just keep the fitted sheets etc. neutral.

Here are some other great options for fabric for your baby’s bedding:

Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 1.59.30 AM DIY Crib Skirt

Slub JoJo Snowy

Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 12.37.24 AM DIY Crib Skirt

Sheffield Snowy

Canopy Snowy Blue

Alex Twill Bella/French/Grey

Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 12.49.25 AM DIY Crib Skirt

Gisella White/Candy Pink

Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 12.37.03 AM DIY Crib Skirt

Fynn Twill Bella Pink

Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 12.39.27 AM DIY Crib Skirt

Hello Bear Buck Forest Mist

Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 12.49.37 AM DIY Crib Skirt

Hello Bear Buck Forest Mist

Related: How to Make a Tutu Tutorial

I would love to hear your thoughts or if you have any questions, shoot them below!

February 1, 2016 By Yami 7 Comments

DIY Sequin Heart T-shirt Tutorial for Valentine’s Day

Buenos dias, hoy es Lunes! Can you believe it is already February 1st people!?!? This means Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Have you made plans yet? Our plans are to get the kids into bed early so that we can cuddle and enjoy the mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead. As parents of 3 kiddos, we think that is pretty darn romantic (especially when it’s our favorite show on TV).

Okay, so back to this…. I really wanted to make something cute for my older daughter to wear for Valentine’s Day

And when I say cute, I mean unique, and when I say unique, I really mean I gotta do it myself!

So, I thought I would share how INEXPENSIVE and EASY it is to make this DIY sequin heart tee for Valentine’s Day.

October 25, 2013 By Yami 2 Comments

Another year, another tutu!

Well what can I say? There is nothing more fun than creating absolutely girly stuff for my daughter, especially costumes. I figured, eventually she will be telling me what she wants to be so I took a stab at making her costume this year, something that mummy would like – see what I did there?

I had already bought pink fairy wings for $3.99 and a had princess tiara for the kiddo, so I went to Hobby Lobby and racked up on some tulle and ribbon (which was 50% off of course) and this is what I came up with…

Warning! My kid would not sit still during the costume fitting so I had to pick the best usable shots… and she wouldn’t remove her pacifier either…

Fairy Princess Tutu 680x1024 Another year, another tutu!

I can’t get over how adorable it turned out!

My supplies are above, but in the end, I only used one big flower, the 2 poofs, 3 spools of tulle and the headband elastic. The other stuff I returned. I did go back to get a pink onesie so that all that tulle wouldn’t itch so bad. The total tally came to about $20.00.

Since I already made her one last year (step by step instructions are found here), this one was super easy to make! I cut the headband elastic to fit her chest and started adding long strips of tulle. Here is the first row.. complete in less than 10 minutes….

I started with the white tulle at the bottom. Then I added the light pink, then the darker pink on top….

Then, when I was done adding tulle, I sewed the 2 ends together by hand, and then cut 2 smaller headband pieces so that I could make her some shoulder straps. I sewed those by hand as well.

The flowers and poofs were clip ons so those went on pretty easily. I chose not to glue them on because I could always use them for something else down the road.

Here are the onesie, tiara and wings… a perfect match!

And here is another shot of the kiddo with the costume, this time without the tiara, pacifier still on though!

She will also wear pink leggings (which we already own) when we go out trick-or-treating along with some cute pink light-up shoes. She also has a pink sweater in case it gets chilly. Her wand will be this really cool pink glow stick wand that I found at the dollar store, and yes you guessed it, for $1!

In the end, what I love about this, besides that it’s the cutest costume EVER, is that several parts of the costume we already had, and everything can be reused differently later on. I know I could have bought a costume for the same price, but it wouldn’t have been this unique and in the end, it would only be used one time. I can appreciate a costume with versatility.

Will you buy or purchase your kid’s costume this year?

Your Latina,

Yami

October 5, 2013 By Yami Leave a Comment

Big Girl Room

So after moving while 9 months preggo with baby #2, giving birth to that beautiful baby boy and moving into what I like to call, “Leave it to Beaverville” I can finally start working on making our house a home. Our 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath on a full finished basement home is dying for some character, since the people who had been living in the house for the last 2 years were renters. The first thing we had to do was Natalia’s room. Our beautiful baby girl is now 20 months old and instead of buying whole new baby furniture for our son, we decided to give him her old set and buy her a new “big girl room”. This time, I wanted white on white on white! Before we had the furniture delivered we just had to get her bedroom painted. Just check out the before pictures… BLEH!

The door to the far right is the upstairs bath – we figured she would eventually want dibs on that. As you can see those were no colors for a princess!

I decided to go with a light green, Sage Tint by Behr, only I asked the paint mixer person to make it 25% lighter to get this! Tadahh!!!! What difference paint makes!!

We decided to get her a trundle bed. Since she is little and can fall off, we have her sleeping on the pullout bed. Then when she gets older she can move to the top and if her cousin comes over, Daniella can sleep on the bottom. We thought it was the better solution than getting her a toddler bed or another convertible crib. So far she likes it and it seems to work! We think she could give this furniture some good use and could work well into her teens.

Then it was off to add some linens and accessories. Since I had the trundle I had to get double of everything – I mean of course they had to match! I found some white cotton sheets at JCPenney and then headed to Ikea in search for some plush down comforters. I LOVE DOWN!!!!

But before that, I went ahead and applied a really cool tree to her wall (I had had it FOR-EV-A and I finally found a home for it). It was like paint by numbers only with stickers!! This is what it started as:

And this is how it progressed…

I had to make sure I did this when she was not around, because if she knew these were stickers, half the tree would be missing by now….

Here is the bed made with the new linens and the trundle hidden underneath…

And here it is with the trundle out and ready for Naty!

There is still a ton of stuff to do, like touch up the ceiling, add art and some really cute baby pictures, organize her closet, add curtains, decide what to do with the light fixture…. Whew! But at least for now she has a really cute princess bedroom in the making…. Hope you like!

Yami

October 25, 2012 By Yami 11 Comments

TuTu Cute for Halloween!

Ever since I knew I was having a little girl, all I wanted to do was make her tutus! I think they are SO adorable and maybe, just maybe, I am living a little vicariously through her. All I know is that one day she will either thank me for always making her wear them or resent me for it…. for my heart’s sake, I hope it’s the first one.

Well, this is the first Halloween since we had our little munchkin and besides getting her pictures taken in the “Pumpkin” outfit, I knew I also wanted her in a tutu. There are so many options and color combinations out there! But, for the sake of not being too girly, and also not doing the generic black and orange tutu, I opted for a Peacock version in beautiful blues, greens and black!

October 10, 2012 By Yami 1 Comment

Nursery Lamp

I wanted this really cute lamp for my baby girl’s nursery, but I wanted it to be either glass or crystal and right now those are just too over-priced! I was looking online for inspiration and I saw something that caught my eye. It was a makeover of a crystal lamp! I knew I wanted something semi-traditonal, with a little bit of contemporary and a girly twist of course. So, I headed out to an antique store about 30 minutes away from home in search of the perfect find! And this is what I found for only $8.00 (please note: always make sure they test any electrical items at an antique store before buying – you don’t want to take it home and it not work!).

I thought it was adorable, but the brass had to go. So I took the thing apart…

I could have sworn I took photos of when I taped it up! But I searched and I can’t find them anywhere! So, anyways, I taped the cord and the glass and only left the metal portions of the lamp exposed. I primed with Rust-O-Leum’s metal primer and then I spray painted it with Rust-O-Leum’s gloss white. Then I went to my local Garden Ridge in search of a new lamp shade. And I found a white one with a hot pink detail for only…. $6.00!

I screwed all of the pieces back together, put the new lampshade on and viola!!!!! A new one-of-a-kind lamp for my baby’s room for only $14.00!!!!! I absolutely love it!!!

Totally cute! What do you think????

Yami

*Some of the following links are affiliate links. For full disclosure go here*

Here are some other great options for fabric for your baby’s bedding:

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Some of the following links are affiliate links. For full disclosure* *go here**