Plastic, Please

Last weekend we found ourselves with a sick, puking toddler...in the car. If you have had this happen, it is 10 times more difficult to console a sick kiddo in a car. Luckily I had a portable, foldable potty seat that came with plastic baggies! The perfect thing to help Mr E while sick and made me feel more at ease.

We used bags for dirty clothes, for dirty baby wipes in cleaning up, and other soiled items. This used up my baggie stash. I have had this fabulous tutorial saved for months and never found time to do it. This incident was the perfect motivator to get the job done!

I used an old bleach wipes container, 15 plastic grocery bags, and wallpaper cut to size to fit my wipes container {approx. 7.375in x 11in}. I got the wallpaper from old sample books that Lowe's was giving away. It was fun to tear out my favorites to use for future projects! I used this tutorial from Tatertots and Jello to roll the baggies together. This method makes the bags self dispensing and so convenient for in the car or other travel. I also used adhesive spray as suggested to adhere the wallpaper to the canister.

I love how this turned out and it only took 15 minutes to complete the project. We are now ready for any traveling adventure!! Stay tuned for an amazing sugar cookie recipe just in time for Valentine's Day!

Frosted Panes

Things are off and rolling with home improvements. Furniture shopping has been challenging thus far so I have been excited to make some easy and affordable changes. I have seen simple contact paper used to frost windows and doors to add subtle privacy. The master bathroom is sandwiched between the master bedroom and the sunroom. This different layout paired with glass paned doors, while gorgeous, create a privacy issue. When we moved in, the doors and window in the bathroom featured sheer, floral embossed curtains hung with tension and mounted curtain rods.

The treatments were not horrible, but once I had the idea and vision of frosting the glass I knew it would look so much better! I purchased three rolls of basic contact paper. I measured each pane and cut the contact paper to size. I researched the best way to apply the paper and decided on this method. Clean and dry the glass, spray a coat of window cleaner evenly, peel off contact paper backing, and apply to glass. The cleaner allows more control of paper placement. Position paper and then use a pot scraper to ease out the bubbles. 

This method did not work on the first attempt...or the second. It was time consuming, frustrating, and while trying to remove bubbles, my scraper was causing streaks in the paper. It looked horrible!

I took a break and expanded my research to look for application instructions from more professional window film products. I found a great review on Amazon that offered a different method using dish soap and a shower glass squeegee. The process was very similar, only dish soap and water was used rather than window cleaner. It worked perfectly and the application of all 32 glass panes was not as intimidating. Because the window film is in a bathroom, I applied the paper to the outside of the glass doors to avoid any possible problems due to shower steam. The window film was applied inside, but so far steam has not altered the application or appearance.

          

The project was time consuming and tedious, but well worth the work! I love the subtle privacy it offers. Removing the curtains makes the bathroom look more open and airy and I also really enjoy seeing the architecture of the doors and windows. I hope this inspires you to make a small and affordable change to your space!