DockATot Deluxe

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Our sweet Berkeley Mae was born this summer, on June 21, 2017. It was an easy delivery and she completed our now, family of six. I’ve had a lot of practice with babies over the past nine years. I’ve birthed four and fostered six, and because of this, we’ve tried a ton of baby products. Some have been amazing and others, a complete waste of money. I’ve also learned that babies have preferences and they aren’t all buying what companies are selling. Sometimes swinging around like a monkey isn’t soothing, but actually quite terrifying. Berkeley made sure we knew this by crying every time we tried it. So… one expensive product was passed along to her cousin who actually enjoys it.

This time around, we were gifted the DockATot Deluxe, and it is hands down the baby product we’ve used the most over the past six months. We are a co-sleeping family and the DockATot has made it much easier for us to do this. I’ve gotten so much more sleep and Berkeley loves the cozy feel of it and has been sleeping through the night since 10 weeks.

So you may be wondering, what is the DockATOt?

DockATot® is a multi-functional lounging, playing, chilling, resting and snuggling dock you can take anywhere. Designed in Sweden, it has been tested for breathability, is OEKO-TEX certified, all natural and 100% cotton. It has an ideal micro-climate for babies and toddlers. It’s also machine washable.

We have found all of this to be true. We use the DockATot Deluxe (0-8 months) for naps at home and when we are traveling or at others’ homes. Berkeley has slept in her DockATot in hotels, at my 93 year old grandfather’s house, on her cousins nursery floor and many other places. We are planning on carrying it on the airplane with us in a few weeks so she can nap in it, on our four hour flight.

Napping in her cousin’s nursery when we traveled to Virginia to meet him for the first time.

Hanging by the lake (of course supervised and only this close for a pic) at her grandparent’s house.

Napping with her big sister while mommy was folding laundry.

Napping at her Great Grandfather’s house while on a road trip.

Berkeley is constantly being smothered in hugs and kisses by her siblings, so sometimes you can see her breathe a sigh of relief when we put her in her DockATot. It’s her comfort spot away from mommy. We love that she has a consistent place to rest!

You can check out all of the products here: DockATOt.

We are looking forward to trying the next size, DockATot Grande in the coming weeks!

**We were given the DockATot Deluxe Dream Weaver compliments of DockATot. As always, the reviews and opinions of products are our own.**

Shiplap Wallpaper and DIY Hoops

6 / 18 / 188 / 11 / 19

Every bedroom in our home needs to be painted and since we are a DIY painting family, the task seems quite daunting. I decided back in October to create in accent wall in my daughter’s bedroom to start and then would finish by painting the rest of the room. Then I found out I was pregnant, and well… I was super sick, so the wall was half wallpapered for 7 months.

We finally finished it this past weekend and I was able to create a hanging branch with embroidery hoops to add to the space above her bed.

The wallpaper is the Shiplap NuWallpaper by Wallpops, and I love it! It’s so easy to install and looks great in this space!

I bought the branch at Homegoods and sanded it down to be natural. The Embroidery hoops are from Hobby Lobby. The faux greenery and twine are from Amazon.

Here are the before pics:

DIY Shiplap Wall

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Ever since we discovered Fixer Upper and Joanna Gaines, we’ve been positively giddy about “shiplap!” A year ago, I had never heard this term and now I would love to shiplap every wall in my house. Like seriously.

My three year old talks about shiplap as if it’s just an every day vocabulary word and my sweet husband just rolls his eyes as I tell him all of my shiplapping plans for the future. My guess is that there are many others out there that have also had their worlds rocked by the beautiful possibility of shiplap, but need some help with getting started.

Well, we’ve got you covered! We have two ways for you to get the shiplap look in DIY style and on a friendly budget. I’m sharing my method in this post and Christine will share her’s in another. Happy Shiplapping friends!

Method One:

Our master bedroom is big and I wanted an accent wall to give it some farmhouse character. Michael set off to Home Depot for our supplies and I prepped the room.

Michael bought Sande Birch Plywood from Home Depot. He had them cut the boards into 6 inch planks. (Warning- the boards were less than clean cuts so if you can do it yourself, it’s better)

Once he arrived home, we sanded the boards with fine grit sandpaper. We just did the edges and it didn’t take long.

This is me (Becca) taking the boards upstairs.

We started at the top of the wall and did our best to level the boards. We used a nail gun to make it faster but you can do this job with just a hammer (it might take a bit longer).

Progress on the wall…

Once we finished nailing the wood to the wall, it was time to prime and paint. We used Sherwin Williams primer and Alabaster paint. We opted not to fill the nail holes with wood filler because I wanted the rustic look.

Here is the finished wall. I absolutely love how it brightened our master bedroom!

Let me know if you need help or advice. I will just be at home shiplapping.

DIY: Stenciled Tile Floor

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I had great intentions of writing a blog post about my DIY stenciled laundry room floors immediately after completing the project. But… ya know… life just kept happening. I worked on this project in between taking care of a newborn and three other kids during summer break, so it took a little longer than expected. I can honestly say, these floors are one of my favorite projects thus far! And now that we’ve lived with them for four months, I can honestly tell you’ve they’ve held up really well!

I’m going to break this down and keep it really simple. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I was inspired by others on Instagram and was able to take their projects and spin it to make my own. Hopefully, this post will help you do the same. The products I used were either recommended by other DIYers and or products I’ve used successfully in the past. Happy Stenciling!

Step 1: Clean the tiles and remove all lint and dirt. I just used Clorox wipes and scrubbed with my hands. Just make sure you get them as clean as possible so you don’t get debris stuck in your paint.

Step 2: Tape off any areas you don’t want to get painted by the roller. I’m super lazy with this, but I recommend taking the extra time to do this well.

Step 3: Prime the floors with the primer of your choice. I thought I bought white primer which is what I was planning on using, but once I opened the can, I realized it was gray. I went with it, and it was fine because I was going to use charcoal gray as my base. If you are planning on using white as your base, make sure to get white primer. I used a roller for this step and a brush around the edges. I only had to use one coat because my primer was dark, but depending on the color of your floor, you might have to do two. I could have gone with the quart instead of the gallon size, but now I have some for the next project.

Step 4: Paint the floors with your base color. I used one coat of Rust-oleum Charcoal Chalkpaint. Let it dry really well before beginning the stencil process.

Step 5: Stencil with your stencil of choice. I used the 12 x 12 Augusta stencil from Cutting Edge Stencil. I also ordered their roller for the stencil part. The stencil comes with great directions for how to use it best, so I recommend following those for this project. I did not use any other stenciling brushes and or tools because I wanted it to have some distressed look to it. I just used rolled the best I could and didn’t worry too much about the bleeds or imperfections. If you want a cleaner look, you will probably need to go back and touch up some areas with actual stencil brushes. I started in the middle of the room and stenciled every other tile so that I could access each one without stepping on the drying paint.

Step 6: Seal the Floors. I used Minwax Polycrylic protective finish with three coats. I just used a regular roller and brush to cover them. After each coat, I waited a day, and then after the third and final coat, I waited 72 hours before putting any real traffic on the floors. I think this was key to allowing the floors time to set. I also chose the Matte finish because I didn’t want a shiny look.

Products I used:

**Four months later and these floors have held up so much better than I’d anticipated! This room gets so much traffic every day because it’s where the kids cubbies with shoes and bags are located. It’s also our laundry room, so with 6 people, it is always being used! Because the tile is so pretty, it motivates me to keep the laundry off the floor.**