A Sun Light for the Ceiling Fan

Something was missing in baby girl's room. We had just finished (sort of) a tree shelving, and I just wanted it to feel like being in nature. When I was at Ikea, I had seen this shade numerous times and thought it looked cheap. But after a good google image search, it was the only thing I could really find. At a whopping $25, I knew I could afford it the Smila Sol Sun Light. There were no how-to's, just the same picture on many blogs about how some guy put it up one day (not "how" he did it, but that he did). I thought, "I've changed a light bulb before, how hard could this be?"

This blog is for ANYONE who ever plans on doing this. If you choose not to read this before you attempt, have a mommy drink ready for when you are done or need a break.

When you first open it, you think "oh, simple, I think I understand the wordless instructions". And the you open the bag. That's more than 2 parts.

And honestly, they aren't confusing. What's confusing is how simple they think everything is. They say to basically tuck the wires in these little slots, but it is near impossible (not impossible, just really near impossible).

I say, if you get it to stick, congrats. If not, use duct tape. You do kinda want them out of the way, but the world won't end if you can't. Well, at this point, I realized what was really going on, and decided to think about the fan that was in the room. It was a 3-light fan. Maybe it would have been easier if it was one light, I don't know.

The first step was easy, TURN OFF YOUR POWER. I went to the surge box and just turned off the power in the baby room. When I started this project, I had just gotten baby girl down for her afternoon nap, so I only had at most 2 hours (if she slept soundly, otherwise, at least 20 minutes).  Then I began unscrewing the two screws that held the lighting part to the top part (I don't know the technical terms, but those sound right).

So, I used those twisty things (yellow above) to protect the wires. When you look at the Smila Sol light, it has two wires, one white one that splits (I guess the "positive" and "negative" like a car battery?), and then a twisty colored one (that I think was the "ground" wire). Well, my ceiling light had two wires, a white and a black one. So what did I do? I connected each of those to one of the split white sides from the Ikea light. The twisty one I did nothing with. It wasn't connected to anything, so I figured it wasn't that important.. tell me if I'm wrong.

I rigged the ceiling fan pull to hold the support the weight of the ikea light until I was able to connect them. I ran down to the surge box, and turned on the power. Ran back to the baby room, crossed my fingers, and there was light!

I know, I was thinking that I could use duct tape, twisty wires (from the bread loafs), and zip ties to connect everything. Oh how I was wrong. After sweating in the well heated room, remembering I forgot to put on deodorant, and counting my minutes, I decided to check on baby, who was about to wake from her nap.

I needed something light weight (not to weigh on the fan). Circular about 3 inches on top, and then about 6 on the bottom. I needed it to be plastic or light metal that I could drill into easily. I thought - where I took the screws out (the 2 before), I needed to screw in there (on the side), and then I need to screw the ikea light part to it (3 on the bottom). Crap. This means I have to wake baby and leave the house. So we put on our coats and left.  After walking around the hardware store a while, this is what I found.

In case you wanted to get this yourself, here's what it says in more detail. It was about 10 bucks. That, with the $7 light bulbs (3 needed!), this $25 light was getting expensive fast. But it would be soo worth it, I know. I know. Right? Right.

As you can guess, it was dark by this time. And of course, I needed to turn the power off to the baby room. Thank goodness my husband's grandmother still considers us "the kids" and gives us a stocking for Christmas every year. This year, she included this SUPER AWESOME and tiny flashlight. Oh thank you!  I held the smaller part of this pipe thing to the ceiling fan, and marked the holes with a sharpie. I noted that I could not drill it in, unless I took another screw out (the one that changes the direction of the fan). So, I marked that. I drilled 1/8 holes, which matched the screws. Oh yeah, and I bought an 8 pack of 32 x 3/4 in screw and bolt combo kit. It was like 1 buck.

After pre-drilling the holes, I made sure that the screws fit (screwed in by hand real fast).

But to my surprise, the surprise, the screw was stripped on the fan. I tried using a wrench to untighten it, and you can see how I scratched it. I couldn't get the screw off, but I did loosen it just enough to slip the pipe in it, and so I only used two screws, not 3. And then I re-tightened that stripped screw. Did that make sense? Sure.

STILL using the flashlight from heaven, I connected the wires AGAIN. This time, I had bought a $3.22 ceiling fan light switch. The room just has one wall switch, so I wanted to make sure I had the option to have the fan on, but not the light, or the other way. This thing had two wires coming from it, and since it was black, I connected one to the black part of the ceiling fan, and one to one split white wire on the ikea light source. Again, the ceiling fan pull was rigged to support the weight of the ikea light source until I was ready to attach.

In order to prevent pulling on the wires, I DUCT TAPED  (yes!! My dad's Aggie Engineering would be proud) the ceiling fan light switch to the top of the pipe.

I ran down to the surge protector, and turned on the power. When I came back to the room, and flipped the wall light switch.. NOTHING HAPPENED. I sent a quick prayer and pulled the newly installed pull, and THERE WAS LIGHT! Again, I didn't measure very well, so I only was able to use 2 of the 3 intended screws (and bolts) to attach the ikea light source to the pipe, but it was enough to support it, and very level!

Adding the ikea sun was pretty easy.

I made the mistake of buying the 4.5W bulbs, but it is a good light for her room. I was used to 3 60W bulbs. Each bulb says a max of 11W, so I might go and get more. I only had 40W in the same size, so I guess that is where Ikea makes their money. Does anyone know If we can put more than 11W in each? Does it really matter?

Well, she better love this sun light, otherwise she will be a miserable teenager. Because this light is staying for a while. All in all, this $25 light cost me about 2.5 times more than I thought, and took about 3 hours. If I ever hand to do this again, I would. It is so cute.



Tada! The room! It looks pretty good in person! Better than this photo looks. What do you think? Should we paint the blades to white?

What's that framed over there? Why it is the Kindle Book, STAR, that my husband made for our baby girl's 1 year birthday.

Tree Themed Shelving

When we found out we were having a baby, I had my husband and dad paint our "office" a teal/turquoise/electric blue (whatever you want to call it) color, which would go good for a boy or a girl.

Oooh lala making my man work!

Well, the color was awesome, but my giant LOVA leaf I got from Ikea just wasn't helping create that nature-theme I wanted. In fact, it just looked sad against that totally awesome crib.

My husband and I had been talking about painting a tree mural on the wall for a while, and now that baby bear was getting older, I noticed that we needed more shelving as well (storage for her spoiled self!). So we started planning. I got on Pinterest for some ideas:

When I did more research, this little baby was about $200. And for what? A couple of books? No way!  I did some more pinterest research, realizing I needed something a little more affordable. In which, I found Decal trees, with shelving built on:

 

I knew I wanted straight shelves, to hold more, but this still wouldn't be enough storage space for her, and then I came across this beauty in which they used an Ikea lack shelf to be the trunk of the tree.. Ikea? Of course! We decided to get the narrow, tall Expedit 1x5 in espresso ("black-brown"), as it was affordable, fit in my compact car, and was easy to assemble by myself.   When I picked it up, I also got 3 small black lack shelves,  2 longer black-brown lack shelves, and 3 short ribba picture ledge shelves (basically, I wanted hidden hardware type shelves and Lowes and Home Depot wanted my arm and my leg for the same thing). We also noted not to make any shelves closer than 3 feet to the ground, as to prevent her toddler head bumping into them.. so we started planning more...

 

And I am "particular", so we planned some more. Thank goodness my husband can sketch real fast.

Now one thing I want to note, that my husband brought to my attention, is that on the open side of the bookshelf, don't put anything up against it, because it will be awkward to get things out. Also, something I pointed out, is do the shelves at different heights as the main bookcase, because it is hard to line them up. Also, do not try to make them flush with each other, or that one centimeter will drive you mad!

We tried laying everything down on the floor, but it was just getting crazy. so, I started drilling holes.

I used EZ Anchor metal drywall screws. Everywhere. I don't like the plastic ones, because they are one time use. Metal ones, you can take the screws out and it is still just as snug. I used my new level, but after I put the shelves up, they were slightly off . I guess her marble collection will need to find another home.

Something to keep in mind, if you put a shelf up against the bookshelf, it has to be TIGHT, and so, I say, do this at your own risk, it was a little harder than anything else. After I put the shelves up, the husband got painters tape (hint: push down if you are going to use it to lock in edges, err...) and outlines some branches.

I then took down the shelves, and he used our left over Behr Ultra dark espresso brown paint.

As you can see, he added on some twigs, and I ordered some leaf decals on Etsy. I know now it looks cryptic, but it will look crib-tic soon. When they come in, I will update. For now, here is the final product! It looks good!

Well, a few minutes later, I started placing some of her toys and books in the shelf, and baby girl didn't know WHAT to think. I also brought up her Ikea table that I recently painted and upholstered. I should be a spokes person for Ikea or something.. Here is a view from the door (we moved the crib to the left, you can kind of see it). I'm not done decorating yet...

 

And what's that? I framed something.. Ryan's first E-book, STAR! If you haven't read it, where have you been?! We also got some of the DC Super Hero board books for babies. They are TOO CUTE! My husband likes comics.

A Mini-Lawn Gnome House (that lights up!)

Alas, the one thing I never knew I needed.

All these years, my poor gnomes have been living in the frigid rain. Or worse, stubbing their toe on rocks and things while trying to make it back to their homes at night.

I bought some $1 mini steak/stake solar powered garden lights, and wanted to do something more. With  the help of my artistic husband, we went to Michaels, bought some Sculpy clay with my 40% off coupon, and began.

I found a glass bowl and a glass.. drinking glass, and wrapped them in foil. My husband thought "hey, lets do a coil wrap" yada yada yada. It is basically getting the clay into a worm like position, then wrapping the object in a circular fashion. When you are done, you kneed it smooth.

For the cup (the base of the lawn gnome house), I punctured a small quarter sized circle on top. This would be for the lawn stake (that I am NOT about to put in the oven!). The mister added in some 3D texture art, to make it have  a door, window, and some vines.

As you can see, we used those awesome newspaper grocery advertisements to line the table. Using another coupon for Michaels, I got some mosaic tiles (a GIANT bucket.. blue shades), and started adding to the bowl part (which would be the mushroom). Now, for this, We cut out another circle, the size of the solar part of the light (see light below). We used the mini lawn gnome as a reference, as to how big the door should be.

 

Baking was a breeze, we just followed the Sculpy directions, and then got out some old Acrylic paints (which wont wash away with rain). I did not paint it, which might be why it looks so good! I did however use the Gorilla Glue to attach the top part of the solar light to the "mushroom" top. It really does expand, so check it often to wipe the excess.

 

 

 

After everything dried, we coated it with Mod Podge for outdoor stuff. It said to leave for 72 hours, which we did.. but then it rained later that week, and all this dirt got on the house and wont wash off.

 

 

As you can see, it looks good !!

 



 

 

I know what you are thinking, that gnome changed hats! It's true, now that he has a house to keep all of his stuff in, he can have a wardrobe. Below is a picture of it at night, again it was a $1 solar light, I think it is pretty bright!

 

 

 

If we do this again, we would NOT use outside mod podge. It just makes everything sticky, and dirt sticks to the new object... So, leave it as is!  Hope you have fun and try this! Show me your mini lawn gnome houses you made!!  I will upload the exact sculpy we used later..

A Raised Garden Bed...

I was noticing that my seedlings were starting to sprout, and would soon need to be transferred into another, larger home.

When we moved into our house, the previous owners had put up a deck (to help the house sell), and left a bunch of deck wood in the shed. This wood was about 12 feet long (deck board), 1 inch thick ("2 inch"), and 6 inches wide (my "height"). I immediately saw the opportunity and had my husband test out my new miter saw (I got it on sale for Black Friday online, and haven't used it yet.. but I will! a lot!)

 

The way these people (THESE PEOPLE that used to live here) made the deck, it already had a "garden bed" around the deck, and they must have used cement and 2 ft nails, because I could not pry it up. So, we decided to follow the plan, and make 6 beds that were 3 feet by 3 feet. If you have read Square Foot Gardening (or are in any new gardening fan club), you know that certain plants need certain amounts of space (height and distance). So, this method would give each box 9 squares to do with what I wished! Which is NOT kill plants, baby steps.

 

 

So now that all of my wood was cut (3 feet sections), I found an extension cord and plugged in my drill. I bought a corded one because I always remember my dad complaining about how his battery would always die and not hold a charge and "it was cheaper to replace the whole thing than get a new battery". Well, maybe it is because my dad used his a lot. My husbands cordless still charges up fine.

 

Using some very advanced math, I marked with my high lighter a "cap indention" down

 

 

and a "cap" on each side. I drilled these holes only on one side of each board.

 



 

Now, I was able to drill a hole all the way through, but this wood was DRY. I recommend getting fresh wood, and doing it right away. It may smell nasty (the hot metal action on wet, treated wood), but at least it will be easy.

 

 





Honestly, pre-drilling the holes were the hardest part. but once it was all put together, it was going to look great! Optimism! And in my case, if this didn't turn out well,.. well.. the wood was free for me! (I think its like $10 a board at HomeDepot, a little more at Lowes.. I ended up needing to get one more board).

 

On the other end of the board, I marked a "cap" on each side, and drilled a 1 inch hole (or what I thought was 1 inch).

 

 

Making the boards meet at right angles, I started drilling the WOOD DECK GALVONIZED screws the previous owners so graciously left in the shed o crap. I think a box of a zillion is like 15 bucks at the hardware store. 

 

Now, I will admit, this is where it got heavy. Not really too heavy, but awkward heavy, having to keep the boards tight against each other, or the screw would go in, but there would be a gap. If there is some sort of clamp out there, I would have used it, but I didn't want to invest too much into this.

 

 

I later stained the deck, and the boxes to match. Otherwise they turn a dark grey wood color (since it was deck wood). I know a lot of people say to use pine, but I think this will be fine.

 

On some, I put some wire underneath, as if rabbits would dig in and get my produce (stuff has to grow first, right?), and next year, maybe, I will put a second layer and have 12 inch high planters. 6 inches is good enough for now.

 

 



 

Gingerbread Cupcakes!

I really like gingerbead men, but I also like cupcakes.. so I searched for something inbetween.

I thought...
Let's try to make GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES! 

What I found, were countless recipes of gingerbread and cupcakes, and they all looked daunting... but I had cravings.. and to my friends and family, NO NOT PREGNANCY CRAVINGS! Marcelina is barely 3 months!

*Warning! If you do NOT like ginger or sugar.. this is NOT the recipe for you. Also, do not try to eat the cupcake and frosting separately... it just tastes funky alone.

After searching and reading blogs and recipe sites, I finally found one that seemed easy enough. Anywhere I looked, I saw a large ingredient list (I prefer 5 or less! Keep is simple!).  Using Taste of Home's recipe, I realized that I either had to change out of my pajamas and try to go to the grocery store on Christmas Eve.. OR... substitute.

For the cupcake:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup honey
4/3 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
pinch of salt

Basically, I mixed all the powders with the butter, then added in the egg, water, and last.. the honey! I know a lot of cooking shows say things like..."sift the flour" and "use 85 bowls" in "45 steps", but I just don't have the patience.



I love my KitchenAid Mixer. It is THE best. I don't know how I ever managed mixing with a spatula before... Or a hand mixer.. Oh yeah.. I remember.. it was lumpy because I got tired... I just blended it .. at like.. a 6 for a couple of minutes. To be honest, I walked away and did some stuff.  I filled up the cupcakes (some a little too full, this recipe makes for about 14 regular sized cupcakes.. or .. 27 mini cupcakes), and baked at 350F for 20 minutes.

 

As they were cooling, I started the frosting:
1/3 cup of butter
2 ounces of cream cheese
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white powdered sugar

 

The final outcome isn't so yellow.. it is a camera phone. tada! My husband approves!