Crafting and creating is even more fun when items are at our finger tips.

If you need help organizing your craft supplies, look no further. This craft room was organized by a creating genius for order and inspiration.

Organize your craft room for ultimate inspiration. Whether it be quilting, painting, jewelry or costumes, you’ll find easy and affordable organization that you’ll want to show off.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small percentage of the sale of items you may purchase at no additional cost to you.

Foam Board Fabric Organizers

These organizing game changers are inexpensive and versatile. Dollar store foam board turned fabric organizer. Cut with a ruler and exacto knife to the size that fits your needs.

Notice how there are taller boards in the back to store large pieces of fabric and shorter boards in the front. This helps make use of a deep shelf and still be able to see what you have.

And of course the fabric is color coded, because it would be wrong any other way.

Easy Accent Wall Shelving from Ikea

The shelving units fit perfectly and when you aren’t looking for the perfect piece for your next quilting project, the shelves make a cozy accent wall to your creative space.

Baby Food Containers, Perfect for Organizers

Baby food containers, collect these for easy, see through storage. Perfect for small beads, buttons etc. You’ll find these shallow drawers from Ikea. No more digging to get creating – it’s literally at your finger tips

Whether you’ve got a baby at home or have a friend at the baby food stage, there is someone in your life that has an over abundance of these. The shallow drawers from Ikea make it easy to quickly find what you need. Here are some other great ideas for using baby food containers.

Lunch Meat Container Storage

Deli meat containers in varrying sizes, with the same width, keep larger items in easy reach. The see through sides and labels are genius time savers. If you find you are always buying a certain product, consider saving the container for storage. They’ll match and stack easier. And you’ll be saving our little Earth with thrifty, cute, reusable organizers.

Each container is “filed” in a metal filing cabinet that was painted light pink. Making it easy to find what you’re looking for.

Organizing Shelves Door Storage Ideas: Wire Basket Catch All

One secret about having everything at your finger tips is using every bit of your craft room space. Transform your closet door into a thread storage shelf, scissors and Cricut supplies, or a gift wrapping station. There are so many options, what would you do with that extra space?

Organize craft supplies. Wire shelfing that can attach easily to doors can be found on Amazon.

Use Command Hooks for Affordable Craft Room Organization

There are endless ways to use Command Hooks in organizing your craft room and the best part? They’re insanely affordable and easy to move. Find a great selection to choose from here.

Cheese Puff Bin Storage

Again, if you like a product, hold onto the containers. Cheese Puff containers can hold a lot. If the material is light you can easily store above head and still use space in harder to reach areas

Hard to Store Quilting Frame Made Easy

Quilting frame too tall for the closet? Improvise. If you’re quilting rack seems to take up precious space, get creative. Here a small hole was cut in the closet ceiling to allow the quilting frame to stand upright and save more space

Craft Room Ideas: Beautify Your Creative Space

If you spend much of your time crafting, why not make it cute with a collection of dress stands. Keep an eye out at yard sales to perfect your collection. They can also be easily found online.

Add a fancy chandelier with an artistic flaire, this style was found at Costco or search for some fun ideas online.

Happy crafting! I hope you found some great take home ideas that will help you organize your craftroom. Comment below on your favorite organizing tips.

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I think it’s safe to admit, we’re all a bit done with coronavirus. Because COVID-19  is the worst! So if you find yourself needing a little outlet or to un-rationally smash something, I’ve got just the thing.

Make something to smash, a Coronavirus Piñata! It’s easy, satisfying and perfect for gatherings 6′ away. USA Today could easily add this to their list of 100 things to do while home during COVID-19. Best yet, all items are easily found at home for this paper mache creation.

Materials Needed to Make a Coronavirus Piñata

You will need a balloon, a large bowl the diameter of desired coronavirus circumference, a small cereal bowl for flour and water mixture and newspaper (cut into 2″ strips).

Blow up the balloon until it fits the top rim of your large bowl. Mix equal parts water and flour, about a cup each, in the cereal bowl. Adjust amounts to get a glue-like, paste substance. Dip newspaper strips into flour mixture, wipe most off with your fingers and apply to the balloon.

Continue applying strips of newspaper dipped in mixture in a cross like pattern to create strength, until you have added 4-5 layers.

To create the spiky look we simply took a quarter of a newspaper page, dipped it in the flour mixture and then molded it into kind of a table shape. Then we stuck it onto the ball in a random pattern. My kids, ages 6-12 years, had fun helping make this. Especially since they were looking forward to destroying it later.

How to Create the Piñata Hanger

Cut a small incision in the top, stuff the piñata full of candy and/or toys and insert a hanging system of some sort. I literally took a metal hanger in a “V” shape and placed it inside. Then duct taped the wire on the inside of the piñata as well as the outside of the piñata.

Let your kids paint it, it’s ok if it’s ugly, that’s what it is and we’re going to smash it right?

Let the kids wack it, kick it, smash it and take out all that angst on the coronavirus. It’s therapy really

Stay connected, follow my blog, Facebook, Instagram and continue to get other fun, great ideas! Thanks for stopping by.

If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy these other crafty ideas.

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How to Make a Living Wreath

A living wreath is easy to make and keep alive once you know all the tricks. In this post you will learn how to make an inexpensive wreath that looks like a million bucks – figuratively right? I mean a million bucks? Who would sounds that much?

Usually a premade succulent frame will cost you about $30. Here you’ll see how to make one for $6.50 by making a wreath form from dollar tree supplies.

Shopping List for a Summer Succulent Wreath

Just FYI I have affiliate links here for your convenience. I do make a small amount from the proceeds at no cost to you, but clicking and purchasing from the link keeps thishomemadehome.com up and running, thanks for your support.

• 2 wire 12″ wreath forms from the dollar store $2
• Floral Wire from the dollar store $1
• Floral Pins from Amazon .50¢
• Sphagnum Moss from Amazon $3.50
• Succulents from your local nursery or garden

The package of sphagnum moss is $13, but will do about 4 wreaths. The floral pins package will do anywhere from 5-10 wreaths.

1. Making the Dollar Tree Spring Wreath

Use the floral wire to connect each joint of the two wreaths together. Make sure you fold the ends of the wire pointing inside the form to avoid being poked later.

Next, zig zag the wire on the inside of the wreath where you have the largest opening. You can wire the bottom and sides as well, but leave the top two rows open for succulents.

2. Putting Sphagnum Moss in the Frame

Sphagnum moss is important because it holds the succulents in the moss and frame. This special moss also absorbs and holds a lot of water.

Soak the moss in a bucket of water. Then squeeze out the excess water. Be careful for pokey items. The company does a good job preparing the moss, but sometimes there are small sticks. Squeeze with care.

Press the moss into the wire wreath form. You want the moss to be thin and compact so you can’t see light through the bottom and sides when you lift it up.

Leave as much room as possible (by making it compact) that you have room for succulent roots and soil. Imagine you are making a nest. You need it to be strong, but you also need it to be wide enough to hold plants.

3. Assembling Succulents in Moss

Keep as much soil as you can around your succulent roots. Press the roots and soil into the succulent form.

Use floral pins to hold your succulents in the wreath.

Next press more sphagnum moss into the wreath form, covering any exposed soil. This will help hold your succulents in place and help hold in moisture for your plants.

If desired, you may also want to wrap your wreath, moss and succulents with twine. Be careful to go around plants and only touch the moss. This can help further hold the moss and plants in place while they establish themselves in the wreath.

Once the root system is strong they will hold themselves in the wreath. You may wonder how long do succulent wreaths last?

A succulent wreath can last up to 5 years. It will change over time. As it gets over grown you can trim back the succulents and use the succulent starts for more wreaths.

Succulent Wreath Maintenance

If you would like to place your succulent wreath on the door avoid South facing doors as the sun will be too hot. Also if you have a wooden door, place plastic behind the wreath to protect the wood finish.

How to Care For Your Succulent Wreath

• After planting, keep the wreath out of direct sunlight for a week. Gradually increase light levels to full exposure.

• For hot zones protect plants from midday sun. Indoors set your wreath in a south-facing window, greenhouse or garden room.

• Hang your wreath using galvanized hardware to avoid rust.

• If you’ll be displaying your wreath on a wooden surface (such as a door) consider covering the back of your wreath with plastic, using floral pins.

• Water your succulent wreath when it feels dry, every 3-10 weeks depending on temperature and lighting.

• Soak the wreath in a container of water for at least an hour.

Avoid misting the surface with water as this encourages shallow roots and effects the health of the plant.
Enjoy your living wreath!

One last dollar store tip: for easy watering purchase a round dollar store serving tray. It fits the dollar store wire wreath forms perfectly. Place your wreath on the tray. Fill the tray with water until the wreath won’t soak up any more water. Let the wreath dry out a bit, then hang back up.

If you enjoyed learning about succulent wreaths, you may also like Making A Dry River Bed with Succulents.

3 Cool Things to do With Window Blinds

and How to Make A Pinecone Garland

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My love of pancakes runs deep. If you’ve followed my other posts you know I love breakfast food, and apparently pancakes of all nationalities. I’ll just keep adding to the total.

Since they’re delicious, nothing to complain about here. This post contains affiliate links to items I use and love. If you purchase from one of my links I get a small percentage that goes to supporting This Homemade Home – at no additional cost to you. Win win.

Ebelskiver Recipes

The recipe for Ebelskivers traditionally comes in two ways, those made with baking powder and those made with yeast.I’ve used a variety of recipes. Recently I tried this recipe a baking powder version from seriouseats.Com. I loved their whole site from recipes to techniques to the best cooking products to use. I’m not even being paid to say that . But check it out, I think you’ll like what you see.The yeast Ebelskivers recipe is a little harder to set the batter, but you get a slightly higher rise in your pancake.

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Ebelskivers Pronunciation

The Dutch pronounce æbleskiver as [ˈɛːpləˌskiːwɐ], the English language spelling is usually aebleskiver or ebelskiver (ee ble skeever). My daughter pronounces it evil skier – just because .

The word æbleskiver literally means Apple slice, though there are no apples in Ebelskivers. I’m guessing it’s because it’s round like an apple. There’s my two cents.

Aebleskiver History

A fun little pancake, æbleskiver are solid like a pancake but light and fluffy like a popover.They are served often rolled in powdered sugar, with whipped topping, butter, maple syrup or fruit preserves. Usually as a set of three. Which I totally didn’t do, I filled that bowl right up!

As the story goes, a band vikings had gone to battle. After being hard hit and needing to regain their strength they retreated to eat and rest. Not having proper cooking wear they turned their hammered helmets upside down and cooked batter over a fire.

So the story goes.

They’re often served during the holidays as a special treat and for good reason, they are a bit time consuming, but delicious. To learn more, visit aebleskiver.com and Wikipedia.

The Best Aebleskiver Pan

Or ebelskivers pan (as the English would say). The best pan? Hands down cast iron. It’s heavy and distributes the heat evenly for a perfect crisp outside. The cast iron also provides a natural stick-resistant surface.

The first Ebelskiver pans going back 300 years ago, were made out of hammered copper. They didn’t cook as evenly, but are probably beautiful. So if you see one snatch it up because it’s rare and old.

The next best and more common, is the aluminum with non stick coating. I still have to coat quickly with a stick of butter for my Ebelskivers to turn easily.

As you can see this pan works well with gas stove tops. The key is to keep it cooking on medium – low. Otherwise it cooks too quickly to be able to turn and get a nice round, ball shaped pancake.

How to Cook Ebelskivers

One of my favorite experiences was to have the opportunity to watch my friend’s Danish grandma turning these little pancakes.There are a few tricks to the trade (which I am still perfecting), but this is seriously so fun I don’t mind.

First you need the ebelskiver pan, which has a set of 7 half spheres set in a circle.

I’ve found that my cookie dough scoop is the perfect size to fill each space. Almost to the top, but not overflowing.

A bamboo skewer or stick of some sort with a sharp end is the best for turning. My son helped take a few of these pictures where it required two hands for cooking – some are a bit blurry so I apologize.

You want to begin turning immediately after pouring the batter. The idea is to use the skewer to pull the cooked batter half way up to let the liquid batter run down into the pan.

Continue to pull the cooked portion up and let the liquid batter run down. Moving and turning the pancake until you finally turn it completely over and ends with a ball shaped pancake.

They aren’t all spherical, but I’m getting there. I don’t make these as an every day food, but they are fun to make and the kids get excited when I suggest them.

Non-Traditional Ebelskiver Toppings

I do like traditional Ebelskivers, but sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. My children love Nutella on top. I love Greek yogurt and honey. It also taste good with peanut butter and jam.

For more breakfast pancake ideas (because apparently that’s one of my favorite things to eat) also check out my healthy-kids-love-it Blueberry Blender Pancakes and

Southern style Hootenanny.

Thank you for stopping by. If you loved (or semi-liked) what you found. Feel free to subscribe, follow me on social media. And comment below.

Take care,

Natalie

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ebelskiver traditional, danish round pancakes, Pancake ball recipe, norwegian round pancakes

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When we bought our house it had been a rental which was bad in the aspect that we had alot of things to fix up, but really good in that we got the house for a killer deal.

The front yard had beenprofessionally landscaped, which was great. However many of the trees and shrubs had overgrown and killed lawn or taken over several feet of pavement.

I really didn’t like that you could see the downspout drain pipe from the front. There was also a vast space of nothing right by the front walk way.

And though I wanted to do this project along with 100 others right away, I knew I had to pace myself.

There were several projects we had to do first out of necessity. You can read more about that from my DIY tab. Some of my favorites, some easy, some labor intensive, each made a dramatic difference to the enjoyment of our home.

inground trampoline

the entryway makeover

loft bed

and

installing a paver edge

Finally it’s time for the dry creek bed pictures, how-to maintenance and all I’ve learned in making it the best.

How to Make a Dry Creek Bed For Drainage

One of the primary reasons for wanting to DIY a dry creek bed was for drainage. I wanted like nothing else to get rid of that big black drain tube.

What I found is the dry creek bed works amazing as a drainage canal for downspouts.

There are a few specific things that will help your dry creek bed work well to drain excess water.

Dry Creek Bed Cost and Materials

To keep the costs low and because I had them on hand. These are the materials I used for a 10 foot stretch.

3 Heavy duty plastic landscape bags

15 Large boulders football sized plus

30 Small boulders fist sized or less

2 bags River rock /pea gravel

First dig a canal in the ground. Make sure it is sloping away from your foundation. I used a level to make sure it was tilting as far as I wanted.

Then lay down the landscape bags. As seen in the picture I started the bag 6 inches up the side of the foundation and held it in place with rocks.

With each new bag I made sure it overlapped by 6 inches with the new bag going underneath the previous bag.

Each bag also had a 1′ to a 1 1/2′ of space on either side of the canal. Here I made sure to push back the landscape rock. Place large, then small boulders and then put the landscape rock back around to cover the plastic.

At the downspout I had a pile of rocks to help hide the plastic and to lead the water away from the house and down the canal.

How to Keep River Rock in Place on a Slope

After the first rain storm I found I had a problem. The water would rush out from the drain pipe so quickly that it would wash away all my river rock as well.

I actually went and studied the river by my house – I’m pretty committed to this dry creek bed by now.

I noticed two things. A natural river has most of its large boulders on the outside edge, followed by smaller boulders and then river rock. A natural river curves and winds and that is where it slows down.

To create this natural slowing process I had to put rocks sticking out into the “river.” It was difficult, because my brain kept saying it should be uniform, but nature is not uniform and looks better with curves and displaced rocks anyhow.

As you can see in the picture below the rocks slow the water enough that even the tree seeds gather and don’t wash all the way down, but the water still moves away from the house.

I strategically placed one rock on one side and then a foot later a rock on the other side so it would hit a rock, show down, hit another rock and slow down more.

I no longer have river rock washing away.

With a view of the whole creek you can also see that I only did two major rocks, strategically placed to slow the water flow.

The rest of the creek curves a bit for aesthetic and water control purposes.

Dry Creek Bed Landscape Plants

When the landscape was originally planned there was no water run to this section. It gets too dry for regular plants to grow, so I tried native plants, as you can kind of see in this picture.

They all died, probably because of my limited plant knowledge.

I tried again with Chick and Hen Succulents and they thrived. First off succulents love rocky terrain for their little roots to wrap around. They also do great with large amounts of water during rainy season. The thick leaves allow them to store up water for dry spells.

Watch your succulents. If the leaves start to get thin, give them a good long drink of water. I have found they can go several weeks in hot dry weather before needing water.

Keep in mind, not all succulents can survive outside in all growing zones. We are zone 5b-7a. I have also successfully grown these in zone 4 where it got pretty cold for 6 months. Check for the particular succulent you are looking to plant before you put it permanently outside.

Depending on your rain fall, hostas would also do well near a dry creek bed. Keep in mind that they like a moderate amount of water and do well in shade.

Dry Creek Bed Maintenance

Once you’ve got the water flow under control and plants that grow well there is not alot of maintenance.

A few times a year I use a leaf blower to blow away any trees seeds, leaves and plant residue.

Every so often I adjust a rock or redistribute river rock that has fallen. In general its a nice, low maintenance landscaping.

It’s added interest to our yard. Provided an attractive way to move rain water away from our house and acts as an occasional balancing exercise for our children.

The Succulents have taken off and at they grow will also help hold the smaller rocks in place.

Thank you for stopping by. Please share your thoughts – which of your projects have had the greatest effect on your curb appeal?

Have a wonderful day!

Natalie

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I was a grown woman before I heard the term Hootenanny. My husband with his southern roots had grown up eating it. Once I discovered it, hootenanny quickly became a favorite.

What is Hootenanny?

The Googled meaning of the word is different than what I expected. I fully expecting it to say ‘a southern pancake.’ But this is the official definition.
noun

Hootenanny bakes in a large casserole dish – at least mine does – I’ve adjusted the recipe (details below) to make enough for a family of 6.

It gets all these beautiful, golden hills and valleys from the large amount of eggs. They’re is actually more egg than there is flower so making this sugar free, makes it a really great source of protein.

Sometimes I even add chia and flax seeds which are a great source of fiber, iron, calcium, fatty acids and antioxidants.

Without further adieu

Sugar Free Hootenanny

This will make two 8×11″ size casserole dish sizes. It is quite light and fluffy, my family of 6 leaves no left overs.

Hootenanny Ingredients for two 8×11″ Casseroles

2 Tbl butter

9 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups milk (you can use almonds milk, but it doesn’t rise as high)

1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 400 °

Butter the entire bottom of each casserole dish. Leave one TBS of butter in each dish and let melt in the oven while you mix the other ingredients.

Mix the rest of the ingredients with a hand held mixer until smooth.

Pull the hot casserole dishes out of the oven. Pour half the batter into the furst hot dish and the other half batter in the second dish.

Bake for 25 minutes or until puffy and golden brown.

Top hootenanny with your choice of

Syrup, powdered sugar, whipped topping, plain Greek yogurt, honey, fresh or frozen fruit, chia and/or flax seeds

Eat and enjoy

You may also enjoy Blueberry Blender Pancakes

And Apple Cheddar Muffins.

I hope you enjoy this breakfast recipe. If you like what you see please subscribe.

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The post Hootenanny–Sugar Free & Still Delicious appeared first on This Homemade Home.

A few months ago I was having a conversation with a co-worker about how to correct a child’s behavior within the program. During the conversation I used the word discipline. She shrunk when I used the word and quickly changed the subject.

I was surprised and intrigued, discipline had become a dirty word. The definition is still the same, but the connotation in our society has changed.

What is Discipline

Discipline can be looked at in two different ways as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

(1) control gained by enforcing obedience or order

(2) orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior

The first definition is compliance enforced by external powers: Parents, teachers or the government. The second is compliance controlled and enforced internally by ourselves.

The first definition is still not wrong or bad – but this is where our culture has begun to replace the feeling of the word. Instead of seeing discipline as a way to teach and correct, we often see it as a way to abuse.

How Abuse is Different Than Discipline

The definition of abuse

(1) a corrupt practice or custom.

(2) excessive use or treatment

(3) language that condemns or vilifies usually unjustly, intemperately, and angrily – verbal abuse

(4) physical maltreatment – child abuse, sexual abuse

As you look at the different definitions you can see how the first two lead to the second two. The first two, corrupt or excessive, take what discipline should be and misuse it. When discipline is misused it stops being discipline (a teaching moment) and becomes abuse.

This is where we need to start having a discussion in society. We can all agree that abuse is bad. The problem is agreeing on what abuse is.

For example…

Legally if it leaves a mark it is abuse. Which I personally agree with.

When it comes to being home alone, some states dictate very specific ages in which you can start giving children autonomy.

Others states have chosen to let the parent decide when a child is responsible enough by protecting what is now being called “free range” parenting.

We used to have “time out” to encourage time for a child to think instead of being hit as punishment, but even that is starting to be seen as abuse.

The truth is, anything can become abuse when it becomes corrupt or excessive.

As a result we have people who are afraid to act at all in the betterment of child behavior.

Where has Our Fear of Discipline Led Us?

We have parents afraid to reign in their children’s behaviors, teachers who feel they have no rights to bring control to the classroom and the government placed with the final choice of penalties and imprisonment.

We can and should teach children how to control their behaviors. This is called discipline.

Discipline with Love

It is vital that we discipline our own passions, so that when we discipline a child it is out of love meant as a teaching moment. Discipline doesn’t always means punishment or consequence and it never means abuse.

If we can view our roles as an opportunity to teach, we will conquer the largest hurdle of possible abuse. We will help a child have a better life by helping them learn to control themselves. It will bless their lives into adulthood.

5 Ways to Implement Good Discipline

• Calm down

  Let them know you will discuss the consequence with them in five minutes.

• Give yourself time

  Good parenting or teaching does not mean you have to react immediately. Allow yourself time to decide on a just consequence. It is ok to point out the child’s action was not ok and you will be thinking of a way for them to fix the problem.

• Give consequences you can and should follow through with

  Nothing is more confusing than having irrational threats yelled at you. As in, “I’m going kick you into next week.” Not only should you not do this, you can’t. Practice giving consequences you can follow through with and that you wouldn’t regret the next day.

• Be consistent in expectations and reactions to behavior

  Work on talking first. If needed calm down and give yourself time to regroup. Remind yourself this is a learning opportunity for your child. You are correcting them for their benefit. Somethings you can and should ignore, pick your battles so to speak. If anger is building up inside, address the issue to avoid randomly blowing up about things you previously let go.

• Discuss with the child what happened that was unexpected

  This is the learning opportunity. Believe it or not, children don’t always know why we got so mad. Still even if you kept your cool and told them to go think about what they did, a child will need help to regroup and process what did happen and how it could have turned out differently. As the adult in a child’s life we can be the link to help them understand how to improve things next time.

Thanks for reading, you may also be interested in 3 Ways to Increase Good Behavior in Children and The Art of Saying Yes.

Please leave a comment, I’d love to read your thoughts.

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The post How Discipline Became a Dirty Word: 5 Ways to Correct Children’s Behavior appeared first on This Homemade Home.

So you want to make an inground Trampoline?

You are in luck, we just did it and are here to share what we learned. Some people may wonder, can you put an above ground trampoline in the ground?

The answer is yes!

There are several options. Here’s how we did ours for under $100.

Definitely the easiest way to get the pit is to hire the digging out to someone with equipment or rent the equipment like a backhoe or a mini excavator. Depending on where you live, this can cost $200 – $500 to rent.

DIY Trampoline Pit

If you’re really determined and very much into saving money and DIY you can dig it by hand.

My husband dug this completely by hand. He’s amazing right? I thought it was a little crazy and not possible, but he treated it like his workout and did it every day for about two weeks.

He then used the extra dirt to create a greater slope away from the foundation of our house and make a hill to build a fish pond and waterfall for a later project.

So it is possible by hand and you can do it even with hard desert ground, just know what you’re getting into.

Sunken trampoline problems

The ground seemed so hard we decided not to put up a Trampoline retaining wall. Then a few months later, our neighbor’s water main broke and all the water drained into this pit. The sides weakened and then collapsed.

We knew we had to put up a retaining wall of some sort, but left it for the next spring.

Building a Retaining Wall for a Trampoline Pit

This article is on how to create a retaining wall using corrugated metal, because it’s cheap and easy. At the end of the article I will share all the other ways we considered before we began.

How Corrugated Metal Can be Used as a DIY Inground Trampoline Pit

Pros it’s inexpensive, the curved horizontal lines create a strong surface for a retaining wall.

Cons it may rust, it is sharp on the edges.

First you’ll want to dig out enough dirt for the metal sheet to slide into place.

This is what it looked like digging out the collapsed walls.

Fit Corrugated Sheets Around the sides of the Inground Trampoline Pit

We used 4’x10′ corrugated metal sheets. This allowed just enough room to bend around the middle poll while both edges fit behind the first and last poll. They run about $10 a sheet bringing the cost to just under a $100 for materials.

Tip : wear working gloves. As you are fitting the metal into place you will need to push down on the edges, which are sharp.

Bending Corrugated Metal For a Trampoline Pit

We tried two methods. Bending it before we put it in and bending it while we put it in. Both had successes and failures.

Both bends highlighted below were done by bending while we put them in place. As you can see sometimes it worked very well. However our worst bend job also came from bending while putting it in the pit.

We then tried bending it before by having our kids stand where we wanted it to bend while we pushed the sheet up. We got mediocre bends.

Ultimately we decided to just chance it and bend as we went.

A long metal pipe may work better, we just decided to wing it.

How to Avoid Sharp Edges on Trampoline Retaining Walls and How to Create Air Flow

As has been noted, corrugated metal is sharp on the edges. A friend’s daughter slipped on their tramp while jumping and cut her leg. Not a bad cut, but still not desirable.

We decided to combat this by having the metal sit well below the edge of the trampoline and have the earth slope down to the metal.

Eventually grass will grow towards the metal retaining wall and slightly cover the metal edge.

The added bonus of having this slope is it will also allow air to escape which creates a greater bounce. If the trampoline comes flush to the ground the air won’t move out of the way and will create a belly flop, hard bounce.

In ground trampoline drainage

We don’t have a nifty drain in the middle, that would be really smart and we may do that one day. But we do have a down spout draining field right in the trampoline pit.

My husband discovered it while digging. It’s basically a pile of rocks, to prevent erosion, covered with dirt.

We left the whole thing where it was. Eventually we will put up some 2x4s to reinforce the sides where the drain field is.

It also works as a handy slope to get in and out of the pit.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but I came through with a rake and built up the sides with a slight decline towards the middle.

This will help reinforce the bottom edge of the corrugated metal and any water that does make it in can drain to the middle and evaporate.

How Well Does a Trampoline Retaining Wall Hold up?

We came up with a corrugated retaining wall out of necessity. After the walls caved in, the erosion kept going. Our other neighbor’s garden irrigation was slowly eating away at one side.

If you have alot of erosion from water first put up the wall, then fill with gravel then dirt. The gravel will help filter the water and reduce the erosion effect.

The section I have circled here has been up over a year and is still going strong. No bulging or signs of giving way.

Alternative Spring Covers for an Inground Trampoline Pit

The heat and wind desinegrated our trampoline pad. We wanted something that wouldn’t blow away, but would also protect our kids from spring pinches.

Pool noodles were the thing we needed. They fit the spring with just enough room to slide.

Fitting Pool Noodles for Trampoline Springs

First get these on clearance at the end of summer. This measures the whole inground trampoline package really come to under $100

Next cut noodles with a serrated knife about 5″ or the length of the spring stretch section leaving the metal loops exposed.

This will make for easier assembly onto the frame.

Slide the springs into each pool noodle section.

Put all the springs onto the frame, then begin to put the trampoline mat in place.

How to Assemble a Trampoline

The trampoline mat can be difficult to get on the frame. You will want to have these cool tools that grip the spring and allow you to pull it onto the trampoline mat ring.

Towards the end when it’s really difficult, we found it worked best for me to pull the ring of the trampoline mat while my husband used a long flathead screw driver from the loop on the spring and connected the two together.

And it’s done!

The kids love jumping, we love them getting the exercise and being outside. The longer we’ve had the trampoline the more comfortable and daring our children have become.

So we’re coming up with rules to keep kids heads in place.

What are go – to rules that have kept your kids safe on the trampoline?

Here are some other inground trampoline ideas we also considered

Buying a Trampoline Retaining Wall Kit

They will run you $800 at Trampolines Down Under.

Pros it’s all set up meant to fit your trampoline.

Cons I’ve still seen these bulging, they’re not fail safe. But to be fair to Trampolines down under its possible they weren’t installed correctly.

Check out this design from their company. The curved sides give it added security.

Using a Cut Off End to a Grain Silo for an Inground Trampoline Retaining Wall

Runs you a few hundred. The idea is you buy the whole silo and cut them into sections. You can get 4-5 out of one silo, sell off the rest to pay for it.

Pros it’s one big, heavy duty circle. No bulging from dirt, no rust.

Cons it’s hard to find one.

Build a Trampoline Retaining Wall Out of Brick

The only version I saw of this had a huge 1′ gap all the way around. Which was built that way on purpose so kids could climb under and get things that had fallen. All I saw was my toddler tripping on it and face planting on the springs. It also is a lot of money for brick.

Pros it can look really classy

Cons it can be a hard place to fall.

Well that’s the inground trampoline pit info. We ultimately chose the corrugated metal because we tested it and saw it was working.

I hope this helped as you make your inground pit.

Please like, comment and subscribe this helps us to continue to bring you great articles.

And have a great day!

Natalie

The post How to Make a Trampoline Pit for Under $100 appeared first on This Homemade Home.

If you have used wood blind slats or faux wood slats laying around, don’t throw them out. Sometimes these thin, flexible slats can work better than trim you find at the store

Not only can you remove those extra blind slats that sit constantly at the bottom of your window blinds, but you can do insanely awesome things with the left overs.

Use Faux Wood Blind Slats to Dress Up a Boring Door

One of my favorite uses for faux wood blinds is to dress up a flat boring door. To trim out and add a touch of farmhouse style, simply outline your doors (and walls if you want) with trim. Then caulk in the seams and paint. It’s that easy.

The faux wood blinds used here, had holes in them. To fix that, first glue the blind slat to your desired surface. Then come back through with drywall mud and fill in all the holes. Let the mud dry, then sand smooth.

After a coat of primer you are ready to paint.

If you look here, you will see I actually added trim to create the visual effect of wider doors. I cut the window blinds so that it ran across the accordian style door. This gave the visual perception of two wider doors instead of 4 narrow ones.

I also used this pallet of colors to create height. You can read more about how to do this in my article How to Make a Room Seem Larger Than It Is.

Upcycle Window Blinds Slats to Add Character to a Kitchen Island

Sometimes you want bigger, boxy trim and sometimes you want sleek and subtle highlights.

Used window blinds work perfect here. Being thin helps add interest without the bulk as shown in my desk to kitchen island.

As the tilt out trash can and storage were added, several gaps needed to be covered. The window blinds did a great job and added an element of elegance once complete.

To see the whole transformation and how-to click here.

Repurpose Faux Wood Blind Slats to Cover Up Outdated Designs

Old window blinds came in handy with this upcycle project. There was so little room to add trim. Faux wood slats would work best because they were so thin.

I attached the trim with an automatic air nailer. Then caulked over the holes.

So seamless, once painted, you will never know about the outdated scalloped edge.

I use recycled, upcycled, repurposed material in my designs because I love to bring value back to something that would just end up in a landfill. We consume so much as a society and so many materials are needlessly tossed.

It’s a good feeling to recycle and have your home even more beautiful.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this article. Please feel free to subscribe for more cost effective, environmentally friendly ways to update your home.

See you next time.

Natalie

The post 3 Cool Things to do with Extra Window Blinds appeared first on This Homemade Home.

Grilled cheese is an amazing food. Definitely in the top 10 of my favorite foods. The best part, they never have to get boring.

The classic combination of grilled cheese and tomatoe soup – is perfect, never gets old. Grilled cheese buzzfeed sites pump the internet full of ideas to make sure you have seen every single style known to man.

But the internet hasn’t seen anything like this… Yet! and it’s amazing. These grilled cheese sandwich recipes are to die for.

Double Grilled Cheese and Ranch

Sprinkle cheese and dry ranch mix (about a 1/4 tsp) on top.

Here is another shot with the same idea I just used regular bread and Greek Yogurt Dips Ranch Mix. The thick slices of cheese will give you more of a cheesy sandwich. The shredded cheese will melt up faster.

To get the double grilled cheese you can either put the cheese right on top while cooking, let it melt a bit then flip it.

Oorrr, put the cheese right on the grill and flip your sandwich onto the cheese immediately. Let it grill until the cheese inside is melted and the cheese outside is perfectly crisp.

Voila! You’ve got double grilled cheese and ranch perfection. The cheese outside hits your tongue immediately and adds an extra layer of crisp right before the soft cheesy center.

The dry ranch mix gives a subtle flavor upgrade that the 5 year old to 40 year old equally loved.

I’m counting this as a home run!

Gourmet Grilled Cheese Add-Ons

When it comes to comfort foods, grilled cheese is right up there. Here are a few more gourmet ideas to make your taste buds happy. If you are looking to change things up a bit, try this selection of creative grilled cheese recipes.

Grilled Cheese and Avocado

Avocados are an amazing super food. A great source of healthy fat and full of vitamins.

Avocados are packed with vitamins C, E, K, and B-6, as well as riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, and potassium. They also provide the fats you need such as lutein, beta-carotene, and omega-3 fatty acids. Not only that, avocados are full of healthy, beneficial fats that help keep you full and satiated.

That must be why I love avocados so much – it makes me feel satisfied after eating and stops craving. When you give your body what it needs the cravings subside.

Grilled Cheese with Bacon

Bacon is the ultimate food right? Is there anything bacon can’t do? There is bacon ice cream, bacon sprinkled on donuts, chocolate covered bacon – check out my easy recipe, trust me you’ll love it.

And while you’re at it, you might as well try grilled cheese with bacon and avocado together. These two were meant to be…in a sandwich together.

Grilled Cheese with Apricot Jam

I know what you are thinking, ‘she’s crazy!’ I thought it was too when I first heard about it. If you like to try new things, then you have to try this, it like nothing you’ve had before – unless you’ve had this exact sandwich before. Then I’ve got nothing new for ya.

Many years ago, my amazing big brother married into a family that all ate cheese sandwiches with apricot jam in the middle. I resisted for years, until one day I thought, “Here’s this whole group of people who think it taste good, there’s got to be something to it.”

…. It was good!

Apricot Jam cheese sandwiches taste nothing like grilled cheese, it’s a whole new experience. Go in with that mind set and you’ll like it.

Grill the sandwich first, then open it up and put some jam in the middle.

Which Cheeses are the Best for Grilled Cheese?

These were Google‘s top pick when asked, cheeses for the best grilled cheese sandwich. So if you’re wanting to up it a notch for a fancy grilled cheese sandwich style, you may want to try one of these. Feta, goat cheese, havarti, Swiss, Cheddar, Muenster, Provolone and American – all this according to Thrillest.com.

I was a bit surprised to find that my favorite cheese upgrade was not listed – Pepper Jack. If you like a bit of spice you will love this cheese grilled with a few slices of crispy bacon.

I usually just go with plain old Cheddar, because you can’t go wrong there. If I’m not cooking for kids and I have Pepper Jack, it’s the go to. Which isn’t often because my super power, among other things, is to raise little humans into adults and they always need to eat…and they like Cheddar.

I hope you enjoy these grilled cheese sandwich twists, especially grilled cheese and ranch – I think you’ll love it.

Let me know how it goes. Please comment and subscribe for more awesome how – to.

Later

Natalie

The post Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwichs appeared first on This Homemade Home.