Makely

Before the kids and I left for our crazy road trip, I tackled a few projects around my house. One project that I just can’t wait to share with y’all is how I decorated the weird ledge above my front door.

If you remember from the previous post, the space is about 5 feet wide x 5 feet deep x 7 j tall. I certainly could have put a large vase or fake tree up there, but you guys know that’s certainly not my style. Besides, if I was going to put a tree somewhere, it would be a very large, very dead one.

I woke up in the middle of the night one night with a brilliant idea. It would be using something that I already had and didn’t have a place to store. And, it would leave a lasting impression on my visitors.

Any guesses as to what it is?

It’s the Ikea Lillesand headboard and footboard, that used to be in my guest room, hung on its side. We screwed some hooks into the studs in the ceiling and simply hung the bed from black decorator chain that I picked up from Home Depot. On the rails, I hung Ikea Asker containers with spray painted Bygel S-hooks and stuffed the containers with divided Fejka plants. The hardest part was hauling the headboard and footboard up the ladder.

Here’s a closer shot of the installation taken from eye level.

I think this look is so fun! While my walls aren’t slated to be painted non-beige until next year, I can at least have something funky hanging in that space until then.

With 1100 miles under our belts, we are well into our secret journey. I honestly started having panic attacks the night before we left, but I have been pleasantly surprised with how easy it has been so far.

On Saturday morning, we left at 8 am for what should have been a 9 hour drive to our first destination. Instead of trying to push as hard and as fast as I could go, I made the decision that the entire trip would be about patience and doing what I needed to do to keep the kids happy. That meant that we would end up stopping every two hours for the first leg of our trip, and a 9 hour drive would turn into an 11 hour drive.

We had to stop for lunch just four hours into the trip, but we Skyped with Daddy as we enjoyed some Chicken McNuggets. Emma didn’t eat much since she was so busy talking.

One of my readers had suggested that we stop at each state Welcome Center and take a picture in front of the sign. I loved that idea, so we diligently stopped at the first state we entered. The state marker was around behind the Welcome Center, and when we went back there, there was a shady dude camped out next to it. So, I told the kids to hightail it out of there.

We still wanted to figure out something “fun” to do as we crossed into a new state, and Zack decided he’d like to collect state maps. So, that’s what we’ve been doing. I think it’s a pretty neat thing for him to do, and I’m proud of him for thinking of it.

After many stops, several movies in the DVD players and a few new maps, we finally arrived at our overnight location. One of my favorite cousins lives there, so we got to visit with him over a fun dinner on the water. We stayed at a hotel that night, and getting the kids to actually go to sleep was a challenge, but in the end we all got a good night’s sleep.

Here are a few hints about our first destination…

1. The restaurant logo on the kids’ menu from where we ate with my cousin. I removed a few letters so that it wouldn’t give it totally away. Google will probably help.

2. Scenes from a post card I picked up at a truck stop. I’m a sucker for truck stop tschotskes.

Anyone want to venture a guess?

DIY Hanging Bed Frame Faux Planter

Destination #1: Where in the World is Living With Lindsay?