The Plan- Before you begin, have a plan

The bathroom when we purchased Redwoodshire

Our sole bathroom is next up on the larger project list.  The bathroom began with low ceilings & out dated wall paper.  To the left is a photo prior to purchasing Redwoodshire.  Immediately the contractors began their work to raise the ceilings of our hallway, master bedroom & bathroom.  The Laird could not stand how small the bathroom felt- but much to his surprise raising the ceilings changed the space dramatically.  In the midst of all of this, I had the lovely task of removing the wallpaper.  My first experience with removing old wallpaper was in the kitchen; and the process was easier than I anticipated.  

Then I started the bathroom wall paper, and it was the most tedious task ever!  I used a chemical wall paper remover that I found at our old house.  It worked quite well, but the job was still pretty tough.  It seems like whenever you remove old wallpaper, you discover something.  I discovered a reason 'why" the previous owners decided to hang wallpaper.  There were numerous large patched holes in the walls, especially along the floor.  Based on the pattern and length of the section of holes, I suspect that at one time, there was a baseboard electric heater in the bathroom.  They did their best to patch the holes, but it was quite an ugly site.  Now how does one resolve the issue of large patched holes, and have it look good in the end?

The "Chief wallpaper Remover-
In the midst of the ceiling
renovation & wallpaper removal

After everything was re-installed
& we had a functional bathroom again.
Minus the wallpaper, this is the state of
our bathroom over the past year.

The kitchen and bathroom are the places in the house that guests take notice.  Kitchen finished- check! Lots of other projects finished- check.  And then there was our bathroom- pretty low on the list of priorities.  Just over a year after moving in, we are beginning our bathroom upgrade.

THE PLAN:

- PVC bead board wainscot-  We are going to install the same PVC bead board wainscot along the walls of the bathroom that we used for the kitchen backsplash .  This will definitely conceal the many patched holes I discovered, and bring out the beauty in our tiny bathroom.  The more I think about logistics, the more the height of the wainscot changes.  We will figure that out when we get started.  I have decided to use a plain square stock board for the base and top trim, and hope to hang out towel hooks off the top.  The materials are purchased and ready to go forward on a new project.

- Wall color-  I have always loved painting walls.  And over time, I have tried out almost every color my heart has desired at the time.  In the past, I painted bold colors- a burnt orange in my living room; which eventually became a vibrant version of sage green.  I have used a marigold-yellow for my kitchens.  A plum-purple for a bathroom.  Lots of tans and creams.  I have toned down to a more neutral scheme here at Redwoodshire, and am sticking with a lot of cream, tan, taupe in this house. Though, we had some left over paint from one of our tenants, so I painted Lady genevieve's room that marigold yellow color, and the 3rd bedroom is a shade of teal- which are both colors I am drawn to (though not together).  I have no idea what color I will paint the bare walls above the bead board.  That's a finishing touch task, as I will have to see how everything looks to know what will look best.  

- Vanity-  The current vanity is 25"- which is quite small.  I had hoped to get a slightly larger vanity; standard sizes for our range were 25" and 30".  When I measured the space between the wall and the toilet, it came out to about 29 1/2"!  Seriously- getting jipped of extra counter space by 1/2"; meaning we would have to continue with a tiny 25" vanity; unless we wanted to shell out $800 for a custom 27" vanity.  Not quite what we had in mind to spend, for "a bathroom".  Somehow while on Pinterest, I discovered that many people convert old dressers into beautiful bathroom vanities.  I loved it at first sight and knew that is what I wanted to do.  But then size was again an issue, since we're looking for something 27" wide and counter height appropriate for a sink.  At this point I learned about the "dry sink", also referred to as a commode by some (maybe there is a difference).  So I started searching Craigslist for a dry sink that was less than 30".   After a few weeks, I realized that dry sinks are often wider 30" or wider.  But last week, I found a 27" dry sink for $75!  I scooped it up and am so thrilled.  Though not an actual antique, it has a primitive design- which will hopefully go well in our bathroom.  It has a matching mirror that I plan to use in place of our current medicine cabinet. 

-Sink-  Originally, I ordered this 15 inch, white ceramic vessel sink, pop up drain, & faucet from overstock.com.  It seemed a little too larger for our particular dry sink, so we found a 12 inch vessel sink on Etsy.com to use instead.  This one has arrived and it's too small, so we'll be using the original 15 inch sink from overstock and getting used to it.  Bigger is better when it comes to a sink & kid household.  If anyone is interested in a 12 in ceramic vessel sink, let me know- ours is currently listed on ebay but may not sell. 

- Storage-  Like the rest of the house, the bathroom is severely lacking in storage space.  There is currently a cabinet hanging above the toilet.  Since my plan is to replace the medicine cabinet with a wall hanging mirror, we will loose some necessary storage.  There is space within the dry sink, just like a normal vanity, but it isn't as functional for razors and medicine.  I would love to get rid of the current over-toilet cabinet (it won't match the new stuff)- but I have yet to come up with a storage solution.  It is possible an updated cabinet to match will do the trick.  Or maybe we just need to throw a coat of paint on the old one, and that will make a world of difference.  I have searched and found a few ideas on pinterest that I think I would like, but only time will tell- but I trust we will figure something out; we always do.  I want to wait until we get the cabinet in to decide what to will look and function best for extra storage.  

So that's the plan for the bathroom upgrade- we will see how the plan changes as we go.  The estimated cost for everything is about $500 (PVC wainscot $210; dry sink & mirror $75; sink & fixtures $216).  We still have to purchase trim.  And depending on what we do for the storage cabinet, that cost may or may not go up a little more.

Progress & final photos to come when the job is done!  

Another helpful tip from the Lady of Redwoodshire

Aren't we all trying to find different devices to make the details of our lives easier and more efficient?  Sometimes regular day to day tasks like chores are the hardest to keep up with.  I often find myself stopping into the grocery store multiple times a week to get a few ingredients for a meal.  It would be nice to go once, and get everything I may possibly need for the week in that single trip.  And even with multiple trips to the store, I sometimes find myself looking around not knowing what to make for dinner.  Can anyone relate?

I have tried a few things over time to help with the lack of ideas for meals.  I have a friend who made a list of tried & loved meals for her family hanging from her refrigerator.  I thought that was a wonderful idea.  When all your family favorite meals are listed in one place, you have a resource for meal ideas at hand.  My list lives in my inbox- and if I ever think of something new I just add to it.  This was a helpful step, but I took it a little further earlier this year.  At the beginning of the year I decided I was going to have a 5-week meal rotation.  I use google calendars for just about everything, and started picking out 3 meals for each week; which is enough for our family, as we often have left overs.  I picked a different meal for Monday, Wednesday & Friday and put it in my google calendar, with a repeat every 5 weeks.  Then the Laird made a wonderful suggestion:  to make a Shopping List for each week of meals!  It was such a great idea, I made my shopping lists right away.

Our Meal Rotation looks like this:
Week 1:
Meatloaf w/ corn muffins & frozen veggies or Spaghetti & meatballs w/ salad
Green salad w/ meat topping & potato side
Pizza or Soup

Week 2:
Sweet Vidalia Onion Chicken w/ rice & frozen veggies
Quesadillas w/ rice, beans & plantains
Soup or Pizza

Week 3:
Macaroni & Cheese or Lasagna (homemade) w/frozen veggies & salad
Eggplant Parmesan & spinach Sandwiches w/ potato side
Pizza or Soup

Week 4:
Tacos w/ rice & plantains
Tuna Melt w/ potato side & salad
Soup or Pizza

Week 5:
Whole Chicken Roaster w/ quinoa & frozen veggies
Chicken wraps w/ french fries
Pizza or Soup

Obviously there is room for changes, but this is the general menu.  And when we get tired of these staples we'll change it up.  And for the off nights that we don't have left overs for, we can make what comes easily- pasta & veggies or breakfast for dinner.  I created a Shopping list of ingredients for each week based on the particular meals we'll be having.  This whole meal plan takes the "thinking" out of meal planning for each week, which is such a blessing.  It's so nice to just know what I need to buy for the week, and make a single trip.  We're 3 weeks into our meal planning and it's going great.  It's been such a weight lifted, and allows me to joyfully put meals on the table rather than throw something together last minute or just end up scrounging a meal together (like breakfast for dinner).  If meals tend to weigh you down or stress you out, you should do a little prep work and make a meal plan for your family!

Building another Barn Door.. and another.. and another

I absolutely loved building my Double Dutch Barn Doors for the laundry closet.  And I am thrilled to finally have lady genevieve's sliding barn door hanging for her bedroom.  I purchased all the materials to build 2 more doors, identical to lady genevieve's door- and then I found a new design as I was looking into more Barn Door track options!  Oh boy- the inspiration of the internet!  This door will be very similar in style and construction to the double dutch doors, except it will be one solid door instead of a dutch door.  It will also be sliding rather than hinged.  It will hang outside of the bathroom, and be one of the first things you see at the top of the stairs.  This was the Door Inspiration I found on google that redirected my door-building plans.

Here's it is:

I measured the door width and height.  Used 1x4 pine boards for the main door body, and 1x6 pine boards for the front frame.  I measured and cut pretty much all of the boards, carved the edges of each board (for a weathered appearance) and screwed it all together in an afternoon.  The 2 diagonal boards were a challenge I saved for the next day- but I got it done and it looks great.  I would probably do it differently next time.  Rather than having 2 cuts, and lining the board up the middle of the corners, I would just line one edge up with the corner and make one cut.  That is somewhat challenging to describe.  Compare my double dutch diagonal boards to this door, and you may be able to see what I mean.

I used the natural method of weathering the wood by using oxidized vinegar and tea- check out the post to learn how.  This is the same staining method I used for lady genevieve's door.  So though the doors will have a different design, they will coordinate based upon the stain/ color.  I am waiting for the weather to get warmer to put a couple layers of Polyurethane on to finish the job.

I purchased all of my barn door hardware from amazon.com, and then spray painted them with Rustoleum Rubbed Oil Bronze.

Pack of 2 trolleys

1 steel box rail

2 box rail hangers

Possible master bedroom door design

I feel pretty fortunate to have the opportunity to build doors with character for our home.  Luckily all the upstairs doors were pretty dated and cheap, and mismatched- so I had a great reason to build doors that I love.  There are many different styles of plank doors.  The one above is a sliding door for the bathroom.  Lady genevieve's room has a "z" support.  I have hopes to make each room door slightly different and unique.

I think I have decided on this one for the master bedroom- a plank door with a 1x6 board at the head and foot of the door.  I am undecided about whether or not to do the "z" cross bar.

To the right and left are other possible designs.  I am undecided on the 3rd bedroom door, which is actually connected to the 2nd bedroom- you have to walk through 2nd to get to 3rd (goofy old farmhouse layout).  I like the idea of making all the doors slightly different and unique.  But I think that I may make the bedroom connecting door match lady genevieve's entry door.

Lady genevieve's entry door 

  I may build 2 closet doors too, but that is undecided at this point.  Maybe build the 2 cross bar for the interior of the 2 bedroom closet doors?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  Which doors do you like the best for the master bedroom & 3rd bedroom?

Who knew that I would love building doors as much as I do!  It has seriously become one of my favorite projects. The bathroom facelift is coming soon!  Once we finish up a few other projects, we may kick off the bathroom upgrade with hanging this sliding barn door. More photos to come upon completion.  It's truly very exciting to see a transformation happening to Redwoodshire.

Singing the praises of Craiglist!

KidKraft Vintage Kitchen ($30 w/ new door)

I am appreciating the benefits of Craigslist more and more these days.  Yesterday, I found & bought 2 things we'd been looking for: a play kitchen set for lady genevieve and a dry sink.  I paid a total of $105 for a cute retro wooden KidKraft Kitchen & an Ethan Allen dry sink & mirror!!!  The day was a little crazy as I had never bought more than one item off of craigslist in one day.  But between working in the morning, a doctor's appointment, the bank, and driving to 2 opposite ends of the city to pick up our kitchen and dry sink, I made it everywhere on-time and without getting lost.  And as I drove home after the last pick up, I was quite excited about the deals I had found.  If you have followed this blog for any time, you have often seen some of the many different things we're found on craigslist.  As I look back over the past 2 years, I am realizing I have made quite a few craigslist purchases- and I am quite pleased with this reality.

Pottery Barn storage bench & Ikea storage tower/ shelf

Dressers, chair, cabinet, cubby shelves, jogging stroller, little shelf, slide, kitchen, dry sink, baby swing, pack & play, stroller, cubby bench & tower....

Craigslist is a wonderful resource for finding some great deals, on things you may need or simply want.  I didn't start buying off of craigslist until about 2 years ago.  At that point I was in search of gently used baby gear.  Let's face it, if you're not going to use it forever you can settle for gently used items.  The sight of how much baby items cost turned me off in a huge way.  I couldn't stand the thought of people paying full price for brand new things to give as gifts, that I wasn't sure we would even use (ie... some babies don't like swings)- and that I could probably find on craigslist.  And that's what I did.  We found our B.O.B jogging stroller, pack & play, stroller with infant seat and swing on craigslist.  I was able to then register for the smaller items that I did prefer new, like our Bum Genius cloth diapers.  I loved the idea that we could get a majority of our diapers as gifts and decrease the regular expense of diapers once the baby arrived.

Craigslist might be for you!  If you enjoy garage sales, like saving money, and don't mind gently used items, then you should check it out.

1) KNOW WHAT YOU WANT-  Craigslist has many different categories.  If you don't have something specific in mind, you may end up wasting a lot of time "browsing" all the listings.  My most frequented visits are to Baby/Kids, Furniture, Antiques, and Materials.  I have ideas in mind of what I need and want.  For example: My current search list includes:  a Potbelly wood stove, kids play food & dishes, freestanding kitchen pantry, Bum Genius newborn cloth diapers, Pedestal dining table....  These are all things we plan to buy at some point in the near future, so I am scouting to see if we can find something suitable on craigslist first.

2)  BABY/KIDS-  If you're going to have a baby or already have one, you will find that baby gear, toys, items are helpful to your whole experience & transition as a parent.  You will also find that baby items are very short lived, as they grow out of everything so quickly.  You can find great barely/ gently used items for babys/ children on craigslist.  Before you go out and buy what you need/ or want, check craigslist first!  Another benefit is re-selling your gently used things back on craigslist when you are done.

Glider & Ottoman ($27)

Mini-chair ($20)

 

2 Cubby Shelves ($45)

Pottery Barn Glider & Ottoman ($75)

3)  FIRST APARTMENT OR HOME-  Moving out on your own?  Purchasing your first home?  You will find that you now need a bunch of things you always took for granted while growing up.  Furniture can be an investment, and unless you plant to live somewhere for many years, you may not want to spend the big bucks on "permanent furniture" just yet.  When the Laird & I got married, we knew that we weren't going to live in that current apartment forever, so we didn't want to invest money into furniture until we found our "future home".  That saved us the hassle of moving lots of heavy, nice furniture- and also saved nice furniture from getting damaged in the moving process.  Now that we've settled down at Redwoodshire, we are finding pieces of furniture that fit this house and that we want to have for many years.  Even so, I love craigslist so much and restoring old furniture, that we've yet to buy anything brand new.

Tall & long & large mirror ($150)

4)  PROJECTS & RESTORATIONS-  Craigslist is an awesome place to find old and unique pieces of furniture that can be restored and refurbished, and made into something new.  This is for the crafty people out there, who like projects as a hobby.  We are those people who like projects:  Check out our Current Projects.   If you have any renovations or upgrades you are making to your home, you can also find materials on Craigslist.  We will soon be giving our sole bathroom a face lift; a new vanity/sink, bead board wainscot on walls & a coat of paint.  Nothing major, however it will be much nicer in the end.  Our bathroom is tiny, and the vanity is currently a small 25" one.  There's a bit of space between the toilet and vanity, and I wanted to increase the size of our vanity and decreased the wasted space.  Standard small vanities are 25" or 30".  The space between our toilet & vanity measured exactly 29 3/4"! You can get a vanity custom made, however the one we liked cost $800!  That was a bit out of our imagined budget for the bathroom.  After some investigating I found a totally cool idea of converting a dry sink or dresser (depending on your space) into a bathroom vanity!  I loved it and knew that's what I wanted to do.  So I started searching for a dry sink/ commode on Craigslist.  After about a month of looking, and realizing <30" dry sink was as difficult to find as a modern vanity.  But since we aren't working on the bathroom yet, we had the time to continue looking (though once we find the vanity piece, we can start the bathroom upgrade).  And low and behold, I found our 27" dry sink on craigslist this week and it only cost me $75 and came with a mirror!  Now I want to find a "vessel sink" (one that sits on top of the counter).  Since we're doing lots of renovations and changes to our very old home, I always keep my eyes open in the Materials section of Craigslist.  We may just find exactly what we're looking for, for a fraction of the cost of something brand new, that has less character.

Toddler Bed & mattress ($40)

5)  CONDITION & PRICE- Decide on the condition you're looking for.  This will influence what price is acceptable to you to pay for what you find.  It's also good to price compare- check out what the item you find costs to buy brand new.  And if it's a common item on Craigslist, you should check to see what other sellers are listing their items for.

6)  CHECK OFTEN-  I check craigslist multiple times a week.  This may seem time consuming, but because I have my specific list of items I am looking for, I can search them quickly and be done in no time.  I don't generally "browse" craigslist for random things- I only look for what is on my list.

7) TAKES TIME-  Good deals come to those who wait.  The truth is: finding good deals on what you want/ need, does take time.  The deals I have found, did not happen over night.  I often look for things for a few months before I find them.  The key to this is patience.  There are very few things that we "need" right now; and if you need something immediately then craigslist may not be the avenue to take.  Immediate needs rarely come by good deals.  So when you come up with your "want" list, be sure to put things on it that you'd like to have eventually, but don't need them right now.  Finding a deal on craigslist is about waiting (as long as you can) to find what you're looking for.  And the truth is that we won't be able to find everything on craigslist.  But it's a great place to start with saving money on things we plan to eventually purchase.

Have fun!  Good luck as you find great deals on craigslist!  I am sure there will be many more deals making their debut on this blog.

We bought this beat up canoe, but I cannot remember how much we paid!

Finishing the entry to the "Hobbit Wing"

We finally hung the sliding barn door to the Hobbit Wing (a.k.a. lady genevieve's room)!  We've had all the hardware for sometime, it just took a little outside confidence from a friend and some time to get the job done.

Returning to the story of a door for lady genevieve's room...  I couldn't find a cool one to fit the very small doorway, but saw a cool barn door style and decided I could probably make one myself.  And so I did.  Check out the beginning of this story at Building an entrance to the Hobbit Wing.

Due to the very short ceilings in lady genevieve's room, we were not sure how we were going to accomplish the task.  Initially I had planned to make a normal swinging barn door.  But due to the very small size of the room, I realized that a sliding barn door was an amazing space saving solution to prevent having a door take up half the room when open.  A genius idea!  So I ordered the track and wheels, and waited for a good time to hang it.  We realized that the job may not work, since the rafters were parallel to where the track needed to hang.  Ideally we needed to hang the track perpendicular to the rafters to disperse the weight across them all, rather than stress one rafter with all the weight of the door.  The Laird was very uncertain we could proceed with our plan.  So we put that project on hold, and it wasn't until recently that we asked a friend's advice.  He was completely confident that it was possible, and boosted the Laird's encouragement to proceed with the plans.

This weekend we hung the track and door!  First he attached the wheels to the top of the door.  Then he measured where the track would hang and then drilled a large hole to see what was above the plaster ceiling.  He discovered super thick plaster and then some plywood just above that.  He then traced out the holes to be drilled.  Then he applied a layer of liquid nails for added strength and support.  Screwed the track into place, and allowed it to dry for about 24 hours.  Now the door is hanging and slides wonderfully.  We have yet to add the handles- we waited to attach the handles as we wanted to see how high they should be placed while the door was hanging.  A job for another day.  For now- we are quite pleased with the look and function of this new door.

lady genevieve's sliding barn door

The current bathroom & bedroom doors

Now that we've successfully hung one sliding barn door, I am eager to build 2 more to match- one for the bathroom (sliding) and one for our bedroom (hinged).  Then all 3 upstairs hall doors will all match and also add some character to the hallway.  The Laird says I need to wait until we've finished the Primitive Cabinet, before we start another project!  It is so satisfying to see a project come to completion- especially one that was begun 5 months ago.

There are 2 kinds of painters....

In our quest to restore our late 1800's Primitive Cabinet, we learned a cool new-to-us trick.  Thank you Internet for your wealth of information.  So far we've removed as much of the cracked paint as we could,  with a heat gun & scraper.  It was a long a tedious process, but very effective to get the majority of the paint off- without sending it the paint dust everywhere.  After that, we used 40 grit sandpaper to remove excess paint and sand down the finish below.  This part was also to rough up the areas where we did not remove the paint (interior), so that the new paint adheres better.  The laird is currently rebuilding the top of the cabinet, as it had been previously chopped on one end (no decorative trim), and had an un-level, unmatched piece right down the middle- that had been added as some later point in it's life.  Next step will be to build the interior shelf- as we plan to use it as extra storage in our kitchen.

Back to the title of the post.  I found this quote quite comical as I was searching the Internet for a paint removal trick.  "There are 2 kinds of painters, those who remove hardware from furniture, doors & cabinets prior to painting, and those who do not- an just paint right over the hardware."  I have come across this numerous times in my re-painting and stripping paint off doors- there's often paint caked on the hinges and door knobs.  And in that case, I simply follow suite and do the same, so at least the new paint matches.  Plus it's the quick way to re-paint.

The primitive cabinet has 2 hinges and a lock mechanism for each door (4 hinges & 2 locks total).  And like most old painted furniture with hardware, these hinges and locks indeed had a few coats of paint sloped on them (though not completely covered).  I tried to use the heat gun to remove the paint, but it was tedious and didn't quite work.

I figured I would be able to soak them in a chemical bath and the job would be a snap- or at least not too difficult.  So I came inside from the workshop (a.k.a. the garage) and searched: "How to remove paint from metal hinges".  And all the top search results produces the same, simple method.

Place paint covered metal hardware into a crock pot with water and liquid soap.  Turn on high setting and cook for a number of hours.  I then turned the hot water bath off and let the water cool until the pieces were cool enough to handle.  I used gloves and a scrub sponge, and scraped of as much of the paint as I could.  The results were good.  I didn't take as much time as I could to get the paint out of the small cracks and crevices, but they look so much better than they did.  I have read that polishing them with beeswax polish cleans them right up.  I may or may not try it, since we're still trying the keep the primitive look of the cabinet.

One thing I read is that if you do this, you may want to use an old crock pot.  Since some of the paint may contain lead, you would not want to contaminate your cookware.  My crock pot has 3 different size bowls, so I used the smallest that we've never used before (and likely won't ever use)- just in case there is risk of contamination.  We have a septic system, so we dumped the small amount of bath water outside, in order to prevent any issues with our septic water.  You may want to do some research before attempting this project, since you may be dealing with lead paint.  Cooking the paint off the hinges created some nasty fumes, so we were sure to dump the water outside before scraping the paint, in order to limit inhaling the fumes.


That was a simple and fun trick we learned this weekend!  Wanted to share the knowledge with all of you.

A testimony: From Scrapbooks to Photo Books

Years ago, when I was a freshman in high school my mom brought out her old scrapbook from her high school years.  It was a big 12 x 12 book, with off colored pages (due to age), filled with photos, newspaper clippings, cards, notes... It was so fun to look at.  I decided I wanted to make a scrapbook with my photos, report cards, awards... from my childhood.  My mom took me to the craft store, where I purchased the book with extra pages and self adhesive stickies.  This was a time before scrap booking was a popular craft.  There were not multiple aisles of card stock, paper and stickers to choose from.  But I didn't mind, because all I had plenty of photos/ clippings to fill up the pages of my scrapbook.  I made 2 in early high school.  One issue I ran into was that I tried to add so many pages to my book, that I didn't have enough extenders to reassemble the book.  I should have just made multiple books.

Fast forward to the early-mid 2000's, after I graduated from college.  My roommate at the time was making a scrapbook, and re-introduced me to all the cool products they had for scrap booking.  Since my first round of scrapbook making in the late 1990's, I had since finished high school and college.  I had always loved taking photos of my friends each year of school- so needless to say I had shoeboxes of photos.  Some I had put into photo albums, but when you take as many photos as I did (this was a time before digital cameras; when you had to use real film and get the whole role developed and printed), it did not take long to run out of albums.  Having paid for the pictures, it was hard to throw them away.

And a new hobby was born in my life.  During that first year after college, I managed to get completely caught up with scrap booking my photos from the past high school and college years.  In the end I had a bunch of 3 inch fat, 12 x 12in scrapbooks!  The first one, included my junior/ senior year of high school.  The next book, included all 4 years of college.  And I started one that would be the next 4 years out of college.  I had 3 big, fat, bulky- but cool scrapbooks!  I liked that each page was so big, and I could cut/ collage so many photos onto one page- that felt efficient (more than a photo album).  And so I continued this tradition of hand scrap booking... until I got married.  Then I switched over to Digital Photo book scrap booking!  I will never go back.

As efficient as scrapbooks are, there is no doubt that they are extremely bulky.  And if this is your main method of documenting life, then you may just find yourself drowning in scrapbooks.

lady genevieve's 1st year baby book

I just finished up a photo book for lady genevieve's first year and one documenting our recent family trip to Disney World.  They arrived in the mail today, and were wonderful to have in hand to look at.  Though they can be a little on the expensive side, they come out so professional.  One of my top reasons I now make digital photo books, is that they take up far less space than the traditional scrapbooks.  This is worth it to me- so I will continue to wait for sales and order up my photo books as they are completed.

Our Mixbook collection

My favorite photo book making site is called MIXBOOK.  I resisted changing over to digital scrapbook making until I discovered Mixbook.  Other sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly were nice, but at the time very limited in what you could personalize in your photo book.  They had set layouts and backgrounds, and I wasn't quite satisfied with the limitations.   I wanted to be able to change photo sizes and layouts.  Put text where I wanted to put it.  Change the text font.  And so forth.   Now a days, I think both Snapfish and Shutterfly are likely on par with Mixbook in terms of personalizing and what you can adjust with the photo books, but I haven't looked into it.

Trip to Peru

They make amazing gifts too- our Disney photo book is a holiday gift for the rest of our family who went on the same trip.  So if you haven't ever made a photo book, you may want to look into it!  Get all your favorite digital photos into one place, and have an album that you can hold while you remember good times from the past!

West Coast Road Trip- Yosemite National Park

You can make your photobook about anything- travel & vacations, family, baby, year at glance, school...  We tend to make them for our big adventures.  I currently have some in progress:  Florida Trip (Disney & Everglades National Park) & Redwoodshire Renovation.  Whenever we go on trips, we take tons of photos of small details, like signs or close up of flowers, and sometimes we do landscapes- these photos add interest to each page, rather than having a spread of photos with people in each one.

Costa Rica Babymoon

 Good luck capturing & preserving your memories! Though these books can take some time, and cost a bit more than a regular photo album.  You will not be disappointed!  We LOVE our photo books.