Wedding decor-turned home-decor and a tent in a bright green and blue room in this week’s reader photos
Start your week with our collection of interesting articles on the web and photos from our readers. This week: a tent bed and a serendipitous score from a movie theater. In these Clicky Links you’ll find lots of sites to waste a little time on.
Click through, too, to find our links on submitting YOUR stuff to Offbeat Home!
A sod-covered found-wood playhouse in a woody British backyard
Come along with me and experience the tale of the time J0_M0 decided to build his kids a log playhouse in the English countryside, using only found wood and purchasing only a bag of nails.
Dottie’s cookie (and pizza) party
We believe strongly in letting our kids decide what parties they’re throwing (I mean, how else would we have ended up with Nora Lea’s last birthday theme?) Asking Dottie, “What kind of birthday party do you want to have?” returned the answer, “COOKIE PARTY!” so James and I shrugged and went to work and came up with an assemble-your-own-cookies-and-pizza party concept — which turned out pretty simple. Assembling your own food helps divert attention from food sensitivities and gives guests something to do when conversation slows.
What pretty candies can I give out for Halloween?
Gorgeous food is great porn: fun to look at, SO fun to imagine eating. I’ve been thinking about these glossy candied apples our copyeditor Caroline sent me for a WEEK. I would love to give out a pretty candy of my own this weekend, but A: no time and B: would kids even eat it? Aren’t parents training them to reject all things not packaged?
What’s a good, pretty, yummy, fun candy I can give out that won’t offend guardians and — even better — will be suitable for kids with nut allergies or gluten intolerances?
Make a new area rug with $10 and 10 minutes
We are apartment-dwellers, which means we have shitty carpet. Maybe some apartment managers put in nice, expensive flooring that looks awesome after ten years, but our landlords didn’t. After ten years of parties, dogs, and one wild child, the carpet in our place is spotty, threadbare, and wrinkled in places.
When we made over our eight year old’s room recently, one thing we really wanted was a big area rug. Unfortunately, rugs are expensive. Lucky for us (and you), making a rug is easy and cheap!
A camping-themed kids’ room adults can totally love, too
Offbeat Mama published a post today I couldn’t let just lay there. This is a super simply, floor-beddy, back-to-nature type room centered on camping. I can totally see doing this in my own home — or maybe in a temporary space, a short-term rental, a new apartment!
Why having our family living in 730 square feet is our ideal scenario
“Well you’ll have to move, of course” a close friend said to me the other day when I brought up our next adoption. She said it so confidently that I hated to disagree. This is easily the number one thing that people who know us bring up when the conversation turns to kids. I’m not surprised, because when we were in the middle of our first adoption process people said the same thing, or something similar.
My neighborhood kids love playing outside — but it’s disrupting my work. Help!
A gang of kids plays in my backyard all. day. So much screaming! It’s great that they’re rocking out, but I work from home and need a little quiet.