DIY Essential Oil Storage Cabinet

When I first got my Essential Oil Starter Kit, I stored my oils in their original packaging in a storage bucket in our hall linen closet. It was fine in the beginning but as I began to use the oils more, I wanted to be able to access them more easily. I was looking on Pinterest and found this idea from Barefoot in Bluejeans who adapted a project from Ana-white.com to work as a nail polish cabinet. I thought it would be PERFECT to adapt the measurements to work as a storage cabinet for my oils.

The Ana- White website gives the plans to make a jewelry cabinet. She provides a shopping list and all. We followed her technique with regard to the assembly, the only thing we changed were the measurements. I had a small bathroom wall that I wanted to use the cabinet on. I am always at a loss on what type of "decorations" to hang in a bathroom- so normally function wins out!

We purchased the wood, handle and hinges. I already has all the other materials at the house. Our local Lowes, only sold the type of hinges we needed in gold. So I simply sprayed everything with some Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray paint before assembling.

My overall measurements are 15.5w by 20 H. I added 4 small shelves inside to fit both my oil bottles and roller bottles. To get these measurements for the overall size we used the following dimensions for our cuts:

Door- 2- 18.25 inch and 2- 9 inch
Cabinet- 2- 20 inch and 2- 14 inch
Shelves- 1.5 inch deep by 13.75.

I sanded everything down. I recommend sanding and painting or staining the back BEFORE attaching it. Once everything was dry, we used a staple gun to attach the chicken wire to the front of the door. Then we attached the door with the hinges and added the handle.

PERFECT storage for my oils! 

Brayden: Month 11

+ He wasn't too happy about these pictures, hence the goldfish in his mouth! 

+ Still loves to eat.

+ Walks everywhere and has really picked up his pace.

+Has a temper when he doesn't get his way.

+Still only has 2 teeth. 

+ Is mesmerized by Baby Sign Time. 

+He is currently in a stage of fighting sleep which is just as fun as it sounds. 


Can't believe my little tater tot will be 1 next month!! 

Essential Oils

A little over a year ago now, I decided to take the plunge and try essential oils. It was something that I has been interested in but wasn't really sure where to start. It also can get expensive pretty quickly which was another hesitation. But I was pregnant with Brayden and really wanted to start eliminating some chemicals from our routine.

I had finally decided on the premium starter kit from Young Living. I felt like it was the best bang for my buck considering it came with the diffuser and a good amount of oils. I am going to be completely honest here and say that I scoured the Internet for a promo code or deal. Its something I do with pretty much every purchase I make so of course this was no exception. Needless to say, I came up empty handed. However, I did come across an eBay listing. It was a current Young Living member who was offering $20 back if you ordered a starter kit using her referral code. So that's exactly what I did. She also added me to a great group of ladies on facebook who have been able to offer suggestions and help with any oily questions I have had along the way.

When I first ordered the starter kit, the main use was to diffuse. We have gotten rid of ALL air fresheners in this house. They are essentially a mixture of chemicals that I was not comfortable having my children breathe in. That was a HUGE change from this former Bath and Body Works junkie! Now every night before bed, I diffuse lavender and the"peace and calming"blend for 20-30 minutes. It not only smells amazing but also helps the kids calm down for bed time.

I would say it wasn't really until the past 9 months or so that I really started branching out into other things. I am going to make an effort to share some of my favorite products that I make with the essential oils. They have helped my family so much and replaced many products around here: bubble bath, body lotions, cleaning products, cold and flu medicines.. just to name a few!

If you have been thinking about giving Essential Oils a try, I highly recommend the Premium Starter Kit!  You get all the oils pictured above along with the diffuser and a bunch of other goodies. While I am not "actively" selling the Young Living Products, if you want to give it go, you can sign up with my member number (2775648) and I can add you to our online community!

Patio Pavers

In my last post about our tile mishap, I mentioned the pavers would be installed the following week. Well, that week turned into 3+ weeks BUT I am happy to report they wrapped up the pavers last week and its LOVE!

All said and done, it only took them one full day of work even though they were here two days.  The first day they broke up and tore out the tile. For the most part it came out pretty easily. By the end of day one, things were looking this is.

Day two they laid almost all the pavers down.  When I got home from work, the workers were gone so we assumed they would be finishing up the next morning.

To our surprise, after we finished dinner that evening they re-appeared and said they would be finishing up that evening! It also happened to be my mom's birthday so when we got home from having cake, we came home to finished patio. It was a bit dark out so I wasn't able to snap some pictures until the next day... but here is the patio now!

We still need to seal all the pavers in. We purchased Seal and Lock Super Wet Look from a local paver supply store. We had fully intended to seal it before putting the furniture back out there. However, the installer suggested we wait 30-days for the pavers to cure before applying the sealer. I will try to write a follow up post on the sealing process as it makes the pavers look even better :)

Brayden: Month 10

+Walking all over the place


+Finally got some teeth (2 bottoms)


+ Loves banging on everything


+ Usually has at least one bruise somewhere( see above!)


+ Claps his hands


+ Is always smiling!

Crumbling Patio Tiles

It's hard to believe it has been three years since we had our front patio floors done. Way back here, I blogged about our front patio and our decision to lay tile out there. Well, in retrospect in was not the best decision for us. We have had some cracking which was pretty irritating. However, this past Saturday when Tim was out grilling, it literally started crumbling under his feet as he walked.

I don't want to deter anyone from using outdoor tile because I have many a friend who have had a lot of luck with it. For us, it was a waste of money. Our contractor charged us an additional $400 to level the front patio to prevent this very thing from happening. However, now that we can see under the tiles we realize he only leveled areas, not the whole patio. So once that first crack occurred, water was able to get under the tiles and run through the areas he didn't level. This has lead to tiles popping up and cracking all over the place.

While I knew it would probably be a case where we needed to rip everything out and start over, I decided to call the contractor first to have him come out and take a look and see what, if anything, could be done. Conveniently enough, his number is not in service! After trying for a few days to reach him, I decided to get a few estimates on pavers. Originally, we considered pavers out front but thought it would be too expensive. Now that we are paying to have the floors done a second time, we probably should have just went with that from the start.

I got two estimates. Originally we planned to tear out the tile and then just pay someone to install the pavers. However, the first guy who came out gave us a great price to tear out and haul away the existing tile in addition to doing the pavers. We have signed a contract with him and he hopes to get started next week. We have a few small obstacles to work around: we need to raise/trim both our storm door and our gate to get onto the patio. We plan on taking a look at both of those this weekend, with the help of my handy dad, to prepare for next week.

I am hesitant that the pavers may crack as well. I asked the intaller and he is using 1 inch pavers. He is also going to level the floor ( where the original installer missed) and does not think we will have any issues. So I am hopeful it will have a bit more staying power this time around. Fingers crossed for a completed "update" post next week! :)

Brayden: Month 9

+ Walks with a walker.

+ Started swim lessons and loves the pool.

+ Still toothless.

+ Wakes up smiling and happy.

+Waves and says "Hi".

+ Has tapered off in the weight department: 23lbs and the 75th percent!

+ And he has officially been out as long as he was in! Pregnant picture was the morning of my c-section- I was HUGE!