I’ve decided to actually put some real thought and effort in to decorating this holiday.
This year’s theme at my house is “It’s a white Christmas” (would you expect any other color from me?).
One of the questions I ALWAYS get is, “How can you have so much white in your house with kids?”
My reply is always, “White keeps you honest”.
When there’s dirt somewhere, I see it and I clean it up (or just leave it). I don’t like dirt to be camouflaged so I never know it’s there.
On the flip side, did you know that really dark colors keep you honest as well?

A while back I painted this wall black.  While I love the deep, bold drama it adds to the room it shows EVERY SINGLE SPECK of dust.
You can’t tell in this picture because of bad lighting but if you got up close you’d see it’s covered with a layer of dust and kids hand prints.
Since this was going to be my holiday focus wall I needed to clean it up.
This year I got a little help from P&G products: Bounty Paper Towels, Dawn soap, Swiffer Duster, Febreze and the Home Depot.

First things first…clean this wall.  I first started off by dusting the wall with a Swiffer Duster.
I’ve never been pleased with the results of dusters but I was surprised how well the Swiffer actually trapped and removed dust.
Next I used a few drops of Dawn soap and water and wiped the wall down with some Bounty paper towels.
To freshen up the heavy smell of boys I used Febreze…ah!
Amazing how just cleaning up can make a huge difference.

Next, I measured my wall and went back to Home Depot to collect my supplies.
Any guesses yet as to what I’m constructing?

I banged the shizzle out of my shin on my pile of boards sticking out the bottom of my cart.  I tried to act all tough in  front of Mr. Home Depot guy but dang did it sting somethin’ fierce!  He furrowed his brow at me when I squatted down and took a picture of my boo-boo.  I’m sure he thought I was collecting evidence to sue or something.

(Yes, I airbrushed the heck out of my leg. It’s winter…give a girl a break).

Drum roll…WALL SHELVES!
Ikea actually sells the Ribba Wall Shelf which is what I wanted but it was only half the size I needed.

When you can’t find what you’re looking for…make it yourself!
I bought 2, 1x4x6 white primed boards for $6.34 each.
I then bought 1, 1x2x8 board for $3.07 for a grand total of $15.75 per shelf!
After they were constructed I filled the wholes with a little putty, sanded them down and gave them a once-over with spray paint.

Next…filling up the shelves with holiday hoopla.

I LOVE the cull pile at Home Depot.  If you ever need any sort of lumber, check there first because you’ll never pay full price.

When people need a piece of lumber cut down the part they didn’t need will go on to this cart and sold for a fraction.  I found all the lumber for this next project here for under $3.00.

I knew I wanted something big, bold and graphic on the top shelf so I decided to spell out “JOY” using nails and twine.
I first traced out my letter on the board, then hammered nails in to each curve or angle.
The neighborhood stray cat came by to inspect my work.

For the “O” I simply hot glued my fingers together as well as jingle bells on the a piece of foam.

Christmas has come to our house a little early!

Myself, P&G and the Home Depot want to help you get your house holiday ready as well.

We’re giving away all the products I used which include a Swiffer 360 Duster Kit, a can of Febreze, Bounty Paper Towels, Dawn Soap and a $200. gift card to the Home Depot!

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