***Disclosure: As a Nature's Sleep Ambassador, I received complimentary samples to facilitate my post. No other compensation has been provided, and all opinions are 100% honest and have not been influenced in any way.*** Well, if you're finally enjoying nicer weather like we are here in NE Ohio, I'm sure you've got spring cleaning on the brain. I love being able to turn off the heat, open the windows, and let the fresh air circulate through the house. After all, it can become quite stuffy after an extra long, extra brutal winter. (And I do mean brutal...I think Mother Nature had a bone to pick. Here it reached temps of -50 with the wind chill at times. Yikes!) Of course spring cleaning can become pretty overwhelming. There are cobwebs to knock out of corners, baseboards to scrub, floors to polish and clean, and then of course, there's trying to organize everything and make room for warm weather clothing and gear. When you have 3 kids, that can be quite a challenge. Any parent will agree, having kids means having lots and lots of random stuff. More than they could possibly ever need at one time. (I'm seriously thinking about having a yard sale to thin out some of the clutter, but don't tell the kiddos!) Since you're already doing a top-to-bottom spring cleaning, why not take this time to also redecorate a bit? One of my biggest decorating challenges would have to be our kids' bedrooms. You see, we bought a wonderful Century home that was built in 1924. It's got tons of character and charm, but it also has 3 very tiny kids' bedrooms. And when I say tiny, I mean TINY. Which is probably why I have toys scattered throughout the whole darn house...Their rooms can't accommodate them all! But that's a whole different post entirely. Sophie and Xander are still preschool-aged, so they really don't request any change in room decor. (Sophie's room has a princess and fairy decor, and Xander's has a huge monkey mural. They're quite content with that, for now.) Kyle, my oldest son, is a different story. He is 14, and he likes nothing more than hiding in his room. I don't know if it's because hanging with the parents is lame, or if he's hiding from his baby brother and sister. Perhaps it's a teen thing. I know I did the same thing at his age. Once we got his room all spic n' span, I told him we were going to reorganize and even decorate his space to HIS tastes. The only thing off limits was using paint. There are some cracks that need filling, plus a teen's tastes change, so I wasn't going to allow a HUGE painted Lady Gaga mural when next week, he might be into something entirely different. I told him that if he did a good job organizing his things, I just *might* have a huge surprise for him. Since Kyle's room is on the super-small side, we had to get creative. There's not a whole lot of storage space, and he had his DVD's everywhere. Literally everywhere. There were DVD's on the floor, in his closet, and even in dresser drawers and under his bed. Not cool. Kyle, being the smart kid that he is, took a construction set he received for Christmas and made his very own DVD rack. This saves a TON of space, and keeps the clutter from taking over his entire room. Kids may also have fun re-purposing old decorations from Holidays or parties. Recently, we had a fun, Disney Side Celebration. We used colorful decorations and streamers. Little did I know, Kyle kept these. He wanted to make his room a "party room" and hung them from his ceiling. He also wanted different colored lightbulbs for his light fixture. Okay. Sure. I'm a cool mom. I will allow these changes if they make him happy. Check out that ancient light fixture, by the way. We need to rewire the electricity upstairs to allow for more attractive and modern options. Our house is definitely a work in progress! Since Kyle wanted a wall mural and painting was totally out of the question, we decided to use easily removable, stick-on wall decals. Kyle chose an Angry Birds theme, and he had a blast placing them around his room. I think these decals give a ton of personality to a very small space, perfect for a teen. I love the way they look, and I especially appreciate that this can be a temporary look and can be changed out painlessly as his tastes mature. So we were pretty happy with the fact that our teen cooperated and helped with all of the spring cleaning going on. We told him if he actually helped without rolling his eyes or having an attitude, we had a big surprise for him. One that was desperately needed. You see, Kyle had a memory foam mattress that was probably about 10 years old. Not only had it become uncomfortable, our Yorkie, Trouble, literally ate chunks out of it when she was a puppy and shredded the cover. (Yep. This little gal definitely lives up to her name!) Kyle never even complained about the state of his mattress, surprisingly enough. I'm pretty sure it bothered me more than it did him. So when I received a Queen sized Fiji Gel Mattress from Nature's Sleep, I played a little trick on him. I told him it was a new mattress for my husband and I. When it arrived packed in a relatively small box, I kept up the ruse and talked about how the gel would be great for my sweaty hubby. Little did Kyle know, the mattress would actually be a surprise for HIM! If you'd like to see how a Queen sized mattress could fit into a rather compact shipping box, check out our un-boxing video below. It's pretty cool to watch the mattress take shape right out of the box. And, if you're a big meanie, you can laugh at how dumb I sound. My allergies were killing me and I had just taken a double-dose of Benadryl. My voice was scratchy and my mental abilities weren't too sharp. Pretty nifty, right? Well once we removed all the packaging from our mattress, we told Kyle we were taking it up to our room, which happens to be the finished attic space. We told him to take the little ones into the back yard to play on the swing set. Of course he DID roll his eyes at us then, but he took them outside. Once we knew the coast was clear, we cut up his old, sad mattress and loaded the chunks into a few trash bags. We then tossed them out the window so they'd land in the front yard and Kyle wouldn't see. (Yep. We're sneaky and creative like that.) Then we set up the Nature's Sleep Fiji Gel Mattress in its place. I had to lay down on it for a few minutes, too. After all, I had just lugged this mattress up a narrow flight of stairs and down an equally narrow hallway, and then hacked another mattress to bits with a butcher knife. Mama needed a break! The mattress was instantly comfortable, even though it hadn't had a full 24 hours to expand. The Fiji is a medium-plush mattress, so it offers plenty of support while giving you that weightless feeling memory foam mattresses are known for. After we had cleaned up our mess and tidied up his room a bit, I texted him and told him to come inside. He was thrilled to be rid of babysitting duties, and rushed the kids inside. We pretended to be mad and told him he needed to go clean his room RIGHT NOW He had left his bed unmade and he had his papers scattered around the floor. (It was so hard not to giggle! I don't really get mad very often at all, so it was hard to fake it!) We heard a shriek when he walked in and saw this..... Kyle was absolutely shocked to see his beautiful new mattress awaiting him. He came downstairs and had the biggest smile. He really thought we were going to keep it for ourselves! Kyle has been sleeping on his new mattress for a couple of weeks now, and he really loves it. He falls asleep more quickly and stays asleep longer. He no longer tosses and turns all night, and he wakes up well-rested and ready to face a long day at school. He said he was really surprised to see how much difference finding the right mattress could make. Speaking of selecting the right mattress for your needs, check out this great infographic from Nature's Sleep: Attend Nature's Sleep Twitter Chats : If you'd like to learn more about memory foam or gel mattresses and how they're not all created equal, there are some great Nature's Sleep twitter chats you can attend. Oh, I should also mention that there are some amazing prizes awarded, too! These twitter chats happen the FIRST and THIRD Tuesday of every month at 1:00PM EST. The next chats are on the following dates: May 6, 2014 1:00PM EST May 20, 2014 1:00PM EST To participate, be sure to follow the following twitter accounts: @makobimedia @naturessleep and @makobiscribe Then follow along using the #NaturesSleep hashtag. ***Twitter Chat Tip*** If you find it difficult to keep up with the action, try using a service like Twubs that will make tracking the hashtag easier. You can even slow the conversation and follow at a more human pace. Save 40% Off Memory Foam Toppers : Are you looking for a better night's sleep but don't want to commit to buying a brand new mattress? Nature's Sleep has some awesome memory foam toppers, and they're on sale right now. You can enjoy a whopping 40% off AND receive free shipping, too! Just use the following coupon code at checkout: TOP40 Valid April 15-28, 2014 for 40% off all toppers with free shipping to the Continental US only. If you'd like to take advantage of these awesome savings, click the image below to be taken to the Nature's Sleep website. You can learn more about the awesomeness that is Nature's Sleep on their website. You can also connect with them on Facebook, on twitter and on Pinterest to stay on top of their latest products and promotions.
1 Comment
8/20/2014 10:39:29 am
These are great tips for decorating a small bedroom! Happy to see that Nature's Sleep fits in all types of rooms!
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PR Friendly Mama!
I'm Brandy, a happily married, proud Mom of 3 amazing kids. If you're interested in building a working relationship, please feel free to e-mail me at: NewlyCrunchyMamaOf3@gmail.com Links We Love :Archives
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