My sweet seester Darrla has been talking about giving her laundry room a facelift for awhile now. One problem. She hates to paint. Say whaaaaatttt???? I KNOW, I have been telling her she is adopted for years! Just kidding.. Since I love to paint, I told her that when she was ready I would be there with paint brush in hand. Cuz we all know I lurve to paint.

I should tell you that she rents her home so she is limited to what kind of laundry room facelift she can make. Her walls? Yup, she can paint. Her cabinets and woodwork? Nope.  We so wanted to paint it all a bright white.  So… here is what we started with – a lot of brown. A room with four, count them FOUR doors in it. Decorating and painting nightmare.

I can not say it enough … paint can rock your world! We painted this room a soothing light turquoise with a hint of green. Here it looks very light blue… hard to get great pics with not much light.

My sister Darrla had already added the baskets and her awesome dog.  Last time we were at her house the hubs hung this stellar chandy for her… love it! Get this – the girl can find a deal – she found this chandy for $4.00! Guess she really is my sister after all. She also added new glass handles to the doors above the washer and dryer.. she is still on the fence whether they work for her or not.

I think her little dog is the star of the room… we even added a little bling for some fun!

This sweet little mirror is perfect for checking makeup and hair before grabbing your keys and heading out.

This laundry room is small and doubles as her mudroom, so having this long rack is a must for jackets, purses and all the nick, nack, paddy-crap we all need to keep up with in everyday life.

She found this really cool rug and it was what we took our cue from. You can’t really see it but it has black, navy, turquoise, white, gray and a tiny bit of lime green. We hung new blinds and added cafe curtains in two coordinating patterns to the long window on the door.

So just a recap… from this… boring beige and brown.

to this… a light, bright , soothing blue laundry room facelift.

It really is true. Paint makes all the difference! I think my seester is very happy with her laundry room facelift.  On my next visit we are going to tackle her “sunshine” ceiling in her kitchen…shhhh, don’t tell!

Until next time…

              Tammy

We share in our family. Pass things down. Recently, my seester-in-law Judy gave my seester-in-law Stephanie her daughter’s old dresser and desk for her girls bedroom. Have I lost you yet? Of course, I couldn’t be left out and volunteered to paint them to match my niece’s room. I have to say that this was one of my very favorite desk and dresser makeovers.

This is what we started with – the dresser…

and the desk. Both had great bones and were in good shape, but my nieces,the cute Miss C and the marvelous Miss M had visions of something different.

First thing first… a good cleaning to prep for the paint and the removal of  billion drawer pulls! Seriously, not a billion, but DANG, there were a lot! The top of the pieces were very “slick” so I gave them a coat of Kilz to help the paint adhere.

And remember all of those drawer pulls? Well, I am not totally positive, but I think Miss C  gave a great big wrinkled nose, eye roll  to them ( I know I would have!) and decided they wanted something a little more “her”.   So we patched all of the holes with wood putty and once they dried gave them all a good sanding.

Then I gave them three coats of white paint.  As you can see , you can’t even tell where the original holes for the drawer pulls were. Yep, working in my dining room as we are still having torrential rain here!
Now we could have added some drawer pulls and it would all have been good, but we wanted to add a bit of fun!

This is the girl’s bedding… muy bueno! Love those colors.

So after texting a lot talking to the girls and their mother we came up with a plan. I painted the sides of the drawers. ( remember I told you I am so lovin’ painting the sides of drawers lately) Each a different from it’s neighbor, orange – Go OSU!, deep turquoise, hot pink, and sagey, olive green.

Then I painted, stenciled and stamped the drawer sides with different patterns to mimic the elements in the girl’s room. These are the dresser drawers…

And these are the desk drawers…

Here you can see them put together. So. Darn. Fun! My part was done and it was time to deliver and load in the room.

The girls chose their own pulls and knobs, bringing this dresser and desk makeover to a close. I love how they chose different ones – in different colors – giving it a cool, young, eclectic vibe.

I am sure if you asked Seester-in-law Stephanie what her favorite part of the dresser and desk makeover was, it would be that the girls have lots of new storage, but for me the best part was when Miss C saw the dresser and desk makeover and she said “Aunt Tammy did not disappoint!” Awwww…. it just doesn’t get better than making those sweet thangs happy!

Until next time….

                  Tammy

OK… we finally have had a few days to work in the yard. It is so rewarding getting the backyard summer ready.. you have no idea!  With all of the rain, I was beginning to have my doubts.

The first thing I like to clean up – other than the flower beds – is one of my favorite places on earth – the patio. Or as my BFF Rox says ” the party-o”.  I made out great this year, usually I am buying new pillows, replanting all of the pots, and replacing anything that is totally worn out. Due to our unusually mild winter everything was in pretty good shape. Even some of the plants survived. So I am just filing in where needed, scrubbing the furniture and giving everything a tiny facelift. Woo Hoo!

We have always had a metal and cloth gazebo over this area. We have had the same one for the last three years, but lost it to a severe wind/thunderstorm this past fall. In the ten years we have been in this house, this was our third one. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to do another. However, our backyard is on the west side of the house with very little shade so we need to have something that will provide a large amount of shade.

The hubs decided that maybe a shade sail system ( say that fast three times in a row! I dare ya!) might be the answer. I was reluctant at first because I wasn’t sure how it would look… ya know? I have to say that the hubs did a great job and I really do love it.

While the hubs was busy hanging the shade sails, I was working on painting my old plastic chairs.

I have four of these chairs that used to be white – then I painted them black. This is what they looked like before I started painting. Not too pretty!

I decided instead of painting them black again, that  I would use the four main colors in my back yard furniture. Lime green, bright blue, red and black. I read somewhere on-line that it would take one can of spray paint per chair. Ha! It took two full cans and on a couple I could have used part of a third can. Just so ya know! Love how the bright colors pop in the yard!

I’ve already shared with you a few of my other recent back yard improvements…  unfortunately, I still have a ton more to go. If the weather will co-operate I’ll be getting my backyard summer ready before you know it!

Until next time….

                 Tammy

Yay! It finally stopped raining so I can get out into my yard and start planting, pruning, rearranging and enjoying the sunshine.  This is my favorite time of year. Today I gave my garden chair a makeover – again!

It’s not the first time this garden chair has had a makeover, and it probably won’t be the last either. This is what my chair looked like last year… well, at least it did when I decorated for fall. For the life of me I can’t find the original pic of when I first painted this chair. Mental note: photo re-organization in my future!

As you can see Mother Nature took a big toll on this sweet chair in the last year. Time for a little TLC!

My plan was to do a little light sanding to chip away any peeling paint and spray paint a solid  bright, happy blue color onto the chair. However, as I was spray painting the happy blue color I could still see some of the turquoise color from last year peeking through.  If you look at the front seat area of the chair you can just see what I mean in the pic above. I gotta tell ya, I LURVED it.

So… plan B. I embraced the two tone colors, sanded it down a bit in places to enhance the turquoise  to let it shine through a little bit more. I gave it a polyacrylic top coat and TA DA!!!! My garden chair makeover was done. I love a happy accident, don’t you?

One other tiny adjustment that I made was the depth of the chicken wire bowl that holds the soil and the plants. Last year it was way too deep. So deep that when it was filled with dirt and flowers it hung down and rested on the wooden cross piece.  Way too heavy. So I made it smaller and so far it is functioning much better.

I can’t wait for the plants to grow and fill in, it’s going to be so pretty….Now all that is left is finding the perfect spot for it. Did I mention that I love this time of year?

Until next time….

                  Tammy

If you have been following along you know that I have been slowly giving my office a tiny makeover. It is in no way done, but I thought that I would go ahead and share what I’ve done so far, as the list of what I want to get done is getting larger. For years the office was a beautiful, soothing grey- blue, black and white.  I still love those colors but thought it was time for another color to come into the design to give it a little pop! I decided that adding gold to the office was the perfect solution!

I already shared with you how I gave my office stool and upgrade here. After I added the gold to the chair it was like I was a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew! I couldn’t stop myself..in fact, if I hadn’t run out of spray paint I might still be going.

This is one of the sconces that are on either side of my bulletin/chalkboard. I still like the scones – yes, they are a bit girly, but it’s one of the few rooms here at the castle that isn’t primarily part of man land! Not sure what I was thinking with the zebra paper….definitely time for it to go.

I just added some gold glitter to the candles and some rub and buff to the sconce. Girly much? Oh, yeah!

Next came my shelving. These shelves are primarily for all of my Queenly photos. I keep thinking that I am going to pare it down a bit but I love looking at my family and the Queens, so for now it is organized chaos! There are three shelves. I added gold to each in a different pattern.

I love organization… not saying  everything gets organized like I Martha, but a girl can dream! These plastic bins are under my worktable. Even though they are hidden behind curtains, I still like the idea of opening that curtain and finding a pretty surprise.  I also am a closet label freak.  Hey, don’t judge! Ya gotta know where everything lives.

This was so darn easy it is almost embarrassing to even post about it. I took out the clear drawers and grabbed a can of Rustoleum Gold Metallic and went to town. Great thing was, it dried almost instantly and I did it on a high humidity day. I think all three took maybe thirty minutes start to finish.

This buffet/storage was already black, but it had bits of paint from who knows where all over it. Apparently I am a messy painter and this was definitely proof! It has had many lives and been many colors in the years that I have had it, and it definitely had been painted a few times before I got it, so I didn’t want to add more paint to it. Instead, I gave it a light distressing and spay painted the drawer pulls metallic gold. So little effort for such a big difference in the room.

As you can see I didn’t add any one large thing in the gold, but chose to add little bits of gold through out the room. Subtle little pieces that as a whole pack a lot of punch. Plus, none of these projects actually took a lot of time or skill, so anyone can do it. Trust me.

I still have a few more projects to finish before I share the entire room with you. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have it done. Fingers crossed!

Until next time…

         Tammy

I have a secret. I can’t help myself! I  buy furniture – a lot of furniture- with the intent to paint, recycle, up-cycle, or reupholster it . I intend to do it right away when I buy it, but let’s face it that almost never happens! So it gets stacked in the garage, game room, exercise room, any room that it will fit in….  I am on a mission to get all of my stash done before I buy anymore.

Sorry about these photos… It is forever raining here!!!! I know we need the rain but Puhleezzze! Anyway, I have had these sweet little chairs for awhile. They are smaller in scale and they had a ton of white paint on them, and not in a good way either. So after a lot of sanding… I gave them a couple of light coats of white spray paint.

The Hubs cut out a board that we added foam, batting and a really cool patterned material to.  Once the seat was ready we just screwed it onto the chairs.  I love the box pleat skirt… gives it a really fun personality. The result is a really sweet little white bench makeover!

One project down and a ton more to go! Y’all know I will be sharing them with you as soon as I get them all done.

Until next time…..

           Tammy

I have shared my never ending  master bedroom redo several times now.  I have had no real plan, which is kinda strange for me, the room has just kinda evolved. We have had our cherrywood bedroom set for years. It is kinda tired, but still in great shape and well made. I wanted to paint it, and I didn’t.  I make myself crazy with these kinds of decisions! Argh!

I was on a Buy, Sell, or Trade site on Facebook when I found an armoire that I loved the lines of. I snapped that baby up! This piece is a beast. It is solid and HEAVY! This is the top piece…

And this is the bottom.  Like my bedroom furniture it was a little tired. Nicks, scratches, and a ton of wear and tear. It just screamed to be painted a beautiful Paris Grey Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan.

The finished piece turned out way better than even I expected. I love it! At first I was worried that the piece would get lost in the gray walls. Or that the gray of the armoire would make the gray on the walls look blue. But no worries, it just seems to fit perfectly.

I love it so much that I am thinking of painting all of my furniture in my bedroom. Even the Hubs thought it would be a good idea. Woo Hoo!

Here is a close up of the details. Love the distressing with a tiny bit of gold on it.

I kept the hardware that came with it. Just added a bit of gold dry brushed on.

I am so happy with how this turned out.  After looking at the pics of the before and after armoire I am calling this makeover a success!

Come to think of it, now that I am going to paint the rest of the furniture I guess I really do have a plan for my master bedroom!

Until next time…..

                    Tammy

I’ve been featured! For Reals. Me!

HnGideas, Home and Garden Ideas, is an on-line source about home and gardening that helps you get your creativity and inspiration on. You can imagine my surprise when I was notified that one of my posts was featured in their April 6, 2015 article 25 DIY Projects to Update Your Home. Woo Hoo! Go check it out…I’m number ten!

I gotta tell you of all of the projects I’ve done,I was surprised that this was the one picked up. Maybe it was because it was so easy that anyone can do it AND this project proves that making a room look great is all in the details! Truth.

Here is a pic of the before…. yikes ! I am messy when I paint. This stool has seen better days for sure!

Gotta say that when I read the notification it made my day. I love knowing that maybe I can help someone find inspiration to make their home better.

Until next time…

                          Tammy

Ever go into someone else’s house and see something that just doesn’t match and you think “what are they thinking?”  Here’s the thing. As much as I try to be the decorating diva that I wish I was, I still have lightbulb moments about my own decor. Still have that “what was I thinking?” moment.

I was eating dinner the other night and looked over at the canisters that I keep the royal pet treats in and thought “What the???” Did I really not realize that they no longer matched? I distinctly remember redoing the kitchen dining area!  Definitely time for a pet canister makeover!

This is what they looked like. Not bad at all. They just didn’t match anything in the kitchen area anymore! Since they sat on a rustic hutch painted in Duck Egg Blue, I gave them a couple of coats of the same paint, distressed them and gave them a protective coat of spray poly.

Then it was time for a little joo-ry! You didn’t really think that I was done?

I found these cute frames awhile back at Michaels in the $1.50 bin. ( which used to be the $1.00 bin. I miss the $1.00 bin!!)

I pried off the backs.( Don’t you love my technical tool?  I’m lazy. I didn’t want to walk all the way upstairs to my office to grab a screwdriver. No judging! it works.)

After removing the back  stand, I gave it a quick coat of my favorite Rustoleum gold spray paint. Once  it dried it looked too gold, so I added  silver paint accents for a two tone metal look. I wanted to tie in the silver lid with the gold chalkboard frame that hangs above the canisters.

I love Magnets. I have used these industrial magnets on a lot of things here at the castle. I used to buy them at Hob Lob but recently discovered them at Harbor Freight at a MUCH cheaper price. They come in various sizes, thickness, and strengths.

I have used them to hang drapery on the back door, made wine glass markers, fridge magnets, hung crystals from chandeliers, made embellishments for lamp shades – the list goes on and on…

I glued one of these super strength magnets onto the back of the frames.

Just place the frame against the canister, then put another magnet on the inside. Easy to take off and put on. Here they both are – one for the royal dog and one for the psycho royal cat!  I love the look and the “joo-ry”.  I love even more that it took very little time and cost me nothing. I just used what I had.

Best of all, the canisters now match the rest of the kitchen… it is a good thing!( I say in my best Martha Stewart voice…)

Oh, one other thing I changed – the ribbon in the crown. I had put a pretty yellow trellis patterned ribbon here when I had a plant inside. Well, being the expert plant killer that I am, that plant has come and gone!

With spring and Easter approaching, I found this cute little bunny at Walmart ( under $6.00! Woo Hoo!) and needed to add a matching ribbon. The harlequin ribbon reflects the rest of the black and white in the room. Lurve it!

The Queen is happy! Sometimes it really is the little things that make such a difference!

Until next time…..

                      Tammy

Nothing like being iced in for days to get it in gear and finish up projects that you have had forever. I decided instead of light therapy I needed to let out my creative side and “let it go, let it go…” Yeah, I went there!

I have had this table awhile… a friend gave it to me many years ago so that when my now 13 year old nieces came over they would have something to play with. Well, the castle is getting full and the nieces have grown up so this little table needed a new identity and a new home.

This is the BEFORE… SO in need of a facelift!

Here is the after…. black and gold with white and a little pink…

Table top..

The apron is a black and white stripe with a little gold pin stripe…

Gold feet…

I love how this black and gold kids table turned out! Y’all know that I live in manland. This table made me want to run out and purchase a girly tea set, put my tiara and hot pink boa on and have me a tea party!

Unfortunately, I have to part with all this sweetness. If you have a Princess that would love this table, check out my SHOP  page for more info.

Until next time…

                Tammy

Good thing about being “iced” in with bad weather? I get some painting done!

One of my very most favoritest ( yeah, I know it isn’t a real word!) things to do is to paint children’s furniture – right behind designing and mural painting in children’s rooms. So when my sweet friend Laura brought me an old kids chair& step stool I was a little surprised that I  wasn’t sure what to do with it…

This is what it looked like AFTER I sanded. A lot. It had a lot of paint splatters and the back had a hand painted country design that had to go. A little spray paint in a light turquoise, a little distressing on the edges and it was ready for me to hand paint a design. Woo Hoo!

Not a bad After! This is a neat little piece. Not only is it a sweet chair….

but the back folds down and becomes a stepping stool! So sweet!

A picture of the side…. love little bugs.

Another view with the back in the down position.

I think it would be great with an initial painted on the back inside of the heart. Or even a vinyl initial…

I really do love painting children’s furniture. It is always so happy!

This chair/stepping stool is for sale in the shop on the blog. If you are interested… take a look!

Until next time…

           Tammy

A few years ago I found this really cute round table at a garage sale. I even knew how I wanted to paint it before I got it home. Score!

And then I brought it home, put it in my living room and quickly forgot all about painting it!

It has been so darn cold and wet and dark here that I haven’t been painting a whole lot.  Too cold in the garage. So I decided to move my painting inside and paint some smaller pieces.  My new/old table was the first to get painted.

It was in okay shape. It had some dings and dents with a medium walnut stain.  The top of the table has a leather insert in the center with gold trim on the edge that is in pretty good shape also. I was pretty certain that I wanted to leave the leather unpainted.

Since it was going back into my living room, which is off-white and black with pops of turquoise, reds and golds.  I decided to use Annie Sloans Graphite with a dark stain.

I applied two coats of graphite, lightly distressed the table and once dry I gave it  a coat of dark wax.

Once it was dry, I put gold painted highlights here and there on the edges of the piece. Just a tiny bit to give it a little shimmer. I was going to change the hardware but that has proven to be a challenge. It is a weird size. And curved. I don’t hate this one, I just wanted something with a little more weight. More chunky.  For now – I love this one!

Now on to the top. There were a few faint water marks on the leather that no matter how much I conditioned they weren’t going anywhere! I couldn’t hide it so I decided to personalize it! With a little stenciling.

A little more of the gold metallic paint and this is finished piece.

My old/new table back in the living room.  I love it. Really, really love it. I could kick myself for not doing it sooner!

Here is a little closer look.  I love the finished product. So much so that I am planning on painting the table at the other end of the sofa to match! Oh, and I must hide that cord! Pet Peeve #4400! We can put a man on the moon but we can’t hide cords?

Until next time….

A few months ago I gave my laundry room a mini face lift.  Added some paper to the back of the shelving, new baskets, new rug etc. At the time I was looking for a chandelier for the room but had’t found one that was the right size or the right price.  Today I am so happy to say that I finally found the laundry room light that I love!

The hubs and I were in Lowe’s on a Friday evening – yep we are the exciting couple! Of course I check out the main cross isles because that’s where they put all of their sale items – especially late Friday before the weekend. You just never know what you are going to find.

This time I found my laundry room light!  I was looking for a chandelier. But the ceiling height is 8 ft. and the room is narrow and small. With two doors that swing into the room. So it had to be just the right scale. If I found the right size, it didn’t put out enough light. Or if  I found one I loved it was like $500.00! Ouch! Not in my budget.

When I saw this light I knew it was perfect even if it wasn’t a chandelier!  It had tons of real crystals and it was only $25.03!!!! Woo Hoo! It had been $159.00 – a special order someone had returned.

I started by putting on all of the crystals…. which wasn’t too bad about a half an hour. Sorry about all the clutter in the background… I couldn’t wait to put this baby together!

And then the hubs hung it for me! YES! Sorry about the picture quality… It is so hard to get a good photo of lighting! But I think you can see most of the detail here… Pretty! yes?

My beauty all lit up….

One last quick look at the completed laundry room….Girl Squeal! So darn excited to have one room done. Well… for now.

Until next time…

The Christmas decor was put away and it was cold and rainy for days. I honestly thought I needed some serious light therapy! Since I had to be indoors I figured it was time to do something I have been putting off for a long time.  I would be painting the game room!

When we moved in the walls were all white.  I quickly painted the game room red and antiqued it with black to give it that cave like warm, manly feel. I even painted a butler – Montgomery – just for grins.

Over time it had dings and nicks in the finish, not to mention all of the dart holes around the dart board. When I painted it the first time I used up all of the paint and forgot to write down what paint I had used. Ralph Lauren…no.  Sherwin Williams… ummm no.  I am pretty good at mixing paint to match, but for the life of me I couldn’t get this right! Which is why I needed to repaint.

Now if I could just decided on a color.  My  house is a pretty open floor plan.  So the paint had to go with the Sherwin Williams Knubby Wool that was in the adjacent rooms- which have 20 ft. ceilings. Not painting those again!  Well, not today anyway. I finally decided on SW Web Gray.

I would love to put a really narrow table below the artwork, but haven’t found the right one yet. I love the new dark gray color. I was a little worried that it would be too dark but so far it just gives off this really warm cozy feeling. So fresh and clean!

Here is the famed wall with dart holes galore!

The view to left as you come up the stairs.

My cross wall! You can see the web gray up against the knubby wool here. Although the knubby wool looks really yellow in this pic and it so is not.  There are times during the day it looks a little pink. Go figure.

Sorry about the shadows.. just could not get rid of them! Yikes!

A close up of my butler – Montgomery. Trust me it’s the only time I will ever have a butler. Some of the artwork came out of the hubs grandfather’s pool room.  Love using the sentimental!

These chairs and rug don’t belong here.  They are just stored here until I can get the office cleaned out. Big changes are a comin’ in there and this is your sneak peek! Yeah… If anyone had ever told me I would buy a cow hide rug I would have told them to put me in a rubber room!

The one wall I didn’t show you was the window wall.  Almost impossible to get a good pic with the light coming through. It has three 35″ windows that face north, so there is a ton of light coming in.

Still some things I want to change out or add to this room. One of those things is the curtains. This is one of the fabrics I plan on using. If you think it looks familiar, that’s because it is! I have used it on some of the furniture pieces I have repurposed before. It just makes me happy! I need to paint the gum ball machine stand. Maybe a new lamp? I also have an artwork project that I will be working on and hope to share all of these with you soon!

Until next time…

Okay… if you are paying attention to the pics above your probably thinking “What?  That is not her entry!”.  You  would be right.  I will get to that in a minute, but before that I just want to say that I was wrong. Yup.  I. WAS. WRONG!  This past week I posted about my master bedroom dresser update.  If you read that then you already know how I put a zillion nail holes in my wall trying out new art work for above my dresser.  I finally decided that the entry hall art that I had updated would be better in my bedroom.  I was happy.  At least I thought I was, until one hour after posting I was in Ross and found this:

I was in love and knew that the entry hall piece that I thought I could live with?  I couldn’t!  I scooped this piece up and had it hanging in my bedroom in under an hour. For reals!  I don’t just love it…. I Lurve it!!!

The perfect colors! (although it looks a little yellow here, it really is a perfect match for the curtains in real life!)  The perfect size: BIG!  It makes my heart sing it is so perfect!  Every time I walk into the room I want to shout TA DA!!!! Spot light please! There was nothing really wrong with the entry hall art in here, I was just ready for some color.

Now I know you are wondering when I am going to show you my entry hall update, so here it is…

So here is just a quick reminder of what it used to look like.  Kinda boring, plain, outdated color, no rug…. I could go on and on.   After taking down the art and almost playing slip and slide on a wet tile floor last week, I decided a few things had to change!

One… I needed a new umbrella stand!  I found this one and loved the design but it was way too dark in the entry.  Gold metallic spray paint to the rescue!

Two… I needed an new rug!  No more slip and slid for the Queen!  I have given up on rugs for the most part due to the fact that I have a psycho cat that LOVES to destroy any rug that isn’t in my living area. But enough was enough. Safety first, right? I found this rug when I found the bedroom art work.  I wish it were a little larger but it fits the bill!  I usually like to find an entry rug that has all of the colors of my downstairs rooms in it. I feel like it just ties things together. This time that proved to be a bigger challenge than I had anticipated.  The entry is right off of the dining room, which is navy and off white, so this works. Plus, my entry table and mirror are navy.

This is my updated entry hall. Umbrella stand, check. Painted gold, check. New rug, check.  Artwork hung, check.  Much more functional.  I still admit that I am looking for artwork to hang in here that makes my heart sing just like the one in my bedroom does.  But until then I am more than content with this one!

Until next time…..

           Tammy

I’ve had my bedroom suit a long time.  When we moved into our house I bought a new set.  I was so excited until I realized that it wouldn’t fit down our short hall into the bedroom. So back it went.  I just haven’t found one that I love.  And I really want to LOVE it , ya know? So I decided it was time for my master dresser update.

Here is what I started with.  Awhile back I almost got rid of the pulls because they were gold. Ha! Glad that got put on the back burner since gold is back in!  I would paint it, but still haven’t talked the Hubs into painting it. You know – good wood, good finish, blah, blah, blah… I get it.  The mirror was VERY dated and was it was time to go!

I just want to say that most of the art that I have been looking at just hasn’t moved me. I have literally spent hours looking! I went shopping and found these. (AFTER I had already tried these really cool bird prints that so did not work. At. ALL.  Sorry no picture.) After I hung these up, I was totally underwhelmed.  They just didn’t show up. It was seriously blah.  I wanted a little more glam. Frustrated much? OH yeah.

I figured that I would just keep searching for the right art and move on to my next venture – which was the entry hall. I had this piece of art up for awhile, I liked the art but not the color of the matt.  I couldn’t decide what color to paint it so that the art would show up and still match the new colors I was putting into the house.  So I went white.  And I loved it.   But not in the entry – too stark.   Then it hit me …what about the bedroom?

Woo Hoo!  We have a winner!   Simple, but it fits the space perfectly.  I am still on the hunt for something with more color in the same scale, but until then I am perfectly content with this one.

I found this demi john and was so excited. I really, really, really LOVE colored glass! So this was perfect.  I can’t believe I bought sticks to go in it. Hey, don’t judge!  It’s still hot here in Texas even if it is October. No bare branches for me to find.

I had an awwww…moment when I was looking at my photos to decided what I wanted to put out.  The small gold frame is a picture of the Hubs and I kissing on our wedding day.  The large black frame was taken almost 30 years later at a family photo shoot.   Almost the same pose.  Really wasn’t that hard to decide which ones to use!  I found this small crown at Hob Lob – ya’ll know I had to have one in here – AND it is glass. Seeing a theme here?

Once again, here is the finished vignette.  A little more updated.  Simple, but perfect!  Thanks for following along on my dresser update, it is  always so fun to share!

Until next time….

         Tammy

A few days ago I walked into the laundry room and it hit me that it was looking a little tired.  The cabinets needed dusted and maybe a little paint touch up.  The laundry basket was overflowing with who knows what and the tile grout was well – I’m not even gonna go there! It was time for a laundry room mini makeover!

A few years ago we remodeled our laundry room.  I didn’t take pictures of it back then. It was just a small rectangular room that had a shelf and clothes hanging bar that ran the length of the room over the washer and dryer. The hook ups for the washer and dryer were not even side by side, they were at opposite ends of the room.  All I can say about it was that you could wash, dry and hang up your clothing.  Oh, and have a small amount of storage.  But that was it!  The hubs built shelving, relocated the hookups and installed a countertop on top of the washer and dryer.  I repainted the walls and shelving, bought baskets for the shelves , hung a curtain to give Firehydrant, the cat, some privacy for her personal matters, hung a three hook rack and decorated the room.  This was no mini makeover this was an almost total face lift!  But I loved it. Until now.

You can see from the picture above it was looking a little tired. A lot little cluttered.  Time for that mini makeover!

I started  by removing everything and cleaning. Then I removed the shelving and got some black and white wrapping paper that I had and cut it to fit the back wall.  I installed it with glue dots.  This way if I decide that I want a new pattern or no pattern tomorrow I can easily change it out.  Plus, it was way cheaper and easier than wall paper!

I originally had large brown wicker baskets to keep stuff organized and contained. They were great for towels etc but, when I put in laundry soap and cleaners they were way too heavy.  I had these smaller baskets  from my craft room that I wasn’t using any more and decided to go through and reorganized, decrapify ( new laundry term!), and split up the  heavier items into the smaller baskets.

I hate to admit it but, I scrubbed the tile grout for over an hour on my hands and knees before it came clean.  Apparently we came in and out of the garage way more than I thought.  I had always avoided a rug in here because (a.) it was such a small skinny room and (b.) I have a psycho cat that loves to tear stuff up! At night she is put in her bed and the door is closed to keep her from going on a wrecking spree.  I decided that I will just put on my big girl panties and pick it up at night and replace it in the morning.  Way easier to wash a rug than scrub the grout!  I also bought Firehydrant a new bed that I put into an extra basket that I had.  She hates loves it! No, really, She does.

I am a creature of habit.  Since I moved everything around I decided that I had better put these tags on the baskets so that I could find everything.  Plus, it didn’t hurt that they were super cute!

I also bought  a new laundry “basket”. I like that when I am not using it it will collapse and I can store it.  SNORT! Like that is gonna happen!  But it might…. in an alternate universe. I also recovered my little bitty “trash can” with the same paper that I used on the back wall. Yup, makes me happy when it all is co-ordinated!

So here is my finished laundry room mini makeover.  Clean, reorganized and updated  – just a little!   I love that it feels so fresh and my hubs loves that it didn’t cost him very much since I had almost all of the stuff  to give it a little face lift.  I bought the new pet bed – $12.00, new laundry basket – $10.00 and the rug $15.00.  All were on sale, cuz that is just how I roll.  The only thing that I didn’t do that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY  want to do is find a mini chandelier to hang in here.  Still on the hunt for that!

New room – or it feels like one – for under $40.00.  Score!

Until next time….

          Tammy

Hi!  Hope you all had a really fun weekend.  Much cooler temperatures here and we are loving it.  I haven’t been all that ready to decorate for fall and… I am still not there yet.  If I don’t get with it soon I am just gonna hold out for Halloween. Who knows?   I did take an afternoon to try and tie in the Master bathroom with the new curtains in the bedroom and the newly  organized closet.  I didn’t do much – just a bathroom mini makeover!

Here’s what I started with.  Eeekk… kind of crazy how you don’t notice that something needs work until you see it in a photo! Really boring.  Not much color.  Yawn….

I thought I had my work cut out for me but, it really didn’t take that long.  I made a valance from the same material that I used for curtain panels in the Master.  I found this cute garden stool at Sam’s for $29.99!  BARGAIN! The perfect color too since I was trying to bring more of the green into the room. I did pick up some new white towels, but otherwise I just used what I had.  Much better!

I pulled out an old brass tray that we received as a wedding present and shined it up a bit.  It was perfect to hold all of my bath jams and jellies. I have collected old bottles for years and like to put my bath oils and bubble bath in them.  And scented bath soap… I am in love with! The floral arrangement  – as you see it here – was a little blah to me so I added some greenery to it later.  I will admit that I would love to put an antique demijohn in here with some natural twigs in it instead of the floral arrangement… keeping my eye out for just the right one!

Here are my new white towels.  I love how white just makes the bathroom looks so fresh and clean.  I rearranged the shelf above.  Again, I may keep my eye out for something else to add to the vignette, but for now I like how this little corner of my bath turned out.

With the new towels and the garden stool, I think I may have spent under $50.00 total.  Not too shabby for an afternoon’s work and a tight budget!   I finally feel like all of the rooms in my master bedroom suite actually go together!  Will I change any of this?  Probably.. when I do, I promise to share all of the new changes with you!

Until next time….

          Tammy