Yesterday morning I was going thru my emails when I saw one from Pottery Barn Outlet. Normally I delete and keep scrolling because we don’t have one near us.

At least that’s what I thought.

I opened the email and it said “find your store”.

So for fun, I hit the find button, added in my zip and low and behold up popped up a store less than ten miles from my house.

I picked up my phone, texted my Bestie and said ” Put your clothes on girl, we are going shopping!”

I had so much fun that I thought you might like a quick run down, just in case you live near by.

If you don’t live near by, you still might enjoy seeing what they have to offer.

Right inside the door is this pretty display of flowers, pots and decor.

Those peony’s were so pretty!

To say that this place is huge is an understatement.

We decided to go to our right and work our way through the store.

Which was a great decision as it put us right in my favorite place – the dishes and serving pieces!

All were 50% off.

Apparently, sales change weekly, so if you see something that isn’t on sale – check back next week.

They had some of the biggest light fixtures I’ve ever seen.

Everything from modern to traditional.

Look at all the crystals on this chandelier!

The organization department had a few things that I really loved but had no place for in my home.

I love the metal frames on this bulletin board and chalk board.

And this calendar?

Yes, please.

I just need a wall big enough to hang it on.

Definitely one of my favorites.

I LOVED the pottery barn children’s section.

Isn’t this the cutest children’s kitchen?

I could have spent a fortune buying lunchboxes, backpacks and luggage for the littles in the family.

Tons of stuff for both boys and girls.

The Pottery Barn teen section had some of the prettiest navy and white bed linens I’ve seen in awhile.

I seriously had to refrain from taking some of this home!

The furniture section was huge!

However, to keep from buying something I clearly do not need, I made a quick run through and headed on over to the bedding.

The bedding was hit and miss, as I’m sure all outlet stores are at times.

However, it did have some very pretty sets as well as quality sheets.

Just not in my color schemes.

My bestie and I had such fun, although Roxanne only purchased two things and I had my one find of the day that I couldn’t live without.

This beautiful blue and white serving bowl.

Perfect for my kitchen.

So, will I be going back to the Pottery Barn Outlet?

Yes, yes I will.

It’s easy to get to in, a high traffic area with other shopping.

Price range?

Well, it is Pottery Barn so nothing is dirt cheap, however with most things 40% – 50% off it’s a much better deal than full price at the regular stores.

If nothing else, take your bestie and have a great time.

I know I did.

Until next time….

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Today I’m sharing a room that you’ve probably never seen. The second guest room. It’s probably one of my favorites. Which is odd considering that it’s a mish-mash of things that we put in there when we moved in. Most of it came from one room in our old house, which was definitely my favorite room there! The rest of the pieces were leftovers, hand me downs, or gifts. Some, I just simply love.

This room has the best filtered morning sun.

It’s the kind of room that you want to wake up to.

The color scheme is all neutrals.

Black, whites and creams.

But, boy does it make a statement.

The bedding is both old and new.

The Toile throw and shams as well as the white matelasse quilt are all old.

They were on our bed in the master for years.

The small black and cream check bedskirt and pillow I recently made and added to the mix.

The curtains are a new to this house purchase.

The bold black and cream buffalo check is a perfect partner for the toile.

I love mixing fabrics!

These curtains definitely are the star of the room and make the rest of the room shine.

Plus, as far as curtain panels go, they were really budget friendly.

On both sides of the beds are unconventional end tables.

One side is a tall end table and on the other you will find a small writing desk.

Both work well as the bed itself is really tall.

On the closet wall is a small chest of drawers that I’ve had a very long time.

It’s loaded down with photos of the family as well as some photos that my son, the photographer, took.

Of course, they make me happy every time I look at them.

The dresser is one that I picked up from a friend many years ago.

Not only does it have a few empty drawers for guests, but it also is a host for some of my seasonal decor.

I plan on changing out the lamp at some point, but just haven’t found the right one yet.

Above the dresser is a huge chunky shelf that holds a few of my favorite things.

In the corner is a small arm chair that I refinished many years ago when I first started refurbishing furniture.

It’s probably time to give it a little facelift, but the sentimental part of me is still hanging on to it.

The size is great, not too small and not too big.

Perfect for a guest room.

It also has a throw on it year round in case guests need a little extra warmth or want to take a nap.

Each piece in this room by itself isn’t all that impressive, but put together they work well.

The second guest room is a happy room that say’s WELCOME, come on in.

Hang out for awhile.

Read a book, take a nap, spend the night.

Did I mention it’s my favorite?

Until next time…

Every Wednesday I collaborate with two talented bloggers Terrie at Decorate And More With Tip and Corine at Junk To Gems.  We create videos that have one of three themes. Crafts, Home Decor or Home Cleaning.  This week’s video, Craft with Us, Styling a Spring to Summer two tiered tray was super fun to make.

Since it was Craft With Us week, we decided to make 3 crafts to decorate our trays with.

My theme for my tray is Lemons.

I ended up loving my lemon themed tray so much that I decided to use it as a centerpiece on my breakfast room table.

Craft 1:

The first craft I made was this super easy, fun mini rolling pin.

I found the mini pins here.

This craft is super easy.

Simply paint the handles white and the body bright yellow.

For the lettering, I could have just wrote Lemonade by hand, however I chose to use sticker letters so that I could re-use the mini pin later.

To finish my rolling pin off, I tied a blue and white ribbon on one end.

Craft 2:

Craft two was this pretty picture frame with the lemon watercolor in it.

Again, a simple craft using paint, ribbon and hot glue.

Paint the frame yellow.

Paint white dots randomly on the sides of the frame.

Glue ribbon to the front of the picture frame.

Add a cute bow.

Pop in art of your choice and you have a super cute piece of art!

I found my 3 x 5 frames here.

Craft 3:

My third and final craft was this super sweet fresh squeezed lemon sign.

I found my block of wood here.

While this craft was a little harder than the others, I think almost anyone could paint this sign.

For complete details on how to make it, you can watch the video here.

On the lower level of my tray I added a bold napkin for texture and color.

Wooden beads, lemons  – both placed randomly and nestled into a pretty blue and white chinoiserie cup and saucer.

The top level has a pretty lemon and blueberry bow, a white mug filled with lemons and a sweet little ceramic bird.

Since you can see all the way around, on the back side I used my fresh squeezed lemon sign and loose lemons.

On the upper level you see the same mug with lemons and bow as well as a white ceramic house sporting the sign “Pucker Up!”

My Spring to Summer two tiered tray is proof that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on decorating your trays.

Not only that, but you don’t need a ton of things to fill it up.

Sometimes less really is more!

Since I decorated my tray all the way around I can use it as a centerpiece for my table.

And look how well my tray goes with the place settings!

Don’t forget to head on over to my fellow bloggers sites to see how their trays turned out!

Until next time….

 Corine’s at Junk to Gems

Terrie’s Decorate And More With Tip

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I have been wanting to add shelving in the kitchen since I began the remodel at the first of the year. However, I didn’t want my shelves to be on the wall. Oh, no. That would be too boring. I want them on the side of my lower cabinet.

If you look at the bottom of the photo, you can see exactly where I wanted my shelves.

I found this shelf at Hob Lob.

I knew it was meant to be since they were 50% off! Woo, Hoo!

Only one teeny, tiny problem.

They were the wrong color.

But you know I can fix that!

Step 1:

Remove the railing from the shelf.

This particular shelf was super easy to do, as it had simple nuts on the bottom of the shelf.

Simply remove the nut, then pull the rail off of the shelf!

Step 2:

Paint the rail.

Lucky for me the rail resembles my drawer pulls.

So it only made sense to spay paint them gold to match.

Step 3:

Paint the shelves.

Using the same color of blue that I painted my kitchen island, I gave my shelves 2 coats of paint.

Step 4:

Put the shelves back together.

Once both the rails and the shelves were dry, I put them back together.

And this is the finished result!

Step 5:

Hang the shelves.

Here’s a super easy way to hang an item that has two hangers on the back.

I took a piece of blue tape and lined it up with the top edge of my shelf.

Then, pierced a hole at the top of the hangers.

Then stick your blue tape where you want to hang your shelf.

Make sure it’s level.

Then it’s simply a matter of putting nails or screws where you pierced the blue tape.

I used wood screws to hang my shelves.

TIP: another quick tip if you are using screws. Pre-drill your hole with a slightly smaller drill bit. It makes driving the screws in super easy!

Here are my shelves hung and ready to be decorated.

I cannot tell you how much I love them.

Especially since it was a super easy low budget project.

I love how my shelving turned out!

Shelving in the kitchen is a super easy way to add color, texture and style to what could easily be a bland room.

There was only one down side to this project.

It reminded me that I haven’t painted my baseboards, caulked or repaired my trim after they put the new counter tops in.

Oops…

It’s a good thing I like projects!

Until next time…

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Have you ever shopped at Buc-ee’s? I know... there are some of you that think that Buc-ee’s is a gas station that has great food and the cleanest public bathrooms in Texas. And you would be correct. BUT… shopping at Buc-ee’s is  also a great place to shop for just about everything you could imagine from fire pits to t-shirts to home decor.

We recently met on of our sons at a Buc-ee’s  about an hour from our home.

Of course, I made sure we had a little extra time to browse through all the shopping goodness.

The main reason that I started “shopping” at Buc-ee’s was their huge supply of Mud Pie.

Mud Pie is truly one of my favorite lines.

This time around I found the cutest measuring spoons.

I’m obsessed with these sweet little glass jars.

Those glass knobs on top are just the cutest!

I had no idea what I would do with them, so I left them at the store, but I keep coming back to their cuteness.

My brain is on overload thinking how I could use them.

I also saw this line of pottery that was super pretty!

That butter dish is just the sweetest.

They also have a good collection of Round Top items.

Also a favorite of mine.

As I was taking this photo, The Hubs walked up and asked what I was going to do with them.

My reply: ” I have no idea, but they sure are pretty!”

That earned me a huge eye roll.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I will find a crown if there’s one to be found.

These wine glasses were calling to me from the moment I walked in!

Mama loves her some shiny.

Truth.

You can’t get much more southern than this, or more accurate.

Too stinking cute.

Honestly, I have no idea what the inside of this book looks like, but if it’s as pretty as the outside I feel as if we all need a copy. They had me at the hydrangeas.

And that blue…

I have to say that if there were any negatives to shopping at Buc-ee’s – other than the huge amount of people who are always there – it would be that these beautifully colored bins were a display and not for sale!

They were in several places around the store.

Which had me running around to all of them looking for a price tag.

I was like a spider monkey jacked up on Mt. Dew.

Sadly, a worker asked if he could help me and I was emphatically told that they were not for sale.

At this point The Hubs escorted me from the store ending my shopping adventure.

If you get a chance to shop at Buc-ee’s, GO!

Until next time…

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One of the questions that I get asked a lot is how to store throw pillows and pillow covers. So this Week in our Decorate With Me video series, Terri from Decorate and More With Tip and I are answering that question!

If there is one thing that I decorate with in almost every room of my house, it’s throw pillows.

Of course I’m excluding the bathrooms and the kitchen!

Here are just a few places you will find them in my home.

The Library.

Guest bedrooms.

Master bedroom.

They are even outside.

I love them!

However, after a while of buying pillows for every season, every color etc. you start accumulating a huge selection of pillows in every color, shape and size.

Often you have no place to store them.

I’ll be honest, the storage issue had me looking at whether or not to buy actual pillows.

So much so that for the most part, I’ve chosen to invest in good pillow forms and pillow covers instead of an actual pillow.

When I do buy pillows I store them in labeled bins.

The bins are then stored in the top of one of my guest room closets.

As you can see this isn’t perfect as it takes up a huge amount of space.

One of the reasons that I love to use pillow coves is that they fold up nicely and are easy to store in a small space.

I’m lucky enough to have 2 empty drawers in my guest bedroom to store them in.

Drawer number 1 has pillow covers that fit pillows that are 16″ and 18″.

If you look closely you can see that I’ve labeled the inside of the drawer where they should be placed.

Drawer number 2 has all of my 20 – 22 inch pillow covers.

Not only are they sorted by size, but by color and pattern.

This makes it super easy to find the cover I need at a glance.

3 Quick Tips to help keep your Pillows and Covers tidy and in great shape!

1. Organize your pillows and covers by shape and color.
2. Once a year check your pillows and covers to see if you have used them, if not donate them or give them to a friend. This opens up space for ones you will use and keeps them from getting overcrowded. Over crowding causes wrinkles and disorganization.
3. Before placing your covers or pillows back into their drawer or bin check to see if they need to be cleaned or mended. Nothing is worse than pulling out a pillow and finding that it is stained or has a tear.

What if you don’t have an empty drawer or space in the top of an unused closet?

Since pillow covers are small and fold up nice and tidy there are tons of storage options.

Under bed storage, small containers like the ones I use for pillow storage, or pop up cloth cubes are great options to consider.

I hope that I helped answer how to store  throw pillows and pillow covers for you!

Be sure to check out how Terrie is storing her pillows here!

Until next time…

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Easter is just around the corner and it won’t be long before we will be taking down the bunnies and the sweet Spring decor. I think of this time of year as the in between time.  Too early for full on Summer, but I don’t want to decorate totally in Spring decor either. So how do we decorate right now? I like to transition slowly from Spring into Summer. In all honestly, I’m really ready to get outside and plant! With that in mind, today I’m sharing my Spring to Summer kitchen.

The first thing that I do is CLEAN!

Clean from the ceiling to the floor.

Scrub the oven and sink, mop and wax the floor and shine up your appliances.

Take everything off of the countertops and clean those as well.

It’s also a great time to clean out the cabinets and drawers.

Donate what you haven’t used in a year, throw away anything that doesn’t work, is chipped or broken.

Add Fresh Flowers.

This is the perfect time to bring the outside in.

If you do nothing else, clean and treat yourself to fresh flowers or greenery.

Throw open a few windows and let in a breeze.

Add a few plants or greenery.

Again, bring the outside in!

Chances are you don’t have access to cut flowers yet and if you don’t want the weekly expense of buying fresh flowers, plants are the way to go.

Don’t have a green thumb?

No shame in that game, go faux!

This time  of year green plants mentally put you in a good mood and get you looking forward to summer.
So bring on the green!

Don’t forget to give your nose a treat!

Let’s face it, if it looks clean and smells inviting then odds are you want to spend more time in that room.

Add in a new floral or fruit scented hand soap and candle.

Right now I’m really enjoying this Bath and Body Rose Water and Hibiscus hand soap.

It makes me feel like I’m in the garden even when I’m not.

If you are like my BFF and are on candle restriction ( You must remember to blow them out!) then try a scented wax burner or oil diffuser system.

Your nose will thank you!

Add a fresh, new hand towel.

There is nothing like a fresh new hand towel to dress up your kitchen!

Am I right or is it just me?

It doesn’t have to be expensive, just wrinkle free and fresh looking.

This crisp new blue and white towel can be found here at a great price.

Change out your artwork and decor items.

This is the perfect time to bring in lighter, brighter decor items and art.

I chose to add this cute little print of a plant under a cloche that says “Please Grow”.

How appropriate is that?

This is also a great time to look at freshening up your rugs, runners, placemats and napkins.

You will be surprised that by doing these simple things just how much you will love your Spring to Summer kitchen!

Plus, this concept works in all rooms of your house, so give it a try in other rooms as well.

It really is perfect for this “in between time”.

Until next time….

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It only took us about 6 weeks, but our kitchen remodel is done! I am so happy to say that we are no longer living in never ending dust. More importantly, the dark hole that used to be our kitchen is now a light, bright space that we love.

Before I share the finished kitchen, let’s take a look at what the kitchen used to look like and a recap of all the work we’ve done.

The Old Kitchen

The original cabinets were a white oak that had been lime washed.

I’m not sure of the original stain color, but over time they had taken on an orangy, peach color.

The top coat had worn off in spots and they had seen better days.

The granite countertops had been installed 18 years ago and had chips and dings in them.

You can’t see it, it had  a bright burgundy color in it to match the backsplash trim.

I was not a fan of either.

What I hated about the counter tops the most was that you couldn’t see when they needed cleaning.

Drove. Me. Crazy!

Don’t even get me started on the backsplash and the yellow under counter lighting.

Work in Progress

Step one was to have the counter tops replaced.

I agonized over this one decision more than any of the rest.

The trend is to go with a white quartz, but having everything in the kitchen white would be a little too much in this small space.

I loved the look of Soapstone, but didn’t want the up keep that came with it.

And after having busy granite in the last two homes we had, I was ready for something a little less “extra”.

So we went with a timeless look.

A black Quartz called Pittsburg.

It isn’t very shiny and has little bits of shiny pieces here and there.

Farmhouse Sink

For our sink we chose a farmhouse white porcelain sink.

LOVE it!

A brushed gold faucet was another big decision for me, as I was trying to choose timeless pieces, rather than trendy ones.
However, every time I would go looking at faucets I found myself drawn to the gold.

After the gold faucet was installed I was so glad that I went that route.

Bye Bye Raised Bar

The raised bar was removed to give us more countertop space.

Plus, the new countertop was extended about 6 inches to give us a place to actually be able to sit at the bar and eat.

What a game changer!

Painted Cabinets

The cabinets were painted next.

An airless sprayer was used and I have to say that it was one of the best decisions we made.

Previously, when painting cabinets, we sprayed the doors and drawers and hand painted the cabinets due to my fear of overspray.

Never again.

The spaying was easier and looks fantastic with little to no overspray.

In the middle of painting the cabinets and installing the backsplash, Snowmagedon took place and North Texas became  a frozen Tundra.

Since a spray tent was to be set up outside for the drawers and doors to be painted, we had to wait for the thaw before we could finish the painting.

Same with the backsplash.

No cutting tile with a wet saw outside in sub-zero temps.

Cabinet Hardware

After the thaw, the cabinets were finally painted and gold hardware was added to the drawers.

Glass door knobs were the finishing touch for the cabinet doors.

Tile

Then came the backsplash.

Other than the countertops, this was my one big splurge.

Originally, the plan was to do a white Subway or Moroccan tile backsplash, until I saw this Byzantine Arabesque Bianco by Ivy Hill.

It was love at first sight!

Once all of the major items were installed, it was time to do touch up paint, install molding, caulk, paint the crown moulding, paint doors, and put in under counter lighting.

All of which took a few days.

The last thing on my list of things to finish was to install the pendant lights above the island.

There is nothing like adding a little bling to make a space pretty.

Finished Kitchen Remodel

Here’s the north side of the kitchen remodel.

BIG difference, right?

The Hubs and I eat here all the time and we love it.

I left my island blue, but painted the pantry door back to SW Pure White to match the cabinets.

The original plan was to put a wooden top on the island, however there was a little mix up with the installers.

I walked in when they were done and the quarts was there.

Oh, well – plan B.

Plus, it’s not like I hate it or anything!

This is the south side of the kitchen.

I still haven’t decided whether or not I’m keeping the valance or changing it up.

For now it stays.

Other than a few different decorating choices still to be made, I’m officially calling our kitchen remodel done!

I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.

Until next time….

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Good Friday morning y’all! I don’t know about where you all are, but here in North Texas we’ve been experiencing Spring like weather. After the frozen Tundra of a few weeks ago, the weather is so welcome. Since I’ve been dreaming of Spring, I’ve been thinking about my Easter table. While it won’t be like it has been in years past, I’m still trying to make it special. I was planing how I wanted my table to look when I came across these beautiful pink and white charger plates.

They had me at Buffalo check.

And then I saw the price and kept on scrolling.

However, I kept thinking about them.

How pretty they were and how cute they would look with my spring centerpiece.( you can see the video here)

Which got me to thinking, could I make them?

I had 4 chargers that I had painted white some time ago.

Which was perfect for my base paint color.

Step 1:

Make a grid for your plaid pattern.

Find the center of the charger plate.

Once you’ve done that, lightly draw a line down the center.

From there you will mark lines 2″ apart.

Then turn your plate 180 degrees and mark your charger the same way.

This will make your grid for the check pattern.

Step: 2

Tape the charger plate.

Following your grid pattern, tape off every two inches.

Do this vertically, but not horizontally.

Step 3:

Paint your first set of stripes.

Before painting, be sure to burnish the edges of your tape to prevent any paint leaking underneath it!

Then give the non-taped off area a light coat of paint.

Let the paint dry.

After the paint has dried, give the same painted area another coat of paint.

Now, at this point remove the tape and give the plate another 180.

You can tape the lines off again – but be very sure that the paint has thoroughly dried OR the area you just painted will peel off.

Or, I found that it was just as easy to paint the next set of stripes without using tape.

Step 4:

Add gold to the rim of the charger plate.

Once the next set of stripes has dried it’s time to add the gold on the rim.

This was the part that I wasn’t too sure about.

Honestly, it turned out to be so much easier than I thought.

I chose a flat brush the width that I wanted my gold edging to be, loaded the brush with gold paint, then started painting.

TIP: I found that if the outside of the brush lined up with the outside of the plate and I didn’t put too much pressure on the brush it was super easy to paint this edging.

This is what my pink and white charger plate looked like when I was done painting.

Not too shabby!

I chose to go with a darker pink paint that matched my napkins that I planned to use, but other than the color I think they are a good dupe for my inspiration chargers!

Step 5:

I gave my pink and white charger plates a good spray of this Triple Thick Clear Glaze.

I love how shiny it makes them as well as protects the paint.

Which I definitely wanted to do after spending the time to paint them!

The best part?

They turned out looking exactly like I wanted them to with the rest of my Easter table.

Here’s a sneak peek!

So, would I spend the time to make them again or splurge and buy them?

I definitely would make the pink and white charger plates again!

Until next time….

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Today I want to talk about free artwork. Lately I’ve been all about art. Real art – either I’m motivated to paint or I’m purchasing  prints made by artists. However, art can be expensive.

When we had new countertops put in our kitchen recently, we also decided to go ahead and have both the powder room and the guest bath countertops replaced. Which led to new mirrors, faucets, towels… well you get the picture.

In the powder room I had this paint by number painting that I did awhile back.

It was fine, but I never LOVED it.

Janet Hill is one of my very favorite artists.

Her art has the best sense of humor that just reaches out and grabs me!

A few years ago I purchased “The Disappearance of Lonnie Lightfoot” print from her.

My Granny had a closet filled with her formals, jewelry and scarves when I was small.

If I was very good I was allowed to play in that closet, so this print reminds me of pulling up a chair and getting lost in all of my Granny’s finery.

I had it framed with “gaudy joo-ry” all around it and hung it in the powder room.

This print was my inspiration for making a small gallery wall where my paint by number used to hang.

I recently ordered this print “Selfie at the Mermaid Public Fountain” to go with it.

Someday, if I’m lucky, I will have all of the photos from her collection on my powder room wall.

But not today.

So I set out to find free artwork to go with my prints.

Frames:

The first thing I did was dig around in my decor closet for unused frames.

My JH print was in a white frame, so that’s the color scheme I was looking to go with.

I found several different shapes and sizes that I knew would give my gallery wall visual interest.

After a good cleaning and even a couple of coats of paint on a few, I was ready to look for artwork.

Artwork:

I googled free art work and came up with a ton of sites that you can download just about any style of art you can imagine.

I found several that I felt like would be perfect.

Some of my favorite sites are:

The Graphics Fairy

Pixaby.com

Unsplash.com

Using card stock, I simply printed out the artwork that I found in the sizes I needed.

Framing:

Now it was simply a matter of framing my prints.

And deciding what order I want to hang them in on my gallery wall.

Create  Your Own Prints:

One other thing that I used  for one of the smaller prints was the app Waterlogue.

I’ve used it several times before and love it.

Using your own photos, you can create watercolor prints in your phone.

Again, it’s simply a matter of printing them off and framing.

It really couldn’t be simpler!

The hardest part of this whole process was deciding what artwork to use.

The best part?

It’s free!

Until next time….

I love a good sale, don’t you? And when the sale is 90% off, well I am hearing the heavenly choir sing! On a recent trip to  Hobby Lobby I made a quick trip down the 75% off isle, only to find out that it was just reduced to 90% off. The first thing that caught my eye was this sweet little lamp. Now most people would take one look and walk right on by, but I’m going to share how I turned janky into swanky!

Repairing the lamp

After carefully looking the lamp over, making sure that the only thing wrong with it was a hanging harp and the socket I snatched that cute little lamp up faster than a monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew.

You see I knew that all I had to do to fix it was gently pull on the cord at the base until all the slack was out of the cord.

Once that was complete it was simply a matter of screwing the light socket to the base.

The socket had just come unscrewed!

The price?

$8.99!

Total girl squeal.

And it is perfect in my library for a cute little reading lamp!

Revamping the mat and frame

Now, you know I  wasn’t done shopping the 90% off isle!

I spied this chinoiserie print.

In fact, I already own it and it sits on a shelf in my living room.

The mat had some dark marks but the frame was in excellent condition.

So I bought it!

No, it’s not weird to have two of the same prints!

Especially if you aren’t using the print part of it.

I just wanted the frame!

A sweet friend sent me the cutest topiary prints a few months ago and I’ve been looking high and low for the perfect frames!

I unscrewed the back of the print and  took out the print portion.

Once that was done I added one of my topiary prints to see if the mat and frame would work.

It was perfect!

I used a Magic eraser to remove the dark marks on the mat.

A little white paint took care of a couple of chips to the edge of the mat.

Put it all back together and this is what it looks like now.

I couldn’t love it more and it matches my living room perfectly!

The total cost for this janky to swanky?

$2.49. Plus tax.

Woo Hoo!

The moral of this story?

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

Sometimes it pays to look a little more closely and think outside the box.

Until next time….

                             Remember, if you love it, be sure to Pin it!

Y’all! I can’t believe that next week we start my kitchen remodel. It’s been the way it is now for 18 years. And while I’ve only been in it for about 18 months, It’s time. To say that I’m excited would be an understatement! It’s really a dark room that has a lot of yellow lighting.

I spent the weekend firming up all of the things. Ordered sinks, hardware, faucets, tile…. all the little things that have to happen. I thought that I’d show my plans with you so that you can follow along as I share my kitchen’s journey with you.

There is nothing prettier to me than a nice crisp white kitchen!

I mean, just look at this kitchen!

It was a Pinterest find that Ebay had posted.

It had me at the gold accents.

So my inspiration is to lighten almost everything up.

Countertops:

When we started planing the remodel, I knew that I wanted to put together a kitchen that would stand the test of time as much as possible.

For me that meant white cabinets, white backsplash, white countertops… you get the picture.

But as I started putting it all together I realized how much white was in this room.

The cabinets will be Sherwin Williams Pure White.

The walls we just painted before Christmas a soft  light griege color.

It had zero character.

So I had a consultation with Mario, my countertop guy and he gave me several black samples of quartz to look at.

I landed on this piece of Pittsburg Quarts!

It has very little veining, which I love.

It’s has a little bit of sparkle, which I love even more!

And the best thing for me  is that it’s a not a pattern or color that I will get tired of.

As you can see here,  this kitchen from a Decorated Life is super clean, timeless and beautiful!

Tile

Once I had the countertops picked out, it was time to look at the backsplash options.

I thought that I wanted a simple white ceramic subway tile.

Until I saw this tile.

Let the heavenly choir sing!

It’s Byzantine Arabesque Bianco from the Tile Bar.

I LOVE it!

In the entire kitchen it was my one splurge, however I knew that the texture and sophistication that it would give my kitchen was perfect.

Sink

My current sink is a divided, multi-level stainless beasts that for the life of me always looks dull and dirty.

No matter what I do or clean it with.

So a new sink was definitely happening.

I chose a white apron sink that is one great big tub.

We had a granite composite sink similar to this in our old home and I can’t tell you how much I loved it.

In fact, had I not been doing a black countertop, I would have put a granite one in this kitchen.

I’m okay with no granite this time as this kitchen is a beauty.

Faucet

I fell in love with this brushed gold faucet.

It’s probably not for everyone, but it definitely makes me happy when I look at it.

If anyone would have thought I would ever have a gold faucet, I would have told them they had lost their mind!

But, remember that gorgeous white and gold kitchen earlier?

Nuff said.

The gold faucet is why I chose these drawer pulls.

Well, that and the fact that they come in a ton of sizes.

I want ginormous pulls for the large drawers under the stove and  these will be perfect.

These pulls range from 2.5″ all the way up to 18″.

A size for everything!

That’s pretty much all that I’ve ordered.

I still need to find countertop height bar stools and a few other things, but I think I’m well on my way to being finished with all of the decisions for now.

I can’t wait for my kitchen remodel to start!

Until next time….

                                                                   Don’t forget, If you loved it, be sure to PIN it!

Decorating for winter can be tricky. Especially if you are like me and after the holidays are ready to pack all of the Christmas decor away, including the greenery. However, just because I’m ready for a clean decor slate doesn’t mean that decorating for winter has to be hard. In fact, you can achieve a wonderful warm design in just 3 steps!

Step 1:

Light a fire.

The past few days have been cold, wet and dreary.

You can tell by the photos that there was very little light.

On days like these I love to light a fire, curl up on the sofa and read a good book.

Lighting the fireplace both mentally and physically warms you up!

I added a ton of candles to the mantle of the fireplace.

There is nothing like lighting them all in the evening.

It not only looks inviting, but smells great too.

I love them so much that I’ve sprinkled candles all through the castle!

Step 2:

Add texture.

Heavier fabrics like fur, velvet, corduroy and wool all just scream winter to me.

Add a warm fuzzy throw blanket to your decor doe instant warmth.

Can’t you just imagine curling up with this furry throw?

It is just the softest!

These velvet pillows on the sofa really cozy up the living room.

Don’t forget to add texture through out your home.

My bedroom has a very cool color scheme with a lot of neutrals paired with steal blues and mid-tone greens.

The addition of a warm furry throw as well as velvet pillows really helps to warm this space up.

In the guest room I took away the bright hot pink throw pillows and added these off white corduroy pillows complete with fuzzy poms!

I love them so much that the old pillows may never come back!

Step 3:

Add  a little nature.

Think greenery, pinecones, and sticks from trees.

All too often we shut ourselves up inside when it’s cold.

Bringing nature inside is a must for me!

Not a lot, just a few elements here and there.

As you can see here, I added scented pinecones to a large lantern.

On the coffee table I’ve added a woven basket to hold all of my decor.

The basket adds warm texture as well as shows off the pinecones, greenery and a candle.

Even the burlap bow adds warmth with it’s nubby texture!

This tablescape is the trifecta of decorating for winter.

It has a little nature, tons of texture and a candle to give it that warm soft glow.

As you can see, decorating for winter is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Until next time….

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This is the room I hate the most in my house. It’s not a terrible room, but it definitely was on the “things to change” list when we moved in.

Honestly, I guess hate is a strong word, but until this week there wasn’t much I loved about this room at all.

Before I show you the recent changes, let me give you a little history.

We decided a little over a year ago to down size our home.

So while I knew this kitchen was small, I had no idea how big the struggle would be to fit all my stuff in it.

The cabinets were originally stained and lime washed.

Which hasn’t fared well at all.

Overtime  they have aged, the finish is wearing off and  they have a weird peachy look.

Not a bad look, just not my style.

The granite counter tops – not my color or pattern either.

The back splash .

Let’s just say that not only isn’t it my style, it’s not my color or design.

And for some reason the previous owner loved fluorescent lighting.

It is EVERYWHERE!

It’s the under counter lighting and it’s also in the pantry, the closets, the game room and in the  laundry room…. everywhere.

( along with 4 or 5 pencil sharpeners that are attached to the walls. Yep, just like we had in grade school!)

Lots of  weird yellow lighting.

We’ve changed out a lot of those light fixtures, but not in the kitchen.

And the island..

She is  tiny and the wood has seen better days.

When we moved in, we immediately changed out the flooring ( which matched the back splash) and added all new appliances.

Then the holidays were here and we decided to wait on any projects until after the new year.

We all know what happened next – #covid.

All things came to a screeching halt while we worked outside on installing a pool, a kitchen and patio.

Fast forward and we’ve been in our new home for one year this month.

It’s fall, so we are back indoors more and the kitchen is getting on my last good nerve.

I found these runners and fell in love.

The blues match the colors in our breakfast room, which is really an extension of the kitchen.

And as an added bonus, they didn’t totally clash with the existing cabinets and backsplash.

These rugs led me to make a blue buffalo check valance for the window and paint the walls.

It was all great, but the kitchen was still a little blah.

My plan for the kitchen is to extend the cabinets to the ceiling and paint them white.

Add hardware.

Install a new black or white quartz countertop with a beautiful backsplash.

Add a wooden top on the island.

New undercounted lighting, as well as a small pendant light over the island.

Add a new sink and faucet.

However, all of that isn’t in our budget right now.

But, it occurred to me, I could do some small changes.

Like paint my island!

This is Sherwin Williams Salty Dog.

And I love it!

And so does my island!

Not only is the color pretty, it doesn’t clash with the floor color and makes that tiny island look fabulous.

I loved it so much that I did this….

I painted my pantry door blue!

I’ve always planned on replacing that door with another one that had a little more style.

Until then, this gives the room a much needed pop of color.

Of course, as always, it’s like the “Give A Mouse A Cookie” book.

Now that I painted the door, the white trim needs a good coat of paint.

And the island needs a little jewelry!

Some hardware is definitely in it’s future.

This is still the room I hate the most, but it’s slowly growing on me.

In a weird way, I can see the potential of the room again, just like I did when we bought the house.

So until I can jump in and give my kitchen a HUGE facelift, I’m going to do small projects that make the room just a little better.

I’m curious.

Do you have that one room in your house that you hate?

If so, which room is it?

Until next time….

                                                         Remember, if you love it, be sure to PIN it!

On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, I was lucky enough to come upon their 90% off isle. It was suppose to be a quick run in, run out  trip, but I made the time for a quick stroll. I found several things that just had to come home with me, including the cutest bamboo candleholders ever!

Each candle One of the candleholders was missing a slat on the bottom for the glass cup to sit on.

However, I knew that would be an easy fix.

Each candleholder was$4.49 each.

I grabbed all four that they had left.

I love the look of bamboo, but I’ve never really known where to put it in my home.

While I think of myself as an eclectic decorator, bamboo always seemed a little too Gilligans Island in my home.

With the recent trend of gold bamboo picture frames, trays, and all things chinoiserie I knew that I could finally find the perfect place for a little bamboo.

Once the broken slat was repaired, I gave each of the candleholders a couple of coats of gold spray paint.

I was so excited.

Until I set the candleholder next to the picture frames that I already had.

The gold on the candleholder didn’t seem gold enough and looked really flat.

And even though the candleholders might never be next to the picture frames, the gold color just didn’t work for me.

My solution was to give the candleholder a quick coat of Rub N Buff.

The new gold color  had  the luster, warmth and shine that I had envisioned.

The gold candleholders pair well with my white pumpkin, fall leaves and berries.

I love this fall vignette.

My sofa table sits in a walkway, so I put potpourri in the glass cups instead of candles.

Less chance of a lit candle getting knocked off.

Plus, it smells heavenly!

I love this how well the gold looks in my blue and orange fall living room.

But I can’t help but wonder how they might look in a different color.

How about a bright hot pink?

Maybe a bold navy blue?

A deep emerald green might be nice!

No matter what color my bamboo candleholders eventually end up, right now they are perfect just the way they are!

Until next time…

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Can you believe that September is just around the corner? With September comes all things fall. Pumpkins, sweatshirts,  leaves, Candy Corn and pumpkin spice everything! On a recent trip to Hob Lob I came across a few things in the Spring section that I thought would make great inexpensive fall decor. That’s right, I said things from the Spring section would make great inexpensive fall decor!

I found these cute little signs.

They had me at wooden beads.

However, as much as I love the beads, the artwork just wasn’t my style!

We all know that I love a good sale.

The Spring shop is now 90% off.

That’s not a good sale, it’s a great one!

It made these cute little signs .69 cents!

So, yes, I loaded them up and they went home with me.

Steps 1 – 4:

I knew that if I fixed them up a little bit, they would be perfect little signs to go on my two tiered tray in my kitchen.

Step 1:

Paint the entire surface with Mod Podge.

Step 2:

Lay pre-cut scrapbook paper on top of the  Mod Podge.

Be sure to gently rub out any air bubbles that you might have.

I use an old credit card to smooth mine out.

Step 3:

Put a coat of Mod Podge on top of your scrapbook paper.

Step 4:

After the paper had dried thoroughly, choose a wooden cut out to put on top of your sign.

What to do with your wooden beads

Step 1:

Flip your sign over and cut the knot holding the wooden beads to the sign.

I wanted to paint my wooden beads to match each sign that I was making.

To paint the beads, I load them onto a wooden stick and then paint them.

This makes it super easy to paint with little to no mess!

Step 2:

Once the beads are painted and dried, re-string them onto a piece of twine.

Step 3:

Take both ends of the twine and re-thread them into the hole at the top of the sign.

Step 4:

Tie the ends of the twine securely into a knot.

Your beads are finished!

Now for the fun part, decorating your wooden cut outs.

This is the time for you to get creative!

Add burlap, lettering, rhinestones, metal, paint, bows, raffia, paper or metallic paint.

Really, the only limitations are your imagination.

I made 4 signs in all.

This cute little fall sign cost less than $2.00 to create.

The leaf came from the Dollar Tree, 5 for a $1.00.

Everything else was leftover from another project.

Once again, my sweet little ghost was a 5 for a $1.00 Dollar Tree find.

Everything else I had on hand.

I bought this turkey cutout last year.

I’ve just been patiently waiting for the right time to use it.

Again, I think he cost less than $1.00.

The Christmas sign definitely cost me more than the other three signs.

I’ve had this Christmas tree in my stash and the sticker said that the tree was $2.00.

Right about now, I’m feeling like a big spender!

You know that you are making super cute, inexpensive fall decor when you can make all 4 signs for under $10.00!

That’s a bargain!

But how do they look on my two tiered stand?

I think they look pretty darn cute!

My head is spinning with all the possible decor that I can add to them.

Did I tell you that I love a good sale?

Until next time….

Remember, if you liked it, be sure to PIN it!

Hey y’all! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a low key, laid back weekend. I dragged the fall containers out and did a little fall decorating. I’m so ready for fall! This year my decorating is a little different. I chose to go with a non-traditional color scheme in  a few rooms and a more laid back style. The breakfast room has not only  a different fall color scheme, but also a simple fall table design. We all know how I love to set an over the top table!

If you haven’t read about my breakfast room design saga, you can read that here.

The fabric I used  for the window curtain panels has  teal, turquoise, golden rod, navy and white colors in it.

So it only made sense that I use those colors for my fall decor!

I found this beautiful table runner here.

It matches my curtains perfectly!

Since this is my everyday table, I like using a runner instead of a tablecloth.

Easy clean up!

Next, I found these placemats.

Not only do they have the colors of the curtain fabric, but they also have the pretty steel blues of the area rug!

Next, I used my white hob nail dishes.

I know that I use these almost every time, but they are so versatile.

These striped golden cloth napkins are one of my favorites, however even thought they were the perfect size and color they were a little plain.

Adding the simple navy leather napkin rings helped, but they were still too plain for me.

I took some burlap leaves and spray painted them blue.

After bending the wire tail of the leaf, I tucked them into the napkin ring.

The folds in the napkin hide the wire!

These burlap leaves may just be my favorite fall accessory this year!

For a centerpiece I added three white pumpkins, then wrapped them in a fun light yellow berry vine.

Once again, I added a few more of the blue burlap leaves under the pumpkins to glam it up a bit.

Adding teal glassware finishes off my simple table perfectly!

Now, just in case you are wondering who I am and what I did with the old “Tammy” since my table is so simple, don’t worry!

We all know that a little closer to fall I won’t be able to resist breaking out the pumpkin plates!

And maybe some new gold flatware…

But, until then, I think that I’ll stick with a simple fall table!

Remember, if you love it, be sure to PIN it!

If I’m being honest, this whole self isolation business – while not the best of situations – has made me come to appreciate several new items. Some because they haven’t had my normal item at the store and I’ve had to go with substitutions , some because #imbored and a few because I’ve done a little retail therapy! So today, I’d like to share with you a few new things I like!

My first is a substitution.

Lavender Magic Erasers.

They are suppose to be for cleaning the bath, but I’ve used them just about everywhere because they smell so good!

Not only do they smell good, but they are still great at getting the job done!

The next few items came about because The Hubs and I rescued an old sewing machine cabinet from the trash.

Sewing organization items!

Why have I not known about these sooner?

I must have  been living under a rock!

I’ve seen this wall mounted  thread holder.

I’ve resisted buying one because they always look messy.

Threads hanging… etc.

Then I found these!

OH. MY. GOODNESS!

These embroidery bobbins, bobbin holder clips and thread spool huggers are the bomb!

I HATE that my bobbin thread comes loose and gets everywhere even though I’m super careful about storing it.

Same with thread.

These thread spool huggers keep thread neat and in place.

Then these bobby pin looking things allow you to store your bobbin on top of it’s matching thread.

Whoever invented this was a genius! 

These planters from Costco.

We are in the process of redoing our entire back yard.

New pool, decking, pergola…

Since I won’t have many beds in the sea of hardscape, I realized that I would need to add in some large planters for color.

When I saw these at Costco, for only $40.00, the heavenly choir started to sing!

They are 21 1/2″ tall x 15 1/2″ wide at the top.

LOVE them.

This next item came about due to sheer boredom.

And it cost absolutely nothing.

Free Watercolor lessons from Craftberrybush.

If you’ve ever seen her paint, you would know why I’m so excited!

She not only gives free lessons that you can watch on her Instagram and Youtube channels, but she shares what paint and tools to buy.

Both the beginner level and the splurge.

I’ve painted as long as I can remember, however I’ve never painted with watercolors.

This is my first painting and while I’ve got a long way to go, I think I’m hooked.

The next one came about because I’m tired of my bath rugs slipping all over the bathroom floor whenever anyone walks on them.

Drives me crazy!

I’m trying out Anti-curling rug grippers.

I’ve only had them on for a little while, but so far so good.

The great things about these – when I’m ready to wash the rug, I peel them off of the rug.

Ready to put them back on?

I lightly wet them and they are reusable!

I’ll let you know how it goes.

The next is my new guilty pleasure and may – or may not- be the cause of Corvid weight gain.

DON’T Judge!

Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda may be an acquired taste, but it takes me back to summers when we would get cream soda at my great uncles corner gas station as a treat!

I can still remember opening up the “coke” box lid and reaching down into ice cold water with ice to pull out my favorite flavor of coke in a small glass bottle.

(Here in the south we use coke as a generic term for a soda.)

Even though I don’t drink Dr. Pepper that often anymore, I’m still a Dr. Pepper nut.

10, 2 and 4!

Worth the try.

That’s all of the new things that I like, however if Corvid keeps rearing it’s ugly head, I’m sure that I will have a few more to share soon.

So what are the new things that you’ve tried in the past few months?

I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to!

Until next time… 

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After weeks and weeks of searching for the perfect material to recover my breakfast room chairs, I’m happy to say that I finally found one!

Just a quick recap in case you missed it.

A few months ago I started giving my dining room a quick makeover.

I refinished my breakfast room table.

Made new curtains and added a coffee bar.

As you can see from the picture, the material looks as if it has several shades of blues, greens and yellows.

However, when it came in it was actually several shades of teal, not blue.

Now, I had to figure out how to match up all of the blue in the room to the curtain material.

This material, Emperial Trellis, is from Ballards.

It is shown several times paired with my curtain fabric, however I worried that the green was brighter and a little too much on the mint side.

Also, it is an embroidered fabric and a little too pricey for me!

This is the Osaka Bamboo Trellis fabric from Spoonflower.

Not only is it similar to the Ballard’s fabric, it is a perfect match to my curtain fabric.

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

Step 1:

Remove the chair pad from the chair.

In all honesty, since there was no piping to deal with, I was hoping that I could simply cover the cushions with the new fabric.

However, as you can see, the old striped fabric could clearly be seen through the new fabric.

Step 2:

The old fabric had to come off.

Did I mention that I hate the tedious process of removing the staples?

When I remove staples from furniture there are always a few bloody knuckles before the project is over!

So much fun.

Once the staples and fabric were removed, I positioned the new fabric making sure that the pattern was centered.

Then using a staple gun, I attached the new fabric.

Seriously, if I could ignore the staple removal process, this is one of the easiest reupholstery projects to date.

( The fabric looks very lime here, but is really a grass green!)

It took me a long time to commit to this fabric, but I am so glad that I finally did.

Why did it take me so long?

Can you say white and green?

Don’t get me wrong, I love both colors.

But white on a dining chair?

It honestly made me a nervous wreck just thinking about it.

However, after much thought, I decided to go for it!

Did I mention that I bought lots and lots of Scotch Guard?

Seriously, I really do love the new fabric on my breakfast room chairs.

So much so that I wish I had done it a few months ago!

Now, if only I could make up my mind on the wall paint color…

Until next time.

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Welcome to the Pink Flamingo room! One of our guest rooms earned this name from some super cute sheets that I received one year for a birthday present. Slowly, but surely I kept adding  cute little flamingos to this room here and there. When we moved from Saddlewood last October I basically just used most  of the same items in the guest room in our Cumberland house. Now that we’ve been here for 8 months it has become clear that a few things need to change. So today, I’m sharing why the Pink Flamingo gets a facelift – Part 1.

There is nothing wrong with this room per say.

It’s just not working.

Our grown sons come home and if they are here at the same time they fight over  who gets the other guest room.

The full size bed really isn’t all that great for big boys!

And for as long as I’ve had it set up this way, I’ve felt like something is missing.

I knew that I wanted a guest room that was predominately neutral, with a lot of color.

Sound contradictory?

Take a look at this bedroom from Nell Hill.

It’s got a ton of neutral in the background and a ton of color up front.

It’s traditional, yet quirky.

There are some masculine overtures, yet it also has hints of feminine design tucked here and there.

I fell in love with it!

This would be my inspiration room.

I  currently have a white quilt on the bed and I love using it, however remember that I said my sons fought over any room but this one?

I saw this navy quilt that sports white stitching and  pom trim and knew immediately that it was perfect.

Masculine color with girly poms!

This quilt comes from Ballards – which I love almost everything of theirs – however, it was a bit out of my price range at $279.00!

So, I started looking for something else.

And stumbled across this Navy quilt from Steinmart.

It has the same white stitching!

Yay!

And it has pom trim too.

Double Yay!

The poms may be a bit smaller than the Ballards quilt, but the quilt and 2 shams are only $79.00!

Um, yes please!

Next, I knew that I probably needed to get a more masculine bed.

I wanted a beautiful black iron bed like these from The Vintage White Farm House.

Every iron bed that I found that was the size, weight and design was clearly out of my price range.

Back to the drawing board!

Stuck on the iron bed idea, I hit up the used furniture sites.

And found this one.

While it isn’t the plain, masculine iron bed that I was looking for, the scrolls of this one tugged on my heart.

I feel like the iron is masculine, while the curves are girly.

And it was a fraction of the cost of a new one.

SOLD!

That’s as far as I’ve gotten on the absolutes in the room.

These are the fabrics I already have in the room.

 Hot Pink, navy’s, greens, and a tiny touch of orange.

I’m hoping to keep all of these in the room, but who knows where this room will end up down the road?

I do know that I’m keeping the pink polk a dot chair as it’s one of my favorites!

I’m also thinking of adding a little color to the nightstand and dresser.

I love this navy and white buffalo plaid chest!

It’s masculine, with a touch of bling.

Right up my alley!

I also need to paint the walls and add curtains.

Right now I’m thinking that they will be neutrals since I’m adding a lot of pops of color through out the room.

What do you think?

Neutrals, color, or pattern?

I’d love to hear you thoughts on what this room needs.

I hope that you will come back for part 2.

By then I will have nailed all of the other details down and have started working on the room!

Until next time….

I recently did something that I swore I would never do again! I hung wallpaper in my entry. I know, crazy right? After years of moving into homes and spending days removing wallpaper I thought that I would never put wallpaper in my home. Nope, no way. But I have a good reason for changing my mind, and putting wallpaper in the entry, which I will share with you here!

This post contains affiliate links, however the opinions stated are my own!

When we moved into our home last October this is what our entry looked like. Pretty plain and boring. It drove me crazy!

I couldn’t wait to paint one wall to bring in some color. Once it was done, it was so much better, however I couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. New mirror? Maybe a fun chinoiserie stencil?

So when Erin from Photowall reached out wondering if I would like to give one of their murals a try I was a bit skeptical. Because, you know, I did say never, ever will I do wallpaper.

But then I went to Photowall’s site and fell in love with several of their designs. However, I was a little worried about a few things. Things like, how much to buy. Since the company uses meters instead of inches, would I be able to translate that? I need not have worried, turns out the hardest part was choosing a design! Whether it was choosing a design or calculating how much product I needed the whole process was super easy.

I was hooked!

You simply enter your dimensions in inches into their calculator and they tell you how much wallpaper you will need for your wall.

But the best part for me? You can crop anywhere on the design you choose, so that you get the exact design what you want! And the rectangle that you use to crop the design with is the same dimensions of your room.

How genius is that?

They even have photos of your design on a wall with furniture in front of it to give you an idea about the scale of your design. Ordering couldn’t have been easier!

Once I placed my order I received it in less than 4 days. Yes, you read that right.

4 Days!!!

Which is amazing considering that this design was printed custom for my wall. I couldn’t wait to open it up and get a look at it. To say that I fell in love with it the minute I unrolled it was an understatement. The colors were exactly what I wanted, and the quality of the paper is unbelievable! Also included in the box were detailed instructions and wallpaper paste.

I couldn’t wait to get started!

To hang your wallpaper here’s what you will need:

Bucket
Roller and Tray
Brush
Spirit Level
Ruler
Sponge
Pencil
Knife
Seam Roller
Wallpaper Brush
Trim Guide

Another thing that I loved? Most traditional wallpaper comes on a roll and you have to figure out the repeat, or how to match it up when hanging it. Which makes for a lot of wasted paper. Since this is technically a mural, each sheet comes numbered, which takes the guess work out of it.

As you can see, I  had six sheets total. Just cut off the top, line it up and hang! Also, there is no “booking”. With regular wallpaper you basically brush  the paste onto the paper, fold it up and let it sit before hanging.

Which was always a huge mess!

With Photowall’s murals, you paint the paste directly onto the wall.

Before starting I measured where my first panel would be positioned and using a level drew a vertical straight line to help make sure that I was getting the first panel perfectly straight.

Once that was done, I applied the wallpaper paste, one panel width at a time, and hung the wallpaper panel. Hanging the panel is so easy. Simply hang the panel, smooth from ceiling to floor, then trim off excess paper. Repeat until all of your panels are hung. 

This is my entry wall immediately after I hung my mural, so it’s still wet. It was so hard to wait and let it dry before putting everything back together. A 24 hour drying time is recommended.

While waiting, I painted the baseboards and doors a pure white just to give the entire room a fresh new look. 

I can’t tell you how much I love this room. It just screams “Welcome, come on in!” doesn’t it? Now, every time I walk into the entry, I get a warm happy feeling. No more feeling as if something isn’t quite right. And shouldn’t that be how we all should feel when we come home?

Photowall was so generous that they are offering all of my readers a 25% discount from now through July 4, 2020!

Just use the code: patinaandpaint25 when you order!

Oh, and just in case you don’t have a space for wallpaper, they also create prints and posters. They can even take one of your images and create a custom design just for you! All you need to do is just head on over to Photowall and get started!

Don’t forget, if you liked it, be sure to PIN it!

This is the way the dining room looked when I last shared it.

I’m happy to say that my check off list is growing shorter!

All of the furniture is painted.

If you missed it, you can see it here and here.

I have made a few tiny changes here and there.

Like changing out the artwork frames from black to gold.

Now, all that’s left are a few of the biggest changes.

Adding new curtains and rug in the breakfast room will make or break this room!

This was the original plan.

One, Emmie Blue fabric for the curtains.

I chose this fabric because not only did I love it, but it had all of the steel blues, navy and light blues that I wanted for the breakfast room’s color scheme.

Two, this rug had all of the colors in the fabric and the furniture.

Three and four were my choices of fabric for the chairs.

I went back and forth over which one I wanted.

Three had all of the blue tones, but four was the co-ordinating fabric shown with my curtain fabric.

After going back and forth for DAYS I decided to hold off ordering the chair seat fabric until I saw the curtains with the rug.

And I am so glad that I did!

Because when the curtain fabric arrived it wasn’t steel blue tones at all!

It had the navy, but the colors that looked like steel blue on-line, in person were really very teal.

While the fabric is absolutely beautiful in person and the quality was great, the color was off just enough that I was just sick about it.

To make matters worse, no returns.

I threw a big pity party for myself for a few days and decided that since this fabric wasn’t cheap and I couldn’t return it, I was just going to have to make it work.

The rug came in a few days later and it was exactly what I had hoped for!

I love the high/low pile and the variation throughout the rug.

Perfect!

The original curtain rods were black in the breakfast room.

I never really liked them, they felt too skinny and small for the room, but they were the only ones I could find to fit that spot at the time.

Fortunately, I had some of my favorite curtain rods left over from the living room.

I LOVE the finials.

They are big and chunky and look like big glass squares.

The only issue with them was that the metal parts  were black too.

Spray paint to the rescue!

( On a side note, I LOVE my spray paint tent. BEST THING EVER!)

Once I had them painted and put up I wondered why I hadn’t thought to do it sooner.

This is the final result so far.

And to be totally honest, it’s not perfect but it’s not bad either.

If I hadn’t been expecting all steel blues, I would be in love with the fabric!

So the hunt for chair fabric continues!

The current chair fabric looks great with the rug.

If a few of them didn’t have a some stains, I might not recover them.

As it stands, they will be this way until I find a fabric to tie in the steel blues, navy and the teal.

The struggle is real my friends…

It’s not as easy as it sounds.

I guess decorating is a lot like life.

Some days it’s smooth and easy – other days you hit a few pot holes in the road!

The breakfast room saga continues here at The Castle!

Until next time…..

Don’t forget, if you loved it, be sure to PIN it!

Welcome to this month’s DIY Challenge! Every month our wonderful hostess Terrie, from Decorate and More With Tip, creates the best challenges for us to accomplish. She is the BEST! If you’ve never met Terrie before, you can visit herhere . 

If you are coming here from Danya’s,  A Vintage Flare Farmhouse, I’m so glad that you are here!

This month’s challenge is one that I think a lot of people struggle with. It’s decorating your TV wall. Can I get an Amen? Back in the day our TV’s found themselves behind closed doors. In an armoire or built in shelving or cabinets . Today’s TV is much larger and thinner than those of old, so putting them behind closed doors creates a major problem, especially if you aren’t putting it above your fireplace!

My fireplace mantel is so far off the ground that if we tried to put our TV there it would be like sitting on the front row in a movie theater.

And nobody wants to do that!

So over the past few years our TV has lived sitting on a large cherrywood  console.

It’s like a humongous black hole.

And to make matters worse, we live stream now so the large hole below the TV, where all of the equipment used to live, is no longer needed.

But that’s a challenge for another day!

So how do you decorate around the TV to make it look like a part of the room?

I’ll be honest, I’ve been looking around for ideas for quite a few months.

I knew it had to be simple so that it didn’t compete with the fireplace wall.

Cause there’s  a lot goin’ on there.

Not as easy as it sounds.

Then I saw this photo from La Dolce Vita blog and thought not only how pretty and outside of the box it was, but also how genius to use something that I already had in my cabinets!

So I gathered my supplies.

Scissors, pen, brown paper, nails, hammer, plate hangers, blue tape and level.

And dug through the cabinets for some blue and white plates in several sizes.

The first thing I did was to draw the outline of each plate onto paper, then cut the silhouettes out.

Once I had them cut out, I started placing the outlines onto my wall using blue tape.

I always do this for gallery walls as it allows me the freedom to move them around until I’m happy with the arrangement.

Once I have the arrangement on the wall just right, I then lay the plates out to correspond with the template arrangement.

That makes it super easy to put the right plate in the right spot.

I put plate hangers onto each plate.

Then measure from the top of the plate to the top of the hanger.

Leaving the template on the wall, using the measurements I just took from the plate and hanger, I measured down from the top of the template for the picture hanger placement.

I nail right through the paper.

Then, I pull the paper off of the wall.

Next, hang the plate.

Works like a charm every time!

In the beginning I left two botanical art pieces up to go with the plates.

However, I still felt like I had a heavy black hole.

The scale was off. 

After a few days of living with it.

I had a lightbulb moment.

In one of the guest bedrooms there were a pair of old small armoire doors.

Once they replaced the botanicals, I knew I had my scale just right.

So much better!

Now, I’m on to the next challenge.

The TV console.

Do I paint or no?

Does it stay or should it go?

The struggle is real my friends AND now I’ve got the song “should I stay or should I go now…” in my head!

Remember, if you like it, please be sure to PIN it!

Next up is Teresa from Through A Vintage Door.

I can’t wait to see what she has to share with us today.

It’s day ? – who knows how many – of quarantine. Sorry, I’ve lost count. Some days I’m not even sure what day of the week it is. I’m trying to watch just enough news to keep up on the issue, but not enough to depress me even more than I already am. I’m trying to stay busy, finish up old unfinished projects and plan new ones. Which is proving harder by the minute, since all my favorite stores are closed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m all for social distancing and hope that you are too! It’s just that supplies for projects are getting harder to find than a unicorn on the moon. Because of that I’m finding that my days are filled with a little of this, a little of that.

I pulled out all of my Easter decor and started to do a little decorating. This poor bunny wreath was a hot mess.

So I fluffed her fur, gave her ears a facelift and made her a new bow. Now she’s ready to rock the front door!

I love this bright turquoise color this yea.

It’s just so happy!

Plus, this ribbon may possibly be my favorite ever. It has tiny poms on the edges.

So cute.

I found the red and white version last year at Hobby Lobby and loved it as well. Today I was surfing a blog that I love and she was sharing a darker blue version of it.

LOVE!

Must have… some day.

I’ve even done a few Easter crafts, which I hope to be sharing with you soon. If you look super closely at this picture you might even see some packed boxes.

From last October.

I know, but I’m waiting on The Hubs to build shelving for that room, as the boxes are full of books. The Hubs is waiting for them to start our pool so that the fence can be built so that we can put in a shed. Because there are boxes in the garage in front of the saws.

If you give a mouse a cookie…One vicious circle…

Before being under quarantine, I started sprucing up the front porch. I painted the front doors, bought new door mats and a few plants.

Recently I found the perfect black and white cushions for the chairs. I was so excited, as I’ve been on the hunt for black and white cushions for months.

I quickly ordered the cutest hot pink throw pillows to go with the cute cushions. And then the virus happened and now my pink pillows are on back order. Til next fall.

Not sure I’m going to need them then…

All of the flower beds are horribly over grown here at The Castle. To the point that we feel like we needed to pull everything out and just start over.

We started with the north bed. We cut down small bushes that became trees, dug up a year – or two – worth of weeds and planted new plants. I even ordered the prettiest Japanese Maple for the north end of the bed.

Only for The Hubs and I to decide that we don’t like the shape of the beds or the faux Austin stone around them.

Back to square one.

I didn’t get discouraged about the beds. At least we made that decision before we did the other 3 or 4. And it was a beautiful sunny day. This cute Tree frog hopped in for a visit. They aren’t native to North Texas, so I have a feeling he hitched a ride in with the new plants. Isn’t he so vibrant and pretty? For a frog….

Not to be outdone, this lightening quick Anole did an Olympic sprint by the bed we were working on. He’s super fast, which may be why this photo isn’t quite in focus!

This might add a little humor to your day, I know it did mine. My sis-in-law, who has 3 kids at home with her now, and I have been sending each other memes.

It started with toilet paper memes and has quickly progressed into other areas. I sent her the above meme and her response was that the fire drill was already on her agenda along with a tornado drill. Which consisted of the kids locked into a closet for 30 minutes…at least! I told her that the closet was considered a “safe” room and that she should go for it.

And maybe a little wine wouldn’t hurt her either.

We ARE just kidding!!!

This is the meme she sent me yesterday. I believe that it is not only humorous, but that she has officially won our meme off.

Cause we both know that if Hobby Lobby were open that this just might, or might not, be the truth in my case.

Yes, we are a couple of crazy girls!

Or maybe we’ve just been quarantined a little too long and have officially lost our minds…

I’m thinking that maybe that wine might not hurt me either!

One more thing before I go…

This isn’t the best picture, so just know that this cute Easter basket from Viv and Lou is tons cuter than this photo. And it, along with several other equally cute baskets are on sale for $9.50!

I had never ordered from them before, so I was so happy when I received it in days, it was made well, the colors were so pretty and the monogram was perfect.

Could not be happier.

I stuffed it full of fun Easter things for Beep and can’t wait to give it to her.
As you can see, all I’ve gotten done here at The Castle this week has been a little of this, a little of that.

Hopefully, next week will be better!

Stay healthy and safe my friends!
Until next time…