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…

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

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… 

If you  like it, please be sure to PIN it!

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.

If you liked it, be sure to PIN it!

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…

I can’t believe it’s almost the middle of March! Which means two things. 

One, it’s almost March 20. Which is the first day of Spring and just so happens to be my birthday. 

And Two, it’s time to get out all of the fun Spring decor. Woo Hoo! Let the fun begin!

I want to apologize up front for this post being so long. But, it’s really not my fault that I happened to be shopping at Market Street and they had so many beautiful Spring things that I couldn’t decide what to share with you.Like this carrot kitchen towel. So many beautiful details…

Or this appliquéd egg kitchen towel. I’m really loving the turquoise that I’m seeing in a lot of Easter decor this year.

Have you seen the Round Top Collection?If you haven’t pull it up on your computer.You’re welcome!I love all of it.One of my favorites are these “charms”.Small paintings that are displayed on boards.There are so many to choose from, it’s almost overwhelming.

This is their Gallery Art Display Board. Normally the charm would hang from the hook at the top of the board.Isn’t this just the cutest? They have “charms” for every season and occasion!

This is their vertical HOME display board.Which is my favorite. I can see this on my front porch, or in my entry.So cute!

Turquoise and glass? So speaking my love language!

Of course, I couldn’t leave without checking out the the Mud Pie section. This sweet bunny can hang out at my house anytime!

I have to admit that this duck made me smile! In fact, there isn’t anything in this picture that I wouldn’t love to have here at the Castle!

And last, Mr. and Mrs. E. Bunny. Just too cute!!! If this isn’t the epitome of fun spring decor, I don’t know what is. I wanted to take all of it home, but I didn’t. So what did make it home?

Before I share my haul, I want to show you one more thing. This amazing easter egg carrier from Michaels. It definitely came home with me!

A little raffia, some soft blue eggs and this sweet kitchen towel make me happy every time I look at it! Yes, this towel was part of my Market Street haul.

I also couldn’t resist this Bunny Head Charm.

And as I was walking to the check out, I spied these faux tulips. I knew that they would be perfect in my Dollar Tree Bunny arrangement.

Not a bad haul, if I do say so myself! Although, I have to admit that I’m already thinking of heading back for a few more things. Nope, I am not addicted to shopping at all!

Until next time…

I’m so excited to be sharing my new rug in my breakfast room with you today. Slowly, but surely, I’ve been adding little bits of decor here and there in our home. I’m not very good at decorating a room all at one time.

In fact, I’ve only decorated a complete room, all at once, one time. When I did my art studio for the $100 Room Challenge. I loved having it completed in one month, but it was stressful to have to make a ton of decisions all at one time. I’d rather take my time and decorate a room by finding the perfect pieces as I go along. Sometimes this works really well, sometimes it doesn’t!

This is what our breakfast room looked like on the day we moved in. The next day all of the tile was removed and in the week that followed, all new hardwood was put in.

Over the past few months tiny changes have happened in the dining room. We added a new old table. We hung the antique chandelier that I brought from our old house. A coffee bar was added in the past few weeks.

And I made new curtains.

Choosing a color scheme for the breakfast room has proven to be harder than I would have thought. I kept leaning toward a black, white and light blue color palette. However, I had that in our last home and really wanted something different. Then I saw a photo on Pinterest of the most beautiful white and beige dining room and fell in love.

Not long after I saw the photo, I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby. I loved the linen textured look and the color was perfect.

I quickly went to work sewing new lined curtains. But guess what? The minute I hung those curtains, I hated the room. It still felt like the same great big beige box that was here when we moved in. Even though I hated them, I decided to live with them awhile. And I am so glad that I did!

Having the white and beige color scheme lets everything I put in there seasonally pop! In some ways it’s the perfect color scheme.

While I was learning to love my new breakfast room color scheme, I started looking at indoor/outdoor rugs for my patio.

I came across this super cute rug in turquoise that I feel in love with. One big problem. I’m not using turquoise in my color palette on the patio. BUT, it did come in this beige! Sold!

In all honesty, I love an indoor/outdoor carpet in the kitchen and dining room areas. So easy to clean and they’ve come so far in appearance sometimes it’s hard to tell that they aren’t indoor carpets.

The best part? It was on sale for under $100 and it came in the perfect size for my room!

I LOVE it.

There are still a few more things I want to add to this room, but it’s starting to feel like it’s not a great big beige box.

Woo Hoo!

Until next time…

We have a new coffee bar at the castle! I have to admit, I’m not usually one for having everything all out on display. I’m usually more is less kinda gal when it comes to functional stuff being out on the counter. But downsizing is hard. Space is at a premium. So, it only made sense to marry functionality with pretty.

It all started when The Hubs coffee maker died. Let me preface this with the fact that The Hubs is picky about his coffee. Not judging, I’m pretty picky about my morning cup of tea too. No pre-grinded, stale coffee for him. No sir, we buy beans that we grind our self. We make sure the water temperature is perfect, we like filtered water, etc. I won’t bore you with the rest, just know that he enjoys a great cup of coffee. 

When he decided to do pour over coffee, which doesn’t require a machine, I asked if we couldn’t get a pod style coffee maker. That way when we have guests, everyone gets to choose whether they would like coffee, tea or hot chocolate! It was a win for everyone. As you can see, I quickly set about organizing the pods. I knew that throwing them into a big container, or putting them on a rack would drive me crazy. This drawer organization system was the perfect solution. More on that later!

I’d been struggling with what decor to put on this buffet in breakfast room for awhile. After much thought, I knew that a cute coffee station would be perfect here. Our coffee and tea would be just steps from the kitchen and right next to the breakfast room table.

Not only is the coffee bar cute, it also has a lot of functionality. Since I drink hot tea instead of coffee, I needed to be sure that there was plenty of room for not only coffee stuff, but everything tea too.
Thankfully, there is plenty of room for both.

My cream and sugar, coffee mugs, napkins, spoons, and tea bag holder all fit nicely on – or in – the buffet with plenty of room to spare.

I have to confess that there is only one thing that I don’t like about the new coffee bar. The weird intercom system that you see to the left above the coffee maker. I have plans to say good-bye to that soon!

Best of all, I get to keep my chalkboard! At least for now.
I cannot tell you how much we are enjoying the new coffee bar at the castle. It’s the best way to start the morning!
Until next time…

If you liked this post please be sure to PIN it!
Also, if you’d like to get each new post delivered directly to your in box,  please subscribe. We always love making new friends. Thanks!

I am so happy to say that we officially have white living room shelves! When we moved into our house last October there were a few things that I wanted to get done immediately before the holidays.

There were only three main things, other than unpacking. 
*Reface the fireplace wall above the mantel. 
*Paint the shelves beside the fireplace. 
*Remove wall paper in the bathrooms.

Happily, we did get the fireplace wall done. If you missed it, you can see how we did that here. And while The Hubs worked on the fireplace wall, I removed the wall paper in the bathrooms. When we were done with both, Thanksgiving was fast approaching with Christmas not far behind. We decided to call it done until after the holidays.

Fast forward, the holidays were long gone and it was time to get back to work on the house.

The first thing we did was remove all of the decor. Since the wood was in fairly good shape, it was decided that it didn’t need to be sanded. We used a Deglosser instead. A deglosser will “rough” up the finish so that the paint can adhere properly and it also has a cleaning agent in it that removes any dirt and oil. I also removed the doors and shelving as I would paint those in the garage.

After taping off all surfaces next to the shelving, it was time to paint.I used a pure white cabinet and trim waterbase latex.

It took three coats of paint on every surface and 5 long days of painting, but I am so happy to say that they are done. And the difference is amazing! These bright white shelves make the room look so much bigger and brighter. We couldn’t be happier.

We did change up a few minor things after painting. The doors looked pretty plain once we were done. I had 4 crystal knobs leftover from the window seat in my art studio that I felt would be perfect here.

This picture does not do them justice.
Why is it always cold and rainy on the days I need to take photos?
I love how they give the shelving a little touch of bling without being overwhelming. 

When it was time to put the decor back on the shelves, I added a few pieces of new artwork. Have you seen Hobby Lobby’s new selection of chinoiserie decor? So cute!!!

As you can see I added a tall piece of artwork here, trying to hide the lamp cording. However, I’m thinking I need a bigger piece to hide all of the plastic wall covers also. This used to be the TV cabinet and all of the plug ins, cable connector outlets etc. were still here. Six in all! Yikes. I covered all off them with plates, which looks a ton better than they did, but I’m still not thrilled with that. However, I have a plan for this, but that’s another day.

We still have a few more projects before the living room is complete. Originally, I had planed on painting the mantel white, but now I’m thinking of staining it darker to match the flooring. Just for a little contrast. New curtains need to be made, a few minor decor changes and we have ordered a new recliner. However, all things considered, I feel like this one update makes the room feel complete!It’s finally starting to feel like home.

Until next time…

It’s Ten on the 10th! Every month, on the 10th, ten – sometimes more or less – fun and talented bloggers get together and share fun ideas for under $10.00. It’s truly one of my favorites. This months theme is Warm up your home. Not gonna lie, this threw me for a little bit of a loop. How could I buy, make or share something that makes for a warm and cozy home for under $10?

So I started thinking. What makes me feel like my home is warm and cozy?What makes me feel warm?
Obviously, physically it would be a nice warm, cozy throw blanket.
Visually it might be a warm and toasty fire or a nice textured pillow.
For me, color can play a huge part for making me feel all warm and fuzzy too.Warm, rich color tones in the winter. Lighter, brighter ones for Spring and Summer.

As I was thinking all of these warm and cozy things, it hit me. Smell plays a  HUGE roll in what makes me feel warm too!

For instance, at Christmas I love the smell of cinnamon and cookies? The fresh scent of evergreens and crisp cold air.

Are you with me?

I have a confession to make. I’m a scented wax melt Junkie! In my home I have 4 wax burners burning 24/7. My powder bathroom has drawers dedicated to the storage of my melts, sprays, car scented tags and lights for the warmers. And don’t get me started on the warmers! 4 throughout the house, plus seasonal ones that I rotate…

I don’t discriminate in the brand of wax melts either. If I love the smell it’s coming home with me!

When I think about it, my addiction to the scent game is only rivaled by my throw pillow addiction!

My favorite scents are usually light clean scents. Like fresh linen, crisp cotton and silver bells. However, recently I discovered a new scent. Vanilla Pound Cake. I smell this and become a great big puddle and want to eat cookies all day! So. Good.

And the best part? There is one big rule for the wax melts. They must be under $10! My latest scent, Vanilla Pound Cake cost $7.89. 

One last thing, another of my favorites in winter is a big cup of International Coffee French Vanilla Cafe. I get the sugar free version which only has 60 calories. Of course the cookie that I want to eat with it kind of blows that out of the water! But, this coffee is another treat for right at $2.99 a container and is guaranteed to warm you up.

A cup of something good and wonderful, a delicious treat and the wonderful scent of your favorite thing – all are sure to make for a warm and cozy home.

Now I hope that you will join me and visit my blogger friends to see what fun ways that they warm up their homes!

Decorate and More With Tip
Blue Sky At Home
The Applestreet Cottage
Let’s Add Sprinkles
Patina and Paint

I can’t believe that it is the $100 Room Challenge art studio reveal day! Let me just give a great big thank you to Erin from Lemons, Lavender and Laundry for hosting this challenge. I honestly am not sure I would have gotten this room done without this challenge! Now, let’s get this party started.

First, let me recap where I started. We moved into this house at the end of last October. Because the holidays were fast approaching I basically put everything away, threw together the main living areas and bedrooms then called it good until after the holidays.

Which made for a very boring, not to mention chaotic art studio/office for me.It just wasn’t working.

My plan was to:     
* Sew and hang a relaxed roman shade     
* Paint my desk top and white workstation     
* Update my bulletin board     
* Recover my stool     
* Paint accessories and the 4 tiered tray     
* Make a window seat cushion     
* Paint a wall mural     
* Clean out closet and organize storage     
* Put together my wrapping cart     
* Organize my vinyl cart     
* Declutter everything     
* If I had enough in the budget install a chandelier and work on art pieces.

I am happy to say that I got it all done!

If you missed any of the previous weeks, you can see those here:
Week 1 |  Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Reveal

This room is by far the most colorful room I have ever had in my home. If I’m honest, I will say that this made me a little nervous. But, I love it! This is my view every morning. It makes me happy every time I walk in.

It is bright and happy. And makes my creativity flow. Seriously, I could kick myself for not doing it sooner. Especially since about 90% of it was paint or updating items I already had.

While not perfect, my supplies closet is organized, clean and clearly labeled. This was my first project in the room and it is amazing how great it felt when everything was clean!

My vinyl cart was cleaned, organized, labeled and moved to a more efficient place.

I think this may be the first time I’ve shared a picture behind the curtains of my work station. It’s all bins. All are now clearly labeled and cleaned out.

Although the inside of the desk drawer isn’t as pretty as I’d like it to be, it is organized and ready for work. Hopefully, sometime in the future, I will find pretty organizers that I like.

And last, but certainly not least, I’ve had time to get my calendar updated and decorated. I work so much better when it’s pretty!

Right inside of the office door is a small cabinet that houses a lot of art supplies. I haven’t shared this earlier because I didn’t do anything but clean this one out.

So how did my $100 budget come out?

* Fabric                                    $ 19.99     
*Fabric liner                            $   7.18     
*Cording                                  $    .99     
*L brackets                              $  2.28     
*Navy Paint, roller head       $ 28.10     
* Acrylic Paint                         $   1.72     
*Drawer Pulls                          $  8.66     
* Foam                                      $ 23.99     
* Cording                                  $  4.48
                                                   _________
For a grand total of:                   $ 97.39

Just under my $100 budget.

To finish this project and stay within my $100 budget, I dug deep and used paint, accessories and other items that I already had on hand. I can happily say that my art studio/ office is finished!

Now, I hope that you will join me in visiting my fellow bloggers to see their room reveals. I can’ wait!

When we moved into our new house at the end of October of last year, one of the first projects on our list was to give to do a fireplace remodel. Before we had even moved in I had drawn designs and had it all planned out as it was one of the big things about the house that I didn’t like. 

This is what it looked like the day we moved in.There were things that I loved about the mantle. I knew it had great potential, I loved the Austin stone, the brick, the size and the fact that it had a gas starter. I didn’t love the color of the mantle or the book cases beside it. Also, the previous owner had the Fruits of the Spirit painted on tiles and inset into the the fireplace wall. Now, I love the Fruits of the Spirit as much as the next girl, just not on my fireplace. Also, there was this weird row of Austin stone that stuck out above the the FOS tiles that made it feel like a second mantle. Definitely time for a remodel.

We decided that before we did anything in the house that we would replace all of the flooring. This house is 17 years old and had all of the original carpet and tile. While I am so glad that we did this, it put back our projects a few weeks. Now we were into November and only had a couple of weeks to get unpacked and to get a few projects done before all of the holiday rush began. It was my turn to host Pokeeno, also my turn to host my families Thanksgiving and to host The Queen’s annual Christmas party. The pressure was on!

I give The Hubs all of the credit for this project!I gave him a picture of what I wanted and he went to town. While I was unpacking, he was demolishing the fireplace and rebuilding it! I came home one afternoon to find a huge hole in the wall where the weird Austin stones protruded.(See red arrow.) Yikes! Once he had done that, he framed the wall above the fireplace in order to wrap the wall in wood. ( blue arrow)

Once the framing was complete, The Hubs nailed sheets of wood to the frames.Then added a raised panel design to the facade. After adding the raised panels, he gave the entire wood wall 3 coats of white paint. At this point, we had planned to go ahead and paint the mantle and the bookshelves beside the fireplace but ran out of time!

This is what the fireplace looked like 3 days before Thanksgiving. Didn’t The Hubs do a fantastic job? I love it! We decided to hold off on painting the shelving until after the holidays!

Fast forward to today. After I took down all of the Christmas decor, I slapped this picture and artichoke pottery up on the mantle until I could find something I loved.

On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby I found this sweet white mirror. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about putting a white mirror on a white mantle, but at 50% off it was worth giving it a try. If I didn’t like it I could always return it or put it in my entry. Once I got it up in place, I knew it was meant to be!

I added a few accessories and I have to say that I love it. I really, really love it. Now I have got to get busy painting those shelves besides the fireplace! Along with painting the walls, making curtains, painting the TV stand…The list is long my friends!

Until next time….

It’s week 4 of the $100 Room Challenge. I am so happy to report that I’m almost done! But first, let me remind you that I’m redecorating my art studio/office in 4 weeks for under $100. This challenge is hosted by Erin over at Lemons, Lavender and Laundry.

If you missed any of the previous weeks, you can get caught up here:
                 Week 1 | Week 2| Week 3 | Week 4 | Reveal

This week was spent making decisions about the rooms chandelier and accessories. I am so excited to say that I did get a chandelier and a BIG accessory that I had not planned on.

The beginning of the week found me digging out the accessories that I wanted to use. I cleaned, painted, hung and fluffed all of those. Unfortunately, I was still no closer to finding a light fixture that fit my budget. Which was super disappointing because this is what was hanging over my desk. It was huge and oversized for the space. The previous owner painted the fan with same flat wall paint that was on the walls and it had marks all over it from who knows what. And every time I looked up I felt like it was looming over me. 

I was just about to wave the white flag when I got a call from my BFF Roxanne. She’s moving in the late spring or early summer and wondered if I would like an old chandy that she had been planning to redo? Oh, and also, would I like to have her office chair? In her new house she didn’t have room for either. YES! YES, I would love both! I can not tell you how excited I was.

When  went to pick my goodies up, she had also found these crystals that she had purchased to hang on the chandelier. Did I want those too? Yes, ma’am!

Because unbeknownst to her, I had already dug out these crystals that I’ve been hoarding for years. My plan was to give this chandy some serious bling!

Once I got it home, I couldn’t wait to get started. I cleaned it thoroughly, then determined where I wanted my crystals to hang. With that decision made, I drilled holes in the chandy to hang the crystals from.

The chandelier was in good working order, it just needed a little face lift in addition to the bling. I decided to paint it with the left over milk paint that I used on my desk.

I left a little of the gold showing and gave the rest 3 good coats of the milk paint, followed by a spray topcoat to seal it and give it a little patina. Note: When cleaning it I used a deglosser that had TSP in it. This cleans it really well and helps the paint to adhere.

Because all the metal on the crystals was silver, I hand painted each tiny piece gold to match the gold on the chandelier. Can you say time consuming? But so worth it once it was hung.

After I added all the bling, The Hubs was kind enough to hang the chandy for me. I LOVE it! So much better than the dated ceiling fan. And because the chandy was free and I had everything else on hand – leftovers from previous projects – this chandelier makeover was free!

Remember that I said my BFF asked me if I wanted her office chair? Well, this is it. So. dang. excited! I’ve been drooling over this chairs for years. Not only is it beautiful, but is is super comfy.

So what did I do with my old office chair? I moved it to my workstation. If I raised all the way up, it was the same height of the stool I had recovered. I’d say both of these go in the win column.

Next week is the big reveal and I am so excited to share it with you, so please plan on coming back next Wednesday.

Now I hope that you will join me in visiting all of the other challenge participants. They are so talented and I am so honored to be a part of this group!

This months DIY Challenge is inspiration for warming your home this winter. For me, I like all the things. Texture, smells, warm and fuzzy, a nice fire in the fireplace and a good cup of hot tea! So when our hostess Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip issued this challenge I was excited!

In December I hosted a Queen’s party where we made these loop yarn wreaths. Super easy, fun and tons of texture. I had a ton of the yarn left over and decided to see if I could find something to do make with it.

I quickly stumbled upon a video tutorial from It’s Always Autumn. She’s great at sharing how to make this pillow! It looked easy. She said she made her’s in an hour or so while watching TV. Perfect! Or so I thought.

Now, before I get started, I want to say that Autumn is in no way responsible for my inability to create this pillow in an hour or so.FIVE DAYS people!Five days of hand knitting, pulling it out because I dropped a stitch, lots of cursing, more knitting, more pulling out…You get my drift.But, I DID finish it!With that said I will show you how I made it, but if it doesn’t make sense, or I loose you, please click on the link above and watch Autumns video.

1.  To start your pillow you will want to cut open the last 2 loops on the strand to make a tail. At the end of the project you can tie it off or just weave it in. Also, when you get to the end of your ball of yarn you will cut open the last loop to create a tail which you will tie to the beginning of the new ball of yarn. This creates a continuous strand to knit with.

We will start by making the back of the pillow. For the back, count out 24 loops with the tail to the right. Make sure that your loops point up and are as flat as possible. Although Autumn didn’t do this, I found it helpful to mark the end of my row with a clothes pin.

Now, take loop 25 and  pull it through the back of loop 24, pull up. Then take loop 26 and pull up through the back of loop 23. Continue to do this all the way across the row.

Once you have reach the end of the first row, you will do the same thing in reverse, going from right to left. Continue going back and forth until you have made an 18 X 18 inch square.

Now you will want to bind off your 18 inch square. At the top of the pillow  on the end of the last row, cut the next two loops to make a tail. Go back to the beginning of the row and take loop 2 and pull through loop one. Then loop 3 through loop 2, 4 through 3 etc. Continue until you are at the end, tie the last loop to the tail that you had made

Let’s make the top of the pillow! You will start by making a tail, just like you did for the back except you will count out 26 loops – tail to the right. Again, just like the back the 27th loop will be pulled from the back through the 26th loop. Instead of pulling up, you will pull down continuing pulling loops until you get to the right side.

At the end you will have a row of loops that will be pointing down and the original loops pointing up. Now go back through the same original loops and pull that row down. Give the two down loops a good tug down every 5 -6  loops, these 2 down loop rows are what creates the loopy texture. When you get to the end of the row, turn around and go through the same to the top loops, pull a third row of loops, this time pull straight up. You will have 1 row of loops up and 2 rows down. Each row that points up gets 3 rows pulled through it. 2 down1 up. Continue like this until you have an 18″ square. Bind off just like you did the back side.

Now Tie the back to the front. Lay back of pillow and the front of the pillow wrong sides together. Cut about 1 yard length of the yarn, snipping the loops at the bottom to create a string of yarn. Use the yarn to sew around 3 edges of the pillow together. To sew it together, tie one end to a tail and sew around the binding on both pillows.

Before sewing the 4th side, insert an 18″ pillow form. Then sew the 4th side shut. If you have any extra tails of yarn, simply tuck them inside the pillow.

Just like Scarlet O’Hara I’ll just say this: As God as my witness I will never make one of these again! However, I sure do like how warm and cozy it looks in my living room!
Now please join me in visiting my fellow DIY Challenge bloggers. I can’t wait to see how they warm up their homes for winter!

Terrie With Decorate And More With Tip 

Kelli at Olympic Nest

Dani at The Taborhood

Christine at CD’s Country Living

Cindy at Cloches and Lavender

Michelle at Blessings By Me

Mary at Shady Oak and Sassafras

Jessica at Jessica B Simmons

Shae at Sweet Southern Grace

Happy New Year my friends! I hope that you enjoyed your holidays as much as I did. As I get ready for the new year, I can’t help but look back at what I did over the holidays. The past few weeks have been super busy, a lot of fun and left me recharged and ready to rock 2020.

Besides shopping, going to parties, and watching football we did fit in an evening to go look at the Christmas lights in our neighborhood. So many beautiful and creative displays. One was even synced to music! So much fun.

Son #2 was sick over Christmas, so we didn’t get our usual photo by the tree. However, we did get this one taken at the Lagaly family Christmas. Even though it’s not the greatest picture of The Hubs, I’ll take it! With all of us living in different cities, going in different directions all of the time it is hard to get photos of all of us together.

Once the Christmas tree and decorations were put away, it was time to do a little decorating. We had only been in our new house a little over a month when it was time to put up the Christmas decor so I didn’t do a whole lot of decorating before. I’m having so much fun getting my decor out and playing with it!

Right before Christmas I hit up Hobby Lobby for a few last minute Christmas items and came home with a lot more than I went for. Who could resist at 50% – 60% off? I finally got around to hanging this shelf and pictures.

After Christmas I realized that our temporary dining table just wasn’t working. So I started shopping. And failed to find anything that I liked in my price range. So I found the cutest fixer upper table and chairs on Amazon Market. We picked these up the Saturday before New Year’s Day. We tied them down well, or so we thought. On the way home a huge gust of wind moved not one, but two chairs right into the table legs. Sigh. Oh, well. I wanted to learn how to cane a chair anyway. NOT. I also cut my hand on the chair pad, but decided to spare you that photo!

I started a loop yarn project that I will share with you next week on the DIY Challenge. Let’s just say that like Scarlet O’Hara says “as God as my witness I will NEVER do this one again.” The tutorial said it was a beginner project that took a couple of hours. 5 days later….We will leave it there until next week.

Last on my list of things I did over the holidays – I rearranged the living room. And I love it. Finally! It’s a long story involving a floor outlet, but could never get this room arranged to my liking. See where that little white chest is behind the sofa? Well, it took care of the floor outlet and the rest of the room fell into place. I’ll be on the look out for a small, skinny sofa table to replace it, but for now I am loving the look and feel of this room!
So what comes after the holidays?

Happy New Year my friends! I can’t believe that it is January 2020. I took a couple of weeks off to enjoy the holidays with the family and now I’m energized and ready to rock this year. I’m so excited to be participating in the $100 Room Challenge along with some other very talented bloggers
A great big thank you to Erin at Lemons, Lavender and Laundry for hosting!

That means I’ll be redesigning a room in my home in 1 month for $100 or less. We will be sharing our progress every Wednesday throughout the month of January. I’m thrilled. I’m scared. You know all the feels! So What room am I doing?

My art studio/office! I’ll be honest up until about two days ago this was not the room I had planned to do. I was dead set to redesign my laundry room.

In fact, I came into my office sat down and tried to do some major planning and I was so distracted by this hot mess that I couldn’t get anything done.

To the left of my desk is the best closet for an art studio that I’ve ever had, but this is what I saw every time I opened the door!

I mean, who could possibly be creative in here? In my defense, I was left alone, unsupervised and was running with scissors! Seriously, we moved into our new (downsized) home this past October and with the holidays so close I basically just unpacked and threw stuff in here. Thinking that the main areas of the house were more important.

In all honesty I’ve been planning each room of this house for a long time!

Here’s my inpso: I saw this dining room from Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss and fell in love. She and I even have the same rug!However, the mural was out of my price range.

And this window seat…. love, love, love.

So, Here’s my plan: Clean everything, declutter, donate and get rid of any and all stuff I don’t use. Organize the closet. Sew and hang a relaxed roman shade above the window seat. Paint the window seat white. Refurbish my bulletin board, tray and stool. Sew a cushion for my window seat. Paint a wall mural above my work station. If time and the budget allows, add desk lamp and a chandelier.

That’s not a lot, right? This girls got a lot of work to do!
Now please join me in visiting some really talented bloggers and see what they are up to!

We have been in our new home now for a little over a week and it’s finally starting to feel like home. Like we’ve actually made some progress here at the  castle.I’ll be honest half way through the week I had my doubts!It’s been super warm until yesterday, when we had a huge cold front blow through. Like 60 mile an hour blow through!So it was only fitting that we light our first fire!

This was the previous owners formal living room.We’ve decided that we don’t really need or want a formal living room, so we are going to make this room a library.We made our office in our last home a library and loved it.I have a feeling we will spend a lot more time in the Library than we would a formal dining room.All of the furniture that you see here will be finding new homes.Downsizing is not for the faint of heart!

In addition to unpacking hundreds, or what feels like hundreds of boxes, I’ve also done my fair share of shopping.We knew that we wanted to replace the oven.The oven was black, but at some point they had to replace the operation panel and replaced it with a white one. Umm… no thank you!What we didn’t anticipate was that the dishwasher and the microwave would need to be replaced immediately too.It’s always something!

I’ve also taken a little bit of time to look at fabric for curtains.Still no winners there.

If you look closely in the upper left hand corner, you will see the wallpaper in the guest bath that came with the house.Not bad, just not my style.

It took me a week to remove the wallpaper in the guest bath, but I’m happy to report that it’s done!Now , it’s time to paint walls, trim and cabinets!I’ll be sharing more on that with you soon.

Remember that I said that down sizing is not for the faint of heart?This is my favorite print.And it’s huge!It was in our former bedroom.Unfortunately, there is not one wall that this will fit on.Not one.Saying good-bye to some of my favorites has been really hard to do!

On a lighter note, I have found a little time to watch some football!Did you see the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants the weekend before last?This poor kitty found himself the center of attention when he decided to go out onto the field during the game.Once he appeared, Dallas came from behind for a win.This past week Dallas put him on their roster!Seems he went viral and is their new good luck charm.Turns out, he wasn’t such a great lucky charm after all. Dallas lost.
I promise to be back later in the week with a super cute Christmas craft!Yay!Until next time…

My BFF, Roxanne, went to Magnolia this past weekend. She found this wonderful basket in the dent and ding section and thought of me. Honestly, I am in love with it. It is HUGE! So huge it takes up almost the entire end of my dining table. Once I got it home, it was time to have some fun. I’ve spent the morning decorating a Magnolia basket!

Did I mention that she only paid $15.00 for this basket? Original it was $88.00.

What a steal!

I knew that I wanted to decorate my basket with fall decor.

In my mind, the basket would be decorated with lots of white pumpkins, some soft sage greenery and maybe some filler.

However, as I was unpacking my fall decor to see what I had and what I needed to buy , I saw that all of my velvet pumpkins matched my dining room chairs.

Since this basket was definitely going in the dining room, wouldn’t velvet pumpkins be a good fit?

So, I thought why not?

I could always try it out and if I didn’t like it, I would only be out my time.

I stacked the pumpkins in the basket and stepped back to see how it looked.

Right away, I noticed two things.

One, that white sweater pumpkin was too white to be with the rest of the pumpkins.

It had to go!

Two, it needed a little something else, besides pumpkins!

A little more texture, something to break up all of the velvet texture.

After digging through my stash, I found this simple berry vine.

And you know what?

I really like it!

Don’t get me wrong, I may still change it to the white pumpkins and sage greenery, but for today I’m loving all of the wonderful fall colors.

Decorating a Magnolia basket was a lot of fun!

So much fun that I see a lot more playing with my basket in my future!

Until next time…