Last week I shared a few things that we added to our shade patio. If you missed it, you can see those here. After we added the hanging baskets to the shed, it looked a little bare. It definitely need a little something to fill in the blank space on the wall. What better than to post the partio rules!

Yes, you read that right. Instead of a patio, we have a partio! What is a partio? It’s basically a patio, but you have so much more fun on a partio. My BFF Roxanne and I decided many years ago that we no longer had mere patios. Too proper for us for sure!

This is the week I lost my mojo. What? Even golfers get the yips. Or is that baseball players? Years ago tennis player Andy Roddick lost his. I know this because I saw the commercials of Andy missing the ball and bumping through life.

What exactly is Mojo? Wikipedia defines it as a magic charm. If I ever had a “magic charm”, I’ve certainly lost mine! Don’t get me wrong, I got a lot done this week. Just not that many things that I would call sharing worthy. Ever had one of those weeks? All I can say was the week started off well and then took a different direction.

As I was getting ready for Memorial day, I could not help but be thankful to all of the brave men and women who have served or are serving our country. There is not enough thanks in the world for what you do!

I’m a firm believer that getting ready for Memorial Day should be simple and easy. Here at the castle, we definitely have a low key Memorial Day.  Not a lot of decorating. More lets get together, have fun and eat some wonderful barbecue that the Hubs grills. Maybe swim or play a few games. I love every minute with my family!

Our house is 14 years old! We bought the house when it was a year old. So we didn’t get to choose the flooring, walls etc. I loved a lot of it, but there were a few things that I have never loved. I have to admit a mini guest bathroom makeover has been in the cards for quite some time.

This is what the bathroom looked like before the makeover. Not bad. But I hated the floor.  I knew it could be so much better!!!

A few weeks ago my sisters and I went through my Dad’s things. Some things we kept and some we sold. When it came time for me to choose what I wanted it was hands down my Dad’s toolbox!

Actually, I chose two of them. I think my sisters thought that I was crazy! They were dirty and beat up. The trash can was definitely calling!

I’m not getting anything done here at the castle! I’ve got about a thousand irons in the fire. All in different stages of completion.

Last weeks cold kept me down for the count, however I’m feeling better and hoping to put out all of the little fires this week.

I’ve been under the weather this week. So not much has gotten done if it can’t be done from the sofa. I hate weeks like this! Updating the guest bathrooms has been on my mind for quit sometime. Mainly, new flooring. I’m not fooling myself though. I know that once the flooring is done, I’m going to want to replace the ugly countertops. Of course, a new mirror would mean new lighting! See? That’s how it goes here at the castle.

This is my inspiration photo.  I love it. Let’s start with floor my tile decision. 

My sweet niece is now the mother of three little boys. All 5 and under! Once she knew she was pregnant with her third boy, she started rearranging and decorating the boys rooms. Her 2 year old was about to get a little/big boy room!

The first order of business was to find furniture.  Her 2 year old’s crib turns into a full size bed, so she planed on moving the crib into the new room .   We found this diamond in the rough on Craig’s List. It was super sturdy.  Pretty? Not so much!

When my son recently asked if I would make a trip to IKEA with him, of course I said yes! Who could turn down the opportunity to spend time with their son and shop at the same time? Not me.  How did my trip to IKEA turn out?

Pretty well, if I do say so myself! I bought a towel bar, a paper dispenser, cutting boards, and a door mat. Needless to say I could have bought so much more!

The weather is still a little cool here in North Texas. Yesterday it hailed and rained! Since I am in the house until the weather clears up a bit, I’ve decided to work on framing some black botanicals.

I purchase this book a good six months ago. I knew that the beautiful pages would make  awesome art work!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter! Normally, the day after Easter has me putting away the bunnies and starting to work in my garden. However, the weather isn’t co-perating. It’s cold! So, today I’m going to share just a few things with you that I do have going on.

It’s spring at the Castle. Finally! Spring is my favorite season, tied with summer. There are a couple of reasons that I love spring so much. First, my birthday is March 20, the first day of spring. Woo Hoo!

Second, after a long winter there is nothing like my garden blooming and all things spring making an appearance inside the castle.

I finally did it. I ended up painting the front door Serene blue! You all know I’ve been waffling back and forth on the color. Should I just repaint it black?

Or go with something daring like turquoise? Maybe navy? Decisions, decisions!

I have the cutest little bunny on the front porch!  Not a real bunny, thank goodness, but a bunny door hanger.

My friend, Roxanne, and I went to lunch yesterday. After lunch we decided to stop in World Market and check out their Easter goodies. They had such cute bunnies and pigs! This little pig cracks me up!

My niece Laura, and her family, have been renovating an older farm house for the last six months. It’s finally finished so my sisters and I spent the past weekend decorating Beep’s nursery!

Well, we didn’t just decorate Beep’s nursery. We did help hang art, clean, hang ceiling fans, light fixtures, microwaves and play with Beep. In other words, we had so much fun!

A few weeks ago, I changed out the white sofa table for a brown console with drawers and shelving.  I decorated the top but put off decorating the shelves for awhile!

I wanted to find things I loved, not just fill it up for the sake of filling it up. Weeks have gone by and while I haven’t found every thing that I want, I finally got around decorating the shelves!

I have a new lamp in the bathroom.  I know, not where you would normally put one, but I love this look. Plus, they make great night lights for company!

I’ve been looking for a new one for awhile for one of the guest bathrooms. But let’s face it, it hasn’t been at the top of my list.

This was the old lamp.

It had definitely see better days. The shade was wrinkled. It was too tall.

What was I thinking when I put on that trim?

I found the cutest lamps at Hobby Lobby in the sale isle.

It was perfect. Except the shade had dark marks all over it.  However, the price was right. I figured that if the shade didn’t clean up, then I would buy a new one.

Guess what? With a little elbow grease and a magic eraser it came clean!

You can’t tell where the black marks were.

I don’t know about you , but  one of my pet peeves is cords. I cannot tell you how much they bug me. They can put a man on the moon but they can’t  hide cords. Grrr…

I  tied the excess cord up with a pretty ribbon and tucked it away as nicely as possible, but  I still hated the way it looked.

CordMate to the rescue!

A Cordmate is a hollow plastic tube with an open channel in the side with sticky tape on the back. It comes in several different lengths that are easily cut to the size you need.

Just tuck your cord into the tube and stick it to your wall or the back of a piece of furniture to hide your cord.

Genius right?

It’s much neater and keeps the messy cord out of the way.

The Cordmate is also paintable. I left this one the color of the marble, but I’m toying with painting it the color of the wall.

Once the practical issues were out of the way, it was time to add a little bling.

These crystals are magnetic!

I love how the crystals match the base of the lamp.

The new lamp in the bathroom is so much better than the old one.

It really is the little things.

Until next time…

              Tammy

We have a new bedroom barn door! You have no idea how excited I am! It’s Been in the works for over a year now.

I know that a year is a really long time, but I just couldn’t decide on the style of door!

You all know that I occasionally like to try a craft off of Pinterest. Fab or Fail. Well, let me tell you that this one was so far beyond a fail that I’m calling it the agony of defeat!

It’s Ten on the 10th! Which means ten of my blogger friends and I are sharing ideas with you on the 10th of the month, for under $10.00! Woo Hoo!

Rearranging the furniture in the living room is problematic for several reasons. A corner angled fireplace. A Wall of windows. An open concept. A stairwell wall. See what I mean?

Over the years I’ve come to terms with furniture placement in this challenging room. Except for the stairwell wall.

I am so excited to share with you KariAnne Wood’s, of Thistlewood Farms, new book The DIY Home Planner!

The DIY Home Planner is not out yet, but it will be soon. I promise you that this little book will change your decorating life!

Recovering two stools has required quite a bit of motivation on my part.

Recovering? Not Reupholstering? The definition of recovering is: to restore to or return to normal or to restore ones state of mind. Since these two projects have been driving me crazy, I’m sticking with recovering!

Honestly, once I was finished recovering both stools I wanted to kick myself for not doing it sooner!

This sweet little vanity stool was the first one to be tackled.  Boy, did it need it! Here’s how I recovered two stools and my sanity.

We all know that children’s rooms can get a little chaotic. Okay, a lot chaotic, messy,  and unorganized in a very short amount of time.  My sweet niece is getting ready to move into her new house soon, fingers crossed, and we have been working on getting her nursery decor ready for move in day for some time now. Since it’s been cold, I decided that making Adrianna’s coat rack would be the perfect indoor project for me!

We lovingly call the baby Beep, but her given name is Adrianna Paisley. I took my cue on decorating the coat rack using her name. Adrianna and paisleys! Cheesy, I know, but cute none the less. Want to know how I made the coat rack? Keep reading!

Recently, my BFF Roxanne and I were complaining that we feel like a hamster on a wheel. A lot of motion, but not getting a lot done! So we decided to band together and help each other accomplish our mound of unfinished projects. Once a week, we plan on getting together until all of our projects are finished. It’s gonna be awhile! The first project would be Roxanne’s room!

Where to start? Why, with a chandelier of course. Our plan was to bling it out and we would be done! Is that what happened? No, it is not!