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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time…..

                      Tammy

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

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

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

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

Table top..

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

Gold feet…

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

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

Until next time…

                Tammy

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

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

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

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

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

A picture of the side…. love little bugs.

Another view with the back in the down position.

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

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

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

Until next time…

           Tammy

I wasn’t looking for Easter decor, it’s too early! I was in HomeGoods browsing and came across the cutest table linens. Usually I am lucky to find just ONE thing I love. And for those of you who are lucky enough to have a HomeGoods in your area , you know that if you find it, you had better pick it up NOW or it won’t be there when you go back. This is how my Easter decorating dilemma began!

The first thing I found were these awesome square polka-dotted placemats.  The turquoise would be great in my kitchen, but the light blue would be awesome in my dining room.  Maybe I should go with the coral for a contrasting color? Plus, they even had matching napkins.  Rick rack.. I love rick rack. Although I rarely do matchy-matchy stuff. But these were so cute….

And then I heard the Angels start singing when I found these . They all matched the polka-dot colors! AND THEY HAD RUFFLES on them. Sigh… Go Matchy-Matchy or go with a solid? Love the sherbet colors!

While I was pondering matchy-matchy or contrast napkins, I saw these really sweet seersucker napkins. AGAIN, they were the exact colors and I love stripes….

I almost had my decision made when I found these…. OMG! So. Darn. Cute!  The dilemma is getting bigger by the minute! Neutral tones go with everything.

It was bad enough that there were cute little bunnies, but then I found these with nest on them… I LOVE bird nests! Dang it!

And last, but certainly not least, I saw these. I immediately loved the color and knew that they would be awesome in my black and white kitchen.  I could just cry…

I gotta tell you that for a girl who usually knows her mind, I spent a lot of time deciding which ones of these to take home! I wanted them all. If I were a kid, this is where I would throw a hissy fit! PLEASE…CAN I TAKE THEM ALL HOME MOM???? PLEASE…. I NEED THEM…

What a dilemma! They were all pretty, all a really great price and I knew that they would all work in my home. But which ones to take home?

I spent a lot of time in HomeGoods. I figured after awhile I needed to make a decision before they though I was up to no good. So I flipped a quarter – several times- to help me make my decision. HEY! Don’t judge… I didn’t have my magic eight ball with me or I would have used that instead.

I am still not sure what I am going to do with what I brought home. But just like Scarlet O’Hara…As God as my witness I will think about that tomorrow. And then I will share it with you.

Until next time…..

                    Tammy

Happy Mardi Gras! Yay!!!! I am so ready to eat King Cake! The bakery here at the castle has been hoppin’. It takes all day for me to make King Cake, cuz you know I can’t just make one. One for each of my princes, one for the castle and one for the Hubs to take to work.  Lot’s of work, but so worth it!

As I told you all in my last post, Mardi Gras is the celebration of the coming of the Magi (wisemen) 12 days after Christmas, bearing gifts for the Christ Child. Mardi Gras is always on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which is  the beginning of lent.

When you think of Mardi Gras you probably think of wild parades in New Orleans, however Mardi Gras is celebrated all along the Gulf Coast here in America. Part of that celebration is the King Cake.

What is King Cake you ask? King cake is a delicious sweet bread, kinda like a cinnamon roll, that  is traditionally round, symbolizing the circular route the wisemen took to confuse King Herod and his army from following them to the baby Jesus. (No wonder it took three men 12 days to get there!) The cake is topped with heavenly icing and sprinkled with colored sugar in the three colors of Mardi Gras. The three colors are: Purple (representing Justice), Green (representing Faith) and Gold (representing Power).

A tiny plastic baby (symbolic of the baby Jesus) is hidden inside the cake for people to find. In the past there were other hidden items placed inside the cake such as coins, beans and plastic jewelry     (representing the gifts from the wisemen). Apparently, centuries ago, the choosing of the Mardi Gras Queen was determined by who found the Baby Jesus within the cake. Today, finding the baby is a sign of good luck and in some cultures it is customary for the person finding the Baby Jesus to bring the King Cake to the next party or to host the next King Cake party.

 Today, King Cake is part of a tradition that brings friends and family together to celebrate a joyous season. Who doesn’t love that? Since I don’t live on the Gulf Coast, I make my own King Cake and if I do say so myself, it is yummo.  I love me some Mardi Gras!

Y’all know I am the Queen, so I say Let’s get this party started… Let them eat King Cake and Let the Good Times Roll!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Until next time…..

                  Tammy

Happy Mardi Gras y’all!  I thank God for good friends.  In a former life my Hubs was a banker at a savings and loan. He was sent to Georgia for a banking conference and was fortunate enough to meet one of the best friends of his life, Dennis. Dennis was from the Gulf coast area and was more than happy to share his life and traditions with us.

Before Dennis, I – like many others – thought Mardi Gras was a New Orleans, Bourbon Street thing. It is for some, but simply put, for a large majority it is the celebration of the three Wisemen finding the baby Jesus. Now I realize that it is much more than flashing ta ta’s, being over served, parades and beads. It is a wonderful experience that brings  like minded people together  for a pre-Easter celebration. Good food, good fun and good friends. Okay…maybe a parade and grabbing a few beads along the way too!

Here in North Texas there isn’t much Mardi Gras celebrating going on. I still like to pull out the beads, the feathers, the shiny and decorate. I have learned to make King Cake and quietly celebrate all the while thinking of Dennis and his family amidst all the fun.

My chalkboard…

My kitchen table. This year Mardi Gras season was really short. So decorating was at a minimum.

Decorating for Mardi Gras is so easy because even though the main colors are green, gold and purple, you still see all kinds of colors mixed in.

My table is really simple. Green and hot pink placemats. Gold chargers. White plates. Royal purple napkins with beaded crown napkin rings.  Fun glasses. Crowns, beads, more beads, and feathers.

Pink Beads,  green beads,  white beads, blue beads, gold beads …did I mention beads?

Even the chairs get their own beads.  Business in the front…

With a party in the back!

Makes me smile every time I look at it!

Thanks Dennis!

Until next time….

      Tammy

I post a lot of projects that I have done to my house, but the fact of the matter is I DO have a business where I paint just about darn near everything!  Problem is you may not know it because I don’t post all of my painting adventures. Not all clients want their furniture, walls, etc. posted on line for the world to see. I get that.

I started this blog as a way to let people know that you can hire me to paint for you AND that I have items available for sale here at the castle. I’ll bet if you polled my readers they would tell you that my blog is about home decor. And it is. But it didn’t start that way. I have been so busy working for others and working on my home that I haven’t had time to focus on sharing what I do in my painting business.  My goal for this year is to share with you more of what I paint.  Today I want to share with you the sweetest drop leaf table and chairs!

This is one of my first trash diving finds. It was at the curb and had a burn hole in the middle of the table about six inches around and half an inch deep! Makes you wonder how it got there, right?

Anyway after a couple of containers of wood filler, I faux finished it to look like wood and painted a leaf design around the top edge.  With the leaves folded down, it worked great as a sofa table.  This past year I decided to spice it up a little and painted it Miss Mustard Seed’s Tricycle.  I liked it, but with new furniture in the living room, it just hasn’t worked as well as it had in the past.  So I decided to sell it and find something that works a little better. I had a few chairs to pair with it, I just needed to make them match.

I am having to work inside due to weather…ugh! Here is my little table all extended, painted Annie Sloan’s Graphite over the Tricycle red.  A little distressing with fine sandpaper ,  a coat of clear wax and two coats of dark wax,  add a tiny bit of gold accent paint, a little cleaning on the brass legs, a TON of rubbing to make the wax shine and this is my final result….

She is a beauty! All that work was so worth it!

Here is another angle. Please ignore the rug. I moved the table and chairs into my kitchen dining room to get better pics. Lighting can be a challenge here at the castle! Also, for some reason the chair color looks way different from the table in this picture, but they really aren’t.

Details from the side. One of the things I like best about chalk paint is that a finished piece can look a hundred years old. Woo Hoo!

Such pretty legs. Isn’t the detail pretty on this piece?

The chairs are super comfy… I had eight of them given to me last year. The Hubs made three into a bench. I painted them black and upholstered with this material… it worked so well I decided to go with it again. It is such a happy material! Again, I painted these chairs red, then painted graphite on top. Love how the red pops through.

The details on this chair are awesome!

My sweet dog Sadie. Why is it when I am taking photos she is always trying to photo bomb?

When this table is all folded up, it would be perfect in a small breakfast nook or apartment. When the leaves are extended it is  a great full size table that you could add four more chairs to. Two on each side allows you to seat six, which in my book almost makes it the perfect table! Plus, I love the mix and match look. No matchy, matchy here at the castle!

This set is for sale on my website, if you are interested take a look on my shopping page.

until next time….

                          Tammy

I have a lot of little nieces and nephews that I like to give a little somethin’ to on holidays like Valentine’s Day. Problem is, that as they get older, it gets a little harder to find a gift that isn’t junk, one that I haven’t given before or one that isn’t out of my price range.  I want to give them something that they will actually use and like. Thank goodness for Pinterest – it gave me a ton of ideas for my Valentine’s Day gift!

I saw some really sweet gifts created by using your circuit or silhouette machine and EOS – or a similar type- lip balm. Lots of cut outs with really cute slogans to go with them.

I got out my circuit and my imagination and got to work. I decided to make flowers. Every girl wants flowers for Valentine’s. Right? Here is how I did it.

First, cut several sizes of the same flower shape out, using different scrap papers and glue them together.

Determine the size of hole that you will cut out of the middle of your flowers. You will need this hole to attach your flower cut out to your lip balm. You are basically “sandwiching” your flower between the two sides of the lip balm container.

To determine the size of hole you will need, just unscrew the lid of your lip balm and measure the circumference of  the”balm” part. This will ensure that the hole you cut out will  surround the balm and lay on the lip where it screws together.

Mine was 1 1/2 inches. I even bought a hole punch in that size. However, I couldn’t use it as my flowers were too large to fit inside of the hole punch. SIGH!

Cut out a 1 1/2 inch circle and use it as a template.

Then cut the circles out with scissors. Not as nice of a clean edge that I would like, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do! Ya know?

Next, add the next thing a girl wants for Valentine’s Day. BLING!!!

Cute! Now, you could add glitter or use a metallic pen at this point, to add some dimension… the possibilities are endless.

Next, unscrew your lip balm and lay your cut out over the balm. Replace the lid.  Ta Da! You have a really cute “flower” .

Glue a larger rhinestone onto the middle of your lip balm lid – A girl can’t have too much bling!

Next cut out a leaf for your flower. You could cut one out on your circuit or use a template, but I just winged it and cut it out with my scissors.

Roll the edges of the leaf onto a green stamp pad. By giving the edges some color you also add dimension. You could also use dark green chalk to rub on the edges.

Then use a sharpie or pen of your choice to write you Valentine’s Day message before gluing the leaf to the flower.

Ta Da! Quick and easy. Practical and pretty. The perfect gift!

Only 14 more and I am done!

Until next time….

I shared with you my meager Valentine’s Day decorations last week. I guess it inspired me to go to a little more effort for the ones I love. I felt like it was the least I could do to set my Valentine’s Day table!

I usually decorate my formal dining table but this time I just wanted to do this on a smaller scale using things that I already had.  Plus, the kitchen table is really where my family eats almost every meal. And this is for them…

I have a confession to make. A few years ago I wanted some pink place mats to go on my Halloween table. Only thing was, it was impossible to find pink during Halloween. So I decided to spray paint some of the orange placemats I already had. It worked beautifully. I left one side orange and the other side pink. Just in case I wanted to have a complete set of either color. Truly one of my better ideas.

Today it’s the pink set.

Now for some fun layering! After the placemat I added red chargers that I use at Christmas. Dishes? Well you know I love white! And finally, red dessert plates. Eye candy!

Time for napkins. Since we are in the dining room and it is predominately black and white, I pulled out the black with white polka dot bandannas that I used at Halloween. My new napkin rings I bought last summer on sale. First time to use them…More Bling!

Now this is where I add the silverware, but for some reason that picture has vanished.. yikes!

Some red Christmas glasses finished out the place setting.

Now for the centerpiece.  I stole some greenery in a white urn from the living room. Sorry you can’t see it better… another pic mysteriously missing…surely not the camera operators fault?

I had some leftover cut out hearts from the valentine garland that I made, so I used those to make placards with our names printed on them and even tucked a few into the greenery of the centerpiece.

For a little fun I added some “cupid’s arrows” I made from valentine’s straws, cutout hearts and some blingy feathers.

My valentine’s day table is complete.  I thought about adding some bling sprinkled around the table top. Maybe some rose petals sprinkled here or there…but again, we eat here for every meal. I cringe at the thought of having to remove all of that every time I wash the table.  I kind of like it a little more simplified and stream lined – makes it easier for my family to see that I love them!

until next time….

Sorry this post is so late. Went out of town for a few days and thought that I would auto post! NOT! So forgive me if I am a few days late.

I couldn’t help myself.  I usually walk right by the floral section at the grocery store. Not because I don’t like flowers, because I do. I would spend a fortune every week, especially now, because I am So. Over. Winter. After the past few weeks I feel like I need some serious light therapy. This time I couldn’t resist because I am dreaming of spring!

So I bought these lovelies and put them in one of my garden crowns. Two things I love.

It was so darn pretty. Except.. that I could see the ugly plastic pot. I KNOW! I am getting knit picky, but some things just drive me nuts! OCD much?

Ribbon to the rescue!  A little bit of two inch yellow lattice pattern ribbon and my problem was solved. I truly like this so much, I may be buying flowers more often. Well, at least until spring arrives and my own garden starts blooming. It really is the little things in life.

Until next time….

I cannot believe that it is already time to celebrate Valentine’s Day! Seems like it was just yesterday we were eating turkey and putting up the Christmas tree. And January. Well, I have officially dubbed it the official Month of Birthdays. My reason? Ryan, Tyler, Roxanne, Sally, Siana, Heather, Caleb,and Judy. All who have birthdays that I celebrate in the month of January.

I don’t really decorate much for Valentines. We don’t even really do much in the way of gifts. Some candy, a cute little gift – that is about it. Just a little token to say I love you.

My chalkboard is one of the few things I do to celebrate Valentines. This year instead of just drawing my message of love on the board, I added the heart garland. I just love my circuit machine! Makes the garland so much easier. My chalkboard was like a little black dress. It just needed a little joo-ry! Gotta love my Valentine’s Day chalkboard!

OH.. and a little side note…

My paperwhites grew faster than the alien plant in Little Shop of Horrors! ( If you haven’t seen LSOH -you must!) They did everything but scream “Feed me Seymour, Feed me!” They grew so much that they fell over from the weight. I thought I had another plant fail on my hands until I saw a blog post from Yvonne at Stonegable.com.  Seems that just the way paperwhites roll. Her solution?

A few sticks and some ribbon.

I cut some small branches from my tree, stuck them in the dirt and used the ribbon to tie the paperwhites to the sticks.  A cute and easy fix. Thanks Yvonne! Not gonna lie by the time we hit this point they only lasted another week.  Next time I will do this a good week  to two weeks sooner. Yay me! I guess with a little guidance I can grow plants indoors. Maybe!

Until next time….

Funny thing, I have been painting wooden signs for other people for a long time, but I have never painted one for myself.

I painted these signs for my friend Gigi just before Christmas.

She wanted signs with wording that meant something to her family instead of the generic ones that you find everywhere.

I had a “left over” sign… it was meant to be!

I stained the sign brown. Then painted it white, followed by a coat of Duck Egg. A little distressing and it was ready to go.

I printed off the initial of my last name, turned it over and taking a pencil, I colored over the entire letter area. Flip your letter over and place it where you want it…

Take an ink pen and outline the letter. Where ever you draw with the pen, the pencil will transfer leaving you an outline of you letter so you can clearly see where to paint. So Easy! Now… just paint!

This trick doesn’t work with every sign, some I  just draw by hand ,but for simple lettering this is fast and easy!

TA DA!!!! Here is my lovely painted wooden sign!

Perfect on my front porch!

Lovin’ that I have my own wooden sign!  Not bad for an afternoons worth of work.

Until next time….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time….

There is a trend that has been around for awhile – skulls.  My son Tyler LOVES them. On everything. So for his birthday, I  recovered and painted a sad little chair for him. I can’t wait to show you Tyler’s chair before and after!

This is the sad little chair. Great bones. Really old and ratty upholstery. My mission: Paint the wood black, add silver accents.  Reupholster the fabric part with some really cool and fun fabric. In other words: Make it Fabulous!

I took apart the upholstery and used it for a pattern for the new fabric (thank you Amazon!). I am not gonna lie, the seat cushion was a beast! This is one time that using the existing fabric for a pattern wasn’t the best idea.

The fabric had stretched out on one side of the cushion causing the pattern to be off. Really off.  Problem was I didn’t realize it until it was too late. So I have a slightly “off” cushion. One side being slightly larger than the other. Honestly, unless your looking for it you might not even notice. It just drives me crazy!  Sigh. Note to self: Lay out both sides together and make sure that they are the same before cutting out the new fabric!

Here is Tyler’s finished chair. I used two different fabrics for interest. The skull pattern and men’s suiting material.  A party on the top and all business on the bottom!

I used an oil based metallic silver sharpie to outline the detail on the chairs legs and arms.

When I picked up this chair I really thought that reupholstering it would be a breeze. Turns out that of all of the chairs I have redone it was definitely the most challenging!

Even though the cushion is a little wonky – I think he likes it.  YES! Which is all that really matters! I can’t wait to give it to him!!

Until next time…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

My beauty all lit up….

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

Until next time…

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the famed wall with dart holes galore!

The view to left as you come up the stairs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time…

Every once in awhile you come across something that you love, can’t live without or is just plain fun. Instead of keeping all of these fun things to myself I’ve decided to share them with you my peeps! I do this not because I am the wonderful, sharing person that I am, but because I love you and want you to experience all of the goodness of the things I love!

You’re welcome!

Every Christmas the Queens exchange gifts. This year my bestie, Rox, and I went together and bought gifts. Rox came up with this super fun gift idea – a Fragrant Jewels Candle.  (not getting paid to show you this lovely candle, just so ya know!) This is not only a fragrant candle for your home, BUT inside of each candle is a ring that values from $10.00 – $10,000! Woo Hoo!  The candles cost about $25.00 and you get to choose your scent and the size of the ring in the candle.

As you can see the ring is buried in the candle behind this gold dot. Thank goodness the ring isn’t at the bottom of the candle! Can you imagine having to wait until you burned the entire candle to get to the ring? ha! No way!

All you do is light the candle and enjoy the fragrance. And wait. And wait! It took me a couple of days of burning the candle about two to three hours to get it down to where I could get to the ring. I know! I am an impatient girl…

I fished it out with tweezers as you have to pull it out while the wax is still pretty warm.  NOTE:  Don’t hit the burnt wick.. it leaves ugly black pieces everywhere. Guess my enthusiasm got the better of me!

The ring was in a small plastic ziplock bag that was wrapped in foil.  On the ring is a tag that has the site address and code for you to go to and check out just how much your ring is worth.

Once at the site, you just type in the code that was on your ring tag…

And up pops your jewels worth!

Here is my ring! pretty…. Yikes! My hands look really dehydrated here.. Must. Drink. More. Water!

The fun of this gift was the anticipation… what would it look like? How much would it be worth?  What did everyone else get?

I chose the lemon drop scent. I love Lemon Verbena , however I will say that this scent was more lemon pledge than lemon verbena.  Not bad, just not what I expected.

Overall – I loved this product just because it was fun!  Don’t we all need a little more fun in our lives?

Until next time…..

Here at the castle we are putting up last minute decorations, cooking up a storm and doing a lot of just enjoying the moments!  We hope that you are doing the same.

From our castle to yours….. Merry Christmas!

Until next year…..

The Hubs and I  have been busy little elves here at the castle.  We love to make gifts when we can. We have ten of the sweetest nieces and nephews that we buy Christmas gifts for and we love to be creative!

This is the year of legos! Legos Super Heros, Legos Friends…. lots of legos for both boys and girls. I saw a legos tray on Pinterest and thought it would be an awesome gift for the Hubs and I to  make to go with all of the legos.  Their Mom’s and Dad’s just might like the legos tray too, as it helps contain the small pieces while building.  Love that the trays are just the right height that they can be slid under a bed or a sofa for storage too. Somehow in all of the building we realized that we had one too many. I quickly snagged the extra up and made my very own Black and gold tray!

I started with raw wood and my all time favorite spray paint.  Rustoleum’s Metallic gold.  It is my favorite gold ever.  It covers super awesome, no drips or runs and it is a true gold.  What’s not to love here? This is one coat in the picture. If I had primed the wood I would have been done. Since I didn’t prime, I gave it one good coat. Let it dry. Then gave it a light second coat.

I wanted to give it some pattern.  Frog tape to the rescue.  I am not being paid to endorse this product  – just so you know!  I have used this before with good results so I thought I would try it out again.

If I were a good little painter I would have measured and marked where my tape should go. But I just eye balled it. I figure if people are going to look at the tray that closely they have issues. Their bad!  After placing the tape and rubbing down the tape edges to make sure that there would be no bleeding, I gave it a good coat of black Rustoleum gloss  spray paint.

Pretty and shiny, no?

Paint tip: Pull tape off before the paint completely dries.  I let this sit until it was just barely tacky and then with the help of my craft knife, I gently pulled the tape off.  Waiting for the paint to completely dry usually leads to pulling paint off  of your painted piece when the tape is removed.

Unfortunately, I had a few bleeds. Argh!  So I waited until the piece was completely dry, taped off my black areas again and re-sprayed the gold stripes with a very light coat.

Once the tray completely dried again, I installed simple gold handles on each side. Not too shabby if I do say so myself!  I can’t wait to use it after the new year.  Merry Christmas to me!

Until next time….

I have a confession. I am a serial indoor plant killer.   Outside – I am good to go. Mother Nature has my back.  Inside?  It is  adios to the plant, poor thing.  I have tried, but according to my seester and bestie, who apparently are indoor plant aficionados, I either water too  much or not enough. Or I get spiders or gnats.  Are you with me? It is not pretty, let me tell you.

I was shopping for a gift to take to Pokeeno and found this.  It has everything that you need to grow paperweights. Cute container, bulbs, dirt and instructions.  How far could I go wrong? So I took it home and promptly decided to heck with this as a Pokeeno gift!  I will be growing paperwhites!

The cute container has a waterproof liner. Yay!

First step: Add soil. So far so good!

Next – just bury the paperwhite bulbs, leaving the tops out of the soil.  This was a no brainer – figuring out the tops from the bottom -as my paperwhites were already growing. Growing in really weird directions…..

Step 3:  The instructions say water, but don’t over water.  Yikes!  I am just gonna wing it and pray for the plants.  You might want to help me out and pray too! lol!

Here are my sweet paperwhites.  Not quite so pretty yet but I have high hopes.

Can’t wait to share them with you when they get tall and pretty! Who knows, if this goes well I may branch out and try an Amaryllis or maybe a Venus fly trap!

Until next time…..

Welcome back for my Christmas home tour part 2! In my last post I showed you my kitchen and eat in dining area. Today we are gonna hit the rest of the Castle!

I shared my tree with you in an earlier post this past month.  We bought a new one this year. Our old one had to go. I was literally tying up the branches with fishing line.  The Hubs went to put it away for me last year and made a detour to the trash instead of the attic!  The old tree was HUGE! Not just in height but in width at the bottom.  I was always rearranging furniture. The hubs insisted that it be a “skinny” tree. I had my doubts, but I do love this one.

I love adding Christmas pillows, although I don’t have that many. My goal this next year is to make slipcovers for the pillows I use everyday.  We shall see! My mantel again, can’t be live greenery due to allergies, so I just go with faux greenery and decorate it to match the tree.

You all know I love colored glass and have collected since I was a child. Well, this is my second obsession – snow globes. This is my Christmas collection.  I put it out on the coffee table. I usually wind different colored beads between them, but this year  I was in the mood for a simpler look.

The last few years I seem to be drawn to these silly snow girls. They just make me smile!

I changed up the garland on the stairs this year. New ribbon, less stuff hanging from it and I just did two large drapes as opposed to five. Getting the garland even was a nightmare!   My son’s nutcracker collection was on the fireplace mantel for years. As with all things here at the castle, I was ready for a change. I wasn’t ready to get rid of them. ( He WILL want them someday!) So I decided to use them at the base of the stair treads.  I used Command Strips to ensure that they couldn’t be knocked over.

I like that I get to really see and enjoy them.

At the end of the stairs I have a swag. Nestled inside is a gold musical bell my Granny used to hang in her dining room doorway.  I still remember my Grandpa lifting me up so I could pull the string so the bell could make music. Good memories!

And last, but not least, my dining room. I love stacking different dishes at each place setting. This  is what the table looked like this year for the Queens party. All extended for eight.  This will change soon as I decorate if for the four of us for our Christmas dinner. I try and change it up a bit every year without going out and buying all new stuff.  This year I decided to decoratively fold the napkins instead of using a napkin ring.  I also mixed up the stemware.  Can you tell I like eclectic?

Oh, I almost forgot – my powder room. It is tiny so I have limited space for decor. I can’t believe I am showing you but here goes. This is my two legged tree.  I lost one of the legs. I keep thinking that I am going to make a base for it but ain’t nobody had time for that here at the castle lately! Thank goodness you really only see it head on and not from the side so you don’t notice it – much.  I placed the cute and crazy owl next to it as a diversion.

That is the conclusion of my Christmas home tour. I hope you enjoyed it,maybe even got a few new ideas and if you are like me you realize that if your Christmas decor isn’t a model show home worthy, it really is OK!

Merry Christmas!

Until next time…..

WARNING!!! If you are expecting a home tour of the perfect model home filled with fresh greenery, perfectly matching decor that looks like it came out of a magazine – this ain’t it! Some days I wish it were.  We are allergic to fresh greenery and we actually LIVE here with a psycho cat and a big lab. Not to mention that I just wasn’t in the mood to have every surface available decorated this year. Hey!  It is my circus and it is my monkeys!  I have to keep reminding myself that it can’t be perfect all of the time!  This is my Christmas home tour!

I was gonna show you all of the downstairs in one post but as I was taking pictures it occurred to me that it might be too much information overload. Plus, I would have to make sure everything was picture perfect – ALL AT ONCE!  Not gonna happen! So I am going to break it up into two parts for you.  Starting with my kitchen and eat in dining area!.

This year I am keeping it simple. Yeah, I keep saying that. Denial much?  I love my sweet hutch. It reminds me of one my Granny used to have! Here is where fresh greens draped across the top with candles and berries would be killer awesome!  Allergies – remember? Instead I have my Christmas dishes and my white dishes mixed together with a few other items.

Here is a close up of the shelving.  I love how versatile white dishes are!

The eat in dining area.  Again.. I just use the white dishes and add in my Christmas dishes. This table gets used everyday. A lot. So having a fussy tablescape is not an option for me. At. All.

I fought buying Christmas dishes for years.  Everyone I know had Spode.  I like it, I just wanted something different.  Something I could dress up but at the same time use daily.  We are pretty casual here at the Castle. I already have my grandma’s and my china. So enough with the china already!  A couple of years ago I found my Christmas dishes at Walmart of all places! The Better Homes and Garden line. And the price was super awesome.  ( Not getting paid by Walmart, just so ya know!) Besides the dishes, this line also has a serving platter, bowls and these sweet red bird salt and pepper shakers.

See how sweet the red bird salt and pepper shakers are? OH!  The placemats and napkins are also in this line.  Another thing that I NEVER do… buy everything in the line. Too matchy, matchy!  But for some reason I don’t mind these so much.  Although I would love to find the perfect black and white napkins to go in here!

Of course my kitchen would not be the same without my Chalkboard.  I love this. I let out my inner artist and just go with whatever suits me at that moment.

Moving into the kitchen I have this great “bump out” area behind the sink that is just screams to be decorated. Every year it is different. I never know what I am gonna put here. I usually have some plants or poinsettias here but this year I wanted a cleaner streamlined look. ( OK I am busted! I was too lazy to go buy them!)

This platter is also in the Better Homes and Garden line.  It fits perfectly on the countertop, in the corner of my cabinets. I love the vintage feel of it.

Here is the closest I am ever going to get to an Elf on the Shelf.  This vintage one was given to me by a friend and I love him! He reminds me of the elves that my Granny had at her house for us to play with.  So fun! These red ornaments were on the tree the first year the Hubs and I were married.  I have used them everywhere! Over time they have worn down and look a hundred years old. Love that!

Here is my one live plant this year- a small pine.  Thank you Kroger for putting all of the fun flowers right across from the  produce section so I would be sure to see it.  Love those impulse buys.  They even decorated it for me! It really looks good on the kitchen island. AND makes me wish for real greenery through out the rest of the house….

Thank for stopping by! Come on back next time for the rest of the tour – my living room, formal dining room and powder bath.

Until next time…..

Ya gotta be crazy to start a project in the middle of the Christmas season!  But this one was  born out of necessity.  The necessity to keep me sane!  I usually wrap gifts on the pool table. Pro’s? Lots of space. Good lighting. Con’s? I have drag everything out. Usually leave a mess because I am in a hurry. Drives the Hubs cray cray!  BIG TIME!

I am up to my elbows in projects,work, decorating and wrapping gifts when I decide that it was time for a wrapping center makeover!

The dust catcher exercise room is just off of the game room and has this teeny, tiny closet that has housed everything from Halloween costumes to knick knack paddy crap from all over the house.  I have been eyeing it for years thinking that there should be some way to make it into a wrapping center or at least organize my many rolls of paper! All I had to do was clean it out ( see the Hubs laughing hysterically!) and do the makeover with what I had on hand as much as possible. Lots of pics so bear with me.

I had this small dresser that a neighbor had graciously given me that was the perfect size. Only it was HOT pink.  Normally, I would have spent a lot more time on painting this piece, but did I mention it is in the middle of the Christmas season?

So spray paint it is until after the holidays!

The dresser installed! Woo Hoo!

I found these drawer pulls at Hob Lob.  I am in love!!! Only one problem.  They only had five and I need six.  What the heck!  I bought the five and will pray I can find another at a different Hob Lob. Bonus! They were half off.

Ya’ll KNOW I love to line my drawers.  Ross had this paper for $3.99.

If you think this is too time consuming – I timed myself.  Literally took me six minute to cut and install. So worth it.  A little fun surprise every time I open the drawer!

Dresser – done! Now how to store and hang the wrapping paper? If you look closely to the side of the dresser you see rolls of paper stored in a container made just for that.  It works fine but I wanted to have some out and ready to use. Especially the Christmas paper.  I had two gold tension rods and two black hanging rods with brackets.  Perfect. I spray painted the hanging rods gold and hung all four above the dresser.

Then it was time to hang it all up.  BUT! Before I started I realized just how “white” the walls were.  Y’all know I can’t stand all white so I used a circle sponge and gold paint ( thank you Martha Stewart) and randomly painted circles on the wall. No rhyme, no reason. Just eye balled it.  I only put the circles around the dresser because this is a small space.  I was afraid it would be too busy!

Time to hang ribbon and wrap rolls.  I only put up the Christmas stuff. When Christmas is over it will go back in the roll bin and the everyday stuff will come out. If you look closely I hung a command strip hook on the wall to hold larger decorations,scissors etc.

Time to load the drawers. I had a few containers to corral all the stuff…but not enough so it is off to the Dollar Tree where I bought a whopping’ $12.00 worth of containers.  Drawer 1 – all of the small bows, decorative embellishments, small cloth bags,scissors, tags, glue etc.

Drawer two – small boxes and unusual bags.

Drawer three – note cards, greeting cards and small gifts.

Thanks to my son who left a whole lot of wooden hangers when he moved out I had the perfect tissue organizer.  I used the hangars to organize my tissue papers. Crazy smart right? Thank you Pinterest!

Christmas bags – I didn’t have a container and haven’t found exactly the right one. So for now the lid to the wrapping paper storage container will hold them just fine! I had this extra trash can in my office, not all that pretty but works okay for now.

So here it is for now. I love it. Girl squeal! It is small but works hard!

I still have some minor things to improve on.  Repaint the dresser to something awesome! Find my sixth pull. If I get up enough nerve I am gonna paint the hangers and the original clothes hanging rods gold. ( worried about the paint flaking off of the hanging rods!) I would love a prettier storage container for the sacks. Also, in the top drawer there were some hot pink containers that will become gold. Oh, and if you are wondering where the everyday bags and boxes are stored they are in bins above the dresser on the shelving.  Once Christmas is over I will swap them out.

This project took two half days. One to paint and install everything and one to do a little shopping. Not much time at all!  Mainly because I had most of everything I used.

Cost: drawer pulls $15.00 plus tax

drawer liner $3.99 plus tax

dresser -free

Paint – free

Containers – $12.00

Hangers – free

trash can – free

Basically, for under $35.00  I have a new “room” and my sanity!  Not bad for a wrapping center makeover!

Until next time…

I love a pretty Christmas tree. I love one that is sentimental more.  Over the years I have tried to combine the pretty with the meaningful and I think I do okay with that.  Since my boys were old enough to choose, I let them pick out an ornament each year.

Some years it was REALLY hard to pay for the ornaments that they chose. This green octopus thing? For reals? Now I look at those ornaments every year and smile.  Each of them hold memories. I guess you could say we have a storytelling Christmas tree!

Batman is my youngest sons all time favorite, followed closely by Jack Skellington.

My older son has many Scooby Dos, Star Wars, Muppets and sports.

The hubs?  Camping, Airplanes and barbecue. The man makes a mean briquet!

Me? Anything with a crown, queens, Maxine or crosses.

There are many “firsts” on our tree. First Christmas together.

Baby’s first Christmas.

The Shiny Brights remind me of the vintage ones  we had on our tree growing up. We don’t have any of those anymore. Most were destroyed when our house caught on fire on New Years Eve when I was in second grade.

We also try and buy ornaments from places we vacation.  This year it was Savannah, GA…..

New Orleans….

and Las Vegas. We had a good year!

There is a lot of “life” on our tree and I love it that way.  My tree will never be the most beautiful or the most color co-ordinated. It definitely has no “theme”.   I am more than okay with that.  It warms my heart every time I look at it and come away with another memory that makes up our lives.

Merry Christmas to me!

Until next time…..