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….

It’s 10 on the 10th and our theme this month is Red,White and Blue! Of course, with a patriotic theme, a ton of things came to mind.

I think of long hot summer days and nights, fireflies – or lightning bugs as we like to call them, fireworks, iced cold Dr. Pepper, parades, flip flops,  swimming, ice cream, cicada’s singing, picnics,  sweet iced tea, BBQ, a good margarita and S’mores.

It’s one great big Texas party!

I recently had surgery so I’ve put most of my projects on hold. I’ve been taking it easy,  watching our backyard pool area having the final touches put on it and taking quite a few naps.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d have much to share with you this month, however I remembered that I had ordered 2 things recently that might just be worth a share. Even if they technically aren’t red, white or blue , they sure remind me of it!

I ordered these marshmallow roasting sticks last week in preparation for the little’s upcoming visit. We put in a fire pit near the pool and I just knew they’d be perfect for making S’mores in the evening. We’ve had these roasting sticks before- many years ago- and they are a favorite in my family.

The first ones that I ever bought were found in the dollar isle at Target. Today, you can find them just about everywhere for a wide range of prices.These came in right at a little over $1.00 a piece. I purchased 8, however I’ve seen sets as large as 20 and as small as 4.

I love that you can find each skewer with a different color of collar. This is great in assigning each child, or adult, to his or her own skewer. No fighting over who’s is who’s! Also, they are telescopic. To store them they slide down to a nice compact 12″, but they extend out to about 32 inches to ensure a safe distance from the fire. And they clean up like a dream!

I like to make a S’more “buffet” ahead of time. It’s pretty and cuts down on the mess. I start with milk shake glasses or french fry holders. Fold up pretty pieces of wax paper and line the glasses or holders. Then, simply stuff each container with your S’more ingredients. Graham crackers, marshmallows, and a good chocolate bar.

I ordered these french fry holders a few weeks ago and I’m really impressed with them. At $6.95 a piece they are perfect for a s’more buffet. Of course, they are perfect for french fries, shrimp, hush puppies or my all time favorite, Mexican Street Corn. An added bonus is that they don’t break and they are an easy  clean up. Just throw away the wax paper!

You can find those here.

We even have a few adults that like to crush up the graham crackers, put some dark chocolate or butterscotch pieces in, followed by a hot marshmallow.

Mix it up with a spoon and it’s the perfect summer dessert!

Now, I hope that you will join me in visiting my fellow bloggers to see what wonderful Red, White and Blue things they’ve come up with!

Carol at Blue Sky At Home

Jemma at At Home With Jemma

Barbara at French Ethereal

Jodi at The House House

Terrie at Decorate and More With Tip

Ann at Apple Street Cottage

Patti at Pandora’s Box

Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles

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It’s time for the June DIY Challenge and boy was this month different from months past! Our challenge this month was a surprise. Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip, asked each of us to send a surprise box filled with whatever we wanted to one of our fellow DIY participants.  I anxiously awaited my happy mail to arrive. The excitement was high, as it was like waiting to open a gift at Christmas! So you can imagine my excitement  when I got a package from Liberty from B4 and Afters, I couldn’t wait to open it. This is what I found in my surprise box! All I can say is – Bring on the Bling!

If you are coming here from Decorate and More With Tip I am so glad that you are here!

Now, let’s get this party started!

Let me backtrack for a minute. Have you ever started a project, thinking that you would make one thing and ended up making another? Well that’s what happened when I started this project. My first thought was that I was going to make the cutest little tray. So, I got two boards and glued them together. Then glued two left over blind slats across both boards.

To make sure that the strips were secured, I screwed them place.

Since I planned on painting the entire piece white, I glued on the pearl beads with hot glue.

Once I saw those beads, I knew that my project would never be a cute tray. Those beads reminded my of my great nieces, Miss A, aka Beep. This is her Easter picture. Her Granny curled her hair, dressed her up and because she had been so good Granny said she could choose her jewelry for her Easter pictures. I’m pretty sure Granny never thought she’d choose those beads!

Our girl loves her Bling!

Now I was coming at this project totally backwards! I painted the top portion of the board turquoise, being very careful to paint around the beads. Then I added the word “bling” to the board using letters I printed off from my computer. To transfer the letters, simply flip the letters over and using a pencil, color over the letters outline.

Then, flip them over, place them on the board and trace.

I painted the letters white, then drilled holes for my hooks that would hold all of Beep’s “joory”.

The hooks were made out of the drawer knobs from my surprise package. I spray painted them white as they were an oil rubbed bronze color to start with.

Beeps room is turquoise, white and lavender. To bring in the purple tones, I took the yarn from my surprise package and twisted it to create a trim. I glued it to the edge of the board. I did this twice around the board to make a bigger impact.

Once that was done, I painted the back a pretty lavender color. Yep, coming at it totally backwards – again!

Next, I added a cute white bow with all of the colors.

And a tiny bit of bling.

Bring on the Bling!

This sweet little sign is ready for all of Miss A’s joory!

This months surprise box challenge was so much fun. Now, I can’t wait to see who sent what to who! I’m headed over to Liberty’s site, B4 and Afters, and I hope  that you are too!

DECORATEANDMOREWITHTIP | PATINAANDPAINT | B4ANDAFTERS | SWEETSOUTHERNGRACE

CELEBRATEANDDECORATE | JESSICABSIMMONS | THE HOUSE HOUSE

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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!

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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…..

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You, my friends, should be so proud of me! Before painting the buffet I actually thought to take a before picture!

Back about 100 years or so ago when I was a faux finish painter, I found this dresser on the side of the road. It was my first piece to ever make over. The Hubs added four legs from a an old bench that my BFF and I dug out of a trash pile to the bottom and TA DAAAA!

The buffet was born.

Oh, the decor styles this buffet has seen. It was painted white with lots of antiquing and gold accents through my Old World phase. Then, it was painted solid white during my less is more after the opulence of the Old World phase. When it became part of my office decor it was painted the black that you see in this picture.

Today, with the changing out of all things white and neutral in my dining room, I knew that once again my buffet needed a little face lift. There were just too many pieces of different colored furniture for me!

I painted the buffet the same blue as the chairs and table. If you missed how I did that, then you can see the how to here.

No recap of the painting because ain’t nobody wanna see that two times in a row!

This isn’t one of those “Oh, my goodness! I can’t believe it’s the same piece of furniture!” before and afters. It’s a really subtle one. In fact, I asked The Hubs how he liked it and he hesitated in his answer. Finally he said, “Well, it’s not that big of a difference.”

And he’s right.

My main goal was to make it seamlessly become more compatible with the rest of the room.

So, I guess, mission accomplished!

In this picture, if you look closely,  you can see just how many times it’s been painted. If it were a better piece of furniture I would have stripped it down before painting.

Honestly, I’m kind of afraid to go too far down as it might remove more than I bargained for. I also decided to keep the hardware.

I’m eventually going to replace it, but I’m waiting until I find something I love!

I swore I wasn’t going to add any gold to the buffet this time. Well, I was wrong. I only added the tiniest bit of Rub’nBuff. Due to adding some gold pieces in the rest of the room, it just seemed appropriate. Besides, if I hate it, I can always paint over it!

Sorry the pictures are a little dark. Of course the day I had scheduled to take pictures it’s been raining all day! I’m officially calling this side of the room done.

For now.

I still have a few things that I want to do in the future. Like get rid of that intercom system. But, that’s another day!

Finished or not, I’m enjoying the change from black to blue. It ties in with the rest of the room and looks like it’s always been that way. After years of painting just about everything I’m still amazed at the power of a little paint. Now to finished up the rest of the dining room.

I can’t wait to share what’s coming up next with you!

Until next time…

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If you were looking really close when I shared my Memorial Day Table, you might have noticed that I have a new dining room table – again!

This is table number 3 since we moved in last October.

No, I do not have a table addiction!

When we moved in I knew I needed a different one, I just hadn’t found one that I loved so I used our old formal dining room table.

And then, in January, I found this one.

And I loved it.

Still do.

However, every time one of the men in my family sat in these dainty chairs and leaned back, they chair made a horrible noise like it was going to fall apart any minute.

Which made me realize that even though I loved it, they just wouldn’t work for us.

My BFF Roxanne was having an estate sale and had this wonderful Pottery Barn farmhouse table and chairs.

And even though they didn’t have the curvy french lines of my last one, they super sturdy and cute..

The only negative about them was that I didn’t care for the  color of the pine table.

However, I loved the style and color of the chairs.

So I set out to transform the table to match the chairs!

I sanded the table with an orbital sander and belt sander for a good 5 hours.

Thankfully, The Hubs helped!

Once it was down to the raw wood it was time for the magic to happen.

I started this table transformation with the top first.

I used Minwax pre-stain to make sure that the wood took the stain evenly.

Once that was dry, I stained the top with three coats of Walnut.

I wanted a medium dark finish, so this was perfect.

The next day, after the stain had thoroughly dried, I gave it three coats of Varathane polyurethane in a satin water base formula.

This was my first time to use this product and I am in LOVE with it.

It went on super smooth, no brush marks and dried quickly.

When the top was finished, I started on the table apron and legs.

Step 1, rub it down with liquid sandpaper!

I hate sanding chair and table legs, mainly because it’s HARD!

Since I didn’t need to repair anything, this was the perfect solution.

After a lot of sleuthing and stalking the Pottery Barn Pinterest boards I finally found the color of paint used on the chairs.

Since I wasn’t entirely sure that it was right, I purchased a sample quart of the color in Satin.

It went on so smoothly and was the perfect color, so I just used the sample quart to paint my table apron and legs!

Two coats, a little distressing, followed by an antiquing coat of the Walnut stain and my bottom half o the table was ready for a couple of coats of the Varathane!

And while the lighting isn’t the best in this picture, trust me when I say that it matches perfectly!

We love it!

The best part?

No more screaming chairs.

The Worst part?

Now the neutral rug and curtains don’t really go with the table and chairs.

Yep, if you’ve followed me for long you know that I subscribe to the “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” form of decorating whether I intend to or not!

So here’s the color pallet that I’m thinking of using.

Number 1 is Emmie Blue and would make the prettiest curtains.

Number 2, of course would be the rug.

Now , the next two are a toss up for the chairs to be recovered in.

Do I stick with the blue tones of number 3, or do I boldly go where I’ve never gone before with the crips white and green of number 4?

Decisions, decisions….

What do you think?

If you are like certain members of my family and are thinking “she’s got an new table and chairs – again? The girl has lost her mind!”

I promise, this is the last time!!!!!

I think.

Until next time..

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Hey friends! I can’t believe that May is almost over, although I seem to be saying that almost every month lately. Time seems to fly the older I get. Today I’m going to share my Memorial Day Table with you. However, before I get to that, I want to do a little housekeeping first.

Memorial Day has always been a favorite holiday for me.

As a child it signaled the end of the school year.

As an adult, it means many things to me.

The weather is getting warmer, the day’s are getting longer and summer is just beginning.

More importantly, it’s a time to think about and honor those heroes that have fought for our freedom.

Also, to remember those who have died to preserve it.

My grandfather was one of those who fought for our country and I couldn’t be prouder.

So Thank you to all of the men and women who have served!

Normally, Memorial Day would find us in our backyard.

The Hubs would be grilling while the rest of us would be visiting or playing games.

However, this is how our backyard looks right now.

A big empty, almost finished pool, a whole lot of concrete and a ton of work to be done.

Hopefully it will be finished in time to celebrate, but just in case it isn’t I’ve come up with a simple, fun and colorful Memorial Day Table for indoors.

Of course, the color scheme is red, white and blue.

When setting a table, I generally work from the center out.

I laid out a white table runner, followed by a red, white and blue berry candle ring placed in the center of the table.

I put one of my favorite white lanterns on top of the berries.

On each side of my lantern, I placed mason jars filled with red geraniums to complete my centerpiece.

Now for my place settings.

I went for a fun, eclectic style for my table.

Full of color and  a lot of mix and match patterns.

The key to making so many patterns work without it seeming like the busiest Jackson Pollock painting on steroids,  is to make sure the all of the patterns are different in size.

In my place setting the buffalo plaid is the largest, then the bandana salad plate, the charger is next and the smallest is the red and white polk-a-dot plate.

Had I put this many same sized patterns together it would have had you seeing crossed eyed into next week.

Also, be sure to add some solids into the mix, as they allow a place for the eyes to stay “grounded”. 

 A plain navy placemat starts off my place setting, followed by a navy and white bamboo charger.

The blue buffalo check napkin is nestled under the red and white polka-dot plate.

 A blue bandana salad plate finishes off the place setting.

The navy placemat was actually a natural color when I bought it years ago.

I simply spray painted it!

The red silverware is a new addition this year.

I love how it adds the perfect pop of color to an almost all blue setting.

If you look closely you can see the prettiest blue glassware.

Also a new purchase this year.

These pretty little glasses make my heart sing every time I look at them.

Not only are they pretty, but they are the perfect size for a glass of tea!

For a little added sparkle, I hung a red, white and blue star garland on my white hutch.

I love that this table is simple, yet filled with fun and color.

It screams summer for me.

But the best part?

With the exception of the centerpiece and the glasses it’s all plastic!

So, if we do get the patio ready in time for the holiday, it’s a simple task to move this table setting outside to our new patio dining table.

It really is the perfect Memorial Day table!

I’ve tried to link the items from my table, in some cases these items were out of stock so I chose some that are similar for you!

Navy straw Placemats / Blue Glassware /  Red and White Polk-a-dot Plate / Navy Bandana Plate /

Star Garland / White Lantern

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I’ve been sprucing up the front porch over the last month or so. Lots of projects to keep me busy for sure. I added some pretty black and white striped cushions to my bench and chairs. Almost immediately I knew that I wanted some hot pink throw pillows added to them for some color. Except I couldn’t find hot pink pillows that were the color, fabric, or price range I wanted. It quickly became apparent that I was going to be making them. So today I’m sharing how to make outdoor throw pillows on a budget!

Here’s what you will need:
Napkins  18 x18″ , 2 per pillow
Pillow form 16 x 16″
Sewing Machine
Thread
Pins
Scissors
Scotchgard

First of all, this project is so easy it’s almost ridiculous, and using the same steps below, you could make these a no sew project. Just use a heat n bond type tape or fabric glue! I found my napkins here.

They had a 12 pack of 18 x 18, 100% cotton napkins  for $17.81 Which would make each napkin $`1.48. You will need two napkins so we multiply the $1.48 x 2 = $2.96

Step 1:

Wash and iron your napkin. Once that is done, lay napkins right side out, one on top of the other. Pin all the way around leaving a 6 – 8 inch opening.

Step 2:

Sew along the previously sewn hem line all the way around the napkins, leaving a 6 to 8 inch opening for the pillow to be inserted through. If you miss sewing along the hem line perfectly, no worries. You won’t see it when it’s done.

Step 3:

Remove the pins. Stuff your pillow form into the opening. I found my pillow forms here, each cost me $4.74. The pillow forms cost Make sure the pillows forms corners fill the corners of the pillow cover and that the pillow form is evenly distributed.

Step 4:

Once you have your pillow form inserted into the pillow cover, at the 6 -8 inch opening put the outer edges of the pillow cover together and pin. Make sure that your pillow is not in the opening! Sew the opening shut.

Step 5:

Once I had made all of my pillows, it was time to Scotchgard them. Following the directions on the can, I gave each pillow a solid coat of Scotchgard on both sides.

Let completely dry.

I placed mine outside on a table to dry.  As my  young niece would say “ooohhhh, stinky!”

LOL

It will definitely fill your house with that chemical smell!

Step 6:

Put them outside! Total time to make? I have to say that the sewing part of my pillows took me around 1 hour. Not bad at all. Waiting for the Scotchgard to dry took the longest in this process. Probably a half of a day.

Cost? The napkins per pillow were $2.96. The pillow forms per pillow were $4.74. The Scotchgard I had on hand, however you can buy this at any grocery or big box store for around $6.00 per can. My can was almost new when I started and I would say I used about 1/2 of a can for all of my pillows. So estimated cost: $3.00. So .75 per pillow. Total cost per pillow: $8.18!

I can honestly say that’s how to make an outdoor throw pillow on a budget!

Until next time….

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Welcome to our Knock-Off Challenge. If you are coming from CD’s Country living, I am so glad that you are here! Every Month our fearless leader Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip gives us a  decorating challenge.

This month Terrie also asked if we would like to participate in a Knock Off challenge.

YES!

You know, when you see something you love, but it’s out of your budget or you think to yourself, “I could make that!” We’ve all been there. Well, that’s what happened to me.

Today I’m sharing how to make a HOME sign.

I saw this “HOME” sign at my local grocery store’s gift isle right before easter. And immediately fell in love with it. It’s part of The Round Top Collection, which is one of my favorite.

In the space where the O should be there is a small hook where you place a piece of art called a charm.

So cute!

However, the board itself was over $55.00. Not terribly priced, but I paint wooden signs a lot and knew I cold make this one for a few dollars, if not for  free.

Charms can be square pieces of art or wooden cut outs like the bunny you see here. They make just about every theme you can imagine. Bats, Christmas trees, candy corn, American flags, hearts, flowers, four leaf clovers….

If you can think of it, they probably have it. My favorite place to buy the charms is online from Miss Cayce’s Wonderland in Lubbock, TX.

You can also buy them here.

We had an old oak stair tread left over from our stair makeover at our last house.

The Hubs removed the bullnose portion and I had the exact size of board for my home sign.

Since my home sign was going to be on my covered front porch, I decided to paint my board with the same paint that I used on my front door.

I love Modern Masters front door paint because it doesn’t fade, dries quickly and goes on smoothly!

After my paint dried it was time to add the lettering.

I searched my fonts on my computer until I found a similar block lettering like the original.

Once I found it, I printed off the letters from my computer.

I used white transfer paper to put the lettering onto my board.

Simply lay out your letters that you printed off, then slid the transfer paper underneath.

I like to tape the top layer down so that there is no movement when tracing the letters.

Trace your letters with a stylus and this is the end result.

Once you have transferred your letters to the board it’s simply a matter of painting them!

Once your painted letters have completely dried, it’s time to distress your board.

I sanded over the entire board, letters included.

How distressed you make your board is up to you!

I like to use 220 grit sandpaper for this step.

After I distressed my sign, I gave it a good coat of poly to protect it.

I looked high and low for a simple black hook to hold my charms just like the original sign, but no luck.

So I decided to go in a different direction.

I had a bunch of old key hole covers in my stash and thought that they would be a pretty background to a simple cup hook.

Both of those together created a pretty hook for the charms.

I painted both of these gold.

Here’s my finished HOME sign.

I couldn’t be happier.

And guess what?

Since I already had everything that I used it cost me nothing.

My kind of project!

These signs were so easy to make and I loved them so much that I made a few for birthday gifts.

I made the signs and ordered the charms from Miss Cayce’s.

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

Happy Mother’s Day and Welcome to $10 on the 10th!  Each month a few blogger friends and I get together on the 10th and share ideas for under $10. This month our theme is Upcycled or Recycled. Which is right up my alley!

I love it when I’m able to use bits and pieces of other left over projects to create something useful. Today I’m sharing my Recycled Pool Towel Rack.

We are in the process of putting in a pool here at the Castle. Which means that we’ve had to put in a new fence mandated by our HOA. The Hubs decided to build the fence himself, board by board. So we had quite a few 2 x 4  cedar wood scraps left over. They were perfect for what I had in mind. Which was to make a towel rack for the pool area!

Here was the plan. I knew I wanted to make a 40″ x 12″ rack, painted in blues and browns. Lots of distressing, but very colorful. But then I realize that it really wouldn’t match anything that I planned to do in the backyard. So, I went to plan 2.

The size was still going to be 40″ x 12″, however the colors changed. I pulled the spa tile sample and chose all of the blues in it to paint my towel rack.

Now, it made sense! 

So here’s how we made it. The boards were a little thick for what I wanted. The Hubs was kind enough to to cut them in half for me.

After The Hubs gave each board a good sanding, they were ready for paint!

Using the tile samples, I chose 5 different paint colors.

I painted the 9 boards 4 different colors of blue, then painted the cross braces navy.

Once the boards were all painted, I gave each several coats of clear poly spray paint.

I know that it may be over kill, however since this towel rack was going to be outside it needed a protective top coat.

Next, we put the towel rack together using waterproof wood glue and a nail gun.

I found these hooks and bought a set of 5 for $6.81 which includes the shipping and tax.

I attached the hooks to every other board. Since we had 9 boards, this allowed me to put one on each end, as well as a few in the middle, leaving plenty of room for towels. Each hook has two arms, so the rack will hold a total of ten towels.

Perfect for when we have the family over to swim.

Once we were finished putting the towel rack together, the holes for the nails really bothered me. Not the look I was going for. At. All. So I filled them with a little wood filler. Repainted each board and gave it a couple of coats of a  poly top coat.

Ta Daaaa!

My recycled pool towel rack is ready for the swimming to begin. Total cost was $6.81 as I  already had the paint, scrap lumber, poly, and wood filler.

Now, If only the pool and backyard were as easy to finish up as building the towel rack was!

Please join me in visiting my blogger friends and see what recycled or upcycled items they are sharing today!

Decorate and More With Tip

The Apple Street Cottage

Pandora’s Box

At Home With Jemma

The House House

Blue Sky At Home

French Ethereal

Let’s Add Sprinkles

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Let’s get this straight. I am no expert gardener by any means. However, over the years I’ve learned what works for me. And what doesn’t. A lot of what I know comes from trial and error. Anybody out there in the same boat? So in case you might be a new gardener, or maybe a frustrated one, I thought that I might share a few of my tried and true container gardening tips with you!

Always start with great soil. I learned a long time ago to start with a great foundation.

My flowers always thank me!

Miracle Gro Potting mix (not an affiliate) is my go to every time. And, once I get the flowers potted, I fertilize them every two weeks with plant food.

It makes a HUGE difference.

Soil is heavy, so if I’m planting in a large pot, I always put something in the bottom of the pot to take up a little room, like cut up pool noodles.

I fill up my pot about 1/3 of the way, then put potting soil on top. The pool noodles don’t absorb moisture and are light weight. This saves on the cost of soil and makes it easier to move the pot for cleaning.

Thriller, filler and spiller.

The perfect trifecta for planting arrangements. Ever heard of this? If not, it’s a simple reminder of one way to plant your flowers for maximum wow factor. The thriller part of the equation is a plant that you would put in the back or the middle of your planter.

A thriller ( see #1) is a plant that is going to be taller than the rest. It will also be “showy”. I like to use grasses and tall wavy, flowing plants for thrillers.

A filler ( #2) is exactly what it says it is. A plant that fills up the middle space. I like to use medium flowering plants in this area.

Geraniums, Periwinkles, Abelia, and Daisies are some of my go to’s.

As you can see here, I have a tall grass for my thriller. And Geraniums, Periwinkles and Abelia for my filler.

Now I just need to add my spiller.

And finally, the spiller. ( #3) A spiller is planted in the very front or on the edge of your planter. I like to use colorful trailing plants or frilly ferns here.

Some I like to use are Air Ferns, Creeping Jenny and Sweet Potato Vines.

As you can see here, I have all three – a thriller, a filler and  a spiller- in this pot..

Don’t pass up buying discounted plants. I was at the grocery store and these geraniums were on Sale for $1.99. They regularly sell for $5.99.

Why?

I checked them over and they had no disease. They were just a little windblown and need to be put on a pot.

I simply cut off any dead leaves or spent flowers, put them in a pot and gave them a little food. As you can see, they are doing beautifully and are about to flower like crazy!

Which brings me to my next tip.

Dead head.

Always remove spent flowers. That way your plant can focus on growing healthy leaves and new flowers.

I always use the Thriller, filler and spiller rule of thumb with a couple of exceptions. The first being mass plantings. Sometimes, the planter just calls for one massive group of one flower.

Like this one.

All of those bright pinky red geraniums look fantastic against that dark metal planter!

The second reason I use only one type of flower is when you are using a small planter and there just isn’t any room.

Other than that I almost always use the trifecta.

My container gardening tips are pretty basic, but if I adhere to those tips I always have good luck with my  container plants.

 I hope these tips help you too!

Until next time…

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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.

We are certainly living in uncertain times right now. So what better time to let those around you know how much they mean to you? Intentionally celebrate  them every day. That’s why today I’m sharing how I’m Lovin’ up on my besties! 

I would love to say that this is a new concept, however I got this idea from Brittany Young, The original Certified Celebrator!

This girl is truly the happiest person on the planet. She truly encourages you to intentionally celebrate the people in your life and build joyfully celebrated homes. In todays world, you gotta love that!

All of Brittany’s projects are just the cutest ever!

A little sprinkle, a little glitter, a bow here or there.

The girl speaks my language!

So today on a grocery run, I spied the cutest little acrylic ball tumblers.

Party balls!

They are colorful, a fun size and they are filled with freezer gel to help keep your drink ice cold while you’re sitting outside enjoying the sun.

Or in this case, it will keep our beverages cold while we all get together via Zoom this week.

Since there are 8 of my besties, aka The Queens, I had to decide what colors to pick up. There were 4 colors, hot pink, blue, green and orange. So I bought two colors of each. Once I got them home I couldn’t wait to embellish them just a little bit.

Come on! You knew I wasn’t going to leave them plain….

Since I love my name or a good monogram on just about everything, I decided to go with the names this time. I had this fun vinyl with all the colors of the tumblers, plus a few more, and knew it would be a subtle, yet fun, embellishment. I found a fun font, LW Dazzle, and cut out all of the Queens names to fit on the tumbler.

Once I had the vinyl names put on each tumbler, I added a fun bow to the top of each tumbler. 

I have to say, that they are pure eye candy. All of that color…I’ll probably add a cute little gift tag to each tumbler, letting my besties know just how special they are. My plan is to do a drive-by and drop these tumblers off.

Front Porch Delivery!

Then send them a quick little text to check out the front porch.

I’ve had so much fun with this that I’m thinking this will be the year of celebrating friends, family and neighbors. It occurred to me that there are a thousand little things that I could do that hopefully would make someone smile. Seriously, lovin’ up on my besties couldn’t be more fun. I hope that they love these little glasses as much as I love them!

Until next time….

A few days ago I was sitting on the sofa contemplating repainting my fireplace mantle. I’ve put it off for awhile because my plan was to make it darker. To do that I had to strip the old varnish and stain it. One small  problem. The mantle is embedded into the stone on the fireplace, so striping it would have to be done in place. All I could think about was the mess. The more I thought about it, it occurred to me the reason I didn’t like the mantle was  that it looked a great big dark spot against all the white and nothing in the room had that finish. I finally came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was paint it white to match the rest of the fireplace and bookshelves. So Today, I’m sharing how to watch paint dry or how to paint a mantle.

Of course, I forgot to take a before picture.

Seems to be my M.O. lately!

So this is what the mantle looked like in February, right after I painted the fireplace shelves white.

Supply List:

(Luckily, the project took more time than supplies and I had everything I needed on hand.)

Here’s what you will need.
Paint Brush
Cabinet and Trim Paint
Liquid Sandpaper
Drop Cloth
Damp rag ( to clean up any spills etc.)
Paint key

Step 1:

Clean your mantle with warm water. Let dry. Your mantle should be super clean. Any spots or dust will result in paint chiping and flaking later. Tape off any areas that you don’t want paint on.

Step 2:

Using a rag, thoroughly wipe down your mantle with the liquid sandpaper. Don’t miss any spots! Work it into the creases and crevices.

Liquid sandpaper takes the place of sandpaper. It’s actually a deglosser that removes the shiny, slick surface of the poly so that the paint will adhere.

Read the directions.

Mine stated that I needed to paint within 30 minutes of dry time. Please note that Liquid Sandpaper can only be used on surfaces that don’t have any large chips or divets or rough areas on the surface. If you have any of those, you should sand and repair your mantle first.

Step 3.

Paint.

I used a water based semi-gloss cabinet and trim paint. Try to apply in long even coats, slightly overlapping for even coverage. Check occasionally for runs or drips.

As you can see, if you look closely, one coat was obviously not enough. After I painted the first coat, I sat around watching the paint completely dry before putting on the second coat.

This is why I titled the post Watching Paint Dry. Cause you do a little bit of painting and a lot of watching and waiting!

Step 4:

Apply the second coat of paint. Paint the second coat just like you did the first, making sure to check for runs or drips.

Watch paint dry.

I put 2 coats on in one day . One early in the morning, one late afternoon.

Step 5:

Early on day 2, I added coat three. And…you guessed it, watched paint dry!

On the third day I put my mantle back together.

I love the way the entire fireplace area looks. It’s so clean and now everything matches.

My OCD is happy!

I’ll probably style it a little differently soon, but for now I’m happy with it just the way it is. Aren’t you glad that I shared watching paint dry or how to paint a mantle with you?

It seriously takes an art in being patient that’s for sure!

Until next time…

If you liked it, be sure to Pin it!

Hi y’all! How’s your week going?

I hope that you are having a wonderful week.  It looks like we will be home for a little while longer. Seems like everyone has their own way of dealing with being at home more.

So, are you learning anything new? Or are you sitting on the sofa binge watching in your pajamas?

Me? I’m doing a little of this and that. What went on this week at the Castle? A lot!

It’s the second full week in April and feels like day 7000 of this Pandemic. But my goal this week was to be hopeful, upbeat and stay busy!

I started off the week on Easter Sunday by making honey bunnies. Not a bad way to start a week at all!

I was so grateful to find flour. I’d been looking for a few weeks and was fearful that we would not be enjoying them this year. After searching for what seemed like forever, I found a bag!

Honestly,  I will never take the ordinary things for granted ever again!

Monday found me taking all of the bunnies, nests and all things easter down. I found these two candlesticks and small vase at an estate sale my bff was having.

I’ve been waiting decor always makes me happy!

Tuesday found me making masks for friends and family. I’m no expert at making masks for sure…but with the shortage of masks it only made sense to make a few.

I think I’m up to about 30 now.

I’ve decided to learn a new art. Watercolor painting.

Of all the different types of art, this is one that I’ve never done a lot with.

Y’all, it’s hard!

Then I saw that Lucy from Craftberry Bush was giving free lessons on instagram and I couldn’t resist! Still practicing a lot and honestly I have nothing worth showing, but I will say that I am enjoying the process so far!

I did break out the acrylic paints to paint a super quick fun painting for my sister who loves pigs. It’s been one of those weeks for her and I thought that I’d send her some hi I’m thinking of you happy mail.

Wednesday was super exciting. 

We’ve been trying to get a pool built since we moved in. With the holidays, then the weather it’s been a slow process. Last week they dug a huge hole.

Monday the metal benders and the plumbers came and the mud hole became a hole with lots of pipe and wire in it. Then on Wednesday, out of the blue, a crew showed up in the afternoon and this is what our pool looks like.

Finally!

Its starting to look like a real pool! Our  builder is hoping to get the electrician out soon. Once he’s done, its time for rock, tile and decking. Bring on the decking!

Momma’s already tired of cleaning up the mud!

Thursday found us with the most beautiful weather, even if it was a little windy. 

We’ve been slowly, section by section, digging up the old overgrown shrubbery that came with the house. If you look at the very top of this picture you can see what I’m talking about.

I headed out front this morning with the intent of taking the old stone border and use it to lay out the shape of the new bed. However, the shrubs were so overgrown that I couldn’t even begin to do that. So, before we knew it we were tearing out all of the overgrown shrubs in this bed.

What a workout!

Today I’m off to pick up new shrubs that I ordered for this bed. Maybe a few new flowers to keep me busy over the weekend. Truly my happy place!

Oh, I did find time somewhere in the week to make some homemade bread.

So yummy!

Good thing we got a great workout gardening. I sure needed it!

So what projects are you working on? Learning anything new? Or maybe just enjoying an old hobby or being with your family. I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to! I need some ideas for next week.

Until next time….

I gotta tell ya, being at home has its benefits. It also has its downfalls. The downfalls?  I can’t just run to Hobby Lobby when I need to.  I will say that not being able to run to Hob Lob has made me way more creative. For instance, today I’m going to share how to frame art on a budget, which will prove that necessity is the mother of invention!

I use the term “art” loosely in this case. Last fall I bought this paint by numbers kit. I know that there are a ton of people out there that are fans of the PBNK’s. However, I am not one of those. First, I am not someone who likes to color between the lines. Second, this isn’t the PBNK you had as a child. I needed a magnifying glass to see the numbers they were so tiny! This endeavor took me almost 6 months to complete. NEVER. AGAIN!

However, since I spent so much time on it, I was determined to hang it somewhere in my home. I could have just hung it as it was, but I wanted to add a black frame. How to do that when you can’t go shopping? You make your own!

I wanted a simple black frame to go around my painting. My solution? Make a frame from lattice. At 69 cents a foot, it’s a bargain!

Step 1:

Measure the art.

Since I didn’t want to miter the corners – way too much math for this girl- I measured the top and bottom for exact measurements. For the sides, I wanted the side lattice strip to cover the canvas as well as the entire end of the lattice strips that were on the top and the bottom. This would make a solid frame with no gaps. To do this I measured the sides of the canvas, plus the width of the lattice strip, x 2.

Step 2:

Once I had my measurements, I cut the lattice strips using a small miter box and saw. This is perfect for cutting thin strips of wood! In fact, this is my new favorite tool. It’s small, compact and this small little saw is so easy to control. Definitely not like the one my Dad used to have!

Step 3:

After cutting the strips, I lightly sanded the edges to give them a clean, finished look!

Step 4:

Once I had the strips of lattice cut, I painted them black with multi- surface paint.

Step 5:

Normally, at this point, I would have simply nailed the lattice directly onto the canvas using small brads. However, I was out of small brads. So, I simply stapled the lattice to the canvas. I used 1/2 inch staples to insure that they would go thru the lattice as well as the canvas frame.

Step 6:

To help hide the staples, I painted them black, using the same paint that I used on the wood.

This is my finished frame. Not too shabby for my first attempt.

Honestly, not only was the frame budget friendly, it was also an amazingly easy project.

So easy that I couldn’t not share how to frame art on a budget with you!

Total cost: $4.14

Time: less than an hour.

Most of that time was spent watching the paint dry! Most important – I love the way my new piece of art looks in the powder room.

Until next time…

Hey there! Welcome to 10 on the 10th, where some really fun and talented bloggers get together on the 10th of the month to share their ideas for under $10. This months theme is tips while social distancing. My tip?  Keep your children busy! One theme I’m seeing a lot of on social media is Mom’s wondering how to keep their children from being bored. 

So today I’m sharing: How to build a busy box!

What is a busy box?

A busy box can be any container, a box, a duffle bag, a tote or as you will see today, a suitcase! The busy box can be plain jane or it can be decorated to the nines!

It’s up to you!

Once you have your container, you will fill it with things to keep your children busy! With Social distancing, my suggestion is to rotate out toys, games etc. that you already have in your home. Or, if you are going through shopping withdrawal, Amazon still delivers. The beauty of a busy box is that it can cost you nothing at all!

We all know that my busy box was not going to be plain Jane. Hey, don’t judge! I got nothing but time on my hands! My BFF Roxanne was selling this cute little suitcase at a garage sale. I picked it up for $5.00! It only measures about 15″ x 10.5″ x 6″. The perfect size for a busy box.

I could have left this cute little suitcase just like it was, however the insides had seen better days and there were a few tears on the outside. So I decided to spiff it up using only items I had on hand. My solution? To cover the insides with material. I measured the bottom, top and sides, added 1″ to all measurements and cut out the material.

Giving the suitcase a new lining was pretty easy. I used Spray mount to attach the material to the suitcase. For the bottom and top I simply sprayed the adhesive and added the material, making sure to smooth out any bubbles.

For all side pieces of material, I folded the material under 1/2 ” and ironed it to stay in place. Once that was done, I sprayed the sides and added the material to the suitcase.

Once the material had been attached to the suitcase, I added some black gimp around the edges to give it a finished look. I simply hot glued it on!

As you can see the ends of the suitcase had seen better days!

I found some fun scrapbook paper in my stash.

Then using white glue, I glued it to the ends. For me it was a super cute and easy solution!

Now for the fun part! Filling it up. For me it was easier to decide what to put in my busy box by thinking of a theme. And once I started thinking I came up with a ton of ideas based on what I had on hand.

Here are just a few of the themes I came up with:

1. Dress Up
2. Tea Party
3. Legos
4. Games
5. Art
6. Cars and Trucks
7. Picnic
8. Train set
9. Outdoor games
10.Gardening
11. Beauty box
12. Scavenger Hunt.

Really the list is endless!

For older kids a game box would be fun. Just fill it with old favorites or with new games that they haven’t played before. I’m willing to bet we all have a ton of games that haven’t been played in a while!

What little wouldn’t enjoy a tea party? I added a few dress up items. A boa, tiara and some fancy jewelry. Throw in a tea set and a stuffed animal or two and your busy box is full!

Other than spending zero money on a busy box, the best part is that it’s easy clean up and store. When the littles are done playing, pack it up and return to mom. Who will hopefully fill it up for the next time the kids get bored!
So how much did I spend on my busy box?

$5.00.

Everything else was already here at The Castle!

Now I hope that you will join me and visit my fellow bloggers and see what wonderful tips they are sharing!

At Home With Jemma
Blue Sky at Home
Let’s Add Sprinkles
Pandora’s Box
Decorate and More with Tip
The House House
The Apple Street Cottage

I have a confession to make. I always have, and always will, want to sit at the children’s table. Especially the Children’s Easter table! Why? Well, it’s way more fun! There’s giggles and laughs. Juvenile jokes. Silliness abounds! And the children’s table is always more colorful and has lots of surprises. In our family, on The Hubs side, there are 11 littles. Ages 16 all the way down to 2. So we always have one, or more, children’s table. Not only do I love sitting at them, I love decorating them!
I always start with my centerpiece. The centerpiece doesn’t have to be big or elaborate. I find that, for the most part, the simpler the better. This year’s centerpiece started with an adorable white bunny and some fresh flowers! For filler I added some felt flowers and some colorfully wrapped candy.

Next up, the place settings. When I do place settings I always use plastic or things that don’t break. Fabric that can be easily washed. In the past few years I’ve leaned toward plastic plates over paper plates. You would be surprised at how far plastic disposable tableware has come in the past few years! There are some really great looking products out there.
I started with some really cute white with light blue polka dotted square placemats. They had me at rick rack! Those sweet placemats have co-ordinating napkins that were perfect for the sweet wooden bunny head napkin rings I found on sale last year.

Next I added a pink straw placemat for color.
Followed by some glitter purple chargers. I think my favorite part of this placesetting is the dishes. Yes, they are plastic! I love the shape, color and the detail on each plate. And don’t get me started on the pink silverware. And the best part? They cost me about $4.00 per 8 plates. I have a few extras of these and since I love them so much they may find their way into the Little’s play area. Wouldn’t they be cute for a pretend tea party?

This year each place setting has a chocolate bunny, a carrot and a mini cupcake for dessert. Who cares if they eat dessert first? Being at Aunt T’s is like being at Grandmas! Seriously though, I will probably wait to put out the cupcakes until after dinner. The chocolate, however, is fair game!
If you have children, or parents, who aren’t a big fan of candy, this would be the perfect place for a cute, small goodie easter bag or basket. Maybe a small coloring book with crayons to keep them entertained? Or even a small game or puzzle! The possibilities are endless.

To designate seating, I made these easter egg place card holders. If you missed it, you can see how I made them here. I simply added each child’s first initial to each egg.

“A” is for Adriana!What little doesn’t like seeing their name, or initial, on anything? Plus, it eliminates arguing on who’s going to sit where.

I may or may not remember a year when there was a wrestling match over a specific chair! 

Overall I’m pretty happy with this years table. It’s bright, happy, colorful and fun. The Children’s Easter table is complete.Let the wild rumpus begin! Until next time….

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

I can’t believe that it’s already time for Easter! Which means that it’s time to set my Easter table. This year my theme is a Woodland Easter table. Which is really like nothing I have ever done for Easter. Ever. 

My Easter table is usually full of bright pastels, however a few months ago I saw a table setting that really stuck with me. 

They had used a ton of ferns, sticks and greenery along with bold turquoises and golds. 

It was beautiful! 

So when it came time to decide a theme for this years table, all I could think about were those rich, warm tones.

I started with my centerpiece. For years I have used this white bunny as the star of the table. He’s the perfect size and I can use any color I want to with him, he’s so versatile.

Next to him I placed a twig basket filled with flowers and easter eggs in golds and turquoises. I wanted the easter eggs to have not only color, but texture. As you can see, eggs were painted both turquoise and gold. On a few eggs I added a little gold leaf. And a few eggs I cut out the tiniest little flowers and glued them all over the eggs for a fun textured look.

For filler around the bunny and basket used greenery, flowers, moss and garland. Then sprinkled a few more easter eggs here and there and my centerpiece was finished. Now for the the place settings!

The place settings started with a natural woven placemat. Of course a gold charger was a must to tie in with the gold easter eggs. I used white hob nail plates that I picked up at Home Goods years ago. The Bordallo Pinnero lettuce salad plates were a Tuesday Morning find years ago. These salad plates usually make an appearance somewhere in my home at Easter as they remming me of Peter Rabbit eating out of farmer McGregor’s garden!

For a place card, I thought that birds nest filled with turquoise eggs would be perfect! I simply wrote each guests name on the eggs with a gold sharpie. The flatware is silver with gold beading. I also used my favorite turquoise glasses.

My woodland Easter table is probably one of my favorites that I have ever done. It makes me feel as if my bunny hopped right out of the forest and brought all the beauty of it with him.

Bring on Easter dinner!
Until next time…..

 It’s time for April’s DIY Challenge. Can you believe that it is already April?  Our challenge this month is Grapevine Wreath Inspiration.

I want to give Terrie from Decorate and More with Tip a huge shout out for hosting the DIY Challenge. I love that each month she puts out a fun, creative challenge that makes me stretch my creativity.

Yay, Terrie!

If you are coming here from Through A Vintage Door, Welcome!!!

Now, on to the challenge!

The rules of this months challenge were simple. Take a grapevine wreath, any shape or size, and create something fabulous! No pressure there! lol!

The first thing I did was to determine my color palate. Since I recently painted my front doors black, I thought that I’d stay in the neutral zone. After checking out my craft closet, I came up with these pretty ribbons. Black and white check, a neutral ribbon with a gold beaded trim and raffia.

For greenery, I used some eucalyptus garland that I already had. I simply cut 6 inch sections off of the garland, then hot glued them to the wreath.

Next, I wanted to make a small welcome sign out of wood to put in the middle of my wreath.

One small problem, I didn’t have the correct size of wood. However, I did find several blind slats that we had removed from our living room blinds when we installed them.

 The blinds have these notches where the blind strings go. Fortunately for me the middle sections were the perfect size to make a small sign!

Using a small miter saw I cut the excess wood off, using the notches as a guide.

Now that I had my faux wooden sign for my wreath, I needed to put my wording on it. I could have just hand painted welcome on it, but thought that it would look better if I used vinyl. I designed and cut out my welcome using my Silhouette. If you don’t want to hand paint and don’t have a vinyl cutting machine, you could always use a stencil for this part of the project. 

Once my Welcome was cut out, I simply  applied it to my faux wooden board.

With my sign ready to go, I hot glued it to my grapevine wreath! After that was done, I made a bow from my ribbon and glued it to the wreath also. For the life of me, I thought I took a picture of this step. But, no! Serioysly? For the love!

This is what my wreath looks like finished.

I think its the perfect addition to newly painted front door!

I love how simple and clean it looks, as well as how easy it was to put together. I don’t think my wreath took more than an hour from start to finish to complete. And, while I didn’t intend to do this, I used everything I had on hand. So my wreath cost my nothing!

Next on the hop is Paula from Sew Sassy!  Please hop on over and check out her beautiful wreath and when you are done join me in visiting the other talented DIYers.

With all of the extra time on my hands lately I’ve been doing a lot of things I don’t normally have time to do. I’ve been cleaning, sorting, crafting, reading, and finishing a lot of unfinished projects. All are a good thing. I picked up a few things from the Dollar Tree awhile back with the intent of giving them a little makeover. Today I’m sharing a super easy Dollar Tree Easter Bunny Centerpiece!

I saw this really cute bunny door sign and thought it was so cute, except for one thing.

The paper spring banner.

While not ugly, I just felt like I could take it to another level.

So, I decided to make my own Easter banner! I’m not sure if you know it, but Dollar Tree has a lot of really great craft supplies. Like this burlap ribbon.

Step 1:

Remove the Spring paper banner and add jute string in its place. I glued the jute string on with hot glue.

Step 2:

Make a new banner.

I took the old Spring banner and traced one of the triangles on it. Using that as a pattern, I cut out 6 burlap triangles and 6 hot pink triangles. The hot pink came from some scrap material that I already had. Once I had my triangles cut out, I added glitter self stick letters to each one. Instead of my banner reading Spring, my new one will say Easter. Once your triangles are finished, hot glue them onto the jute string to make your banner.

Step 3:

Now, this cute bunny was made to hang. Initially my intent was to make a centerpiece with this bunny, however as I was putting him together I thought he might also look good hanging out in my entryway. One small tiny problem. How to put him in an arrangement? I took a BBQ skewer and glued it to the back. This worked great, but the back looked awful! So I traced the bunny shape onto some cute paper and glued it to the back, hiding the BBQ skewer..

Step 4:

The bunny had a hole in each ear with jute string attached that made it easy to hang. Since I was putting it in a centerpiece, I didn’t need the string and the holes needed to be covered. These paper flowers were the perfect size to cover those holes.

Step 5:

I had this cute metal container that I’ve been waiting to put something in. I added a brick of styrofoam, a glass vase and lots of pretty blue Easter grass. This is the base for the centerpiece.

Step 6:

Putting the centerpiece together. I stuck the BBQ stick with the bunny on it into the styrofoam. Then added some pink Easter grass on top of the blue. The blue grass was a little too bright blue for this arrangement, but it was perfect for filler.

Step7:

Embellish! Now, every Easter Bunny needs some Easter eggs. Maybe a few carrots? Add in a cute, bright bow and my Easter centerpiece is finished! All it needs is some pretty spring flowers to fill the vase.

I found the softest pink tulips at my local Market Street that were the perfect addition to my Dollar Tree Easter Bunny centerpiece. Even better – I don’t have to worry about changing flowers weekly or watering.

I recently found these cute felt flowers and thought that they needed to be a part of the arrangement. The bow found another home and the felt flowers finished the centerpiece.

Such a super easy and fun craft.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’m off to read, or clean, or paint, or…..

Until next time….

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…

With staying at home as much as possible being the foremost thing on our minds, I am trying to put a positiver spin on this thing by trying to get a few projects done.

One of those things was to work on the front porch. As you can see, our front porch was a little blah. In fact, painting the entire house is on our must do list.

With all of the crazy rain we’ve been having painting the house was an obvious no, however there were a few dry days recently that found us painting the front doors.

Some day I plan on replacing the front doors, however since that is not in our budget right now, paint it is!

At our last house I found the perfect front door paint. It’s made by Modern Masters.

I love it because not only is it water based and dries in 2 hours (You can literally shut the door in 2 hours!), but it also comes in some of the prettiest colors in a satin finish.

It goes on smooth and is super easy to clean up. Need I say more?

In our last house we painted the front door a beautiful navy called Peaceful. It was the perfect dark blue. Not too dark, not too light.

AND It only took one coat of blue – with a few touch ups – to cover.

I had so much left over that I think I painted everything in our backyard! Adirondack chairs, flower pots, signs, the back door…it really went a LONG way.

This time I decided I wanted to paint this house something a little more classic that featured black and white.I chose to go with MM Satin Elegant.Which is a deep true black.

I love it.

However, with this color it took almost 3 coats to cover the door. Still, a little over 6 hours, for 3 coats, from start to finish, is not too shabby! It looks fabulous.

This house has a wrap around front porch. Which means we have a side door that leads to my office. This door also faces the same direction as the front door, so you see both doors from the street. Since I was already painting the front door, it just made sense to go ahead and paint the side door too.

And I am so glad that I did. The difference just painting the front doors made was HUGE!

I told The Hubs that now I can’t wait to paint the rest of the house!

Patience is not always a virtue for me…

The weather is still not co-operating so I think I’ll just focus on not only painting the front doors, but also sprucing up the front porch.

But that’s for another day.
Until next time….