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…

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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….

I don’t know about you, but here at the castle we are taking social distancing seriously.

We are only leaving the house for groceries, doctor and dental appointments and other necessary items. Since I am home for the most part, I decided to tackle a room makeover that I have been putting off.

Today I am happy to share our laundry room makeover part 1!

When we moved into our new castle this was what the laundry room looked like.

Lots of beige. Antiqued cabinets and walls that no matter how much you cleaned them, they looked dirty. A 80’s style boarder trim. And faux brown stone linoleum floors.

The day after we took possession we had every floor replaced. The laundry room received one of my very favorite tiles ever! This black and white encaustic tile. We put it in the guest bathroom at the old house and I loved it so much I had to use it in our new home.

The floors were done in one week and I kid you not this wall paper border and towel bar came down 2 days later! And then I got side tracked with things like unpacking and the holidays. So the laundry room sat just like that until the middle of January.

The laundry room had this HUGE industrial florescent light fixture that I hated from minute one. Besides not being the prettiest light fixture, it also gave off a weird yellow light that flickered. I had brought this fixture with me from our previous laundry room, so when The Hubs asked if I wanted to change the florescent light out I couldn’t get this pretty one unboxed fast enough.

The light fixture exchange was back in January. This sad little room sat just like that until three days ago. With  social distancing, I thought that if I couldn’t be productive out and about, at least I’d be constructive at home.

I can’t believe I didn’t get a better picture of this. Oh, who am I kidding? I do it all the time. Do you ever get so excited about a project that you loose your mind? You do? Oh, good. I’d hate to be alone! I started by painting the ceiling a clean, crisp white.

See arrow…

Next, I painted the walls this beautiful soft color. Sherwin Williams Tradewind. So calming. It reminds me of birds eggs!

Pardon my mess! Once the walls were painted, it was time to paint the dated antiqued cabinets. I removed the doors and painted everything with two coats of Sherwin Williams Pure White in semi gloss cabinet and trim paint.

I gave a few decor pieces, like the paper towel holder and the bird house a little face lift.

Made a new curtain for the window and added a bit of spring decor.

My laundry room makeover part 1 is in the books! But there is still more to come!

The counter top will be replaced. The Hubs is going to build a countertop out of some old barn wood of my Dad’s.

I want to put a shelf between the washer and dryer and the cabinets, but not until next month.

I have drawer handles ordered.

And… the part that I can’t wait for – I’m tiling the sink wall from the counter top to the ceiling in bright white subway tile!

Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon!

Until next time….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turquoise and glass? So speaking my love language!

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

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

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

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

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

I also couldn’t resist this Bunny Head Charm.

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

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

Until next time…

Woo Hoo! It’s Ten on the 10th. If you’re new here, each month on the 10th a group of talented bloggers get together and share ideas that cost under $10!

This months theme was Spring/textiles. At first I wasn’t sure how I was going to share something that fell under the category of textiles and if I did what would it be? Most of the ideas that popped into my mind were well over $10.

Then I found the perfect felt flowers for Spring!

I found these cute felt flowers on a recent shopping trip. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do with them, but I knew that I loved them enough to take them home and find out.

Turns out that I found a lot of places to tuck these little gems. Such pretty shades and the tiny bits of clear glitter just remind me of dew on flowers early in the mornings of Spring and Summer.

On the back of each flower is this convenient clip that lets you attach these flowers to just about anything!

I plan on using them as a part of my Children’s Easter table centerpiece. They are the perfect size and color!

They were the perfect addition for my dollar tree rabbit vignette that sits in my entry.

They were also just the absolutely perfect touch to the ends of my Easter banner on my fireplace.

And my sweet little rabbit looks so cute sitting next to this pink blossom! I am so glad that I listened to that tiny voice that said “Yes! Take them home!”

Not only are these felt flowers pretty, but the price is pretty awesome too. They are priced at $2.97 each. These beautiful blossoms come in multiple colors: Pink, Hot Pink, Lavender, Red, Yellow and a pale Turquoise. I tried to find you a link, however they are in-store purchase only at WalMart. (not an affiliate)

Felt Flowers for Spring Y’all! Now I hope that you will join me in visiting my fellow bloggers and see their fabulous ideas!

Decorate and More With Tip

Let’s Add Sprinkles

Pandoras Box

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

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

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

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

And I made new curtains.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I LOVE it.

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

Woo Hoo!

Until next time…

It’s the first Wednesday of the month and you know what that means? It’s the DIY Challenge and this months theme is Easter Egg inspiration.
 
Thanks to Terrie from Decorate and More with Tip for being our  egg-straspecial hostess! 

If you are coming here from Danya’s Barnhouse Mess, Welcome! I always love to meet new friends.

Can you believe that it’s March already? I couldn’t be happier about it. I am so ready for Spring!! Sorry Winter, but it’s time for you to go.

With Spring on the horizon, I’m already thinking about Spring and Easter decor. One of my favorite things to do is set a cute children’s Easter table for all of the littles in our family. With the DIY Challenge being easter egg inspo, I thought it might be cute to make the children’s table place cards out of eggs.

No boring little white cards for this table!

Supply List:

*Small clay pots
*Acrylic paint
*BBQ Skewers
*Plastic Easter Eggs
* Hot glue gun and hot glue
*Easter grass
*Alphabet stickers
*scissors
*ribbon

Step 1:

Take your clay pots and paint them the color of your choice. I didn’t worry too much about complete coverage since I was going for a rustic look. Once I had painted them with one coat of paint, I used white acrylic paint to dry brush over the base coat.

Step 2:

Next, grab some plastic Easter eggs of your choice and some BBQ Skewers.

Using your hot glue gun, put some glue into the hole that is at the bottom of your Easter Egg.

Quickly insert the skewer into the hole before the glue dries. I added a little glue to the outside of the egg and the skewer to make sure the skewer was firmly in place.

Don’t worry about a little glue on the outside, as we will hide that later.

Next, since the skewer was a little too long for my craft, I cut off a couple of inches of the skewer.

I used wire cutters, but heavy duty scissors would work also.

Step4:

I didn’t care for the natural wood color of the skewers, so I painted the skewer a soft grass green. Be sure to paint the glue at the top also.

Step 5:

After your green paint has dried, it’s time to attach the egg to the pot.
Normally, I would put a piece of styrofoam into the bottom of the clay pot and just stick the egg in. However, I didn’t have any styrofoam and I was too lazy to go get some, so I improvised.

I put a big dollop of hot glue into the bottom of the clay pot. Then stuck the end of the skewer into the glue. Hold the egg upright for a few seconds until the glue dries enough for the egg to stand up on its own.

A friend asked me why I used glue? Wouldn’t it ruin the pot if I ever wanted to use if for another project? No, it won’t. A little heat from a hair dryer and the glue will pop right out! In all honesty, either way works just fine.

Once the glue was dry enough, I took a half sheet of paper towel and wrapped it around the stick to help keep the egg in place and to fill up my pot.

Step 6:

I let the glue dry for a few hours, just to make sure that my egg was firmly attached to the pot. Once this was done, I tied a bow at the bottom of my egg around the skewer.This adds a little fun color and helps hide the glue.

To fill up the inside of the pot, I added shredded Easter grass. I also think that filling the pot up with jelly beans or M&M’s would be cute too. I just love all of the fun bright color.

Step 7:

I added a colorful  alphabet sticker  that was the first letter of each child’s name to one of Easter eggs. 

For a little extra, I also thought these cute tiny carrots finished my place cards off nicely.

Honestly, these Easter egg place cards are one of my top two favorite things on my children’s Easter table. I love that these cute, colorful and sweet  place cards remind me that Spring is just around the corner.

BRING ON SPRING!

Next up, Michelle from Blessings By Me!

Also, I hope that you will join me in checking out all of the other talented bloggers and see what their Easter Egg inspiration is!

Decorate and More with Tip / Jessica B. Simmons / Just Another Farmhouse /Patina and  Paint

Blessings By Me / DIY Vibes / Sew Sassy by Paula / Sweet Southern Grace

I love Board and Batten walls. I’ve just never had many places that one would work well before. Until this house. I knew the minute that I looked at the guest bathroom that this would be a perfect place for one.

To refresh your memory this is what the guest bath looked like when we moved in. It’s a functional bathroom, but the design had seen better days. It’s like a time capsule for the 80’s. Can I get an Amen? The first thing we did was change out the flooring. Once we had moved in and unpacked, I started removing wallpaper. If you’ve ever removed wallpaper you would know why I will NEVER put wall paper in my house again. Nope. Not doin’ it!

By the time I got all of the wallpaper removed and the cabinets and walls painted the holidays were fast approaching. We called a halt to all major projects until after the new year.

The holidays are long gone, and it’s time to get busy finishing a few of the rooms that we started! The first thing on my list in the guest bath was the board and batten wall.

After taking a few measurements, we headed to our local lumber store and picked out the lumber we wanted to use. Full disclosure, we could have done this wall for a much lower price had we used a different lumber. But, after much research, we decided to put up our wall a little differently which required a higher grade of hard lumber. It seems that there are two main ways that most people installed their board and batten walls.Both options had issues that we didn’t want to deal with.

The first option was to glue the boards directly  onto the walls, then add nails.Ummm…no thank you. If I ever wanted to change things up, I knew that I would also be replacing sheet rock. And I thought that removing wallpaper was a nightmare…

The second option was to simply nail the boards to the wall. However, unless you hit a stud there would always be the possiblity of the board popping loose. And realistically, there was no way we could design the wall to do that and it look right. Neither of those appealed to us.

First step:

Remove the existing base molding.

Now here’s where we went in a different direction than most. Instead of installing the boards, piece by piece directly onto the wall, we built the entire wall in the garage before installing.

To hold it together and for added stability we used pocket screws on the back of the frame. It was like a huge picture frame! And solid as a rock. Once we had it built, we then nailed it to the wall making sure we hit studs as much as possible. No chance of boards popping off and it can be fairly easily removed if we ever want to!

For the baseboard we used a 1 x 8″ board.The vertical boards are 1 x 3″ boards. And the top cross board is a 1 x 6″ board.

To finish it off we placed a 1 x 2 ” board across the top.

Next, I caulked every place the boards touched the walls and at the floor. I used wood filler to fill in all nail holes. There were still a few places on the dry wall that needed a little patching also. Once the caulk, sparkle, and filler were dry, I gently sanded everything smooth.

Time for paint! I love this paint. We painted our cabinets with this paint in our last house and it was so durable!

Three coats of paint, installation of the hooks and my board and batten wall was finished! I love it! I still have a few more projects before I can call this room done, but by far I think this is one of my favorite projects that we’ve done in this  house. It just gives that room so much character.

I am toying with painting the wall above the board and batten the same blue that I painted the vanity. But before making that decision, I’m going to live with it as it is for a little while.

Putting in a taller shower curtain, a little mirror project and decorating the rest of the space is on my to do list next. So stay tuned for the finished room!

Until next time…

Laissez le bon temps rouler! Let the Good times roll. Happy Mardi Gras my friends.

I don’t do a lot of decorating for Mardi Gras, but I can never resist doing a little here and there at the Castle.

A wreath on the front door, some decor in the entry. Maybe even on the mantel. Or a festively decorated table or two.

But we always celebrate the day with King Cake. 

First of all, did you know that here in the United States Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is a coastal celebration of the Three Wise Men finding the baby Jesus? Which is why you will most always find a baby hidden somewhere in the King Cake.
It is also a seasonal celebration that begins on January 6, which is The Epiphany. The Mardi Gras season lasts all the way through Fat Tuesday, which is the day before Lent.

Sometimes, instead of a baby you might even find a bean. In some areas, finding the baby is a sign of good luck for the coming year, or it means that the lucky finder is responsible for bringing the King Cake to the celebration next year.

Along with the baby you might see all sorts of treasures, like plastic rings or coins, hidden inside.These treasures represent the gifts that the Kings gave to the baby. It is also why you will find beads and coins decorating the top of the cakes. Every year I make King Cakes to share with friends and family.

On a funny note, I bought these babies on sale last year. My youngest son sent me a text that read something like this: MOM! What the heck? Why are Donald Trump babies hidden in the cakes this year?

LOL! Well, I have to admit that they do bear a certain resemblance…Oh, well, I bought a ton of them because – I make a lot of Kings Cakes every year AND they were on sale for .88 cents a dozen. So we will be seeing Trump babies for quite awhile! I made a total of 8 this year. 4 mini cakes and 4 big ones. Whole lota bakin’ goin on!

As you might guess, my favorite part of making King Cake is the decorating.Well, and the eating too…

Traditionally King Cakes are oval shaped to show the unity of all Christians. Almost always the colors green, yellow and purple are used because they are the official carnival colors.

Green represents Faith.
Purple represents Justice.
And yellow represents Power.

Have you ever been to a Mardi Gras parade? If you haven’t, get yourself to one soon. So much fun, so many beads, so much food! My husband’s best friend is from Biloxi and many years ago we attended not only a parade but also ball as their guests. I have not been to such a wonderful event hosted by fabulously gracious people since and probably never will again! Truly a fun, family event. Our boys, who were 7 and 5 at the time, still remember that parade. No Bourbon Street or boobs, which was fine with me!

Did I mention how much I love eating King Cake? All I can say is that thank goodness it only comes around once a year!

The breakfast of champions my friends. And maybe lunch…snack… dessert?

LOl! Again – Happy Mardi Gras.

Laissez le bon temp rouler, y’all!

Until next time…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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After we finished painting the shelves by the fireplace white, it was time to finish a few more living room projects. First thing on my list? Make new curtains in the living room.

Just a quick recap. This is what our living room windows looked like on the day we took possession of the house.

Sorry about the photo quality, I’m blaming it on being exited about moving in! We had a few hours before the flooring crew was to arrive and start tearing out all of the existing flooring, so I was in a bit of a hurry.

Full disclosure, I have never liked the blinds that came with the house. The front of the house has the prettiest plantation shutters. Which I LOVE. However, the back of the house came with these fabric raise and lower blinds. Don’t get me wrong, these are not inexpensive blinds. They are just 17 years old. 17 years of wear and tear. 17 years of dust and dirt accumulation. I even found a dead mosquito inside one of them. Smack dab in the middle where I couldn’t get it out no matter what I did. I was so done!

One of the first things we did after the new year was to take down the old blinds. Since plantation shutters were not in the budget, we went we these white, 2 1/2 inch slat faux wood blinds. So happy that we did! So much brighter and cleaner. (no mosquitos anywhere!) My only complaint – they no longer have cords. A girl could get carpal tunnel from twisting the blinds open every morning! But they are so much better than the blinds that we took down.

Once we knew we were moving last October, I started looking for fabric to make curtains for the new house. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this fabric.

Which was an exact match to my living room chair! I couldn’t order it fast enough. And then I waited. And waited. Only to be told it was back ordered and it wouldn’t be here til the end of December.

While I was waiting, I started shopping for hardware. Yikes! It’s been a long time since I bought curtain rods that span a lot of windows so I was in sticker shock. The rods were going to cost twice as much as the curtains. Then I found this set at Ross. It had not only one, but two rods sets in the package. And I fell in love with the acrylic finials. Sold!

My fabric finally arrive the end of January, but it was worth the wait. And those finials… I love them!

I’m going to show several angles of the curtains with the new blinds. This is coming down the hall from the master. The curtains are simple lined panels as I didn’t want to do anything too fussy since it has such a bold fabric pattern. 

They look so pretty coming out of the bedroom wing.

However, this is my favorite view – from my spot on the sofa. It’s where I sit every morning and look out at the wonderful view while I drink my tea. Now, my view is even better since it’s framed by these lovely curtains!
Having new living room curtains has really changed and warmed up the look of the living room. So much so, that I can’t wait to finish up the last few items on my living room to do list. Then the living room will be done –  for now!

Until next time…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time…