Sprucing up the porchlette has been on my to do list for a few weeks now. What, you might ask, is a porchlette? Well, it’s smaller than a porch or a porchette.

My friend Cindy at County Road 407 calls her front porch a porchette. After reading this on her blog, I decided that mine is so much smaller than hers that I will be forever going to call mine a “porchlette”!

As you can see, by the welcome mat, my porchlette has definitely seen better days!

I’ve been planning my new porchlette for a few weeks now.

My first purchase was this cute coir mat from Pier 1.

My second purchase was this blue and white striped mat from Overstock.com.

I love layering rugs.

It gives so much color and texture to the porchlette.

Cute right?

Until I came home and found that my layered mats had gotten wet.

The coir mat had bled onto the blue and white mat.

Ugh!

I was shocked since it hadn’t rained.

After a little investigative work I finally figured out the culprit.

The sprinkler head was hitting the Caladium leaves, which shot the water directly onto the coir mat.

Sadly, I said goodbye to the blue and white stipe mat.

At least until I can find something a little more waterproof.

My one consolation was that the new coir mat is pretty all by itself.

The porchlette has been the same for many years, I felt like it was time to rearrange it a little.

Which is harder than it sounds since it is so small.

The large urn, which was on the south side, went to the north side.

Since the urn looked a little lonely, I added this small red stool.

Please ignore the cords! Those will have to be moved and hidden.

As my sweet Granny used to say ” We can put a man on the moon, but we can’t get rid of cords!”

Also, I’m thinking of adding a sign above the metal planter.

The mason jar just feels too small.

My last new addition to the porchlette is a new garden sign.

Don’t you love all of the bright colors!

I have to say that for the most part I’m happy with the new look.

Am I finished sprucing up the porchlette?

No.

Unfortunately, all my pre-planning didn’t work out quite like I planned.

The porchlette is screaming for a wreath, a rug and a sign.

However, I’m in no hurry.

Okay, I’m in a bit of a hurry.

However, until I find the perfect items I’m moving on to other projects.

Like cleaning out and mulching the front yard flower beds.

A gardeners work is never done!

Until next time….

Hey friends! It’s been a crazy week here at the castle. Although, full disclosure, when is it not? I’m not entirely sure where to begin. So, I’ll start at the beginning by telling you exactly what’s been going on in the backyard.

About a month ago, The Hubs and I were in Oklahoma visiting with the family.

While we were gone, apparently there was a huge storm which blew our fence down.

We knew that we needed to replace it, but honestly thought we had a little more time.

Um, no.

Since The Hubs recently retired we decided to rebuild it ourselves.

Never. Again.

This girl is too old for that nonsense for sure!

We still need to stain it, but at least it’s up!

In between hanging the never ending fence, I’ve also added some yard art.

Aren’t these pretty?

My Bestie gave me three of them for my birthday.

I couldn’t wait to put them out.

Also, in the last photo you saw a colored glass wind chime.

It’s my latest purchase from Hob Lob.

In an effort to add more color, I added these new pillows.

I’m totally in love with all of the colors!

Don’t judge me by the pollen on the coffee table.

I swear, I cleaned it and 20 minutes later it was covered again!

Another new purchase were these table top tiki lamps.

I love the color and they were less than $5.00 at WalMart!

Oh, and did I mention that Mother Nature is starting to show off?

My first Clematis bloom of the year!

The strawberries and the mint are going crazy!

The fence wasn’t the only thing the storm blew down.

My poor rain chain is in desperate need of repair.

I love it when plants over winter!

The two largest pots in the backyard are by the back door and they are in full bloom right now!

We still have so much to do, mulch, plant, do a few repairs, stain the fence, etc.

In other words, I’m in my happy place!

So, what’s been going on in the backyard here at the castle? A lot!

How about you? Are you working outside enjoying the fantastic spring weather? If it’s your happy place, like it’s mine, I hope so!

Until next time….

There is nothing quite like setting a pretty table. Pretty napkin rings. Fun Dishes. Colorful glasses and white plates. Beautiful flowers.

Yes, please. I’ll take all of those.  However, pretty napkin rings and napkins may be my favorite part of the table setting.

Hey all, it’s FRIYAY! I hope that you are surviving this heat. Maybe a fun vacation? Or floating in a pool with a refreshing beverage.  Speaking of beverages, grab your favorite. Find a cool spot and check out my Friday favorites.

My first Friday favorite is this super fun summer read. It’s release date is July 17. I laughed. I cried. Sometimes I did both at the same time. Pre-order yours now here.

It’s Ten on the 10th!  Where my 10 fun blogger friends and I share ideas under $10. This month we decided to share the one item that we decorate with that we can’t live without. I had the hardest time trying to figure out my favorite decorating item!

There are so many things! How to decide?

Have you all gone to the on-line store Antique Farm House? Well, you totally should! Lately I have bought a few things from them and I have to tell you that it is all I can do to wait for them to get here!

Look what came in the mail a few days ago. I totally LURVE It.  And it really works too! Isn’t the detail on this just full of awesomeness?

I shared this bucket full of flowers with you awhile back.  I told you that I would be putting it back up after the Fourth of July. And I did. The only negative I have about this bucket of flowers is that it blocks the peep hole in the door. But who needs to see who’s at the door anyway, right?

I added some hydrangeas, greenery and some ribbon to my postal box and  I thought it was perfect for the front porch. I decided to hang it on the side wall instead of the door…OK, so I might want to see who’s at the door after all. I loved how it looked, but the more I looked the more I felt like something was missing.

A long time ago I saw where someone on Pinterest had made their own birds nest, so I decided to give it a try!

First thing – get a bowl about the same shape that you want your nest to be. Turn it upside down and cover with foil. The foil simply protects the bowl and keeps any hot glue from attaching itself to the bowl.

Take some sheet moss and excelsior  and hot glue it together to form your nest. Be careful – the hateful hot glue hides and attacks your finger when you least expect it!

Take the nest off of the bowl and turn it over . At this point, I glued some excelsior to the inside of my nest. You could add small twigs or any other organic matter that you like to make the nest look more realistic.

News ALERT:  If you couldn’t tell by the photo – this is one huge mess!

After adding a couple of robin’s egg, my nest is finished. It really did work. Pinterest success!

Here’s a close up.  I love my little nest! I also love hydrangeas. All kinds of them, in all colors. More flowers on the front porch? It’s a good thing!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the front door…. it looks a little naked!

Until next time….

                         Tammy

P.S. Check out this post and a ton of other wonderful bloggers posts at: Northern Nesting:Share your style #23, Chic On a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday , The Idea Room and Today’s Creative Life.

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I want to shake things up a little in the decorating department. Okay… let’s be honest, with me it is more often than not! Thing is – I don’t  always have a lot of extra time to pull it all together. But it can be done. Today I want to share with you what I call 15 minute decorating.  You know, the little things you can do in a short amount of time to decorate your home. Today I am working on a floral arrangement.

Peonies are some of my favorite flowers! I saw these and decided that these were perfect for what I had in mind.  Nothing to big, low ,but with a lot of impact.

I try to shop what I already have before I buy anything new and this vase was one of many that I have stashed.  Oh, come on, you know you all have a ton of vases gathering dust somewhere in your house! Don’t you?

I didn’t want to see the stems this time, so hiding it was my best bet. I had this black and white scrapbook paper that I thought would be perfect. I just wrapped the paper around the vase, using glue dots to attach the paper to the vase.

One tiny problem… I wanted the stripes to go horizontally and the paper didn’t quite go all the way around.

So I added this piece of scrap ribbon. Not bad, but a little plain.

So I did what I always do when I need to add something – I added a crown.  Shocking, I know. Y’all KNOW I love crowns! This crown can be a pin or hung on a necklace. I just took a piece of small black ribbon and ran it through the necklace loop, then taped the ends of the ribbon inside of the vase.

TA DA!! Instant bling.

I wanted the flowers to just sit just above the vase. I held the stem up to the vase to get a good idea of how long the stem needed to be and using wire cutters, cut the stems off.

The peonies were pretty large so I only used three flowers for the arrangement.  After cutting the stems I just plopped them into the vase and did a little “fluffing”.

I honestly don’t think it took me 15 minutes to put it all together.  Super easy! The only hard thing about it was deciding where to put it!

I made it for the kitchen table….

But it looks pretty good in the guest room too! Hmmm… where to put it?

Until next time…..

                Tammy

Yay! It finally stopped raining so I can get out into my yard and start planting, pruning, rearranging and enjoying the sunshine.  This is my favorite time of year. Today I gave my garden chair a makeover – again!

It’s not the first time this garden chair has had a makeover, and it probably won’t be the last either. This is what my chair looked like last year… well, at least it did when I decorated for fall. For the life of me I can’t find the original pic of when I first painted this chair. Mental note: photo re-organization in my future!

As you can see Mother Nature took a big toll on this sweet chair in the last year. Time for a little TLC!

My plan was to do a little light sanding to chip away any peeling paint and spray paint a solid  bright, happy blue color onto the chair. However, as I was spray painting the happy blue color I could still see some of the turquoise color from last year peeking through.  If you look at the front seat area of the chair you can just see what I mean in the pic above. I gotta tell ya, I LURVED it.

So… plan B. I embraced the two tone colors, sanded it down a bit in places to enhance the turquoise  to let it shine through a little bit more. I gave it a polyacrylic top coat and TA DA!!!! My garden chair makeover was done. I love a happy accident, don’t you?

One other tiny adjustment that I made was the depth of the chicken wire bowl that holds the soil and the plants. Last year it was way too deep. So deep that when it was filled with dirt and flowers it hung down and rested on the wooden cross piece.  Way too heavy. So I made it smaller and so far it is functioning much better.

I can’t wait for the plants to grow and fill in, it’s going to be so pretty….Now all that is left is finding the perfect spot for it. Did I mention that I love this time of year?

Until next time….

                  Tammy

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time….

Ok, I admit it!  I have been a bad, bad blogger this weekend!  Sorry no  usual post this morning.  But, I do have a good excuse! Really… Instead of doing my usual painting and decorating, I’ve been working at other things.

Like this…

And this….

Right now I’m off to play tennis… I will get back to work, I will get back to work!  Tomorrow?

Until next time…..