Sunday, December 29, 2013

Best of 2013


I can't believe it's almost 2014. This year has flown by. Unfortunately, I didn't meet all of my goals that I set at the end of last year, so they'll just have to make the list again for 2014. I did manage to complete some big projects. I thought I would do a little recap in case you might have missed something that you'd be interested in, starting with projects at the beginning of this year to the present. Just click on the description at the bottom of each picture to see the original post and step by step instructions or tours.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

One Kings Lane Statement Chair

I was contacted by One Kings Lane recently (How cool is that?) to create a post about a statement chair in my house. First of all, I was jumping up and down at the mere fact that One Kings Lane was contacting ME at all. Secondly, I thought, how fun is this because I think a chair selection says a lot about someone. I was up to the challenge!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

New Light Fixtures, Yipee!!

island light fixture with Edison bulbs
I am not usually a Black Friday shopper, but when I saw on Facebook that Forge Imports was having a 50% off entire store sale, I threw the Christmas lights aside and made sure to be there when they opened. I went in just looking for a light for the living room but...

Friday, December 6, 2013

One Man's Trash...

We've all heard the expression, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." This is so true and a key to successfully decorating on a budget. I found this "treasure" at Goodwill last year after Christmas. It's a little rickety and probably doesn't function well anymore. I'm guessing someone moved here from somewhere where this was useful and after moving to San Antonio thought that they would never need it again. After all, the one time it kind of snowed a few years ago, we were all using cookie sheets and cardboard for our sledding. I thought it was a great addition to my outdoor Christmas decorations and would at least create the atmosphere of it being cold outside.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

The Start of the Christmas Decorating

Well, I am just taking my sweet time this year decorating for Christmas. Not that that isn't usually the case. It just seems more obvious to me this year. I look on blogger and down the list I see home tours and links filled with holiday decorating. Some people even have more than one tree decorated! Impressive! And me, not even ONE tree yet...haven't even made it to the tree lot. I'm feeling a bit like a blogging slacker. I'll just show you what I'm up to a little at a time so I don't get too overwhelmed. LOL

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Winter Bulletin Board Ideas


winter bulletin board idea
It's that time again. I need to come up with another idea for the school bulletin board. This is the one that I did a couple of years ago with a winter theme.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Fresh or Frozen?

I'll take frozen please or at least fresh from the grocery store. This is a picture of my Grandmother taken before the depression. I'm pretty sure they were grateful for this turkey but I'm grateful for the grocery store! Happy Turkey day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I am reposting my "pretty bird" from last year because I always need a reminder how to do it myself. If you haven't put your turkey in the oven yet, try this out...





Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Christmas Decorating at Mom's


The call came early this year. The one that starts with, "Do you want to come over?" I wouldn't have guessed that it was to decorate for Christmas because it's not even Thanksgiving yet and I know my mom's attitude towards that. This year, though, she had the excuse of being out of town for 10 days between now and Christmas so, it's OK. While I am not one that decorates before Thanksgiving either, I don't shame other people because they do. What am I...the Christmas decorating police? Well, not this year at least. :)

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Jewelry Storage Idea

Some of you might already know that I am currently "working on" my closet. One of my dilemmas has been how to store my jewelry. Then the other day as I was putting away the Halloween stuff under the stairs, I came across an unused frame...SCORE!


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Transform an Old Window into a Piece of Art

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transform an old window pane into an art piece
You might recognize this old window from one of my Halloween posts. (It had bloody hands on it.) I didn't originally buy it for that purpose of course. I had been having trouble finding something for my mantle until I found this window. The size was good and I liked the distressed finish. It just needed a little something extra...

Friday, November 8, 2013

Motivational Writing

While straightening up Jackson's room yesterday, I found a little surprise. Being a decorator, you can imagine my horror when I saw that my precious son had taken an ink pen to his wooden desk. I was pretty upset until I read the inscription.
He had written his own little motivational encouragement. I couldn't have been more proud even if it had said, I love you mom." A good lesson in life, never to be erased. It will stay there as a reminder always.

This is a good lesson in decorating too. Always keep the things that are special to you. It makes your house a HOME and individually YOU. Sometimes the beauty and interest is in the imperfections.

I did point out to my son, however, that while I appreciate his creative writing skills, I would like him stick to paper or a sticky note next time, and to please not deface the furniture in the future. (All while making sure that he knew that I really loved it, of course!)

Friday, November 1, 2013

Fall Is In The Air

On the way to school this morning my nine year old told me that this was the best Halloween ever. Nothing could please me more. To top off this great day, we had a cool front come in to San Antonio and the weather is beautiful for taking down all of the Halloween decorations and going back to the Fall feel again. Of course it's still a high in the 80s, but no humidity. My husband always like to say, "It's not the heat, it's the stupidity." I get that stuck in my head when I start complaining about it, but it REALLY IS the humidity!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Halloween Scavenger Hunt


scavenger hunt riddle ideas
Scavenger Hunt 
There is nothing more fun than a scavenger hunt and what better time of year to do it than Halloween. The only challenge was that I wanted to do one without disturbing all of our neighbors. So I came up with a plan to hide items around the house and in the yard, kind of like an Easter egg hunt. This was geared towards 9-12 year olds as some of the riddles might be more difficult for young ones without a little help. It all started in the front yard, aka, the witch's forest. I told the kids that I needed items for my potion and gave them a list of items shown below. The list can be adjusted for your own home as needed.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Cheap and Easy Halloween Decor Ideas (Inside)

When I decorate for any holiday, I like to look around the house and use things that I already own. This silver platter is a good example with just enough tarnish to make it look old and creepy. Every spooky house needs a head on a silver platter.

Monday, October 14, 2013

An Entry Table That a Witch Would be Proud OF

I thought that before my kids get too old for it, we would have a Halloween party for them and their friends. The most fun, I think, will be the preparation for it. My 4th grader in particular is very crafty and loves to watch Halloween Wars and Martha Stewart craft shows geared towards Halloween. He has all kinds of ideas that we are going to try out. We have already started to have some fun decorating for the party. This is our spooky entry table.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Fall Carnival School Bulletin Board

bulletin board idea for Fall school carnival
This year Gage's elementary school is having their first carnival. That made coming up with an idea for the Fall bulletin board easy.Here are some detailed pictures in case you are trying to do a carnival style board for your school.

Friday, September 20, 2013

S'more Fall Decorating Fun ~ Fall Chalkboard Menu


fall chalkboard with Fall menu

Part menu, part shopping list, this is my cooking inspiration board for Fall. Even though it is still in the 90's in San Antonio, I am craving all of the comfort foods. Time to break out the fall spices and cinnamon sticks!!!

sharing with ~


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Fall Football Inspired School Bulletin Board

Fall football theme school bulletin board idea
This is a football inspired bulletin board that I did a couple of years ago. I'm trying to come up with a new idea for this year. I need to put up a new one before our Fall PTA meeting. Any ideas?

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Easy Fall Wreath

I found this painted grapevine wreath at Hobby Lobby 40% off. I loved the chippy light blue paint. I know it's not a traditional fall color but I thought that if I added some grapevine pumpkins that would do the trick.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Anthro Inspired Owls



While I was out shopping Friday, I found these cute little owls that reminded me of Anthropologie.

Friday, September 13, 2013

How I Recovered My Ottoman



Did you notice in the title I wrote, "How I recovered my ottoman" as opposed to, "How TO recover an ottoman"? It was intentional as there is a big difference here. Let me tell you the story of the ottoman...

Monday, September 9, 2013

The Closet Dilemma

My plan to redo my closet isn't turning out quite like I was expecting. I have all of my projects lined up and things selected and even a couple of plans completed. Here's the predicament....


This weekend while recovering an old ottoman, my husband comes in the bedroom and says, "Where's that going?" I proudly say, "in my closet." His reply, "Why are you wasting it in there?" With just a few words, he had burst my bubble. He's right. Why am I wasting it in there? I wasn't expecting it to look that good. It looks better than the one I have in my bedroom AND the one in the living room. This should be a good thing, right? However, I feel like I've just opened up a can of worms. I can't blame him completely because I already moved the trunk that I refinished (for the closet) into the master bedroom. Ugh! I see where this is going.



The trunks that I'm moving to the bedroom ~ sorry closet

While shopping the other day, I found this beautiful and well priced chandelier. I was really excited until it dawned on me that this fixture was prettier than the one in my kitchen. How can I buy a new light fixture for the closet when now I really need this for the kitchen? Uh-oh.

It's amazing to me that it took my husband about two seconds to confirm the thoughts that I evidently was already having. What do I do now? This closet might never get finished! HELP!!!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Closet Project ~ Trunks

The most important thing about a closet is organization and its entire reason for being is storage so my first priority in redoing mine is to come up with inexpensive chic containers that Anthropologie would be proud of. (since they are my inspiration) I really wanted to add some vintage touches to the closet so I went antique shopping and found one of my favorite things ...an old trunk. This one needed some love. It was an ugly shiny black but the price was right at $17. Trunks are great for storing seasonal clothing or items that you don't need every day.

anthropologie inspired vintage cottage trunk

Friday, August 30, 2013

The Closet ~ Before

If you know me by now, you've probably figured out that I'm a pretty organized person. My mom calls it OCD but I like to call it efficiently structured. It may be a downfall in some areas but when it comes to making over a closet, I'm definitely in my element. Just the thought of doing it makes me giddy.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Decorating Goals For The Year ~ How Am I Doing?

Hi all! How was your summer? Mine was great! As a family,we kept it pretty low key this year with just a couple of trips to the coast. We relaxed and definitely slacked off so back to school was a bit of a slap in the face. Now that the kids are back in school, I have more free time so I'm looking back at my goals for the year when it comes to decorating. If you have been following me from the beginning, you know that I wanted to redo the laundry room, the pantry and the "work out"/dog room. Well, I'm happy to say that I managed to pull off two out of three which is not bad. I thought I would take a couple of current pictures of the two rooms to show you that organizing these rooms can really pay off and save time. They have still managed to stay neat with some minor tweaking...
The laundry room makeover consisted of painting walls and cabinets, adding hardware, removing some cabinet fronts, adding some fabric to disguise the washer dryer hook ups, adding a cafe curtain to the lower cabinet, hiding the ugly fluorescent fixture and adding a rug, baskets and other accessories.
The laundry room isn't perfect (We still have a 17 year old washer and dryer and a black refrigerator that came with the house.) but it is a huge improvement from the bland disorganized room it was before. If you're thinking about redoing your laundry room but have been hesitating because you don't have a ton of money or the new appliances, just take a look at the difference that was made in this room with just a little money and diy.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

School Is In Bulletin Board

school is in bulletin board idea, school of fish bulleting board

After a brainstorming session on the way to the beach, I decided on a "school of fish theme" which reminded me of the movie Finding Nemo.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Back to School Bulletin Board

I can't believe that there is only one month left of summer. This has me thinking about a theme for the back to school PTA bulletin board. I thought I would share with you a couple of boards that I have done in the past if you are looking for some inspiration too.



back to school bulletin board ideas
This is the first board that I ever created for the PTA. I liked the idea of doing a retro style school even though it doesn't look anything like our actual building.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Baby Basket Idea




baby basket ideas
I love putting together gift baskets. My mother has been an influence in that department sharing with me that the presentation of something should be as important as the gift itself almost shaming me into making sure that all packages are carefully planned and not just thrown into a bag with some tissue. (I still do this sometimes but only when I'm in a hurry ~ sorry mom) For big gifts like first babies though, I have to put in the extra effort.

 baby basket gift idea
I thought I would share this quick and easy way to personalize a plain basket. I found this unfinished wood letter at Hobby Lobby, painted it the same color as the basket and hot glued it on. A basket is a good choice too for a babies room for storage of small baby supplies. White is a classic choice if you don't know the colors of the room. I know this couple was using green and yellow so I just purchased some coordinating ribbon and tissue to embellish the variety of items in the basket. So even though all of the gifts are not color coordinated, the colored ribbon ties it all together. I hope baby Callahan likes it!!!!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th Of July

Happy 4th of July everyone! We are swimming and cooking out today. I hope you are enjoying your day too!

Check out my Pinterest 4th of July board for some last minute Patriotic Inspiration. http://pinterest.com/teergirl67/july-4th/

God Bless America!!!!!

Here's my last minute $10 Hobby Lobby 4th decor....

Nothing like some last minute decorations ~ just add some flags and done

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

For Dog Lovers ~ Pet Bed Shopping


my favorite dog beds




Pet beds... let's face it, they are a necessity that everyone with a dog needs to buy, but they are, however, in most cases not very attractive. (A designer's nightmare ~ those items that people NEED but you don't want out in the open for people to see.) I guess there are more to choose from than there used to be. Now with the Internet, you don't have to go into the pet products super store only to find the thin, sad, ugly fabric version of a bed that used to be the norm. Even the big pet stores are trying by adding designer merchandise like Martha Stewart's line of doggie supplies. Regardless, it does still take some effort to find a good one. This is one of those times when I wish I was more of an entrepreneur and I could come up with my own line. Nope, too lazy. Next option, I could sew my own, but zippers still intimidate me and for a pet bed, this is a necessity in order to clean it. The only option left... countless hours of shopping on the Internet. I'll save you some time and show you what I found.....

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Game 7. GO SPURS GO!!!!!!!
We need to add a year to this banner. Notice how they always win in odd years......

Thursday, June 13, 2013

June ~ A Very Busy Month So Far

Hi everyone! I wish I could tell you that I have been absent for so long because I have been working on so many fabulous projects that I could now show you now, but the truth is, LIFE has taken over my plans this month.

The end of the school year was very busy for me, as I'm sure it was for many of you. First of all, Jackson graduated from 5th grade. I can't believe he is going to middle school this fall and already has girls texting him. (TOOOO WEIRD)
Are you like me in that you are never in photos because you're always the one taking the picture?




Friday, May 10, 2013

Gage's Baseball Room



Spring. What does it mean to you? For me, it means baseball season. Have you noticed the lack of posts recently? My boys play a lot of sports but baseball seems to take up the most time. With two boys on two different teams playing 1 1/2 - 2 hour games, practices and private hitting and pitching lessons, it is never ending. Little League is a serious business around here with our local McAllister team going to the World Series a couple of times in the last few years. It is very competitive and that means hours of training and playing. So, it wasn't a surprise to me when my nine year old wanted a "baseball room".

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

It's Almost Summer Bulletin Board 2013

Summer bulletin board idea, beach theme bulletin board
As you could probably already tell, I've been busy doing school stuff lately. This post is for my teacher and volunteer friends out there.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Room Tour ~ The Study

Although every room in my house is under construction in one way or the other, I'm going to share some of my rooms in the upcoming days because, first of all, I need to add rooms to my home tour besides the entry and hall, and secondly, I don't think any of my rooms will ever be completely done anyway. Even if  I did manage to complete a room, I think then it would be time to start rearranging it again anyway.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Young Masters Artwork

I spend a lot of time on this blog showing you my creations but today I had to show you my baby's artwork that was selected for the Young Masters show for the N.E.I.S.D. I'm so proud of him!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Fiesta Time ~ The Wreath Is Up

Fiesta wreath
Normally, I'm a ,"Less is more", kind of girl but not when it comes to Fiesta! It all starts with the wreath. I have had it for a few years now and every year I add more to it. More on this later...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Cowabungalow Kitchen, Dining and Living Almost Complete

As you can see, the kitchen is not quite complete. The butcher block kitchen counter, tile back splash and wooden cabinet knobs to match the counters are all missing. Again, we went with bright beachy colors here.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Cowabunga Bedrooms

beach bedroom decorating ideas
Who wants to sleep at the Coast? Actually, I do. I love a good nap on vacation. So, in my opinion, bedrooms are important and they need to have a coastal flair. This is one of the guestrooms in the bungalow. The duvet is Pottery barn and the lobster pillow is from Stein Mart.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Cowabungalow ~ Some Just Beachy Ideas


 decorative surfboard decor
Hi there! Boy, was it a long weekend at the beach. I went down Friday to help my mom and Stanley move into their new beach house. (So jealous!) It was three days of shopping, unpacking, painting, and arranging. All of the things that I love to do but I'm exhausted! I knew when we were picking out paint, tiles, bedding and so on that it would be cute but it is crazy cute if I do say so myself. :)

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

End of Year / Into Summer Bulletin Board

As some of you may already know, I like to do bulletin boards at school and I'm in charge of the large PTA board when you enter the school. I'm having trouble coming up with my last board of the year. I thought I would share my board from last year if any of you need some inspiration like I do.
bulletin board ideas for the end of year, summer bulletin board ideas, school bus on bulletin board, PTA bulletin board
If you've seen the Spring board before, it is similar. I left up the main paper and added the school  bus seen from behind as the kids are leaving school for summer.
I wanted to do something very different this year. Anyone have any ideas