One of the many things I love about this house is the wonderful outdoor spaces. However, the long covered porch area was a bit of a challenge to decorate. We have the major components but it is still a work in progress. Let's talk about How to Make the Most of Your Patio Space. Our pool area faces the direct hot sun. The former owners were very wise to cover the entire back area of the house. A lot of the covered area is quite high so decorating it has been a bit of a challenge. You can ...
my home and garden
How to Create an Outdoor Space that Guests will Never Want to Leave
Hi Everyone. I have shown sneaks and peeks of my courtyard but decided I should finally do a full tour. The former owners designed this lovely courtyard space. All we have done is add our collected style to the space. Let's chat about How to Create an Outdoor Space that Guests will Never Want to Leave. So, come on in! When we purchased this house this area was empty. I am not sure what they had planned for the space. It has great high ceilings but no power for a light fixture. ...
How to Create a Stylish Productive Workspace Without Buying Anything
Today I am joining my pals Mary Ann and Annie and we are sharing our workspaces. When Mary Ann suggested we all share where we work, I thought great idea, my office is kind of respectable compared to the state of the rest of the house. What was I thinking? Oh well, let's take a look at How to Create a Stylish Productive Workspace Without Buying Anything. This space is wonderful. It is much larger than my office in our former home but there is no built-in storage. The former owner was an ...
Five Simple Ways to Refresh your Home for Summer
Today I am joining some of my very best blogging pals, Mary Ann, Annie, Kim & Carla. We are talking about fun ways to refresh your home for Summer. In my case Five Simple Ways to Refresh your Home for Summer. Those of you who are regulars here, know that we just moved into our new home in the Paso area. We are almost unpacked but not nearly organized as of yet. We need blinds, curtain panels, nightstands for the master, and we need to hang pictures, etc., but we are getting there. ...
How to Achieve a Collected Look on Your Patio
Hi everyone. If you have been reading this blog long you know I favor a collected look in my home, my garden, and even my own personal fashion style. Why? A collected look has personality, interest, and history. By choosing to avoid a matchy-matchy look you can infuse your own personality and individual style into your designs. You can read more about my philosophy in this post The Collected Look How to Get It. For now, let's chat about How to Achieve a Collected Look on Your Patio. Our new ...
How to Select a Harmonious Color Palette for a Pool Area
Happy Tuesday everyone! I am babysitting Summer this week so this post will be a little short. I thought I would share with you some of my plans for the pool area of our new home. The great news is there is a lot of living area around the pool. The bad news is there is a lot of living area around the pool. If you know what I mean? Let's talk about how to select a harmonious color palette for a pool area. The first think I think about when I am designing an outdoor area is what are the ...
Join me on a New Adventure and Survey Results
Today I want to talk about the survey results and some news I have been waiting to share until now. There is never a dull moment in this household. We purchased a home in the Paso Wine Country in December. The former owners are renting it back from us so we will not be physically moving until April or May. Let's chat about this post "Join me on a New Adventure and Survey Results. We have been looking for a home in the Paso area for several years. We almost bought a lot very near this home ...
How to Remodel an Old Kitchen and Retain Its Charm
Today I am sharing the small but mighty kitchen in our fixer upper. For those of you new here, we sold our long-time family home and moved into one of our rentals, It had a lot of character but needed some love after being a rental for over 25 years. Let's take a look at how to remodel an old kitchen and retain its charm. I am all for creating a modern workable space. However, I am not a fan of what I call "bastardizing" (for lack of a better word) the original space. I think it is ...
A Collected Christmas Home Tour You Will Love
Well, I hope you will anyway! We have to come up with these catchy names to get recognized by good old google. Today I am so happy to join Most Lovely Things and Classic Casual Home and some of our favorite bloggers for our annual Christmas tour. For those of you new here, we recently sold our longtime family home and downsized to one of our rentals. Lucky for us it is a charming Spanish Revival. I like to decorate with either natural or nature inspired decor for Christmas. I usually have a ...
