Welcome to the Décor To Adore summer series of design secrets. I’ll be sharing with you various solutions on how to decorate your home and create design solutions to common problems while on a budget. In my best Julie Andrews voice I sing “Let's start at the very beginning A very good place to start” Now this first tip is both simple but difficult: Each and every house will speak to you. It will tell you exactly who it wants to be. I am not the first designer to advise that it is ... View the Post

I just finished organizing my crafting supplies. It all started when I found this old spice rack at the thrift store for $5. Just two days later I found a second one for even less. One glass bottle alone can sell between $2~$3 on ebay so it was a fantastic deal. The first thing I did was clean all the jars and reorganize my own spice cabinet. You can read Spice Girl Part I HERE. Then the old spice racks sat and sat and sat in my stash. There is nothing like moving and having to ... View the Post

My fur boy Rudi loves to climb up on the couch. As he is a dachshund his long back needs all the extra help it can get. I’ve had this ottoman since the Tuscan look was in. The size is really perfect and the material is still in great shape, it was just…um…ugly. I went digging through my fabric stash and found a yummy old tablecloth that sadly was no longer acceptable for dining but would be a perfect fabric for a slipcover. I followed the directions that my friend Jill provided on her ... View the Post

Judging by the comments, emails, facebook messages and DTA viewings overall you guys really loved Wednesday’s post about having Less Laundry. Because you asked I will now address the guidelines I use for general household laundry. You might not agree. That’s ok. We’re all friends here. I change the bed sheets at DTA manor once a week. I heard the Queen of England gets fresh sheets everyday but um let’s face it, she has staff. The placemats and napkins also get traded out once a week. ... View the Post

On the day of her birthday my grandmother proclaimed that the Queen of England had nothing on her. Stuffed into my suitcase along with all the other party paraphernalia was a spool of double faced satin ribbon, press on glitter letters and a crown that each received the full on birthday treatment. I had exactly one hour to decorate the entire space AND lay out the food. I should have packed my roller skates. Then it was just me and fifty people who wanted cake. So….. there weren’t ... View the Post