Life has been wonderfully hectic lately. I'm always one to have a project or two going on. It's what keeps life fun & exciting. This past weekend we had a camera crew in our home filming a promo video for a local real estate agent & friend of mine, Wendy Elder. They filmed for about 6 hours & interviewed two of Wendy's clients. It was a great time & a good excuse to get my house super clean which it rarely is these days with 4 precious kids. 

Even our sweet little dog Fanta got interviewed! You see those nice newly planted bushes in the background? Those were dead bushes the day before & I couldn't stand the thought of them being filmed so we had them replaced & it's so nice to drive up to a nicely landscaped yard now!

I stayed up the night before the shoot after the kids were tucked in so I could clean everything. I requested they not come downstairs upon waking the next morning & they (mostly) obeyed.  We had to move a toy or two more before the filming started!

Fresh flowers & fruit made for a wonderful backdrop the day of the shoot.

We closed funding on the first round of our D6 Retreat & the kids (minus our oldest who was in school) came along to help us sign the docs! For the first round of D6 we are planning 4 luxury cabins all with their own kitchens, bathrooms & washer/dryers. Each one will have luxury mattresses & linens, a welcome box of fresh snacks & goodies & board games & activities to keep you busy if you choose to stay with us and "unplug" for a bit. 

Anyone for a dip in the pool? Our pool also got started last week. We use an amazing pool builder. She built the pool at our home & is amazing to work with & always seems to bring my sketches & scribbled notes to life!

Speaking of coming to life, check out the amazing 3D video on our homepage (done by Mirko)! We're expecting the retreat to be open for summer guests. We'll be opening up our reservations very soon!  Follow us on Facebook for updates!

I was attempting to get this post out sooner to give teacher gift ideas, but I still think this would be a great gift for 'teacher mommy' if any dads out there want to give their wife a Valentine's Day surprise from the kids! The kids all loved making these! We got buckets, plants & dirt from Home Depot. Raffia was left over from Christmas wrapping. I wrote on the front with a paint marker & used a chalkboard sticker with chalk marker on the back to label the name of each plant.

Boys loved it too!

These were easy to make! We got some glue dots to attach Legos (we had plenty of extra ones hidden in the living room rug) & printed out some cute sayings on red card stock. Each child wrote their names on the back. So fun!

It already feels like spring here in Texas & I was inspired by the wonderful weather to create some floral arrangements for The Teal Door, so off to Hobby Lobby I went...

I loved arranging all of these beautiful flowers in vases from estate sales, Hobby Lobby & Ikea.

This is an antique bread pan that I picked up at an antique sale last weekend.

Picked up these mason jars 80% off at Hobby Lobby & hot glued some burlap ribbon on them to add a little extra color and texture.

What a great centerpiece! Love this pop of yellow!

Hope a few of these inspire you to try a few arrangements for your own home! You can also follow us on Facebook to get notifications of future blogs!

Happy planting! ~T

We purchased this home in 2012 when we knew our family would be expanding once again. We lived here for one year & truly loved it- especially the concrete flooring & Austin stone. We built a custom pool with rock waterfall that the kids enjoyed splashing in on hot Texas summer days. We even tore down half the kitchen wall to open it up into the living room. When we moved, it was into a home closer to town & half the size. We decided to leave our furnishings and let others enjoy all of the things we had once enjoyed about this home. The Teal Door hosts dozens of guests from around the country each year for vacations, gatherings & family fun trips. We love hearing stories & reading reviews of guests that found this place to be a special one to them as well.

I remember planting this front garden when I was very pregnant with our third child. It was a lot of work but such a great spot that greets guests.

Yellow! I ❤️ it! I rescued this table & transformed it from a dark wood into a bright white/blue finish. I spray painted some old metal letters yellow to finish off the room!

The inviting Austin stone fireplace is decorated with a custom painted "Teal Door" canvas. What a fun room to relax & have guests over!

The antique chest next to the bed has been in our family for years. It's from 1912. I love the mix of modern (yellow chair) & old antique pieces.

We had some pallet pieces left over from the mug holder project so I drew up a simple 'towel hook' design for my husband to craft up for me but when I organized my closet a few days later, I knew this piece would work even better has a necklace hook. The little ones had a lot of fun helping me hang all my necklaces! This was another simple project that makes me smile everytime I walk into my closet because I know it was crafted with love. Knobs are from Hobby Lobby.

This is my friend Christen. She's preparing to head out on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic & I wanted to send her off in style. We had a short planning time & I wanted to keep it simple so that the focus was on her having a relaxing time with her friends in our home. The night before the party, my sweet little baby had a rough night (and therefore so did mommy). I had to rush her into the doctor the morning of the party for meds because she had an ear infection. She was feeling much better by party time. All this to say, the decor may look like it took hours but it was really quick & simple & we got it done on no sleep! The party was so fun & amazing!

Instead of a "message in a bottle" we had a "message in a bag" station where guests wrote memories or words of encouragement that she could read once she was on the mission trip. I used cut up scrap booking paper from Hobby Lobby & red twine leftover from Christmas.
Hopefully I created a memory that my friend will carry with her for years to come...that's the reason I truly love entertaining!

Antique suitcase filled with fun treasures helped set the perfect backdrop to the party.

I purchased these cross ornaments after Christmas for around 35 cents each to give guests as a reminder to pray for our friend on her mission trip.

Mini chocolate cupcakes with heart shaped maps for guests to enjoy.

Plenty of kid friendly drinks & comfy shoes for yours truly!

Delicious!

I ordered some furniture online a few months ago & saved the pallet from the trash pile my husband had set out by the curb after we had unloaded the furniture. The pallet had seen better days and was very weathered but I loved the rustic look it had. I asked my husband to build me a mug rack out of it to fit a space between our kitchen cabinets & our back door. The results turned out better than I had imagined!

Here's how we did it:
Supplies:
-pallet
-hooks (these are from Hobby Lobby)
-nails & screws
-picture hangers to attach it to the wall

My space could not fit the entire crate so my husband cut it in half. He then screwed on the hooks for the mugs & attached the picturing hangers on the back of the pallet to hang it to the wall. That's it! Easy as pie! It took him less than 45 minutes & he spent 20 minutes of that looking for his drill! ;)

I think it would also look cute to stencil "coffee" or "Tara's Tea Room" at the top...maybe one day! This is certainly a statement piece for any room!
Happy building,
Tara

This is a quick and easy DIY project that takes less than 30 minutes & adds wonderful texture & elegance to any space.
Materials:
-one bag of moss
-wooden letter
-rope
-glue gun & glue sticks
I purchased all of my supplies at Michael's Craft Store for around $12-15.

I found an old piece of cardboard my kids had colored on & put it down because the moss makes a pretty big mess.

I applied the glue directly to the moss and pressed it onto the wooden letter. I did the entire face of the letter first. I then applied thin strips of glue to the sides of the letter and pressed the thinner strips of moss around the edges about an inch at a time.

Cut some rope and hang it up! I hung it between two curtains where there's always that odd blank space & it really draws your eye to the entire wall now!

Happy crafting!
-Tara

 When we purchased our home, it was very builder basic & screaming for some warmth. The entire first floor was all tile & everything was beige. We tackled many projects when we first moved in, one of them being a new face for the fireplace. I had plans of a mantel, but discovered this rusted arrow at Hobby Lobby instead that really compliments the white stacked stone. While December in Texas has been rather warm this year, we did enjoy a fire in November. This white stone from Floor & Decor is my go-to stone & fits well with many different styles & is affordable & easy to install. Hoping to be using the fireplace once again when the cold front pushes through tonight!