Just Do It Yourself – Sunday Morning Coffee

Volume 12

I am so excited to share with you Sunday Morning Coffee. This is a place to share, learn, explain, dream, and have fun. Today I am sharing my weekly thoughts about entertaining, decor, crafts, and recipes, and my theme for April … Just Do It Yourself!

A Little Bit About Me

Just do It Yourself

Happy Easter! Today is such a special day and although I am traveling I am going to make it home for Easter Dinner. Of course, that means my husband and son will be cooking, That sounds wonderful to me!

It’s a new month (where did March go??) and a new theme.

Just Do It Yourself is my theme for April. This month is all about fun DIY’s, fun new crafts, new recipes, and gaining confidence that you can do things yourself.

You have got this.

I already have the entire month of April planned out and I cannot wait to share how I learned to LOVE to do things myself. Of course my DIY’s are sometimes a total fail, but I am very passionate about my DIYs and I can’t wait to share my journey with you.

I have always gotten a lot of pleasure from making things. This started at a very early age, probably about eight, and I have been DIYing things ever since.

I get so much pleasure from creating and lately, it seems that my DIY’s are looking better but are actually easier.

I am going to stick with that plan for sure. Especially this month.

My Just Do It Yourself Projects

My DIY projects can be divided into five categories: Home Decor, Cooking, Entertaining, Crafts, and Projects in Our home.

If you weren’t aware, these are also the five categories that make up my brand. What a coincidence, right?

Home Decor

If you have followed me for a while, then you know that I love making home decor items. This includes things like pillows and mirrors and coffee tables and table tops and

Cooking and Recipes

I love to experiment with recipes and this year I have changed my diet to reflect gluten and dairy free. I have tried a lot of DIY ideas and this is probably where I have had the most failures.

But the successes and my discovery of the Air Fryer has made it all worth it.

Entertaining

More than anything, I love to entertain. I did a lot of “parties” at home this past year for just our family and I loved it. I cannot wait to start entertaining with friends and family and I have some really exciting plans for this year.

My DIYs for entertaining have been centered around my desire to “create a unique entertaining experience.” I have built outdoor dining rooms, hung chandeliers from old porch posts in the middle of our yard, and entertained in areas we have never used before (such as dinner in our wine cellar and on the patio behind our Carriage House).

I have held four dinners on the beach at our home in Ventura and they truly are the most magical dinners ever!

This month we are redoing the Carriage House and converting it from a storage space to an entertaining space. We hope to be able to sit twelve at one table and also have a bar area, flower arranging area, and serving/buffet tables.

The Carriage House is getting painted on the inside next week and I cannot wait to get working on this space.

Crafts

I have probably bored you with all of my pillows and paper flowers and wreaths but I am loving crafting and promise it will continue.

I have a lot of new types of crafts planned for the month and of course some of them are for outdoors as the weather is getting better for all of us!

The one thing I want to assure you is that all of my projects will be focused on helping YOU feel better about tackling DIY projects. I think a good way to do this, is to be honest about what works and what doesn’t. I will also share and share anytime I fail, struggle, or even get outside help on a DIY project.

If a project includes craft paint, sewing, paper, fabric, clay, lighting, decorating, flowers, cooking, I will always do it myself.

I am even getting good at woodworking projects so be prepared for more of those. (I also finally have a good set of tools.)

But painting the Carriage house? No way. That roof is so high that there is no way I could paint it. So I am paying to have my painter paint it and it is all happening next week.

---

Around Our Home

The Beach House Remodel

We are starting a big remodel of our beach house in Ventura. I had hoped we would be under construction by now but as expected we are a bit bogged down in getting our plans approved.

We spent more time at the beach this last year than ever and we realized this is a good time to enlarge our home so that our growing family can all fit!

I get asked all of the time about the remodel style of our home and it will definitely be Modern Farmhouse. The outside is more modern (although I know you won’t be surprised when I tell you it will be painted black and white on the outside). But the inside will be bright and airy and neutral and I know that won’t surprise you either!

If you are enjoying my blog, you can sign up to receive my blog updates here. .

---

Reflections on the Week

Guess what? Last week was amazing!

I know I sound like a broken record but it was another great week!

All of my blog posts for the week are listed below. Do you have a favorite?

I do! Can you guess which one is my favorite?

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

My Favorite Things

In the Craft Room

---

Accounts I Love to Follow on Instagram

We spent three days in Round Top this past weekend shopping for some “small” vintage finds. I ran into so many wonderful friends (who sell amazing vintage items!) and I want to share their Instagram accounts with you!

Linda and Chris at Junk Style Design (They are good friends and we stayed with them while we were in Round Top!)

Carrie at The Cotton Shed

Mary Knight at OK Ranch Texas

---

Things I Love Under $26

Things for your home!

I spent a lot of time searching for some of my favorite items under $26. Every single one of them is amazing and such a bargain!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Good Things From Martha

---

One Healthy Tip

Take Time to Enjoy Your Meals

Did you know it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to know when your stomach is full?

If you do the math, and eat slower, then you will likely eat less. There are a few tricks you can do to eat slower. Drink a glass of water before you eat. Chew slowly and longer. Put your utensils down between bites. And enjoy the dinner table conversation. You just might enjoy your meals more too!

---

What’s Ahead

We have a lot planned for the week. Including four DIY’s!

I can’t wait to share our Round Top Shopping story, a creative meal on our back porch, a DIY I just finished in our Waco kitchen, my DIY favorite gardening idea, a DIY place card made with metal, and the coolest DIY outdoor lighting you have ever seen!

---

Catch up on Sunday Morning Coffee

• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 11 – Creative Inspiration
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 10 – Inside the Life of a Blogger
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 9 – Live Your Best Life
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 8 – Living Green
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 7 – Why I Love to Entertain
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 6 – February is All About Living Beautifully
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 5 – Our Beach House in Ventura, CA
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 4 – The Story of My 100 Year Old Home
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 3 – I Think I Might Be Martha’s Biggest Fan
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 2 – A Tribute to My Mom
• Sunday Morning Coffee Volume 1 – How Chip and Joanna Influenced My Life

Pin the image below to your decor boards on Pinterest (just click the Pin button in the top left corner). You can also follow along with me on Pinterest!

For more real-time updates, follow me on Instagram @My100YearOldHome