Do you know the story of Dorian Gray? The story where the man character, Dorian, never ages, but his portrait does? At the end of the story the portrait is young again and Dorian has aged and died.That portrait is our house. You remember our house. In its lovely colors, don’t you? [Read more...]
A house full of changes!
September 25, 2010 By
Ok, so not exactly – as months have gone by we’ve been slowly but surely working on the house. We’ve purchased new furniture, new rugs, painted, accessorized, and in general made our main living space lovely. And then things ground to a halt.
I’m honestly not sure what happened, if things stalled because of money worries or general exhaustion or what since all those ideas I had in my head just one day up and fled on me. Still the other day I was sitting in my living room, staring at our hallway trying and trying to figure out what color to paint it since our hallway butts up against our lovely AND ORANGE living room. (really, it’s gorgeous and I love our living room, but perhaps I should have planned the matching colors ahead of time) When suddenly inspiration struck me:
This bench/storage unit sits in our living room and looks GREAT against the walls no matter what time of day it is. So in the dark, in the sunshine, and in the in-between times this pretty bench MATCHES. Plus, since the color is such a neutral I am able to slap this color up in our Kitchen as well and tie everything together. Which is great when you realize just how open that color is to our living room. Thanks to a very weird wall…
Since we also finally had decided on a bedroom color after running through several choices of green…of which I thought I had a picture, but evidently do not. Fail on my part.
I decided, what the hoot, and ran my little self off to Home Depot. Where I promptly purchased paint and additional trays since we kind of killed all of our old ones when painting our living room. So this weekend I have one or two goals, goal number one is paint the hallway since I can actually reach everything with a ladder in this area. Plus its small and an easily achieved goal.
Hey I’m all about the baby steps here. Hard to disappoint yourself if you set yourself such minute goals!
Then, if everything is be-bopping along I’m going to move my roller and paint into our Kitchen and set up shop in there. I know I won’t be able to finish the entire room simply because the ceilings are at least 14 feet high at the peak, but I can finish all the lower parts and then let Alex finish up the rest. Then hopefully I’ll be able to get the bedroom completed in the next two weeks (or…Honey, maybe you could finish it over your weekend….maybe? Pretty please? With an ice cream sundae of the likes you’ve never seen on top? Honey where are you going?) so that I’ll be able to hang some artwork in our bedroom. Like that anniversary gift.
The best part about all of this is that when inspiration hit, inspiration must have decided with such a long break I deserved several knocks upside the head so I have even MORE ideas of how to decorate and make our place warm and inviting. For that house party. The one I haven’t planned yet. The one we should have had as a “Yay we have a new house!” style party….six months ago. Yeah, that one.
First and foremost, to cover our ugly floors in the kitchen, I’ll be purchasing one of these rugs from Kohl’s.
I absolutely LOVE that store and the fact that this rug is only $15 blows my mind. So I’m grabbing it while I can and tossing it on our kitchen floor. Where it will match our pots and pans, dishes, goblets, and walls. The cabinets. . .not so much….yet. I have plans for this too!
Then while I’m shopping for a rug I plan to pick up one of these wall decals.
Now I know, I know, I know . . .what a trend. However, since this wall is pretty much wasted space otherwise I wanted to put something decorative and appropriate up there. This saying will fit in perfectly with the area and is a nice decoration without being overstated or dangerous in the sense that it could fall on one’s head. Plus, if the advertisement on the internet holds true, these are buy one get one free so I’ll be able to purchase one for our bedroom as well. That will take care of this huge amount of dead space over our headboard.
I rarely feel as though I’m “great” at anything, good yes, great no, but I’m pretty proud of where I’m taking this house. Especially when you consider that when we first purchased the place we started out with this….
BORING
And we’ve moved gradually to rooms that are warm and inviting. There is really something to be said about putting your own stamp on a project. Even if that project is never-ending and makes your wallet weep at the sight of the home owner’s Mecca. I’m sorry wallet, but you’ll have to just tighten that belt a little more.
One man’s junk is My Treasure Hunt!
August 18, 2010 By
Alex and I love to go antiquing. We love it because its relaxing, entertaining in that we can always find fun and interesting items, and best of all cost-saving. What with the market the way it is, any way to pinch a few pennies is a great way for us to shop! Plus we have our house, and while we’ve been in it for about six months, we still have a ways to go with the redecorating and expanding of our decor from apartment life. As part of that antiquing we have found a few favorite stores in the area that are basically ginormous (oooo look at me ticking off spell-checker with that word. ginormous ginormous ginormous) warehouses of stuff. Some good stuff, some bad stuff, some really weird stuff. Old and new, poorly used and well-kept, useful and kitschy it is all there for us to peruse.
Sometimes we get lucky and find something we need like our dining room table that seats up to six with the leaf installed, or even eight if you want to get a little closer over the holidays. In this case we were able to purchase the entire set for only $200. Identical sets retailed at the local discount furniture warehouse for $600 or more depending on the finish.
Sometimes we even get so lucky we find that one item we couldn’t find in the furniture stores, and just when you think Josh Turner bought it, you find out its really yours! Our kitchen hutch falls into this category, everything I was looking for in a hutch what with its glass doors for our china, its cabinets for the odd stuff, the serving trays that extend from the cabinet area, and a great place to keep the “booze”! (although sadly, the “booze” in this case is an un-opened bottle of champagne from our wedding that is personalized. Mostly because neither of us like champagne nor have we found a good time to open it.) Again in this case, something similar to this retailed us around $800 in the store and we paid only $300 for this piece.
Alex's Bday gift to me
And then sometimes you wander through finding absolutely nothing. That is why this is a hunt. A safari if you will. (Just make sure to strap on that oh so sexy pith helmet and your many pocketed vest!) Have you ever wandered through one of these stores? They can be a bit overwhelming what with no sense of order and often poorly lit. But I encourage you to try! I’d pick one or two stores that you can visit on a regular basis so that you can get to know the inventory. You can see what moves in and what moves out. This way you can know what vendor to shop in when looking for a particular item and what vendor to avoid. Plus you’ll have a good idea of who carries the quality stuff and who does not. No sense in saving a bundle if you are purchasing items that are of poorer quality and won’t last as long (or are items you don’t really need at all!). I’d also recommend you walk in with a budget that way you do not get caught in the “sale” and spend more than you intended or the item is worth.
As part of that bonus of perusing your local stores on a fairly regular basis, occasionally when you go in you’ll find the ever elusive SUPER FIND! (doesn’t wording it as a super find make it seem just that more awesome?! Well raspberries on you then, it sounds cool to me! and speaking of raspberries…that just so happens to be the color of our newest find. Coincidence? NAH!) In our case, last week we went hunting for a butter dish. I wanted a classic crystal dish that we could use and if we ever decided to purchase more crystal we could easily match the design too. While there we also passed by this lovely hand-blown glass bowl.
Not an item we needed per se, but nonetheless too gorgeous to pass up. Sides, it makes a lurvely (oooh look at me ticking off spell check again) fruit bowl. In our case, bananas! Plus it cost a whopping $10.
So next time you pass one of these stores, maybe check it out. You never know what you mind find! If you do find a genie lamp though, please contact me BEFORE making all three wishes. Thank you ever so much!
Recipe: Hawaiian Coleslaw
August 6, 2010 By
Servings are approximately 16 so this is a GREAT party recipe. I will say that this recipe is slightly sweeter than the normal coleslaw.
Ingredients:
| 1 | cup mayonnaise or salad dressing |
| ½ | cup sour cream |
| 2 | tablespoon sugar |
| 4 | teaspoons lemon juice |
| 4 | teaspoons Dijon mustard |
| 1 | teaspoon celery salt |
| 1/4 | teaspoon salt |
| ½ | teaspoon pepper |
| 1 | medium head cabbage, finely shredded or chopped (4 cups) |
| 1 | small carrot, finely grated (1/2 cup) |
| 1
1 |
small onion, finely grated (1/4 cup)
Can of Pineapple rings drained & quartered |
Ingredients Smorgasboard
Directions:
Wash and separate your head of cabbage by removing the outer leaves and the core, my husband suggests saving the heart of the cabbage to eat slightly salted (but I thought that sounded disgusting…your call)
Slice the cabbage into small strips and then chop those strips
Finely Sliced Cabbage
Mix all of the ingredients together until evenly blended EXCEPT the carrot, onion, pineapple, and cabbage.
Mixing it all together
Add the cabbage and stir until thoroughly and evenly coated
Coating your Cabbage
Add the onion, the carrots, and the pineapple on top and stir
Adding Onion, Carrots, & Pineapple
Chill at least 2 hours prior to serving to allow all of the flavors to thoroughly mix.
The Finished Dish
There you have it! A fun, very quick recipe that is perfect for a summer party because it is cool and refreshing. I hope you enjoy this little twist on a true classic.
