Living Room Thoughts...Out Loud.

So my husband thinks I have decorating OCD...once I have something to decorate it becomes all consuming for me, and it is all that I can think about...all day...all night. I admit, I lose sleep over it! Sadly, I have found myself awake in the middle of the night with pillows and paint on the brain. Everywhere I go, colors speak to me...from friends houses to doctors offices, my senses become heightened and I start to notice & seek inspiration from my surroundings. I really think this is my calling, which is why I am heavily considering an apprenticeship with a design firm when we make our big move. But until then, I have this giant blank canvas to work with...and I am obsessing over it. So you get to obsess with me...:P

The basic colors of the new home are so different from where I am currently living which is really making me want to completely start over. But...I am working within a budget so I am constantly reminded that my beautiful decor will occur over time. Thank god (husband will disagree here) I am going to be living a short drive away from one of the nation's largest Pottery Barn Outlets!

I am currently working on the basic color in the home, and I am leaning toward grayish beiges (Benjamin Moore Ashley Gray) vs. the pinkish beige (Behr Comforting) I have now. I had to use pinkish beige to coordinate with the white wash cabinets I have now, but this shade does NOT go with the new cabinets I will have. Decorate around what you can't change! With dark cabinets, dark appliances & dark floors I fear that a colors will make the room too overwhelming. A light color may do, but I am not much of a pastel person. I prefer deep earth tones, greens, oranges & nutmegs. So...the search continues.

Do you have a basic beige that you LOVE??? Please share if you do!!!

My kitchen is open to my dining & living area and I am focusing on that for now. We have a taupe microfiber furniture set, dark cherry tables & a beautiful huge new black entertainment center to work with in this room. I have been struggling with curtains since I have to have at least 6 matching panels, at least 96" long (preferably 108") and I shudder at the cost. Unless I can get fabric at a bargain and I can make them myself, they will have to wait. But, this is my inspiration so far, my couch is this color.

Nalgene Safety Info...

Ughhh...one of my daily necessities...my trusty Nalgene bottle is under great scrutiny. We must have a dozen of different shapes, sizes and colors of these bottles around the house. I try to help save the environment and give up bottled water and now I have to worry about WHAT?? BPA what?? Should I be worried?? Here's the scoop:

Nalgene Polycarbonate bottles are safe according to FDA regulations.

There has been a freak out about baby bottles and exposure and while the company & the FDA has determined our bottles are safe, consumer demand has led to a new line of BPA (Bisphenol-A) free products. I was unable to get the full comparison chart on here, but please check out the new line to see what you can use to replace your current bottle.

I am very proud to say that I have been using my Brita filter & Nalgene bottles for about four years and I didn't even know there was a campaign behind it! Just another bit of my hippie self coming out...I am behind this for sure! Get your fluoride & save the planet! Tap water is good! This is straight from the Nalgene FILTER FOR GOOD website:

Americans send about 38 billion water bottles a year to landfills. Considering the 1.5 million barrels of oil needed to make those bottles, the environmental impact of plastic bottle waste is truly staggering. That's why Brita and Nalgene have teamed up to create the FilterForGood pledge. It's a simple commitment to reduce your personal waste by giving up bottled water, even if it's just a few days each week. Together, filtered water and a reusable bottle are an ideal solution for going green at home and on the go. It's an easy change that can make a big difference.

My hot pink BPA containing bottle will definitely be replaced with this one!

Project New House Bedroom

So, for those of you that are avid readers, you know that I have a little bit of bedroom ADD. My master has been redone three times in the past two years, and well...its going to be redone again for our new place. The cats have annihilated the duvet, and though there is no print to get sick of (like last time) I am sick of the color. I'm going for a more muted color scheme in the new place and want the bedroom to be a place of serenity, not loud colors.

I first got my inspiration from bedding. I inadvertently ripped out the same picture (left) from magazines on three separate occasions and when I found three of the same picture in my decorating file, I thought it must have been a sign. I had a gift card from work just burning a hole in my pocket and thought-it's now or never! So, Crate & Barrel's Aubrey Bedding is somewhere on its way to my house.

This is the same Peter Kuttner art that is on the walls above, just one of the pair of prints. I couldn't believe that C&B is trying to sell the prints for $169 each!!! Granted they are framed, but I am opting to use a frame & mat I already have that will work perfect for this print, and found it for $31. Nice! This is the building block for my color scheme.

Now for colors...I love the color I have now, Ralph Lauren's Master Room, so much so that I am going to use it in the loft living area upstairs in my new home. But, I want something different in the bedroom. Now, an admission, I am a [gasp]viewer of The Hills and am a huge fan of the decorator that chose the colors for the girls' apartment. I caught my first glimpse of Audrina's bedroom last week and was very impressed at how well the dark wood contrasted against the charcoal-ish walls. I wouldn't have never thought these two colors would look so good together. But, design is all about stealing and recreating what you like, so off I go! The walls in the display picture with the bedding are actually wallpapered and I am not a fan of light walls, so I am pretty sure that my wall color will be something like this. It does look very different depending on the light though, so it is going to be tricky to find just the right hue. The pictures below are from the same room...see how different it looks depending on the lighting!!! I have quite a challenge on my hands...

After a couple of days of studying it in daylight & night light I am liking Ralph Lauren's Spun Twilight, of the Vintage Masters Collection.

*our master is upstairs, so this will blend with the bathroom color scheme that is the third picture on the next post..nice, right???

The Fun Stuff

What a whirlwind week! Bought a house (yay!), sold a house (bigger YAY!) and made it through in one piece! Time to celebrate!

On Monday I was able to choose our upgrades & options in the new house. I am thrilled with the final decisions. It is amazing how fast money flies when you are in a builder's "design center." ...cant have that flimsy sink...must have one three inches deeper for HOW MUCH??? Might as well just go up one more level of tile so I can get what I really want...and shoot might as well do the backsplash while I can still get stuff that matches. Cant just have the half inch carpet pad, for a slim $500 more I can have thick cushiony goodness under my feet every morning when I get out of bed! Kitchen cabinets?? Might as well go the full 42" and while were at it, go ahead and add the decorative crown moulding. It was never ending! Alas, I came in right at budget and was happy to compromise on the few things we didn't end up getting. Ms. Tori gave me some of the best advice (and is now in my husband's good graces!) saying that I shouldn't try to get everything perfect all at once because then I will be bored for the next six years if I have nothing left to do! So true...:) I couldn't take any swatches with me, so I will have to wait until I get down there to choose paint colors. But here are a few of my choices:

[w/flash, this will run in the entire downstairs. Tile in foyer, powder room, dining area, kitchen & utility room/pantry. Counter tops are granite looking (cant have it ALL!) Cabinets are cherry stained maple. I got the upgraded arched top which will run on the top cabinets only. A finishing molding will run the top of the cabinets. Tile will be 17x17 on the floor. Backsplash will be 12x12, set on diagonal and trimmed out. All appliances will be stainless steel and I FINALLY get my gas stove!!!!]

[w/o flash, can see the color a bit better. carpet is a greyish beige neutral.]

[These are my upstairs choices. Tile will run in both bathrooms. We upgraded to have tile on all of the walls of the guest shower. The countertops were already upgraded to white marble so we stuck with that. The huge tub & separate shower will all be white marble as well. Carpet will run throughout & down the stairs]

Dreaming big...

Hello friends! After a long week, we have found & purchased what is our dream home for this point in our lives. My mind is working in overdrive rearranging furniture in my head and planning color schemes. I am pleasantly overwhelmed. Tomorrow I get to pick out all of my cabinets, carpets, appliances and tile so I am trying to get my color scheme nailed down. This is a very exciting time for us! I will try and share my planning and "making it work" strategies here. My current struggle: finding a way to make all my curtains work in my new 9' ceiling home! I am trying to be creative! Thinking of adding contrasting panels on the bottom of each one with a coordinating fabric/ribbon/something(?) thrown in the middle to spice them up. Ohhhh what fun this is! For now, here is my dreamy new home:

This will be my peaceful view from the kitchen, living room, master bedroom & future nursery. This was a HUGE selling point for me! You don't usually find this with new construction:

Baby Nicholas' photo shoot

I stole my neighbors baby to use as a subject for my growing photography hobby and got about five minutes in with him before he started screaming his head off! (this may have been due to me shoving a cute little beanie on his tiny head, lesson learned!) I decided not only would it be a great way to practice my photography, but also to play around with Photoshop and learn some new techniques using my new book. I also used my new Pinkletoes PT4P membership to design an announcement for them. But...Pinkletoes deserves its own blog entry, so I will save that for when I have created more stuff!!

[I am now shooting in RAW, and post processing in Photoshop. I wanted to create a warm glow, so I adjusted the temperature of the lighting. I also removed the bags under his eyes and softened his skin blemishes.]

And a couple more from our session:

[Little boy didn't want a beanie on!]

[Practicing the "sparkle eyes" technique. Lighting was right, his point of focus wasn't. ]

Love that Alexis Stewart

Sooo...if you ever have a Martha-ish question and you want to know the official answer, I have found a direct line to THE expert.

The background: a friend & I, who love spending afternoons browsing the Martha Baking Handbook, were looking for new recipes to try. Maggie wanted to try Martha's particularly difficult recipe for Canneles [this is not the recipe, but close]. The trouble she ran into was the expense of the molds, which run about $15-20 each. We don't have a lot of selection here in the Midwest, so online resources are crucial. Not knowing where to look, I thought I would take a shot in the dark and email Alexis using her talk radio email address. [whateverradio@gmail.com]

Here's the amazing thing: Within an hour, Alexis had personally emailed me back! She included a couple of extremely helpful links, including one for molds for $5 each. So...that being said, I am an even greater fan of hers!!!

These are the links she recommended (in case, of course, you ever have the urge to spend two days making canneles!):

How to w/ pictures & bakers comments

Cannele molds from france

Etsy

I took a photography class last weekend where it was drilled into me that camera straps are necessary. Being of the "I don't need one since I wont ever drop my fancy camera" mentality, what really stuck was the instructor's point that you never drop your camera on purpose. So, okay, I get it, but don't think for a second I am going to be caught dead in that strap that is branded with the Canon logo up and down. Noooooo thank you. I want something unique.

So on the hunt for a cute camera strap, Google pointed me toward a site I hadn't heard of called Etsy. How did I not know it existed?!? This is basically an online craft fair, being vendors from around the world together in the spirit of cherishing the handmade item. Wikipedia calls it a mix between Amazon, Ebay and your grandmother's basement. =) Cute, I know, but this is a profitable business, based in Brooklyn, NY.

I found dozens of online vendors selling their personalized version of a camera strap. No two alike, I figured this was the right place for me. After searching all the options, I settled on one vendor and chose my new strap that screams me. Below are some samplings of her work:

[so with my penchant for polka dots, I, of course, favor the last option]

I also liked this designer's stuff, but ultimately settled on the designer whose pictures I show because her straps feature quick release squeeze buckles to remove the strap for around the house.

I am still contemplating purchasing fabric from 1154 LILL Studio, since I adore their designs. I am waiting to hear if their Scandinavian Floral fabric (above) is still available by the yard. It would be my first choice!! Then I can truly have a custom strap made! So far I can only find it as a headband...

Quirky Little Pig Dish

My girlfriends & I spent a lovely weekend afternoon browsing the aisles of Sur La Table, getting inspired for our upcoming baking extravaganza. We usually tackle a Martha recipe which often requires a couple of unique tools that can only be found at Sur La Table.

While perusing the clearance shelves I found a cute little frog (the one on the left of the three critters) that I knew needed a home. I couldn't part with him and when I asked what he was actually meant to do as I was checking out, the lady helping me directed me to one of my most exciting finds in a while! These little critters were sold with terra cotta baking dishes.

Apparently they are meant to be baked in the middle of the dish to evenly distribute heat to the middle of the casserole. They went with the quirkiest baking dishes, that would make such a unique table centerpiece when serving casseroles.

I didn't own any terra cotta dishes up to this point, so I thought one would be a nice addition to my kitchen. After doing some research, I learned a couple of things you might want to know if a terra cotta baking dish is in your future:

• Terra cotta is suitable for food storage, serving and is oven safe.


• Terra cotta is made of earth. While metal conducts heat, earth will absorb and radiate heat.
  
• Be sure to put the dish into the cold oven. Terra cotta needs to heat and cool slowly and evenly or else it will crack. Do not heat above 400 degrees F


• If baking in your piece (brownies, lasagna, potatoes au gratin, bread, etc), lower the baking temperature of the recipe by 25 degrees. Bake for the same amount of time


• Do not bang serving utensils on the side of the dish to clean. Wonder how that lovely pottery piece has a slight glaze chip? Probably from banging utensils on the edge.


• On cleaning: Do not put Terra Cotta pieces in the dishwasher. Hand washing and thorough drying is best. No need for harsh cleaners or lots of elbow grease. Usually just a few minutes in warm soapy dishwater will do the trick. If the dish was left out overnight, and is a bit crusty, simply fill it with warm soapy water, or soak in the sink until the food softens and wipe clean with a soft sponge. Leave on the counter to dry. Don't wash, dry and put away all in 5 minutes.

So of course, I had to see what Martha had to say about baking in terra cotta. When I searched it on her site, I found this adorable spring recipe where you actually bake mini cakes in your average, untreated terra cotta flower pot. (right) Who knew you could do such a thing! I thought the idea was adorable and will probably make this someday when I need to gift during spring. The "plant" is a sprig of mint and beneath it are candy rocks. How cute is that?!?

Find the full recipe here: Flowerpot Cakes