and it was all yellow...

...and horrible. Granted, I've had my fair share of "Oh my word, this looked way better under the store lights!" moments. But by and large, I've been pretty fortunate in the paint color department. (My budget is so relieved.)

But these landlords (bless.) had a seriously hard time. Our master bedroom was pistachio, for goodness' sake! Rule of thumb: not all hues automatically go with whatever white is on your ceiling and trim. Ouch! If it hurts your eyes, don't do it.

The guest bath was another terrible - albeit darker - green which they thankfully covered over in beige before we moved in. The forgotten color tells its sad story, though, in drips on the baseboards and countertop and mirror! (Tape off before you paint, anyone?) I'm really glad our landlords don't follow my blog, BTW! At least I don't think they do! I'll know soon.

Since then, we covered those beige walls with some leftover Urban Mist from covering the pistachio in the Master. I could feel my angst melting away.

But for the last year and a half, I haven't been able to reconcile myself to this sight:

It just hurt. I mean physically. My eyes actually throbbed when I looked at the yellow. Especially wherever it met the white trim in the room! It caused a little vision explosion where the colors touched that just wasn't normal. And to top it off, the room was bossy as all get-out. Lest you think I exaggerate! I shall demonstrate.

There is something to be said for painting swatches of your color choices on the walls, against the trim, in the light, in the shadow, so you can see how it looks in different lighting for a few days before you invest in a couple gallons of mistake! You can never know by looking in the store. NEVER.

And in this last photo you can see the new color going in the corner. Which - combined with the yellow - also hurt.

But I pressed on because I knew the outcome would ROCK. What paint? What else! I uncovered a happy little surprise of a whole gallon of extra Urban Mist and just decided this needed to be done. (Urban Mist is a Behr color, kinda grey-blue...we used their interior semi-gloss, paint and primer in one!) So after a quick trip to Lowe's for a shorty angled cutting brush, a new paint pan, and some frog tape (which I didn't use, what!!), I got right to work. A couple evenings & naptimes later...happiness.

Gotta take some new pics so I can let you see the result! Oh, happy day. I don't cringe when I walk down the hall and glance to the right anymore!

Tell me, do you have any paint color skeletons in your design closet? Any oops color stories? Have you rented a houseful of bad choices (and therefore had to live with them)?? Any favorite never-fail perfect color ideas out there? I know people have favorites and let me tell you, in this house, Urban Mist is on the top of my list!

pass the dip! dip.

Yeah, we can just ignore the strange title. I actually just wanted to post a little something fun and quick and kid-friendly!

This year, I decided to dip pretzels with my almost-3-year-old.

Now I do love working with her in the kitchen! But there are a few requirements that must be met if I want the time to be fun AND somewhat productive for both of us.

1) It can't be too hands-on, too many pieces to touch, etc. (I really don't want my friends and family saying "Oh, wow, you made this with your little girl? How precious! Yum!" but thinking, "Did she have to touch every single candy piece? Did she wash her hands? Did she pick her nose after? Or taste test anything during?")

2) It needs to be quick! (We're working with a short attention span, after all. Both her and me.)

3) It needs to be either pretty or nummy. Preferably both!

So dipped pretzels fit the bill!

All you need is a bag of pretzels, some sprinkles, and candy wafers or melting chocolate of some kind. You can even make your own from scratch!

Melt the chocolate. Dip the pretzel. Sprinkle said pretzel with Christmas-y sprinkles before the chocolate dries.

That's it! Usually we see the full pretzel dipped, but we just dipped half of it. Less mess for my pre-schooler. Less touching, etc. I let her dip, shake off the excess, then place it on the aluminum foil to dry.

She was a little unclear about the sprinkling process. She kept thinking that the sprinkles were to fill up the 3 holes in each pretzel. So I did most of the sprinkling. We liked the final taste of the white chocolate the best! The contrast of dark pretzel/light chocolate was pretty, too.

I never saw a child eat so many pretzels in one sitting.

Have you ever been freaked out to eat a homemade-with-love-by-toddlers food gift? What was it, so I don't ever do it? Haha! Did anyone else light on a great preschool kitchen creation this season? I'd love to hear about it.

Kettle Corn? Easy-peasy.

As I sit here and type, I am munching on some homemade wonderfulness: kettle corn! It's a Christmas miracle.

I thought I could only get it at the fair! Or in the microwave bags. (But since I read an article about microwave popcorn a few weeks ago, I've sworn off the stuff.)

I love kettle corn! Some might call it an unhealthy obsession for the salty-sweet crunch. I call it love.

Here's the simple recipe I followed (after scanning over so many that they ran together in my mind):

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a large covered pot. Drop in 3 kernels of corn and once they pop, it's ready!

Stir in 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels.

(I heard that if you use brown sugar, it'll be caramel corn! Haven't tried that, yet, tho.)

Put the lid on, grab a couple potholders, and be ready to shake the pot for 3 seconds, then let it sit for 3 seconds. Over and over and over and over... (the shaking keeps it from burning! I didn't lose one kernel and this was my first kettle corn rodeo. Well, I've eaten kettle corn at a rodeo or two before, so that's confusing.)

And when the popping slows down to nothing, your arms are tired, but the popcorn's almost done!

Take it off the heat. Dump it in a big bowl, and sprinkle a little salt before the sugar hardens. Toss and eat! You might have to make more if you want to share. Ha!

This recipe makes roughly 12-14 cups of popped kettle corn.

A really great friend/neighbor/co-worker/teacher gift, too! There are myriads of ways to package it. A few that come to mind:

• a Christmas tin
• a cute Chinese take-out style box
• a cellophane bag tied with striped baker's twine
• a brown paper package...yes, tied up with string!

These are a few of my favorite things!

put up the tree before my spirit falls again!

Ta-dah! Here's the Harper's tree this year! Same old tree, same old star, same old not-really-a-tree-skirt, and even same old gold ribbon...but the pink and purple and all the {glitter} is new for us. My precious and fun sister-in-law once warned me (when I foolishly wondered if I could just get my girl to love greens and browns and blues?)... she said, "Embrace the pink!"

And we have. Thoroughly.

I wanted to zoom in on this photo and show some up-close festive-ness, but the uploading process wasn't working so well for me today. That post full of photos will be next along with all the details you could possibly handle!

Hooray for Christmas!

haul out the holly!

Hey, neighbors and friends! I do apologize for my long absence, but I have decided to blame it on the turkey coma -- even though that's categorically impossible -- and just move on.

I hope you're ready for my own version of 12 days of Christmas! I do plan to blog at least 12 times before December 25th! Of this year. Lest you think I'm creating a loophole for myself.

There is just so much fun stuff to share at this time of year! The crafting, the decorating, the creating, the cooking and baking and partying... My problem of late has been that I've been doing and leaving no time for blogging about it. On my honor, that will change today.

Since we're so far past Thanksgiving, it would be pointless for me to blog anything about the harvest crafts and decor and fun...maybe next year. But I do still have plenty of time until the happiest day of the year to share my fun and beg you to share yours in the comments! I love getting new ideas! So please, do comment if you have a second. 

 

Since our first Christmas in 2006, we've had a tall fake tree with white lights, and breakable red and green ornaments that adorn it. This year (with an almost-3 year old and a 15 month old), we've opted for the shatterproof switch. And what's more fun at Christmas for little girls than glittery pink shatterproof ornaments?? Not. Much. Although they don't care much about the shatterproof part... they would if they knew. But pink and glitter? Yes, please! I grabbed up a string of colorful lights to add to the all-white-lighted tree, as well. (Plus, after 5 years and at least 5 moves, a couple strings on the tree just won't light up anymore.) And more lights is always better, anyway.

Here's my sweetPea with the new lights. I think she's pretty pleased that they come in color! This is what I feel like inside when I see pretty things, too, BabyGirl. And pretty things at Christmastime are the best pretty of all!

I shall reveal our tree tomorrow!

Have you made any decor changes since last year? Did anyone else eat so much at Thanksgiving that they, too, were in a food coma for a month?

perfect pairing paring knife

I needed a new paring knife. Have you ever just suddenly noticed that all your kitchen knives seemed to have dulled simultaneously? I mean really dull. As in "I'd rather use a butter knife to cut this apple" dull. But then it hit me! What about sharpening??

So in the same trip to a favorite store, we found an inexpensive knife sharpener, and, since I had knives on the brain, a new paring knife!

 

But I'm really just writing this post to bring your attention to the descriptive paragraph on the back of the knife package. The one that starts with "available."

So what food is this knife supposed to coordinate with??

friendly link-back

Hey, my friend, Lauren (of Only From Scratch) made a favorite recipe of mine this weekend and posted it as part of her...

 

She has a fun blog of recipes and homey stuff. You should check it all out! But check out the recipe for Sunday Morning Rolls, {thanks, Jenny!} at the very least. : )

Happy Monday!

mirror, mirror, on the wall...finally!

Remember back when I painted my blue highchair? Well that very same week I decided to use up whatever paint was left in my 2 spray cans...

to transform this big, black oval mirror I'd found on craigslist for 5 big ones:

So I grabbed up all the readily available scrap paper. That day we seemed to have a lot! And I taped it haphazardly down to protect the glass. Lucky for me, it's an older mirror, so I was able to slide paper between the frame and the glass for great coverage.

Then I started spraying and the cans were sputtering. It wasn't the best job of painting, mind you. It was just desperate. "Oh, please squirt out just a little more!" I begged as I turned it every which way and kept shaking it every few seconds.

When I was done (rather, when the paint ran out), I was left with a pretty well-covered frame! I just decided that I would choose which way to hang it based on how much black I could kinda see through the blue...and I also just decided I wasn't going to care, cause I'd rather have it up now than have it perfect. What a crazy I am.

Because then it proceeded to wait by my dresser, leaning against the wall for WEEKS, I tell you! before I got around to picking up these hanging wire and eye hook things. : )

Ah, "picture hanging set." That's what it is. Well, new materials always make me excited to start, so I dug in right away!

First, I determined where I wanted the cable to begin and end and how much slack I needed. No science, here, I just eyeballed it and decided it looked good. I played with the length of the wire to make sure it wouldn't peek above the mirror when the weight of the mirror hung from it. Make sense?

Then I screwed in the little eye hooks by hand. Ouch! I grabbed some needle-nosed pliers to help me with the final tight turns.

I just threaded the wire through with plenty of extra to twist around and around like a twist tie.

before

after

A small transformation, but a wonderful one! It just makes so much sense to have a mirror over my jewelry box so I can watch where I stick my earrings...

And the mirror is on the wall opposite the window wall, so it really lights up the room by reflecting all the natural light! I love it. This corner is just about perfect, now. I love the balance the round mirror brings to everything else that's so square. And oh, how I love fresh flowers!

And then the three frames (and the silk peonies) were moved to the other wall for the time being.

This was my secret: make sure you have an adorable "helper" to make the job go faster. : ) Well, slower, really.

And from my previous master plan post, here is the updated to-do list for this room. As you can see, I still have a ways to go, but crossing off two items in one post sure feels good!

• faux wood blinds
• curtains & curtain rods
• something green on the window wall - palm tree? (got one! wait til you see it!)
• new bedding, bedskirt included
• make or buy nightstands
• table lamps
• replace ivory corner chair
• move trio of frames
• round-ish mirror for above dresser
• tv cable removed / hidden
• hardwood floors! (dream list, probably not actual list)

Do you have a dark-ish wall or corner that a mirror would do wonders for? Do it! Bonus points (I don't know where the points come from or what you could use them for...) But bonus points to anyone who can tell me they see any black through the blue paint! Don't look too hard.  

oh my goodness pancakes

As I wait for the perfect spray-painting conditions, I shall share a new (to me!) breakfast secret: pancakes with additives.

This morning, as I was whipping up the regular old pancake batter (which is awesome on its own!), I had the hankerin' to fill my girls' tummies with more healthiness without adding more items on their plate to eat. So I mashed a banana into the batter and tossed in a handful of rolled oats. Oh, I dribbled in a little vanilla, too, because I felt like it. Why haven't I done this before?? They gobbled them up and kept asking for more!

Watch out, my girls. Mommy's gonna start hiding stuff in your foods more often!

Do any of you have some awesome hiding-good-stuff-in-regular-food secrets? Anything in mac-and-cheese would be wondrous...

windy, much?

It's been roughly a week, now, since I acquired an empty wood frame, an oval mirror (yes! for above my dresser), and a vintage wooden high chair. (Thank you, Craigslist & a garage sale.) I have a lot of painting on my to-do list, and I can hardly wait to get to it!

You can expect full posts of each project soon. Right now I'm just trying to defy the high winds and spray some paint anyway.

my newest ikea want

Please tell me I'm not the only one who types "idea" instead of "ikea" every.single.time... Or possibly I am the only one and that's find fine.

Well from this master project list from the master bedroom of yore, I've been working on finding a new mirror. Or actually an old mirror to paint. I think I found just what I need! Now only if I didn't have to drive to Ikea in Atlanta to get it! I've pestered Goodwill and Craigslist, too, looking for a cheap cast-off mirror... But everything I find is square and I'm going for round-ish, remember?

This Ikea mirror is called "Ung Drill." But obviously it's not a drill. It's an "un-drill." That's how I shall remember from here on out.

the "un-drill"

Now take a look at these fun pix and I think you'll see where I'm going with this...

You guessed it! I'm going for COLOR with this mirror choice! Again, here's where it will go, in place of the frames:

This art above the headboard is still the main color inspiration for the room (along with the pillow!):

I'll probably go with orange or aqua. What do you think? Now back to Craigslist I go!

Chicken Salad Cream Puffs

Well, I've been holding off on posting another recipe right after a recipe, because in no way is this a cooking blog! I'm more of a baker than a chef, if anything. And planning and cooking dinners aren't exactly my specialty.

However, no household projects have been done this week for me to blog about. Besides the laundry and bathrooms and dishes and endless picking up, but who really wants to read about the mundane?

So I'm gonna share my yummy chicken salad cream puffs. I've been on a chicken salad kick for the last couple of weeks. I made one batch that was too savory for me, but my hubby claimed to love it. He's so sweet like that.

My next batch was just about perfect. And he liked it, too. That's the one I'm sharing here. It's on deck to be made again for dinner tonight, as well, but with a few modifications...which I might as well share!

So this is more of a chicken salad saga than a recipe. And it might finally be out of my system for now.

Chicken Salad

boneless, skinless chicken breasts

mayonnaise

dried cranberries

slivered almonds

salt and pepper to taste

I like to buy the large bags of boneless skinless chicken at Sam's. I buy the 5 oz. portions rather than the whole breasts. They're just a better size for me to cook with. They get done quicker and 4 of them are usually a perfect size for a meal for my little family.

So I mostly thawed 4 of the chicken breast portions, then boiled it. There are countless methods for "perfect" boiled chicken. Google it and you'll see! So just use whatever method you like. Keep in mind that over-boiled chicken can get tough.

I like to scrape all the fat and bubbles off the chicken, first, then I chop it into pretty small squares. (For the baby to eat with us.) But I like to shred it sometimes, too. For shredded chicken, just take 2 forks to it (one to hold it still, one to pull the shreds off).

Add a few tablespoons of mayo to the chopped or shredded chicken. Enough to make it hold together. Too much means mayo overkill and not enough results in dry salad. The mayo will soak in and seem to disappear the longer it's mixed with the chicken. So tomorrow's leftovers may need a little refresher.

Toss in a handful of cranberries and about as many almonds. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep tasting it until it's to your liking!

Modification for tonight's chicken salad: fresh sliced grapes and fresh celery. I'm out of almonds, so none of those. And I'm kinda over the cranberries, so none of those, either. The fresh crunchiness of the grapes and celery are gonna be perfect!

Note: You'll want the chicken salad to be cold, so I recommend preparing the chicken (if not the whole mixure) a few hours before you want to use it so it can chill in the fridge.

Le Creme Puffs

(it just felt so French)

My favorite recipe for cream puffs is at my mom's house. I'm not sure why I haven't copied it down for my own collection, yet. But my mom wasn't home when I needed it, so I trolled allrecipes and found a good one! It looked pretty identical to mine/mom's/ours.

Here's the recipe I followed:

1/2 cup shortening

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup boiling water

1 cup sifted flour

4 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In medium saucepan, combine shortening, salt, and boiling water, and heat until entire mixture boils. Reduce heat, add flour all at once and stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and add eggs, ONE AT A TIME, and beat thoroughly after each one. Continue beating until mixture is thick and shiny and breaks from spoon. 

(I was doing the mixing by hand and it got LONG... I enlisted my hubby's help, but then neither of us could tell if or when it got thick and shiny and "broke" from the spoon. It was thicker and shinier before I kept beating it, I thought. Anyway, no matter, apparently.)

2. Pipe or spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 20 minutes more, or until golden and they sound hollow when tapped. Cool and fill.

(If you take them out too early, they'll fall flat. I baked mine in a muffin tin this time so they'd be consistent. But I should have greased the muffin tin, I guess. They were pretty sticky in there and they aren't usually so sticky on a cookie sheet.)

Yield: 12 large puffs

(For mini puffs, make smaller scoops, obviously. But also cook them less. Keep an eye on it. Small puffs are fun for appetizers and bite-sized desserts!)

Turkey Pesto Paninis

I made these over the weekend for dinner... and they were requested again today for lunch! One meal, twice successful. That warrants at least a nod on the blog, I think!

Sandwiches are one of our favorite things around here. You really can't beat a meat-cheese-bread combo! Even the babies love their own simpler versions. (Although SweetP's front teeth don't touch, it's so cute to watch her bite it from the side.)

For these sandwiches, I used

• Jewish rye bread
• basil pesto spread (Classico brand)
• sharp provolone cheese
• thin-sliced deli turkey
• mayo
• butter or margarine

Start by heating your skillet on the stove to medium. I used my griddle pan with ridges to make the classic panini "look." If you have a panini press, this is where you would use it! If not, the griddle or skillet is perfect. While it's heating up, put together the sandwiches. 

Lay out two pieces of bread. Spread a very thin layer of pesto on one, and a very thin layer of mayo on the other. Then stack the provolone and meat. Close the sandwich up and spread a small amount of room temperature butter or margarine on the top of the sandwich. 

Place the sandwich, butter side down (channeling my inner Dr. Seuss) on the hot griddle. Press the whole sandwich down with a flat and strong spatula/turner/plate and hear it sizzle. You'll want to turn it when the grill lines on the bread start browning. Spread a little butter or margarine on the dry top bread right before you flip it. Once flipped, press it down into the pan, too. You'll flatten the sandwich and get nice brown lines on the grilled bread. Yum!

These got gobbled up so quickly, I wasn't able to stage a photo! But they do look good. Slice them diagonally and serve them with rice chips. Or any chips. Or veggies. Oh, yes.

This meal will be on our meal list again, so maybe I can snap a photo then. Meanwhile, bon apetit!

Do you have a panini recipe you love? Please share! Did you, too, receive a panini press for your wedding and have to return it because you needed the cash-ola more? Did you ever read Dr. Seuss's The Butter Battle Book? Or am I the only one?

talking trash

Let's be honest -- the garbage can is the most disgusting thing in the kitchen. Besides the toilets, it's possibly the grossest thing in the whole house.

And yet it's a necessary evil! We love it and we hate it. We need it in our kitchen, but we want it out of our kitchen. We need it to be easily accessible, but we never want to see it.

The kitchen is supposed to be where all good and clean and healthy meals come from, not germs and disease. Sweet-smelling breads and rotten rubbish odors cannot flow from the same room. (I may have just coined a proverb.) So how can we reconcile the two?

There are as many methods of tossing trash as there are sizes of trash bags. More, even. Some families have recycling stations: paper/plastic/tin. (Oh, to be that cool. And have that much floor space.) Some hide a small can under the sink. (Been there.) Some stash the trash in the pantry and out of sight. (Not a big enough pantry.) Some store their garbage out in the open in a stylish stainless steel step can with a lid. (Been there, too!) One can sure spend a lot of cash on a trash bin!

In our house, however, we are so much more posh. Posher. Not really. We are still using the ivory plastic 13 gallon receptacle we picked up from the big W-Mart the week we first moved in here. A year ago next week, to be exact. You know, the trash can with the swingy lid?

the new version

My only happy trash moments (if you can even have those) are when the bag is fresh and I can toss several small things in it without it looking full and disgusting, yet. Small plastic wrappings, the ring around the milk lid, or perhaps some crumbs that I just swept off the table. But that moment is always short-lived (that's why it's just a moment) because, inevitably, we discard a milk jug, a cereal box, 14 dirty pampers, a broken baby wipes dispenser, and a 2-liter coke bottle all before lunch. Overflow.

Ooh, that list pretty much convicts me that we really should be recycling, even if just to cut down on trash! But our weekly disposal service doesn't offer that option. Did I just hear a collective gasp from the Great (and Green) Northwest?? Yes, friends and family, it's a little different here. We don't even turn in pop cans to get our nickels back. I know, right?

I muttered to myself the other day (I find I'm the best one to complain to, by the way... Seeing that I seldom offend myself.) Anyway, as I was muttering... I said something like, "For goodness' sake! It seems we can fill a whole, fresh, empty trash can in 5 minutes or less and then spend the next 2 days trying to stuff it!" Maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was an epiphany to me.

I have been fighting with the swingy lid thing for a year now. Anytime I wanted to put anything in the trash that was bigger than the opening, I'd have to take the lid off (and set it where?) and work on stuffing things down and making the domed lid (domed, I said domed) fit on top again.

A few nights ago, as I was fighting with the trash, I started fighting with my husband. Well, just a little. He may or may not have happened to mention that it was disgusting and unsanitary to place the lid on the kitchen table while I struggled with the trash. I may or may not have taken offense at his obvious lack of concern for my feelings and strongly pushed said lid off the table and to the floor. He said he hated that lid. I said I hated the lid. And then we started laughing at how ridiculous we are.

But problem solved! We threw away the trash lid right then and there, and I've never been happier.

Being without a trash lid is actually okay! The stars didn't fall from the sky and we didn't get a sudden infestation of ants because of trash overflowing onto the floor without the lid to hold it in. Quite the contrary. The trash doesn't stink. (We do have a garbage disposal in the sink for food scraps.) We can see as soon as it's full instead of having a huge mess hiding just under the swingy door. We actually take it out more often, now, I guess because the process now has fewer steps! Without a lid, it's much more handy for me to toss trash from across the room or slide it off the counter. And without the lid, I have one less thing to sanitize. We even quelled a stupid argument with laughter. I love it when that happens. It was a win-win!

Granted, I would like to upgrade our rubbish receptacle in the near future. Ivory doesn't really go with our kitchen. Stainless is nice, but nothing else in our kitchen besides the toaster is stainless. White would be fine. But apparently our one rule is no lid. If that means taking out the trash every day, so be it.

Here are a couple of fun garbage bins to think about. Brand new never-been-used trash cans can even be pretty.

this is a small 3-gallon one specifically for reusing grocery bags!

this one makes me almost okay with a lid

Well now I'm drooling over this Vipp. At $350, I'll bet the pedal holds up pretty well.

So what's your dirty little secret to conquering the trash in your house? What size of trash bag works for you? Do you refer to it as trash, garbage, or rubbish? Or are you a house divided between the words like we are?

Master Plan

Okay, the first room I'm revealing on this blog is actually our bedroom. Probably because we're closer to done with it than with other rooms in the house... You might be wondering why anyone would post photos of their master bedroom (any room, for that matter!) before it's ready to be seen?

Well, good point. However. If I start blogging about it, I'll keep working on it. Cuz you all keep me motivated and accountable that way.

Let us not forget that we rent; we don't own. Therefore the huge things that we'd like to do, we really can't. Like tear up all the old builder-white carpet and lay hardwood. Or replace all the brass doorknobs with sleek brushed nickel ones. We have to work within the rental parameters and that's not always 100% satisfying. It's a bit of a trick to improve the home and decorate it when we really only have control over what we own...what we bring into the room. Not what the room is made of.

Thankfully, our landlords have okayed a few paint jobs. They're pretty easy-going as far as landlords are concerned, which is so nice! Up until last month, we weren't sure if we would extend our rental for another year, but now that we know we are here for a while longer, my house to-do list has grown!

We've even considered a proposal to the home owners that would allow home improvements (on the actual home: flooring, fixtures, etc.) to be made with some of the monthly rent and some out of our pockets. I wonder if an arrangement like that would work?

Back to the master.

First, the new beautiful art above the headboard: (drumroll, please!)

We both love the feel it gives to the whole room! It really is a fun piece.

Now for the work-in-progress shots... Here's the not-so-grand tour. It's good, just small.

When you stand at the door looking in the room, the wall to the left (we'll go clockwise) has 2 tall windows looking out at the front of the house. Except that we never pull up the blinds to look out because of the heat and the lack of privacy from the rest of the cul-de-sac. We desperately need the right window treatments in here. I'm thinking white faux wood blinds and floor-to-almost-ceiling sheer white curtains. Or possibly a tasteful print that isn't sheer. Orange chevrons, perhaps? We're going for more serene paradise than colorful circus, though, so any print would have to be subtle. I think.

Faux wood blinds would be the most economical and stylish way to go, especially since they probably won't be coming with us when we move again. We want to invest in the house, but not quite as if we owned it. The faux wood blinds would block more sun in the morning when we need it to stay cool. Then we could crack them for a little natural light later in the day. The curtains will be hung high and wide to give the appearance of even larger windows.

The next wall to the right is the headboard wall. We love our huge mirror in the corner and it really makes the room look larger than it is. Mirrors are so awesome that way for bouncing light and really filling up a space.

The bicycle print is definitely one of the inspiration pieces for our room. It oh-so-tastefully introduces a pop of orange and aqua to an otherwise ivory and brown palette. Like the new throw pillow! A sweet gift from my mom.

This is one of the rooms we painted. (Behr's Urban Mist) When we moved in last summer, it was a pistachio green color...and at 8 1/2 months preggo, it just wasn't doing it for me. Even though some green-yellows are just amazing, it's an easy color to mess up. It clashed with the carpet and it was atrocious with the brass doorknobs. (But most everything is more atrocious with brass doorknobs, yes?)

We built our reclaimed wood headboard last year, thanks to an incredible free DIY building tutorial from Ana White. Find the tutorial here. It pretty closely resembles this headboard from PB, but we made it for a fraction of the cost! We currently have a whole list of pieces to make using Ana White's plans...

Which possibly includes nightstands. We desperately need them! For now we're using these plant stands/end tables that I found on clearance at Target years ago. But we'd love matching nightstands with drawers. And once we find/build the nightstands, we can start looking for lamps! But who am I kidding? I've already got my eye on some great glass-bottomed lamps...

But besides the headboard, the whole bed needs a makeover. I'm perusing the internet for just the right duvet cover, shams, etc. I even want a bed skirt so we can't see what's under the bed. This bedding from West Elm is currently on my radar.

These double tall skinny latte doors lead to the master closets and bath. It's a strange T-shaped set up back there that isn't quite ready for a reveal. Maybe never. The doors used to be held closed by a little spring-and-ball system between them and the door frame. They apparently couldn't work out their differences. If we owned this house, the bathroom would get a makeover and those doors would just come off. But, alas. If we take doors off here, I just have a feeling they'd get warped or otherwise ruined in the attic and the owners may want them again. So we're stuck with them for now!

The ivory (not as yellow as it looks) parson's chair in the corner is a placeholder of sorts for a future chunky dark leather chair. That was the plan originally, but suddenly I'm realizing just how much dark espresso is in that size of room. It may need to be a printed chair, instead. But no less comfy. (Because the clothes we toss to the side deserve a comfy place to rest, right??) 

The personal photos on the wall are a little sparse, but at least they're up! The three on the right will migrate left to join the single one in some type of gallery as soon as I find the perfect round-ish mirror for above the Ikea dresser. My jewelry is on that dresser, so a mirror there would be just right. With all the natural light that would be bouncing around the room from the huge windows and two mirrors, that dresser just may be my new favorite place to put on make-up, too!

Here is the entrance door wall. BLANK. Except for an irritating cable which was apparently fed under the carpet from behind the door and popped out right where the owners had a TV. Yes, that did create a speed bump right at the threshold of the room. I'm not sure if it's a fix we can really tackle. It may leave more damage in its wake. Unless our wood flooring dreams come true and the landlords are willing to put some of the rent back into improving their house! That would be great.

The wall is a blank canvas just begging for art of some kind. Maybe that's where a photo gallery should go? I've tried a low-profile sofa table there, but there just isn't room to walk if any furniture is against that wall.

So here's the to-do list for the master bedroom:

• faux wood blinds
• curtains & curtain rods
• something green on that wall - palm tree?
• new bedding
• bedskirt included
• make or buy nightstands
• table lamps
• replace ivory corner chair
• move trio of frames
• round-ish mirror for above dresser (something with a soft shape is needed to balance all the square in there!)
• tv cable removed / hidden
• hardwood floors! (dream list, probably not actual list)

Do you rent and have to deal with issues like cables popping out in unexpected places? Have you ever made a home improvement agreement with your landlords? Have you built your own furniture? Or do you have plans to, now that you've visited Ana White's site?

a bicycle built for our room!

The 5th anniversary - on the traditional gift-giving lists - is wood. We haven't followed them all the way through, but I always think about it! This year is a milestone of sorts. I mean, it's our first increment of 5. Those seem to be the big ones! Not like 3 or 8... So by way of a traditional milestone gift, we decided to buy an art print (paper which is from wood) and frame it (wood!) for above our headboard. A fitting anniversary gift. Cause not just anyone can buy you art for your bedroom.

Our art of choice (well, my choice, but my hubby - who gets veto power - liked it!) was a print of a bicycle built for two that I found on Etsy. I fell in love with it right away.

We've always sung the old song "Daisy, Daisy" to our girls. "But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two!" That and I've just started seeing tandem bicycles everywhere, even used as art for wedding invitations, etc. What a perfect depiction of two people riding through life together! I don't know why I didn't think of it before now. Adorbs. So...we had to have it. And the price tag confirmed it. $20 for this original 20x24" print! I love me some inexpensive art!

One day after it arrived, I piled the girls in the truck and, armed with Michael's coupons and the print (which only got a little beat up riding in the cart with the girls), we headed to the craft store. I started out with the idea to frame it using a white mat and espresso or white wood frame. I quickly realized that it would look best and not overdone without a mat at all. So with the coupon and the sales that were already on, I scored a 20x24" espresso frame (regularly $50) for just about $15! So $20 for the print + $15 for the frame = $35 and a very happy me!

Stay tuned for the master room art reveal and still-to-do list...

tomato play-dough

It's hard to be creative and cheap at the same time. I can think of all kinds of creative things I could buy or do if we had the extra moo-lah on hand... and don't get me wrong, we love to do that when we can! But actually finding new, creative, and free things to do with my 2 1/2 year old can be a bit of a challenge. I totally understand using DVD's as babysitters. Believe me.

It's a challenge because creativity takes time. It takes thought. It takes effort. And Heaven knows we're already spending most of our time, thought, and effort on being homemakers!

But I am convinced that making your home by building up and nurturing the ones who live in it is the most worthwhile form of home-making there is. Though I believe this with all my heart, I've yet to perfect the balance.

Proverbs 14:1 says that a wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

Lord, please let me never sacrifice my home to build my house.

The other day I came upon a recipe for playdough and it suddenly occurred to me that my daughter didn't even know what that was! Well, I had the ingredients on hand, so I decided it was time to introduce her to the joys and funny-feeling hands that come from playing with the colored, mushy, salty stuff. (You didn't know it was salty? Well, you obviously never tried to eat it. Hrm.)

I loosely followed the tutorial from here.

Here's what went down!

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 3/4 cup water
• food coloring

I started with the water in a saucepan on low-medium heat. I squeezed in some red gel food coloring until it looked right...I was going for a nice pink (but of course!) and guessed that really red water would be diluted by the soda and starch and be perfect. So I squeezed in a little more. Well, my estimation was a little off, as you'll soon see.

Once the color was dissolved and water warm, I added the dry stuff:

And cooked it over medium heat for a while. I only paused from stirring to snap a quick pic or two.

I was supposed to be waiting for it to turn into a ball. So I kept stirring. It definitely looked like a way-too-bright tomato soup.

And there we go! I popped it out and kneaded it about 10 times while it was still warm.

Then it wanted to pose with its ingredients.

Here's SweetP checking out our tomato-orange creation. It was still warm and fun and she loved it! It had a silky smooth feeling because of the corn starch. She didn't even care that it was making her hands kinda dry and chalky...and she's usually pretty concerned about anything sticky or dirty. : )

A couple of changes I'd make: I needed a little more water, I think, to help it hold together better. It was pretty crumbly. And next time, I'll go way easier on the food coloring. It turned our hands (and everything it touched) a reddish-orange which made me panic at first, but it washed right off. Unlike the red velvet cake balls I rolled. And made my hands feel smooth, too! Not the cake balls. The playdough.

After playdough time, I saved it in a ziploc. She's playing with it as I publish this, days later. It apparently saves well. I wasn't sure.

So it was fun play, cheap play, and even though it made a mess for me to clean up, it was so worth it! I love playing and learning and with my girl.