Mother's Day Tea

Last mother's day, my sister and I took my mom to tea at a really nice hotel in Boston. She loved it, so we thought we'd do the same this year. Then we got a great surprise when we learned our brother and his family were making a quick trip home. We decided it would make more sense to have tea at home.

We got a little crazy and went all Martha Stewart, which is kind of typical when the three of us are working together.

The menu included homemade apple cinamon scones, chocolate chip hazelnut scones, chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, blt puff pastries, fresh berries, desserts from Sugar bakery in Boston, including lots of mini pastries and tarts, cucumber lemonade and an extra special glass of iced pink lemonade for my niece.

 

It was a pretty nice spread, but....



It was really the people that made it so nice. having all of the fam together was great.

 

We took a bunch of photos, so I thought I'd share, especially since I haven't had anything fun to share in months.

How were your mother's days?

Nana's Playroom - Inspiration

This blog has been all about our home and projects, but my mom recently bought a beautiful old home and asked for some help with decorating, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the projects here. The first space I'm helping with is a really cool attic area. The house has plenty of storage so she decided to turn part of the attic into a playroom for her granddaughter, my niece, and future grandkids (not that she's hinting or anything) . She knows I love design, so she asked me to  take this project over while she works on the rest of her house.

The main goal of this area is to have a fun space for when my niece and future grandkids come to visit. Right now there aren't any age appropriate toys or things to do at nana's other than watching Disney movies or playing Dora on the computer. We do a lot of activities when my niece visits, but it would be nice to have a fun little space where she can do her own thing sometimes. Although that's probably not the right choice of words, since we all hang out with her as much as we can when she comes for visits, so I'm sure she'll have all of us playing up there with her!

We want the space to have three components.

• An imaginary play space, with a tea party theme.
• A reading nook.
• A creative space with art supplies.

I haven't spent a lot of time around kids other than her lately, so I turned to pinterest and blogs to get some inspiration on what to include. Here's what we're inspired by so far:

The photo above is from the Caitlin Wilson Design blog. The party was by Chrissi Shields of Styled Chaos, who threw her 2-year-old daughter a beautiful birthday party using pillows from Caitlin Wilson Textiles in the Fleur Chinoise III Collection. I was thinking of using these pillows in the design already and these photos just made me want to use them even more. You can check out the full set of photos on Chriss's blog, here.

I'm trying to keep it pretty budget friendly. To keep it within budget,  I'm loving ideas like the Crafted Sparrow's washi tape tin cans to hold arts supplies.

Since this room will most likely be used for both boys and girls in the future, we figured it couldn't be too girly, but my mom still wanted pink. So we decided to go more green with pink accents, but specifically love the color combo shown below from Horchow.

Now that we have color scheme and a general idea of the purpose of the space, it's time to work on the details. This project may take some time since the room needs to be painted in the spring, but I'm excited to get started on it. We already bought a rug and tea set. I'll share once we have some more details narrowed down. This is the first kid friendly room I'm working on, which is really fun. I hope my niece and future nieces and nephews love it.

If you have kids, what things do they like in a playroom?

A Cape Inspired Room

About a year ago we shared our guest room makeover. We added some paint, added some furniture and left it at that. We didn't really want to spend any money on artwork or any details because we don't really use it. I think since we did it over, we've had maybe three guests. We planned to keep it as is. Then we were out shopping recently at a vintage market in Boston (SOWA) and found a print we both fell in love with.

It's kind of funny that we fell in love with it because Jim isn't a huge fan of Cape Cod. I have a lot of great memories there with friends, but if we were going to choose a map to include in our  house, this would't really be a location I'd go looking for. We'd probably go with Newport, Jersey, or Boston. Regardless, we loved the map and thought even if we didn't plan to use it, it would be a really nice gift for someone else (we had a couple specific people in mind). Then we put it in our guestroom to store (which also happens to be our gift room....a.k.a. I put gifts for future use in our dresser in there) and it just works.

 

We really didn't want to have any more nautical or coastal touches in our home, especially since our bedroom is coastal themed, but it looks like the coastal theme is taking over yet again.

 

It probably didn't help that right after buying the print, I found this fabric on clearance at Calico Corners. I'm going to stop by tonight to check it out in person, if it is the bluish gray it appears, it may complement the map and wall color well.

I took it as a sign that it was meant to be, and here we are in phase two of the guestroom makeover about a year later. I'm thinking pillows or curtains with this fabric. What do you think?

Here's what the space currently looks like:

 

 

Here's our other coastal inspiration:

Bedroom inspiration board

 

patio inspiration board

At least we're shifting away from navy. That's progress, right?

Do you have any themes or styles you are drawn to? 

Black Bookshelves

Last weekend we started our first project of 2013. It was a smallupdate, but something we've been wanting to do for awehile. We painted our built in bookshelves black. I love the contrast.

It helps tie the dining area and living room together. I like how the chalkboard wall gallery looks near the bookshelves.

We really want to paint the living room, but haven't found the time, so this is holding us over for now. Have you done any little projects with big impact lately?

New Year, New Projects

We've been MIA for awhile. Life has been pretty hectic, specifically with our jobs, so weekends have been for relaxing and a lot of house projects have been put on hold, but the long weekend got us back on our task list and we have a new project to share soon (we're just finishing up one last coat). We also spent the long weekend packing up some holiday decor and washing away some of my Pinterest inspired chalkboard sayings.

Since we've been gone, we have gotten a few things started like installing our new front door!

We still have a ton of work to do like adding a new walkway and step, adding bushes, painting our awning and putting it back up, and getting a new light fixture, but I was just relieved to get this installed before the winter. Ones the snow comes and goes, we'll be ready to install a walkway and make our front yard a little more appealing.

We have a couple of other new projects in the works. We bought some new pieces to renovate, so hopefully we'll share those soon.

What have you been up to? Any exciting projects for the new year?

Chocolate Mint Snow Cap Cookies

 This is a re-post but they are a favorite, so I thought they should be included in the 12 cookies of Christmas. The third cookie is chocolate mint snow cap cookies.

To make these, you'll need:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon mint flavoring (or a bit more if you prefer a stronger flavor)

Powdered Sugar

Pinch of Salt

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Combine flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt; set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl, microwave 1 cup chocoalte chips and butter. Make sure to check every so often to avoid burning- take out an mix smooth every 30 or so seconds.

4. Beat in granulated sugar until combined, then beat in eggs, vanilla and mint flavoring. Add in flour mixture stirring until combined. Add remaining chocolate pieces.

5. Shape doughinto 1 inch balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar. Place on a non-stick baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 9 1/2-12 minutes (I like mine a bit softer, so I go for 9 1/2 minutes)

7. Cool for a few minutes on a baking sheet.

Makes about 40 cookies.

They get devoured pretty quick in our home.

Now that I posted this, I have a feeling Jim's going to be making a reqest for more soon :)

Giant Ginger Cookies

Cookie # 2.....

Giant Ginger Cookies have been one of my favorites since we tried them. Mainly because they remind me of ginger snaps (although much chewier), which remind me and all of my cousins of our grandparents. Which makes these cookies a big hit at family parties. We like nostalgia. :)

Prep. time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes per batch
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 cup granulated sugar

In a large bowl beat the shortening for 30 seconds. Add 2 cups of the granulated sugar; beat until combined. Beat in eggs and molasses until combined. Beat in the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Using a 1/4 cup scoop, shape dough into 2 inch balls; roll in the coarse granulated sugar. Place balls 2 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are light brown and puffed. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I'm still looking for a great ginger snap cookie recipe. If you know of any, please share!