The Adventure Starts Here: decorating

Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Decorating for Easter

With Easter less than a month away, I thought it was time to decorate the house for Easter. I have to admit it felt a little strange pulling out all my bunnies, eggs, and pastels when there's still snow on the ground. But I figure why not make it feel more like Spring, even if it's only on the inside. And the best part is, after Easter is over, I can remove the bunny and egg decorations and still have some really pretty decor perfect for all of Spring.

Last year I shared how I decorated for Easter, and honestly, most of it is the same. I added a few new pieces and moved some things around, but the general feeling of it all is the same. When we first moved into our house I was experimenting with what I liked and was constantly on the search for new decor. But now I'm pretty happy with what I have and don't feel the need to switch it up every year. And Chris is thrilled since it means I'm spending less money ;)

When decorating for any holiday, I usually stick with the living room and dining room and add a wreath to the front door. First up is the living room. When we lived in an apartment I couldn't wait to have a fireplace. Not because I wanted to sit by a roaring fire (we have never used this one for it's real purpose), but because I was desperate to decorate a mantel. And I'm happy to report that I still love switching up my mantel decor based on the holiday/season. Just like last year, I hung my egg garland, put up my blue candles and pots of fake grass. But this year, I switched out the vases for these pink ones I got for my birthday last year. I love how the pinks and blues from the garland are repeated in the candles and vases.

metal pots and fake grass
candles (Target) | candlesticks (Home Goods) | garland (old Pottery Barn Kids) | vases (old Crate & Barrel)

Over the years, we've collected quite a few stuffed bunnies. They really are the perfect addition to an Easter basket. Many of these are from Pottery Barn Kids, but the Jellycat bunnies are some of my favorite... and softest! While we don't keep them out year round, I love pulling out these super soft stuffed bunnies (and sheep), and displaying them as some kid friendly "decor".

As for our dining room, I kept with my favorite decorating formula. Since we use our table for much more than dining (think game boards, puzzles, and Lego making), I prefer not to "set the table". Instead, I cover the table with a seasonally appropriate runner and add my new favorite gold tray filled with pretty decorative accessories as well as the necessities, like a box of tissues (cause Noah always seems to have a runny nose when we are in the middle of a game!).

I've had this bunny candy dish for years and love filling it up each year. It must be a popular item, because Pottery Barn still carries it at least 6 years later! I'm actually shocked I haven't picked up any Easter candy yet... I definitely plan to remedy that situation as soon as possible! And can we talk about this runner!?! Another gift for my birthday last year that I was so happy to take out this Spring. I love the delicate material, but my favorite part is definitely the beautiful floral print.

gold tray | bunny candy dish | runner (old Crate & Barrel)

Another repeat decor item is my cake stand topped with a nest of eggs. If you'd like to make your own, I shared exactly how I made mine in last year's post. And if you are extra crafty, you could even paint your own eggs!

placemats - Ikea | cake stand and bunny - Home Goods

Another piece of decor that I bought last year is this pink wreath. I knew it had faded when I was putting it away last year, but I didn't realize how much until I compared these photos side by side. While I love the amount of sunlight our house gets (especially for indoor photography reasons), I have a real problem with fading wreaths. My boxwood wreath looks so horrible after one year that I am embarrassed to use it again. While I love how vibrant this pink wreath was when I bought it, at least this one looks like it could have been light pink all along. I wonder what it will look like by next year!?!

Here's the blinding sun I was talking about...

Do you decorate for Easter???

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Friday, December 2, 2016

2016 Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to my home! I'm so excited to share how I decorated our house for Christmas this year. As I've mentioned many times before, Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday and therefore I love everything that goes along with it... especially decorating! This will be our third Christmas in this house. I feel like each year is a learning experience where I try out new things and figure out the things I love or not so much. The first two Christmases, we were making some pretty large purchases in order to start our Christmas collection. From our artificial tree, to the garland and outdoor wreaths, none of it is cheap. This was the first year we didn't make any large purchases and instead just added a few new smaller touches.

First up is our living room. For the most part, this room is very similar to last year. The tree is still filled with sentimental ornaments and has the same star and tree skirt. I once again lit the tree with a combination of small and large bulbs to give it some dimension. I used the same beaded garland and red bows that I added last year. The only difference is that I added some sprigs of red berries... and I love it!

stockings | garland

The biggest change in this room is my Christmas village collection. While the houses aren't new, how I displayed them keeps changing each year. While I can never be sure, I think I've officially found my favorite way. The first year, we had them lit up and displayed on our dining room buffet. Last year, we had them on a bookcase shelf, but they weren't plugged in and lit up. This year, since Noah is now old enough to be careful with our decorations, I decided to display them on our sofa table. Noah has been really good with not touching the houses. We did have a few broken pieces, but that was my fault when I was taking them out of the box. Nothing a little super glue couldn't fix. Noah does however like "driving" the red truck ornaments to the different buildings ;)

I love that they are in our living room but can all be lit up. And just as I did with our tree, I have plugged them all into a power strip (using some extension cords) so that I can leave each individual switch on and control it all with the power switch on the power strip. I love that with one switch, I can turn all the houses on and off each day. We have the same set up with the tree lights, star, and the garland. It makes life so much easier!

houses from Michaels

I also added a new pillow to the mix this year and switched up the garland on the stairs.

pillow from Home Goods

Speaking of the garland on the stairs... this was my biggest annoyance this year. Originally I had planned to upgrade my garland. I had contemplated using real garland, but after getting some advice, went with some artificial garland from Costco. The garland was absolutely beautiful, but the lengths of the garland made it a little tricky. One strand wasn't long enough to do the stairs, but two strands was too much. I ended up buying three, hoping that we could make it work on the stairs and the landing, but it just looked funny. While the Costco garland was much cheaper than other stores I've looked at, it still wasn't cheap. So instead of hanging something that we didn't love, we opted to return it and stick with our old garland for the time being. We did however hang our garland a little differently this year, and I'm liking it a lot more. I'll spend the next year brainstorming for next year!

Mistletoe "ornament" (old Target)

Next up is the kitchen. This is the first year I really decorated the kitchen other than adding some festive dish towels. I added some artificial branches and hung some mini boxwood wreaths from the windows. Right now they are attached with ribbon and painters tape, but I think I will pick up some 3M command hooks for a sturdier hold. I love how some simple touches add a big impact to our kitchen.

A Christmas candle, poinsettias, and some wine always help me get in the Christmas spirit!

mini wreath | candle | poinsettia | marble cutting board

Last but not least is our dining room. It's a nice mix of keeping some of the decor the same from last year while adding in a few new accessories (Target is my weakness!). Just like last year, we won't be hosting a Christmas dinner this year. So instead of setting the table, I opt for a casual table that is ready for whatever board game or puzzle we want to do. I love adding a few decorative touches to the gold tray that can easily be moved out of the way if we need to use the entire table.

plaid tablecloth

gold tray | poinsettia | snowflake napkin holder | reindeer (Target)

I displayed my favorite nativity set on the buffet again this year with some artificial trees on either side. I love the addition of this felt Merry Christmas banner that I found at Target. I am obsessed with red buffalo plaid, so I just had to get it! But this isn't our only nativity set, Noah also has his own. He's learning all about Jesus' birth at school, so it's nice for him to come home and be able to play with his own set too, since mine is definitely off limits! He's already excited about being a shepherd on Christmas Eve when we act out the nativity with his cousins!

nativity | three wise men

Little People nativity

advent calendar

trees

While I've tried to decorate our house with a mixture of old favorites and just enough new touches to keep things interesting, one thing will always be the same. This right here is my favorite spot to sit at night. Now that it gets dark so early, I love spending the evening hours, curled up on the couch, looking at the glow from the Christmas tree!

Pin for later???

I'm linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls and Wife Mommy Me for their Holiday Home Tour!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Holiday Ready with Metallics

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #QuiltedHoliday #CollectiveBias

Please tell me I'm not the only one who's been itching to decorate for Christmas ever since Halloween officially ended??? I know there's still Thanksgiving, and Christmas isn't for another 45 days (not that I'm counting, hehe), but it really is my favorite holiday and I really love decorating the house for it. But in order to appease my husband, who doesn't want to decorate until after Thanksgiving, I've come up with a few simple ways to update my decor for the holidays without going overboard.

While I won't be putting up our big Christmas tree or hanging any lights just yet, I did think it would be fun to update my bathroom decor and make it holiday ready with some metallic accents. I headed straight to Target to browse the aisles, since I know they always have the best decor for a really reasonable price. I get an updated bathroom, that's holiday ready, without breaking the bank #targetdoesitagain!

The gold trend is still going strong and I was instantly drawn to all the gold accessories. This soap dispenser was love at first sight. I just love the combination of the gold and marble! While I usually just leave the handsoap in the bottle it comes in, I thought this was a nice upgrade! I am a huge fan of white towels, but once I decided to decorate with gold, I knew I had to have these hand towels. The gold trim is the perfect amount of shine without being overly fussy. Finally, I knew I wanted to add a new candle to my bathroom. Noah helped me smell test all the new Christmas scents and we picked out our favorite. And while it didn't necessarily clash with the gold, I wanted to continue with the gold theme. I am so happy I found this candle holder that isn't only beautiful, but also just happens to be the perfect size and disguise.

Once my sink area was holiday and guest ready, I turned my focus to the toilet. My worst fear is that we will run out of toilet paper when guests are over. Who wants to have a guest have to ask you where you keep your extra toilet paper? There are two things that I've done in order to never face this embarrassing question. First, we buy the Quilted Northern Ultra Plush® Mega Rolls. Not only are they super soft, but Quilted Northern® Mega Rolls are 4 regular rolls in one - so they last longer, meaning you can change the roll less often than before. Second, we keep our extra rolls out in the open in a wire basket, on a shelf above the toilet. The toilet paper is now easy to access but still looks pretty! And I had to add the boxwood tree... I wonder if my husband will notice ;)

Target is not only my favorite store for new decor, it's always where I stock up on all the necessities. I headed over to the bath tissue aisle to stock up on the Quilted Northern® Mega Rolls. While I picked up the Ultra Plush Mega Rolls, make sure to also look for the new Quilted Northern Ultra Soft & Strong® Mega Rolls (in the blue packaging)! Target Cartwheel is currently offering 5% off Quilted Northern Ultra Soft & Strong® Mega Rolls from 11/8-11/29.

You can also enter to win one of multiple Target gift cards, which would be perfect for updating your own bathroom decor!

#QuiltedHoliday Sweepstakes

To find more Quilted Northern inspiration, check out the social hub here.

Pin for later???

Have you started decorating for the holidays?

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Giving Thanks | Pumpkin Mini Pies

This weekend, my younger brother and his husband were visiting for the long weekend. With Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day falling on the same Monday every year, it's the perfect long weekend for our American/Canadian family (here's a brief summary about my Canadian roots)! While they live in Canada, my brother works in NY state and his husband works in Canada, so it's nice when the holidays line up. This is the second year they've come and the second year that Chris and I hosted a family dinner to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite parts of hosting is setting the table. Last year I went with a more traditional tablescape. This year I decided to have a little fun with it and go more neutral with a pop of purple. I also love adding some natural elements to my table, and the hydrangeas and mini white pumpkins definitely fit the bill. I love the texture some simple flowers and pumpkins add to my table.

runner | napkins

Considering how rarely we use our good china, I sometimes wonder if we made the right choice adding it to our wedding registry. But when I the few times of year that I set the table with them, I really do love the look! Maybe I should host these dinners more often and get more use out of my china. But since I still don't trust Noah with my good china, I made sure to set him a special Thanksgiving plate and cup instead.

plate from PBKids last year - this year's plate and cup

For appetizers, we had our usual shrimp cocktail and veggie platter. And while we always do a cheese tray, I decided to up my game a little this year and get more of a variety of cheeses and accompaniments. It went over really well, especially the manchego (top left) and the fontina with fig jelly (on the bottom).

marble board (I paid less, so keep an eye out on price)

custard cups (now cheaper than what I paid)

While we ate appetizers, Noah kept coming up with different games to play with the guys (daddy, papa, and his uncles). He made a treasure hunt for them to follow, requested they help him do some puzzles, and even had a little drawing session where we learned that most of us draw like 1st graders ;) But the biggest hit was when Noah covered Papa with every single stuffed animal he owns!

blanket

While Noah was occupied with Papa, we finished prepping dinner. My mom was a lifesaver and made the turkey and mashed potatoes at her house. I took care of the rest of the sides, making a mix of our old favorites while trying out some new ones. While it's super simple, this roasted vegetable side dish was definitely a winner. Chris cut up the vegetables the night before and then I just added some balsamic vinegar and thyme (to taste) before roasting them in the oven for 25 minutes at 390 degrees. I love how this side dish is healthy and beautiful with the rainbow of colors!

While my mom made the turkey, we left the carving up to Chris. It really turned into a delicious dinner... turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, stuffing (that I shared last year), corn, cesar salad, and some crescent rolls. We were all very full by the end and I was wishing I had chosen pants with an elastic waist band. My brother reminded us that feeling like you can't move is a sign of a successful Thanksgiving.

We made a point to take a family picture using the tripod and remote. But we probably should have thought ahead and do it before we stuffed our faces. At first, Noah wasn't interested in taking the photos at all and kept turning his head. But giving him the remote changed his tune and he got really into it. I loved looking through these photos, especially the ones where Chris is being a total goof ball!

As for dessert. While I am not a huge pumpkin pie fan (or any pie really), the rest of my family is. So while my mom brought some mini fruit tarts for dessert, I knew I had to make a pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. On year we went out for Thanksgiving and the restaurant didn't have pumpkin pie. Chris still talks about it! While I wanted to offer the traditional pumpkin pie flavor, I decided to switch it up a bit and make some mini pies. They were really simple to make, and while I didn't actually try one, everyone told me they were amazing, even Chris!

Pumpkin Mini Pies

Ingredients:

Pre-made pie crusts (found in the refrigerated section)
Pam spray or butter to grease the muffin tin

Pumpkin Pie Mix (I used Libby's 30 oz can)

2 eggs

2/3 cup of evaporated milk (I used Carnation)
Whip cream for topping

Method:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Bring your pie crusts to room temperature and roll out. Using a cookie cutter or cup that is 4 inches in diameter, cut circles out of your pie crust. I could cut 5 mini pie crusts out of each large pie crust.

Place your mini pie crusts into the pre-greased muffin tin.

To make your filling, mix the can of pumpkin pie mix, 2 eggs, and 2/3 cup of evaporated milk. You should be able to fill at least 24 mini pies with the amount of filling it yields.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, fill your mini pie crusts with the filling. Bake your mini pumpkin pies at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Then turn your oven down to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 25-30 minutes.

Let your mini pies cool on a wire rack for a couple of hours to let the pumpkin filling set.

Right before serving, top each mini pie with a dollop of whip cream. While we used freshly made whip cream, you could easily use the store bought kind.