Bold Bedroom or Old Bedroom?

I haven't updated for a few days as it's been a hectic week and I haven't been able to do much around my house.  I won't be able to update for the next couple of days either due to an unexpected trip to Florida so I thought I'd take this opportunity to ask for some opinions.  I know I haven't shown any pictures of my current bedroom (it's far from being ready to be photographed!) so just give me your honest opinion of the two photos below.  Which do you prefer?  


A dark gray bedroom with pink accents?

Or a light blue and white bedroom with a coastal feel?

Before I moved, my old bedroom looked similar to the second photo.  Bluish-teal accents, cream pintuck duvet cover, white furniture.  I loved climbing into bed at night but was looking for a change.  I saw the top photo last fall in a magazine and decided when I moved that it would be the inspiration for my new room.  I loved the bold dark gray, old fashioned chandelier, and the pink tapped into my girly side.  So, I painted my walls a dark gray (Benjamin Moore's Amherst Gray) and got a gray duvet cover and pink pillows (I kept the white furniture).  I LOVE the dark gray paint color, however, I'm just not getting the warm and cozy feeling that I had before so I'm thinking about changing it back.  Comment below and let me know your thoughts!  If I get over the embarrassment of the way my room looks now at it's semi-bold state, I'll be sure to post a pic.



It's My Birthday...And It's Bananas!

It's sweltering in the Philadelphia region today (as I write this, it's 101 degrees outside).  Still, I couldn't go through the day without making myself a cupcake or two (or twelve) for my birthday.  So, I found a recipe for banana cupcakes and cranked the oven up to 350 degrees against my better judgment.  The result was this:

I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's website and thought they sounded nice and light.  Instead, the batter was thick and the frosting was really sweet (I added the yellow food coloring for fun).  I think I would have liked just a touch more cinnamon in the frosting as well.  They are more like iced banana muffins with a really sweet icing but overall pretty tasty. 

Martha Stewart's Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2.  Make a well in center of flour mixture.  In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla.  Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix).  Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.

3.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon honey

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1.  In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.

2.  Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting.  Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Octo-Inspired

I don't know about you but I watch a lot of HGTV and have been a big fan of David Bromstad's since he won the first season of HGTV Design Star in 2006.  One of the best parts of his decor in my humble opinion is the signature art pieces he creates specifically for the homeowners he is designing for.  So imagine my surprise when I found out via Apartment Therapy that reproductions of his art can be purchased!  This particular piece just awes me:

I've had this piece on my brain for a while and because I know this exists, I get all giddy now whenever I come across octopus-inspired home decor.  In fact, I think the picture in this room from DecorPad is pretty darn cool:

Now, I must stress here that I have an aversion to squid (calamari included) and most marine life in general.  Octopus decor can be cute (as in children's decor) or downright freaky because let's face it - they are pretty scary!  So the fact that I'm slightly drawn to these items below makes me think I'm going crazy.  But I think they make for interesting decor and one of them just might end up living in my house.  Maybe.

A dinner plate from Anthropologie:

A hook from Anthropologie:

A pillow from Etsy:

A cookie cutter from Amazon:

A decorative accessory from Z Gallerie:

And a fun recipe from Family Fun Magazine:

I don't expect octopuses (octopi?) to invade my home the way the elephants have but I might have to get one.  I especially like the hook but I should probably buy something for my home that isn't gray/black/white for once.  Unless it's a cookie cutter.







Goodbye Orange!

Unfortunately I didn't take too many "before" pictures of my new home before I painted it but there are a couple in existence.  I mentioned before about how the overall color scheme of the place was orange, red and green.  What I didn't mention was that there were actually two shades of orange (one a yellow-orange and the other a brown-orange).  I suppose the previous owners were going for some accent walls?  Well, I wasn't having any of it.  Here is the one before picture I took of my living room just before I took my paint roller to the not-so-sunkissed walls (notice the two different colors??):

And this is what it looks like now:

The walls in the living room are the same as in the dining room (Benjamin Moore's Stonington Gray).  I love the eggshell finish so much better than the semi-gloss that was in here before.  In fact, most of my place is Stonington Gray but that kind of happened because I liked the color and was in a hurry to get the whole place painted in one weekend and really didn't want to spend time at the paint store deciding on other colors.  I'm a big fan of Benjamin Moore's ben^® interior paint which is low odor and low VOC (and it's a little cheaper than regular Benjamin Moore - bonus!).  I'm very grateful that by the end of that Sunday night as my friends and I painted the last strokes to finish the job, we didn't pass out from any toxic fumes.

Anyway, I don't love my fireplace and am hoping that maybe one of these days I'll redo it.  First of all, it's not centered on the angled wall which drives me crazy.  The molding is narrow and the mantle is just plain silly.  And the rest of seems like it's some kind of wood composite.  And it's  black!  But I'm dealing with it for now.  I have high ceilings so I haven't figured out exactly what to hang above the fireplace.  A painting?  A starburst mirror?  These are some options.  I just have to keep stalking HomeGoods for just the right thing.

I've been carrying around the Pier One trunk which holds my TV since about 1993 and I'm ready for someone to take it off my hands.  I'm also thinking about a bigger TV and I need to get some pictures on the wall.  I don't have a lot of color in here yet so that's also on the to-do list.  Yes, I know - it's still looking a little boring.

The sliding-glass door has been driving me crazy.  First of all, the curtain rod left by the previous owner is too high so my curtains don't touch the floor.  This is easily fixable but I haven't gotten around to lowering it yet.  Also, I'm reconsidering the black curtains.  I found some citrine-colored ones at Crate and Barrel that I like but they are expensive so I'll keep looking.  New curtains would be a good place to add some color to the room.  I'm happy with my Ikea rug and applaud myself for not getting a black and white one which is what I set out to get.

There is still a lot to do but like everything else, it's still a work in progress!

A New Read

It's not very often that I buy a brand new book in it's hardback version.  Usually I either wait until it's printed in paperback or I find it used online.  On the rare occasion though an author will come out with a new book that I just have to have, like right now.  So is the case with Michael Harvey, my favorite author of Chicago mystery out there.  It's not Pulitzer-winning literature by any means but in my opinion it's just simple great fun and it sucks me right in every time.

So I was beaming with joy when I was able to get my hands on his latest Michael Kelly thriller We All Fall Down.  Kelly, a private investigator, searches for who is poisoning and killing people in Chicago's subway system.  Biological weapons! Murder! Mystery!  I'm already hooked and have only read the prologue so far.  If you need me, I'll be tucked in a corner somewhere paying you no mind while I engross myself in this fun little nugget.  I'll let you know how it goes.  The last book I was struggling to finish reading (referenced here) doesn't stand a chance now...

Coffee, a Book and a Cupcake...

What a delicious way to spend a perfectly sunny Sunday morning!  I don't usually eat cupcakes for breakfast (but I admit I have).  I was curious about these because I made them late last night out of sheer boredom and didn't try one before going to bed.  I've been on a cupcake kick lately, possibly fueled by a combination of my ever-present sweet tooth and the numerous cupcake shows on television.  These are chocolate-espresso cupcakes with latte frosting so why not have one for breakfast?  In my humble opinion, they are pretty yummy but it takes a lot for me to dislike a cupcake so I may not be the best judge...

As for the book, right now I'm reading One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell and I just started chapter five.  To be honest, I might spend a total of five more minutes on it.  I don't usually read Candace Bushnell (I've never read Sex and the City) but I'm a big fan of the short-lived TV show Lipstick Jungle and just watched both seasons (again) over the course of two weekends.  So, I thought I'd give this book a try.  But I'm getting lost with all of the characters and I usually have to be in the mood for a book like this, which I'm not.  I'll hang in there a little longer but I'm not hopeful I'll see the end.

Elephant-astic!

I heard a long time ago that elephants are supposed to be good luck.  This was based on Ganesha, the Hindu Lord of Success or, as he is sometimes known, the Hindu God of Good Luck.  Some people say the trunks have to be up.  Others say it doesn't matter.  I'm not even going to pretend I know the traditions of Hindusim but I think the creatures are well, cute, so I thought bringing one or two into my new home for a little good luck shouldn't hurt.  Next thing I knew I had one in almost every room.  Here are the little guys who now keep me company:

These two are in my dining room and make sure I don't eat or drink too much ;).  I got the wine stopper on sale from Zgallerie and the other is another bargain from HomeGoods:

I found this sugar bowl on Amazon.com and put him in my kitchen on my stove.  His sweet grin (no pun intended) makes me smile:

These two are both in my living room and adorn the fireplace.  I found the odd and somewhat creepy decorative one on the mantle at HomeGoods and the planter on the floor came from Zgallerie:

 This little guy from Cardboardsafari.com sits on top of the tv in the guest bedroom:

And this ring holder from Red Envelope is in my bedroom.  Small but pretty and functional:



I don't own this guy but I found him at Urban Outfitters.  It's an ashtray but I don't smoke...so we'll see if I find a need for him. 

Eventually I'll have to say enough is enough.  I don't want to be know as the crazy elephant lady :)

  

My Pad So Far

I was pretty lucky when I bought my home because there was no major remodeling that needed done.  From the hardwood floors to the air conditioner to the kitchen cabinetry, everything had been updated within the last five years.  The only thing that needed to be done right away, like before I moved in, was paint.  And paint.  And paint.  Every room needed painting.  In a nutshell, the color scheme of my home was orange, red and green.  And two not-so-lovely shades of green at that.  It physically made my stomach turn and made me think of a grilled cheese sandwich with ketchup and a pickle.  Maybe not so bad to eat for lunch but not something I want to look at everyday all over my walls. 

This is the before picture of my dining room (as you can see I had already started painting it).

And this is my dining room now.  A neutral, lovely shade of light gray (Benjamin Moore's Stonington Gray).

I'm obsessed with the oversized picture of Chicago that now adorns my wall (I wish I would have taken video of my sister and I trying to get it into my small car!).  The gray rug was a bargain at only $20 from Ikea.  I spent extra money on the black pedestal table from Crate and Barrel just to have an extension which I will hopefully have to break in if I ever have Thanksgiving at my place. 

The ceiling light is also from Ikea and is so much better than the too-small candle chandelier left behind.  My only complaint is that the light is a plug-in so the wire drapes across the ceiling slightly and down the wall in the corner before I have it tucked behind the curtain and into the wall.  There is no on/off switch so if I want to use it, I have to plug it in and unplug it to turn it off.  Ugh.  So I have to kind of think of it like a pair of insanely high-heeled pumps...may be impractical but it looks good. 

I've had my eye on this cabinet from Crate and Barrel for years but never had a reason for it until now.  I finally have someplace to display my glasses and stand mixer.  Not to mention it holds my oh-so-important chocolate-filled apothecary jars.  Above it is a mirror I found for a great deal at HomeGoods which I LOVE.

My next purchase needs to be dining room chairs.  My temporary chairs are patio chairs from Target which were brought in for when my sister and niece visited and never taken back outside.  I'm loving the Louis ghost chairs by Kartell but have my eye on these from Ikea instead:

But I'm so indecisive.  Two weeks ago, I was obsessed with these Bertoia chairs:

 

And before that, I wanted these Windsor chairs:

Who knows what I'll get.  What do you think?  More pictures to come when the purchase is made!