Formal fun

I am not a formal person.  I mean, everyone has their moments where they like to dress up and act fancy, but in my home that is the furthest thought from my mind.  I want my surroundings at home to be fun and fanciful. For the Reading Room, I want to add in a mix of more formal things done in a fun way or fun things done in a formal way.  Examples:

These plaster heads from Z Gallerie (code taketen04 for 10% off) are typically formal objects done in a fun way:

Deer  Rhino  Ram

For the coffee table, I want to arrange fun things in a more formal way:

Stacks of fun books could be arranged in groups like above - from Home Beautiful

The classically formal tablescape above is made more fun by the addition of the fox sculpture.  I'd want to take it a step further and add in brighter colors - from Home Beautiful

For furniture, I want to do a three cushion square couch (formal-ish) done in a neutral color with a set of (fun) bright lumbar pillows:

Sofa from Haverty's

I love this and this from Merimekko

A settee bench across from it with matching throw pillows would add more seating and balance the room.  Here are some options:

The nailheads and the microfiber in this settee bench from Overstock would mimic those in the sofa.

The storage feature of this tufted leather bench would be an added bonus

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I like the slope of the arms in this creme leather bench one.

I also like the idea of having two X-benches and love the legs on these.

To complement the "animals" on the wall, this might be a good addition (I like the fact that it's round instead of rectangular or square):

I would like to continue to use my coffee table in the room (as well as the console table and entertainment center) but with the changes going on, I might consider a new color for it (it's currently black).  Bright blue?  Purple?  Maybe just dark brown to match some of the other furniture.

Now to think about drapes...

Keeping it happy

Not to get too hippie on you here, but there are beautiful things everywhere... even when you're stuck in the office.  

Proof:

Mini business card file cabinets

Statement necklace of the day

Stolen sunnies from S

Skirt

Picture of me dancing around as a child with a pillow (?) strapped to my back for wings(?) and a gentle reminder that gets me through the day

I've got the whole world

Am I crazy if I buy this from Urban Outfitters, split it in two and put it behind the Chevron curtains I want to make for my Guest Bedroom?

I think it's pretty awesome.  But then again, that's coming from the girl who has a periodic table for a shower curtain.  Nerd alert?

Wednesday Want

I have no words:

LOVE.  (Ok, I had one...)

The Longest Week

While it's been a long week (really? it's still only Thursday!?!), I've been working hard on concentrating on the many good things that have happened and have made me such a happy girl (you know, to counterbalance my over-crazed stress levels due to work and settling in at the house which seem to be at the same level of frequency of my hormones somehow).  Phew.  Breathe, Jackie!

Here are a few of the things that are currently keeping me sane:

1.) Finishing up my dressing room and LOVING it.  Seriously.  I've considered pulling in a mattress and sleeping in there.  It's tres gorge!

Here's a glimpse of it (full post to follow):

2.) Finding a trio of mismatched glass semi-apothecary jars to house my candies.  Inspiration from a variety of beautiful pictures on the web:

1. 2.

Can't wait to fill them with these, these & these.

3.) S getting back from TN.  

4.) Cooking our first meal together in the house.  Used this one from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  (edit: I've made this recipe twice more since this post and it's still amazing.  S describes it as "fancy Hamburger Helper.")

5.) This image.  Man, I want to do this for my Easter party on Sunday.

6.) Which led me to this, which I also want to do.

Ok, ok.  That might be a bit much.  Especially when the instructions begin with: "Decapitate 6 Peeps...".

Jhorts & Burgers

When I first met S, he was wearing jhorts to a pool party I was hosting and kinda looked like this:

No lie.  How could I not fall madly in love with that?  He also brought his Kindle, flirted with my best friend, and talked incessantly (in my opinion) about rowing.  Rowing?  Rowing as in Crew.  As in pretty much the most preppy/elitist sport I could think of.  So what did I do?  Mocked him mercilessly.  I'm nice like that, what can I say?  Also, I couldn't help imagining just how many popped collars he could simultaneously wear:

So yes, I made fun of him.

Here's an example:

S: My office is the river.  It's amazing to see the sunrise every morning as you jet down the water.  We keep all of the boats at the boathouse on the river for easy access.

Me: <faking a pretentious accent> Mmmmm.  The boathouse.  Yes, my father once had a boathouse but it wasn't big enough for his yacht, so we had to have it removed board by board.  We then commissioned an artist to rebuild the boathouse using only the original wood or wood cultivated from the rainforests of the Amazon and made to look like the original wood by bleaching with Pygmy spit.  The rebuild took 7 years but it was ah-mazing.

I digress. 

The moral of this story is that even if you're drunk and not so nice to a boy when you first meet him, if you make burgers that are delicious, he'll still fall in love with you.  Fact.

The day of the pool party, this is the recipe I used (give or take, I really never measure, so feel free to change things if you're feeling sassy):

Mini Bacon Chile Cheese Burgers

3 lbs ground beef (I use 90/10)

1 lb bacon 

2 Anaheim chiles 

8 oz grated Mexican cheese blend

Susie Q aka "crack seasoning" you can get this here or just use your own mix of parsley (~4 Tb), salt (~3 Tb) and pepper (~2 Tb)

Hawaiian Rolls


Take the bacon and cut into roughly 1/8" strips.

Add the bacon to a bowl (I started with a glass bowl and had to move to my wok since it's the biggest bowl like thing I had in my kitchen).  Make sure to separate out the slices (they will want to stick together):

Since I have an electric range (sad panda), I have to roast my Anaheim chiles in the broiler.  This works well, but the gas range technique is much more fun.  Several roasting techniques can be found here.


Take the two chiles:

Slice into halves length wise and take out the seeds and stems:

I then placed on a skillet under my broiler set to high and watched them carefully until all of the skin was dark and bubbling:

 Let them cool, then take off the skins (should be easy to remove) and cut into 1/4" pieces:

Place the meat, chiles and cheese in the bowl with the seasoning:

Then mix gently.   The key here is to gently mix.  Use your hands and don't squeeze until you're actually forming patties (upgraded to larger container):

 Take about a large golf ball sized chunk of the mixture and form into a patty about 3 inches in diameter.  Pack tightly at this point as the delicious (but fatty) bacon will reduce at a different speed than the beef when grilled and you don't want your patties to fall apart.  

Repeat with all of the remaining mixture.

Grill on a ten-second fire (if you can place your hand over the grill and have to remove your hand around ten seconds) until you see juices form on top of the patty or around 4 minutes.  Flip and grill for a couple more minutes.  

Remove patties and lightly toast Hawaiian Rolls on the grill.

Serve with normal condiments or with just mayo.  (I don't have any after pictures as we took them to a party this time and there was a keg involved and maybe a pinata, don't really remember all of the details...).

Delicious!

  

Dressing my Campaign Dresser

If you've seen a design blog in the last couple of months, you've more than likely noticed a link to the beautiful campaign dresser in Lonny.  It's gorgeous and awe inspiring.  Check check check it out.

Let's take a moment to appreciate it.

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Ok.  Well, Jenny of Little Green Notebook did a fantastic redo of a piece she found for super cheap that was in great condition.  I found one on Craigslist and, while it's not in great shape at the moment, I have grand aspirations for it.  The main questions I've been trying to answer have been:

1.) what color do I do?  It's breathtaking in white and green, but I don't think green + my black dining set would jive (we're going to use it for our bar/kitchen accessories) and white might be too neutral for me.  

2.) where do I find the hardware for the one missing drawer pull that is on the piece?  (Yes, I still bought the dresser with its missing drawer pull.  I hadn't found a piece like it in my 4 months of constantly searching CL and I just couldn't say no.  I did get the price down from $100 to $80, though).

I think today I figured out both questions:

For colors, I am thinking a raspberry.  With the nickel hardware I think it will be glorious.  What do you think of these options?

From Sherwin Williams:

SW6580 Cerise

SW6861 Radish

SW6862 Cherries Jubilee

I'm quite fond of Radish. 

Now that I've had some more time to think, I've also decided that teal might be perfect as well.  Here are the options that I've found:

From Benjamin Moore:

Calypso Blue 727

Largo Teal 742

Captivating Teal 649

Advice?

For the hardware,  I found this site: Paxton Hardware.  

And, while expensive at $22.52 a piece, I can complete the look of the pulls with just one of these:

It's going to be hard to focus on putting things away in the house while I have dreams of this completed dresser dancing in my head. 

Inspiration and Loves

Now that S and have decided to take the big step and move in together, we have lots of duplicates.  My inspiration this week is for uses for the extra things and sets that I might not want to part with.

The extra set of silverware:

How delightful are those?  Originally found at Ladies and Gentlemen, Creatively Christy redid them here.  That extra set of my random silverware that I was going to toss?  Consider them redone (or on my to do list which may or may not currently be a mile long.)

The extra desk:

Place a mirror over it, empty the drawers and replace with makeup/brushes/etc and you have yourself a nice little vanity.  Inspiration from here.

My loves this week is for two items: an AMAZING lip treatment and my new face wash.

Josie Maran Lip Treatment

Ohmygoodnessmylipsfeellikesilk.  I have always had dry lips and this stuff is amazing for them.  I constantly am rubbing my lips together now.  It's addicting stuff.  My only complaint is that you have to use your finger to apply.  Not always the best or most sanitary way.

Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser

Love this stuff.  My face is looking better than it has in a long time.  Also, the fresh cooling sensation is fun.