The Bakery

My husband and I watched "It's Complicated" last night. I loved the cozy home...what I really loved, though, was that bakery!


Both images are from Cinema Style - a wonderful blog I just found looking for these bakery images. I think I'll go back and read some more!

Happy New Years everyone - stay safe!!!

This and That

I wanted to share some miscellaneous Christmas touches:

The chandelier in the kitchen eating nook has an addition of some rustic glamour with some metallic spray painted branches with crystals and a mercury glass ornament.

We have our stockings on the mantle in the basement. I made the "jester's" stockings around 8 years ago. They are still in good shape, although the bells on one of the stockings have fallen off. I used black velvet, colorful satin, and sheer fabric that match the satin. The stockings are lined in the same satin colored fabric.

The stockings coordinate with the tree the kids decorated just a few feet away:

Here's my quick wine cork name card holder project after being inspired by Lauren's beautiful Christmas decorated home.

And a quick Christmas card holder project using a frame I had in storage and chicken wire.

If I don't make it back to the blog before Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth with your loved ones. Merry Christmas everyone!

Family Room Christmas Decor

I just finished a painting that I'm giving as a gift, and now I finally have a bit of time to share some more pics of my Christmas decor!

Below is my mantle in the family room. I just have my painting and some branches from the yard, with some candles and greenery. The stockings are on another mantle in the basement. I quit hanging the stockings on this mantle a couple of years ago, because it started getting a bit too much for this room that we spend all our time in. I was feeling like Christmas threw up in here. :) Every year, I'm noticing I'm using less Christmas decor.

For a bit of fun, I spray painted the frame red:


Sorry for the fuzzy picture below - this was taken the morning of our breakfast party. I must have been a bit jittery from all the coffee! I switched the accessories on the shelves to mostly beige, white, and touches of red. I also have blue accents in the pillows and the blue Christmas ornaments. The slate blue goes well with the blues in the painting.

I painted this family area/kitchen from a gold color (BM "spice gold") to white ("French Canvas") a few months ago, and I am so glad I did! For as much as I change my accessories and paintings, I can't believe I didn't re-paint this room earlier!


Every year, I have the kids take pictures with Santa. I am missing a year. It is so fun to see the kids get bigger every year. I think I will have them take pictures with Santa for as long as Santa can hold their weight!
We have another party coming up this weekend. This time, it is actually a dinner party with some very close friends. We're thinking beef tenderloin.....

Breakfast Party and the Dining Room Christmas Decor

This past weekend, our family hosted a breakfast party. The reason for breakfast instead of dinner? Well, this particular group of friends we invited do dinner very well in their homes. Very gourmet, very intimidating, and very delicious. Some of them have been to the finest restaurants in this country. One of them is a writer for a industry nutritional magazine, and has tasted the best food. They know good food. They are foodies to say the least!

My husband's and my idea of a dinner party would consist at best marinating some salmon in soy sauce, garlic, and cilantro.

We do, however, make a mean breakfast! And, after a camping/hiking trip where my husband brought the most inedible freeze dried eggs, he had to redeem himself.

Being part Swedish, my husband makes great Swedish pancakes. Breakfast is his specialty. His mother used to wake up at 5:00 am every morning to fix a nice, hot, breakfast for her boys every day. Every day. Yikes! I wake up at that time every day so I can work out, but there is no cooking involved :) ! I never really enjoyed breakfast until I married him. Was I missing out!

So, here was the menu:


Swedish pancakes, Stuffed Blueberry French Toast, a green chile, sausage, and cheese egg dish, Poppy Seed Bread, and of course, Mimosa and Espresso/Lattes for the adults. Orange juice for the kids. We used 72 eggs. Call the cardiologist! Wait, he's a guest!

Here's a not so clear picture of the holiday decorated dining room. I decorated the chandelier with some glass ornaments, a garland of clear and silver beads, and crystals that I wired. (I am planning a chandelier makeover after Christmas is over and all that stuff comes off. This is a builder's basic chandelier that I do not really like much.) The table is set with greenery, my moss balls, and branches from our yard. We used silver inherited from my husband's mom, which, by the way, we use every time we have guests over. Why have silver if we don't use it? Our water goblets are one of my favorites - pink and green glass which resemble Depression Glass. They hold so much water! I'll be so sad if one ever breaks, as they are irreplaceable.


Then there's the food. The presentation is not so great. It's difficult to make it look pretty when one is feeding 8 adults and 11 children. One of our friends even brought a yummy potato dish as well. It was a foodfest!

By the way, one requirement for our guests - must wear pj's.