Lunch: Spinach Avocado Grilled Cheese

One of the things I promised myself this summer was healthy eating. Less carbs, more veggies; one dessert per day; that was the plan. So far-- it's been ok. I seem to devour about twice as much chocolate as the average person. Oh well. It tastes good. 

Today I made something delicious for lunch. I found the recipe pinned to the food board on my Pinterest account and decided to dive in. It was delicious, felt healthy, and was a great source of vitamins and protein! So yay! I ate every last bite. 

The pin I found called them Green Goddess Grilled Cheese, but I prefer to be more detailed in names. The recipe also called for pesto, which I didn't have, but would probably make it even more delicious!

Excuse my poor photography skills. These were also taken with my iphone, so that didn't particularly help the quality!

YUM

Spinach Avocado Grilled Cheese

2-4 tablespoons pesto

1/2 of an avocado

a handful of spinach

2-4 slices mozzarella 

2-4 tablespoons goat cheese 

2 slices of bread (mine was whole wheat)

Spread the pesto on both slices of bread. Divide and place mozzarella on both slices. Pile spinach on one slice of the bread and crumple the goat cheese on top. Slice avocado thinly and place on other slice of bread. Carefully bring slices together to close the sandwich. Place in well oiled pan over low heat, flip occasionally. When the cheese is all melty and the bread all toasty you're done! Enjoy!

Redoing My Parents' Master Bedroom

My parents master bedroom has always been the dumping ground. When I was young, every time we cleaned for a gathering or party at our house, a large majority of the excess stuff we had lying around was tossed into a corner of my parents room. The Good Will pile of things to be donated sat in the long hallway to their bedroom, spilling over out of its box and onto the floor, tripping passersby. Long story short. It was, and is, a mess, and they deserve better. I am home for a while this summer and have begun planning a big redesign of their room.

It started when I saw this pillow at Cost Plus World Market:

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I instantly loved the colors, the pattern, and the over all look. I took a picture and texted it to my mom. She liked it too! The pillow works well with the Spanish style feel of her house and the colors and pattern are young and fun, also like her! She's also always had a soft spot for the color orange. Which probably explains why her house is the color of a halloween pumpkin. But in a good way! :) 

I used the pillow as a jumping off point for designing the room and embraced it's color scheme of burnt red-orange, dark teal, pale creamy-yellow, and natural California-early-summer-grass-green. These will be mixed with a large number of textured neutrals

The room will have a Spanish feel, like my parent's house and Mission style bed, but also an industrial feel that alludes to my father's race car driver past and never dying love of cars. 

I threw some ideas around and eventually came up with this board. Please excuse the unprofessionalness of it. I had little time before I needed to show her the idea. 

That should give you a rough idea of what I have planned. I know its messy. A bunch of those photos are straight off my phone and not great quality. Anyways, here's the plan of things I need to do:

• New layout with foot of bed pointing towards door
• Reusing their current cherry bed and Dad's oak dresser
• Bringing two dressers from their dining room, one for Dad's bedside table, the other for Mom's clothes
• Turing Mom's bedside table dresser at an angle, to use the space of the corner 
• Hanging a mirror with rope from the ceiling above Mom's bedside table dresser so it can be used as a vanity
• Finding a large mirror or basket to use as a focal point above the bed
• Buying two medium size chairs (one feminine, the other masculine) for a seating area at the end of the bed
• Sewing an ottoman poof for additional can-be-tucked-away seating
• Finding a table big enough for a laptop, book, and glass of water, but small enough to fit between the two chairs at the end of the bed
• Redoing the dresser inherited from my Great Aunt Alma to be used as a bedside table 
• Hanging neutral colored curtains from the ceiling at the four corners of the bed to simulate a canopy
• Creating a large gallery wall with mostly white frames, but with added color popping frames mixed in
• Using an old rake to hang Mom's necklaces
• Finding a large car inspired picture to hang over Dad's bedside table. Perhaps I could repaint this but in the colors of the room?

And here is what I'm lucky enough to avoid:

• Painting the room-- it's already the soft pale yellow
• Purchasing dressers-- my parents have one unused one in their bonus room, and the other two from the dining room will be replaced with the large dark wood stained armoir that currently resides in my parent's bedroom, but clashes with the light wood
• Buying a poof-- they seem ridiculously over priced! Plus my mother is an excellent seamstress, so I'm putting her on the job. 
• Purchasing art-- my old bedroom is full of frames and pictures/paintings that need a home, anything else I want/need I will attempt to duplicate myself (I am minoring in Studio Art, time to put those skills to work!)
• Finding curtains-- my mom is incredibly attached to the cute ikea ones she already owns
• Buying bedding-- although I will definitely purchase some orange sheets, a bunch of pillows, and possibly a throw blanket or two, the actual comforters and main blankets are already owned. My mom sewed a pretty denim duvet for her comforter a few years ago. They'll use this in the winter. They also own a lovely white blanket that they use in fall. As these both go with the color scheme, why waste money buying new ones?
• Buying a rug-- my mother inherited one from my Great Aunt Alma that contains lots of dark teal and burnt orange. We're keeping it!

If you would like to see more of my inspiration pictures and ideas, check out my Pinterest Board. Don't be shocked by some of the paintings though, my mother is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and I had to throw in a few that reference that! heehee 

I'll be posting more updates as things progress. The project cannot truly start however, until work on their master bathroom renovation begins finishes up!

Finding Your Niche

Alcoves. Niches. The use of these little spaces can make or break a design. You can either pretend they don't exist and have continuous walls with wasted space behind them (i.e. what the idiots who designed the house I grew up in did) or create usable, fun, and unique spaces. I love alcoves. I think they are awesome and oooh soooo cozy.

Here is one from a living room. I love how the black and white of the wall paper is continued over into the curtain and into the material on the pillows and bench seat. This helps make the alcove blend in; it looks intentional. The addition of the little chair and table make this corner a great spot for a quiet conversation or for reading a good book on a rainy day. What could have been empty and unused is now used for additional seating.

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Built in bookshelves? Cozy alcove? Floor to ceiling windows? Great architectural floor plan? This room has it all. But, let's concentrate on what matters: the alcove built in to the bookshelves. This is a great way to break up the endless wall of books and to create a focal point for the room. Plus, the little bench is an awesome reading spot! 

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Now I would love to have a bed in a niche like this. It's so private, cozy, warm, unique. It reminds me of brothel houses in ancient Greece.  Love those curtains. What a fabulous area for a nap. Kids would adore this design too. It can become a private little room for them. 

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Now this is a great use of space. I love that they took a square opening and added that trim to make it into an arch. It's light. It's airy. It's a great display space. Now, not all of us have 25 billion foot ceilings, but the ideas from this space can definitely still be used. I love the seating and shelving combo. It's definitely the kind of space I'd want to store my travel souvenirs. 

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This is a more realistic space. I love the wood paneling inside and the width of that bench. It definitely qualifies as a day bed. I would totally stick a few relatives in there when my house is full to the brim. This looks likes its part of a kitchen/dining room so it could also be used for seating during parties. 

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Do you have a useable alcove or niche in your home? Send me pictures! I'd love to see how you've utilized these unique spaces. 

Fireplaces in Every Room

I love fire. I love its heat, its flame, the way it looks, the rustic feel of it, its protection, the way its light reflects on everyone's face. If the names Pyro and Sparky hadn't already been taken at Camp Two Sentinels where I volunteer most summers, I would definitely have picked one or the other. I love fire. I just do. My dream house would have a fireplace in every single room. I would have a fire every single day (yes I know its terrible for the environment, I'd have to find a green way to do it, ok?!) 

Today I decided to write about fireplaces. They give such a lovely feel to every space. They can be elegant, traditional, modern, bohemian, rustic-- whatever you want. Fireplaces are unique and, in my opinion, not used enough in today's design. 

First of all, the internet loves this kitchen. It is pinned all over the place on Pinterest. I love it's bright open feel, the floor to ceiling subway tiles (or is that brick?), the contrasting cabinets, but mostly, I LOVE the fireplace. See right there in the center? It's gorgeous. It's little. It's modern. I want one. I love the wood storage below too. In fact, I love how that wood looks real and isn't all perfectly cut like most styled images. This is a wonderful kitchen with a wonderful fireplace. It seems like a novelty, but, in fact, once all kitchens had fireplaces. Because that's the only way you could cook. duh. You knew this. Now I think we should all run out and hire architects to add a fireplace to our kitchens. Or Bedrooms. OR ANY ROOM IN THE HOUSE!!

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Here is a much more rustic example of a fireplace. This room is gorgeous, like a medieval Italian castle. I love the little corner fireplace. A fireplace in the bathroom would be amazing. Think candles are relaxing? Now think about fire, it's like candles times a million. Plus it would feel so nice on naked skin as you slip into the bath. I'm serious. It would be the most wonderful feeling. Also, check out this tub, guys. Pretty snazzy, eh? Its clean lines are a great contrast with the rough cut stone of this room.

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Now for the bedroom. Here is a nice modern, traditional space. I love the incorporation of different cultural pieces of furniture, I love the large wooden beams, I love the green fainting couch and curtains, I love the four post bed, but mostly, of course, I love that fireplace. Even though it doesn't have a fire in it, the addition of candles allude back to the firey origins. They've added some nice decor to the mantel too. I'm digging the convex mirror (my Oma has one!) and those sweet twigs. This room is lovely and relaxing and slightly sexy. Just what a master bedroom should feel like.

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Here is another fireplace in a bedroom. This room has a completely different feel however. It's very bohemian. The walls appear to be from an old (Victorian, maybe?) home, but the furniture is a mix of modern and traditional with a lot of color. I love that bedding. There is also that awesome mirrored chest in the corner. I like it. Feels like someone just moved and dumped their things here. It feels very much like I'm squatting. I'm feeling the adventure here. That fireplace brings some of that warmth and danger into the space.

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Fireplace in your closet? Why not? Especially when your closet looks like this. Please someone give me this room for my birthday! I love the way this space is used. The clothes, furniture, painting, and rug all go so well, despite their huge differences in style. I would just love to get ready to go out one night with a huge roaring fire. Can you imagine it? Sipping wine with your girlfriends, or husband, or wife; the fire crackling; the music playing just a little bit too loudly, the lights just dim enough for you to see yourself clearly in the mirror? Oh my goodness. It's like a closet orgy in this space. Fireplaces make everything better

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I do have to apologize  to y'all for slacking lately. I had finals and a mess of other things going on. But I'm back! Get ready for happiness and gorgeous design! So follow me! I'm getting ready for a summer of bright happy design fun!