Newlyweds and Nesting: Elizabeth Anne Designs Living: A Food, Lifestyle, and Craft Blog » Around the House

Farm to Table Dinner Party

Briana — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:27:41 +0000

One of the great things about living in Colorado is the great access to farm-fresh produce during the summer. From fresh corn to fragrant tomatoes, everything seems to be in season right now, so we decided to take advantage of the abundance of wonderful food at a summer “Farm to Table” dinner party last weekend. The meal featured local, organic produce and flowers, and herbs and other goodies right out of the garden!

Our friend Robin, of Robin Cain Photography, was able to come and photograph the festivities. She’s such a talented photographer–check out her blog or site if you’re looking for a Colorado wedding or portrait photographer!

It’s such a great feeling to work with farm-grown produce, especially when you know where it came from. It doesn’t have to be fancy (as you’ll see here), but be inspired by the flavors of the season!

Above: Salami, figs, and a goat cheese spread.

Warmed goat cheese spread:
Simply combine equal parts cream cheese, marinated feta, and goat cheese; add whatever herbs you have on hand (I used chives and thyme; but rosemary would be a wonderful addition!) and bake in dishes at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Serve with crusty baguettes or crackers.

Our cat, Butters, had a great time with all those savory smells!

Above: These wonderful fingerlings came from a local farm and were seasoned with garlic and rosemary, roasted in olive oil.

Roasted Fingerlings:
Slice fingerlings thinly. Drizzle with olive oil, fresh diced garlic, and thyme, rosemary, or other favorite herbs. Roast at 400 degrees, in a single layer on a baking sheet for about 25 minutes, or until browned and slightly crispy. Finish with a dusting of sea salt.

We finished off the meal with a delicious dessert of lemon curd cakes, drizzled with lemon syrup and dolloped with a creme fraiche whipped cream, poppy seeds, and a sprinkling of pistachios. The best combination of salty, sweet, and tangy–and a perfect end to a summer meal! Recipe via Food & Wine.

What recipes are you enjoying this summer?

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Posted in: Cooking and Food, Entertaining, Real Parties

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In paint color process, I trust

Maggie — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:00:24 +0000

Many of my friends consider me their color guru, and I’m the one they call when they have dilemmas and/or paralysis about interior painting. They’d say this is because I’m good at it, but I’d say that it’s really because I’m not scared of paint and I have a process. In general, I think many folks are afraid of paint, and I’ve never quite understood why. I see paint as the quickest fix out there, an immediate and inexpensive way to completely change a room. Even better: if you don’t like the results, you can just paint over it again. So easy, right?

Well, no. Over the years friends have told me that paint intimidates them, or that there are too many paint colors to choose from at the store. I’ve heard stories of buying a gallon of paint in a panic, then coming home and realizing that it’s all wrong. I’ve heard stories of endless trips to the store with the intention of buying paint, but paralysis preventing a purchase every time.

I tell these friends my paint color process, and I’ve written it out here, with examples from our new house. If you’re also stricken by paint phobia, maybe you’ll glean some insight into my tried and true method. Happy painting!

1. Relax and gather inspiration. If you have paint phobia and are therefore reading this, I’m going to assume that you need to take time to make a good color decision. So that means no impulse paint buying at the store, then feeling like you have to coat your entire house in said horrid color in order not to waste $40. We’re taking it slow. We’re noticing rooms in magazines and catalogs, on tv shows and movies, and in friends’ homes that inspire us. We’re looking into our closets and noticing the colors that are there, or out in our gardens. We’re thinking about color in a relaxed manner. We are breathing.

2. Bring home paint cards. No, I didn’t stop at ‘paint.’ At this level in the process, we are simply going to the paint/hardware store with our inspiration ideas in mind and collecting every color card that looks like it might fit the bill. There’s no limit to the amount of cards you can stash in your purse, so go for it. Anything and everything that peaks your interest in that big color card display needs to go home with you.

View from my paint card drawer, this morning. I told you I know how to fill a purse with these things.

3. Tape paint cards to the wall. Here’s where you’ll begin to make an informed choice about a color you’re bringing into your home, and you’re going to do it slowly, over the course of a couple of days, minimum. Remember how I told you this is a slow process? You’re going to do nothing but live with those cards and notice them, at all times of day and in all different light, for days. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been certain of the right color in the store, then gone home and watched it turn into something terrible on the wall.

Every room and every home is different, and most of those differences are due to light. The colors that looks amazing in your aunt’s kitchen could look like mud in your kitchen, and that’s okay. You’ll find the right color if you go through the process. In our current house, we have rooms where the same paint color looks entirely different on three walls. Light was absolutely our biggest challenge with selecting our colors, and we never would’ve gotten it right if we didn’t live with rooms full of paint cards for weeks on end.

Here’s another reason why living with paint cards is important: you might completely change your mind about what kind of color should be on the wall, but this inspiration won’t strike until your mind is responding to what’s taped up there. This happened in almost every room of our new house, by the way.

Early hallway and dining room visioning

4. Buy paint samples of your favorites and put them on the wall. Nope, we’re not buying quarts or gallons yet – hold your horses. Before you commit to a color, it’s crucial to buy as small an amount as you can of your favorites and see the real deal color on your wall. Home Depot and Lowe’s sell paint samples for less than $3. It’s some of the best money you’ll ever spend. Again: light is a tricky mistress. So many times, I’ve loved the color on a card, but as soon as paint touches plaster, it’s a reject. Por ejemplo: we tried to paint almost every wall in our house a version of light yellow, which I loved on the paint cards, but every time we put it up on the wall it looked abysmal. Our house simply didn’t want to be light yellow, no matter how hard I tried. But I’m so glad I figured that our with samples rather than gallons.

Another reason paint samples are so important is that if you’ve fallen in love with the second shade down on a paint card but it’s not quite right when you paint the sample, you might surprise yourself by buying a sample one tone deeper, that based on the card alone seemed too dark. I’ll repeat a point from #3 here, too: sometimes you’ll surprise yourself and decide on an entirely different color than what you intended. And I’ll repeat again: this also happened in almost every room in our house.

Kitchen wall, covered in paint cards and splotches… first I had yellows up, then grays, then greens, then reds, then blues. And finally, I stumbled upon the perfect blue-green (BM Azores) that looked fantastic with all my bright kitchen accents. It took a month to get there.

Dining room accent wall. Was it going to be Chestertown Buff, like the wall behind it? A beige or lighter yellow? Olive Branch, like the rest of the dining room? Eucalyptus Leaf, like the mantel wall? Nope. It turned out that the wall wanted to be red: Behr’s Dozen Roses, to be specific. After weeks of staring at splotches, we finally got there.

5. Buy your paint! So you’re pleased with a splotch on the wall and you’re ready to commit. Maybe it took you a day to get there, maybe it took you a month. But whatever the timeline, following this sort of process ensures you won’t make mistakes. And as long as you’re willing to live with cards and paint splotches everywhere for a while, the payoff is huge. I’d suggest buying more paint than you think you’ll need, and consider going low- or no-VOC, too. You can color-match your favorite colors to a non-toxic paint almost everywhere that sells paint, and save yourself the painting headache!

© Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2011 · Permalink · 1 comment · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: Around the House, Decor

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Brunch Tabletops

Ami — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:00:14 +0000

I get together with a few friends each month for a brunch club, and it’s coming up this weekend! I’m so excited to celebrate Chicago turning the corner towards summer. If brunch is your favorite meal too, here are some pretty brunch table ideas to use for your next get-together!

{purple and blue spring tabletop photographed by Simon Bevan for Remodelista via Apartment 34}

{shabby chic breakfast from Le Chat de Sucre via Amy Atlas}

{casual Sunday brunch, image by Carly Taylor via A Subtle Revelry}

{children’s brunch ideas image by Christian Cruz via The Sweetest Occasion}

{brunch display created by Frilly Milly Events, image by Lauren Blair Photography via Hostess with the Mostess}

{coffee cupping brunch – styling by Bash, Please, images by Annie McElwain via Design*Sponge}

Do you love brunch as much as I do? Are you amazing entertainers like my friends, or a “meet at a restaurant” girl like myself?

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Posted in: Entertaining

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House To-Dos: Gallery Wall

Hasel — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:00:19 +0000

Spring is around the corner, and this April we celebrate two years of home ownership. For the last year, N and I have been hard at work making our house even more of a home, checking things off our house to-do list. I shared part of the list in a previous post, but then I neglected to keep blogging about it! :) Most of our work was purely decorative as our house was new and in pretty good shape when we purchased it. One big to-do was getting our gallery wall up. Yes, the ubiquitous gallery wall that nearly every newlywed before me has posted about, including some of our own EAD Living bloggers: Kate, Cyd, Mojito Maven, and Erin. I couldn’t resist it – a mass of family photos was be perfect for the large, empty wall in our dining room.

{images via: 1. Domino. 2: Domino. 3: Elle Decor design by Steven Gambrel. 4: Coburn Architecture}

I set to work studying inspiration photos to figure out my plan. Did I want white frames with color photos? Or would I rather have a color frame with black and white photos? Should the frames all be the same size? Neatly organized or haphazardly placed? The options seemed endless, but after all that “studying” I settled on matching, black frames with color photos as neatly organized as I could get them. Black frames would tie into the chairs and I am way too grid-oriented to do something unstructured. A slim frame similar to those in #3 and 4 above would keep the look modern and sleek. After some quick online browsing, I found similar style frames at West Elm and Pottery Barn. However, I didn’t love the price, so I kept searching.

Eventually I discovered Aaron Brothers’ signature frame. Armed with my inspiration, I mocked up a layout using Adobe InDesign, a program I use daily for my design work. This was the most important step for me. I am pretty visual so seeing the frames roughly laid out helped me to really decide and have a plan before I just started putting frames up there. I know a lot of designers suggest arranging the layouts on the floor, but I wanted to see them as in place as I could without nailing a hole in the wall or using paper templates. Laying everything out digitally really helped. I also placed some possible photo choices to make it even easier to visualize. You could use Photoshop or even just plain graph paper to mock-up your layout. After some finagling, I came up with two layouts I liked.

Then I waited patiently for the semi-annual Aaron Brothers Penny Sale and bought enough frames for both layouts – all for a song. I cut out templates of the frames using tracing paper I had on hand. (This is helpful because the frames are not exactly the size they say. For example, the measurement 8×10″ refers to the opening of the frame, so the frame itself is approximately 8.25″x10.25″.) Then N and I hung the tracing paper for both layouts to see which we liked better.

{image via author’s personal collection}

Very quickly, we decided on the first layout with more frames. It just filled the large wall better. With the tracing paper still up, he set about to hang the frames. He started in the middle and worked his way out using the tracing paper as a guide and carefully measuring the distance between frames. I decided to let him tackle that project solo for sanity’s sake. ;) He had it all up in one evening, and it took me about six months to fill all of the frames with photos.

{image via author’s personal collection}

And it is done! Pardon the poor quality photo, but I wanted to save the full view for a future post on our living and dining room. I am so pleased with the way the wall turned out. It is so wonderful to have more photos of us on trips and with our family on display. I have had lots of compliments on the wall and one friend was so inspired she borrowed the idea and created a similar wall in her home. Our house is finally starting to feel like home! What touches do you think make a house a home? For me, personal photos are a huge component. Do you have a gallery wall with family photos?

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Posted in: Around the House, Decor

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Aqua Me This

Rachel — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:00:42 +0000

{image credited to Tim Walker via Design Museum flickr stream}

We have this poster from the Design Museum in London on the wall above our bed. It’s a print of a photograph by Tim Walker of Lily Cole and I love it. I adore the colour, a sort of aqua, eggshell blue and I love she looks a little like a peacock (our wedding theme) and that it looks a little Moroccan too (one of our favourite holidays). It’s also fashion-y but not so much that Husband would object.

{images viaArtemis at The Bucket Tree}

Last week I was browsing vintage goodies on line when I came across this blanket. I fell in love with it immediately, the colour, the style, the material. It’s made in England from 100% wool and beautiful. And perfectly matches our print. Best of all, it was on sale. I emailed it to Husband. Who loved it too. So we ordered it and it arrived this morning. And is just as gorgeous in real life.

For more aqua goodies, head over to EAD Weddings for Aqua Color Week!

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Posted in: Around the House, Beautiful Things

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Spring Fever

Rebekah — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:00:08 +0000

I’m itching to get a few organizational projects out of the way, a result of warmer weather and a need to purge clutter. If I had the time this week, these are the projects I would take on.

{images credited to MarthaStewart.com}

1. Chalk Paint Drawer Labels – I have leftover chalkboard paint from creating two huge idea walls in our living room. I think making labels would be pretty easy.

2. Mini Office in a Chest – I have a rescued from the dumpster wood chest that needs to be sanded down and painted. It would be easy to add rails for hanging drawers and track down the beat up corkboard we have in our garage.

3. Notebook with Envelope Pocket – An easy project to add to all my random journals I have laying around the house. Perfect for ephemera and receipts.

4. Paint Can Cubbies – I could really use these in our closets for storing all the random objects that get thrown into boxes never to be seen again.

What projects are you working on this Spring?

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Posted in: Crafts, Organization

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Jana’s Arizona Bridal Shower

Rebekah — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:00:37 +0000

Jana, an EAD Weddings Phoenix blogger, shared her poolside bridal shower a few weeks ago. We thought it was so cute the Living readers would love it. The shower was hosted by Jana’s maid of honor, bridesmaids and mom. They did such a great job with simple decor and fun games.

Jana’s mom handmade the jam for favors!

Love the giant initial J, Chiavari chairs, and simple floral arrangements.

The table runners were also handmade by Jana’s mom.

Jana and her Maid of Honor.

The games consisted of Jana chewing a piece of bubble gum for each question about Mike she answered incorrectly. And collecting ring pops (instead of clothespins) each time the forbidden word “wedding” was uttered.

Thanks for sharing with us Jana!

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Posted in: Bridal Shower, Entertaining, Real Parties

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How to set up a kitchen pantry

ABC Dragoo — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:10 +0000

When deepening a pantry you’ll have to decide what foods take priority and where you want to begin building up. Start with the goal of having at least one month’s worth of food-stuff for your pantry. It’s all a very personal choice dependent upon your needs. I always make soup and use fresh veggies, so you will not find Campbells Soup or canned corn in my pantry.

{images via Crown Point}

If you’ve got kids I bet you’ll want a good supply of mac ‘n’ cheese in there. Below I have listed just a basic frame from which you are welcome to work from. First, I suggest obtaining two extra of items that are things you don’t want to run out of such as: paper goods like toilet paper, napkins, towels and cleaners such as dish soap or dishwasher detergent, laundry soap and bath soap.

{images via House Beautiful and Crown Point }

Second, I like to have a few extra bottles vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil, REGULAR olive oil -so many people buy only extra virgin olive oil and don’t realize that extra virgin has an incredibly strong taste that you don’t always want in every recipe. Now that I have said that you’ll notice that most recipes differentiate between regular olive oil and extra virgin. Most at home cooks do not. They assume extra virgin is just “olive oil” and pour away. Try having both at home. I promise your food will taste better. *wink wink*

{images via Country Living and Crown Point}

I like to keep various pastas, noodles, rice, oatmeal, in large airtight containers that have a wide mouth. I leave a scoop inside each container. It makes for very easy use and even easier clean up. Just be sure to date the container when you throw away the original packaging.

{images via Martha Stewart}

You’ll find canned or dry beans and canned tomatoes (both whole tomatoes and Italian style) in my pantry. A jar of honey, lemon curd, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, a few jars of minced raw garlic, garlic and tomato paste. I also don’t know what I would do without at lease 4-6 boxes of organic chicken broth and 2 boxes of beef broth hidden away.

I am always sure there are dried fruits – apricots, prunes, raisins – and a variety of nuts on hand. This way you’ll always have an interesting mix to chop up and add to a salad or to put out as a quick appetizer with cheese, crackers and cocktails. You should also have selected nut-butters stashed away. I like to have almond and a few jars of peanut or hazelnut butter in the pantry. I also like to have several jars of preserves on hand for recipes and morning toast, to sweeten dressing or to add to bakery recipes. American Spoon Foods are my favorite. I will usually have a few of their salsas, spoon fruit and red pepper jelly in the pantry.

{image source unknown}

These baking supplies are needed to bake just about anything: extra baking soda, an extra baking powder, extra pure vanilla extract, almond extract, flour, cornmeal, different sugars, chocolate chips, dried coconut, a few box mixes, brownies, blueberry muffin mix, a few cake mixes. I’d deepen the bakery section of the pantry further when possible.

As a baking side note, I like to have at least two pounds of butter in the freezer. If you see flour or other bakery goods on sale, buy it and rotate the oldest package to the front to be used first. Be sure that everything is dated so that nothing does not go bad.

{image via House Lovely}

If you wanted to deepen your pantry as quickly as possible, it will be necessary to go through the recipes you use the most often. Decide how much you want to deepen your pantry for each food item. Continue purchasing the items until you have the amount you want and then rotate, rotate, rotate. Remember to use the oldest and place the newest in the back of the shelf. Otherwise, I suggest when building up (or deepening) your pantry that you do it a little at a time as your budget allows.

{image via Foodista}

A kitchen stocking note: one of the blogs I follow suggested gifting the bride and groom with some quality kitchen ingredients as their wedding present. A few bottles of wine, a selection of spices and a few nice bottles of cooking oil would be brilliant if the couple likes to cook or if you know they plan to cook together as newlyweds. While a lot of people live together before the wedding, the fact is that many are both setting up house and getting wed within the same breath. Weddings are really expensive. Spices are ultra-expensive too! I know the last thing I wanted to do right after we got married and moved in together was try to figure out how to outfit my spice cabinet properly within a reasonable budget.

{image via Martha Stewart}

Keep in mind that while it is always good to have extra Sea Salt, Kosher Salt and Pepper on the pantry shelf that other spices do not keep longer than six months without losing flavor. It is not realistic to keep the same jar of nutmeg from one winter holiday to the next. Buy your spices in the smallest jars that your store sells and don’t buy new until you have nearly run out.

© Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2011 · Permalink · 3 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: Around the House, Cooking and Food

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Vogue Fashion and Decor Inspiration

Rebekah — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:00:57 +0000

One of my favorite places to look for party, fashion and decor inspiration is Vogue.com. They have a great collection of images. Even if I can’t afford the brands and companies they promote, it definitely inspires me. Here are a few images that have caught my eye lately.

This House of Lavande beach party is pretty fabulous, and I think this would be pretty easy to duplicate on a much smaller scale for an outdoor party when the weather warms up. The biggest expense would be the tent, but you could definitely bring down the cost with some creative planning.

It’s hard to see because the image is so dark, but the seating consists of a giant square and then rounds set up in the middle. Wouldn’t this be great for a large scale wedding reception?

I’m not sure if this current trend of undead type makeup is related to the Twilight saga success, but I’m not really loving it. You don’t have to go crazy with the bronzer, but a little color wouldn’t be so completely awful.

Ah, this is more like it. Mila Kunis is a dreamboat and a half. That gown is perfect for her vivid coloring, and her makeup is noticeable without being overdone.

Where do you go for fashion and home inspiration?

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Posted in: Beauty, Entertaining, Fashion

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A Household Chore Chart

PJ — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:00:30 +0000

When my husband and I first moved in together, we were both working full time, and evenings were a time to relax. After dinner we’d curl up on the couch to watch some TV or I’d write blog posts while he played video games. Boring tasks like cleaning the house, doing laundry and going to the supermarket, were relegated to the weekend. We didn’t have a schedule for these recurring responsibilities; we just did them when we felt like them (or at the last minute before having guests over our apartment), which, in hindsight, wasn’t the best plan because we got in the habit of putting them off… and off… and off…

Now we live in a two story house with even more surface area to keep clean and have a dog for whom we are responsible. My husband still works full time, and although I only have a very part-time job, I still put off doing chores until the weekend when we can do them together. Why? Partly habit, partly because cleaning is not fun, and I’d rather spend my day doing more enjoyable things like writing and trolling the blogosphere. Given the choice, I would even rather drag myself to the gym in 11 degree weather to do 30 minutes on the elliptical machine than scrub toilets and tubs.

But lately I’ve been thinking about my role in our marriage. Although I have no intention of ever becoming the June Cleaver-type of wife, the truth is that, for now, I am home while my husband is at work. If I have the time (and I’m sure I could find it), wouldn’t I want to do whatever I could to make his life easier when he gets home late? Wouldn’t I want to get some of the boring housework out of the way during the week so that our weekends are free to spend time together doing fun things?

There’s no way that I’m ever going to jump out of bed in the morning and wonder in excitement what chores I have the privilege of doing that day. Instead, I will need to build household chores into my daily routine. If I can do one or two chores every day, by the weekend, there should be little (if not nothing) left to do. I won’t have to scramble on a Friday or Saturday evening to tidy before friends coming over for dinner. I won’t have to worry about being embarrassed by the dust on our side tables or the water stains in the bathroom sink.

Growing up I spent my summers at an 8-week overnight camp in the Pocono Mountains. Twice daily our bunks were inspected for cleanliness. To ensure that one person wasn’t stuck with “sinks and johns” duty every day, we had a job wheel that we would rotate daily. The outer ring had a list of chores like sweeping and dustpan and garbage, and the inner ring had our names.

Maybe what I need to do is create some sort of grown-up job wheel for myself, a chore chart that breaks down the tasks that need be done by day. For example, Monday is bathroom day, Tuesday is laundry day, Wednesday is vacuum day, etc. Or, do I pledge to do one load of laundry each day, rather than four or five on a single day? Vacuum one room a day instead of the whole house at once?

Real Simple has a daily cleaning checklist on its website, but I can’t imagine it would only take me 30 minutes to knock off everything on their list. The blog Unclutterer also has tips for mastering recurring responsibilities. And of course, Martha Stewart has her own checklists – a daily version and a weekly one.

I would love to know how you delegate chores in your household and if get them done daily, weekly or as needed. Have you and your spouse mastered your recurring responsibilities?

(Images via marthastewart.com)

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Posted in: Around the House, Newlywed Life

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