A Room Redo - Part One

Over the summer, I replaced the small nightstands in our master bedroom with new larger tables that have more storage.  The former tables found a temporary home in our garage (much to my husband's dismay).  The garage is his domain afterall so having various decorative items in there puts a cramp in his style.  That would be like him putting his camping gear in my creative space.  Yikes!  So...he's been very patient with me as I've finally come up with a plan for the tables and lamps taking up precious space in his "mancave".  So what's the plan?  A Room Redo!  

Well, you might be wondering what kind of room redo.  We have two options - a Girl's Room Redo or a Guest Room Redo. The only "girl" in our house besides me is of the golden doodle variety and she definitely does not deserve a bedroom of her own.  Her sock fetish is out of control and she's been waking us up in the wee hours of the night to hang out in the backyard!  Enough about my delinquent dog...

I have a few friends who are interested in a room redo and helping me out with this blog series.  I'll let you know in an upcoming post which makeover it will be.  Your guess is as good as mine!  Who knows, maybe I'll end up doing both because I have two sets of side tables that need a new home.  I know one thing for certain - my husband will be happy to know that both design plans include the removal of side tables and table lamps from his mancave.

Here's what I came up with for each design plan:

Girl's Room Redo

The bedding I envision for the girl's bedroom makeover is the Tenley Floral Paisley Quilt Collection from Steinmart.  Although not pictured on the design board, I would also include an orange duvet (color in euro shams) at the end of the bed for a little extra warmth when needed.  Painted horizontal stripes in the dusty blue or soft yellow would look awesome on the bed wall!

Guest Room Redo

The bedding I envision for the guest bedroom makeover is the Suravi Floral Paisley Quilt Collection from Steinmart.  Although not pictured on the design board, I would also include a blue duvet (color in euro shams) at the end of the bed for a little extra warmth when needed.  Painted horizontal stripes in a beige or light tan would look great on the bed wall!

I think the Tenley bedding is a bit more "girly" but could still work in a guest room.  I can really see it in a teenage girl's bedroom or a beach house bedroom though.  The colors are light, bright, and fun!  The Suravi bedding has more earthy colors which make it a bit less feminine and probably more gender neutral for a guest room.  But the blue side tables and lamps can work in either room.

Do you have a room that needs a makeover?  Look around your home or a friend's garage (wink, wink)...you might find a great lamp or a cute side table just waiting for a new life in your room.

Happy Decorating!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

The deluge of rain definitely put a damper on things last weekend but the sun finally came out Saturday afternoon so it turned out to be a perfect night for trick-or-treating.  Did we let the dreary weather stop us from carving pumpkins? No way!  Even the slimy little slugs in our garden liked our jack 'o lanterns so much they came all the way up to our front porch to check them out.  Have you ever saved the pumpkin seeds for roasting?  Why throw them away when you can make a tasty little treat!

After rinsing the seeds off in a small colander to remove the pumpkin "guts", I placed seeds on a sheet of waxed paper to dry out over night (or until they are completely dry).  The picture below shows how the seeds look after mixing with olive oil and seasonings but before roasting.

Measure out a cup of seeds and pour into mixing bowl.  For each cup of seeds, I tossed in 1 teaspoon of olive oil plus a variety of seasonings (except for Sugar & Spice version which calls for melted butter).

Simple Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
(Fiesta Lime pictured above)

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Toss seeds with oil.  Add seasonings stirring to completely coat each seed.  Pour onto parchment covered baking sheet spreading seeds out into a single layer.  Place pan in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes depending on how toasty you like them.  I checked my seeds every 10 minutes to make sure they didn't burn. You want them lightly browned.

For roasted pumpkin seeds with a little extra flavor, you can add a variety of seasonings.  I like the Mrs. Dash brand of seasonings because they are salt-free.

Fiesta Lime
Add 1/2 teaspoon Fiesta Lime Seasoning (Mrs. Dash brand)

Lemon Pepper
Add 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Pepper seasoning (Mrs. Dash brand)

Garlic 
Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Sugar & Spice
Eliminate olive oil, salt and pepper.  Add 1/2 melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice seasoning and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar or turbinado sugar such as Sugar in the Raw.

My older son (who can be on the picky side) said, "These are amazing!"  That's a huge endorsement coming from him and made my heart smile! :-D

The entire batch of roasted pumpkin seeds (garlic seasoned) got gobbled up before I could even finish typing this post! This snack is so yummy and addictive it should come with a warning label - Once you start eating them, it's hard to stop! 

Simple Thanksgiving Mantel

After putting away the plethora of Halloween decorations yesterday, I was more than ready to simplify things for my Thanksgiving decor.  In less than an hour, I came up with a simple "Give Thanks" design for my mantel.

I actually used a few items from my Halloween mantel - two of the clay pots and the artwork.  I placed the large artwork in the middle leaning against the stone.  I created chalk art with the words "give thanks" using my framed glass chalkboard. 

This chalkboard tends to move around with the seasons.  For the Thanksgiving season, it will be leaning to the right of the main artwork.

I moved the clay pots to the outer edges of the mantel and placed faux cream pumpkins in them.  This creates a sort of pumpkin topiary.  On the inside edge of each clay pot, I placed a Mercury glass candle holder.  Sprays of fall foliage are tucked between the pot and candle as well as the outside edge of the art.

Using five different fall-inspired scrapbook papers which I already had on hand, I created a simple banner to drape along the front of the mantel.  

Using a template, I traced and cut out eleven banner shapes.

I threaded a natural fiber string for hanging it using thumbtacks to secure it to mantel.

Happy Thanksgiving!