Fireplace Makeover

The fireplace makeover is finally complete! After three days of sanding, priming, taping and painting, it is done. I love the end result. It totally brightens our living room. And it was a pretty easy and inexpensive DIY makeover. We spent about $45 on the whole project. Not bad! Our next project? Tackling the kitchen cabinets.

Tea Party

This past weekend was a busy one. We attended a crab feed on Saturday, and the next day I went to a friend's birthday party in the city. It was tea party theme at Shawn's beautiful new home in the Marina. And, as one of the guests said, "It looks like pinterest exploded in here". Shawn (the birthday girl) and Meagan did such a great job of decorating. From the flowers in vintage bottles to the crustless cucumber sandwiches, it was the perfect tea party--complete with champagne and paper mustaches, of course. 

Fireplace Makeover: in progress

On Friday I posted a "before" picture of our fireplace (found here). I'm painting our fireplace white. My goal in doing this is to brighten our living room (and to get rid of that 80's look). This weekend I sanded and primed the fireplace tiles. Sanding was definitely the hardest part (I used 80 grit sand paper). Then I primed the mantel and tiles with Gilden Blocking and Primer. I'm letting this primer dry for 24 hours. Next step: painting the fireplace "frost white". Doesn't it look totally different already!?

Fireplace Makeover

Since I moved in with Ryan, I have been talking about giving the fireplace a makeover. I want to paint it white, to give it a more classic feel. This week, I finally started the renovation process. Following a tutorial for painting fireplace tile, that I found here, I'm currently in the process of sanding the tile. Here is a before picture of the fireplace. Updates to follow!

Lasagna Soup

While visiting my parents a couple months ago my mom served lasagna soup for dinner. It is hands down the best tasting soup I have ever had. It's buttery, spicy, and warms your body with every mouthful. Topped with spinach and shredded motzarella, I guarantee you will go back for seconds. I thought it would be a hard recipe to master. However, it is the easiest thing I have ever made! Seriously, just try it. Find the recipe here.

Before & After: Dinning room chairs

We had been searching for dinning room chairs for a while when we stumbled across these. We were in SLO for Ryan's cousin's graduation when we spotted these in his cousin's house. I loved the unique design of the chair and knew updated fabric would give them an instant makeover. We paid $25 for three of them (where the fourth matching one is we will never know...we only needed two anyways). I found the fabric at a discount fabric store in Watsonville called Crossroad's Fabric. The owner, Carla, gets bolts of fabric from interior designers who no longer need it. She then sells the designer fabric at extremely discounted fabrics. We are still unsure if we are going to keep these chairs or look for new ones, but for now they will work! 

PS we all repositioned the table...see the bottom photo for the before. Which way do you prefer the table?

Tortilla Soup

For Christmas, my cousin Katie gave me the Cuisine at Home Splendid Soups & Spectacular Sides cookbook. Each week I try to make a different soup in my new Le Crueset dutch oven. This tortilla soup recipe has become one of Ryan's favorites. It's perfect on a rainy day.

Hawaii via Instagram

For Christmas this year Ryan's dad took the family to Hawaii. We stayed a couple miles north of Kaanapali in a little village called Kahana. We spent the week laying out, reading books, zip-lining and just relaxing. I also managed to capture a lot of photos via Instagram. Here are a few of my faves.

House Tours

I have a bet with Ryan that, one day, our home will be featured on Apartment Therapy. The interior design website/blog is my guilty pleasure.  And my favorite part of the website are the house tours. I recently took some pictures of our evolving living and dinning room. Doesn't it look like it came out of a spread of House Beautiful?

Ina Garten's Easy Sticky Buns

Ina Garten is one of my mom' favorite bakers. All of her recipes call for lots of butter. And when I say lots, I mean 14 tablespoons of butter for this sticky bun recipe. We definitely aren't calorie counting when we bake these. I made these the morning after my birthday party, and they hit the spot. 

December Alameda Flea Market

This year, the Dinsmore Family Christmas Party in Petaluma just so happened to be the same weekend as the Alameda Flea Market. Score! I convinced Ryan to stop by on our way home. We found great Christmas gifts for the men in our families, including some vintage Playboys.