New House: Dining Room and Foyer
Mornin, Y’all!
Hope your day is going well so far………..
Today, I wanted to share a few pics from our new Dining Room. I should probably mention that in our last house, we had a very open floor plan that had our kitchen, living room, and dining room all in one room. While the new house also has an open floor plan, the dining room is now in it’s own separate space.
In case you haven’t seen it, here is a quick pic of our last dining room:
While I really loved all the space that we had, it was really difficult for me to decorate that space because it always had to compliment both the living room and kitchen and very easily became cluttered all the time.
In our new house, I decided that even though the dining room now had it’s own space, I really like the simplicity of having a simple looking dining room without a lot of clutter. (*I’m thinking the last house did that to me. LOL!)
Here is our new dining room:
I was so excited when I got to take our chandelier with us and heard that the new homeowners didn’t want it. SCORE for me! I was able to pick up the curtains for the space at Homegoods. The best thing about picking up your curtains from somewhere like this is they usually sell the curtain panels in packs of two. Most stores try to sell you their curtains and charge per panel, so getting two is definitely a deal. Basically, I picked up two for the price of one. 😉
I searched high and low for this chandelier when I first purchased it and thought all the work I did looking for it and finding a deal was going to go down the drain, but nope! I’m really happy with how it looks in it’s new space. (*Side note: Color on walls is Light French Gray by Sherwin Williams)
I have had the star for quite some time now. It has mostly been outside on exterior walls, but I thought it might go well on the wall. I bought it from the flea market where I used to live for about $50. While I was in Homegoods looking for the curtains, I saw this awesome picture that went fantastic with the star.
I just love this picture so much. I also love how it is the first thing you see when you enter into our home.
You know I love painting ceilings! I mean, it is the “5th wall” afterall. 😉
We decided to paint only the highest tray ceiling area a different color. It’s only a personal preference, but for me, when you paint the both areas of double molded tray ceilings, I feel like it begins to look “choppy”. So basically, you would have color, white crown trim, color, white crown trim. I felt like painting only the highest ceiling and keeping the rest white, drew your eye up better and made the ceilings feel higher. (*Does my rambling make sense? ) The color we decided to go with is Iced Cube Silver by Benjamin Moore.
Please excuse all the lighting in the following pictures, but I didn’t take these until today and I’m not sure if you have heard, but apparently Joaquin Pheonix is reaking havoc on our coast line…….. I mean, Hurricane Joaquin. My bad, I had Joaquin Pheonix on the brain again.
ANYHOO!
This is why the lighting is not as great and my decor has changed a bit, thanks to my youngest chica. (*She loves Halloween, but really, what kid doesn’t?)
This is a better full pic of the dining room.
Just in case, for reference sake on where I got all the items are:
• Chandelier: Pottery Barn – sorry! not sure they still carry it. 🙁
• Metal Star: Flea Market – $50
• Roman Shades: Home Depot – Color: Driftwood
• Curtains: Homegoods – Tommy Hilfiger Brand – $ 26.99 for set of 2
• Table: Pottery Barn – Sumter Style – (Is a two leaf table that seats up to 10 total)
• White Chairs : IKEA – $ 50 each : IN STOCK
• Bench: Homegoods
• Rug: Grandin Road – $ 115 (Bought on sale)
While I’m at it, I thought I would share a bit about our front door. Originally, I was told that we could have our front door stained, which sent me over the moon excited. I have always wanted a stained front door. I love stained front doors. They always look so inviting and warm.
Well, it didn’t end up turning out that way unfortunately. (SAD FACE)
The sales team for our house was mistaken because the door actually came primed.
SO!
It was on to plan B!
I looked and looked at different doors on Pinterest and finally came up with the color I loved. I had to make sure that it would go well with our gray exterior color and black shutters.
The WINNER!!!!!!?????????
“Hale Navy” by Benjamin Moore.
In the light, it looks like the color above.
In the dark or less lighting, it looks more like this:
Which I’m very happy with, because I really did want the color to take on a darker hue on the inside.
And last but surely not least, this is the full view of the front foyer/hall/entry way.
I must have tried a million different pieces of furniture in that space the bench is occupying. Everything just seemed to eat up a lot of the floor space and make that area seem cramped. All but the bench that I ended up sticking with in the space. This bench actually used to be the bench that was used in the dining area at our last house. (*You may notice it in the first picture above)
I felt that it had a better place in the foyer though. The black top really seems to mimic the look of the front door (even though the front door isn’t really black).
The walls in the hall are somewhat empty right now. I know what I would like to do there, I just don’t have the budget to do it right now.
I’m hoping to wait patiently and snag a good deal on a few large canvas prints so I can fill that space with really big pics of my kiddos! Until then, it will just have to stay empty.
Items in the foyer:
• Front Door Color: Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore
• Wall Color: Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore
• Bench: Grandin Road from 2 seasons ago.
• Flushmount Lights: Purchased at Home Depot – Hampton Bay Brand (*Cheaper than Lowes Brand)
• Throw Pillows: Color: Linen – TJ MAX – $ 10 each
Ok, my loves! Thank you so much for stopping by and spending time with me again!
I hope you enjoyed taking a look at the dining room and foyer. Next week, the incredible Steve Egloff makes an appearance again! *Or, at least his awesome work does. 😉
Next week, I plan on continuing with my tour of the downstairs and sharing our living room pics and ideas!
It includes built in cabinets and something called a “planning center”!
What is that, you ask?
Guess you will just have to check back to find out!
Until next week!
XOXO!
Esther
No Comments
New House Sneak Peek! (Breakfast Nook)
Hello, my favorite people!
Today, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of our new house. I have had multiple people ask for pictures and I wanted to share with you, some of the things we have done.
This is probably one of my favorite spots in the whole house! It’s so cozy and I just love it. To start with, none of the built ins were here.
I knew I wanted to put the built ins here before we even moved in. I had scoured Pinterest and searched and searched and once I had found the look I wanted, I called the only person I knew who could make it all come to life! His name is Steve Egloff from The Wandering Woodshop. Steve is a true craftsman. He loves what he does and it shows in everything he does.
If you live in the Myrtle Beach area and need any kind of wood work done, he is your man! You can check out his Facebook page here.
Be forewarned! I will be bragging about Steve again in the upcoming weeks as I share all the projects he has done at our New Home. 🙂
We have a mudroom area right off our garage that has a built in bench already and I really wanted the space in the breakfast nook to look like it had always been there and wasn’t an addition on our part. I had Steve mimic the look of that here.
It turned out EXACTLY how I wanted!
I asked him to have it function just like the other one and works perfectly.
He even put felt stoppers in between the closing areas so that it wouldn’t slam shut. Because of this, it shuts very smoothly.
We purchased the table while we were still in the apartment. I picked it up from World Market. I believe they still have them in stock. The chairs are from Ikea and stay in stock.
Then there is Penelope and Bessie. My new pets. Probably as close to actual pets as I will ever get. (Insert tears here) I love these paintings. I received a catalog from Grandin Road before we moved in and I couldn’t think of anything else for this wall space. I even based how high I wanted my Batten Board on the wall because I knew I would be ordering these.
They are 36 in. sq. and are the smaller of the two sizes they offered. Can you believe that? They stole my heart from day one.
Towards the back side of the house, we have a little nook that I had Steve build another bench on. This serves as multiple things in our house. It is our quiet spot, reading nook, time out corner, sometimes blogging nook and I love it. 😉
Even though it was tempting to have this bench open for storage, we decided instead to keep it stationary.
We also decided to keep it simple with the moldings on the front and mimic the detail from the breakfast nook slightly to have it all look cohesive.
Well, there you go, my friends! The first look into our new house and few comfy spots that we love. I hope you liked taking a little peek into our house with me.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you check back next week, as I plan on sharing a few dining room pics with you.
I was ecstatic when I was able to keep my chandelier from the old house when the new homeowners weren’t interested in keeping it. It returns next week to it’s rightful home!
Have a wonderful weekend, EVERYONE!
xoxo,
esther
No Comments
Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Orzo with Basil
(Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookbook, “One Pot Meals”)
Hello, my beautiful Friends! I have really missed you!
I am so excited to get back to blogging after this long hiatus I have been on. I thought it would be simple to blog while my family lived in our tiny little apartment for the past 6 months, but boy was I wrong. We were falling on top of each other all the time and adding blogging to that situation was a NO GO! We just recently started liking each other again. LOL!
I kept telling myself that one day I would be able to look back on this temporary decision and be happy I made it. Honestly, I second guessed myself ALLLLLL THEEEEE TIME!
BUT!
I can finally say that the day came when I could finally say that the decision did actually pay off. We couldn’t afford to build our home while still living in the home we had. So, we sold first, then did a 6 month lease while it was built.
That is behind us now since we recently moved in. (Everybody take a deep breath with me and exhale slowly now…………AHHHHHHHHHHH! )
Ok, enough jibber jabber!
In honor of the interesting Summer I had, I want to share a recipe that represents everything Summer to me! Shrimp, basil, and tomatoes!
This recipe is both yummy AND light!
ENJOY!
Recipe: Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Orzo with Basil
• 3 Cups halved Grape Tomatoes, Halved
• 6 Garlic Cloves, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• 3/4 lb. Orzo
• 3 1/4 Cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 1/2 lbs. Large Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined
• 1 Cup Fresh Basil Leaves, Chopped
Directions:
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Position rack in the top position.
• In a large ovenproof skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat.
• Add garlic and cook until just beginning to brown, 1 minute. Increase heat to high and add tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 minutes.
• Add orzo and broth, and bring to a simmer.
• Cover and bake until liquid is mostly absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Toss shrimp with remaining teaspoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Remove skillet from oven, and place shimp on top of orzo.
• Heat broiler. Broil until shrimp are opaque throughout, 4 minutes.
• Sprinkle with basil and serve.
No Comments
Chicken Lasagna with Spinach
So, lately for some reason, I have had great “ideas” that haven’t been good realities. (*Remember….. the chocolate cakes with ganache? LAWRD !!!! )
Well, I had to save those like I had to save this lasagna tonight. *Just keepin it real over here!*
Well, tonight’s dinner started out with the intent on being Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups. Then, it was dinner making time and I realized that I only had “oven ready” lasagna noodles. I had bought them before because they are magnificent! No boil, just layer those puppies in with the lasagna and you are good to go. I’m talkin STRAIGHT FROM THE BOX, PEOPLE!
Problem?
Well, I had never tried to actually boil them and because you need to boil the actual lasagna noodles in order to make them pliable enough to make the rolls, I was in deep doggy doo doo! *SIDE BAR: Anybody know whether or not you can actually boil these things? I only had enough for the actual lasagna with none to spare, so I was terrified to take that chance. Help a girl out, if ya know!
Instead, I decided to make my own version of Chicken Lasagna and prayed it turned out ok.
GUESS WHAT?
IT DID!
And now, because of my “almost possible maybe I might have had another EPIC FAIL”, I get to share that recipe with you! The people I love so much! 🙂
So, my loves, here you go:
RECIPE: Chicken Lasagna with Spinach
*TIP: I prepared this meal earlier in the day and just put it in the oven when I was ready!
Ingredients:
Sauce:
Lasagna/Filling:
• 1 (15 oz.) container part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
• 10 oz. fresh spinach
• 12 lasagna (OVEN READY) noodles, you may need more depending on how big noodles are. Make sure you make a layer each time.
• 2 cups shredded white meat chicken (*I used rotisserie)
Directions:
• To prepare sauce: Add first six ingredients to a medium size sauce pan. Season with the salt and pepper and bring to a slight boil on medium high heat. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, to prepare filling: Combine ricotta, 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and oregano in a bowl. Mix until well incorporated and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a 13 x9 in. pan, spread about 1 – 1 1/2 cup of sauce on bottom of pan. (just enough to really coat the bottom of pan). Then, top sauce with enough lasagna noodles to make a layer. *This could take 3-5 noodles depending on your noodles. I ended up using 5 on each layer.
• Top noodles with half of spinach.
• Crumble/Spread half of ricotta cheese mix over spinach.
• Spread half of shredded chicken on top of mixture.
• Repeat layers once more. *You may need to press down on layers as you go in case lasagna gets too full.
• End with one last layer of lasagna noodles on top.
• Spread remaining sauce over top of noodles.
• Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella and 1/4 cup grated parmesan.
• Cover with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray (to prevent foil from sticking to lasagna).
• Bake, covered with the foil for 50 minutes.
• Remove foil, and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is golden brown.
• Remove lasagna from oven and allow to cool and set for 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy!
XOXO, Esther
No Comments
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
You must be logged in to post a comment.