Garden Harvest.

  

Just thought I would share all of what i'm growing is heirloom tomatoes, cukes, pickles, green beans, egg plants, all kinds of peppers herbs.  Happy Gardening!

A Pottery Barn inspired mirror.....

So, I've been looking at pottery barn catalogs and their website lately and there is one thing that I really want.....It's one of their mirrors.  Ballard designs also has something similar but with a $700+ price tag, I knew it wouldn't be possible to buy.  So I put my thoughts together and did some research online and I figured if there is a will, there is a way!  And so I went off to the dollar store, purchased many of their mirrors a few cans of spray paint and some white and black craft paint I had on hand.  So I took the mirror apart from their frames very carefully (they are cheap and fragile) spray painted them white and once they all dried I put the mirrors back together.  I then laid them on the ground in the manner I would like to see them as one piece hanging on the wall and took measurements of what sort of plywood or sheet wood I would need to hold it all together as one big piece.  Off to home depot me and my husband went and had them cut down the wood to size that we needed.  I painted the board white so that it would all blend into one nice looking piece.  We then started gluing them onto the wooden board and let it dry for 2 days.  After it dried I stood the mirror against the wall and started distressing.  For this I took a paper plate and put a little black, and a little white on opposite sides of the plate.  Cut up a sponge into a small cube and used a bbq kabob skewer to hold it.  Dipped the sponge in the black and lightly brushed onto the corners of the mirror and creases and then lightly went over the black with a bit of white.  There you have it, I figured out a way to make a 700 dollar mirror for about $40 total.  It is now a wonderful piece in my foyer and I am so happy with it!

A brunch to remember.......

Barefoot Contessa style!!! 

   I held a brunch at my house last Sunday for some family and a few friends.  On the menu was croissant, blueberry muffins, jalapeno cheddar corn bread muffins, apricot compound butter, baked shrimp scampi, smoked salmon fritatta, baked blintzes with blueberry sauce (OMG!!!) Maple Bacon, Greek style breakfast potatoes, strawberry amaretto cheese cake, juice, coffee, mimossas, and fresh fruit!!!!  Yes a bit overboard but I did cook for 8 people and most of the menu items are Barefoot Contessa inspired.  She is my inspiration for majority of my meals and decor.  She inspires me so much not only her recipes and her love for food but her amazing style.  Ina is an artist in her style and food and I thank her for sharing all of it.  I don't care for movie stars etc, but I just can't help to adore her.  

    

A brun

I have started and finished my photo wall!!!   My large mirror looked pretty lonely on the wall in the foyer so I started adding lots of family photos.  What do you guys think?  I think lots of photos in pretty frames of amazing memories makes for a pretty big statement!!!  I'm thinking of doing one more wall like this in my hallway leading to the bedrooms.  Its a pretty small and narrow hallway and no room for a table or anything so I'm thinking of adding another photo wall to give lots and lots of personality.  I'll get these photos better organized once I figure out how to use this blog a bit better, still a newbie but hooray to blogging!!!