THE Best Chocolate Cake – EVER
THE Best Chocolate Cake-EverAt my house, chocolate cake is the cake ordered from my kitchen for birthday dinners for many of my family members. Two of my kids like my Oreo Cheesecake so Ill do that recipe another day but for today’s blog I want to share this chocolate cake.I got the recipe MANY years ago while away at a swim meet. A fellow parent and I were on duty chaperoning an away meet for our kids. This meant we...
Design Tip: How to Add Spring to your Home
Today's Design Tip is how to add spring to your home! It’s April! How did that happen? Spring is here and it’s time to lighten things up in our home. So, how can you add Spring into your home?I like to change out the cushions on my bed. In winter I like darker colours but come spring and I just want to lighten it all up. I’ve got larger light blue silk cushions on my bed and smaller pink ones....
Spring Garden Planter Design
Time to get ready for our Spring Garden Planter Design Workshop coming up next week. Yesterday I went to Southlands Nursery with our landscaping expert, Diane Bridges. We were looking at supplies and discussing our upcoming Spring Container Garden workshop. In the short while, we were exploring the nursery, I learned a few things. It’s interesting to me because a lot of how we decorate or design for the home can be carried out in the garden as well. We...
Design Tips for Apartment Living
Today it’s all about Design Tips for Apartment Living. Apartment living can be a challenge to personalize but with a few tips you can make the space your own with a small budget.DO update hardware in a tired kitchen. It can change the whole feel of a tired kitchen with little investment. This one is from Home Depot and is only $2.22.DO paint or wallpaper one accent wall. It is a small job to repaint that one wall when you...
What’s wrong with this Room?
Sometimes we look at a room or a vignette and know something is not quite right. We can’t quite put our finger on it, but there is something wrong with the room. Today we are going to dissect a few images to help point out a few things that we see when we look at an image. Can you see what’s wrong with this picture?So, what do you see when you look at this photo of a room? Whether or...
Easy Recipe: Blondies
Blondies are kind of like the vanilla counterpart to brownies. I found this recipe and tried it out. It’s yummy!! You could modify it by adding nuts or choc chips as well. I think a big glass of milk is the perfect accompaniment.Ingredients¾ cup butter semi-melted 1 c brown sugar ¾ c granulated sugar 3 eggs 2 t vanilla 2 ¼ c flour 1 ½ t baking powder 1 t saltDirectionsPreheat oven to 325 degrees Line a 9x13 pan with foil In bowl, combine butter and both sugars. Cream...
Flylady: Baby Steps to Getting Organized
Today I want to introduce you to a great website, Flylady.netI am a fairly organized person. I like things in their place and don’t do well with lots of clutter around. But I do see a few pockets in my house that could use advice from Flylady. My office continues to challenge me as well as my Tupperware cupboard and well, jewelry storage just is beyond me. Many years ago Tina told me about Flylady.net and so I decided to...
West Elm & Designers Collective: Design Styles Workshop Recap
On Monday, Designers Collective put on a Design Styles workshop at West Elm.We had a sold out class of fully engaged women who were anxious to hear about how to spot the different design styles in interior design.We gave each participant a little take away which included a notebook and pen which seemed ideal as there were lots of note takers in the class!Tina and I each took turns reviewing the different tell-tale markers of the four different design...
Design Tips: Transform Your Home Like A Professional
Today I’m going to go over some basic Design Tips to transform your home like a professional. These are what we keep in mind when planning and delivering a project.Some may be old hat to you but hopefully some will be new and enlightening.Do let paint be the last item you choose in the room. There are only so many fabrics and carpets to choose from so start with those items first. Choices for paint are pretty much limitless so...
Downsizing: My Personal Experience
Downsizing is certainly not what I expected to be doing quite yet. We had talked about it for when the kids all left home that perhaps we might want to downsize. We had been in our house for about 15 years and had many fond memories of raising the kids, family gatherings, Christmases, Easter egg hunts, good neighbours who became good friends, and many a home project undertaken. We moved in when our oldest was in grade two, our middle...