Yearly Archives: 2016
Bedroom Design: Sweet Pastel Bedrooms
Post by Tracy Kaler.
Rustic and cottagey, this dreamy, shabby chic bedroom relies mostly on neutral tones, but the pale pink flowers and celadon bring some pastels into the lovely mix.
A transitional Nantucket bedroom uses muted greens with white to create a sophisticated guest space using a daybed. This cozy room boasts just the right amount of texture.
Pale pink rose is the primary color in this traditional bedroom with modern touches. Whitewashed floors and lots of natural light keep the space feeling bright and airy.
Baby blue keeps this room feeling elegant and classy. A touch of bolder blue in the throw pillows adds punch while the rest of the space stays muted.
Various shades of pale yellow give this traditional room a monochromatic look. The 19th century Victorian home in Boston has been restored and expanded yet hasn’t lost its character. Brimming with pattern, the room doesn’t appear busy, but rather, soothing and homey.
Which pastel color is your favorite?
Breakfast in Bed – Apple Walnut Cookies
Post by Alison Hein.
I like to fill a big bowl with colorful fruit for an inexpensive and cheerful centerpiece. Sometimes I’ll use all lemons, sometimes all limes, sometimes all oranges, and sometimes a mix of fruit. For a recent dinner party, I bought two dozen bright green apples and piled them high in an amber dish. It looked lush and bright adorning my kitchen island.
But after a party, what does one do with so many apples? Unlike cut flowers, it is wrong to simply discard food (it may be wrong to discard cut flowers too, but they mostly cannot be cooked). And, apples seem more well-suited to autumnal flavors. So how could I use them and make them taste more springy?
Cookies seemed like an apt solution. With a light batter and raw apples, the cookies tasted fresh and cake-like. I added a handful of walnuts for texture and a sprinkling of apple pie spices for a rich undertone. Be warned – these cookies are better when consumed within one day of baking. So. Bake. Rise. Consume. Ahh… breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups peeled and chopped apple (about 2 medium apples)
½ cup chopped walnuts
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and blend in completely. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt in a separate small bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and blend well. Stir in chopped apple and walnuts.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheet for a couple of minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies.
Bedroom Design: 5 Unusual Seaside Bedrooms
Post by Tracy Kaler.
When we think of bedrooms by the sea, we dream of blue and white fabrics, natural materials like cotton, sisal, and jute, and nautical motifs such as ships and anchors. But not all beachy sleeping quarters need to be typical or what we’d expect. In fact, some beach houses stray from the norm completely, barely exuding a coastal feel at all. Let’s take a look at five unusual seaside bedrooms.
This vibrant Newport Beach bedroom skips the usual ocean-like colors and goes bold with accents. More often seen in neutral or aqua, the red shell motif is unexpected.
Photo by Jessica Bennett Interiors
This contemporary bedroom feels so Miami because the home is located in Miami. Notice the shoji-type backdrop behind the bed. A gray and white color palette sets the stage for the water view.
Photo by https://www.brittocharette.com/
Relaxed and sophisticated, this eclectic bedroom boasts clean lines and classic furnishings but happens to be in a home on the Pacific Coast. Built-ins and an armoire keep the space clutter-free.
Photo by Harte Brownlee & Associates Interior Design
Although this Florida bedroom has a big city vibe, it happens to be in a house at the Hallandale Beach Club. A low bed, modern furnishings, and the highway backdrop give the space a cosmopolitan feel.
Photo by DKOR Interiors Inc.- Interior Designers Miami, FL
This Montauk bedroom embodies rustic glamor. The dark stain on the wood floors isn’t the obvious choice for a home on the coast, but works well with the white walls and bedding, a lighter wood ceiling, and navy blue accents. Everything is chic about this room.
Bedtime Stories: Every Day
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Every Day by David Levithan.
Imagine if you woke up every day in a new body. And not just a new body but in someone else’s life. Sixteen years old and every day since A was born, A has occupied a different person’s body for a single day. The consciousness is A; A is the person with no body of his/her own. Neither male nor female, A is whatever body A wakes up in. From the co-author of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist comes this wholly unique novel.
We first meet the narrator as a teenager. The first morning A is in the body of a boy named Justin. At this point, A is quite used to being a different person and always goes to great lengths to avoid messing up the life of the body being visited for the day. But when A meets Justin’s girlfriend Rihannon, everything changes. A immediately falls deeply in love with her. It’s clear that Justin is a terrible boyfriend so when he suggests they escape to the beach for the day, she is surprised but happy. The next day Justin will remember what happened, but not why. And A will be another person in another body. But A can’t forget about Rihannon and begins drumming up excuses to find Rihannon and talk to her again, until the day that A decides to spill the beans and tell her the secret of who A really is.
A compelling read for teens and adults alike, Another Day is equal parts fantasy and romance. It’s a totally weird concept for a book, but it somehow works. Another Day approaches the notions of gender identity and physical presences in an unflinching way. A may be a 300 pound friendless kid one day and a gorgeous young woman the next (A always occupies bodies the same age as A) but the mind is always the same. So just what makes a person who he or she is? It’s an interesting question and pretty pertinent for our times.
Movies in Bed: Goosebumps
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Happy long weekend! If your geography is anything like mine, Memorial Day weekend means guaranteed rain. So if the sky opens up and the coal on your grill are hissing from the raindrops, maybe you can run inside, take cover under your blankets, and watch a movie with the kids. And if your kids are fans of scary things that aren’t actually scary (like my kid) you can load up Goosebumps the movie! Goosebumps is an homage to author R.L. Stine and to the menagerie of monsters he’s created over the many years of writing scary books for children. And the premise is pretty weird for this one. Zach has recently moved to a new town. R.L. Stine (Jack Black) is the creepy and reclusive new neighbor, though he is only known as Mr. Shivers. Despite warnings to stay away, Zach can’t help himself, mostly because of Stine’s alluring daughter, Hannah.
So Zach learns the true identity of Stine, who also reveals that his monsters came to life and he had to trap them in their books. Guess what happens? Yup, a creature gets unlocked. And then Slappy the evil living ventriloquist’s dummy, gets out and he releases all the evil on the small Delaware town.
Although filled with CGI monsters and other odd baddies, the movie is not particularly scary. Action, comedy, rampaging creatures are what fill the time. It’s a harmless and entertaining movie and Jack Black usually brings a fun element to movies. Available streaming, Goosebumps is a good family movie to while away the rainy spring evening.
