Hi Friends! We moved back home on Saturday and we couldn't' be happier! I had visions of knocking out some great posts this week, but as they say the 'Best Laid Plans of mice and men often go Awry.' 

Saturday was a busy day {with dilemmas and mini drama] filled with moving our belongs home, trying to remember what light switch turned on what. Realizing in the morning we had NO hot water, since the pilot light wasn't lit & being newbies to lighting a pilot light, I was a little freaked. I called PG&E but that meant waiting until the first appointment which wasn't until Tuesday [today 6/25/13] Luckily after reading & re-reading the instructions we were able to get the pilot light lit and have HOT again, glorious hot water. We spent most of the day waiting for deliveries and setting up our kids rooms up. I also discovered we had NO internet working & no dial tone on our land line.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, because Avery slept in his bed all night! Sunday friends and family stopped to wish us well, it was SO nice sharing all the details with everyone and entertaining! Such a blessing to welcome friends & family in our home again. Sunday things took a turn for the 'not so good.'  Avery getting the stomach throw up bug and spaghetti is NOT fun to cleanup. I adore my new washer & dryer and got a chance to take it for a spin and use all my fancy settings. We now have Internet as of one hour ago [hallelujah!!] & still no phone service, boo! If you follow me on Instagram, then you no my little guy is still sick, huge boo! I took him to the Doctors, and we have to ride this bug out until he gets better. I'm slowly introduces fluids and praying for the best, its been a bumpy ride since Sunday night. I'm just looking forward to the return of my little rambunctious toddler. 

To top it all off, today my little munchkin Tabari, turns 13 today!! Happy Birthday Tabari! I love him so very much, your dad and I are so proud of you! I'm feeling bad our plans didn't happen today. I planned to take him and Avery to a movie and then dinner out with the whole family, followed by a stop at his favorite yogurt spot. Needless to say everything has been put on hold until Friday night. Luckily he's being a good sport and more concerned with Avery getting better. We are renting a movie tonight via Amazon & ordering in [pizza] 

I plan on going though pictures, I snapped over the weekend before we officially moved it and called it ours again! I hope to share them on Wednesday.

Ever had a weekend, were you had all these 'plans' and nothing quite happened they way you intended? 

The Next Chapter

Hi everyone, sorry its been so quiet on my blog this week [and last] I have good news I wanted to share with you all, we are moving back home tomorrow! As you can imagine we are super excited to move home!! It's just a few weeks shy of one year of being out of home for re-building our home due to a fire loss, you can read more about the events here.

We officially start our next chapter in our home tomorrow, in some ways it feels like a dream like the last year was some bad nightmare filled with tears, way to much paperwork and several pushed back moving dates with little and big things causing delays. But we made it though to the other side off all that mess and it taught me so much about myself and everyday I fall more and more in love with our first house we bought four years ago and showed so much promise then (it was literally the ugliest house on the block, but I could see past all that) 

We are so looking forward to getting settled in our home and filling it with lots of love and laughter and boy does my family love to laugh. Crossing my fingers my Internet is working on Saturday morning, I'll share a FULL House tour pre-move in next week (hopefully Monday) so you can all see our new home. We started over from a true blank slate since our house was torn down to the studs, it was heartbreaking to see to home we love in pieces it was like memories being ripped away from my heart (rolling out sod, our backyard Wedding Reception, and bringing home Avery to his nursery just to name a few) Thankfully each week we saw the home we loved and cared for being slowly put back together, built great relationships with our contractors (we had a great crew!) I'll share our contractor information soon for any locals in need of: hardwoods, tile, general contractor, plumbing, rough carpentry, electrical etc.

Here are a few Things I'm looking forward to tackling in our home, beyond the design part [because although in others eyes it may 'appear done,' its so far from being 'done' lol] But are rooms ever really done? Me thinks not. 

• Maybe adding stenciling or Wallpaper for our Laundry room / Mudroom
• Installing cabinets in Laundry room
• Seating Area in the Mudroom area of our Laundry room
• Organizing our Kitchen
• Installing Crown molding throughout [right now it's in the Dining & Living room] 
• Sewing curtains for Dining / Living and Bedrooms
• Recovering Roman Shades with prettier fabric
• Creating a reading nook for Avery's room
• Prettying up in-stock bathroom vanities
• Huge over haul on our backyard and front yard, our poor lawn is dead! Sadly its a project that will have to start all over: busted sprinkler heads, dead shurbs and flowers everywhere etc
• Pretty-up our patios
• Maybe break-out some paint swatches and paint rooms (as needed, we'll live with most colors for now)
• Find a creative solution for storing my sewing machine and fabric [and swatches] 

I'm sure as time progresses my list will continue to grow. My main focus this weekend is getting settled in our house and just enjoying each moment. I'm hoping to get Avery's room mostly 'set-up' and then help him transition back into his own bedroom & bed wish me luck on that. 

A huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who's reached out to me on the Blog / Instragram / Email and checked on how my family and I have been doing. It's really meant the world to me reading the comments or getting a surprise email from out the blue has helped my keep going and allowed me to stay positive even when I didn't feel like getting out or bed and dealing with anything. Thank you all so much!! 

I plan on listening to my go to jam today, now on to The Next Chapter!  

Cooking Slump

For the past several months, I've been in a cooking slump. One too many nights of uninspired taco night, or other just random dinners. One thing about me is I enjoy cooking yummy meals for my family, but with this slump I've been in, dinner feels so much like a chore and not at all enjoyable. Other the weekend Hasani and I were shopping at Barnes & Nobles and I started looking at cookbooks, I have a ton I have yet to replace since our house fire. I like a good realistic cookbook, the kind that make week night meals a breeze since Hasani and I both work full-time and most nights I don't start cooking dinner until after 5:30 pm. I'm sure most of you out there can relate to being on a time crunch, but still want to make a delicious healthy meal. I know once I'm back in my own kitchen, I'll want to cook & bake and make lots of memories in the heart of our home. I've put together a list of five cookbooks I plan on getting to start my new collection. I've already got ahead start and bought one from my list below. 

Five Good Cookbooks

1. While at Barnes & Nobles, I ended buying The Mom 100 Cookbook for only $6 bucks (the online price is more) I loved the variety of recipes a mixture with simple ingredients and full colorful pages of recipes. For some reason, I like lots of pictures in my cook books. Even though the cook book is for 'Moms' I consider it more of a go to recipe cookbook. I'm so looking forward to trying her recipe for Risotto, I've always wanted to try and make it. I blame it on watching one too many episodes of Hell's Kitchen and Chef Ramsey freaking out on the contestants that can't make a bloody Risotto. 

2. My mom bought me the Martha Stewart Cooking School Cookbook, for a wedding present and I just loved it. I love all the cooking details Martha shares. I love pretty much anything Martha. 

3. The Betty Crocker cookbook is one of those classic old schools cookbooks full of knowledge and the basic how to. 

4. I've always enjoined Ina Garten and watching her cooking show Barefoot Contessa back in the day when we had a cable. I plan on giving her Barefoot Contessa Foolproof Recipes: You Can Trust cookbook a try after reading though all reviews, I think this will be a good for entertaining which plan on doing at lot of when we move home. 

5. The Pioneer Women Cookbook, I've tired a few of her recipes from her blog and loved them. Her food is that yummy 'stick to your ribs food,' meals I try to avoid on a daily, lol. I love that is cookbook feels like the perfect crowd pleaser  & large meal making cookbook. 

Girl Crush Cookbook

I have a big girl crush on Gwyneth Paltrow, I find her her style effortless and fun! I like that she puts herself out there and isn't afraid to speak her mind even if it comes across as smug or annoying. I guess there's two camps on Gwyneth: Camp Hate and Camp Love. I fall under the love category and have been thinking about giving her cook book a try, even though I typically shy away from celebrity cookbooks. I'm still on the fence about ordering her cookbook My Father's Daughter the reviews on Amazon are pretty decent, so we'll see if I end up buying it.

Do you own any of the above cookbooks? Any suggestions for cookbooks I should buy? 

How To Measure for Blinds

I recently shared that one of my first jobs after high school was working in the custom window fashion department selling custom blinds and drapery. One of the many things I learned about working there, was how to measure correctly for window blinds and measure for drapery for the correct fullness  along all the custom blinds / drapery lingo (pinch pleat, back tab, traverse rod etc)

For our living room and dining room, we went with in-stock cut-measure Levelor 2 inch faux wood blinds from Lowes. My favorite brand of blinds to sell back in the day were Levelor & Bali, I'm so happy they make ready-made ones now :) We measured our blinds (below is my how-to) because almost all windows are uneven and then picked out our blinds and had a Lowes CSR cut our blinds down to the correct size. Both of our living room & dining room blinds are the same width 70.5 wide, we purchased the 72 width blinds. 

How to measure for inside mount blinds (blinds that rest inside your windows) you also want to check the depth of your windows, some older homes have shallow inside window depth. 

For our kitchen, bedrooms & master bathroom we decided to go with ready made roman shades from JCP, read more about how I plan on customizing the roman shades here. When measuring for our roman shades (and any outside mount blinds) I like outside mount blinds to be the width of the window sill, if there's no window sill add 2-3 inches past the window on both sides for privacy. When installing outside mount blinds, you can install them as high as you want 2-4 inches above the window or even where they meet your drapery rod. Whatever is pleasing to your eyes.  Measuring for outside mount blinds or shades below. I created a printable PDF version of my 'How to Measure for blinds' for everyone to use below. Hopefully my PDF works 

  Window Measuring by mrsclh

This week we'll be installing on window blinds for our dining & living room. Most likely we'll be using paper shades in our bedrooms until my fabric arrives for my to recover our roman shades. I'll share some blind installation tips this week. 

Pin of the Week

Pinterest Pin of the Week, is where I share my favorite Pin of whatever has been on my mind during the week: Decor, DIY, Gardens and Food and much more. Even though I'm fairly new to baking, I've always wanted a dedicated baking drawer I my kitchen. With a house full of boys, its so east that my baking essentials often get misplaced. I often run around a like a crazy lady before I have a chance to start baking. A dedicated spot for all my baking needs is a must and so practical!

Via Pinterest & MSLiving

Have a nice weekend!

Rainbow Birthday Cake

I fell in love with the rainbow cake a few years ago when I was watching an episode of Martha Stewart. I recently got up the courage to make the  six layer rainbow cake for Avery's second birthday. Yup, my baby just turned two! We had a really really low key birthday gathering to celebrate Avery's birthday on Sunday. I'm fairly new to baking, and have never attempted to bake a cake that has more than two layers. I did make Avery a mini three layer cake for his birthday smash cake, but never a full size cake more than two layers. So this my friends for my was a huge task for me to attempt to bake. I'm super happy to that the cake came out colorful and super yummy.  

I used this recipe here for my cake and used Betty Crocker gel food coloring to color the batter. I had to visit a few stores in my area to find the gel food coloring, so don't give up if your unable to find it at the first store. 

If your planning on making a rainbow cake, here are few of my novice baking tips. 

Rainbow Cake Tips

• Use disposable cake pans to bake the layers in (spray with non-stick spray)
• Use a wide spatula to remove the cake from the pan 
• Have all your mixing bowls set up to pour batter in 
• For even cake layers trim the cake layers (I'm doing this next time)
• Gel Food Colors are a must and color the batter more intensely
• Use Egg Carton whites, instead of wasting egg yokes (I'm doing this next time)
• Visit Betty Crocker for the instructions on mixing colors (purple & orange) 
• After frosting the cake place in refrigerator for an hour & take out a half hour before serving and cutting 

Since this was my first time making a multi-layer cake it didn't come out perfect the top was a little lopsided in certain spots, lol. But in the end what really matter was seeing Avery blow out his candle and smile and clap his little toddler hands when he saw his cake. For me that's best feeling ever. Everyone loved the cake, it was not only cute to look at, but it was truly amazing and super moist. I was a little nervous about cutting each slice of cake but each slice cut so nice. I've already gotten a few requests to make another rainbow cake! I'm super excited to apply my tips to the next rainbow cake I bake. 

I'm also looking forward to my next baking adventure and stepping outside of my comfort zone, like did with Avery's rainbow cake and his birthday cupcakes last year. I also recently bought an Ikea cake decorating kit, and looking forward to using it on my next cake.

Have you ever baked a rainbow cake?

Shady Business

A few weeks back on my Pin of the Week, I shared the idea of taking a pre-made roman shade and adding fabric or twill tape or ribbon border to customize the shade. I recently bought a couple of pre-made roman shades from JCP for our kitchen window & master bathroom window. My plan is to cover the existing roman shade with fabric giving it a custom look. I'm going to test out the quality JCP roman shades with my smaller windows before buying more roman shades for our larger windows.  

For my bedroom & Tabari's bedroom, I'm still on the fence about using roman shades or faux wood blinds. In Avery's room I plan on using roman shades and covering the shade with fabric. Avery's in the 'blinds are a toy phase' so I think roman shades for his room is the best way to go. Hopefully he'll be less tempted to mess when them when they are down. 

The fabric on the far left will be used in our master bedroom bathroom. I recently ordered the two chartreuse fabric swatches for Avery's bedroom windows. I love love the middle fabric and think it will make fun roman shades for his bedroom. I also adore the fabric on the end and I might have the perfect spot for it in another area in my house (stay tuned). Can you tell I'm smitten with the color chartreuse? It's slowly made the rounds in our house: Master Bedroom ideas, Our Front Door, Living & Dining Room ideas. 

Avery's twin windows, please ignore the sad state of our backyard. We have many upcoming months of whipping our yard back into shape. 

Below is the inspiration for for his twin windows. I think the middle fabric above will be so cute on his windows and add fun element of color and pattern in his bedroom. 

(via Pinterest)

(via Pinterest)

If we end up going with Roman shades in our bedroom, my plan is to cover them with a neutral fabric maybe white linen? For additional privacy. I also plan on adding a pretty twill tape border to give them a polished custom look. I'm loving the twill tape section at fabric.com, so most likely will order my twill from them. I really love the stunning roman shades below. The border on the roman shades creates such a pretty high-end yet non-fussy look. 

(via Pinterest)

I'll share my roman shades as soon as I complete them, along with how I executed my ideas. I'm super excited about this project, wish me luck! 

Have you ever re-covered pre-made roman shades or made a faux roman shade? Any tips?

Our Master Bedroom

As most of you our aware we decided to make some layout changes to our home after the house fire, some were minor changes and others major changes (read more about those changes here). One of those major changes was our decision to add a master bathroom / closet and french doors to our existing smallish 1950's rancher 'master bedroom'. Our home only had one bathroom before, so we were super excited about this change. I'm in love with the changes we decided to make to our bedroom and was super excited to design the space myself. I really wanted to addition in our bedroom to appear seamless, like it's always been there and I'm happy to say it does. Everything ties into together: roof line, our hardwood floors, lighting and most importantly the flow. 

Here's a look at our new very empty bedroom, we're only a few short weeks away from moving back home. Our new view when you walk into our bedroom, on the far back wall there's now a window that lets so much natural light in. Above you see our drum chandelier, I loved it so much in our room before that we decided to use the light fixture again (best decision ever). The light fixture is still covered with plastic, so that's why it looks a little dingy plus w need to adjust the chain. There's Avery photo bombing my shot! He was hanging out in the bathroom while I was taking pictures. 

Here's a look at the other side of the master bedroom, the in front of my new closet is where our old closet used to be. It's now a perfect little nook for a settee / chair or something pretty. We had an outlet installed in the area so we can hang our TV on the wall in the spot if we choose. In the background you can see a glimpse of our french doors. 

Our french doors! They rest in between the doorways to our closet and master bathroom (closet is on the left & bathroom is on the right). The 'hallway' area in our bedroom so to speak is actually a pretty nice size space, I have lots of ideas filling my mind with how to use it: console table? gallery wall? huge leaning mirror? I'm also thinking about adding back plates to our french door handles, if I can find some that will work our our knobs. 

Since our 'hallway' in our bedroom is pretty spacious, we decided to add a light fixture in the area. I wanted a light that would compliment our drum shade chandelier, I found this pretty light fixture on Overstock.com & its gorgeous! It's so hard to find a flush mount light, that's not ugly or a boob light! OK, technically it's kind of similar too a boob light, but more of a Las Vegas show girl boob light, lol. So its much sexier. There's a peak into our master bathroom. 

Here's a better view of our wall color along with our super dusty hardwood floors. They are getting their final coats of poly this week.  

Back to our bedroom door that leads to the our hallway. Notice the little bump in our wall? That's  our old closet area, I mentioned above. 

There's our master bedroom for now. I have a lot of little projects, I need to get completed before we move in. I'll share our master bathroom progress later this week. 

What do you think?