Ok, now it's gone beyond a freshen up. I've totally added a pop of color!

If you read the previous post you'll know I decided to add a pop of color to my white and robin egg blue family room.  I have chocolate brown leather sofas.  Orange has always been my favorite color so Orange it was!  Plus it POPS against the blue and brown!  I've added a few more goodies and my sweet daughter bought me a gorgeous orange chevron blanket and the coolest multi-colored pouf you've ever seen!  I'm LOVIN' this POP of color!  Tell me what you think.  Just a blanket, some throw pillows and candles made all the difference.  I did add the lamp too! LOL What? I was on a roll!

The pouf is not going to stay here but just for the purpose of the picture!  Don't mind the green dog toy under the couch! 

A $25 Freshen Up For The Family Room

We've got like 5 projects going on right now here at the Bedsaul Household.  None are really complete but this one almost is so I thought I'd share my progress.  We've been very happy with our family room for a few years now.  Several years ago we put up board and batten and added the family room reading nook and you can see some of our family room here in our budget kitchen renovation.  As much as I'm still in love with the chocolate brown couches and the white board and batten with the robin egg blue walls, I felt like injecting another color.  Our kitchen flows into the family room, one open plan.  If you looked at the link you can see my cabinets are black and my walls are a soft and warm whipped butter color.  Orange has always been my favorite color and it looks totally yummy with the robin egg blue.  AND...I had a coupon for buy one pillow get one 50% off at Target.  So I came home with a square cool fluffy white pillow and a chevron lumbar embroidered with teal, yellow, orange and navy.  I needed a few more pops of color so I snagged a yellow pillow off my bed. Then made a bee-line for Goodwill, it's just up the street (dangerous).  I couldn't find a matching decor item but I bought this fun shaped deep eggplant vase for $2. I happen to have pumpkin orange spray paint so off to the back yard we went!  I'm switching out the duck egg blue candles on the mantle to orange or yellowand I'll be set!  Remember most importantly when you are on a budget, SHOP your house!!!

If you look in the back there's the yet to be painted goodwill $25 table I'm in love with!

A DEAR friend gave me this DARLING cast iron boxer bank that I've been going gaga over at the antique store for seriously like 5 years.  He blends in well so I added a tray to our coffee table and perched him there and viola!  Now my family room looks fresh and summery! Perfect! Amazing where a couple fresh throw pillows, a couple new candles and a Goodwill vase will take you!

The BEFORE for the now glossy orange vase.

Double Crunch Blueberry Crisp

Blueberries are one of my family's favorite summer fruits.  I LOVE when they are big and bursting with flavor and on sale!  Here's a quick and easy Blueberry crisp recipe I made up a couple years ago.  My family LOVES the crispy part so this has extra crispies!  This makes a nice big dish so use a large casserole dish.

Double Crunch Blueberry Crisp

1 1/2 Cup flour
1 1/2 Cup quick cooking oats
1 3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
2 sticks of melted butter
5-6 cups ripe fresh blueberries, rinsed

2-3 Tablespoons of white sugar

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and melted butter.  Mix well and press only enough of the mixture on the bottom of the greased pan to completely cover it with no gaps.  Set the remaining aside.  Pour the blueberries on the crust and spread evenly.  Lightly sprinkle the sugar over all of the blueberries.  Sprinkle the reserved oat mixture on top of the blueberries.  Bake at 350 for about 40- 45 minutes till crispy and bubbly.  ENJOY~

buttered dish in large casserole

rinsed blueberries

crust patted on bottom of dish

sugar sprinkled on the blueberries after they are on the crust

top with the remaining oat mixture and bake

ENJOY

It's great with a big dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

BIG MIRROR decorating ideas!

I'm still brain storming ideas on the yet to be painted pea green Goodwill table in my post about my Retro glam foyer dresser makeover and the dreaded soup green table.  I'm thinking I might put it in the still mostly undecorated BOARD AND BATTEN LIVING ROOM.  As I mentioned in long past posts about that yet to be finished room I want it a live-able living room.   Not too stuffy but comfy while stile maintaining a living room feel.  Ever since we built the house I've been disappointed we didn't put a window on that side of the house.  To rectify that and because I LOVE them, I think I'm going to go with a BIG mirror.  Probably a DIY trumeau mirror.  Shhh, Matt doesn't know about that project yet! You can buy madelians like these from specialty hardware stores.  Simple ones are even on the shelves at Home Depot and Lowes.  Here's a couple DIY-able I like... these images via google



Here are some rooms I found on Pinterest that utilize big mirrors, just search large mirrors...  They are all and many more on my decor board on Pinterest, Whimages Decor Board
This first one is actually in my own family room. It's from an old post when we redid our kitchen on a BUDGET.  The mirror itself is mahogany and it's reclaimed from a torn down cigar bar in Baltimore years ago. My father and my husband salvaged it along with a bunch of other wood and voila!  Our nook has some of it.

The nook is above and below our family room with the BIG reclaimed mirror

I'm in love with this little vignette!

love the slim accents of antiqued gold

Love the color scheme here and that curved Chippendale sofa....sigh!

THIS looks retro glam to me.  LOVE this mirror!

LOVE the finishes on both of these pieces!

again...GLAM!!! yet shabby...another sigh!

Cool mirror made from a salvaged something

Baked Penne Florentine with Tomato Creme Sauce...YUM!

Recently I read that one of the many ways you can save money on your grocery bill is by adding a few meatless meals to your dinner repertoire.  I've been a vegetarian for about a year and a half so my family is used to me throwing in a few non meat meals now and then.  I'm not hard-core, I'll eat fish and seafood.  I've even had soup that I think was probably made with chicken stock now and then.  At first I thought I'd miss a fresh juicy homemade grilled cheeseburger or a fillet Mignon when we went out to dinner.  Surprisingly I don't at all and most of the time I get more then a little yuckified when making dinner for my family with meat.

I've been experimenting with ideas in my head for meals that would satisfy ALL of my family and would still be meatless.  One day while planning dinner I had decided to make baked penne.  I usually would saute' some 97/3 ground beef ( save any drippings for my doggies! ;-)  ). Mix in the penne some mozzarella and a variety of different flavored spaghetti sauces and top it with more mozzarella and bake. Everyone was always happy but me.  So I got to thinking about it and I noticed I had a big ol' bag of fresh baby spinach in the fridge.  I did some brainstorming, that's a lot for a dyed blonde Polish girl (all tongue in cheek please I'm just teasing).  I mixed the cooked penne with a tub of skim ricotta and the whole bag of spinach.  Then I mixed up a couple varieties of sauce together including a jar of garlic flavored Alfredo.  You know like, spicy pepper and garlic and onion and whatever else I had in the pantry. The pivotal ingredient is the ALFREDO!  It makes all the difference!  I then mixed it all together while throwing in a little mozzarella and a tablespoon of fresh minced garlic.  I topped it with mozzarella.I don't have proportions for you cause I just make it.  For a single casserole I'd say 1 bag spinach, I box penne, 4 cup mozz. smaller container ricotta 1 Alfredo and maybe 2 regular sauces.    Let me tell you...my family thinks Heaven on a plate was made that day.  I've made it too many times to count now in the past year and I thought to myself, "self, you might want to share this goodness with the world".  So I am. You just bake it at 350 till it's brown and bubbly.  Now I'm not saying this has never been made before.  And I totally made up that name because it sounds exciting and gourmet but I've never seen the recipe anywhere before.  Try it.  You'll probably like it and you most likely won't miss the $$meat$$.  

This pic is from a double batch, it's easy to double!

* funny story...one day I was making it and my Dad was here working on one of our cars so I made him his own casserole to take home.  Now let me tell you my father is as crotchety as they come and a compliment rarely passes his lips.  As I'm handing him the hot baked dish, he complained and said he didn't want it because he already had something in the crock pot at home.  So I told him to eat it the next night.  About 45 minutes later he called and said, "Rob, that was the best pasta I've ever had!" Surprised and speechless I don't think any real word came out of my mouth. Next he says, "next time put some ground beef, Italian sausage and pepperoni in it and it would be even better!" Obviously he doesn't get the meatless thing.

So there you go you can make it my way or my Dad's way!  Let me know if you try it out!