Gwen Moss

Saturday, February 15, 2014

my vintage-inspired Valentine dinner party

Hello friends.

As most of you know we’re getting ready to move shortly and my blog posts have been scanty these days because there’s so much going on. But last night we hosted our annual Valentine dinner party and I thought I’d share some pretty pictures with you.

I think this Valentine dinner is such a fabulous idea; each year we celebrate the occasion with our long-time friends Mary and Dave, Kirsten and John and Tracey and Andy. We rotate homes and alternate cooks. One year the wives cook the meal for the guys and the next year the guys cook for us and we dress up and basically have a blast.

The first year we bought the husbands matching heart covered ties

(“Mom did the guys wear those dorky ties again?” “Yes, Michael they sure did.” )

and we wear lots of red and have so much fun cooking our gourmet dishes together.

This year I was happy to host it at our house because every gathering we have here….now takes on such special meaning. I even decided to add an old-fashioned vibe to the decorations because these days I’m in a downright sappy mood.

I started with the place cards…

Do you remember those simple, brown paper sacks we decorated in grade school for our class Valentine parties?

Remember how excited we were to have these be our ‘mailboxes’ for all those store bought Valentines from our classmates?

Well…when I saw these miniature bags at Hobby Lobby I thought they’d make adorable place cards so I decorated them with white doilies and slipped a box of candy hearts into each one.

I used red chargers and my Christmas napkins trimmed with white stitching.

I bought a piece of red fabric and folded it down the center of a white tablecloth.

For drama I stuck to a monochromatic theme and used red tulips down the center with red rose petals tossed on the table for texture.

I tied five red tissue balls with fishing wire and hung them from the ceiling.

And I added little mason jars sprayed with a can of gold paint and dipped in glitter. I wish I had a picture of these at night, they actually sparkle.

Oh-and I did spend a ridiculous amount of time on these Valentine Cootie Catchers for the husbands. (But it was worth it).

Because I thought that any old fashioned Valentine party had to have a Cootie Catcher, so I made this version. Only instead of using colors and numbers, I chose images from romantic movies. The opening line is, Which Leading Man Are You? And in place of a fortune at the end, I had a trivia question having to do with Valentines Day and romantic movies.

Honestly, the funniest thing was watching the husbands try to open and close their Cootie Catchers. I never realized how much coordination it took.

Do you want to know how I made these? I promise to show you in another post.

For the dinner I was in charge of making a cheese board, the salad, and these home-made sugar cookies.

The dinner was wonderful. Kirsten made a wild mushroom Risotto, Mary made the main course, a Macadamia-crusted Halibut with a Blood Orange Beurre Blanc Sauce and Tracey made the green beans and the Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes.

And like all cozy dinners we drank good wine, reminisced about old times and don’t ask me how, but at one point we even sang the theme songs to the Beverly Hillbillies and Gilligan’s Island.…TV shows from our childhood.

It was simply magical, one of those evenings where you sit back and relish the joy of being together with the same friends that once stood outside the kindergarten classroom with you. And waited for those baby-faced six year olds that are now an amazing twenty-one years old.

It was also a night with gratitude in the air.

Tracey had been at the hospital that day while her Dad underwent a successful surgery and I was so relieved to find out that morning that Patrick didn’t have to have surgery for his broken foot. Oh yes…Patrick’s broken foot. That’s a story for another post.

In the meantime, I just keep counting my blessings.

xoxo

Leslie

linking up to these parties:

Technorati Tags: valentine tablescape,vintage valentine decorations,red and white table setting,cootie catcher,red tulips centerpiece,gratitude

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Before and After

If you’re a follower of my blog you know I tend to paint first, and think later. Sometimes I’ll see a pretty picture and it’s enough to inspire me to paint something. And I don’t spend a lot of time agonizing over the perfect shade either, I’m too impatient. My attitude with mistakes is always, “oh well, it’s just paint.”

I originally had white French doors in our entry. Then I painted them black which I liked better with all our white woodwork. But then I thought this little chest and mirror looked too dark.

Before

Don’t you love looking at Before and After photos?

I think there’s something so optimistic about looking at the After shots, because no matter what someone decides to change, I think it’s admirable to see the result of one’s hard work. You end up thinking, “Hey, I could do that.”

Plus, I think DIYers appreciate all the hidden elbow grease and time that’s behind any home project…

Now back to the French doors. As you can see one paint job led to another and….

..the white frame was definitely a keeper.

But even though the Anne Sloan’s Emperor’s Silk Red was especially pretty during the holidays, I discovered I’m not really a red furniture person.

I thought it was “too much” with my floor tiles.

So the day before our last Open House, I went out to the garage and spotted a leftover can of AS French Linen and right in the middle of all my cleaning… I stopped and re-painted the chest.

Yep. Even when Mr. M. walked by and said, “Les, do you really have time for that right now?”

I kept painting.

And here’s the chest now in a more subdued, softer paint shade.

The minute I finished it I literally sighed with relief.

I prefer this color next to the black doors, and it actually feels calmer in our entry now.

Funny how a shade of color can influence the mood of a room. Does that make sense to you?

Before

Oh, and here’s another quickie, inexpensive project.

See how plain this bedroom window looks?

Well I didn’t want to go out and buy a window treatment since we’re moving soon. But this empty space really gnawed at me… until suddenly I remembered my old window treatment from the kitchen.

For awhile I had moved this valance from my office to the kitchen.

I had it taped inside this wood section over my window. And ever since I took it down, it’s been folded inside my cupboard just waiting for me to see THIS creative project.

After I saw that window treatment, I purchased some burlap and hooks from the Hobby Lobby for under twenty dollars (love them coupons) and using no sew fusible tape, I made a piece of burlap the would cover the back side of this valance, allowing the trim to show.

I purposely left the cream and black damask side alone, in case I decide to use this again.

Once I fused the burlap ends, I glued the entire piece to the valance with my hot glue gun.

But I was careful to use a thin line of hot glue to avoid puckers in the fabric.

Next, I hot glued black ribbon to the edges for a more finished look. And cut and hot glued pieces of black ribbon ties for the top of the valance.

I spray painted the hooks white…

…and thanks to my Dad, we got the valance measured and the hooks spaced properly over the window.

After

and here it is!

My no-sew burlap window treatment. I wish I had more photos to show you but it’s raining today and too dark in that room to take good pictures right now.

But I hope this DIY project reminds you to look through your stuffed cupboards again.

Because these are the kind of surprises that make me happy.

Leslie

I’m linking this post up here:

http://www.commonground-do.com/2014/02/be-inspired-175.html?

Technorati Tags: no sew window treatment,before and after: chalk paint projects,entryway decorating,Anne Sloan paints

Monday, February 3, 2014

great ideas for your kitchen island

I don’t think I’ve told you yet about my one, brief experience house hunting in Huntington Beach have I?

Well don’t worry, because I can quickly sum it up for you in four easy words:

“Are.You. Kidding. Me?”

At least this is what Mr. Moss tells me I kept repeating throughout our time with the nice realtor. I don’t remember, but I think I can blame it on shock.

Let’s just say I’ve been spoiled for a loooong time and I didn’t realize it. But my current kitchen with its big, lush island will be a thing of the past unless we win the lottery very soon (hard- to-do-since I don’t play), or we stumble into an incredibly rare situation.

Every kitchen I saw in our price range was very small although

(once I got over that sinking feeling in my stomach),

via

…I could feel my creative juices start to churn.

So today I thought I’d share some unique ideas for adding counter space to your kitchen because not everyone is lucky enough to have a built-in island.

And while I’m not sure these all work for tight spaces, they sure inject some fun and personality into a boring kitchen.

my kitchen today

Sigh, so goodbye to my huge kitchen island…

and hello to all you eclectic, free-standing possibilities

via

Let’s see. How about

an antique baking table with Pottery Barn baskets…

in a very cool color?

Or an island painted in Paris Gray by Anne Sloan Chalk Paint. I honestly included this one because I love how this antique dealer transformed her Sonoma, California home.