Laundry Room Inspirations

A few days ago I told you about my decorating goals for 2013. My first goal is to make my laundry room more pretty and organized. When I start a project like this I like to get some inspiration from pictures. Now with the internet, we have so many sources besides just books and magazines. Some of my favorites are Houzz.com, Pinterest, Better Homes and Gardens, Coastal and Sountern Living, HGTV and of course, other bloggers websites. I have collected a few of my favorites here in this post. If you have a laundry room like mine, in need of a little help, these pictures might inspire you to add a little something to yours too.
Inspiration 1 ~

sweetpickinsfurniture.com

Recipe ~ Rum Balls

 Rum Ball Recipe
Rum balls...I promise, you can't eat just one.

Recipe ~ Apple Crisp

Even if you don't like apple crisp, just the smell in the house alone makes it worth making this recipe. It reminds me of home and the holidays. No scented candle in the world can reproduce this. In my opinion it tastes as great as it smells too.

The ingredients ~
Approx. 6 Granny Smith Apples
Approx. 1/2 cup sugar

Crumble mixture ~
1 stick butter softened
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Peal, core and slice apples. I use a corer to make it easy and then slice those pieces into thirds.
Put sliced apples into baking dish and sprinkle with the 1/2 cup sugar
Make the crumble mixture ~ add all of the ingredients together and mix with hand mixture. It will be crumbly :)

Note ~ If you have really large apples, you can double the crumble mixture. You can see in the picture the size that I was using and they were really large so I doubled it here and ended up having to use two baking dishes.

Sprinkle your mixture over the apples.

bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. You want the apples to not be too crispy but also not too soggy, so keep an eye on them in the oven. The thinner they're sliced, the more quickly they'll cook.

Serve while it's still hot and as Dolly Parton says, "...cut the sweetness with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream." From Steel Magnolias if you didn't get the reference and must be said with an extreme Southern drawl.

Hope you enjoy. More recipes to come next week so please join me and my mom. These recipes might have a little rum involved so you won't want to miss that!

Special thanks to my mom for letting me share the family recipes!!!

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A Christmas Decorating Recap, Indoors and Out

Just a quick recap of the last couple of weeks of Christmas decorating. Even though it's only a little over a week to Christmas, I'll probably tweek a few things because I just can't leave well enough alone. Are you like me in that way? Here's what we have going on at the Teer household so far...


The rustic front porch with grapevine, greenery, twinkle lights and deer.

December Fun

Well, we have been having a lot of fun lately and there have been many distractions to keep me from getting the tree up but it is finally finished. Before I show you my favorite details of the tree, I'll show you all of the fun things we've been up to...

Christmas Decorations at Mason Marcus

Well, it's that time of the year, when family gets together and I know when I get an invitation from my mother to get together at her house there will be some sort of decorating or party planning involved. Let's just say the apple does not fall far from the tree. Shopping and decorating are two of our favorite things. I wanted to share some pictures of her house and some of my favorite things.

Pretty Bird

How to make your turkey pretty

DIY Map Dresser

This is a dresser that was originally in my son's room. It was all white with round wooden knobs. I recently changed up his room to a baseball theme and with the addition of a new desk in there, I had to move this dresser. I had been wanting to do a project with mod podge on furniture and thought this would be a good opportunity. I knew that this would have to go in my guestroom and the inspiration in there is the coast, my home away from home. I had to have at least one room in my house that reflected my love for the beach and all things coastal. This was the perfect place, my "get away room." I went to our local marine store, West Marine and was so thrilled when I found some ship maps of the Gulf Coast near Port Aransas.

Make Your Own Bulletin Board

I had this old frame from Hobby Lobby that I was not using because I accidentally broke the glass. I decided to use it to make a custom bulletin board.

Window Shopping

We have been talking a lot about inspiration this past week so I would be remiss in not mentioning one place which incites my creativity like no other. Anthropologie. If you have never been to this retail store or at least never walked in to it, you are missing out. Their stunning award winning window displays are just a peak into what they have in store for you inside. The style of the store is everything from vintage antiques to modern industrial but even if you are not into that you can appreciate their mastery of display, their use of recycled products and repurposing of items. From cardboard animal trophy heads, to paperclip or yarn chandeliers, to polar bears made completely with shredded paper, no item is off limits. It makes me want to save everything. What can I do with these used tomato soup cans or these empty rolls of toilet paper? I think their "elves" could make the Taj Mahal out of those things. I have seen them take plastic water bottles and make them look like a blown glass floral vine reminiscent of Chihuly himself.

Creating Atmosphere Through Lighting

In order to create a successful room, you have to create atmosphere. One way to do that is through lighting. 

allthroughthelookingglass.tumblr.com

To get the best effect with lighting, use a combination of lights including overhead, lamp light, sconces and candles.

Where to Start?

Where to start? Get inspired!

Some of my inspirations: 



fabric

fresh flowers

lighting

places I love

color



beautiful objects

local flavor

I'm finding that starting a blog is a lot like decorating. One of the most difficult things is your starting point. If you're like me you like a lot of different styles and it's hard to pick just one. At the start of a project, I feel like a kid in a candy store especially with an empty canvas/room. Sometimes you just have to go for it. So here goes...

Put simply, I believe the best way to start a project is to get inspiration. You might get this from a picture in a magazine, an object that's special to you or maybe even a fabric or color that you just love or that speaks to you. Next, you need to know how a room functions and plan accordingly. This might seem obvious but if you really start thinking about it, function determines not only the items in the room but the layout and the scale of everything in it. If you start with those two things, the rest of the room should come together.

Some do's and don'ts of starting a project: DON'T feel like you have to do everything all at once.(I should take my own advice here.)Feeling like this can be so overwhelming that you might not even start. I love rooms that look like they have evolved over time. This does not mean ,however, that you don't need a plan. The worst mistakes that people make are buying things on impulse or buying things because they are a great deal. If you buy something make sure it not only goes with your plan but that you will love it for YEARS to come! To help with this, before you go shopping, have a list of items that you need with measurements and NEVER leave home without a tape measure! (or paint and fabric samples for that matter.)

Over the next few weeks I'd like to show some DIY projects and redecorating that I've done in my own home to hopefully give some inspiration if you're having trouble with that starting off point yourself. Of course, I'm not really sure where to start with that either but I'll save that problem for tomorrow. Yes, just call me Scarlett.