Decorating With Family

Today’s post will explain why there was no post yesterday.  We were helping my parents make-over their bedroom.  They live in middle-of-nowhere Iowa…aka the land of slower than dial-up internet.  We did make pretty good progress over the week-end.  Just not on the blog front. 

Here is my parents’ bedroom before we arrived.  It has been some form of this for the past 6 years.  You know, when they moved in.

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My love for decorating is hereditary.  Can you tell?

My mom wanted a cottage look and a “warm” feeling.  My dad wanted to spend $0.00 and I was repeatedly told that I was not to touch the trim.  Why?  Because I may have asked him approximately 1 million times if we could paint the trim white and he’s horribly opposed.  Old people.

Here’s how we ended the week-end…(We had some trouble photographing the room.  The below picture makes the room seem he-giant and the wall color is giving Nate fits in editing.  Amateurs.)

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Yes, Ike makes himself at home wherever he goes.  They are still waiting on white curtains.  The only size of curtains that they sell in the middle-of-nowhere is 84” which are not nearly tall enough.  They also need something above the bed.  I’m thinking a round mirror to balance out all of the square (I act like I know what I’m talking about). 

Everyone loves a good room breakdown so here it is.  The only thing we kept from the original room was the bed frame and mattress.  I did push hard for the bamboo sconces but they didn’t quite make the cut.

Wall Color:  Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams.  I like how this color changes throughout the day.  Sometimes greyish. Sometimes greenish. Sometimes blueish.

Bedding:  Purchased at TJMaxx. I don’t know the price or brand because Mom isn’t answering her texts. Get with it Mom. This is important stuff.

Headboard: Nate built it! (More details on that to come).  $50-$60

Nightstands: I taught my mom how to paint furniture and we got to work on the thrifted night stands. $18 and $15.  (Nightstands are hard to find.  I had a dream the night before we went looking for them that we finally found a matching pair after endless searching.  Some lady started yelling at me and I stepped away.  The nightstands then disappeared.) I inhale too much pill dust during the day.  We did not find a pair but they were very similar looking.  They were higher priced than I would normally pay but I get my patience from my mother and she wanted to complete this room.

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Lamps:  I found them at my local Salvation Army.  They were originally dark brown.  We painted them coral.  $6 for the pair of bases.  $12 for the pair of lamp shades. 

Dresser: My mom purchased this from a co-worker.  It was originally made by a family member of the co-worker.  I love furniture with a story.  Mom wanted a punch of color so we went with Sherwin Williams Coral Reef. $25.

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Floating shelves: Nate built the floating shelves thanks to easy to follow instructions from Ana White and Young House Love. $10 for the pair (there is a shelf on each side of the window).

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What did I learn about helping someone else decorate?   It was hard because I have definite likes and dislikes but I need to remember that everyone has different tastes and there isn’t one right answer when it comes to decorating.  But maybe a better answer. Mine. Overall, it was a fun project.  Especially because we didn’t have to fork over any money for a fun make-over.

Have you helped a family member tackle a big project?  How’d it go? 

Linking up: Remodelaholic

Game Day

Tomorrow is a big day in the state of Iowa. 

It’s the Iowa Hawkeyes versus the Iowa State Cyclones football game.  This game is huge because we live in Iowa and there is nothing better to do than argue over who is going to win a football game.

The casa de Decor and the Dog is rooting for the Hawkeyes.

Ike has his game day gear on already…Hawkeye bandana and collar.  He’s confident the Hawks will pull off a victory.

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We’ve been practicing our Hawkeye touchdown “high ten”…

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We asked Ike if he’d rather be a Cyclone fan or would he rather be dead?  This was his response…

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How are you spending your week-end?  Will you be watching football, teaching your dog funny tricks, or trying to get back the few minutes you spent reading this post? Go Hawks!

Two Out of Three

I decided this past week-end that I would use Pinterest for something other than a major time suck.  I decided to use it to help us meal plan.  We are not good meal planners during the summer.  There is always so much going on.  We don’t like to cook casseroles, pastas, etc. when it’s hot.  Oh yeah, and we’re lazy.

This past Sunday I got on Pinterest to start looking at all of the lovely recipes I had pinned. About 15 minutes later Nate asked me how my meal planning was going.  I asked if he thought a squirrel with spirit fingers was helpful…

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He told me that it was not helpful unless I planned to eat that squirrel.  It’s amazing he hasn’t filed for divorce.  And how could you eat a squirrel with such spirit?

I then redirected myself back to my recipes board and picked out a few recipes to purchase ingredients for.  Today I will review two meals and a dessert found on Pinterest.

Recipe #1: Slow Baked Mac & Cheese 

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We’ve had some pretty cool weather the past few days so we decided to bust out the ol’ Crock Pot.  This recipe looked delicious.  We, however, did not enjoy it.  The mac & cheese was very bland.  I am one of the world’s pickiest eaters so if I say something is bland…it’s bland.  The custard also curdled a little.  I’m thinking it’s because my noodles were too warm when I added them to the cold custard ingredients.  It didn’t curdle a lot and I don’t think that had any affect on the overall bland taste.

Ike, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the mac & cheese…

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(I made Nate eat this bowl because he was the bad parent photographing the dog instead of making him behave.  Ike isn’t allowed table food…unless Nate thinks it makes a funny picture.) 

We will be sticking with my grandma’s recipe for our Mac & Cheese needs.

Current score: 0-1

Recipe #2: Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie baked in a Cast Iron Skillet

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Nate has this weird obsession with cast iron cookware.  I won’t argue though because this cookie was one of the most wonderfully delicious cookies I have ever eaten.  I would suggest you buy a cast iron skillet solely to make this cookie in.  Just the right amount of crisp to soft cookie ratio. 

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Current score: 1-2

Recipe #3: Ranch House Pork Chops

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We are suckers for comfort food.  It’s a really good thing that we decided to take up running.  I think. 

Nate and I both really liked this recipe.  We will be making it again.  We used instant mashed potatoes instead of making them from scratch.  (Yes, Mom.  I know this bothers you.  I apologize.)  The recipe called for 1 can of cream of chicken soup and 1 packet of dry ranch dressing.  I took the advice from some of the comments and used 2 cans of soup with 1 ranch packet and threw it in the Crock pot with some pork chops.  Supper was served 6 hours later.  Super easy and tasty.  (Side note #1: I didn’t take pictures of this because I think pictures of meat are disgusting.  Even the one above.  Side note #2: don’t eat the leftovers before running. Uggg.)

Current score: 2-3

Pretty decent odds Pinterest!

Have you tried any of those yummy looking recipes from Pinterest?  Any luck?  Do share!