Pinspiration: Home Basics

I have found a site that replaces Facebook in useless creative time consumption.

I've mentioned Pintrest before and my home design posts would be a loss without this fabulous discovery.  For those of you that have not joined the Pintrest craze, Pintrest is a virtual pin board that lets you save ideas in one easy to navigate location.  It's the clean, clutter free, organized, categorized rendition of cutting pictures from magazines and pinning them to a cork board.  Awesome for Type A personalities like myself.  See a living room you love on HGTV.com, Pin it.  See a cake recipe that would be perfect for your son'a birthday party in a few months, Pin it.  See a way to make a DIY version of the wreath you saw at Pottery Barn,  Pin it.  It saves a picture from the site and links you directly to the page where you found the amazing idea.  You can even follow friends ideas to enhance your creativity.  Pin it and refer back to it.

I have boards from Living Room to Bathrooms, Recipes to Kiddo.  I even got my husband on the bandwagon as he frequently finds items to Pin to my account.  It has made our anal-retentive power point presentation a cinch to organize and a way to share and criticize discuss ideas with one another.

Our trip to the design center in just over a week will consist of picking out the flooring, tiles, cabinetry, ect. Here are some examples we're using to show so that we can help narrow down our ideas and decide what we can do with what they have to offer.  Makes an otherwise overwhelming situation so simple!

Floors and Paint:

Still deciding on carpet for master and upstairs as well as tile for entry, kitchen, bathrooms, and utility

Floors from Lyptus.com, Color Pallet from Sherwin Williams, Bathroom with color example from HGTV.com

Kitchen

Clockswise from Upper Left: Kitchen with Vent Hood from HGTV.com, Kichen Layout by Beau Ellenbecker, Tile Selction from HGTV Green Home, Granite color idea from Google Images

Fun Accents

Stairwell concept from, you guessed it, HGTV Green Home.  Rock Wall Fireplace with Floating Mantel, houzz.com

Master Bath

Clockwise from Upper Left: HGTV Green Home Bathroom, Plush Hemisphere, HGTV Contemporary Bath, HGTV Remodels

Additional Bathrooms

Bathrooms Houzz.com

Modern Nature vs Modern Texopean

Regardless of which part of the country you reside in, you usually have a preference for a particular style of home even if you would never see it in your town let alone your neighborhood.  A red brick colonial adorned with forest green shutters, a cozy cape cod retreat overlooking a quiet New England sea side, or minimalist Frank Lloyd Wright naturally tucked into its surroundings.  Reality sets in with home associations, materials available, architecture preference amongst other set backs.

I'm not "against" Texas architecture but I can tell you that the rustic stone and brick with messy mortar combo never made my top 10 list of dream homes.  However, while we get to pick our stone color and brick combination, we don't have too much control to alter the face of the home.  The homes aren't cookie cutter by any means and do have a variance of architecture with the three builders in the neighborhood but a stark modern with smooth concrete and large open windows wouldn't really flow even if we did have the luxury of building it.  Thus the challenge has been, how do we make our home unique, reflecting our style, but not stick out like a sore thumb?

Well, we came up with two completely different ideas that we will present to the architect and see what our options are.

Idea 1: Modern Nature
I shared with your before that I am convinced that the 2011 HGTV Green Home was made with me and my husband in mind.  Since I didn't win that home and am not moving to Stapleton, CO anytime soon, I'm using this an an influence for design ideas inside and out.

What I love about this home is how it is subtly modern.  Its warm and welcoming and is re-imagined from the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Style Home.  It uses natural materials that meld nicely into its environment.

This uses a black brick with dark grey mortar, Sherwin Williams "Warm Stone" siding, and a smooth cream stone.  Windows are outlined in the matching tan siding as well.  The design is simple and not too out there.

Of course, we can't change the shape of our home and not sure if an overhang will fit in with the home association codes.  While I love the black brick choice, it wouldn't be an energy efficient option in the Texas summers and it wouldn't be an eco friendly option as that color choice is not offered in the area.

So, we found this as another alternative to the Modern Nature Appeal

Again, warm color and a simple facade.  We still have the squared off roof line in this example but I thought this idea might be easier imagined than the HGTV one.  We would need to find a brick that matches the smooth concrete option and outline the windows and doors with a darker color.  Yes, it's a stretch but I can't break away from this look.

Idea 2: Modern Texopean


While walking the streets of Paris with Beau in October, I couldn't help but admire the beautiful architecture.  The wrought iron balconies, coining on the sides, outlined windows in thick scalloped cement, and bright colored doors welcoming it's visitors.  This is where we really set off on our brain storming.  We considered a Mediterranean style before but not this elegant Parisian look.  Is there away to incorporate a European essence into our Texas home but still have my modern appeal to it?  On our last day we were touring the Montmartre District and came across this building

A modernized version of European architecture at it's finest.  The coloring was perfect as well.  Still wouldn't fit into our neighborhood so we were trying to figure out a way to Texanize it.

Once we got home, I found this picture in a real estate guide utilizing the architecture idea with a Texas spin,  Instead of smooth concrete coining, it uses rough stone.  Of course this is too traditional for my taste (the pool would be nice,).

Using the site from another builder we were thinking of going with, Meritage Homes, I found this example using the window balcony and the white stone lining the bottom of the home and adding an accent pillar in the middle column.

Using these three examples, my husband coined the phrase Modern Texopean and rendered the house plan exterior to look like this.

 In black is the where the white stone would be.  The bright blue would be a smooth concrete surround, and the door in a cobalt blue because how awesome would it be to have a bright blue door.  We did have a rough stone coining along the sides in our first sketch but we both were drawn to the middle pillar adorned in stone instead.

We plan on using a white stone and a grey brick with a dark trim.  Using Acme Brick's website we found this idea that we'll share with the architect.  Bonus is the brick choice is made in the area so adding to our Greenish concept.

Both very different ideas that would be amazing come home to, but then again, even if we don't have much control over the exterior, the interior is where we can get fun.  More on that to come.  

Dream House Countdown

Have you ever been so excited about something that it was difficult to focus on anything else.  Since August, my husband and I have been trying to take years of brainstorming, idea sharing, and plain old day dreaming and narrow it down into a concise Power Point Presentation so that we can begin building our dream home.

The last time I wrote about this in Going Green...ish we were about to head to Texas and pick out a lot to build on.  Well, what we thought we be as simple as putting down a non refundable deposit to secure until we could start construction in February, it turned out to be a whirlwind, anxiety ridden, head ache of a situation.  Here is a simple synopsis of a not so simple situation. 

We already had a home design picked out through Drees Homes called the Jacobson.  We found a lot that we loved that happened to be on a small lake (morning cup of coffee with a view anyone?).  Lake lot had a premium making the combination of the lot and home more than we budgeted for (still affordable but more than we wanted to spend).  We decided to put in an offer anyway and bid low.  During the negotiation process, our Market Manager discovered that the floor plan we wanted to build was no longer available unbeknownst to him.  We could still build on that lot but with a different floor plan (I was learning all of this while Beau was touring a clinic and unreachable, major stress factor).  Got a call 10 minutes later and learned that they will make an exception, build the Jacobson on that lot but it would be at a non negotiable price which was lower than the full price but still higher than we wanted to spend.  Because we were leaving the country the following day (that a normal situation, right), we needed to make the decision relatively soon, like in the next few hours.  Fast forward through a quick reevaluation of our options, looking at another builder, ruining my nieces cupcakes, and experiencing full fledged anxiety, we ended up negotiating on the non negotiable price because what did we have to lose.  They agreed on our price if we added a 90 day Contingency agreement that essentially said if anyone wanted to buy our lot (even with the sold sign on it) we would get our deposit back and be back to square one.  

Yes, that was the simplified version.  Because of the 90 day contingency agreement, I was superstitious to write about designing the house until we were certain what house it would be.  Then the holidays rolled around and my SimplyE3Design took a little vacation.  Regardless, I'm excited to get back to blogging and share with you the process.

In two weeks we will be heading back to good ol' Roanoke to meet at the design center to pick out the brick and stone, cabinetry, floors, tiles, as well as our few modifications.  I thought I would spend the time leading up sharing with you some of our ideas.   Thank you Pinterest for hours spent searching your site for the perfect examples.  I would also love feedback for a few of the rooms but we'll get to that later.  

For now, here is our "clean slate" home elevation and floor plan.  Can't you just see the potential?!

Jacobson By Drees Homes

Elevation A

1st Floor

2nd Floor

Weeknight Indian

There are two things in the culinary world that I can't live without; my slow cooker and Indian food.  Well okay, that was horribly cliche and not really true, but you get the point.

Before kids, one of my favorite past times with my husband was to order take out Indian from the local restaurant, grab a bottle of red, and watch episode after episode of LOST.  I can't watch that series now without craving Chicken Tikka Masala.  Indian was also my only craving during my pregnancy with my son which resulted in me Googling restaurants in all of the areas I would be temporarily living in during our 3 month move from Hawaii to Germany.  I had to make sure my ground was covered just in case a late night craving hit.  It came as no surprise that my son gobbled up his plate the first time we went to an Indian buffet when he was a year old.

Last Febuary, I had the great opportunity to take an Indian Cooking Class through Cook Curry.  In a small group,we learned about the 5 main spices of Indian cooking,  experienced a little bit of culture through wedding photos, Bollywood music and movies, and we even got to dress in an authentic Indian saree.   Along with that we  learned first hand the entire process of how to make a delicious meal.  Best of all we got to eat this amazing 3 course meal with new friends and for only about 30euro.

While I have made these recipes a couple of times since taking the class it required me two days of prep (homemade paneer requires a bit of patience and time) and a full day of childcare on my husbands part.  The process was more meticulous and time consuming than I would care for on a typical night.  So while the meal I replicated at home was really really good, I was almost too exhausted to truly enjoy it.  It will take some practice but until it becomes second nature on my part, I've been searching the Internet world for a quick and inexpensive way to get my fix.  Hence the slow cooker.

I am a big fan of the slow cooker.  A friend encouraged me to pull this out of the back of my pantry when I had my son and cooking was the last thing on my mind.  I was able to prep meals within 30 minutes during his nap and be done with it.  An awesome concept for any sleep deprived momma or really busy momma.  When I don't have time, energy, or desire to cook, this is typically how I feed my family.  My favorite site is A Year of Slow Cooking but I've also found some great recipes on Pintrest.  I'm sure it helps that this retro cooking device is coming back in vogue.

Now, I've tried a few Indian recipes in the slow cooker but they've been a bit of a disappointment.  I'm expecting it to be restaurant or semi authentic tasting but it tastes more like the dumb down version it really is.  I was ecstatic to find a recipe that was actually good.   I mean so good that I had to share.  I even whipped a yummy, very easy Indian spiced side dish.  After seeing an episode of Dr. Oz and reading multiple articles on the subject, I wanted to add more turmeric (which is a common ingredient in Indian dishes) to our diet and this was a great opportunity to experiment.  I'll leave the health benefits FAQs to the pros but you can read more on turmeric here. 

So, here is my weeknight Indian Meal.  Grab a bottle of your favorite red, pop in an episode of LOST and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken 

(adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking)

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, chopped

4 inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
4 tbsp butter
15 cardamom pods (sewn together!)
2 tsp curry
1 tsp cayenne pepper 

3 tsp garam masala 

1 can coconut milk
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 T lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt

Salt to taste

Corn Starch for Thickener if needed

The Directions

Pre Prep: 

Sautee onion, garlic, and ginger in about 2 tbsp olive oil until onions are almost translucent.  Add spices and sautee for about a minute more.  Add coconut milk, lemon juice and tomato paste and stir until smooth.  

Place chicken thighs in bottom of slow cooker and cover with the sauce.  Place in refrigerator over night or cook right away.

Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-5.  Tweak spices accordingly, shred chicken with two forks and discard cardamom pods.  Add yogurt and cornstarch if desired 15 minutes before serving.

Turmeric Spiced Veggies

2 tbsp roughly Turmeric 

1/2 container of button mushrooms sliced

1 eggplant, chopped in 1 inch cubes and pre salted

1 zucchini, chopped into 1 inch cubes

small head of cauliflower chopped

2-3 tomatoes

1 15oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

Directions

Begin sauteing mushrooms in olive oil on medium high heat.  In a large bowl, coat zucchini, eggplant, and cauliflower in olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and turmeric.  Once mushrooms begin to brown, add prepared veggies.  Cook until tender.  Add chickpeas and tomatoes and heat until warmed.

Serve meal with basmati rice and buttered naan or pita bread.

 

The Huber Family

I am lucky to have some pretty awesome friends here in Germany and Ms. Dena Huber is among my favs.  We met 1 1/2 years ago at PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel bible study) and I was immediately drawn to her fun charisma and tell it like it is personality.  It was a refreshing dose of reality which I was desperately needing at a time where I was trying to figure out where I fit in as a new mom on a new base in a new country.

Despite the fact that we have boys around the same age, it took a good few months to finally ease into a friendship.  Promised get togethers, canceled play-dates,  or life just getting in the way, we tested the waters before we settled into one of my best friendships on this side of the world.  Our sons seemed to share a parallel friendship and like us,  took awhile to be the best pals they are now.  Jack is like Dena, a little more talkative, carefree, and energetic while Jude and I are listeners, regimented, and reserved.  I like to think we bring out the best in each other. 

Dena's husband Kevin, is one of the sweetest guys you will every met.  He's more quiet than Dena but you can see how wonderfully their differences work to maintain a great marriage.  They are both fantastic parents to Jack and to their newest addition Audrey who is a perfect addition to a pretty fabulous family.

I had the pleasure of taking newborn photos of her a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised with the results of the impromptu session.  A couple of weeks after that I was even morre excited with I was asked to take photos of the entire bunch.  I pretty much ran a mile chasing Jack to capture his energetic personality, adored moments between mother/son and daddy/daughter, and caught some beautiful moments between a couple who love each other as much as they love their children.

Dena, you are a wonderful friend and mother.  Thank you so much for letting me share this moment in time with you. 

Without further ado, The Huber Family:

Simply Baking Disasters

The past few posts I've shared have been, as my husband has described, tooting my own horn.  Yes I am proud of my accomplishments and excited about my new hobbies, however, I don't want to come off as someone who always has my $#*! together.  Guess what readers, I am not perfect.  Gasp!  Shocking, right?!  It's a wonderful thing about the online world.  You can filter yourself so that people have a certain perception of you.  Well, you'll rarely hear me use this phrase in person (I'm just not that cool), but my online ego wants to say today "I'm keeping it real".

Why did I decide to come out of my "Martha Stewart" shell today?  Well, because Ladies and Gentlemen, I have had not one, not two, but THREE baking disasters....in.a.row.  That is NOT a good thing.   Oh, and these were not labor intensive, crazy difficult, having to search the corners of the earth for the best ingredients desserts.  No, these were 2 child proof (with adult supervision) recipes and 1 box cake mix.  Yes, only two  months after I shared my new found passion of cake decorating in Simply Beautiful Cakes and shared a fabulous recipe in Raspberry with Champagne Cupcakes I have been humbled enough to realize that yes, I am still going to make mistakes.  Instead of hiding behind them, I am going to share them with you.  Hopefully in turn, it will encourage you to continue pushing on with what ever hobby you are trying to embark on because as the old adage goes, practice makes perfect. 

Baking Disaster #1

 

Looks can be certainly be deceiving.  I made these "beauties" for my niece's 5th birthday party, which also happened to fall on one of the most stressful days of my life.  Apparently, I am not cut out to be an emotional baker and should stay away from the oven while in the process of hearing back about a business agreement (aka Dream House).  The baking powder may have been a bit dated but regardless, my Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes tasted a bit more like muffins.  Thankfully, 5 year olds only care about the  frosting..which was delish.

Baking Disaster #2

My friend and I wanted to throw our neighbor a baby shower.  My friend arranged it, hosted it, and prepared the dinner.  I was in charge of the cake.  I made strawberry cake (from a box) and made a strawberry butter cream frosting.  I didn't account for an unseasonably warm weekend unfortunately which resulted in the icing all over the counter. They tasted great, the guests were understanding, and if I learned anything from this "experiment" it was that wine glasses turned over make fantastic cupcake stands.

Baking Disaster #3

 My little family and I went apple picking last weekend.  As usual with apple picking, you get all caught up in the fun of it but are then left will all of these apples that you have to do something with.  Today I had my friend's two year old daughter Sarah over for the day and she loves baking.  I thought it was only appropriate to turn those apples into something extra delicious.  Apple Muffins were in our game plan for the day.  Yesterday I made apple sauce that was extra sweet so I thought it would make a great substitute for oil and sugar to make our treats a little healthier.  I should have known something was off when it looked more like dough than batter.  My two two year old helpers and I were left with what I can only describe as Apple Biscuits. The cupcake liner clung to these dry little suckers.  My helpers seemed to enjoy them as they gobbled down 1 1/2 for dessert.  I did have to smile as Sarah (the articulate child she is) began recalling all of the ingredients that are supposed to go into muffins to make sure we didn't forget anything.  I guess she was as confused as I was at our creation.  Jude, didn't really seem to notice....

So there you have it.  I am not perfect.  You know who else isn't perfect, my husband.  Although he does come close at times and this amazing Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cherry Filling topped with Dark Chocolate Shavings he made me for my birthday was indeed perfection.  Apparently we can only have one decent baker in the house at a time and this month, he took the cake. 

Polite Society

I’m excited to announce that I can add freelance writing my list of new found hobbies.  In all irony, this month’s issue of Polite Society is on "Time", and considering this crazy energy of creativity I've been wanting to engage, the timing couldn’t have been better to have been asked to contribute to this fabulous lifestyle magazine.  

I was introduced to Polite Society about a year ago by the famed Jessica Ceason of Jessica Ceason Photography (check her out, especially if you are in the Washington State area).  She was named Lead Photographer for the magazine and was using some of her photos of clients to be added into a few issues.  I was beyond flattered when she wanted to take a few more of me for specific articles (what girl doesn’t like to play model for a day).  

 A couple of months ago, the theme being "Treasure", readers were asked what was our most treasured item was when we were young.   I was immediately drawn to walking down memory lane to write about Mr. Doggy, my favorite childhood companion.  Here’s an excerpt on what I wrote:

"Mr. Doggy" was my friend and a part of my nightly ritual for years. He's surpassed countless other toys and stuffed animals and has been with me through overnight camp, my new home in Iowa in 8th grade, and through my first year away at college. He's comforted me during family trials, fights with friends, break ups with boyfriends, loss of family pets, grandparents, and the loss of my brother in my early 20s.

Being the perfectionist I am, I submitted my comment, and then resubmitted it an hour later after I noticed some errors in my writing.  While I thought this would have made me seem flaky, I was pleased when one of the editors, Christy, wrote me back a few weeks later saying she appreciated the fact that I took the time to compose my answer.  She then asked if I would be interested in writing a few articles from time to time.  I am beyond ecstatic to add to my creative energy that’s taken place these past few months.

The issue was to be about Time, I scrolled down to the few topics still needed to be filled and my eyes landed on Culinary Fare.  Writing about food (specifically fall food) and revolving it around the central theme was more than doable.   Most of my fondest memories involve sitting around a table chatting with dear friends.  Even the last piece I wrote was on that very subject.  I was able to incorporate my love of cooking and photography into one piece that I’m not only proud of but also something that I’ll forever hold dear to my heart due to the very nature of the article.  

I hope you take the time to brew some tea (or grab a glass of wine), register on the site (for free) and skim through this wonderful magazine.  My article can be found under Culinary Fare but there is so much you are sure to enjoy.   

Without further ado Polite Society