Have You Ever Wanted a Kitchen Booth Eating Nook? :-)

Hey Friends!

In the house I grew up in, we had a BOOTH breakfast nook.  Yep, it was like a cute little diner for all our breakfasts and homework assignments!

I think it's a great use of kitchen space and wanted to show you some fantastic examples of built in kitchen or eating table areas:-)

Indulgy

Ah, Seaside Paradise!

beautifullyseaside

You can really save space if you plan it out right!

BHG

Hydrangeas make any home decor look special :-)

thebudgetdecorator

Just add a bench under the kitchen window and away you go!  Love the black white and green color scheme.

This red one below reminds me a lot of my eating area growing up....it was right in the kitchen.

You can just create built in seats under a window for a perfect eating area!

I love coral and turquoise against a white backdrop. 

This table set up below could fit at least 10!  I like it :-)

indulgy.com

What a great vignette - the wood beam ceiling is very cool!

I love the knotted wood floor and that dark wooden table is LOVELY!!

nehomemag

The view is just an extra - hee, hee.

I might not eat a LONG time at this table (doesn't look super comfy!) but it sure looks elegant!

traditional home

OK, maybe this one reminds me most of the one I "grew up" in :-)

All to say though, I really like kitchen eating nooks :-)

BHG

What are your thoughts??  

Would you dislike having a "shared seat" or having to scoot in and out?  Or does the space saving coziness make a kitchen eating nook alluring for you?

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DIY HOT PINK and BLACK ZEBRA STRIPED Birthday Cake!

Well my friends,

I suppose it didn't surprise me when this little munchkin asked me to make her a hot pink and black zebra cake for her birthday :-)

(Yes, she made this entire "cat" outfit herself!)

At first I was a little overwhelmed as I thought the only way to make a cake like that would be to use fondant and I didn't really feel like trying to figure out STRIPES! :-)

Thankfully, Michael's craft store came to my rescue and I found this Duff Edible Decorating Paper - Animal Prints on sale for 9.00

The edible paper along with some Betty Crocker pink icing, Duncan Hines frosting and Wilson's zebra candy hearts I was SET!!!!  WOOO WHOOOO!!!!

I think she really liked it :-)

I used an 8" cake pan and a Pyrex glass bowl that was about 5" wide.  

I had to cut the edible papers a little thinner to accommodate the cake but it was SUPER EASY!  (I think it was not as thick because I only used ONE box for the two cakes.)

I just frosted it up, put on the paper, use the easy pre-made pink icing tube and laid on the hearts! 

Overall the entire cake cost me around $19.00 :-)  

There you have it!  

If you want to see more EASY birthday cake ideas check out my other postings :-)

KitKat and M&M cake

Have a GREAT weekend my friends!  

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Henna Tattoo FUN! A Great teenage PARTY idea.

Hey Friends!

This next little project would be fun for a girl of ANY age .  Yes, even a girl in her, ahem, 30's would love it ;-)

I could totally see a teenage girl party having a BLAST with this stuff!

My daughter bought some henna and the next thing I knew, I was making pretty designs on her arm :-)  (Obviously, when you are a teenager, you do NOT like your picture taken I guess!)

Henna just put on.....

After the henna dried and was "picked" off :-)

The great thing about henna is it's all natural (plant based) and it just lightly stains the skin.  It will last about a week.  This is the same henna as some people use in their hair.

(And yes, when you are 8, you LOVE your picture taken! I had about 10 different little poses of her but to her dislike, I only put ONE on here)  :-)

NOW for the run down on how to do this yourself! 

After a bit of research we decided on this henna powder .  It was a great price and seemed like good quality.

If we wanted nice tools to apply the henna I would have bought this 

Precision Applicator Kit

BUT my daughter was using her own money and decided to use a plastic cake decorating bag with the smallest holed metal tip inside. (You can also just snip off the tip of the plastic decorating bag and begin your work too, in fact, we almost liked it that way better!)  The tip isn't as small as the Amazon precision tips but it still does the job.

Out of curiosity, does having my DOG in the picture make the henna bag look classier? ;-)

She used Henna Guru's "non fail" henna recipe but my daughter HALVED it as she knew she wouldn't need a lot.  (It still made quite a bit! She could have made at least 5 large detailed designs with it.)

The recipe basically is just:

Henna Powder

Tea Tree Oil

Water 

Sugar

(This needs to sit at least 1 hour in refrigerator before applying)

You can find an ABUNDANCE of amazing henna designs off Pinterest to use as a reference.  When you apply it, it goes on thick and forms a rope/line on the skin.  Once the design is applied, you just let it dry.  The longer it stays on, the darker the stain will be.  My eldest let hers stay on overnight before "picking" off the hardened henna.  (She put her hand in a plastic glove so she wouldn't get it on her bedding.)

My youngest let hers stay on for maybe 30 minutes before picking it off. (hee,hee)

It was a lighter stain.

Here she is in the process of picking off the dried henna.

And the LOVELY final product :-)

You could pair this Henna Tattooing with making Bali Sandals for a fun East Indian THEMED party!

OneCharmingParty.com

What do you think!!???  Wouldn't this be a fun thing to do at a party!?!  Pin this for future reference :-)

I'd be up for it :-)

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Family Fun in North Idaho!

Hey Friends!

I thought a quick little SUMMER ADVENTURE update would be fun :-)

We started it off with a camping trip which of course included FISHING!

Our new little puppy LOVED the great outdoors as much as we did :-)

The following week my sister and her family came up and we hit Mt. Schweitzer's hiking trails.  By the end of the hike, my youngest was SURE she was going to die and said the hike was her "worst nightmare ever".  SIGH :-) At least my son LOVED it!

The next day we hit Silverwood amusement park.  My youngest spent HOURS in the "Crazy River"  (hee,hee....I had to tell her that it was the LAZY river, not crazy river......I don't think she viewed it as a lot of fun after that.)

Talking about CRAZY though.....the older kids went on these rides.  One year I took my sister on the upside down roller coaster and she has YET to forgive me :-)

They have the best ice cream there!  Here is my youngest "kinda" sharing her ice cream with her cousin. :-)

We aren't done with the camping/hiking - if I miss a Friday post you'll have to forgive me as I will be off electronics while on vacation! :-)

How's your summer going?  Any fun trips planned?

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Making Pet Accessories Blend in With Your Home Decor

Hey Friends!

So, if you missed the post that we got a new cock-a-mutt puppy, you'll have to check her out. :-)

As an interior designer I run into quite a frustration trying to disguise all their pet THINGS to look like they are a part of the house!  I can't just have tacky dog bowls in the middle of our kitchen floor - right?  hee,hee.

 I solved the issue with our FIRST dog by simply thinking ahead while we were building our new home.  We had an empty wall space that I asked for a "cut out" for his dog dishes - VIOLA, a simple yet very efficient fix!

Aged Copper Tuscan Looking Dog Bowls!



BTW, this is on a big sale on Amazon right now, I paid more than double that price for mine (sigh, oh well)

Honestly, I NEVER thought we would own a 2nd dog but it happened.  (We had good reason, I'd just have to have you over for coffee to explain it all - ha!) 

So the search began to have yet another set of dog dishes camouflaged within the look of this Northwest Tuscan inspired home :-)

I ended up with these and put them in the corner, out of the way of traffic.

Unleashed Life Raised Dog Bowl

Actually, you can see lots of unique dog bowls from that company!  

This RED bowl could fit in so well in a kitchen something like this one!

See how FUN this making pet accessories blend in with your home can be?!  hahaha!


Maybe you love antiques and have a more farmhouse theme.....

This DIY chair food holder is super cute!  Couldn't you just see these set of chairs fitting in perfectly in the laundry room above!

ALMOST makes all you NON pet people want a pet - right?  (hee, hee)

Now moving on to DOG CRATES!

Wow, those flimsy plastic things can be SO expensive!  It doesn't surprise me at all that Pinterest is FULL of DIY end table/dog crate ideas.  You could probably have a carpenter friend make you one for around the same price as buying the plastic ones from Petco. (Or make it yourself for less and have it prettier than the plastic ones!)

Ana White posted the DIY how to on this dog crate - she said it is HUGE and cost her under 40 bucks!

Here it is shown stained and monogrammed by someone who used her plan. 

Gorgeous - huh!

Nathan used wire instead of the wood slats on Ana's Design.  He gives you full dog crate instructions also. 

You could also remove the front panel of an already made night stand and add a wire mesh as the crate door!

Do you have empty space under your stairs? How about putting your dog area there!

stylecrafthomes

It's always nice to have a specific place a dog can go when they want to "escape" from kids, company or annoying little puppies :-)

Save these ideas for the next time you build your own home!  They just require some planning ahead but the cost is probably almost the same :-)

Whatcha think of all these ideas?!!!  

Tell me your thoughts! :-)

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Amazon Affiliate Links Special thanks to Christina K for coming up with this post idea.