Furniture on a budget?

I realize I have been a terrible blogger over the last two years, but I was mostly focused on being pregnant and having a baby.  So now that he's 9 months old - and I've mastered this whole mom thing I guess I can start posting to my blog again.  As an update, we sold our house in just one day!  We already found a cute three bedroom apartment in Evanston and move in about a month.  Pretty crazy - life is moving very fast these days.

I'm already trying to lay out furniture in my new place and frustrating my husband with conversation upon conversation of where will we fit the TV cabinet?  or do you think the Baker's rack will look good in the kitchen?

The place is quite a bit bigger than our condo - thank goodness!  This means I need to purchase some new furniture, but babies are expensive so I'm trying to be budget conscious.  So I thought I would share with you some of my favorite budget friendly shopping spots.

www.furnishly.com
This awesome website provides links to local resale, consignment, small custom furniture makers and furniture refinishing shops.  You can search by product type (i.e. dining table) or simply browse the selections of each store.  It's like antiquing from your couch -so much more relaxing than traipsing from store to store.

One of my favorite stores listed on Furnishly is Millionaire Rejects, which offers cast off designer home goods at GREAT prices.  I also really liked Rustic Elements, which is a small custom furniture maker that creates beautiful dining room tables and chairs.



Another one of my favorite resale shops is Barrington Resale.  You can also find the majority of their inventory online (although prices aren't shown).  I bought the banquette in my dining room from here for just $200.  I then painted it white and added doors at the bottom for a custom storage piece. I currently have my eye on a couple of the trunks and dressers featured on their website (so I call dibs).



Broadway Antiques (http://bamchicago.com/)doesn't exactly fit my current budget, but I LOVE their selection of mid-century modern antiques.  These are the REAL deal and would be classic investment pieces.  Again, the majority of their furniture inventory is available for viewing online.  I'm obsessed with the Edward Wormley caned armchairs featured on their website, but $1,200 is certainly no bargain.

I suppose I should stop fantasizing about all the furniture I want to buy, and focus instead on getting our house all packed up!

For Sale

We've decided to list our place for sale.  So in order to do so, we ended up getting professional photos taken.  I've long been berated for never posting pics of the finished kitchen - so here you go blog friends!

And if you know of anyone looking for a 2 BR condo in Lakeview - tell them to email me!!!

We are almost done!

And I'm so glad because I think if the renovations had gone on for much longer Andrew would have moved into a hotel. He was so over living in a disaster zone! I guess I'm used to it - in my life every home I've ever lived in has been gutted and rehabbed. You see, my parents are addicted to renovations. 9 years ago my Mom came home from work one day and announced - "I found it!". She said she found the perfect house and the best part about it, she convinced my Dad, is that we won't have to do a thing to it - its perfect just as it is. Well after new windows, a new roof, a new kitchen, new bathrooms, and a relandscaped backyard the house is now actually perfect. Lest you think my Mom duped my Dad into buying a house that was far from perfect, this wasn't his first rodeo. My parents have renovated every home they've ever lived in, excluding the home my Dad designed and built himself (kinda just like one big renovation).

I was actually born into a renovation, because shortly after my birth, my parents decided to gut their entire house including the kitchen and bathrooms! I've slept on a concrete floor in a sleeping bag due to the fact that the carpeting wasn't yet installed. And I'm familiar with the many different shades of white as my parents tried and tested every possible one. You would think after painting every home we ever lived in off white they would have arrived on the perfect shade, however each time we ended up examining dozens of paint swatches and once the painter had to repaint an entire room because it just wasn't quite right.

Lest you think I'm being cruel to my wonderful parents, I have to confess that I too am addicted to home renovations. Poor Andrew had no idea what he was in for, but after all new windows, new HVAC, a new bathroom, new kitchen, and 18 different shades of beige he's coming to realize I have a problem. However I think now that the kitchen is nearly complete we are finally done with this house. If I'm anything like my parents though - we'll move again in about 3 years and start it all over again. Poor guy!

I don't want to rob all my readers of the joys of the big reveal, so until everything is completely done in the kitchen I'm going to show just a few tidbits.

The Cabinets after they first went in...


Our new Penninsula

I'm feeling so much more organized and together now that the kitchen is basically functional. All that's left to do is install the pendant lights (FYI we decided on the Celeste) and the backsplash. Once its all done I promise to post complete pics! After this, I'm going to have to come up with some other renovation projects. If you have any ideas let me know.

Cabinets are going in!

Cannot wait to show you photos, but the cabinets are going in as we speak! They don't have any doors, but I'm already OBSESSED! I'll post some in progress pics later tonight.

The Kitchen Reno Continues

This weekend was incredibly busy. Our drywall contractor arrived at 8 am Saturday morning to begin drywalling. There was a lot of patching to do due to our electrical changes and we also decided to cover up a window which you can see in the left corner of this image. The window looked out on our back patio which is dark and dreary and nothing nice to look at. Rather than incur the cost to remove the window, we decided to simply cover it with drywall.

Our kitchen before

The Window wall after being covered with drywall

We purchased a vinyl window shade and adhered it to the inside of the window. This way, when you look at the window from the outside it will look like a normal window with the shades drawn. The drywall installers then placed studs within the window frame as well as some insulation, topping it all off with drywall. They did a wonderful job and worked so hard! Our cabinet installer will come on Wednesday to install the cabinets. Slowly, but surely we are making progress!

Andrew and I spent the majority of the weekend picking out paint colors. A long time ago I purchased Benjamin Moore Paint deck which has proved invaluable. There are hundreds of colors to choose from, however I always seem to come back to the Historic Colors as they are classic and gorgeous.

For our living room and hallway we chose: Manchester Tan or Benjamin Moore HC-81. It's a cool light beige.

For our kitchen we chose: Revere Pewter or Benjamin Moore HC-172.

'
For our bedroom we chose: Grant Beige or Benjamin Moore HC-83.



Although Benjamin Moore recommends using their paints for their colors, both Home Depot or Lowes can match their colors. Lowes carries Valspar, and our painter friend Trevor recommends their signature paint and primer in one paint, which costs $15 less than a gallon of Benjamin Moore. We painted the kitchen tonight and the paint worked well and covered great.

Hardware

So my friend Kelli brought up a good point. Its hard to pick a pendant when you don't know the other finishes in the kitchen, most importantly the hardware. So below are pictures of the handles and knobs we picked for the cabinets. Andrew and I are probably going to have to install these ourselves which will be interesting.

G.W. Aldeen

You may not know this about me, but cabinet hardware holds a special place in my heart. Not just because its the "jewelry" of home design, but because my great-grandfather started one of the largest American hardware companies. Its called Amerock, and I've made it a rule to use their hardware exclusively! My Great-Grandfather G.W. Aldeen immigrated to the states directly from Sweden. He possessed a creative and inventive mind and after working at a door and lock company, him and his brother Reuben started their own company. It is believed to be the first company dedicated completely to making cabinet hardware. Amerock was founded in the fall of 1929, just mere months before the great stockmarket crash of '29, however despite in spite of this the company had great success. The company was sold in the '70's and is currently owned by the same parent company that owns Rubbermaid. It's always astounding to me that my Great-Grandfather came to America with only $25 in his pocket and was able to learn English and start an extremely successful company in his lifetime. Should it interest you, you can read more about Amerock here.

Below are pictures of the hardware I chose:

Drawer pulls

Cabinet Knobs

Need your help!

I cannot decide which pendant lights to hang over the penninsula. We are going for a "transitional" look which combines both traditional and contemporary elements. I'm thinking a satin nickel or polished nickel finish would work best. Here are the options I'm currently considering. Give me your vote!

The Kenroy Pendant

The Savoy Pendant

Celeste Pendant

Kitchen Renovation

Well its begun. The kitchen renovation is finally here! I am so excited to tell you all about it. So in late September my husband and father in law came through again to handle the demolition. The demo went really well and really quickly. However no renovation would be complete without a few snafus and believe me we had our fair share. To tell the whole story I should start from the very beginning.





After working with a general contractor on our Bathroom renovation, Andrew and I decided we could do this renovation on our own by hiring out and managing the sub contractors without a GC. As you will see from our experience thus far, this is not a decision for the weak hearted. It has caused considerable stress and anxiety. However, it is saving us A LOT of money. So here is how it we started the process.

Design our cabinet layout and purchase cabinets - these usually have the longest lead times (5-6 weeks), so this was the first decision that needed to be made. We chose to use Andersonville Kitchen and Bath. They were wonderful to work with, however we shopped around and discovered that Lowe's was offering a some major discounts. I always prefer to work with local vendors and contractors as they are much more likely to have better customer service. I told Andersonville that I wanted to purchase the cabinets through them, however I was hoping they could beat or match Lowes' pricing, and they did! I think this is true for most things in the construction world, always ask for a better deal! 9 times out of 10 you'll get it!

The design for our kitchen is below. Since we decided to eliminate the cabinets over the penninsula (see the before photo above), I chose really, really tall cabinets in the rest of the kitchen (they're 54"!). Not even Andrew will be able to reach the top shelf without a ladder, but it will provide a ton of concealed storage and is perfect for items that aren't used on a regular basis, such as your crock pot or martini glasses.



Next step...
Determine the sub-contractors and obtain pricing:
Electrician - Traian Electrical - Traian is wonderful! He worked on our bathroom, however one little inconvenience is that he already planned a trip to his home country of Romania right when we were planning on starting our project. However I knew he did amazing work for a great price, so I was willing to schedule around his trip. On a side note, Traian had not been home for 7 years - can you believe that? His wife hadn't been back for 30 years! Needless to say he was really sad to come back to the states.
Plumber - Since the plumbing on this project only entails hooking up our kitchen faucet. Andrew and I decided to conquer this task on our own.
Drywall - Morfin Drywall
Flooring - Cornell's Flooring - We decided the cost to replace the tile was about the same as replacing it with wood floors.

We did the demo in late September because our electrician was going to be out of the country until October 14th and we wanted to get the wood flooring and drywall contractor to complete their work prior to our electrician returning. However things didn't quite go according to plan they never do in renovations. Once we completed the demo we realized that there was electrical that needed to be moved before the flooring could be installed. So we lived without a kitchen for 2 weeks until Traian came back to the states.

To make matters even more interesting the cabinets arrived 2 weeks ahead of schedule. So as I sit writing this there are 25 boxes filled with cabinets in our living room, but we have new wood floors and all the electrical work is done. Drywall should be complete in the next two days and cabinets installed before the weekend. Hopefully things will go according to plan, but as you can tell from this post in a renovation things never go according to plan!

Bathroom

The Bathroom is done! Well almost...

We are pretty particular with all the small details so we are working on getting it perfect, but it's exciting to walk into a beautiful new space every morning.

I only wish our bathroom was bigger so you could get a better sense of the space from the photographs.

Loving the new comfort height toilet from Kohler, however I'm considering replacing the flush handle with a more traditional fixture that correlates with the other finishes. You can buy replacement flush handles at big box stores like Home Depot or Lowes.

Our Vanity Top came out beautifully. As I mentioned in a previous posting, we decided to use the same color marble on the floor and the counter. I hand picked the slab of marble and showed them exactly where to cut to be certain there weren't any imperfections. In fact they actually brought a counter that wasn't cut according to my specifications and there was a large imperfection (think a gigantic birthmark) on the stone. I felt badly, but I told them I couldn't accept this counter and requested a new piece. Thankfully they had another slab at their warehouse and I was able to get a new counter.

I am obsessed with the Container Store - it is seriously my happy place! Thanks to an $85 trip to the container store, our medicine cabinet now looks organized and pretty.

We decided to put a small niche in the shower wall. These are easy to build in between the studs. The only real cost is the extra work for the tiler. Ours cost an extra $75 worth of labor, but I think it's worth it.

I will post in a few days explaining where we purchased everything. You can also look forward to a post on how to choose a general contractor and how to survive a remodel!

Staging!

Before starting Paper Possibilities, I worked for my Dad's Real Estate Development company- Focus Development. I still have a passion for real estate and occasionally he allows me to furnish and decorate one of his models. Most recently he gave me the opportunity to work on a fabulous unit at his development Courthouse Square.

Courthouse Square is a condominium development located in Wheaton, IL. The development includes new construction condominiums and rowhomes, however the centerpiece is the Historic DuPage County Courthouse which was restored and renovated into 6 luxurious condominiums. The building was built in 1896 when the county seat moved from Naperville to Wheaton. In the 1960's, the county built a Jail/Annex addition to accommodate their growing needs. In the 90's the county moved all of their offices to a complex on the other side of town, and the building was used by National Louis as it's Wheaton campus. My Dad and his partners purchased the property as part of a redevelopment agreement with the city of Wheaton in 2003. They demolished the eyesore of an addition, built the new condominiums, and began restoring the Courthouse. It was a painstaking process to restore the building, however I am so PROUD of the end result. The Courthouse looks beautiful now and is truly a reflection of the city of Wheaton and its history!

After the Addition was removed, before the restoration

After

I worked with my Dad to design the "Courtroom Residence". This condominium is located where the original Courtroom used to be. It features 22' vaulted ceilings, 3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Bathrooms, and 3600 square feet. I chose all of the finishes (i.e. cabinets, counters, backsplash, flooring, etc.) and decorated it with furnishings from Toms-Price. Sidenote - Toms-Price is now having a Floor sample sale and there are some amazing deals to be had!

Living Room

Dining Room

Master Bathroom

I'll be honest the kitchen I designed for this unit is very similar to what I hope my kitchen will eventually look like. I am still loving the look of painted white cabinets and I'm hoping they will never go out of style!

Hope this gives you a lot of inspiration!

Bathroom Demo

Well, it's official all that remains of our bathroom is a lone, crooked, toilet. The demo was actually relatively painless and by doing it oursleves we saved about $500. We found that demolition quotes were all over the place, some as low as $400 and some as high as $1500. The contractor we ended up choosing quoted the demo at $500, so by doing it ourselves we saved enough money on the budget to splurge on this gorgeous Grohe faucet. Faucets are like jewelry in the bathroom and this one is so glamorous.

Grohe Kensington Series

A couple of tips for the potential DIYer. It was inexpensive for us to complete the demolition because I have access to a painter's van and a dumpster. If you do not have access to these things, then the van/truck will cost you about $60 and to dump the larger items between $100-300, so at that point all that work to save just $200-300 may not be worth it. However, since my Dad runs a construction company we were able to do the demo for the cost of a couple miscellaneous tools at the hardware store and being forever indebted to my father-in-law for doing most of the work. I seriously pretty much watched him and my husband Andrew do everything!

We started the demolition work around 8:30 and finished everything, including clean up, at 3 pm. I thought that was pretty fantastic. The job went so quickly because we were prepared with the right tools. Al, my Father-in-law brought a sawzell or blade saw and a mini jackhammer. The sawzell was used with a diamond blade to cut out the drain in our porcelain coated steel tub. It was a beast getting that out! The mini jackhammer made quick work of the ceramic tile floor. Without these tools it would have been a very late night. Of course we did lots of google work to figure out how best to tackle each project which was pretty helpful to determine which tools we would need. If you don't have access to these tools, they could both be rented at a local hardware store.


Our contractor arrives at 8 am tomorrow. I'll certainly continuing posting about the progress!

Sex and the City - Swoon!

So first an apology - it's been ages since I've posted and there is so much to report on. Am I forgiven? I promise to be more diligent. The craziness of wedding season is for the most part over so I can now focus on all the major happenings in the condo.

Back on topic now...despite the fact that the movie sequel has gotten pretty terrible reviews, I'm still excited to see, mostly because it's my excuse to throw a party for all my fabulous girlfriends. I've been setting aside fancy hors d'oeuvres recipes for months for just such an event. Sidenote - I have to think triple hard to remember how to spell the word hors d'oeuvres and I usually have to google it to make sure I'm spelling it correctly. The party will certainly be a blast and I'll be sure to pass along any successful recipes here.

But to get everyone excited for the movie and to just enjoy all the fantastic stylings here's a link with images of the interior spaces featured in the new film:

Sex and the City 2 Movie Sets

Carrie and Big's apartment is GORGEOUS! Even though my style might be a bit more boring (I prefer to call it classic) like Charlotte, I wish I could be more fearless like Carrie!

To give you all an update on the condo we are really making progress. We installed a new furnace and a new washer dryer - totally boring renovations, but practical. I promise to take pictures of the new stuff soon. I'm waiting till I can get to the Container Store and splurge on organizational tools so I can make our little laundry closet look perfect!

We are also starting construction on our new bathroom this upcoming Tuesday. Thanks to all of you who helped me decide on a vanity and tile. I think it's going to look amazing! My Father in law came into town yesterday and him and Andrew did all the demolition. I'm sure there would have been quite a lot more frustration and "choice" words exchanged had me and Andrew attempted this on our own. I have a few progress pics that I'll post tomorrow.

So get excited for lots more posts and updates to come! Especially because directly after we complete the bathroom we are moving into the kitchen and I'm so excited for all we have planned there!

Bathroom Reno Question

So Andrew and I have spent a few of our weekends searching out tile. For those of you in the Chicagoland area, let me provide some recommendations for tile vendors. The four vendors we've visited are:

Lewis Floor and Home
Locations in Chicago and Northbrook (Northbrook is much larger)
They have a great selection and offer "Stock" tile at a great price. The are currently running a promotion offering 20% off all stocked tile and 10% off all non-stocked tile through the end of February.

Terrazzo and Marble Supply
Locations in Wheeling and Chicago (Wheeling is much larger)
Wonderful natural stone resource. I would definitely recommend making the trip to Wheeling to see their amazing collection of stone.

Stone City
Located in Chicago.
Offers a huge selection of all types of tile and has a great showroom for inspiration.


Tile Outlet - Discount tile at a great price.
Located in Chicago.
Offers tile at a discount price - only downside is you cannot hand select your material as you would at the other tile vendors listed. This really makes a difference when choosing natural stone as each stone is different and the variation can cause one tile to look completely different from another. I wouldn't recommend purchasing natural stone from this vendor, unless the variation will not bother you. It is definitely a wonderful resource for porcelain or glass tiles. Their price was $2 cheaper per square foot than Lewis.

We have narrowed it down to the following selections. I know which one I'm leaning towards, but please weigh in with your opinions.Botticcino Fioretti Marble


Vanilla Marble

Since our bathroom is sooooo small, I've decided that the best way to create the illusion of a larger space is to keep the color scheme fairly monochromatic. For this reason, I've decided to repeat the marble from the tile in the vanity countertop.

An interesting note about natural stone vanity tops. Many vendors will sell marble or granite slabs, but are not fabricators. A fabricator is a contractor that cuts the granite or marble slab down to fit your cabinetry. Since this is such a small job, it does not make sense to purchase an entire slab from a vendor only to ship it to a fabricator to be cut down. Therefore we will be buying our marble directly from the fabricator. If we are lucky we may be able to find a remnant piece, which is essentially the "leftovers" from someone else's counters. These pieces are cheaper as they can only be used in small spaces. This does make our job a little trickier as we will have to make sure that the tile and the vanity top match and have the same coloration, however the options we chose are not too unique and should be carried by most fabricators.

My one gripe with the entire natural stone industry is that there really isn't much standardization when it comes to colors and their names. One vendor will call one marble one thing, and another will come up with a completely different name for it. I believe they do this to keep customers from "shopping around", but it can make choosing tile a frustrating process!

The Bathroom renovation is hopefully going to begin at the end of March, but there is a lot of decisions to be made before that! Hopefully we can get moving!

Holiday Entertaining

Wow it's been way too long! The holidays were crazy and I can't believe it's been so long. I was busy all season with holiday cards, stationary orders, and prepping for the busy wedding season ahead.

By the way if you haven't checked out our new website please do! The address is the same www.paperpossibilities.net however its undergone a total make over! I'm very excited about the new ability our customers will have to order directly online. Although, please don't forget that we aren't limited by the products featured on our website. I love designing custom pieces, so please don't hesitate to ask! Also we will probably be posting the 2010 Wedding Collection in March so keep an eye out for that.

I wanted to share with you some really great recipes that I made over the holidays. My sister and I were in charge of appetizers at Christmas and we went totally overboard. My family is hardcore Swedish and every Christmas we eat the traditional smorgasbord. The only truly delicious item served is swedish meatballs. The rest is pickled jellied cod (it tastes as nasty as it sounds), potato sausage (which looks like brain matter, but can be tasty if cooked properly), and red beans (I'm not a big bean fan of beans). So needless to say appetizers are a crucial part of our Christmas meal, in fact most of us fill up on appetizers before the smorgasbord is served!

I found some great recipes on Real Simple that are incredibly easy and you can make them ahead, which is a perfect solution during the busiest season of the year! To view the full list of recipes (I've just shared some of my favorites) go here.

Prosciutto Crostinis with Lemon Fennel Slaw

Ingredients

• 24 thin slices baguette (from 1 small loaf)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small fennel bulb—quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375º F. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush with 2 tablespoons of the oil. Toast until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the fennel, parsley, lemon juice, the remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
3. Divide the prosciutto evenly among the toasted baguette slices and top with the slaw.

By Kate Merker and Sara Quessenberry, December 2009

Goat Cheese Crisps with Red Pepper Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup chopped radicchio
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup fresh goat cheese (about 4 ounces), at room temperature
• 24 thick-cut potato chips (from a 5-ounce bag) I used pita chips instead as I found the potato chips to not be substantial enough. You could also use slices of a baguette toasted.
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the radicchio and parsley.
2. Gently spread the goat cheese on the potato chips and top with the pepper mixture. Warning: Do not spread the goat cheese on too early as it can cause the chips or baguette to absorb the moisture and the goat cheese texture will crack ruining how pretty these appetizers can look.
   

By Kate Merker and Sara Quessenberry, December 2009

Bacon Wrapped Dates: Oh my gosh were these a hit. I ate so many I thought I would explode! But they are that amazing combination of salty and sweet, and I'm all for incorporating more bacon into any meal! My friend Kelli made this recipe for my wedding shower and ever since I've been hooked!

1 pkg pitted dates (medjool dates

are the best, but expensive and sometimes hard to find already pitted, I bought sunmaid pre-pitted dates and they were great!)

4-5 oz goat cheese

Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese cut into 1/2" cubes (this is a very expensive cheese and although the bite of the cheese makes a great combo be forewarned you will pay between $10-15 for a small block of this cheese, but I think it's worth it)

thick cut maple bacon 1 package ought to do it...

toothpicks (if you buy the kind with colored tops then you can make all the goat cheese stuffed dates one color toothpick and the parmigiano another - as some people may not like goat cheese - I know, I know they are totally missing out!)

Cut the bacon in half and set aside.

Slice dates in half, and open them up. Scoop a small amount of goat cheese or place a cube of parmigiano reggiano into the center of the dates, and close the halves of the dates.

Wrap a half-slice of bacon around the outside of the date. Secure each one with a toothpick.

Arrange in a foil covered baking dish or on a baking sheet with sides to catch any grease.

Cook at 400 for about 5 minutes on each side or until bacon is cooked. You'll definitely have to watch these as they can burn easily.

Carmelized Onion Tarts with Apples

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 2 red apples (such as Braeburn or Gala), cut into small pieces
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3-ounce package), thawed
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400º F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the apples, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook until just tender, 2 minutes.
2. Place each sheet of pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Spread with the crème fraîche, leaving a ½-inch border. Top with the onion mixture and bake until the pastry is crisp and browned, 30 to 35 minutes. Cut into pieces before serving.

By Kate Merker and Sara Quessenberry, December 2009

For New Year's we ended up heading up to a friend's cabin in Holland Michigan. It was an awesome time. I knew that we would be out late New Year's Eve, so I made this breakfast casserole ahead of time to enjoy New Year's Day. I can't say that it's mind blowing, but it's mind blowingly easy to make, tastes great and makes even better left overs.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs(Sometimes to make this casserole more substantial I double the eggs and the half and half - it makes it more "eggy" and less bready.)
  
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
• salt and pepper
• Butter to grease pan
• 1 baguette cut into 1" thick slices
  
• 1 pound spicy pork sausage, cooked and drained of fat I like Jimmy Deans HOT pork sausage
  
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• You can also add veggies such as peppers, onions, or even brocolli
  

Directions

In a small bowl, beat the eggs until they loosen up. Add the half and half, and green onions. Mix well, highly season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Butter a 12 by 10-inch baking pan. Line the pan with the bread, cutting and rearranging, if needed. Sprinkle the bread with the cooked sausage and cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the entire pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (I forgot this once and the eggs didn't get absorbed into the bread, so don't forget this step)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook covered for 25 to 30 minutes or until the egg mixture is set.

Alright well that's enough recipes for one day! We've been working lots on the house, so I have tons to report back on! Stay tuned!

Hostess Gifts

I promised some gift ideas and I thought I would start hostess gifts. After all it is the season for parties, and traveling and its always thoughtful to bring something for your hostess. If I was really organized I would buy a few of these gifts ahead of time and just constantly have a stash at my house - that way I wouldn't be running out before the party to grab a bottle of wine or flowers.

Hand Embroidered Napkins - $18 for a set of four.


Not only are these napkins beautiful, but they also benefit woman living in the mountain regions of Pakistan. It's always wonderful to do "good" while gift giving!

Alterra Coffee gift set - $18.95 for coffee, hot cocoa, and all natural granola. Based out of Milwaukee - Alterra coffee tastes phenomenal and is perfect for your hostess friend that is a bit of a coffee snob!

Voluspa Candles - $18.00 for an 80 hour burn candle tin.


Voluspa are the best smelling, least expensive luxury candle available. At just $18 for a burn time of 80 hours they are truly a steal! I suggest the Yuze Bubble Bath scent.

French scented bar soaps - $4.99 each

Package up these inexpensive bar soaps in a basket or bag and decorate with a ribbon for a more luxurious feel.


Olive Oil, Vinegar, Salt, and Pepper containers - $6.99 for the set

Wouldn't these look adorable on top of an oven?

Doll measuring cups - $12.00


Totally obsessed with these - they are sooo adorable! And each portion of the nesting doll is an actual measuring cup. How perfect!

The Little Pink Book of Cocktails - $9.95



Sometimes you need a little hard liquor to make it through the holidays! All that stress! Give this book to your hostess and help her relax with some cocktails.

Slate Wine Coasters - $17.29Perfect for protecting your host's furniture and in a neutral gray/black these will certainly go with anyone's decor.

That's it for Hostess gifts, but stay tuned for more gift ideas!