This slush recipe has been in our family for four generations. I had asked my mom for family recipes when I was in middle school for a school assignment, this slush was one of the recipes along with caramel popcorn and apple cobbler. It was my great grandma Smart's recipe, so that is why I call it Smart Slush. I like to make this slush for Holiday parties, Showers or Book clubs really any and every party. Perfect for Easter this coming weekend. This is all you need- 1 Jar of Maraschino Cherries (without stems) chopped up and drained 1 cup Lemon Juice 1 20 oz Can ... Read More
How I used Mud Paint and Chalk Paint
I have painted about 7 of my own pieces of furniture with Chalk Paint or Mud Paint. I get asked often what the difference is between them, so I thought I would share my experience with both Mud Paint and Chalk Paint. Both are great products. Both took only one coat of paint then a light second coat. I love how fast the process was. Now I know that is not always the case for everyone, it depends what you are painting over. All of the pieces I painted did not have a lot of lacquer or had been treated with a lot of cleaning products, both important to factor in before ... Read More
Tips on De-cluttering your Home
I went out to dinner with some friends the other night and we were catching up on what we have been up to. One of my friends is moving so she has been de-cluttering and getting rid of things. They moved from Utah when we did and she was shocked with how much stuff they brought with them that they haven't even unboxed or used in over a year. She found a box of clothes a year after living here and didn't even open it, just took it straight to Good Will. She figured if she had not used it or needed them in all that time why would they now. My other friend shared that she read something online ... Read More
Best Rocky Mountain Cookies
It was my hubbies birthday this past week. He loves cookies more than anyone I have ever met. When he travels for work he makes sure to go and get cookies from the store and some milk to have at night. He has really high metabolism, so we all should hate that he can eat cookies nightly and still stay so lean. So when deciding what to make him for his Birthday dessert, cookies were a given. They had to be regular full fat cookies, not paleo or anything healthy. This is the cookie recipe that I made, they are one of his favorites, Chunky Rocky Mountain Cookies. I found this recipe a long ... Read More
Ikea Hack Toy Chest
We had these Ikea white cabinets with the plastic bins in the girls playroom in our old house. I know you have all seen them if you don't own one yourself. The plastic always kind of bothered me, but I thought "relax Brooke, it's a play room." Now that we are in a smaller house we use the bins in the girls bedroom. They have a good size bedroom and there was plenty of room for toys. But now that it is all open the plastic bothered me even more. So I came up with a Ikea hack to create something more pleasing to the eye. Now they don't look like a cheap Ikea toy chest, it looks like a ... Read More
Adding Purpose and Style to your home
We started a hashtag campaign #purposeinstyle with four other bloggers The White Buffalo Styling Co, My Sweet Savannah, Hammade Furniture and Craft Berry Bush. The purpose is all about sharing photos of our homes being lived in and the purpose of why we design and decorate it the way we do. You can read all about why we started it HERE and I shared our last months round-up HERE. We encouraged others on Instagram to share their home by using our hashtag #purposeinstyle and telling us what living with purpose in style means to them. These were our top picks for the past weeks along with my ... Read More
Top Tips for Buying and Selling used Furniture
When we moved from Utah to Connecticut we had to sell and giveaway A LOT of our furniture and accessories. Our new home in Connecticut is about half the size that it was in Utah, we had a lot of things we were not going to have room for. I was able to sell several pieces with the home. There were extra things that I knew had value and I would have to replace like sofa's, dining table and beds so I wanted to make some money off of them. I used to be a store buyer and manger of a store in Utah, clients would often ask how much to sell used pieces for when they were buying new things. I thought I ... Read More
Favorite Boys Bedroom with My Sweet Savannah
Melaine from My Sweet Savannah is an experienced, long time blogger that I love to follow and get inspired from. Her sons room is so timeless and full of the best ideas, I had to share it with all of you. I featured it on my section Kids Spaces for Everything Home Magazine. I drilled Melaine with questions on her 13 year old sons bedroom. He had a western themed bedroom and it was time for a change. Melaine knew that she didn’t want to do a “theme” she wanted to do something that would take him through high school. His bed and dresser were the starting point and it just took off from ... Read More
Tips For Keeping Hydrangeas Alive
I shared on my Instagram the other day my frustration with my recent hydrangea purchases. I bought one batch at Trader Joe's and they died about two days later. I had family coming into town and my daughters baptism, so I went back and bought some more. One of the hydrangea heads died the next day and the others followed a day later. I was mad and so bugged! So I aired my frustration and received so many good tips, I had to give it another try and of coarse share with you. Trader Joes is close to my house and I know they always have my favorites, hydrangeas for a good price. BUT I ... Read More
Kids Space- Boys Collected Bedroom
My sister and I were born in the same year, can you believe my poor Mom?! For about three weeks we are the same age, Irish Twins we are. We didn't always get a long growing up, now we are best friends, I am pretty blessed by her. When I was in Utah in December she wanted to work on her son's bedroom and move him to his own bedroom. He is a little stud who is 11 years old. He needed his own space where he didn't have his little brothers going through his things. So before his Birthday we got to work, my sister actually did the manual labor and I went shopping and put it all together to make his ... Read More