A Beautiful Mess

Bohemian Play Kitchen DIY

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 13:58:19 GMT

The play kitchen is the heart of our home. Our children play with it daily. My husband and I love our unlimited supply of pretend meals, which we eat enthusiastically each and every time.

A few years back, we customized a play kitchen for our oldest daughter. Then, this year as our younger daughter’s birthday approached (she was turning 3), I knew there was no way I could find a better gift for her than a play kitchen. Our play kitchen had been sitting in our garage for about six months, so we decided to refurbish it again as her birthday gift! So really this is an update on a previous DIY. Laura also did her own mid-century version, which you really need to see if you haven’t yet. So, this is our third play kitchen post—but they are SO CUTE … hopefully you don’t mind.

Now, I know some of you are wondering whether our kids responded to this re-gift as a brand new toy or like, “umm, this isn’t new.” The answer is both … they knew it was the same toy, just repainted and some new stuff was added. But, they play with it SO MUCH as if it’s brand new. It gets more playtime than any other toy!

Here’s a link to the original IKEA play kitchen we started with.

Since we’ve already shared this DIY several times before, I will just share the changes we made to give it a new look! First of all, we painted the whole thing pink. We decided to make it match our new dining room so it would blend in seamlessly. The color we used is Sand Dance by Behr.

Next, we added cane webbing as a backsplash. I used this exact pre-woven cane (I ordered four for the entire backsplash). We cut a piece of plywood to cover the backsplash, and sprayed adhesive to attach the cane webbing to the drywall. Then, we used screws to attach the plywood to the back of the play kitchen.

In addition to the mini makeover, we decided to add a few more toys. We added this pop-up toaster (a BIG hit!), this magnetic wooden cutting fruit and veggie basket, this mixer bowl (strangely I never found the pink bowl—either I misplaced it or it was missing, but I ended up subbing in a woven basket I already had and it’s so cute!). Also, here’s the wooden pan set we have.

Here are some more photos of the finished project!

I also hand-painted some play food. I used chalk paint and wax finish as the sealer. It was fun. Below, you can see the tomato soup that our older daughter painted … so sweet. She wanted to help.

The wicker espresso machine is from Poppy’s Little Treasures. It’s a true heirloom. I was telling my sister that no matter how old my kids get, no one can ever take that wicker espresso machine away from me. It’s staying here forever.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments! And don’t forget to check out the other two play kitchens we created here and here. I had so much fun working on these. I highly recommend it if you have a little person in your life. XX! Elsie

Credits//Author: Elsie Larson. Photography: Amber Kelly. Project Assistant: Collin DuPree. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Chocolate Baked Donuts

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 13:55:39 GMT

I love chocolate. Maybe you can relate? Sometimes, I find myself in the mood to bake something rich and chocolatey, but I don’t necessarily want an entire cake sitting around at my house (a dangerous situation for someone who is home as much as me, ha). These chocolate baked donuts are the perfect treat. They are ultra rich but not necessarily overly sweet.

The baked donuts are a spongey, moist cake and then they get topped with a chocolate glaze (and sprinkles if you’re fun). But, the recipe below only yields six baked donuts—a standard pan size. But, if you want to make a dozen, just double the recipe.

I used “special dark” cocoa for the donuts photographed here, so they look especially dark. But any baking cocoa will do well for these chocolate baked donuts.

Make sure to lightly butter or spray your pan before filling.

You could absolutely top these chocolate baked donuts with a different glaze or even nothing at all, and they are still a fun treat. Happy baking! xo. Emma

Chocolate Baked Donuts

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 6 donuts

Author Emma Chapman

Equipment

donut pan

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil olive or canola work well
1/2 tablespoon vinegar apple cider or white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze

1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons cream or milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces chocolate chips semi-sweet or dark
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

In a medium to large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a smaller, separate bowl, stir together the wet ingredients: milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
Stir the wet ingredients in with the dry until no lumps remain. Lightly butter or spray the donut baking pan before spooning the batter in.
Bake at 350°F for 14-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack.
For the glaze, in a medium pot over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the cream or milk, corn syrup, and vanilla. Add the chocolate chips, turning the heat down slightly if needed, and continue to cook and stir until the chips are melted.
Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar. You may want to shift the sugar first, to remove any lumps, so your glaze will be lump-free.
Dip the donuts in the still-warm glaze, tapping off any extra. Then, top with sprinkles if using.

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Combat Dry Winter Skin With These 6 WOC-Owned Beauty Brands

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 13:58:24 GMT

When the temperatures drop, my skin tends to get super dry and a little more sensitive than usual, so I like to amp up my beauty routine with some ultra-hydrating skincare products. Here are six products made by women of color-owned brands that I’ve been reaching for nonstop, in case you need a little extra boost in your routine, too.

First up is the Matcha Face Moisturizer created by Priscilla Tsai, founder of the brand Cocokind. This moisturizer is made with a combination of antioxidant-rich, organic matcha powder and green tea extract that’s specifically formulated for dry or mature skin. It’s a great pick-me-up when you need an extra dose of hydration. This unique formula blends in nicely and leaves skin feeling soft yet matte. Because of its green color, it also helps to balance the appearance of any redness or blotchiness. You can use this moisturizer on its own, or for an extra boost of hydration, I recommend layering it with a face oil.

Speaking of oil, my go-to has been Ode to Self De Palma Hydrating + Clarifying Oil made by Nashville’s very own Kimberlee Alexandria. I have been using this nonstop since I first bought it. It’s very nourishing and smells beautiful. It’s made with a blend of oils like jojoba, squalane, black currant, evening primrose, and palmarosa that absorb quickly, leaving skin super hydrated and soft. Ingredients like sea buckthorn and rosehip work together to even out skin tone. All Ode to Self products are made to help simplify your beauty routine while soothing dry skin and combating hyperpigmentation. They’re also intentionally formulated with the needs of Black women in mind.

In the winter time, I also like to use an oil on my body, so I’ve incorporated the Pink Moon Midnight Melody Body and Hair Oil by Lin Chen into my routine. This oil is made with sunflower seed, apricot kernel, and meadowfoam and scented with organic essential oils like tuberose and ylang-ylang. It’ll leave you smelling like a bouquet of flowers. I love a versatile multi-use product, and this oil can also be used as a bath oil or subtle perfume. Make sure to check out Pink Moon’s online store because not only does Chen make incredible beauty products, she also carries an entire collection of women-owned brands on a mission to change the beauty and wellness industry.

Another multi-use product that I’ve been loving lately is the Honest Beauty Magic Balm. It’s unscented and made with a hydrating blend of olive, argan, and coconut oils as well as shea butter, so it’s very nourishing yet never greasy. You can use this stuff pretty much anywhere. I like to use it to soften dry lips and hydrate my cuticles, but you can use it to moisturize rough elbows or even apply it as a glossy highlight on cheeks or brow bones.

When I want to hydrate my lips and add a touch of color, I reach for the Pat McGrath Labs Lip Fetish Sheer Colour Balm in the shade Blow Up, which is a pretty, everyday peachy nude color that would look great on a variety of skin tones. This lip product glides on like a balm yet looks like a gloss. It’s very hydrating without being sticky. Pat McGrath’s line is technically not a clean beauty brand, however, most of the ingredients in this balm rate a three or under according to the EWG, so I’m comfortable using it. Plus, the packaging brings me so much joy. How cute is that gold lip detailing? I have the mini size but I know I’ll be upgrading to the full size once I finish this one.

Last but not least, another go-to is the Lotus Moon Organic Honey Masque. Honey is a powerful natural humectant, according to the brand, meaning that it attracts and maintains moisture. It’s a great ingredient to nourish sensitive, irritated, or dry skin. This mask is gel-like so it never fully dries down. I leave it on for 20-30 minutes and when I wash it off, my skin feels soft, hydrated, and ready for the day.

What products have you been loving lately, friends? Feel free to share them in the comments below. I know I’ve added a few to my must-try list thanks to Elsie’s last skincare post. xo, Amanda

Credits // Author and Photography: Amanda Lopez. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Episode #79: Emma’s Evangelical Upbringing Story

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 13:48:35 GMT

In this week’s episode, we dive back into the subject of our evangelical upbringing and how it impacted our lives. If you missed Part 1, Elsie’s story, be sure to listen to it first, as it lays the groundwork for many of things that Emma shares in this episode.

Thank you for letting us share this little glimpse into our lives growing up. These two episodes are a topic that we heard from so many of our listeners/readers over the years that you wanted to hear more about, so here we are. It’s an intimidating thing to share, as it’s impossible to boil something as impactful and complicated as this down to a 30-minute podcast episode, but we tried!

You can stream the episode here on the blog or on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, and Stitcher. You can find the podcast posts archive here.

As always, a huge thank you to this week’s sponsors! The podcast wouldn’t be possible without our brand partners, and we love sharing their offers with you! Be sure to check out Issuu, Agility Beds, Magic Spoon and Modern Fertility for the ABM listener deals.

Episode 79 Transcript

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Emma: You’re listening to the A Beautiful Mess podcast, here’s part two on growing up conservative evangelical Christian in the Midwest. This time I, Emma, am telling a few stories that impacted me and how I’m still dealing with some of the lingering issues from this time in my life still to this day. And if you missed it, we had a part one where Elsie shared her experiences growing up, and I likely will reference some of that. So if you didn’t hear it, you might want to go back and listen to that one first. So when Elsie and I were preparing for this, I really wanted to make sure that I kind of organized my thoughts: one, but also shared some pros, as well as some of the things that impacted me negatively. Because growing up in the church, I don’t think it was all negative. I think there were a number of positive things. And I just don’t really want that to be 100 percent lost. But I won’t lie. The negative things impacted me a lot more and you’ll hear that. So anyway, I’m just going to go through a few — three things on the pros list. And these are very random. And these are not the only pros. I kind of was just sort of trying to put some lighter stuff on here, I’ll be honest. So here’s some pros and they’re kind of lighthearted.

Elsie: Emma is a very balanced woman.

Emma: (laughs) Thank you! OK, so pro number one of growing up in church: I got really, really good at taking notes during lectures. Another word for a lecture is sermon. (laughs) So and this turned out to be a very valuable skill when I went to college at our church, the youth group sat all the youth in one kind of area and it was up front and to the right. So you really couldn’t pass notes or talk during church. And we were, it was definitely, as Elsie mentioned in her episode, it was a kind of competitive atmosphere and it was a little bit militant. There is a lot expected of us. So you would not have been fooling around during church anyway. So when I went to church, I always had my Bible with me, a highlighter, a pen and my notebook. And I would take very good notes during every single sermon and I would go through an entire notebook. And I for years I had these, like, filled up notebooks that were like things I bought from, like Delia’s. You know, they had flowers on the outside because I was like, you know, a 14-year-old girl. But they were filled with sermon notes. And this was a pro because when I went to college, I was really good, really practiced at taking very good notes during a long lecture. I can — I have a very good attention span. And I think part of it is from church. (laughs)

Elsie: I agree with that one for sure. It was like — it’s definitely a positive thing to learn how to really listen and learn and engage in what you’re doing. So.

Emma: Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So that’s on the pros list for me. And again, that’s a little bit of a lighter thing. But still, I do appreciate that. OK, next one is I feel that my introduction to learning about personal finances happened at church. So sometime when I was in youth group, we did some kind of Sunday school unit, probably on Dave Ramsey. I’ll be honest, I don’t 100 percent remember.

Elsie: Dave Ramsey is a little bit on our shit list now because he has been having a big covid party, but he teaches some good stuff that is very accessible in that culture because he’s like the main author that everyone listens to.

Emma: Yeah, for sure. And I just — I didn’t grow up really learning about personal finance anywhere else. And I’m not a super math-y person or really a financially minded person necessarily. But I definitely took to this. And after this Sunday school unit, I started seeking out other personal finance books. I think the church gave me the impression that taking care of your personal finances was a godly thing to do. You should be tithing 10 percent. You should be giving back when you can. Sometimes there was too much emphasis put on that, I would say at times. But I do think thinking about giving and being a generous person is a good thing.

Elsie: Absolutely.

Emma: I like what I was taught that and I liked that. I was taught that I should think about my personal finances and that that’s a good thing because I think a lot of high schoolers don’t get that message at all. So I think that was really good. And I ended up kind of just reading whatever personal finance books I could find at the library. So I got into like Suze Orman and lots of other, you know, different personalities beyond Dave Ramsey. And I still feel like I’m on my journey of learning about personal finances to this day. And I think it really started there in church. So I’m grateful for that.

Elsie: Yes.

Emma: So that and then my third positive is I was really close with all my friends at church. I had a great group of friends when I was in high school and middle school. Really, really great community. And that is one thing that I still think is really great about church, is you can have a really strong community. Unfortunately, I lost that community of friends for the most part whenever I ended up leaving the church later, and that was an extremely painful time in my life, and so not to turn this pro into a con, because for the record, I don’t blame anyone at all. We were all kids. We were all just kids in a youth group. They were kids. I was a kid. We were learning to be the adults that we were going to become. So I in no way hold any kind of grudge about anything like that. But I will say once I started going to church again as an adult, I really had a hard time and I still do, connecting with people I meet at church. I can tell that inside my heart I have this distrust that I feel that they’re not going to be there for me unless I’m the right person, unless I keep going to church. And if I ever stop, they won’t love me anymore. And I think that’s kind of left over from this time in my life, which is an unfortunate lesson that I would like to unlearn.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: Because it’s not true. So anyway, those are mostly pros, although that last one turned into a con a little bit, didn’t it. Well, OK, so now I’m going to tell you some negative stories, some things on my cons list and things that impacted me and some of them I still carry in my heart today, unfortunately. So the first one is I’m going to tell a story of the summer in between sixth grade and seventh grade. So I would have been something like 13 years old, 12 or 13, maybe 14, probably 13. And so I wasn’t quite in the youth group yet because at my church, youth group was seventh grade through senior year of high school. And me and my friend, I’m going to call her Jill just because I’m not in touch with her anymore. And this story has to do with her. And I would prefer to ask her before using her real name. So I’m just going to call her Jill. So me and Jill were helping out at VBS. We weren’t really kids, so we weren’t in VBS, but we weren’t really in the youth group yet.

Elsie: It was your first year not to be a kid.

Emma: Yeah. So we were just trying to help out any teachers who needed things or whatever. We were just around and helping out and it was summertime. So it was hot. And I remember after VBS one summer evening or whatever, the pastor of our church came up to me and asked to talk to me privately. And this was a big deal to me. Like I said, I was a 13 year old. This was the pastor of our church. He’s like the main spiritual leader of our church. And he wanted to talk to me. And I just felt like really special. And he said that he needed my help with something. And he explained to me that some of the other men in the church, like elders or deacons or whatever, had spoken with him. And they had noticed that Jill’s shorts were very short. And could I talk to her about how her shorts were too short and she was becoming a woman and she needed to dress more modestly? Because if you don’t dress modestly, then you’re sometimes making other men stumble or sin because they think about you in a sexual way. And I remember just feeling…so…I didn’t know what to say to him, to this grown man who is asking me to do this. And I also, like I was the same age as Jill and I was also wearing shorts. And I didn’t know that men thought about us in that way. I knew that, you know, I had crushes on boys and things like boys my age, but I never pictured like a man my dad’s age thinking about me in that way. It was a very strange introduction to thinking about yourself as a sexual object. And I also was just at an age where, like I was growing. I like my body was changing. I think I had just got my period in sixth grade. So I was still kind of a kid. And also when you’re that age, you can’t have a job. You don’t really have your own money, you don’t have a driver’s license, you can’t drive. So all the clothes you own, your parents buy for you or your guardians or whomever. So Jill didn’t really have like she had just gone through a growth spurt. Basically what it was was she had she had just gone through a growth spurt and she was taller. And her clothes from the previous year that her parents bought her didn’t fit as well. That’s what happens when you’re a kid and you’re growing. So it was just this very weird moment and weird introduction to becoming a woman where it just felt like I needed to be ashamed of my body. It was my job to police myself and police other women my age, and that older men, much older men, my dad’s age, possibly were thinking about me in sexual ways. And I needed to know that that was just part of life. And that really impacted me a lot. I’m a pretty sensitive person generally I think would impact anyone. But looking back on this story, I think it’s pretty fucked up.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: But at the time I didn’t really have the language for that. This was. The spiritual leader of my church, yeah, a man that I looked up to, and so I just thought that this was a normal ask and that this was something that I needed to do. And we’re going to take a quick break in here. A word from our sponsor.

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So that was a big theme. And Elsie talked about this in her episode was needing to dress modestly and that you need to keep yourself sexually pure and that you need to cover your body and not let other people lust. So on the flip side of that, here’s what’s kind of strange about my experience in the church. So Elsie and I are sisters. We’re about two years apart, two and a half years apart. So a lot of times in high school we would share close like literally the same dress or the same shirt. Like I would wear it and two weeks later. Elsie would wear it. You know, we’re sisters. We share clothes. Yeah. And there were many times where Elsie would get in trouble for wearing something that it was immodest and I wouldn’t. And I, I wore the same thing. And so in a very — and it’s not that I wanted to get in trouble. I was definitely a very follow-the-rules person. But it just in a very weird way, I learned from the church that I was not sexy. I was not the kind of…I didn’t have the type of body that was going to make men lust. I just wasn’t you know, I never got in trouble for that sort of thing.

Elsie: It’s so sad, Emma. I like can’t get past this one. This is so messed up and sad.

Emma: And I actually I think that’s a little bit why I kind of got into personal finance stuff. I think I sort of started to get messages around the way I looked and the way my personality was that I just wasn’t really going to fit the mold of what men were going to desire and also like just what a godly woman was. So I needed to make my own money and do my own thing because I just wasn’t going to…I probably…I always thought I wouldn’t get married. That’s kind of what I grew up thinking from the messages I got at church, because beyond the dressing modest stuff another thing we were told very often when we were in high school, when we were in middle school, you know, when we were being taught the Proverbs “a wife of noble character who can find” we were taught that one day when we married, our husbands would be the head of our household and we would be the helpmate. And that, you know, our husbands would be the spiritual leader of our household and we would be the secondary. You know, and I just didn’t have the language for this at that time in my life at this age, but I just didn’t see myself fitting that. I just felt that it’s not that I. I thought so. I should also say, like our church was the type of church and perhaps Southern Baptists have updated this since then. I have no idea. I haven’t kept up. But women could not be pastors. Women could not be deacons or elders. Women could be involved in children’s ministry and youth ministry. They could teach other women’s Bible studies. When women did come teach and teach the entire congregation, they would give them a music stand to stand behind. They would not stand behind the pulpit. And it was just a very clear, you know, message for a young woman to see, which was that I was not going to be a leader because of my gender, because of my sex. And it’s not that I wanted to be a pastor or that I thought of myself as a leader. I just didn’t see myself being the helpmate. I didn’t see my you know, I saw the women that were pointed to as these are the great examples. And I just didn’t see myself fitting the mold. And I knew I also wasn’t sexy. So I was like, I guess I’ll just never get married. I’ll probably end up like a missionary in another country who runs an orphanage or something, because I’m just not…I don’t fit this mold and I don’t know why, but I want to be a godly person. So I guess I’ll just find a different path because I can’t fit in here with who I am.

Elsie: My heart is breaking.

Emma: So, um, so, yeah, so I just always I think this was a big motivator for me to, like, be really good at school and to be really good at…I just always figured I’d have to take care of myself, so…sorry.

Elsie: No, no, Emma, I’m so proud of you. They taught they emphasize the like man and woman roles a lot in our experience…

Emma: Yeah a surprising amount for high schoolers. (laughs) Like, uhhh…

Elsie: Yeah, they talk about it all the time. So it’s something that for me, I, I never questioned it. I just thought, OK, in a good marriage, you’re not equal. But your husband will like, act like you’re equal, you know, and in a bad marriage…

Emma: Yeah, he’ll be nice to you.

Elsie: …the woman’s is like trying to like be equal or trying to like, make decisions for her husband. And that’s bad. Like, that’s basically what I learned growing up. And then now that I’m, you know, in a marriage where we like, believe in equality completely and make our decisions together completely, I think it’s really bizarre that we’re that we’re taught that that’s impossible. You know, that like that kind of equality just won’t work, like according to the Bible because it fucking does work. So I think it’s it’s one of the parts of the Bible. I think that’s overemphasized and super oppressive and also just like bizarre that people believe that that’s like the only way and that it has to be that way because I feel like if you just tried it the other way, you would see very quickly that it’s so much better and it’s not that big of a deal.

Emma: Yeah, it turns out equality is real and it is a real possibility in the world. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I just felt very limited and I felt very that I needed to make myself very small since I was a woman.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: And, you know, I did for a long time.

Elsie: Oh my Gosh.

Emma: And I also just assumed that I I didn’t fit and that that didn’t mean that God didn’t love me, but I just wasn’t I just didn’t fit. So I just, you know, was going to have to do something else. So anyway, so that was kind of some of the sexist things that I dealt with growing up. And I didn’t even, you know, realize at the time what you know, that they were sexist. But so there was that. Switching gears, another thing I was taught growing up that I now strongly disagree with is that homosexuality is a sin. So this was something we were taught many times. Elsie talked about this a little bit in her episode. And we were just you know, I never really questioned it until…I never really questioned any of the things we were taught. That wasn’t really part of it. You weren’t really supposed to do that. You were supposed to take the notes and execute. It wasn’t really a seeking, ask questions, pick this apart type atmosphere.

Elsie: Right.

Emma: So at a certain point, I just left the church and I wasn’t really going anymore. And I was around my senior year of high school and into my first year of college. And I actually think that age is kind of a time a lot of people go through this where they just kind of start to, you know, question some things they were taught growing up and see if they hold water for them. And I definitely went through a time of that. And I remember — so I ended up majoring in philosophy in college. And I think it was in large part because it was an atmosphere where I could continue to kind of look at some of the big picture questions that were in my heart and in my head, but not through the lens of religion. And I think I really kind of needed a place to do that. And I really liked it. I felt like I finally was getting to think critically in a way that I had always craved, but I never had really been able to before. And so I really, really appreciated that. And…

Elsie: That’s amazing.

Emma: …also I had a bunch of friends. The philosophy department was not very big, so I had a bunch of friends. But anyway, I had this one young man, we’re not in touch anymore, so I’ll just call him Drew. But he was gay. I knew he was gay. He was openly gay. And I — we became really good friends. We’d sit by each other a lot in classes and things like that. And it’s like he missed part of it we’d share notes or vice versa. You know, we were friends. So anyway, I knew he was gay. And I one day was like, hey, I know this is a such annoying question, I’m sure, but do you mind if I ask you a little bit about that? And I’m actually really embarrassed of this story because I hate the idea of putting on someone else to answer your questions. But I also think I didn’t know who else to ask. And I had grown up with such a narrow point of view on homosexuality.

Elsie: You were trying to learn.

Emma: Yeah I wanted to hear from him. But I also think I kind of put that on him and that’s really not his job to educate me. So I anyway, so I feel very embarrassed about this story, but I was probably 19, maybe 20 years old. I’m not sure. Anyway, I was like, hey, I grew up in church and they taught us that homosexuality is a choice. It’s something you choose and that it’s a sin. And I don’t really believe that anymore. But I just would love to hear what you think about that. I’m sure you’ve been asked this before, you know, and he was like, oh, yeah, I’ve heard this. I grew up around here. (laughs) You know, he was just really, really gracious about it. Like I said, we were friends and he was really kind to me and just shared with me his perspective. And he was like, well, let me ask you this. When did you choose to be straight? When did you first choose to be a heterosexual? And without thinking at all, I was like, oh, I didn’t. I just, I just like men. I was just born this way. And he was like, me too.

Elsie: Awww!

Emma: Yeah. And that was the first time that had never occurred to me.

Elsie: What a little angel. What a smart college student.

Emma: Yeah, he was awesome. He’s awesome. Drew’s a really cool guy. He’s just real smart. Real sweet and. Yeah. And just he wasn’t condescending to me and he definitely probably should have been but he wasn’t.

Elsie: He could have put you in your place for sure.

Emma: He really could have and probably should have. But he didn’t. He just answered my sincere question and. Yeah. And I think that made it really clear very quickly. And it also I immediately was like, wow, I never questioned this. I just accepted it and now I need to dismantle it. It made me start questioning a lot of things I’d been taught at church and dismantling a lot of the things that I just took for granted because I had been a kid and I hadn’t really looked at them critically. And he really opened my eyes to that. And I really appreciate him for it. And yeah. And so I was like, oh yeah, it’s not a choice. That’s just total bullshit that I was taught. Cool. Moving on from there, so.

Elsie: Yeah like we had never grown up with any gay friends or I guess we should say any openly gay friends, and in fact, you know, there were like people that would like stand up on stage in our church and like tell stories of how they used to be gay, but then they overcame it. So it yeah, I think, again, it does take like some time to, like, dismantle all of that in your brain and then build it again. I never questioned it either. And I never I, I just assumed that it was true.

Emma: Yeah, I did, too, and then as soon as I talked to someone about it who was not didn’t show me, he was very open and very helpful. And I’m still to this day, very appreciative to him for like talking to me in love and not just putting me down, which he totally could have done. And now we’re going to take a short break and hear a word from our sponsor.

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Emma: I went through a phase after that for many years where I was just kind of dismantling. I wasn’t really, I don’t know, maybe I was angry at church in some ways because of some of the hurt that I had gone through. But I definitely just was more questioning. Just questioning. I just wanted to look at it critically and pick it apart kind of without too many feelings. And it can take time to do that whenever something very traumatic happens to you. Like sometimes you can’t think critically about it right at first, or at least I can’t. It takes me a while to kind of let the feelings come and then go and then look at it again. So I had many years where that’s really what I was doing with my faith was I didn’t really feel like I was abandoning it. I just didn’t know if church was going to be part of my life because I had so much baggage from it. And I just kind of was seeking out spiritual things in very different ways through lots of different like books and audio books. And eventually when podcast started being a thing that and I had lots of different friends who had different backgrounds and different faiths. I had moved to L.A. after college and I just met a much more broad range of people. And I just really opened myself up to look at it all critically and try to learn. So that was it for many, many years for me. And I didn’t ever know if I’d go back to a church in the Midwest until Trey and I started dating seriously and eventually got engaged and got married. And church is very important to Trey. And he grew up in a church that was very different from the one I grew up in. His was much more, you can ask questions. It’s much more centered on basically helping with poverty issues. And it’s just kind of also, I guess I would define it as liberal.

Elsie: It’s definitely a liberal church.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: But it’s sort of like we’ve got traditional — a traditional American church, like…

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: …they still have like the praise and worship band and like kind of a traditional trendy church, if that makes sense. But a little more liberal on their beliefs.

Emma: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I actually really align with a lot of the beliefs of the church that we had been attending that we kind of still attend, although it’s been covid year and now we don’t really attend together and, you know, whatever. But anyway, I kind of align with a lot of the things they teach, but when I first started going back to church with him, I probably was like twenty six, maybe something like that year before we got married, got married when I was 27, I started — I’ve talked with my therapist about this, and this is my kind of present-day struggle, is I have this thing where I basically have what feels like sort of small panic attacks when I’m at church. It especially happens during worship music. What happens is my heart beats really, really fast. I can feel it beating really, really fast in my chest. I start to sweat a lot. I get like sweaty armpits. So I’m very strategic about what I wear to church because I get sweaty. Yeah, I know. It’s pretty gross. I’m sorry.

Elsie: You need like some paper towels up there or something.

Emma: Yeah, I pack like tissues in my bag because I also pretty often cry and I’m not having a spiritual experience. I’m just — it just feels like my body is reacting and I don’t know what it means.

Elsie: Like releasing old trauma?

Emma: Yeah, I guess so. It just it feels like I’m panicking, but for really no reason. Like I’m like I’m just at church and there’s just music playing and everyone here is nice. And I believe in a lot of the things that the sermon is going to be about. And but I just have these things and it happens. I thought at first that it was just I was like, OK, you just haven’t been to church in a long time and it feels similar, so you just need to get used to it. You’ll be fine. And eight years later, I still have this and it’s just made it where I feel like I can’t enjoy church. I feel like one of my favorite parts of church is the community, the people. And I feel like I just don’t feel like myself when I’m at church because I feel like I’m having kind of panic attacks. So a lot of times how I cope with it is I sort of I’m disassociating from my body and zoning out because I don’t want to sweat and cry and, you know, my heartbeat in a way that makes me feel like I’m going to die. So I’m I — if you’ve ever met me at church, you’ve met a really weird version of me because I just don’t feel like myself. And it sucks because I would really like to connect with people at church. I would really like to connect more with the messages. Many of them I really believe in. We’ve you know, I love so many of the community projects and the emphasis on eradicating poverty that our church is about. I love that. I think that’s really the only true religion — that and love. But I just …and so I kind of resent the way I grew up because I feel like I now have this thing that prevents me from getting to be involved in church in the way that I actually would like. And it also, of course, caused some issues in our marriage because church is really important to Trey. And I would like to make that a part of my life, too. But I just can’t get past these weird panic attack things I have. And it’s super frustrating and it’s really frustrating to feel like you’re not in charge of your body and that you can’t control your reaction to an environment.

Elsie: Yeah…

Emma: And anyway, like I said, I’ve been talking with my therapist about it more recently, and she’s given me some additional ideas and things that I can try the next time I go. This year, I haven’t been much because of covid, so I don’t even know, you know, when I’m going to go to church next. But I also am like I have a feeling church may be a part of my son’s life one day. I want to be a part of that too. I don’t want this thing where I can’t connect because I’m kind of disassociating from my body all the time. So, yeah. And it’s just really, really embarrassing. And it’s been a big kind of thing in my life and I don’t like it and it makes me resentful. (laughs) So yeah. But I have some new things to try the next time I go and I’m excited to try those and I’m, I’m hopeful. But I also think if those don’t work, I’ll keep talking to my therapist and try something else, and that’s fine too.

Elsie: Yeah, I had the response to worship music as well and also specifically like the music at Hobby Lobby, because I worked at Hobby Lobby during like the darkest time of my life and the music fucks me up like it really does. Like I try not to go there specifically to avoid the music. I like it when it’s Christmas time and they play Christmas music because it’s like a break from it. But for our job, we sometimes have to go there. Yeah.

Emma: And it’s frustrating too, because Trey plays music.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: And I love to hear and play music and I always have and I think it’s really cool that he’s into music and but it makes it where I can’t enjoy it when he’s a part of the worship band because I yeah. I have this weird reaction to worship music that I thought would go away by now, but it hasn’t. And it’s super frustrating.

Elsie: Yeah, no. OK, so Jeremy and I both have it. So when we’re searching for a new church to try for the future, we’re going to try churches that specifically do not do praise and worship music, that only do traditional hymn music or no music. And so it’s like our workaround because we just both, like, hate it more than words can express. And it is because it takes us back to a time that isn’t healthy, you know?

Emma: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s like, I love this church, my present day church. Like, there’s no — it’s not the same, but some of the songs are the same and it just it’s just there’s something in me…

Elsie: I think it’s giving you like sensory memories.

Emma: Yeah, I guess so. And yeah I mean it is so. Anyway so that’s my present day. I actually would like to connect more with church, but I have a really hard time with it that’s why. And I’m still on my journey with it. But I really believe in love and I really believe in finding ways to give and to get involved to help with poverty issues.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: And those are big emphases in many churches and in the one I’ve attended. So I’m a big fan of that. But yeah. So that’s where I’m at on my journey now. Thanks so much for listening. We’ve been really nervous to share very much about this topic because we never want to take away from somebody else’s positive experiences, but hopefully us sharing some truths from our own lives doesn’t feel that way to you. And we are very grateful to have a community where we can share. So thank you for being here and thank you for listening.

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10 Things I Love Sunday

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 14:00:03 GMT

Happy Sunday! We are staying at my parents for a few weeks while we have our floors demoed and new flooring put in in our new home, and while the process has been long and stressful up to this point, we are SO excited to see it all when it’s done! Here are some things putting a smile on face while we anxiously await the new floors!

1. This wallpaper is stunning!!

2. Love these grass pom pom baskets for all things storage/decorating.

3. Would love to have one of these in our kitchen to keep us all on track and organized!

4. Simple and sweet spring dress options (I like the orange stripe)—maybe for Easter perhaps? Could totally see this tie-dye one as a casual Easter dress too.

5. I bought one of these basic tanks last summer, and I loved it so much that I was so sad to see that most of the sizes and colors were sold out so I couldn’t get more. This year, I checked a little early so they still have the colors I want in stock—score!

6. Have you guys seen the show Ted Lasso? It’s about an American football coach who goes to coach soccer in England, and it’s the perfect balance between wholesomeness and a bit of comic vulgarity. Todd is a big soccer fan so it was extra fun for him to watch, but my sister-in-law and I are not very sportsy at all and really enjoyed it as well. If you watch the show, there’s a recipe for the “biscuits” he makes and we really want to make them ourselves, they look so good!

7. I just got this sweatshirt and sweatshort set this week in the Prism color and I cannot wait to lounge around in them (they have sweatpants too)! The tie-dye is so pretty and they are super soft. I think I’m going to collect a few more lounge sets since that’s basically what I live in these days (this lounging set looks sooo cozy too).

8. I’m not usually a liquid foundation girl (I have dry skin so it’s a bit of a challenge), but I asked our beauty expert Keely for a liquid foundation recommendation, and she suggested I try Exa foundation—it’s been so great so far! I especially love that you can order these sample cards to find the perfect shade before you buy your perfect shade (I ended up with the Gretta shade) and their primer is like a luxurious moisturizer that feels great on my skin. I asked Todd if he could tell a difference my first few days of trying it and he said my face looked “airbrushed,” so I’ll take that to mean it’s doing a great job!

9. Are these the coolest pet bowls you’ve ever seen?! Definitely grabbing two of those for our babies.

10. Besides warm weather coming, my favorite part of the end of winter is that all the amazing furry coats are on sale, and I can snap one up for next winter at a great price! This one is adorable and super on sale, and this one is similar to the one I’m wearing above. I got this one last year and it’s one of my favorites ever, and Elsie and I both have this one as well!

I painted our front door Bubble Shell by Behr this fall, and I really am so happy with the color. It’s definitely pink, but a little more muted and subdued than my usual tones. I can’t wait to decorate the front porch with lots of plants this spring to bring in some greenery. Anyone else dreaming of what plants they’ll buy soon? xo. Laura

P.S. This is the cute doormat in the photo above and I love our new entryway set (I got this one for our backdoor that’s similar but more budget-friendly) …

How to Easily Remove Leftover Candle Wax

Sat, 27 Feb 2021 14:00:35 GMT

If you listen to our podcast you might already know that I am a bit of a candle fanatic. I am almost always burning a candle in my home (except when I sleep, duh). When I have a candle that has been packaged in an especially pretty vessel, I always mean to clean it out after and either reuse it for a homemade candle or repurpose it in my home. I must admit, I don’t always get around to it though because it seems like kind of a hassle. I’ve tried a few methods for how to easily remove leftover candle wax (once the candle has basically burned down to nothing, but there’s still that pool of leftover wax in the bottom). And just in case there are other candle-lovers out there, I thought I’d share what I do. If anyone has other methods, please share them with us in the comments!

Above is a candle I recently cleaned out. See how pretty the jar is that it came in?! (I think it was from Anthropologie, but I’m not sure; it was a gift from friends.) The three wicks were already burned down to the very ends, but there was still quite a bit of leftover wax in the bottom.

First, cut a few slashes through the leftover wax.

Then, pour boiling water into the vessel. The water will melt the wax, including hopefully getting in between the slashes or cracks you added. The melted wax will rise to the surface and float on top of the water. Once it’s cool enough to handle, remove the waxy top and discard. You may need to repeat this step again if there is still more wax to remove.

Some candle brands will have a sticky glue that holds the metal bottoms of the wicks to the vessel (and some don’t). If your candle has this, you will need to scrape it up with the blunt end of a butter knife or a flathead screwdriver. If the glue persists, you may also need to use soap to remove, or if it’s really persistent you can use a product like Goof Off.

Once all the wax and any sticky residues are removed, thoroughly clean the vessel with dish soap and water or run it through the dishwasher (if the vessel seems to be dishwasher safe; if you’re unsure, just wash it by hand).

And that’s it! I think this is the easiest way to remove leftover candle wax. Another method I saw was melting the wax in the oven and then pouring it out, but this seemed a little more difficult to me (like handling the hot vessel while the wax is also hot … but idk, maybe I’m a baby). Anyway, if anyone has other methods, let us know. I love being about to reuse a pretty jar once a candle is gone—it feels like a second life! Random post but thanks for letting me share. xo. Emma

How to Easily Remove Leftover Candle Wax

Instructions

First, cut a few slashes through the leftover wax.
Then, pour boiling water into the vessel. The water will melt the wax, hopefully getting in between the slashes or cracks you added. The melted wax will rise to the surface and float on top of the water.
Once it’s cool enough to handle, remove the waxy top and discard. You may need to repeat this step again if there is still more wax to remove.
Some candle brands will have a sticky glue that holds the metal bottoms of the wicks to the vessel (and some don’t). If your candle has this, you will need to scrape it up with the blunt end of a butter knife or a flathead screwdriver. If the glue persists, you may also need to use soap to remove, or if it’s really persistent you can use a product like Goof Off.
Once all the wax and adhesive is removed, clean the vessel well.

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Home Office Shopping (On a Budget!)

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 13:55:58 GMT

Since so many of us have started working from home the past year, I thought a home office wishlist was in order. I mean, I’ll admit … I haven’t set up an office space for myself yet (hello, dining room table and/or couch), but I’m planning on using these finds (and color palette) as a mood board. Speaking of colors, I never thought I would like blush pink so much in my life, but here we are—I realized it make me very happy. So there’s that!

I hope this wishlist helps you pick out a few things for your space. And if anything, gives you a little inspiration to create one (ahem, me) if you are working from home now. xo, Jacki

5 Creative Ways to Use Peel and Stick Wallpaper

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:46:28 GMT

Peel and stick wallpaper (which is also referred to as removable wallpaper) has completely changed the way we decorate our homes—especially for renters like myself.

It gives us the ability to add pattern and color to bland walls while remaining damage-free. Unlike traditional wallpaper (that requires the messy job of pasting), it’s much simpler to install and removal is as easy as peeling. I can definitely say that the choices of peel and stick wallpaper out there on the market have drastically improved over the years, and you can now find colors and designs for just about any style on platforms like Etsy, Spoonflower, etc. Monochrome pattern wallpapers in particular are my favorite at the moment. I’ve listed a few that I like here.

Despite its name, peel and stick wallpaper isn’t just for walls—there are, in fact, many ways you can use this paper to spruce up your home. All you need is a little out-of-the-box creativity. Maybe you want to update an old eBay find without taking out your paint brushes? Or maybe your staircase is in desperate need of a non-permanent pop of color and pattern? Peel and stick wallpaper is the solution for it all. The sky is the limit.

Today, I’m sharing five different ways I’ve used peel and stick wallpaper around my home.

1. As a Feature (Accent) Wall

This is perfect for adding a fun element to a bare room. Creating an accent wall is a much more cost effective than wallpapering an entire room. And as long as you choose the right kind of style, a wallpapered accent wall can pack quite the punch!

Photo credit: Kasia Fiszer Photography

I applied this print to the wall in my entryway. I had initially planned to wallpaper the whole wall, but some unexpected things happened which resulted in just the lower half of the wall being papered. Despite all the last minute adjustments, it turned out quite nice and is a lovely backdrop to the IVAR cabinet.

2. As Temporary Flooring

This one is a little controversial and not as widely utilized, but it does work! The idea is that you apply peel and stick wallpaper to surfaces like laminate, tiles, concrete, linoleum and seal with several coats of polyurethane—here is a tutorial more in depth. It’s a really quick and easy way to change up hard flooring that you aren’t a fan of, and if done correctly can last for quite a few years.

Photo credit: Kasai Fiszer Photography

I wallpapered the laminate flooring in my porch with a tile effect wallpaper. It lasted about two years (it probably would have lasted longer if I had remembered to apply soft furniture pads to the feet of the bench) and really helped to brighten up a small space that had once looked dark and gloomy.

3. Lining Kitchen Cabinets

Transform the insides of your kitchen cabinets from bland to beautiful with peel and stick wallpaper.

Unfortunately for renters, there isn’t always a lot you can do with regards to changing up the more permanent features in a kitchen; i.e. removing wall cabinets, installing new countertops, or retiling, for example. I mean, unless you have a really amazing landlord, but they are often few and far between. But don’t let that get you down—there are lots of superficial ways to add a little personality to your kitchen. Try removing your kitchen cabinet doors for a start (making sure to store them somewhere safe) to get an open plan shelving-type feel.

I added a funky wallpaper to the backing of my “open plan” cabinets to create a visually appealing backdrop for all my dishware and crockery. I can honestly say my kitchen looks so much better for it!

4. On the Ceiling

We often forget about the fifth wall (the ceiling) when it comes to decorating and that’s something I feel really needs to change!

Wallpapering the ceiling can add so much character, appear to improve an awkward room’s proportions, or bring extra pattern into a scheme that is in need of a little more oomph!. Granted, wallpapering a ceiling is a lot more trickier (neck cramp alert) than wallpapering a vertical wall, but the end result is well worth the extra effort.

I wallpapered the ceiling in my husband’s tiny office with peel and stick wallpaper. The room is very dark and moody, so this wallpaper adds a nice touch of brightness to the space. Because the wallpaper I chose was quite a busy pattern, I doubt it would have worked so well on a vertical wall.

5. Decorating Furniture

Not sure if you want to commit to paint a special piece of furniture? Or maybe you are just looking for a quick and easy DIY project that involves no mess? Using peel and stick wallpaper is a great option for updating furniture. The paper can be removed without damage should you change your mind down the road. You can apply peel and stick wallpaper to the front, sides, top of furniture, or even to the insides of a drawer, for example.

I wallpapered these standard ALEX drawers using leftover paper from a previous project! The difference was instant and it took me less than 30 minutes to complete!

What do you think of these peel and stick wallpaper ideas? Have you tried any of them before in your home? Let me know in the comments below. You can also check out my blog or Instagram for more easy rental decorating ideas! xo, Medina

Adventures with Vintage Weldtex Ceiling Panels

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:54:30 GMT

When sharing photos of the mid-century home we moved into a few months back, the first thing that people seemed to say is, “What is going on with your ceilings?! Are they checkered?!” When we first looked at photos of the house, I didn’t understand what was happening with the main ceilings either until we got a much closer look. I actually thought it was a fabric type wallpaper on the ceiling until I got up close (and my parents did an internet search to find out exactly what they were), but they are actually made up of wooden combed plywood panels that are mounted to a ceiling backing in alternating directions so they look a bit like a checkerboard pattern.

These tiles, called “Weldtex panels” were most popular in the 1940s-1950s (although our home is from the ’60s and has them) and they came in various sizes to be either ceiling or wall panels. Our ceiling was painted, but you can see what the tiles looked like when stained in this vintage home. When people see our ceiling they have also thought that the tiles were painted two different colors, but no, it’s just the direction of the combing that makes it look a little darker or lighter depending on where you are standing. Once we moved into the house and found out more about what the panels actually were, we had to decide what to do with them! Our home needs a LOT of TLC and the ceiling had obviously sustained some water damage at some point in the past, as a big section of the panels were warped, broken, discolored, and wavy (you can see some of the waved and broken panels in the photo above).

So, the question was, do we replace and repair those panels or replace the whole ceiling with a traditional drywall ceiling? In the end, we decided that it was more budget friendly to replace the panels and put some elbow grease into giving the ceilings a much needed refresh. We actually have two sizes of panels in our home—a larger panel in our entryway and living room, and smaller panels in our hallway and bedroom. Some rooms in the home have “regular” drywall or plaster ceilings, so they didn’t do the panels everywhere, or if they did, I guess they changed some of them to drywall eventually. We also found a stack of extra small panels in the basement, so we only needed to order extra larger panels to get started.

Here’s what a new unpainted panel looks like! Once we ordered some new panels from this site, we set about pulling down the damaged ones with a crowbar (very carefully so as not to damage ones we wanted to leave up) and fixing any areas that were in conflict with the lighting we wanted to install. We ended up replacing a few tiles where they had cut a hole for an old light fixture that needed to be smaller for modern fixtures (took down those panels and used a jig saw to cut smaller holes in new panels and then reattached the new panels so the opening was smaller) and we moved the location of a light in our room, so we had to move some panels around there and cut a new hole in one of those panels as well. Since we don’t have an attic crawlspace in this house, we figured this was also a good time to add some lighting while some of the tiles were down (and you could more easily get to the wiring). We also added a light box for a chandelier over our coffee table and more recessed lighting in the corners of our living room before putting the tiles back up.

We didn’t have any warping from water damage on the small tiles in the hall and our bedroom, but there was still staining/discoloration on them and the seams between the panels were pretty noticeable. So we caulked each gap between the tiles with some basic acrylic caulk (I like this one because it dries fast and you can paint it quickly) and then painted the tiles with a stain blocker (I used this one because it’s non-toxic and VOC-free) before adding a flat coat of white paint as a final step.

I highly recommend using a thicker nap roller on paint projects like this (or anything else that has some groves or lots of texture) so you can easily get the paint into the little grooves, and an extendable painting pole is basically a must for all ceiling painting. We also found that when caulking the gaps between the tiles, a damp kitchen sponge was actually the best tool to smooth out the caulk. So we would squeeze a line of caulk into the gap, smooth it down with a wet finger and pull off the excess, and then smooth out what was left with the sponge in the direction of the combed lines. The most annoying thing about all of this (besides it all being on the ceiling, which makes everything harder) is that you have to always paint or smooth things out in the direction of the grooves, so you are constantly switching directions at every seam of every square—definitely not a fast process!

Once we had all the small tiles back up, caulked, primed, and painted, we moved to the larger ones in the living room and attached the new tiles with a nail gun (electric brad nailers like these are really budget friendly and you don’t need an air tank for them! They make projects so much easier) to close up all the openings where the damaged tiles were. Then it was back to more caulking, priming, and painting until the whole ceiling was done! It looks SO much brighter and fresher than when we first moved in—love it!

Like I said, it would have been much easier on our part to hire someone to pull them all down and put up drywall instead, but a lot more expensive (our costs were several gallons of paint, caulk, and $300-$400 of new tiles) and it’s a fun detail to have a (mostly) original vintage ceiling in the home to give it some character as well. So next time you see a combed checkerboard ceiling or wall in an old home or on Pinterest, you’ll know exactly what it is! Would you have kept the ceiling or changed it out to a drywall one? Let me know below! xo. Laura

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

P.S. Here’s the matching stand planters on the fireplace hearth and a similar fluted planter here!

Kitchen Basics: Alfredo Sauce

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:00:43 GMT

This post was originally published in 2012. Since then, we’ve updated the post with a printable recipe card as well as the photos. The recipe is nearly the same though, as I’ve been making this Alfredo sauce for years and still love it.

In one of the last kitchen basics posts, a reader asked about homemade fettuccine Alfredo sauce. I was super excited, because (1) Alfredo sauce is quite easy to make. And (2) in order to show my favorite recipe, I needed to make fettuccine, which means I get to eat a big plate of pasta. Score! I don’t eat pasta all that often. But when I do, it’s such a treat. A warm bowl of pasta is the perfect comfort food.
Alfredo Sauce, makes about two cups of sauce.

Needed:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt + pepper to taste.

If you can whisk, you can make this Alfredo sauce—it’s very simple (see the recipe below.) The most “tricky” part is slowly tempering the egg yolk so it doesn’t cook too quickly. I also love how homemade Alfredo sauce has a slightly yellow color to it, kind of a butter yellow. It’s so pretty and delicious!

Other than fettuccine Alfredo, my other favorite use for this homemade Alfredo sauce is as a pizza sauce! I love white sauce pizza, especially topped with lots of vegetables. Make some pasta or pizza this weekend. Do it! xo. Emma

Alfredo Sauce

Course Main Course

Servings 2 cups

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 cup Parmesan cheese powdered
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper

Instructions

In a small pot, melt together the butter and yogurt over medium heat. Whisk in the cream.
In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk and add a tablespoon of the hot cream—whisk together. This will temper the yolk. Now, add the yolk to the pot and whisk to combine.
Let this simmer for a few minutes to allow the cream to thicken. Stir in the cheese, garlic powder, and season with salt + pepper.

Notes

For the Parmesan cheese, I like to use the powdered kind for this recipe.

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Episode #78: Elsie + Emma React To 2021 Trend Predictions

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 13:55:49 GMT

Hello, hello. This week, we’re chatting about 2021 trend predictions!

You can stream the episode here on the blog or on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, and Stitcher. You can find the podcast posts archive here.

And as always, a huge thank you to our sponsors. They make our podcast possible! Make sure you check out the offers from Ritual, Bev, Calm and Sweaty Betty. If you’re looking for a sponsor from a previous episode, you can find all of our codes here.

Show Notes:

Here are the articles I pulled the trends from. You can click through to see the full trends prediction lists each source posted.

1. Squiggles and Wiggles (via Architectural Digest)

Here’s a link to the Jonathan Adler mirrors we mention.

-Emma mentions @leefromamerica

2. Multifunctional Spaces (via HGTV canada)

3. Diamond Patterned Flooring (via Good Housekeeping)

-Elsie mention Chris Loves Julia’s dining room.

4. Comfort Over Concept (via Vogue)

5. Patterns Made With Tile (Instead of Patterned Tile) (via Chris Loves Julia)

6. Strong Color Mixed With Neutrals (via Elle Decor)

7. Nods to Nostalgia (via BHG)

-Emma mentions Julie Blanner’s beautiful traditional home.

8. Floor To Ceiling Subway Tile + Range Cubbies (via Emily Henderson)

-We also make a few of our own decor trend predictions. We’re seeing beige, traditional wallpaper, statement candles, painting walls/trim/ceiling all the same color, pink can stay and bring all its friends, wicker and rattan can stay, and gold hardware can stay. Can you tell I get sick of people saying things are “going out” haha.

-Emma mentions Wit + Delight. Her new home is very fun to follow!

-Also, here’s the Forbes list of trends that are going out. In my opinion, it’s really too broad on a lot of these.

-Elsie mentions Nancy Meyer’s classic white kitchen—here’s a photo if you’re curious to see it.

-Listener question: Susie asks what are the best ways to make passive income?

-Shout out to Smart Passive Income podcast.

-You can see our e-courses here.

Episode 78 Transcript

[read_more id=”1″ more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]

Elsie: You’re listening to the A Beautiful Mess podcast, while we do our best to stay neutral on trends. We do love them. Trends are super fun. I’m always so curious to hear what other bloggers and media predict for the emerging trends of the year. In this episode, Emma and I are going to read off home design trends for 2021 and react to them. Then we’ll say what we agree with and what we don’t agree with and what we think about each trend. It’s going to be kind of a game so you can play along. All right, let’s go.

Emma: I like that you said were neutral on trends. I don’t know if that’s how people think of us. (laughs)

Elsie: OK, well, do you want to know what I meant by that? What I meant was…

Emma: We’re nice about it? (laughs) That’s what I thought.

Elsie: Yeah. First of all, try not to be a snob. Like I don’t want to be a super snob. And the other thing is try not to let trends tell you what you can and can’t do. You know, that’s like if if a trend is in or out, it shouldn’t matter to you. You know? But it’s still fun.

Emma: If you love something you love it. Yeah, I agree. True. That’s true.

Elsie: I feel like I’m a little hyped this morning. So we’re going to have a hype episode and I hope you guys enjoy.

Emma: This is called: we just had coffee. (laughs)

Elsie: Yeah, it’s coffee time. (laughs) OK, so I just Googled 2021 design predictions and that was my research and I came up with ten articles — or maybe it’s eight. Yeah there’s eight. And I picked one trend from each one. So we’re going to kind of read them out, talk about them, discuss, agree, disagree, controversy. It’s going to be so exciting. And then disclaimer before we start, you know, we love a disclaimer. It’s one of our moves. So when I was prepping, it’s like every trend has someone saying it’s going in and someone else saying it’s going out. So just know that this is just for fun. These rules are made to be broken. And honestly, like none of these people know better than we do anyway. So…

Emma: Yeah, it’s just a prediction. So that means it’s made up. That’s what a prediction is. (laughs)

Elsie: Right. Like, but it’s fun and we do our own predictions at the end too. So.

Emma: Yeah. And we’re going to link the articles. So if you want to go like check them out…

Elsie: Yes.

Emma: …read them more in full, you can.

Elsie: Especially if we’re talking about a trend and you don’t quite like you can’t quite visualize it, then go to the show notes and look at the pictures that they put because they kind of give examples of each one. So it’s kind of fun.

Emma: Yep.

Elsie: All right. So the first one this one comes from Architectural Digest and it is ‘Squiggles and Wiggles’. So I will say strongly, I agree. I’m definitely seeing this trend. So we’re seeing the mirrors that are squiggly, the candles. It’s kind of like an 80s vibe.

Emma: It’s very 80s. I feel like people doing this trend, a lot of times they have like a piece of cloud furniture, like side table or one of those cloud mirrors, like the foamy looking — because that’s also a very 80s…

Elsie: Absolutely.

Emma: It’s very 80s. Yes.

Elsie: Do you like a checkered wall? You know?

Emma: Were you born in the eighties like me? (laughs)

Elsie: (laughs) I don’t know. I kind of think it’s for younger people, too.

Emma: It’s definitely for younger people. Yeah, I feel like people our age — I feel like it’s people about five years younger than us. They’re really into it.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: That’s what I’m saying.

Elsie: If you’re taking a thumbtack and a string and you’re making an arch or a circle on your wall, then the squiggle trend might be for you.

Emma: And what do you think of it? Because I’ve seen a squiggle mirror in your house.

Elsie: OK, so I have I don’t know what you would call it. It’s not a dupe, but we made a DIY that’s like inspired by Jonathan Adler mirrors, and he has a squiggle mirror on his website, I’ll link to those. And then my mirror…

Emma: Not sure Jonathan Adler would call it a dupe. (laughs)

Elsie: OK, well, let me just say that one time I did like one of my first Jonathan Adler inspired DIYs, which I’ve done like probably ten. They like, Instagrammed about it and stuff and like, left us comments. So I know that they’re not like offended by it. Some brands are different with that stuff.

Emma: No I think he would call it a dupe to troll you because I think he has a good sense of humor.

Elsie: He has such a good sense of, you guys know, I’m in love with him, OK? I have a little tiny, tiny, tiny bit of it in my house. And I do think it like, because it’s an eighties thing. And I’ll say that a little bit of it goes into the seventies. But for me, I’m not going to have a cloud mirror and for me, I’m not going to have like a checkered mural on my wall because it’s too much eighties for me. What do you think?

Emma: Yeah, I really enjoy seeing it. Like, I follow a couple people on Instagram @leefromamerica — do you follow her?

Elsie: No, I don’t. But I…

Emma: Well, she’s into this trend and I think it looks really cool in her house, her apartment. I’m not sure if it’s a house or an apartment, but it’s not for me. It doesn’t really go with the age of my home. And it’s not…

Elsie: That’s true. Emma’s living in a historic bungalow. So that would be trying too hard.

Emma: So I love to see it like sincerely. I’m not even just being nice. I really do like it. It’s just not for me as far as like in my home.

Elsie: Yeah. But confirm it’s a confirmed trend. Yeah. So let’s move on to the next one and we will link is it @leefromamerica? In the shownotes.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: The second trend is, and this is 2020 inspired, like covid inspired…

Emma: A number of these are actually, which I think makes a lot of sense.

Elsie: It does, because it’s changed our lives dramatically.

Emma: Yep.

Elsie: So the second one is multifunctional spaces. So what the article was basically saying, this is from HGTV Canada, by the way. They’re saying that the pandemic made us all rethink our home and what we need from our home. We’re using our homes more than ever. And we want to have rooms where like, you know, a breakfast nook where you can also do a puzzle at night and you can, you know, like it’s anything that is a morning, noon, night like, multi space is a huge pro right now. And we don’t want wasted spaces.

Emma: I feel like I’m seeing where people use spaces in their homes that previously…it’s not that they didn’t use it, it just wasn’t as…they weren’t home as much, you know, and now it’s like, oh, that’s where they spend three or four hours a day because our whole world is inside our homes now so…(laughs)

Elsie: Yes, totally. Like, for example, our home has like a home theater. And I imagine that in the 25 years this home’s been built, that there were years when no one really used it because there was like TV in the bedroom or whatever. But in 2020 it’s like our little joke that it was our only babysitter and our only date night. We used it every day! (laughs) So I think yeah, homes are definitely getting the love they deserve right now. And if we see a space that we’re not using, we’re going to find a way to use it.

Emma: Yep, yep.

Elsie: I love that. All right. Trend number three is from Good Housekeeping, and it is diamond-patterned flooring.

Emma: So explain this one more like give people a picture.

Elsie: Yes. OK, so…

Emma: Is it just tile or is it just wood? Is you know what I mean? Like…

Elsie: I’d say, it’s mostly tile.

Emma: Yeah, that’s what I would say.

Elsie: And a lot I will confirm it as in my bubble — strong trend. A lot of my friends are doing the diamond-patterned tile in like a sunroom or a dining room, a kitchen even. It’s really, really fun. I think it goes…it can go in more than one decade. But anything that’s traditional or historic-inspired home for sure looks great in there. A lot of people do the black and white. But I’ve also seen the like tonal like beige and white. Right. And that’s really nice, too. So, yeah.

Emma: It’s definitely like a traditional thing, but it’s like one of the fun traditional things, you know what I mean? Like someone with a…

Elsie: It’s a statement.

Emma: Yeah, it’s not…what do you think of it?

Elsie: I love it. I think I think that they have it in the Mary Poppins house. I’d have to go back and look. Anything in that house translated in a modern way. I’m like bonkers for that. So…

Emma: That’s true. That’s a good way to look at it.

Elsie: Yeah. And I love it. And Chris loves Julia’s house.

Emma: Oh, yeah. Well, she makes anything look amazing.

Elsie: I find it annoying to call her Chris Love Julia like Julia, but you know what I’m saying? Like, if I just say Julia, there’s like more than one blogger called Julia, it’s confusing. So anyway, I love it. I think it looks beautiful. I don’t think it would fit in my home. But that doesn’t…it’s kind of like a treat for the eyes. So if you have a space in your home that’s like an isolated room that needs like a pop of pattern, I would say go for it.

Emma: Mm hmm.

Elsie: What do you think of it?

Emma: It’s not my favorite thing, but I think it looks good in this, you know. You know, it would probably work in my home like the age of my home, but…

Elsie: It probably would.

Emma: I just it’s not really my bag to me. It feels a little mature in a way that I don’t want to be, I guess? Because I am old enough to do whatever…(laughs)

Elsie: It’s too traditional for you?

Emma: Yeah it’s a little too traditional for me, I don’t know. But I like seeing it in other people’s homes. But it’s not my bag.

Elsie: I get that. Well we’re going to get more into it. But traditional stuff is making a big trend splash this year.

Emma: Yeah, traditional is in.

Elsie: And I have I’ve been feeling that like I’m into it, but I get it. The fourth one is from Vogue. I feel like that automatically is like…makes it sound more pretentious. And all it is is comfort over concepts. They’re saying that we’re not going to buy anything that’s like too precious that’s not going to last right now because we’re feeling how much we’re living in our homes. So we’re not going to buy a sofa that doesn’t have performance fabric or we’re not going to buy a table if we don’t think it can take a beating from our children and things like that. So I do think yeah — the comfort over the concept, like for me, like my greatest nightmare in all of life is a glass coffee table.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: I would never let a glass coffee table into my home. They’re so pretty. But no, never, never, never, never.

Emma: Yeah, I’m not into those either. But yeah, I also I think you have always had this mindset. I think people with young kids tend to…they either embrace it or they don’t.

Elsie: It’s kind of like, yeah, people without kids because of 2020 and just like you. Losing your home so much more, maybe you have a little bit more of the mindset that we have now and you’re like joining our camp, so we’re all going to be getting these, like, comfy leather sofas at the same time.

Emma: Yeah. Or if you have, like, a marble coffee table or just table generally, I think in the past I would have been a little more precious about it. And now I’m kind of like, I’m using this every day. It’s just going to be what it’s going to be. And I’m going to embrace the imperfections that my life brings to it, because that’s…I’m here all the time in my house.

Elsie: Absolutely.

Emma: So it’s just, I don’t know, letting the precious go a little bit, or embracing that like, you know, your kid adding a little bit of paint to your dining room table is part of it.

Elsie: Right.

Emma: Instead of a mistake that you need to buff out, it’s like nah, this is part of it.

Elsie: Ugh, you know, you know I love that. Oh, it makes my heart so happy! Yeah. I think that also another thing is just like buying for quality, like buying…or buying something that you think will last. I, I really feel that. I think that’s one of the good things because we all love cheap furniture. No one doesn’t love cheap furniture…

Emma: Of course.

Elsie: But you know, when you buy something and you just immediately know it’s not going to last, I find that like one of the worst feelings ever, like the shopping regret feeling.

Emma: Yeah. Because you feel like you’ve just basically created another piece of trash to go to the landfill six months or a year from then. And it’s like, that’s a bummer. I’d rather get something that’s going to last me years and years.

Elsie: Yes.

Emma: Even if it’s going to get little marks or I’m going to have to repaint it or whatever it is. You know, I agree.

Elsie: This next one is from the blog, Chris Loves Julia. Julia’s blog. (laughs) I’m saying it accurately. (laughs)

Emma: It’s Chris’s blog, too.

Elsie: It’s Chris and Julia’s blog. But mostly Julia’s. OK. No, OK.

Emma: I’m sure Chris would agree with that.

Elsie: Yeah, actually, I think it’s true. Patterns made with tile instead of patterned tile. Ok, so I will say on this one strongly agree, because I think that the cement tile craze is dying down because we all — like I’d never put cement tile in my house, but I have lots of friends who had a horrible experience with the longevity and like the care.

Emma: Oh really?

Elsie: Yeah, like especially when they put it in like a high traffic room or a bathroom. I think that if you are OK with getting that really, like, worn-in look like, then that’s OK. But for a lot of people, it’s very stressful. So anyway, I’m seeing more people taking ceramic tile which can hold up to, you know, anything and making patterns with it. And I’m loving that. And I totally agree. Like a stripe made out of tile. I’m definitely planning that for a future bathroom soon. And it feels so good to me. I’d way rather do that than buy a tile that had stripes on it. What do you think?

Emma: Yeah, I love a pattern made from tile. I have a few patterned tiles in my house, one by a fireplace and then also my porch.

Elsie: Oh yeah.

Emma: And it’s held up well. But to be fair, the fireplace tile is a very small accent area and not high traffic.

Elsie: Yeah. And the porch one is still porcelain tile, made for outdoor.

Emma: It’s still porcelain. Yes.

Elsie: It’s really cute.

Emma: So it’s held up. Because it’s meant to hold up.

Elsie: It was really hard to find, though, tile like that.

Emma: It was because where I live it definitely gets cold enough to freeze. So you have to make sure that you get tile that can work with that. So anyway, but it is holding up well. But yes, a pattern made from tile I think is very visually interesting. It makes me think of like a restaurant or like a commercial space more because I think that is almost always more high traffic than a home, or at least it used to be in the past.

Elsie: Right.

Emma: So I feel like you see it more in those spaces and people have been incorporating it into their homes. I also like just plain…like people keeping tile very simple and adding accents in different ways, which is not a design trend. Just I’m saying, you know, that’s cool, too.

Elsie: You mean like colored or do you mean white?

Emma: Either way.

Elsie: Hmm.

Emma: I’d rather have colored, but sometimes you regret that. So, you know.

Elsie: Mmhmm.

Emma: Just depends. It’s kind of one of those questions of like how long are you going to be in your home too.

Elsie: Right. Not for this episode, Emma.

Emma: (laughs)

Elsie: I, I am very into yeah like, colored tile and then yeah. The patterns made with tile, I’m feeling that so much. So I think I’m going to do it in our little breakfast nook — a whole tile room.

Emma: Where are you doing the Rainbow Tile. Rainbow Stripes?

Elsie: Where?

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: In the guest bathroom I think.

Emma: Ahhh, okay okay.

Elsie: I know! It’s going to have a rainbow shower. I am really nervous. So…

Emma: Nah, it’ll be beautiful.

Elsie: It’s my first time to do like a room with a lot of color. And when I did the voting on Instagram, a lot of people voted against it, which I was surprised by. I was like, are you voting against it for me or for you? Like, are they say? I think they were saying, like, “I wouldn’t do it” because I’m doing it and they’re going to like it when I do it.

Emma: It’s hard to vote for someone else, though, because…

Elsie: That’s true.

Emma: You can only really voter as yourself. Because how would you…

Elsie: But if someone else wanted to do something crazy in their house, I would always vote yes because I would want to see it.

Emma: That’s true. Yeah, like, please do it. I want to see it so that I have to do it. (laughs)

Elsie: Yeah, but I don’t know. I’m loving a neutral, too. I think in our in our main bathroom I’ll probably end up doing like a neutral like pattern. So. All right, let’s take a quick sponsor break.

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Elsie: All right, moving on to number six. So this one is from Elle Decor and it is strong color mixed with neutral and in the picture showed as the example, it was like a beautiful kind of traditional neutral living room with pops of green, red, and yellow all in one shot. So it was like primary pops of color. How are you feeling about this?

Emma: I like it. I mean, it’s fun. I also think, you know, for me, I guess it depends like what is neutral and what is colored like how are you doing the accents.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: But also, I don’t know, I like I like monochrome and I like a contrast. It just depends what kind of vibe you want or what kind of is.

Elsie: It’s okay to love everything. Last night Emma and I watched a Wes Anderson movie. So I think in the moment — at the moment I’m in now, I’m very influenced by that. And it was a treat for the eyes. And now I’m like, I want everything to be very colorful.

Emma: It was Royal Tenenbaums.

Elsie: Yeah. It was very colorful and very vibey.

Emma: Yeah. Their house, apartment, whatever is like it’s very…yeah, it is very monochrome actually.

Elsie: Number seven is from BHG and it is nods to nostalgia. So this is one we’re going to talk about traditional and Victorian vibes coming back. It’s also sometimes called the grand millennial style and it’s also sometimes called Cottage Core, which I appreciate both of those names. So I think really, Google Linda Rodin’s or Iris Apfel’s apartments and homes and you see what it is. It’s this but for young people, like a very big, very eclectic, very thrifed, flea market finds, lots of color, lots of vintage, cool granny, like something…there’s always like a disco ball or something cool, you know, mixed in with like, you know, the fluffy coats and whatnot.

Emma: I actually for me, I view this type of style slightly different from the cottage core in that I think this one is a little more colorful and a little bit more fancy, like it’s it’s nodding towards high end, it may be thrifted…

Elsie: I see what you’re saying.

Emma: …but or like, you know, a disco ball that you got at a flea market. But it is a little more glam, whereas the Cottage Core to me is kind of like cool, shabby chic. So it’s a little more rustic and a little more neutral tones.

Elsie: Dried flowers everywhere. You’re right. I see that.

Emma: And they’re both very cool and they are both traditional and like it’s like taking traditional and making it cool, in my opinion. But I’m also probably of the age that I think this is cool. So I’m definitely in the grand millennial. I like it, but but yeah, I do view those is two kind of different. They could both be in the same house, but they are kind of different styles.

Elsie: Yes.

Emma: Because one’s a little more glam.

Elsie: I see what you’re saying. Yeah. One’s like Sex in the City and one is more like…

Emma: Sex and the City on vacation in the country.

Elsie: Drying oranges in your oven, hanging them up on a string.

Emma: Yeah. A little different.

Elsie: Yeah. Let’s talk about traditional for a minute, because I also felt like — so two years ago when we started house shopping, I was sometimes falling in love with historic homes and I really wanted a historic home. I talked about it in our earlier podcast episodes quite a bit, and then we ended up not finding one. And that’s — that was not our destiny. But, you know, we talked about like the Seven Fireplaces house, and I do have like a strong, like, draw to traditional stuff, especially wallpaper. So I feel like a lot of bloggers I love are using really, really traditional wallpaper patterns right now. And it’s really pretty. I’m really loving that because I think that for a while when wallpaper first came back into fashion, it was like you had to use it in a weird way or like a funky…

Emma: It was more like a patterned shirt. Of like a cool guy who was a bartender. Like it was more like those patterns.

Elsie: Yeah. It had to have like some kind of like little quirky nostalgic design on it. And now I think it’s more like the literal patterns used in the 20s and 30s people are using and I really like it. So it feels really different. In our home, we’re definitely going a little more in like the 70s. And I’m doing a Kelly Wearstler pattern, like not as much doing the traditional, but I just keep ordering the samples and looking at them because I’m like, maybe I could just put like one, like maybe I could just fit one here and there because they’re so appealing. Do you have anything traditional that you just like started to love recently?

Emma: Well, I do have a lot of — well, not a lot, but I do have more wallpaper than I ever thought I would have in my Holiday House because it was already there. And the two that are in there already are florals and kind of traditional looking florals. They’re not really patterns from the 20s or 30s, but they are more traditional.

Elsie: I think they could go in the cottage core category.

Emma: Yes, that’s what I would say. And then the wallpaper I’m going to put in my nursery pretty soon is more traditional. It’s not quite…it’s probably not quite cottage core because I think it has a bright white behind it. So I wouldn’t really quite put it in that category. But it does feel like a vintage field guide. So it kind of goes with the other. It’s another more traditional floral, I guess, or plant.

Elsie: Pretty.

Emma: So those are pretty traditional. And then I also really do like the kind of like scuffed-up furniture. You bought it at a flea market, vibes, and that wasn’t really a big part of my last home. And now I have some of that and I like it.

Elsie: And I like that for your home too. And yeah, I feel like I would like to bring in a little more traditional into our current home. It feels good that there’s more of a permission that traditional is cool. Again, I’m very into that trend. It’s one of the ones I’m excited for.

Emma: And I don’t know, I can’t talk about traditional without mentioning, and I feel like we’ve mentioned her before on this podcast. But my friend Julie Blanner, if you don’t follow her blog, JulieBlanner.com, you really should, because I consider her kind of the queen of traditional, because she does a very neutral palette for the most part. And to me, it is a mix of the traditional, more fancy style and cottage core because she’ll have like terracotta brick tile in her home and different things like that. She’s just so classic and chic, but it is a mature, traditional style. It’s really pretty. It’s very different from anything I’ve ever done in my home. But I love it. So…

Elsie: It’s beautiful. I agree. So we are to trend number eight now, which is the final one but actually I took, too. So Emily Henderson did a trend like 2021 trends post just for kitchens and yeah, I liked that. So that’s what I took from. So the first one is we all, we all know all about subway tile.

Emma: Right.

Elsie: But she is saying you can install it different ways and that the trend this year is floor to ceiling subway tile which. I love that I’ve always felt like the more agile, the better, I love a tiled ceiling, I’m like very, very like maximalist about tile. In the past it was kind of a thing where, like, you don’t need tile unless you’re it’s like a back splash where you cook a lot or where it could get wet or, you know what I mean. Like…

Emma: There was just for the function of it.

Elsie: Yeah. And I think that doing it just to like make your whole room glossy and beautiful is very inspiring, kind of like a New York restaurant. And I think it’s really pretty.

Emma: Yeah, that’s what I would say. It feels like a New York restaurant to me when people do that.

Elsie: Yes. And there’s all different kinds of subway style. Now, I would because I feel like when people say subway tile, they just mean like the long and skinny, right. They don’t necessarily mean it has to be white or it doesn’t have to be any certain texture. And there’s like all the more textured ones and more colorful ones and.

Emma: Yes. And you can lay them lots of ways and you can get lots of different great colors. You can even mix your own group colors.

Elsie: Yes.

Emma: So there’s really a lot of options.

Elsie: I’m feeling the ones that look kind of like a very skinny, thin, glazed brick. Like it is a brick, but it’s like a tiled…

Emma: It has a little bit of like rough texture to it…that kind of thing. It’s not perfectly smooth.

Elsie: So pretty!

Emma: Yeah. Yeah. I have to use those somewhere. I have samples of them and I just like touch them and look at them and they’re one of my, you know, samples that I’m like in love with. Yeah. OK, and then the other trend that she called out that I am feeling is range cubbies. So this is like a structure around your stove. So imagine instead of just having a hood up at the top that attaches to the ceiling, that it goes all the way down to your counters on both sides. So it’s kind of like a built in structure that covers your vent.

Emma: Yeah, it’s usually to cover the vent, but it may also kind of function in some way, like it has a shelf or if it has hooks…

Elsie: Sometimes it has shelves along the top. Sometimes people like hang like a little wreath or a little art up there. Sometimes there are built-In shelves on the inside, which I think is really cool if you like to keep like certain spices or salt or oil or something right by your oven. Yeah, I really like them.

Emma: I love them. I think it can change the feeling of your kitchen from something a little more industrial to something a little more homey and cozy.

Elsie: Yeah, I feel like it does have a cozy kind of warm feeling.

Emma: Yeah. And if you don’t like your hood, like you don’t like the look of it, but you don’t know, you maybe like the function of it, this is potentially a great option for covering it and working it into your style without having to replace it, which I think is good.

Elsie: Absolutely. Yeah. Collin did that. He built a his own little box to cover — you know, you can cover any event you want.

Emma: Yep.

Elsie: Yeah. Even if it’s like one that came built in like under a microwave, if you want to make it look like a hood.

Emma: Yep.

Elsie: You can do that.

Emma: And Mandi has one. She did a DIY or at least showed it — I’m pretty sure it’s a DIY, but she showed how she built one in her kitchen. This has been a few years, but we can link it and it’s really, really pretty. She’s always ahead of the curve on trends because she’s very cool.

Elsie: Yeah, she went to Real Design School and we’re jealous about that.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: OK, one more question for the range cubbies. Do you love more the plaster look or the tile look?

Emma: It depends on the house. And like, what else is going on in your kitchen?

Elsie: I think for me I’m going to do a tiled one. I, I am seeing it and I’m loving it and I think I’m going to do it.

Emma: Yeah, I think that makes more sense for your kitchen to for at least what I think you’re doing in your kitchen because you’re going to gut it and change it a lot. But…

Elsie: Like it gives me the impression that it would be easier to clean. That’s why I’m more attracted to it. But maybe the plaster’s very easy to clean. I have. I wouldn’t know.

Emma: I just think plaster’s — it’s leaning a little more towards the cottage core, whereas the tile is leaning a little more towards the kind of…glam traditional.

Elsie: It’s true. It can be a little more farmhouse almost.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: All right. So Emma, are there any predictions for 2021, because we don’t do predictions post on ABM, I feel like it’s like a little bit out of our wheelhouse. But just for this one time, are there any predictions that you would say that you’re seeing that didn’t get mentioned yet?

Emma: I have one, and it’s just something that I’ve been seeing that I feel like no one’s talking about enough and it’s that beige is back.

Elsie: That’s a good one.

Emma: Because I feel like for so long we were all painting our walls white. And I don’t even necessarily mean that we’re all painting our walls beige now. But I just think that we have really leaned into warm tones and like letting a lot more warmth into our houses generally. So I’m just seeing a lot more beige like walls, trim, other options, you know, furniture, whatever. And I like it. I feel like I used to think beige was just this, like, default. They weren’t thinking. They just picked something. They didn’t want it to be stark white. But now I feel like. It’s being used in such intentional, beautiful ways that I’m just like really digging it at times so — beige is back.

Elsie: I definitely agree that it’s back — in fashion, too.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: OK. My predictions, first of all, statement candles. So these little like molded, funny shaped candles, a lot of them are like neon colors or pastels.

Emma: It’s a little bit that 80s squiggle wiggle style.

Elsie: Yes. Also just like candlesticks that are fun colors.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: I just feel like candles are like a big trend right now, which I didn’t see that one coming and I haven’t personally bought one yet, so I’m late to this trend.

Emma: I have a drawer that’s full of candlesticks. (laughs) I’m into it.

Elsie: Yeah. But I’m definitely seeing it and it’s fun. The second one is painting your walls, trim and ceiling all one color. So a little bit. I think I’m willing this into existence because I just did it like three times in a row and I love it. But also I, I think that I did it because I’m being influenced by other people, like the room we’re sitting in right now, my husband’s music studio, it’s like forest green walls, shelves, ceiling doors, trim everything. Even his desk is all painted one color and it just makes rooms feel really cohesive really quickly and like this bold, like it’s bold, but it also like ties together better.

Emma: Yes.

Elsie: Like, I don’t like to see just the white ceiling anymore.

Emma: Well, very much The Royal Tenenbaums last night, their apartment was like that. And then also, I think a person who does it and I always love it and it’s beautiful and she picks such amazing colors is @witanddelight. So, if you don’t follow…

Elsie: Her new home is so fun to follow.

Emma: Mmhmm. Yes. And I just love — she’ll pick pretty bold colors and then do everything. The walls, sometimes ceilings,oftentimes trim. And it’s this look and it’s just really cool. I love it.

Elsie: Yeah. I completely agree. OK, the next one I wanted to call out is — OK for the last like three years or maybe more every year. The predictions and the articles are saying pink is like done, pink is on its way out and I feel like rude people call it millennial pink specifically because I feel like it’s like a little bit of like a put down towards just light pink, like there’s more than one shade of light pink. But OK, my prediction is pink can stay as long as it wants.

Emma: I think pink is a neutral.

Elsie: I do too!

Emma: And it’s here to stay.

Elsie: I believe it’s a neutral, I mean at least for me. And the thing is like I kind of got to the point where I was like, if it’s the most hated trend and I still like it, I’m fine with that, you know? Like it just is a feel good color. And I’ve been talking to some other bloggers lately and we kind of like formed this like funny little alliance that if your husband, like people are always like, how do you get your husband to paint something pink? And it’s like this like cliche question that we get asked all the time.

Emma: Yeah. Comes up a lot.

Elsie: But we all learned that like once you’ve done it, the husband always wants more pink. Like it’s a comfortable color to live with is the point. Like it feels good. So I just think that like if you haven’t tried it and you’re on the fence, just give it a go because it’s basically a neutral it’s not the kind of bold color that you’re going to, like, regret every day or think about. At least I don’t feel that way. I feel like it’s very easy to live with and…

Emma: Well, there’s a lot of range. So hot pink is very different than like a soft pink.

Elsie: I’m not talking about hot pink.

Emma: Yeah, no one is talking about hot pink.

Elsie: I’m talking about different versions of blush pink and light pink.

Emma: Which is basically when you really think about it, like you’re looking at a color wheel. It’s just a warm white. That’s all it is.

Elsie: It’s true.

Emma: So it’s just a white with a little bit of red in it, mixed in. That’s what pink is, which is not really all that controversial. So…(laughs)

Elsie: I know that sometime in my life I will have a moment where I don’t want anything pink anymore and that will be a problem. But at this moment, I’m not seeing an end to it. And I also feel like we’re collecting more warm colors, like making it a family, because I just did a cabinet in my kids bathroom. Kind of this like light like penny color, if that makes sense, you know, like kind of between a brown and an orange and it’s feeling really good. And then I’m seeing a lot of like the very light pastel orange type of like creamy colors coming in. And I don’t know, I feel like it can stay around a while just because you can’t paint everything green. Right?! (laughs)

Emma: I just had a fake mantel built and I titled it Pink Has Pink Tile. So I’m planning to keep that for a long time. And right now I’m out of town visiting Elsie.

Elsie: It’s beautiful!

Emma: I’m having my bedroom painted pink, a kind of mauve-y very grandma pink. So I, I love pink and I am doing more of it.

Elsie: We’re on Team Pink. We’re leaning in. All right. Let’s take a quick pause for a sponsor break.

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Ok, and then let me see. OK, a couple more things. I also think wicker and written can stay. I know it’s been like a trend for a while, but I still think that it’s new to some people and some people are still giving it a chance for the first time. And I’m just like seeing it in like really expensive, really fancy catalogs. So I don’t think it’s going away any time soon.

Emma: I think at first people only knew how to use it in a kind of boho setting.

Elsie: Right.

Emma: And now I think people are kind of seeing like, oh, it doesn’t have to be just in a sun room. It could actually be like in a glam living room if I want, or I think people are opening it up a lot more.

Elsie: My gosh, that is the— that’s perfect. I totally agree. Also, gold hardware, gold hardware can stay, I would say another good five years. And if you don’t love it, don’t use it. But like I, I just love gold. Yeah. I just, it’s just my metal, you know, and sometimes you just have one like I had a gold wedding ring before when people were so like all getting platinum. Yeah. So I think sometimes you just have something that you just it feels good to you. So anyway, I’m really making this trend prediction about my personal feelings, and that’s why I can’t write a professional article. (laughs).

Emma: We are not journalists. We only have personal opinions.

Elsie: OK, but yeah. OK, so there’s one more little segment I wanted to do, and this is from Forbes. So they did a prediction of trends that are going away in 2021. I will say they’re very broad. So it’s like you have to just like kind of let yourself go there. This is just for fun. So let’s try. How about you can do like one or two qualifying sentences afterward, but you do have to say agree or disagree.

Emma: So am I agreeing or disagreeing that it’s going away, or that I want it to go away?

Elsie: Just that it’s going away objectively. And then whether or not you want to is your — is a separate opinion, whether or not you want it to. OK, modern farmhouse.

Emma: I think it’s not going away, but I kind of wish it would.

Elsie: OK, same answer. Moving on. I actually like I think it’s fine.

Emma: If you love it that’s fine. Keep it, do it.

Elsie: It’s fine. But I’m tired of it. Right?

Emma: It’s not for me.

Elsie: Yeah. OK, white kitchens.

Emma: No I think that’s here to stay.

Elsie: Ok. I think it’s going away a little bit because I think people are going to add more wood, more warm and more color and not as much the all white kitchen.

Emma: Oh yeah. Yes. I think a lot more would agree on that.

Elsie: Yeah. Like because for a while it was like beaming white. Every single surface is white. I think that that a little bit will go away. But a white kitchen will always — I mean Nancy Meyers has a white kitchen and she’s the picture of classic.

Emma: I was thinking countertops and tile and I just feel like white.

Elsie: Mm hmm.

Emma: That’s kind of where people lean. Yes. It’s safe and it’s pretty. So.

Elsie: Yeah, it probably won’t go away. Ok, let’s go stricter on the rules. The next one. Open floor plans.

Emma: I hope that goes away, I don’t know if it is or not, I have no idea. I don’t like them.

Elsie: I say, I agree. And the reason why is I think that the trend has gone much too far. Like I personally now live in a house with a kitchen that’s away from my living areas and it has a door and I love it, doesn’t feel like I don’t need to cook in my living room. And I don’t want to.

Emma: I don’t want to smell it. Yeah. Yeah.

Elsie: But I do. I mean, I understand why they’re attractive in real estate. OK, the next one, fast furniture and that means inexpensive furniture. Basically saying, like IKEA furniture. (laughs)

Emma: Yeah, I mean, I feel like that’s here to stay for sure.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: In part because I think people have learned to use it for DIY and there’s just a lot there.

Elsie: Yeah, I’m going to say disagree. Because there’s always going to be a place for both. I think just because you choose to buy more vintage or buy more high quality doesn’t mean you can buy everything in your house that way. I just don’t think that’s realistic for most people.

Emma: Yeah, I agree.

Elsie: All right. Minimalism.

Emma: I think it’s less trendy than it used to be. Like, I think people are not as fascinated with it now as they used to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s going away. I just think it’s less popular.

Elsie: Right. These are too broad. We we’re acknowledging they’re too broad.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: I’m going to say agree just that it’s not a fresh new trend anymore.

Emma: Right.

Elsie: Yeah. All right. The next one is faux anything. And they were showing a picture of a faux plant.

Emma: Do I think faux plants are in or out? I guess out. But I still like them.

Elsie: Yeah, I’m going to say disagree because I think that there will always be a place for a fake plant in my house.

Emma: Me too.

Elsie: Obviously real plants are better

Emma: But I do feel like people are home and they can actually water their plants now. So…

Elsie: I’m not too good for a fake fiddle tree. I’ll put it that way.

Emma: Definitely not. So…

Elsie: Yeah. (laughs) The next one is so funny to me. Mid century modern.

Emma: Is mid century modern in or out? This is so broad. But I, I would kind of say less popular than it used to be like kind of out I guess.

Elsie: Yeah. I will say agree in that I think a few years ago it was like no matter what kind of house or apartment you had, you were going to do like all mid-century And I think in that way the trend is down. But if you have a mid-century house, you should decorate it mid-century. And that’s like an exception. And yeah, I will always love it. But that doesn’t mean it’s like the coolest trend of the year this year.

Emma: No, I think that used to be. And now it’s modern farmhouse.

Elsie: Yes. OK, this one is really puzzling to me. Dark colors.

Emma: I think dark colors are in.

Elsie: Yeah, I would say disagree. I think dark colors are coming in, not going out, at least in our bubble. I am I think that it was all white, everything for so long. And just in the past year or so people have started to make a move for the all deep-colored rooms and we’re all loving it. So…

Emma: Yeah, I agree.

Elsie: Cool. All right. That was super fun. I love trends and I love talking about them. So I hope that you all got to make your predictions in your minds. And then we can keep track this year and we can see what we see. But I mean, probably won’t get like a clear answer. But I still think it’s fun to just, like, make a prediction and see if it becomes like a bigger trend than you thought.

Emma: Yeah. And I think thanks to the Internet and just generally us being able to see more of each other’s homes or lives, we’re getting a much broader range of trends than like when I was growing up in like high school and college. And I really like that. I think it’s great that you get to see so many different things all the time. So I hope people don’t just stick to only the trends and only what they see on, you know, the TV shows or whatever, because I like to see it when people rock their own weird style.

Elsie: That’s how trends are made, is that someone does something you haven’t seen and then everyone else wants to do it.

Emma: Right. It’s true.

Elsie: Ok, before we go, we have a listener question from Susie. This came from Instagram and her question is, what are the best ways to make passive income?

Emma: It’s a broad question, Susie.

Elsie: I know.

Emma: Also I love the name Susie.

Elsie: Yes, Susie, we love your name.

Emma: I think it’s a great question because of, you know, 2020 and 2021. vLike, we’re all feeling like if you’re going to change your career, this is probably the time you’re going to do it, along with a lot of other big changes. It’s a time when people are really like reevaluating.

Emma: Yep.

Elsie: So I think getting a side income or passive income is. Oh do you want to say your friend’s podcast?

Emma: Smart Passive Income? Yeah. Oh yeah. Pat Flynn, if you’re not a fan, he’s been doing his thing for years, you should definitely check out his website and he has two podcasts. He has so many episodes that give you so many ideas. Emma was on his podcast once.

Emma: I met him once in real life, I’m truly a fangirl and I got to be on his podcast one time, which was for me, kind of like being on a celebrity, like meeting a celebrity. So for me, because I am a huge fan of Pat Flynn.

Elsie: So cute.

Emma: But yeah, two things I would say about passive income is, you know, so one, look, to solve a problem, don’t just think about like what’s cool and what’s fun, like, oh, I like baking cupcakes or I like making handmade pottery cool. That’s awesome. But I would think more…and that may work for you as a passive income thing, but I would think more about solving a problem. It could be a problem that you’re having or it could be a problem that all your friends are having because people will pay you to solve their problems. And I know that’s broad, but just open your mind too and think about it. And then the second thing I would say is for passive income, you’re going to want to be able to automate it at some point. So, again, that’s why, you know, baking cupcakes, making handmade pottery is — are those things you’re going to be able to automate in some way later? If not, might not be the best solution for passive income. So as you’re thinking through ideas and exploring things, think about, well, six months from now, two years from now, once I get this down, how am I going to automate it? And if there are ways, then that might be a great path. And if there’s really no way to automate it or scale it in that way, it may not be the best solution for passive income. It might still be a good income, but you’re never going to be able to divorce your time from, you know, doing the activity to make the money.

Elsie: Yeah. Well Emma and I have had lots of passive income through the years…

Emma: And lots of active income too. (laughs).

Elsie: Right, yeah, I do think it’s life-changing. Probably the biggest one for us over time has been our e courses, because in the beginning of our business, it really saved us. Like I was trying to do a retail concept and it wasn’t working. I didn’t know yet that blogs could earn money. And really the E courses were what kept us afloat for a long time. And now, you know, they’re kind of just like a stable income that we work on them a little bit like Emma just launched a new course and I wrote a course last year that’s still for sale and then I’ll update it once this y

10 Things I Love Sunday

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 14:00:41 GMT

Hi, hi!! I’m starting to feel like I’m coming out of the winter slump a little bit—my mom and sister are both high risk for COVID so they got their first round of vaccine a few weeks ago, and even just the chance of maybe seeing them in a month has me feeling like I could fly, lol. We haven’t seen each other since last summer and I would do just about anything to see them (safely). I’ve added a new fitness component to my routine (here’s the trainer’s Instagram, she just came out with a really cool subscription where there are various levels and timeframes of workouts) and that’s making me feel so refreshed! Even just the little things like taking my car to the car wash and daydreaming about future reno/decor projects has me feeling a bit more like myself. Here are a few things I’ve been eyeing/into lately:

I’m so into this dress, and they had it last year too—probably a sign that I should save up and get it, haha!

Have heard absolutely incredible things about this body butter. It’s under $30 and ethically sourced from artisans across Africa. This is a Black-owned brand as well! Lavender mint is just such a perfect scent, too.

Another under $30 beauty find that I can’t get enough of right now. Perfect dupe for Dior Lip Glow!!! It’s awesome that you get three shades in this mini-set so you can experiment a little bit. Not sticky at all and makes my lips look and feel amazing.

The absolute PERFECT mini backpack, and I love that you can monogram it! I toted a mini backpack in ’90s times (it was a black and red tartan Hello Kitty number) and I’m so glad they’re back because to me they are so functional!

This honey mask from Farmacy is incredible. Perfect for winter dry skin as it’s extremely hydrating. I’ve been into this one for about four years now and it never disappoints.

My favorite body wash—it’s a clean formula and great for shaving, too. It’s got a nice subtle grapefruit scent and hydrates as it cleanses.

This chocolate chip cookie recipe from Emma—I’ve made it three times now! I’ve only used semi-sweet chocolate chips but I might do a mix with milk chocolate next time.

My #1 skincare product. If I could only have one product for the rest of time, it would be this one. Nothing can soothe, hydrate, and renew my skin like this product! I’ve been using it for years and I love hearing from others when they start using it how much they love it. Everything I’ve ever tried from this brand has been A++. And, you can take 20% off your order with the code ABM.

This basic black turtleneck! It’s the one I’m wearing in the photo above and it’s really soft and comfy, and thin enough to wear into spring. I’ve had it for a few years now and it’s held up so well.

What an absolute STEAL for this mirror—$40?! I have to find a place for this cutie.

I hope you’re staying safe and warm in this really intense weather!

xo Keely

A Favorite Quick Dinner: Toasted Ravioli Salad

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 14:00:59 GMT

Today, I’m sharing something a little different with you all. This is not really a “recipe” per se—or at least it doesn’t really feel like one to me. BUT this is a quick dinner (and sometimes lunch) that I make for myself at least two times a week lately, and I love it so I just thought I’d share. Why not?

I love a good salad but that’s just it—lots of salads are not good. They are boring and bland and just not very exciting to eat. Not this salad! I started making this based off a salad I used to order all the time from a place near our old office in Springfield: St. Michael’s. I love their toasted ravioli salad and I started making my own version this year at home and haven’t looked back.

You could make this for two or a larger family. Or you can make it for just one, like I usually do. It’s one of those meals that’s delicious, easy to throw together, and pretty darn good for you too.

I say it’s not really a recipe because basically it’s a salad topped with frozen toasted ravioli (this is the brand I almost always buy). The salad ingredients can vary based on what you have, and I always top it with a balsamic dressing. That’s it! It probably doesn’t sound like anything special, but I eat this meal ALL the time and love it. So now you know.

I’m going to put a recipe card below, just because, but you really don’t need one. Sometimes I feel like I just need a few more easy dinner ideas and so if that’s you too I just thought I’d share one of mine. Enjoy! xo. Emma

Toasted Ravioli Salad

Course Salad

Cook Time 8 minutes

Servings 1 person

Author Emma Chapman

Ingredients

2-3 cups salad greens
5-6 frozen toasted ravioli cheese
sliced cucumber
chopped bell pepper
2-3 tablespoons balsamic dressing
1 hard boiled egg

Instructions

Follow the directions to bake the frozen ravioli. The brand I use only takes about 8 minutes.
Toss the other salad ingredients with the dressing. Then top with the baked ravioli. The end.

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

How To Fill In A Recessed Wall Niche

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 14:04:00 GMT

When renovating a house, there are always a few (or a lot!) of quirks that you find and have to deal with. When we first toured our current home, I was kind of confused by this long rectangular recessed wall niche and I knew pretty quickly it would need to be filled in. I can definitely see a use for built-in shelves and certain recessed nooks, but this was just an odd place/shape/depth for something like that and it was too shallow to use it as a shelf and too big to just cover it with a piece of art. After being here for a few months, we’ve come to guess that it used to be an old pass-through from the kitchen and when someone rearranged the kitchen they made it a boxed-in niche rather than just fill it in and make a totally smooth wall.

At the same time, I have definitely been wanting to (and also having to) learn some new home renovation skills on this house that I didn’t need in previous homes, and drywalling is one that’s at the top of the list! Since there are a few smaller drywall projects like this one, I thought it would be a great practice run. After a lot of tutorial videos and tips from family and friends that have done their own, I was ready to get this project started and I was so proud for doing it myself!

Our niche was constructed with a wooden box placed into the wall cavity and then they added trim around the edge to make it look more finished. The first step was to take off the trim, which we did by cutting the paint/caulk seal all the way around the edges with a utility knife (I like this kind that folds into itself for safer storage) and then we used a small crowbar to gently pry it away from the wall.

Once the trim was off, it was time to take out the wooden box inside! The way they had secured the box in the wall with nails and screws made it very difficult to get out, so we basically had to try and break it apart, and pry it out in chunks using this multi tool to cut the box and nails where needed. If you’ve never bought a Dremel before, get one!! It’s made so many things possible at this house that would have been so much harder/impossible if we didn’t have one.

Now that the box was out, it was time to add our mini studs to attach the drywall panel to. When filling in an area with drywall, you usually need to first build a frame of 2″x4″s all the way around the inside perimeter of your box to make a frame for the other vertical studs to sit inside of. But as you can see, there was already a frame in place in our niche (they had built their box to sit perfectly inside of the frame), so we got to skip that part. If you need a frame though, you’ll have to build your frame first by cutting and attaching a bottom and top 2″x4″ board the width of your opening and then add in the left and right side boards so you make a box. Each opening may have a different situation going on inside the wall, so you may need to problem solve a little for your particular wall setup to get your box in place.

Once you have your outer edge box, cut 2″x4″ studs to fit vertically within the box. Regular wall studs are anywhere from 16″-24″ apart, so just space them out somewhere within that range and have one all the way left and right as well (so I used five total for my 70″ opening).

You’ll want to attach your studs so that they are inset 1/2″ into your opening. That way, once you add your 1/2″ drywall on top, the drywall will be flush with the wall around it. An easy way to do that is to hold up a scrap piece of drywall on top of the board and move the board back until it’s flush and mark the location for the stud.

If your niche is more shallow than your 2″x4″s, then you’ll need to rip your boards smaller with a table saw (this one is great because it’s more budget-friendly, portable, and folds up small for when not in use) to fit the space and be inset that 1/2″ for the drywall allowance.

To attach your studs, use either a nail gun (battery operated ones are so much easier than dealing with an air compressor!) or a drill and wood screws to nail/screw in your studs at an angle (like you see above) on the top and bottom. To make sure they are secure, you can do two on one side and then a third between those two on the other side. Repeat on the top and bottom of each stud until all your studs are in place.

Once your studs are in, measure and mark the size drywall panel you need and then score your drywall lines with a utility knife and snap it to size. Use drywall screws to attach your drywall to the studs. You want the screws to be flush with the wall, don’t overtighten them or it will rip into the paper coating, so go slow and use a handheld screwdriver to finish the last few turns if you need to.

Now, normally you would start with drywall mud and paper tape to cover over your drywall seams, but if you have a good deal of wall damage around the frame like I did, it’s probably a good idea to do a rough coat of all-purpose drywall to fill in those large crevasses and gaps first (I also went over the screw holes as well). The mud will crack some when dry, but don’t worry about that. You’re just trying to build up the wall a bit so there’s some structure behind the tape and first coat of mud.

Now it’s time to add your tape! Mix up your mud with a little bit of water to loosen it up and knock out some bubbles (you can either do this with one of these in a bucket or with a small 1″ joint knife in a mud pan) until the mud just looks a little smoother and looser than right out of the can (you don’t want it too thin like pancake batter). Use a 6″ knife to spread on an even layer of mud over the seams, wet your paper tape so it’s damp, and place your tape on top of the mud (you can either pre-cut your lengths or do it as you go).

Use your 6″ knife to pull down and gently smooth over the tape so your excess mud underneath squeezes out the sides (if your tape gets bunched up or wrinkled you can pull down and pull it flat with your fingers and keep going). Usually you do one lighter gentle pass and then do another pass with more pressure to get a nice smooth tape (this is a great tutorial video on taping).

Repeat on each of your four sides until all your joints are taped.

Wait until the next day to ensure your tape is dry and then check the tape for any air bubbles. Basically, you’ll run your fingers over the tape and listen for any hollow sounds. If you get to a spot that sounds very “papery and hollow” when you tap on it, then you’ll know you have an air bubble under there and you need to cut it out.

I had a few small air bubbles in my tape when I checked, so I just took an X-Acto knife and cut out the paper over the bubble. The little divot will get filled in when you do the next coat of mud, so it’s an easy way to fix the bubble.

Now you’re ready for your first layer of mud! I used a 10″ drywall knife, lightweight mud, and a metal med pan (metal is the best because you can really wipe your knife clean between each pass, which is super important). I added some water and a squirt of dish soap to my mud (they both make the mud a little smoother) when mixing until it resembled the consistency of pancake batter. You can also watch some tutorial videos and see how it looks if you want a visual video reference, but somewhere around pancake batter is what you’re aiming for and it won’t ruin your project if it’s a little off the ideal.

Use your wider knife to spread a layer of joint compound over the taped areas and the you’ll “cut” the outer edges by passing back over the edges putting pressure on the outside edge of your knife (this is a great tutorial to watch on cutting as well as the whole process) to feather out the edges to nothing so you have less sanding to do later. Wipe your knife clean on your metal mud pan between each pass down the sides and then do one pass over the middle hump to remove excess from the middle. Let your mud dry fully and repeat the process again with a 12″ knife so your joint compound is spread out even further and you continue to feather out the mud in a wider section.

Since my niche area wasn’t very tall (it was only 10″ tall), I decided to do a coat or two of mud across the whole inside of the drywall panel as the top and bottom would kind of meld together in the middle anyways when I feathered out the mud further and further. You don’t have to do that if you have a wider hole that you are filling, but since the two seams were so close, I just made the middle one smooth area.
Once your second coat of mud is dry, you are ready to sand! Some people like to sand in between each coat, but sanding just once at the end worked out fine and is less effort overall. You can use either a pole sander or a hand-held sander (these sanding sponges are great for fine finishing on areas and corners) and sandpaper sheets to sand your wall smooth. Sanding is a super messy job so make sure to have eye goggles and an N95 mask for dust protection. They do make sanders that already have a vacuum attached for dust control, but you can also hold a shop vac under your sanding to help suck up the bulk of the dust and make cleanup a little easier.

I first worked on sanding along the transitions from the wall to the edges of the mud until those were smooth and then I sanded the inside and smoothed out any ridges and bumps.

As a side note, there were a few patches that showed some clusters of tiny popped air bubbles once the mud was dry and sanded, so I just took some regular spackle and did a super thin layer over those clusters to fill them in and sanded them gently when dry. Those can come from the consistency of your mud not being perfect or just from beginner application of the joint compound, but they were really easy to fill so it wasn’t a huge deal.

Once the panel looked and felt smooth (it’s also good to run your hands along it to check for imperfections), it was time to prime it and get ready to add the final coat of paint! I would definitely suggest using a higher nap roller (one for semi-smooth or rough surfaces) to add your primer and paint since the new drywall will be totally smooth and you’ll want to add a little texture to it so it matches the texture of the rest of your walls (wall looks smooth but always has a little texture from each time it’s been repainted).

Now that the paint is added it feels insane that you can’t tell at all that this was anything other than a full wall in the past. I was so pleased with myself that I was able to complete the project by myself. Now I know that I can tackle the other similar jobs in the house as well! I will say that as a beginning drywaller, I’m sure that I didn’t get my mud as perfect and smooth on each coat as a professional would (although hopefully I’ll get there!), but in the end it all got sanded out and it looks amazing now that it’s done. If I can do it, you can do it! Hope this helps you DIY your way to a smooth wall at your house! xo. Laura

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

DIY Floral Sugar Scrub

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 13:47:58 GMT

Sugar scrubs are my favorite easy, at-home skincare treat because besides leaving my skin soft and smooth, they only take a few minutes to make. You might even have the ingredients already: sugar and a nourishing carrier oil, plus extras like essential oils or flower petals that make the scrub extra luxurious to use. I used rose and calendula flowers in this scrub—they smell amazing and I love how they look like floral confetti!
Supplies:
-1 cup of superfine caster sugar (I find it’s a little gentler on skin but any granulated sugar works)
–rosehip oil (jojoba oil or sweet almond oil work well too)
-1/4 cup dried rose and calendula flower petals, stems and leaves removed
–a jar or other container with a lid
Clean your container with soap and water then make sure it’s completely dry before adding the sugar (this keeps bacteria out so the scrub lasts longer!). Add a few droppers full of oil and stir it in. Add a little more at a time until the sugar looks like fluffy, wet sand. I used rosehip oil because it’s super moisturizing and is also said to even out skin tone and improve texture, but any facial oil works well.I blitzed a small handful of flower petals in a food processor until they were very fine, but you could also chop them by hand. Stir them into the sugar mixture and you’re done!I find that when I gently rinse the scrub off my face, some of the oil is left behind so my face feels glowy and moisturized in one step. And it smells so good! The scrub will last several weeks when stored in a cool, dark spot. I hope you enjoy treating yourself to this scrub, or a friend who could use a little self-care! xo Kayleigh

Credits // Author and Photography: Kayleigh Kosmas. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Rocky Road Cookies

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 13:51:54 GMT

Random fact about me: My favorite ice cream is rocky road. To be fair, I love a lot of ice cream flavors, and for the most part, I’m not one to turn up my nose to any ice cream. Ha. But more often than not, if I’m getting ice cream somewhere with “normal” flavors or just buying some at the grocery store, I reach for rocky road. And that was the inspiration behind these rocky road cookies.

I love chocolate. I love crunchy nuts. And I love gooey marshmallow. So these rocky road cookies basically hit all my favorites.

These cookies are very easy to make and turn out quite gooey—almost like a brownie cookie. The marshmallows do tend to ooze, so some of your cookies might end up a little on the less attractive side. But, if you ask me, cookies are not meant to be a beauty contest. Ha.

These are best if you chill the dough for at least an hour and up to overnight, which is the biggest drawback. I know it’s hard to wait when you’re in the mood for fresh baked cookies, but I tested it both ways and these are better when chilled. You have been warned.

These would probably be more true to the ice cream flavor if I used milk chocolate in these rocky road cookies, but I used dark—love dark chocolate. But, feel free to swap that if you like. Happy baking! xo. Emma

Rocky Road Cookies

Course Dessert

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 10 minutes

Servings 24 cookies

Author Emma Chapman

Ingredients

10 ounces chopped chocolate
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts 2 oz
5 ounces marshmallows cut into small pieces

Instructions

In a glass bowl (over simmering water), melt the chocolate and butter together. Allow it to cool, but not harden. You can also do this in the microwave, heating in 30-second increments and stirring in between.
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar. Add this mixture to the melted chocolate. Stir to combine.
Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Then stir in the chopped nuts and marshmallows. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
Spoon or scoop onto a baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper. Bake at 325°F for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then remove to a cooling rack.

Notes

The marshmallows do have a tendency to ooze out the edges after baking. Mostly this is a cosmetic issue, ha. But what I do is use the end of a spatula to push the melted marshmallow back toward the cookie while they are fresh out of the oven and still on the baking sheet. But, this isn't necessary, just a little tip you can try.

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Built-In Shelves in 4 Easy Steps (With "How To” Video!)

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 13:44:52 GMT

Part of the fun aspect of my job is that I get to work with other talented DIYers and learn their tricks of the trade so I can add them to my bag of tricks as well. I watched our handy “I-Can-Do-Everything” project assistant Collin build one set of built-in shelves in our last house (for our den closet), and then I was his assistant building more shelves for our bedroom closet. Now that we’ve moved away from the Nashville branch of the ABM team (waaahhhh!), I’m all on my own and it was time for this baby bird to leave the nest and build her own shelves all by herself. We’ve given the gist of building built-in shelves in other posts (like this one), but I personally love videos for building projects. So I thought it would be fun to make a video tutorial so you can see how easy it really can be to build your own in a nook at your house!

Supplies:
–1″ x 2″ boards for support rails
–12″ wide boards for shelves
–1″ x 3″ boards to trim the front of your shelves
–level
–stud finder
–screws (and anchors if needed)
–electric brad nailer or drill
–countersink bit

1. Add your support rails: To determine your rail placement, use painter’s tape to mark where you want your shelves to be and check with a level to make sure your lines are straight and even with each other. You can decide if you want all your shelves to be the same height or different heights, so play around with the tape locations until you find a combination you like. I left a little more room at the top of my shelf since my ceilings are slanted and I didn’t want it to look too smushed up top.

Once you have your tape lines in place and level, measure the width of your wall and cut your support boards to that width. Find and mark the studs in the wall with a stud finder (you can just mark on the painter’s tape) to make sure you have a solid place to drill into with your screws (we love these screws for this type of job). If you can’t find a stud, you can use drywall anchors in the wall first (either self drilling or tapping in) and that will give you a good hold for your screw as well. I highly recommend holding your board against the wall once you cut it to size and then marking directly on the board where you want your screw holes to be (screw into studs where you can!) and then take the board off to pre-drill your holes to make the process a lot easier. Line your board up with your level tape lines and attach your board to the wall with your screws (again, you may want to hold up your pre-drilled board and drill holes into the wall first, but some screws are “self-drilling” and you don’t need to do that for them to go in smoothly).

Repeat the process on the sides of your nook by cutting your side support rails as long as they need to be to come right to the edge of your top board once that is put on, and mark your holes, pre-drill your board, and attach those to the walls as well.

2. Attach your main boards on top of the support rails: Now that your support rails are in place, cut your main board to the width of your nook (just a tiiiiny bit smaller actually so you can fit it in … you can caulk any gaps later) and place it on top of your rails. Use a nail gun (this inexpensive electric brad nailer is great to have around for projects like this—no air tank needed!) to attach your board to your rails or you can also screw in the boards if you don’t have a nail gun (pre-drilling recommended so as not to split the wood). I would also suggest laying down a line of wood glue on top of the rails before adding your board on top for a little extra bonding strength.

If using a drill and screws to attach your main and trim boards, I highly recommend also using a countersink bit when you pre-drill so your screw head will end up slightly below the surface of your board and you can fill in the hole with wood filler and smooth it out completely flat at the end. What hole? I don’t see a hole … exactly.

3. Attach your trim boards to the front of your shelves: Once your main board is added, cut your trim board the width of the front of your main board and attach the board to the front of your shelf to finish off the look. I attached most of my trim boards with the brad nails and nail gun, but there were a few spots where the trim was bowed a bit, so I pre-drilled and used screws there to really keep the boards together (brad nails and glue should be fine for non-warped boards, but screws are a stronger hold if they are trying to pull apart based on warping).

4. Add finishing touches: Finish by filling any nail or screw holes with wood filler (let it dry and then sand smooth) and caulking seams between the shelf and wall with latex caulk before painting the boards with semigloss paint (I painted them Soft Stone by Valspar—the same color as our pink walls). Make sure you give the paint its full time to cure (and maybe even add a few more days on to the wait) before setting objects on the shelf. You really want that paint to be cured so it doesn’t stick to the objects and peel up. Adding little felt pads to the bottom of your shelf decor will really prolong the life of your paint job as well!

I’m so happy with how the shelves came out! They really do look seamless and totally a part of the wall, which is just what I wanted. I added some of my favorite shelf items like those two digital prints (take it easy and here comes the sun), some family photos (love lucite frames, gold and lucite ones, and ones that stand up like this one), some gold figurines (peace fingers, similar unicorn and lion, and I would love to add this cutie snail!), gold bookends (love these and these), this white letter board (with these blush letters), and some unique planters (love this one and this one). Overall, this was a great project to “build” my skillset when it comes to woodworking and now I know I’ll be ready to add more shelves where needed as we complete our home makeover—yay! xo. Laura

P.S. Similar cheetah leggings to the ones in the video are here!

BUILT-IN SHELVES IN 4 EASY STEPS

Ingredients

1″ x 2″ boards for support rails
12″ wide boards for shelves
1″ x 3″ boards to trim the front of your shelves
level
stud finder
screws (and anchors if needed)
electric brad nailer or drill
countersink bit

Instructions

Add your support rails:

To determine your rail placement, use painter’s tape to mark where you want your shelves to be and check with a level to make sure your lines are straight and even with each other. You can decide if you want all your shelves to be the same hight or different heights, so play around with the tape locations until you find a combination you like. I left a little more room at the top of my shelf since my ceilings are slanted and I didn’t want it to look too smushed up top.
Once you have your tape lines in place and level, measure the width of your wall and cut your support boards to that width. Find and mark the studs in the wall with a stud finder (you can just mark on the painter’s tape) to make sure you have a solid place to drill into with your screws (we love these screws for this type of job). If you can’t find a stud, you can use drywall anchors in the wall first (either self drilling or tap in) and that will give you a good hold for your screw as well. I highly recommend holding your board against the wall once you cut it to size and then marking directly on the board where you want your screw holes to be (screw into studs where you can!) and then take the board off to pre-drill your holes to make the process a lot easier. Line your board up with your level tape lines and attach your board to the wall with your screws (again, you may want to hold up your pre-drilled board and drill holes into the wall first, but some screws are “self-drilling” and you don’t need to do that for them to go in smoothly).
Repeat the process on the sides of your nook by cutting your side support rails as long as they need to be to come right to the edge of your top board once that is put on, and mark your holes, pre-drill your board, and attach those to the walls as well.

Attach your main boards on top of the support rails:

Now that your support rails are in place, cut your main board to the width of your nook (just a tiiiiny bit smaller actually so you can fit it in … you can caulk any gaps later) and place it on top of your rails. Use a nail gun (this inexpensive electric brad nailer is great to have around for projects like this—no air tank needed!) to attach your board to your rails or you can also screw in the boards if you don’t have a nail gun (pre-drilling recommended so as not to split the wood). I would also suggest laying down a line of wood glue on top of the rails before adding your board on top for a little extra bonding strength.
If using a drill and screws to attach your main and trim boards, I highly recommend also using a countersink bit when you pre-drill so your screw head will end up slightly below the surface of your board and you can fill in the hole with wood filler and smooth it out completely flat at the end. What hole? I don’t see a hole … exactly.

Attach your trim boards to the front of your shelves:

Once your main board is added, cut your trim board the width of the front of your main board and attach the board to the front of your shelf to finish off the look. I attached most of my trim boards with the brad nails and nail gun, but there were a few spots where the trim was bowed a bit, so I pre-drilled and used screws there to really keep the boards together (brad nails and glue should be fine for non-warped boards but screws are a stronger hold if they are trying to pull apart based on warping).
Add finishing touches:
Finish by filling any nail or screw holes with wood filler (let it dry and then sand smooth) and caulking seams between the shelf and wall with latex caulk before painting the boards with semigloss paint (I painted them Soft Stone by Valspar—the same color as our pink walls). Make sure you give the paint its full time to cure (and maybe even add a few more days on to the wait) before setting objects on the shelf. You really want that paint to be cured so it doesn’t stick to the objects and peel up. Adding little felt pads to the bottom of your shelf decor will really prolong the life of your paint job as well!

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

Episode #77: Elsie Teaches Emma To Be An Internet Mom

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 13:37:26 GMT

Hello, hello! This week, we’re chatting about the topic of being a mom on the internet. Even though we have a lot of boundaries, it’s a tricky territory and it’s something all of us (internet moms) have to go through.

You can stream the episode here on the blog or on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, and Stitcher. You can find the podcast posts archive here.

Big thanks to this week’s sponsors! And thank you so much for supporting our podcast partners. Check out the offers from Function of Beauty, Grove, Bev, and Magic Spoon! If you’re looking for a sponsor from a previous episode you can find all of our codes here.

Show notes:

-Elsie mentions the book The Danish Way Of Parenting.

-Elsie mentions Two Ten Jack, her favorite restaurant in Nashville.

GO EMMA, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!! :))

Sparks Joy!

-Emma – Always Pan (also, here’s a link to the Spruce Steamer Basket)

-Elsie – Boot hangers

Here’s a few links to some of my knee high boots:

Black Suede / Brown Suede / Brown Leather

Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!! Elsie + Emma

Episode 77 Transcript

[read_more id=”1″ more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]

Elsie: You’re listening to A Beautiful Mess podcast, Emma recently shared that she’s expecting a baby this summer. So in this episode, I’m giving her a one on one on how to survive life as an Internet mom. Online bullying and general overstepping in parenting on the Internet is always tough, but it’s extra, extra, extra tough when you’re a brand new mom. So if you’re at a similar stage in life to us, this episode is for you. And if not, you can just listen and be glad that it’s not you.

Emma: Yeah, yeah. (laughs) I was like, how about we do an episode where you just give me advice about being a mom online? Because I just feel like that’s one area that people get real judgy and mean on, like even more than normal. So I’m like, ooh, what’s going on with this? Like…

Elsie: I didn’t become a mom till I can’t remember now if I was thirty-four, or thirty-five. But let’s just say I was in my mid-thirties when I became a mom. So I had a whole decade of watching other people do it online before I started. So I knew it was going to be rocky in that way.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: And it was. Everyone has boundaries whether you see them or not. But even if you feel like you have pretty tight boundaries, other people will not see it that way. And it’s just very challenging because a lot of the meanest comments you’ll get are projections. It’s not even really about something you did. It’s about something that that person feels or that that person went through or that they’re somehow trying to protect your child from. So let’s jump in. We’ve been blogging 14 years, so we definitely know how to deal with rude comments. Let’s just put that out there in the beginning, it does get easier. We know how to delete and block. We know how to respond. We know how to learn from something that is a legitimate criticism. All of those things are normal to us. We’re seasoned pros. But when it comes to being a mom, it does change it a little bit. And I want to give Emma the pep talk that I never got because in some ways I wasn’t prepared. And I think especially in my first year of parenthood, I was a little bit more defensive than I am now, and I wish that I wouldn’t have been.

Emma: Oh, interesting.

Elsie: The Internet tends to get really, really invested in bloggers having babies. And I know that this is already happening to Emma, even though it’s like — she’s the most private person. (laughs) I know a lot of bloggers, and she’s probably in the top two most private bloggers out of all of our group of friends. And it’s still going to happen. So take notes, Emma. Here’s your pep talk. Are you ready?

Emma: Yes. Let’s do it.

Elsie: Yes. And tell me and tell me what you think about each thing, because I want to hear your thoughts, too. I don’t know, parenting…I want to say upfront, like one of the reasons why we didn’t make this a parenting podcast and why we don’t do a lot of parenting advice is because that’s not our job. And we know that, (laughs) like, we don’t want it to be our job! But, I feel like, in this one episode, I think it’s worth it to just like go there because we have learned some things and you’re about to enter into a season where you’re the most tired and the most stretched thin that you’ve been in a long time. And then to pile people being mean to you on top of that is just not fair. That’s what I wish people understood.

Emma: And I definitely feel like when people have been comments or criticism of my job, which is like putting recipes and crafts and things like that on the Internet. So if someone’s like “this recipe sucks”, I’m like, well, you know, this — I am putting this out there as a part of my career. You know, I have a cookbook out. I, you know, have a that’s a big part of what I do on our blog. So I feel a lot more like, OK, this is what I’m choosing. But I don’t really consider being a mom a part of my career. (laughs) I consider it something that I’ve always wanted to do. And I’m sure I will want to share photos of my child and myself being pregnant and things like that here and there. But I don’t really think of it as this is a career move. I just think of it as, oh, my mom’s going to want to see this. I’ll post it. You know? (laughs) So…

Elsie: Yeah. OK, well…

Emma: It’s just harder when it’s like that.

Elsie: On that note, I have to skip ahead to point number five and just read it early because it relates to what you’re saying. It says even if you make zero dollars from your kid, never put them in an ad, etc., people will still call you a mom blogger. So just let it happen. I was in a magazine article in, I think, like, People last year where they were calling me a mom blogger. And it also had like Clea and Joanna from The Home Edit. They’re definitely not mom bloggers either. And then it had us was like, you know, some of the people who actually are mom bloggers, (laughs) so, I feel like just having a kid in some people’s minds makes you in the category of mom blogger, but I do think it’s its own business that the people who choose to do that, they make these hard choices. They make these big boundaries, they make these sacrifices. None of those things are we doing. And we’re not even trying to enter into that category. It just gets muddy in other people’s minds.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: OK, so my first piece of advice, and this is the best advice anyone ever gave to me before I became a mom and I think it’s the most important parenting advice you can have, is that you have to choose to listen to your instincts over everything. So especially being a mom online, people will want to give you a lot of advice from everything from, you know, your car seat choice to your education choices. You know, if you ever open up about anything personal or any kind of struggle with your kid, the advice you’ll get will be overwhelming and massive. But your inner voice is already telling you, at least for me, at every point in my parenting journey, my instincts have told me what to do. And I think that you can really trust them. They’re there for a reason and they’re really the biggest thing that you don’t want to ignore or tune out.

Emma: Yeah, that makes sense.

Elsie: Yeah, I didn’t read a ton of parenting books I’ve talked before about how I love The Danish Way of Parenting. I — and I did read a couple of books about adoption when we were first adopting — but, reading like a ton of parenting books I don’t think is necessary. I think you have to listen to your own inner voice. And it’s good also to get like a core group of other moms who have some stuff in common with you. You can listen to them like I usually ask my best friend a couple questions a year, you know, or ask other moms who are bloggers like Laura, you know, like I ask her things whenever it has to do with, like, you know, blogger specific stuff. So anyway…

Emma: Yeah, I definitely have a lot of, you know, family and close friends who are moms who I plan to basically just steal all their knowledge from. But I am a bit of a researcher. I like to read books and listen to podcasts. It just gives me — I like having a plan and then it’s fine if the plan goes completely wrong and doesn’t work, that’s fine. I just like going into things with one. I think that gives me a little bit of comfort. So I probably will be a little bit like that. I mean, I already am, but yeah, I’m also like pretty…you know, I think you have to use your instincts because every kid is different, every situation is different, and you just have to kind of roll with it, which is part of the fun part. But when you’re really tired, I’m sure it’s also part of the difficulty. (laughs)

Elsie: I mean, learn from as many different people as you can or you want to. But just remember that your inner voice is important, too. And don’t ever tune it out because someone else told you advice that was different. All right. Let’s take a quick sponsor break.

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Elsie: So the next piece of advice — this is, I think the one that I want everyone who’s not a mom to hear is, moms are just so tired. All we need is a hug most days. We’re so exhausted whether we’re smiling or, you know, we’re performing or we’re crying, we’re always, always, always tired, especially moms of little kids and infants. So I think just treating people with kindness and knowing that they’re already going through one of the most difficult, challenging seasons in their life is so important. And I think that when people lead with that kind of comment or that kind of kindness, when they’re coming in, you know, sliding into my DMS, it means a lot. And I think that when people aren’t leading with that kind of kindness, it’s OK to not have the capacity to engage with them or respond to them or listen to what they have to say at that moment, especially if you’re already having one of those shit days. The next thing is it’s OK to parent differently. So something I’ve learned from being a mom online is especially like a lot of people tend to look at our outward boundaries. So, you know, people don’t notice the things you never talk about. You’ll have tons of boundaries that no one ever even brings up or ever even notices. But they will notice the things you know, that you end up putting on Instagram and on the blog. And especially if you talk about something or, you know, whether or not you choose — like there’s people who don’t let their kids be in any pictures. There’s people that will let their kids be in a picture, but not their face. And then there’s people who will let their kids be in a ton of pictures, but not ads. And then there’s people who let their kids be in as many ads as they want, but they have a separate way of taking care of them financially that’s totally, you know, above board and stuff. So everyone is different. And it’s OK to just realize at the beginning there is no right or wrong. There’s actually not. And when people try to say there’s one right way to do that type of thing…mmm…I don’t feel like they know what they’re talking about.

Emma: Yeah, I think that makes sense. And I definitely think — I mean, life generally, you know, I think you could say, like, you know, it’s OK to parent differently. I would say it’s OK to run a business differently. It’s OK to have a different type of marriage. It’s OK to have different kinds of friendships.

Elsie: It’s true!

Emma: We don’t all have to be the same, but we do have to kind of try to respect one another and lead with kindness, like you were saying. And yeah, when people don’t seem to do that, I definitely feel like I have a much lower capacity in my life already. So I definitely kind of like, I’m going to tune this one out because I already cried today about something more valid, so I don’t have time for this one.

Elsie: Yeah, and like I remember the moment that Jeremy and I, we were at Two Ten Jack in Nashville, you know, our favorite restaurant sitting there having our delicious number two cocktail. And we made our boundaries for what we were going to do for our kids as far as like if we were going to let them be in pictures if we were going to let them be in an advertisement if we were going to let them be involved with my business at all, we made all those boundaries and we’ve never changed any of them. This was before we had Nova and it’s fine. And people don’t need to know exactly what our boundaries are. They just need to trust and respect that we have a handle on that. And I think that that kind of confidence is something that sometimes is hard to have. When you just became a parent two months ago and someone’s like pointing out something that you might be doing wrong, you know, it’s just like an overwhelming feeling.

Emma: Oh, yeah, for sure. It’s really hard to do new things. I mean, it’s very you know, it’s stressful and embarrassing. And you don’t know if you’re doing it right because you’ve never done it before.

Elsie: Aw, Emma.

Emma: So, yeah, I think that’s…

Elsie: I think all of our listeners right now are like Emma, you’re going to do great. You’re really smart. You have a really good head on your shoulders. You’re going to be fine. (laughs)

Emma: (laughs) Yeah, I think it’s going to be I mean, I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time, so I think that’s what I’ll do in the stressful moments is just kind of be like, well, I can already feel it. Like I’m like — I’m trying to enjoy just pregnancy because I’m like I’ve wanted to be a mom so long. So even when I have a bad moment, like some crazy pregnancy hormones, that’s what I’m in right now. I’m like, well, I still want to appreciate this time in my life because it’s not going to last forever. And I’m going to look back on it 10 years from now, you know?

Elsie: We’re all so proud of you! I’m like really emotional lately. OK, so…

Emma: Me too. Oh, my God. (laughs).

Elsie: My last piece of advice — awww! — we can have a cry together after this. I love crying. Ok, my last piece of advice is — this is I think this is true generally on mean comments, but it’s really, really the most amplified with parenting stuff, is most of the rude comments you’ll get our projections and not actually about your parenting. So I feel like you’ll know when it’s something where you need to look inward and examine. But when it comes to parenting stuff, most of us put out so little information about our parenting anyway that people don’t even have anything to base those comments off of besides like, they just didn’t like it that you posted a picture that day or whatever. But most of it is. Yeah, most of it doesn’t deserve any energy and it’s in the ignore/delete/block category. But your instincts will let you know there will be times when it’s actually helpful feedback. And you know something…you know…there will be those times too. Especially like, every mom I feel like on Instagram goes through something where they use their car seat wrong and everyone teaches you how to correctly use it. (laughs) And that’s important and really helpful.

Emma: For sure. Oh, yeah. I have already had a night where, you know, I woke up in the middle of the night and it was like, “what am I going to do about the car seat!?” I’m just like “what if I put it in wrong?!”, you know, and then I can’t go back to sleep and I’m like, you need to just write this down on your list and when you get your carseat, practice. You can text your friends and be like, is this right? And just, you know, know that you probably will get it wrong sometime, and you can just then correct it. But yeah, I already had a night, I do that all the time lately — I wake up in the middle of the night and I’m worried about one weird thing and I just get fixated on it and I’m like, OK, you need to put this on your list because you’re getting a little a little nutso here — and the car seats definitely on the list. (laughs) I’m like, “ah!”. So…

Elsie: Mmhmm…

Emma: Those things look confusing!

Elsie: But don’t don’t get overwhelmed. You’ll get the hang of it. And yeah, I just defer to my one, my one mom friend who teaches me all that kind of stuff, and then I’m good.

Emma: And now we’re going to take a short break and hear a word from our sponsor.

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Elsie: If you’re listening and you have unsolicited parenting advice for Emma. You can text it to her at 417-N-O-T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U with the extension, “please stop”. (laughs)

Emma: (laughs) Elsie is very proud of her joke.

Elsie: I’m very proud of my joke! (laughs)

Emma: It’s good. I like it.

Elsie: Thank you. OK, so before we go, we need to do our Sparks Joy segment where we talk about an affordable find that’s bringing us joy, helping our daily lives. I can’t wait to get my sparks joy tattoo.

Emma: I like it. Yes. OK, I’ll do mine first.

Elsie: Okay.

Emma: Mine is something that you encouraged me to buy because you had bought one and you loved it. So it’s the Always Pan by our place.

Elsie: Ohhh yeah!

Emma: I have the kind of pink one. It’s like a pink terracotta type and I love it. It’s a great size for like making all sorts of things and it’s the best nonstick pan I’ve ever had. So I’m very into it. And I also think it’s really cute. So if I ever, like, leave it out on the stovetop, I actually think it’s like kind of — it doesn’t look so junky because it’s kind of this cute pink color. So I love it.

Elsie: Yeah, I want to say something about it too. So I posted about it so many times recently because they’ve had a bunch of sales and it’s just a great pan. A couple of times people were like, did they send you these pans for free? And first of all, I paid my own money for all of ours. We have three of them. We have the gray color, the lavender color and the like, terracotta salmon color and never got one for free. And I would love for them to be our sponsor. And I hope they still will be but they’ve never sponsored us. It is — it’s a great pan. It’s just the best pan. And then when they did the steaming basket, I thought it was genius because I love the little, it’s made of spruce I think. But it kind of, you know, it has like the bamboo look, you know, we make dumplings all the time. It’s just very beautiful. It’s easy to clean. I was getting the green pans before and we were just replacing them at least once a year because we cook at home a lot and they just didn’t last. So, yeah, the thing I would say about these pans is they really last we’ll link them in the show notes and they have other things. I’ve been thinking about getting their drinking glasses. They have really pretty little stackable drinking glasses. So I hope that they keep expanding. I was talking to one of my friends the other day about how they really need to make a mini version of Always Pan so you can just do like a fried egg or something. Do you think that would be useful?

Emma: Yeah, that would be kind of nice.

Elsie: A baby one? (laughs) I like small things. OK, so mine. Oh my gosh, this is going to be groundbreaking mine is boot hangers. All right. So I have — I’m going to talk about my dream closet in like every episode for 2021. Just warning you now, I love my dream closet every single night when we go to bed we lay down the bed and I and I like cuddle up to Jeremy and say, “I love my closet”, I just like… (laughs) I just like, feel like I’m in a nineties rom-com wen I walk into that closet, it’s like light pink. It’s like everything is displayed. I can see all my stuff even like in my underwear drawer it’s all organized and pretty. Anyway, boot hangers. So I have one…what do you call it…curtain hanger rod. Rod. (laughs) I have one closet rod (laughs) devoted to boots which sounds so like…”How many boots do you have?!” Well I have like, I don’t know like six or seven pairs of high boots. I’ve been collecting them for a few years and I really like tall boots. They’re very vintage, they look really cute with short dresses and there’s lots of different ones. I’ll link to some of the ones I have. They’re very inexpensive, like I have a couple of splurged pairs, but like the black ones that go up real high, those are like, you know, they should only be like thirty dollars or something. And anyway, I started hanging them in my last house just because I had this one really long pair and like there was no way to like prop them up or like, you know, put a mold in them and they were to tall.

Emma: I have a pair like that so I’m listening closely because I’m like, I think I need a boot hanger because I have the over the knee black boots that they just kind of how do you store them, you know? This is what I need.

Elsie: Exactly. OK, so they make these little hangers and I will link them in the show notes where you can hang your boots. And at first I was like, is it going to leave marks? Is it going to…but it’s actually so clean looking. It just looks really nice and clean. All my boots are there, I even like, you know, added a couple more pairs this year, and it’s like I have my complete boot collection all together and they’re so pretty and I just think that they’re much easier to store this way. I don’t know how I would store them otherwise because the really tall ones that are almost like fabric, like, you know, I don’t know, I feel like I’m not describing it well, but, you know, like the really tall black ones that fashion bloggers always wear?

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: Those are not like leather anything. They’re like fabric. So they’re not ever gonna stand up.

Emma: Yeah they’re like a suede.

Elsie: So anyway, I did a part of my closet that’s boot hangers and I will show it in the show notes I’ll link to them — all of the boots if they’re still available, I’ll try to find them. And yeah, it’s just a really delightful little thing. I love organizing and I just — it just makes me feel so happy when I see them all in a row together. Like anything you can display all in a row. I feel like that’s like the peace and calm that we all need.

Emma: Yeah, it’s just easy on the eyes and you’re like, look what I organized and it’s nice rather than just a jumbled pile, you know.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: Yes. Thank you so much for listening and for sharing our podcast with your friends. It means a lot to us when we see you sharing it on Instagram or Facebook or wherever it is that you like to share your news. And we just really, really appreciate the support as we keep trying to grow this little podcast. So thank you.

Elsie: Have a good week!

Emma: Bye!

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10 Things I Love Sunday

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 14:00:56 GMT

I suppose I should say Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s kind of an odd holiday, but I can get behind celebrating LOVE! Love is the best. I hope you give it freely, I hope you feel it fully, and I for one am aiming to love and care for myself in this season as well.

In the above photo is the pink tile I am using on my faux mantle place project (in my back living room). More to come on the blog soon (once the project is actually done). Ha.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, I shared this with my book club group and people were INTERESTED, so now I’m sharing it with you. A recent self-love purchase. I give it five stars ;).

Since becoming pregnant, I’ve noticed I have developed these little red veins on a few spots on my face and one on my collarbone. I googled and apparently it may be hormone/pregnancy related (I think?). I can try a laser treatment for them, but not until after I give birth and finish breastfeeding. So until then, I am using this full coverage concealer when I am sick of looking at them. Although I am self conscious of these little red spots, it’s a small price to pay for getting to be pregnant. But I’m signing up for the laser treatment once I’m able!

I am still obsessed with my Always Pan. Probably what I make the most is steamed broccoli (lame, I know, just being honest), but I feel like it’s casually showing up in about 50% of my food blog posts now too. Best non-stick pan, plus it’s cute.

This is very random but I recently bought a bunch of cheap nail stickers that you put over polish, but under a top coat. It’s very middle school of me, I know. But it’s sparking a lot of joy lately to do something extra with my nails, so why not?

I’m starting to think about baby gear and making a registry. It’s overwhelming (in a good way)! If you have children, what were the most used or favorite things you received? I am currently eyeing this stroller and dreaming of walks in my neighborhood with a tiny baby in it. Dreams come true!

Lately, so many people have said I have that “pregnancy glow,” which is SO nice and makes me feel like a million dollars. But, I sort of feel guilty that the secret is probably just my favorite moisturizer.

This month, I’ve been getting the mini split units repaired in the upstairs of my house (that has been a trip! #oldhouseproblems) and I’m dreaming of moving my office upstairs soon, since you know how I feel about an office with a door. Ha. I am daydreaming hard about swapping out the plain ceiling fan for this light fixture. I am digging the black and kind of thinking of making the space feel a little more dramatic than other spaces in the house, but I don’t know. Then I start second guessing myself on that …

In case you missed it, I finally shared my favorite sugar cookie and royal frosting recipe. These aren’t just for Christmas, if you ask me!

Winter isn’t over just yet, but so far the MVP of my closet this year has been this pink cardigan. I wear it TOO much. I just love the length and it’s warm (but not overly warm) for days that go from chilly to decent.

Take care of yourself, friends! Sending love. Emma

Easy Hack To Patch A Drywall Hole

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 14:00:24 GMT

Whether you rent or own a house or apartment, I think we’ve all had an occasion where there’s been a hole in a wall that’s needed to be patched due to some accidental puncture, decorating change, or renovation issue. I know I’ve definitely patched a few in my time and I usually use these patch kits (they come in different sizes) to patch over the hole. We are currently working on renovating our new mid-century home and we have a few drywall projects to do around the house, and my mom reminded me of a story from when I was little where a carpenter neighbor helped patch a hole in our childhood bedroom.

She said she thought it was so cool because instead of using a mesh patch or building up the wall behind the hole, he simply cut out a small piece of new drywall (a few inches bigger than the hole), traced the shape of the hole onto the back of the drywall lightly with a utility knife, and then snapped off the excess drywall chunks. He left the front drywall paper layer intact so he could insert it into the wall like a puzzle piece. I had never heard of this hack, but it turns out it is a real trick that can be used to repair a custom hole with just a bit of extra drywall. So I tried it this week and it totally works! Here’s what I did:

Trace your hole: Put a piece of paper over your hole and trace it either with a pen (if you can see the lines underneath) or make an indent in the paper with your fingers around the hole edge (if you can’t see the lines) so you can trace the indent with a pen once you take it off. If you have a really crazy shape of a hole, you can knock out some extra drywall by lightly tapping at the edges with a hammer or screwdriver to make a more uniform circle or oval hole.

Cut your drywall scrap: Use your utility knife (that kind where the blade folds in feels extra safe to store around little kids) to cut and snap a piece of drywall that’s a few inches bigger than your hole. Center your tracking on the back of the drywall scrap and trace your hole shape onto the back of your drywall with your knife or X-Acto knife. Make sure your tracing is reversed so it will be the right shape when you go to put it into your hole! You don’t have to go super deep on your first pass, but trace it a second time when you remove the tracing paper to go a bit deeper.

Snap off the extra (but keep the paper on): Now that you have a shape traced, score a straight line across the top and bottom of your shape and snap off those extra sections. Rather than cut those sections off, simply peel the drywall off the paper so the front paper stays attached to the drywall patch. Depending on your shape, you may need to keep scoring and snapping bigger chunks off or you may be able to snap right at your traced line and peel off from there. I only had to score across the top and bottom and then the sides peeled off on their own. You can also trim down your excess paper with scissors if you have too much on the outside (I would do about 1.5″ around the edge).

You can make sure your piece fits in the wall, and if it won’t, you can chunk off a little more of your patch with your knife until it fits easily.

Attach your patch with mud: Now that you have your puzzle piece ready to go, sand the paint around the hole with some rough sandpaper to remove the gloss from your paint (the mud will stick better to a slightly rough surface) and add a thin layer of drywall mud (that bag of dry mix is great because you can just mix up a little at a time as needed) around the edge of the hole to act as a glue to hold your patch to the wall. Slightly wet the paper edges of your patch and stick your patch into the wall. Use a joint knife (I like this 6″ one) to smooth over your patch so you see the excess mud squeezing out the sides to ensure a good seal. You can also use regular spackle rather than the drywall mud if you prefer to use that product.

Smooth over your patch/sand/paint: Once you’ve smoothed out the under layer of mud, go over the top of the patch with another thin layer and try to feather out the edges so you’ll have less sanding to do later. Let that mud fully dry and go over the patch again later with another thin layer, going out even wider than the first layer and feathering out the edges again so you don’t have hard edges to sand. Once it’s all dry, give it a sanding with some sandpaper (medium first then a fine grit) and you’re ready to paint over your patch! Handheld sanders like this are helpful for sanding or these sanding sponges are great too! You’ll want to make sure to wear eye protection and an N95 mask when sanding drywall or patching compound to keep from breathing in any of the dust during sanding and cleanup.

The hole is gone!! And in case you are wondering, this does work on plaster walls as well! My wall is actually plaster (it’s an older home so most of the walls are) and it worked just fine. I would suggest painting over your repair with a higher nap roller (or look for ones that say they are for semi-rough surfaces) as that gives the super smooth new patch a little texture so it will match the rest of the wall better. This technique is meant for smaller holes in drywall, so if you have more of a medium-large size hole, you’ll want to screw in wooden boards to the back side of your drywall hole to act as a brace and cut and attach a drywall section to those boards–kind of like you would when framing out a wall. Hope this gives you a new handy tool in your toolbox for next time you have a hole in your drywall! xo. Laura

EASY HACK TO PATCH A DRYWALL HOLE

Author Laura Gummerman

Ingredients

scrap of drywall
utility knife
drywall mud or spackle
6" drywall knife
fine sandpaper
wall paint
dust mask and eye goggles

Instructions

Trace your hole: Put a piece of paper over your hole and trace it either with a pen (if you can see the lines underneath) or make an indent in the paper with your fingers around the hole edge (if you can’t see the lines) so you can trace the indent with a pen once you take it off. If you have a really crazy shape of a hole, you can knock out some extra drywall by lightly tapping at the edges with a hammer or screwdriver to make a more uniform circle or oval hole.
Cut your drywall scrap: Use your utility knife (that kind where the blade folds in feels extra safe to store around little kids) to cut and snap a piece of drywall that’s a few inches bigger than your hole. Center your tracking on the back of the drywall scrap and trace your hole shape onto the back of your drywall with your knife or X-Acto knife. Make sure your tracing is reversed so it will be the right shape when you go to put it into your hole! You don’t have to go super deep on your first pass, but trace it a second time when you remove the tracing paper to go a bit deeper.
Snap off the extra (but keep the paper on): Now that you have a shape traced, score a straight line across the top and bottom of your shape and snap off those extra sections. Rather than cut those sections off, simply peel the drywall off the paper so the front paper stays attached to the drywall patch. Depending on your shape, you may need to keep scoring and snapping bigger chunks off or you may be able to snap right at your traced line and peel off from there. I only had to score across the top and bottom and then the sides peeled off on their own. You can also trim down your excess paper with scissors if you have too much on the outside (I would do about 1.5″ around the edge).
You can make sure your piece fits in the wall, and if it won’t, you can chunk off a little more of your patch with your knife until it fits easily.
Attach your patch with mud: Now that you have your puzzle piece ready to go, sand the paint around the hole with some rough sandpaper to remove the gloss from your paint (the mud will stick better to a slightly rough surface) and add a thin layer of drywall mud (that bag of dry mix is great because you can just mix up a little at a time as needed) around the edge of the hole to act as a glue to hold your patch to the wall. Slightly wet the paper edges of your patch and stick your patch into the wall. Use a joint knife (I like this 6″ one) to smooth over your patch so you see the excess mud squeezing out the sides to ensure a good seal.
Smooth over your patch/sand/paint: Once you’ve smoothed out the under layer of mud, go over the top of the patch with another thin layer and try to feather out the edges so you’ll have less sanding to do later. Let that mud fully dry and go over the patch again later with another thin layer, going out even wider than the first layer and feathering out the edges again so you don’t have hard edges to sand. Once it’s all dry, give it a sanding with some sandpaper (medium first then a fine grit) and you’re ready to paint over your patch! Handheld sanders like this are helpful for sanding or these sanding sponges are great too! You’ll want to make sure to wear eye protection and an N95 mask when sanding drywall or patching compound to keep from breathing in any of the dust during sanding and cleanup.