Lentil & barley vegetable soup

This is a quick soup I made the other day, it is another one pot meal. (I love that kind) Super simple to make and usually everything is on hand to throw it together. If not... use something else that seems right :P

We are in full swing with the main floor renovations.The house is messy.The fridge is in the living room, and I am going to have no cabinets or counter top very, very soon. YIKES! I will be washing dishes in my bathtub,  seriously :P

I came down the stairs this morning at thought "OH GAWD WHAT HAVE WE DONE". I know its going to be a long couple of months living in chaos, but SO worth it in the end :)

Caught the sunrise this morning. It was so beautiful.

Lentil & barely vegetable soup

2 onions- small diced
4 cloves garlic- roughly chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried oregano
6 carrots- peeled and chopped
1 green pepper- small diced
10 mushrooms- sliced
1 medium potato- peeled and chopped
8 cups water/vegetable stock
3 cups cooked lentils
2 handfuls of barley
2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp red wine vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

In  a large pot heat oil and saute onion and garlic until soft
Add spices and continue sauteing until absorbed
Next add vegetables, saute for 2-3 minutes
Add water or stock, lentil and barley and paste
Bring to a boil, and allow to simmer for 45 minutes.
Season with vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Hearst Buys Elle Decor

It's Official: Hearst Buys Elle Decor (read here).

{inspiration} Beautiful Hawaiian Style

I love, love, love the home of Marion Philpotts Miller. With tightly edited rooms that speak with a fresh graphic style she effortlessly captures the unique indoor-outdoor connection that embodies tropical living. It is the perfect mix of indigenous materials, older furnishings and contemporary flourishes: daybeds on the porch (lanais), graphic fabrics, organic flora, Asian influences (Chinese wooden chairs, Balinese red lacquer and Japanese lanterns- not all pictured). There is no formal pretense- just beautiful tropical design that is as wonderfully lush, as Hawaii itself. Have a wonderful week everyone...

*Photography via Traditional Home

Vanilla and cinnamon

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The direction in interior creation was defined by an image of the mistress – very beautiful girl with a shining smile and secret grief in eyes. It would be desirable to make this house light, gentle, air, but not deprived of the charm.

 

  

Home remodeling idea. For drawing room registration the soft natural colors promoting rest and a relaxation have been chosen. The design where the TV is located, simultaneously is also a bar counter – rather practical decision, considering not so big area of the given premise.
 

 

Wooden decorative beams on a ceiling and the natural stone, used in furnish, finish idea of an interior. The kitchen is executed in a contrast combination of colors – an original mix of "vanilla" and "cinnamon". Below ceiling level on premise perimeter the border from a decorative stone is located. Here all on the places, big enough working surface is organized.
 

 

Decorative beams on a ceiling and original fixtures have diluted with bright accent restraint of an interior. In a bedroom non-polluting materials are used only. In furnish the easy and cheerful colors well combined with dark venge and a bleached oak prevail.

 

Rope interlacings on furniture (in the form of handles), repeating on a ceiling and in a decor became the exclusive detail giving special charm and originality. The bathroom became an embodiment of almost weightless spring mood which will remain in these walls even in the coldest season.
 

 

The simple and refined lines ceiling designs change space, placing the accents. This gentle and freshening interior associates with a fragrant flower garden.

Flower & stone

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Wish of the customer - the Married couple with rather refined taste and status position in a society has wished to see a harmonious combination of ease and imposing appearance in an interior. It was necessary to coordinate stylistic preferences of the customer to the pleasant furniture in style minimalism.

 

 

Home remodeling idea: at the bottom level is designed a public zone. Between a drawing room and kitchen the partition is cleaned and the uniform space separated from a loggia by a stained-glass window is created. The second level – private premises for owners of apartment. Not to block up a bedroom with cases, the place under the wardrobe is taken away.
 

 

Home decoration idea: interior design is executed in style art-deco in a combination to decorative elements in modernist style, such, as vintage drawing, original illumination in a drawing room. For ease creation in this elaborate interior in furnish "the fragmentary" decorative stone is used.
 

 

Forms of ceiling designs with use of the sated color of a tension ceiling introduce in atmosphere severity and imposing appearance. In an interior rich shades prevail. Grace and refinement are easily read in intricate drawings on wall-paper and a tile, a decorative list on the made old plaster.
 

 

Thanks to the unique ability to recover and transform the space, light, playing patches of light cristalls on lamps and the fixtures, reflecting in tension streams all many-sided nature of an interior became one of the basic tools of creation of character and mood of an interior.

IN BED WITH Jeffery Alan Marks

This week you can visit the SFERRA website to learn more about Jeffery Allan Marks. Find out which SFERRA linens he awards the 'Best Dressed' status and why.

{product+love} The Possibilities of Washi Tape

This makes me insanely happy... Japanese washi tape, or colored masking tape, is made of Japanese washi paper and is perfect for almost anything you can dream up. I have seen it matted and framed and turned into art, decorating a special package as cool, personalized gift wrap, used in scrapbooking as trim & boarders and adorning office files as instantly fresh, homemade labels. Personally, I use it while on installations to map out wall grids where artwork and frames will hang. It doesn't leave a mark, is easy to tear and is strong enough to write on. So many possibilities... have a wonderful weekend everyone.

(to buy visit: Happy Tape , Uncommon Goods and Ginko Papers)

*Photography via Traditional Home Magazine

{idea notebook+painted ceramics} Touch of Hand

Okay, I am loving this! Revamp your plain ceramics and glassware with the simplest of D-I-Y techniques. Perfect for a rainy-day project of a personalized gift. What a stroke of genius...Love it!

1. Create a flowering teapot from your own doodled art. How very cool!
"Use a porcelain paint pen to embellish a simple pot with a modern floral bouquet. Keep acetone (nail polish remover works well) and tissues on hand to remove any mistakes. Bake the pieces according to the paint manufacturer's instructions to set the paint." Brianne Sanchez for Do It Yourself
2. Plain servingware serves new duty as chic organization for office supplies.
"Use a porcelain paint pen to repeat a simple circle chain pattern on each dish. A cohesive, modern design and color scheme unifies the eclectic mix of thrift shop pieces into efficient office organizers." Brianne Sanchez for Do It Yourself
3. Add a graphic pop to a plain glass pitcher and matching cups with circle label stickers and white glass paint.
"Use a foam pouncer to apply white paint over the labels and up the sides of the glassware for a faux-frosted look Avoid the rim of the pitcher and glass, so no paint is ingested when they're used. Peel the stickers off while the paint is still wet, scratching off any that seeped underneath." Brianne Sanchez for Do It Yourself
4. Transform a colored lamp with a white Sharpie oil paint marker by sketching your favorite pattern onto it's base. This is great for creating a lovely lace-inspired look.
"Start at the top and work your way down for the best results!" Brianne Sanchez for Do It Yourself


*Images and instructions via Do It Yourself | Spring 2011

Freedom

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There was a problem to create an interior not elaborate, but always fashionable and actual. The principle of freedom, simplicity and functionality of space was the main thing. And the minimalism became that style which has allowed to unite all these qualities.
 

 

Each detail in apartment is thought carefully over, the quantity of furniture is minimum, it doesn't dominate, and carries out all functions necessary for comfortable residing.
 

 

The decorative element in a drawing room – the fixture, a semi arch going down from a ceiling, it serves also as a protection for a ladder. Light in apartment relieves of congestion on a ceiling.
 

 

The basic component of an interior – harmony between things and space. The sliding partition in a wardrobe room is as well a door in a bedroom. The built in cases and wardrobe where it is possible to clean things that they didn't distract a sight are provided.
 

 

The interior composition extremely clear and simple, is constructed on the strict and thought over geometry. The uniform space with "flowing" of one in another premises is organized.
 

 

 

The open space of a drawing room uniting with a kitchen-dining room becomes a reference point. At the second level – two bedrooms: a spacious room of owners of apartment and the small guest. They are united by a bathroom. The bath placed in a bay window, is harmoniously entered in an interior of a bedroom and separates the Roman curtain.
 

 

The big area has allowed to feel open space and not to overload a premise, having placed all necessary accents and various accessories. The strict composition is diluted with a textiles and decor considerable quantity, and also use of warm natural materials in all apartment.

CHECK OUT OUR FIRST BLOG ENTRY ON THE NEW INSPIREDHOMEDESIGN.NET!

"House on Lake Michigan" (2007) by Robert A. M. Stern Architects | ENTRY. Photo: Peter Aaron / Esto

What better way to launch a blog that highlights the work of our favorite design professionals than to feature a home by the venerable Robert A. M. Stern?  Visit our new website, INSPIRED HOME DESIGN at InspiredHomeDesign.NET to learn more...

{inspiration+colour} Thinking Green

Maybe it is all of the white covering the ground and knowing what lies underneath but I have been inspired by green lately. To me green symbolizes growth, nature, pureness, harmony, peacefulness... It can be calming in sage, celery and chameleon; rich in moss, olive and forest; or sparkling in jade, lime and celadon. It is wonderful layered and paired as a secondary color. I love mixing it with bright white and navy blue or pairing it with rubies, yellows and deep browns. It is the perfect harmony, nature's symphony, a sweeping field of grass, a sum of all it's parts, not just a single shade. ... happy week everyone!

*Photography via (Image 1) Carla Lane Interiors, (Image 2,4 &5) "Perfect Palettes" by Stephanie Hoppen, (Image 3) via Anthropologie

Hipstamatic Paris

I am in love with the Hipstamatic app for iPhone. Modeled after the ill-fated 1982 Hipstamatic camera, the app creates nostalgic, vintage looking photos. The photos have become so popular that a Hipstamatics exhibition is now on display at The Orange Dot Gallery in London until the end of January.

My husband captured some fun photos while we were in Paris visiting friends and attending Déco Off 2011 and Maison&Ojet over the weekend.