The new Bedroom

We have finished the bedroom as well, but the bad news is that the pictures are as bad as can be. I am really sorry, I am really hoping to upgrade this week to something better as a camera, but these are the pictures now.
The walls before were bright yellow, horrible color for bedroom, since yellow is known for "making you hungry" and "alert", two bad things for a bedroom ;-)
Ever since we painted I definitely sleep better ( but that might be the exhaustion from the renovation too ;-))!
We have finally changed the headboard for a king size one ( the old one I liked very much but it was queen size and we couldn't use it with the King size mattress), we rearranged the bedroom as you can see, now the bed is on the south wall ( as I initially wanted), not on the west one as before. I removed the mirror from the bedroom, one thing I never used it, since I have a big one in the bathroom, another thing is that Feng Shui says if a mirror is reflecting the bed in the bedroom this is not bringing a good energy.
I am supposed to have a painting on the wall where the the vase is , but I didn't have time, when I do, I am going to update it.
This is how the bedroom looked before:
I hated these blinds, they gave me the feeling I was sleeping in the office. I am so glad we finally got rid of them!

Here the bed is on the west wall where the door was.

And this is how the bedroom look now:


The wall color is almond paste, very soft and soothing color. I wanted to make the bedroom a place to relax and get rest, so I chose colors that make me feel that way. The drapes are champagne color, the shawl on top of them is honey color.
The pictures on the wall are bamboo ones, and are actually one that I've cut in two pieces.
The vase is two colors- dark brown and very dark red. Here is supposed to be hanging the missing picture I have to draw :-)
Now, when you look at my renovation pictures, have in mind that I am on a very limited budget and I can't afford to change furniture so I am looking for more of a refreshing and updated look, as opposed to completely new look( achievable only with completely new furniture), which I would love to have but the situation is not there yet.
And that is it! Three down, four more to go! Wish me luck, because I will need it :-)

The new Purple-Violet Bathroom

I've read in a design magazine that the color of this year is violet, but that was not the reason to paint ours like that. I used this color because this is my favorite color :-)
I was dreading this bathroom renovation since the day we moved in, because I knew that we will have to remove all the wallpaper the previous owners used. Big, big, HUGE mistake! Wallpaper in the bathroom is the worst thing I've ever experienced since the carpet in the main bathroom, where the tub and shower are ( our previous house). I've scraped wallpaper before but I've never seen anything like this! I don't know what kind of glue was used to put the wallpaper up, but we had a hell of a time taking it down! It took us almost 24 hours to do it and in the middle of work we finally gave up and bought wallpaper scraping supplies :
- the wallpaper remover
- the paper tiger
- and last but not least the wallpaper removing solution
All in all, the whole nine yards of wall-paper scraping.
After we scraped the wallpaper, we washed( I don't even remember how many times, but more than 5 for sure)the walls to remove all the glue left, so we can paint on top of it.
Then we applied no-mold and mildew premier and we painted on top.
This is how the bathroom looked like before we painted it:


I always liked warm colors for the bathroom so I was adamant that we are going to have warm shade of violet. Unbelievably my camera stoped working properly ( I am looking for new one now) the exact same day. So basically, the color you see on the pictures is not the same as on the wall. I tried fixing them in PS ( PhotoShop) but unfortunately I had so much work to finish, that eventually I gave up the idea and left them like that.
Before you see the pictures after the renovation, I want to mention, that all the colors are the same color palette- the walls and bathroom cabinet are the same, the towels are a shade lighter, it just looks different from the light ( and my camera).
So this is what became of our bathroom after I was finished with it :-) :

I have painted the bathroom cabinet the same color as the walls
All our things that were on the countertop I put in baskets ( which coordinated with the whole beach-romantic idea), and I have to tell you this was one of the wisest things I ever did, because now when I need to clean under all the little boxes and bottles I just move up the basket and I am done! No more cleaning bit by bit!

This wall design was made by me from fabric, ribbon and sea stars. I had the same idea for a seashell one, but the sea stars were the same color as the baskets on the countertop, so it was better I thought to be in the same color palette.


Here the basket, the bath rugs and the towels are the same color, not that it looks like that on the picture :-)
This is the same hat I had before ( idea of the previous owners, but I actually liked it), I just update it with some ribbons, thin silk rope, little stones, seashells and fabric.
The hat does not look as shiny as on the pictures...but my camera again....
These seashell "pictures" were made by me as well from real seashells, stones and sand.
And that's all folks :-)
I would be extremely happy to read your comments, I can't get it why I have such large traffic to my blog, but nobody comments anything.
Even if you don't like it, tell me what you think!

Pineapple and palm hearts baked Lamb with Coconut rice on the side

Wow, how time flies! Fifty posts and I am still here :) I thought I would get bored by know :-)
The great news from me is that we finished the second bathroom, but I am going to post pictures a little bit later.
Now, I wanted something special for my little 50 th anniversary, so here is my recipe for you. I came up with it one day when I was trying to surprise my guys with something different and interesting, the result was more than satisfying, it definitely deserves A+ in my book ;-)

Ingredients:

For the Lamb
2 lbs lamb
1 can palm hearts
1/2 fresh pineapple
1 teaspoon dry ginger
2/3 cup chopped white onion
4 small carrots
4 tablespoons sesame oil
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons of lemon zest
2 tablespoons brandy
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1/2 cup honey ( or maple syrup)

For the Coconut rice
2 cups jasmine long grain rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups water
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tbsp. dry finely shredded coconut

Using very sharp knife, slice the lamb meat to a very thin pieces.
Saute it with the sesame oil until it changes color and gets a little brown over the edges, but not too much! You don't want it dry!


Spread the lamb in a shallow glass or ceramic baking dish, add salt and pepper and preheat the oven to 350F.
In the same oil saute the onions and carrots, add the sliced pineapple, then the palm hearts, cut to circles.
Place over the lamb when ready.


On the side combine maple syrup, mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice and soy sauce. Stir until well blended, then pour over the prebaked lamb.


Bake under aluminum foil for about 1 hour on 350F (you can even try 300F).


In the mean time saute the rice until the grains become transparent and then add the fine shredded coconut.

Add the coconut milk, water, salt and sugar. Place the pot on the stove over medium to high heat, while constantly stirring. Continue to stir until everything comes to a gentle boil, then turn down the heat to low. Cover the pot and leave it to simmer.( 10-15 min). When ready to eat, remove the lid and "fluff" rice with a fork or chopsticks, gently loosening it in the pot. The rice is now ready to eat.
Plate and serve warm! Enjoy with a glass of wine and good friends!

Recipe in Bulgarian here! ( на български)

Caramelized Pineapple with coconut biscuits and vanilla bean ice cream

Ingredients:
1 pineapple ( serves approximately 8, it depends on the portions)
1 and1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
vanilla ice cream ( as much as you like)
coconut biscuits( as many as you like, if you like at all)

Unbelievably easy dessert! I had little time to prepare anything else, but this thing takes no more than 15 min from washing to serving.
1. Wash and peal the pineapple.
2. Cut to small pieces ( or you can cut them any way you like).
3. Put 1 and 1/2 cup sugar into a non-stick pan ( it would be better if this pan has a lid, since when you put the pineapple in, it can make a mess on the stove) and set the stove to medium heat.
4. Add one tablespoon of butter.
5. Stir constantly and thoroughly until the sugar melts and becomes light brown color ( it has to look as a syrup)
6. Add the pineapple pieces and stir constantly again, until most of the caramel syrup has evaporated and the pineapple is kind of sticky ( but not too much,you would want some sauce left).
7.Plate while still warm.
8. Add the coconut biscuit ( you can use any kind of cookie, biscuit or cracker you have and like)
9. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top.
10. Cut a piece of vanilla ice cream in a shape you like and place it over the warm pineapple.
Serve IMMEDIATELY, while the pineapple is still warm and the ice cream is still cold. I would say that it starts melting approximately 1 minute after plating, but the combination of it is amazing to the palate.
Enjoy!

Crazy Frog

Now I don't want you to start thinking I am not going to post for a long time since I am remodeling ( and renovating :-) ). Not at all!
I am actually going to show you what I am doing, maybe it will be helpful, maybe you can get some new ideas.
The thing is, that my uncle does not have a Rockefeller as a last name, so when I am saying I am remodeling/renovating, this means I am trying to make apple tart from bread crumbs, in other words I am trying to spend as little as possible. Considering our basement was flooded twice this month, not good.
Anyway, when we first came to see our house ( before we bought it) I was really surprised to see that it didn't have a color at all! Almost all of the walls were off-white ( possibly time and dirt helped a lot for the off part) and I was already thinking, which wall will be what color.
Now, almost 18 months later I finally got the chance to redo the first room- the kids restroom.
Because I always take into account the Feng Shui side of the renovation, the colours for this room were green and/or blue, so the frog theme that I came up with was a natural choice.
Before the room was in off-yellow color with some kind of daisies on the walls ( I had a hell of a time taking these off) and a daisy wreath. It was very bla(h)nd.


To be honest, I hated it. That is why I was very happy when I painted and redecorated it.


One of the things I hated was that it was very inconvenient for small children. The mirror was "over the rainbow"/ way up high, my kids couldn't use the shelves, because they couldn't reach them, the face cloths were high too. Now I am happy because they can use everything there!


I wanted it to be bright coloured, happy, live, crazy if you like. I wanted the kids to scream from delight when they see it.

And they did :-)
I painted the picture with the frogs on the wall, I was so tired ( 11 pm), but I wanted the whole thing finished the same day, so it's not one of my best, but it works for now. I can always paint something else later :-)

Martenizi

There is a wonderful Bulgarian tradition of making "charms" for luck, happiness and health, that you have to wear from 1st of March until you see the first stork or tree in bloom.
This year I had so much to do, but I really wanted to share this tradition with the kids in my son's class. They ended up making beautiful martenicas, thanks to their teacher. I made less than any year before that, but they are still OK.
Here are some of them, really easy made from fuzzy pipe cleaners.


If you want to read more about the tradition, you can check this link:
http://www.geocities.com/bulgarian_martenitsa/The_Story_About_Bulgarian_Martenitsa.html