Yummm

I haven't posted a recipe on my blog for a while, but I had to share this one!! Last weekend my husband smoked ribs and brisket and what better to go with BBQ than banana pudding? I found this recipe from Paula Deen and it was the best banana pudding I have ever had!



Instead of using vanilla wafers, the recipe calls for these Pepperidge Farms Chessmen cookies.

It was so easy, and my husband and I kept going back every single night for more until the bananas were too rotten to eat (the recipe makes a TON).

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

Ingredients

* 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
* 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
* 2 cups milk
* 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Currently loving....

A couple things that have caught my eye lately!

While in the depths of hell summer, I've been eying this beautiful patio chair from IKEA:


I first saw it at IKEA and sat in it.. it's very comfortable. I would buy 6 of them asap if I didn't have other priorities.

Bling bling! Love this pull from Anthro:



It'd be really sexy on a white piece of furniture.

Apparently I'm currently loving white (well that's nothing new).. here is another white something:


Don't kill me... they are another contender for the kitchen.

I had totally forgotten about these great pendants from CB2 and they are only $50 each. But here is the best part - they take 100 watt bulbs.. which would give us enough light. (I was surprised to see most of you guys said you prefer the West Elm pendants. I love them too.... BUT they only allow 60 watt bulbs and that's just not going to work lighting wise. Damn practicality..) Anyway... this drum pendant is nice and classic AND has a diffuser. One problem we have now is when standing at the island, light glares in our eyes and it's pretty annoying. The diffuser would solve this! Still undecided if you can't tell..

The pendant comes with a plug, but this conversion kit would fix that:



I'm also loving this blog I stumbled upon yesterday.. it's called "Only Things I Love" - how fitting! She has some really great spaces:

Moutain Home Design Board & A Fave

I recently did a design board for an e-decorating client who lives in a gorgeous home in the North Carolina mountains. The home has such great "bones":



The client wanted to get rid of the red rugs and I agreed. I added some cool colors to go with the warm space:



I told her a worn, vintage leather wing back would fabulous in her space.. just like the leather chair in this House Beautiful living room:



The image was scanned via Paula.. see the entire spread here. This spread is one of my all time favorites.. in fact the entire July/Aug 2011 issue of House Beautiful has become one of my all time favorites. It's perfect (including a spread from Nick Olsen.. love him!)

The client has taken the elements of my board and already made changes to her living room and it's looking great so far. She added this beautiful navy blue settee:



And the new entry!!



I can't wait to see the rest unfold...

Take Notice

Still thinking about kitchen lighting....

But in my searches I found this great idea:

[ via ]

A pretty little patterned valance over a woven shade. Not something I thought would look good, but it does!

I also came across this amazing and perfectly styled kitchen:

[ via ]

A couple sewing projects

Remember I said in the month of July I was going to focus on my "no $$$" projects? Well I sat down with my sewing machine and I got a couple of those projects finished this weekend.

A while ago, I purchased these 100% linen drapes from IKEA for our master bedroom:


They are only $50 a pair, and I bought two pairs for a total of $100.

I'll be honest... the quality is not that great. The linen is very thin and very stiff and wrinkles very easily. But I still moved forward with my project of pinch pleating and hemming them. It was a pain in the ass!

Here is the final product:





They are still a bit wrinkled after I ironed them with heavy starch!! Hopefully the wrinkles will fall. But overall, I'm happy content with how they turned out. However, this is what I WISH they looked like:

[via Urban Grace Interiors]

BUT I decided to go the "budget" route and use my dollars elsewhere. Custom linen pinch pleated and lined drapes are very expensive. My curtain panels were only $25 each! I'll save my dollars for the bathrooms that need to be updated!

Our bedroom is almost complete, I just need to paint a mirror I have and hang it over the dresser, and make some art for the opposite wall.

I have plans to walk you through my (very easy) steps to pinch pleat store-bought curtains, but the linen panels were not good to use as examples because the fabric was so unforgiving. I will be doing the same thing to these 100% cotton panels from IKEA in our living room:


I've already played around with them and they look a lot better than the linen ones.. I can't wait to share with you!

I also sewed up some pillows for our family room. Two of these:



And this large blue solid pillow for the chaise:


Overall it was a good weekend! Happy Monday :)

Fabulous Bathroom

What a GREAT idea:

BHG found via here.

I spy our laundry room tile, too. I love that tile so much.

Yesterday we had a plumber at the house fixing our powder room toilet (ughhhhh) and he said to me "wow you really like black and white don't you?" haha I guess I do....

ps- thanks for all the AWESOME comments on my kitchen lights! So many great ideas. Still haven't decided but you guys have helped me a lot.

Opinions Please!

This post really has no other purpose other than to get your opinions - haha. Sorry!

I've been wondering about this for a while and would love to see what you guys think. It's about the lighting in our kitchen.

Here is what our kitchen looks like right now (literally.. I just took these pictures right now):







The current pendants in our kitchen don't work for us. They don't give us efficient light since they concentrate the light downwards.. we need more overall light. (I thought when I purchased them the glass would be less opaque.. but I was wrong). They were super cheap, so I don't feel guilty for getting rid of them.. and I'll sell them on Craigslist.

I currently have this light from Pottery Barn sitting in the guest room closet:



We used to have it hanging here in our home in California:



There is a "match" on Overstock for $150:



So what do you think... should I purchase the match and hang them in the kitchen?

My other preference were a pair of these from West Elm:



(They are contained, so less dust on the inside, I like that. I also like the sleek-ness of them. And the price - two for $179. And I could sell my PB pendant to cover some of the cost).

Or option three, hold out (like for a while) for the most expensive, and my favorite, option:




Some things to keep in mind.....

- I love, love, love this house but it's not our forever home.
- We are planning on black granite countertops and subway tile with gray grout like this:



- Eventually we will bring hardwoods into the kitchen.

So... what do you think???? (I realize this is ironic... someone who gets paid to help other people with their homes asking for help on their own.. but I'm curious as to what you guys think!)

Thank you :)

EDIT - Bringing in another option (sorry). Since the island is taller than the table, another option is to bring in a semi-flush above the island and a pendant above the table

Above the island:

Above the table:

OR

Sigh.

Pillow Sale!!!!

We're having a great pillow sale this week at Isabella! Since working here, I've learned a lot about high end, gorgeous pillows. They seriously change the entire look of a room.. and I've become quite obsessed.

Now's your chance to grab a designer pillow because they are majorly on sale! I took some pictures for you...

All the pillows around the front chest are 50% off:





These are my favorite!! I wish there was a place in my home for them.. they are Kevin O'Brien Ombre velvet.. gorgeous.


These are 20-30% off:

I love the gray wood grain pillows.

All other pillows in the shop are 15% off.



If you see any you like, you can call us at 704.377.4919 or email me at brynalexandra at gmail. We can easily ship them to you!

We also have some on our website that you can order directly here!

I'm going to really have to restrain myself from getting a couple for our own home :)


(In case you are curious, there isn't anything in it for me when I blog about stuff at Isabella. It's a part of my life and I like to share it with you. Erin, the owner, has an amazing eye and has helped me develop my own... I've learned so much from her! I love sharing the beautiful things she finds and selects for the shop. Someday I will have to share with you the spaces we have designed together..)

Natural State

I've been loving jewelry with natural/almost raw stones and rocks. It started with the necklace my bff gave me:



If you're like me, you'll love this Etsy shop Friedasophie Jewelry Design I have stumbled upon. It's gorgeous!














Did I tell you guys I was born and spent a good part of my young life in hippie-ville Boulder, CO? I've got a major earthy side to me, and sometimes I wonder if it's because of those years there.

All images and pieces are found HERE.

outfit to room

I don't usually do outfit to room posts... mainly because there are a lot of bloggers that do, and do it much better than I would. But how cute is Kendi's outfit here:





A funny story about Kendi and her awesome blog.... I was sitting on the couch with my laptop going through my blog roll, and my husband was sitting right next to me. He glanced over and saw I was looking at Kendi's blog and said "man you're obsessed with that girl!" I was like "huh? I'm just going through my blogs" and he said "you have pictures all over the house of her." hahahaha. Okay, he was kind of right.... I do have a couple pictures hanging in my closet and on my inspiration boards in my office. But it's only for outfit ideas that would work for my own wardrobe. Kendi- I swear I'm not a super scary stalker :)

Anyway, this outfit reminds me of Lee Jofa's new Lily Pulitzer collection.. so here we go.

Lily Pulitzer fabric
sofa
pink pillows
green pillow
leather chair
stool
coffee table

This isn't a space I would normally design, but I thought it'd be fun to go outside my comfort zone on this summer Monday morning.