Inspired Room: Lovely DIY Golden Heart Walls for a Little Girl's Room

We are on the hunt for a new rental, so I know I will be getting the decorating itch soon! Since Elisabeth will finally have her own room, I am thinking of something temporary to add lots of girly glam. Then, I saw what Holly of In the Fun Lane did to her little girl, Wren's room, and I so love it! The metallic touches will go great with the ones I have in Elisabeth's fabric garland I made.

Using these gold heart wall decals from Danielle and Paul at Urban Walls, she mapped out pretty little touches to the room for a lovely, mini-makeover. I am excited to see what else they have, perhaps something like this airplane for the boys room?

 

Sweet Treats: Chocolate Chip Meringues Recipe

pink vanilla meringues with sprinkles fine art photo print~ maria kallin

I tried to make meringues a few years ago and they did not turn out well at all. But, over the past year, I have been seeing them everywhere. I'm starting to rethink my meringue fluke could be improved upon, because really, don't they look so sweet?

Holly of In the Fun Lane has a Chocolate Chip Recipe she shared that I think I will try, I've already heard rave reviews on it. The step by step pictures help a girl out a lot as well. Here is her extremely thorough recipe (and photos):

The ingredients you will need are:
4 eggs
sugar
vanilla
chocolate chips

To start take your eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Let the whites sit out until they are room temperature (you won't need the yolks). While they are warming up I take some sugar (1/4 cup for every egg white so in this case 1 cup) and put it in the food processor. I like the meringue to be like silk so this really makes the fine grains even finer.

Once the whites are room temp I blend them with the whipping attachment on medium until the whites look foamy. Then you slowly start adding the sugar.

Some recipes add other stuff to get the texture really thick, but with the Kitchenaide mixer I have no problems getting them fluffy and stiff. Once the mixture can hold a peak add just a touch of vanilla extract. (One commenter wrote, not to add any extracts that are too oily, like peppermint, otherwise they won't whip correctly).

This is where the recipe goes from average to amazing! I take a half cup of chocolate chips and put them in the food processor as well so that they are little crumbs.

I mix it all together for just a second then spoon (or use a baggie with the tip cut off) to swirl them onto a Silpat sheet. You can use aluminum foil as well, but parchment paper really doesn't keep them from sticking.

Place the sheet into a preheated 250 degree oven for about an hour and 40 minutes. I like to let them sit in the oven once I shut it off to let them get a smidge crunchier, but at the same time have a bit of a gooey center (I don't like solid, rock hard meringues).

White, Black, Gray & Paint

dining room ~ in the fun lane

One day, coming up soon (as in before it gets too hot), I would love, LOVE to paint my wood furniture. We have an armoir, tv stand, kitchen table with 4 chairs, large desk with hutch and two dressers.We would let the boys stay at grandma's for the weekend (okay, maybe 2 weekends) and just do a paint marathon for 2 days straight! I love the suggestions on Shabby Chic Furniture on preparing the wood, to use water and sugar soap to clean the furniture as regular cleaner can keep the paint from sticking. Holly of In the Fun Lane has some of the best painting advice out there.

black table  via Veranda

 dresser painted black over a red glaze ~ bhg kids rooms

I am considering going black with the kitchen tables and chairs. There is a large burn hole from a small fire on the table that will need to be filled and layers of wax from small details. Reading this advice forum on redoing kitchen tables make me balk, so we'll see...

 white hutch ~ in the fun lane

white night stand end table ~in the fun lane

But what about the rest? I have a find love of all white distressed wood ever since I grew to love antique malls and seeing the vintage pie safes in all of the layers of peeling paint, some with even 4 or 5 different colors peeking out from underneath!

my house of giggles gray hutch makeover

gray painted captains bench ~ life in the fun lane

Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic

But, the more I see grey, the more I grow to love it. It's not to light, not to dark, it has an urban county chic appeal and can pair most any color I choose to decorate with.

Maybe, I will do a mix of white, grey and black. What do you think? Do you mix and match your furniture? Do you prefer light or dark? I like how she keeps some of the natural colors with the painted pieces.

white dresser with caster feet and natural wood chair ~ in the fun lane

white dining room with natural chair ~ in the fun lane

As a note, I love natural wood and stain, especially mid century modern pieces,  but trust me, none of our furniture is lookin so hot for that right now, though I do think that maybe a few chairs would look neat! I do need to get two more for the ends of our table anyways...