A Colorful Life

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A Colorful Life

I am so very pleased to announce that PANYL has expanded it's offering to include PANYL by-the-foot! For those of you not familiar, PANYL is a self-adhesive vinyl that is specifically designed for interior and exterior architectural use. Up until now they have offered pre-cut pieces for specific IKEA furniture, which was exciting enough, but now the possibilities are endless.  I am about to move into a beautiful Craftsman with built-ins painted an unfortunate sunny mustard color, and I can't paint over them.  With a pop of color behind each shelf I could completely change the look.

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Down Under Cover

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Down Under Cover

8 years ago, I bought my first real furniture, albeit from IKEA.  I chose a giant dark brown leather KRAMFORS sofa and coordinating massive chaise for my then tiny craftsmen living room in Berkeley. Structurally they have held up remarkably well, but the leather was defective and finally ripped open on the chaise last month, only exacerbated by the barrage of army men and dinosaurs that have been exploring the tear.  

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Taco Tuesday

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Taco Tuesday

When I was a senior at Davis, my gaggle of girls (and one boy) embarked on a poorly planned Spring break trip to Baja, Mexico.  I'm pretty sure our goal was to get tan and drink cheap margaritas.  We decided to camp on the beach (smart) and eat from roadside taco trucks.  It was at one such taco truck that I watched a lady prepare fish tacos from scratch.  When we got home, sunburned and broke, the recipe became one of my staples.  I made a spiffed up version this weekend with a mango relish, but the basic technique remains the same...

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Round Too

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Round Too

Confession.  I sold my cupcake paper chandeliers in successive transactions on Etsy last month, and because I was going out of town when the orders were placed, I literally sold the pair hanging from my ceiling.  I meant to replace them, but I also wanted to try out a new idea I had for a larger, single chandelier for our new dining room space in Petaluma.  Using the same technique as the Anenome version, this time using 3" deep wrapped parchment paper baking cups, I paired the chandelier with a red fabric cord and ceiling fixture from West Elm. I left off the center papers on this piece, because the light is much more diffused.  To tell you the truth, I like this one more, and I think it looks more like the Rhododendron chandelier from Anthropologie.  For the tutorial, just reference the original post.

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Family Style

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Family Style

One week out of the year, our family gets together in Pajaro Dunes, a small coastal resort south of Santa Cruz, CA.  We stay in a multilevel four bedroom compound that houses 5 grandsons, 3 couples and two grandparents. During the day we try to spend as much time at the beach as the fickle weather allows and and night we dine.  We are a family of eaters, and we can spend a lot of time cooking elaborate meals. Other times, like last night, we make special, but simple comfort food.  Grandma C found this paella recipe years ago in Sunset magazine. It's a family favorite and special to me, as we served a similar version of paella at our wedding reception. I made a butter lettuce, avocado and grapefruit salad to compliment the salty and spicy flavors of the dish. Here's an adaptation of the original recipe.

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