Happy Friday and we have a winner!

Hi there...boy, this week flew! So any exciting plans or your  weekend? We are going for dinner with old friends (looking so forward) and invited to a rooftop BBQ party in NYC (should be fun)! I am thrilled to announce a winner for the beautiful and very functional Bavarian bread board. Using random.org, the lucky winner is...... 

Prize ID	Winner ID	Public Info	Private Info	Random Sorting ID	Weight
1: bread board	3351727	sherri Dutchessandbird		007F864C-DF19-49C1-A999-B52DACD22D58	1

Please contact me at theenchantedhome@gmail.com to arrange for your bread board to ship!

I am excited to be adding some wonderful new finds to my online shop. At its onset, I said I would not sell anything I wouldn't put or love to have in my own home and this is so true. I truly love each and every item I sell. One thing I have a bit of a fetish for is wonderful linens, textiles,etc......just love them!  I am especially fond of ones that are French. So when I find them I grab them for my own kitchen. Ironically they are not so easy to find. So naturally I was thrilled to discover a wonderful connection and am even happier to announce that I will be carrying them in my online store. Beautiful textiles from France! I will be carrying the bar and dish towels and sets of placemats to start. I may eventually carry tablecloths and runners too. These are wonderful and  chic accents  for any kitchen. Check them out......

They are so great looking, some hang them too!

Love the set of 6 assorted placemats, this is the Burgundy Collection..tres chic!

Moving along.....got my pretty chair for my bathroom! I am going to recover the plain white cushion in a fabric and for now just draped my window treatment fabric over it..have to say I really love the chair.  Also you will notice the pictures are many sizes, I am experimenting with sometimes posting larger pictures. I do like seeing pictures in big sizes, what do you think/like? Take a look....

Isn't it pretty? I have always loved the idea of a pretty French chair in a bathroom. I could add the same fabric to the cushion and contrast it with the gingham that i have on the underside of the window treatment. It has come out exactly as I had hoped.

So......remember my little rosettes for the  mirror project? Well, I like to torture myself and found yet another possibility, this one in a very similar "nickel" finish. I decided as long as I was splurging at 3.99 for 3........I might as well try them all! Interestingly enough, I think I really like the original choice but would love to know what you think!! Here they are......

Original choice at top, darker lower left and nickel-y one bottom right

The originals

The darker,

The darker to me feels too dark and I am not feeling the silver, what are your thoughts?

Heres the original again......just ignore the wire in the middle:)

Starting to think about my dining room..the poor empty neglected room that it is. So heres our rug and a chinoiserie paper Alexis Hampton used in a New Orleans home that I always go back to.....think maybe doing it a little less busy but those same soft, warm colors and maybe the palest blue silk billow drapes, you know ginger jars are part of the picture and heres the Ralph Lauren chandelier we got.........

Last I was going through my seemingly endless number of boxes still to be unpacked and came across something I wanted to share. I have always been a pretty creative person. One year I wanted to make a special card for a dear friends birthday and looked high and low and couldn't find it, so I made one. Someone saw it and fell in love and asked if I could make a birth announcement card for her daughter. I took her on and the rest is history. I had fun off and on for about a year with my little card business, took them to a few local boutiques all of whom started carrying them and I started getting orders. Many orders. 

I truly honestly enjoyed every moment of making them. Even when I had 200 or 300 to complete. It was all me, no helpers, no staff, no wing men. Sometimes I worked until the wee hours of the morning to fulfill an order that was due the next day. It could have grown into something more...but then my kids kept me busy and we decided to move and you know what happened then! The next four years of my life took over with not a spare minute. But I must say I really miss my little cards and seeing item brought back some wonderful memories. I hope I find some of the ones I did for Halloween and Thanksgiving parties, a great one I did for someones 50th and yet another for a big anniversary party. Its awfully gratifying to play a role in a happy occasion for someone..........

So thats whats up on this Friday. Wishing you a wonderful day and a superb weekend. Isn't it crazy that we are down to the last weekend before Labor day!! Holy moly.......where did the time go? I just cannot believe its about time for fall! Lets savor and cherish these quickly vanishing summer days while we can......

Mid week musings and a Bavarian bread board giveaway!!

Hi everyone! So hope you are having a wonderful week. Today is another random musings post about a  whole lot of things...kind of all over the map. Its a great day for me  to chat about this and that, which I am getting quite good at I must say:) So lets get going shall we! Hopefully you got to visit me at the guest post over at Belle on Heels yesterday on bistro kitchens and saw my Bavarian bread board giveaway. To enter just visit my online store and come back here and tell me a favorite item or two...that's it! I will announce a winner on Friday. Moving along.......
House biz....So excited to show you my almost completed powder room! Honey onyx countertop went in, sink and faucet coming in today. At last we are nearly done. Waiting on mirror and chandelier and then this baby is a wrap! I really love love love the way it turned out. Its all I hoped for. So, take a look.......

Was expecting wallpaper hanger to come this week but now he is away so hopefully next Wed. this will get hung, but here is the back bathroom in progress. Added one of my favorite silver planters from my shop to the vanity, and think it looks so pretty, what do you think?

Moving along to my guest room. Got the toile fabric and decided on a check which I then found out was back ordered 8 long weeks. Not happening. I like instant gratification so scoured for another back up. Found one which I actually like I believe nearly as much, so here it is. As we speak this guest room is about to go into production, and I cannot wait till its all done. You know I will be sharing! Draped the two fabrics over two pillows on the settee to give you an idea.........

Just finished That Old Cape Magic and have to say I really enjoyed it, its a definite recommendation, entertaining well written and a book you can finish in a weeks time.  I really like Richrad Russo's writing style....going to get his other books.

Speaking of books, last night ordered two new design books...have you gotten either? Have all of Charles and Betty Lou's books so happy to add these to my growing collection......

Posted about these before, and I must say they are heavenly good, worth posting about again..trust me! I am not saying they are diet friendly but I am saying they are what I would call 

"comfort cookies" :)

Ingredients for Pistachio cream cheese cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 3 ounce package cream cheese, softened 

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1  egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

2  teaspoons finely shredded orange or lemon peel (optional) 

1/2 cup finely chopped lightly salted pistachio nuts

In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. If desired, stir in orange peel.

Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 7-1/2-inch-long roll (about 1-1/2 inches in diameter). Roll in pistachio nuts. Wrap each roll in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Chill about 1 hour or until dough is firm enough to slice. Or freeze dough for up to 2 months.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack; cool. Makes about 44 cookies.

Are you a makeup junkie? I am a former makeup hoarder. I used to buy it all the time, multiples and forget when I actually loved something......I bought them by the 3's and 4's to be assured I would not run out. I take the "high-low" approach, some things I spend a lot on because I feel its worth it, other things not as much. Was at a bookclub meeting and one of the girls brought a friend who was visiting her for the week who is an actress, she shared a few secrets from the makeup artists that she's worked with, one of which was the new mascara by Maybelline "Falsises"....so naturally I had to try it. Well shes right, its awesome! I was using Dior and Borghese's mascaras both which I liked, but this one I  like even better and its a third of the price. So...worth checking out.

Store updates......all new crystal hurricane candles are now up for sale. They are stunning, with four new added styles. Remember when the candle is gone, you can send back for a refill (1.00 an oz) but so worth it. By far my favorite candle EVER. 

This is a big one, 50 oz of heaven

This one even bigger, a new one 60 oz!

All three of these are the minis........

Also dough bowls continue to be a very popular item and with good reason, they are so beautiful and allow you bring a little bit of the past into your kitchen. I am so excited to have a new source from France who I met in person and I fell in love with this things. At the moment he had more of the small-medium sized ones which are so hard to find. So I bought what he had of the small rounds which are hard to come by and have 6 coming in and the sm-med. long ones (4 coming in). I am keeping one of each for myself, they are really beautiful and dark wood which is my personal fave. Here's a few pics. Email me if interested to theenchantedhome@gmail.com They are due here on Monday!

Also the gorgeous chargers that I had gotten in sold out right away. I unexpectedly got in a small batch. Announcing it here first, its first come first serve. They are sold in sets of 4's. I have approx 24 pieces. The prices are about 35% less than they are being sold for in many fine boutiques. Talk about dressing up a table!! Contact me here if you are interested.

Charger 1

Charger 2

Charger 3

Last bit of store biz....so excited to be carrying this fabulous line of monogrammed soaps, barware and cutting boards! You know I love a monogram on anything so this is very fitting for me to carry this line! Awesome for gifts and equally fab gift for yourself. Great price points (I will discount approx. 15% off retail). Best part...they turn these around in approx. 48 hours and are shipped directly to you! Doesnt' get better than that!  Here is a sneak peek at some of the fabulous items. Hope to have them up and for sale next week!

Finally on Belle on Heels yesterday, I announced a bread board giveaway! One lucky person will win it...all you need to do to be eligible is visit my shop and come back here and tell me a favorite item. Rememember, if you sign in as anonymous I have no way of knowing who you are...you must leave a first name and last initial. Ditto for those with just a first name, please include in your comment your last name initial.  I will announce a winner on Friday! So that wraps it up for today..........

Good luck and wishing you a fabulous day!! Thanks for stopping in.