Moving Day!

Savoring Simplicity has moved to a new location. Please, click on the photo and come on over.

Simply Hang It

Looking for a simple way to hang your art? Nothing says simplicity more than a ribbon and a sea shell hook, and nothing says family like a family photo.

Opposite Attraction

I enjoy vibrant colors. They bring warmth and fun to interiors. Sometimes you walk into a house and just know you're going to have a good time.
Savory
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Two rooms with very different personalities share the stage in this Louisville, Kentucky, home.

Made for Each Other
Decorating is not like doing the laundry. Lights and darks go together just fine. In fact, they’re made for each other in this living and dining room connected by a large cased opening. Resisting the traditional tendency to match the color scheme of the two rooms, designer Lee W. Robinson created two sovereign spaces linked by understated touches. See how uncommonly good common ground can look.
Laurey W. Glenn , Todd Childs

Sweet-and-Sour Shades
Lee wanted to remain true to the early-20th-century style of the home without ignoring the modern tastes of the homeowner. He swathed the dining room in a rich horizontal-striped wallpaper from Osborne & Little. Set against the citrusy yellow of the living room, the combo calls to mind chocolate and fruit. The difference in tones gives the eye a break from room to room.


Rich Accents
Consequently, the fabric choices vary as well. A dark red, which Lee describes as “tomato-soupy,” is used for the modern Chinese Chippendale-influenced dining chairs. Next door, a rich blue sofa anchors the living room with the large patterned chairs and recamiers. Throw pillows pull the chair fabric onto the solid-colored sofa.

Unify spaces with architecture.
A Neoclassical mantel found in the dining room was replicated in the living room. The stark white of both mantels against the colors of the respective rooms ensures each feature maintains its importance.


See and read more at Southern Living.

Connecticut Farmhouse

Get all the details on this 1740s Connecticut farmhouse at Country Living.

These Ain't Your Grandmother's Cupcakes

Get the recipes for these beautiful and delicious cupcakes for every occasion at Country Living.

Hippity Hoppity, Easter's On It's Way!

Learn how to make these eggs and more at Martha Stewart. Some appear to be a little complicated, but others seem doable. Whether you're going to make them or not, they're beautiful to look at. Check out the rest of them at Martha Stewart.

Cheeky Chickens

Striped Crepe Paper Eggs

Oversize Botanical Decoupage Easter Eggs.
Big-Eared Bunny

Puddly Pig

Pops of Color Kids' Rooms

Check out these colorful rooms and more for kids at Better Homes and Gardens.

Get Inspiration From A Few Decorating Tips!

Could someone let me know if the following photos appear too large? Thanks.
Savory
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Creative Seat Cushions
Sew old jump ropes onto seat cushions to serve as ties. When you pull up a chair, the wood handles chatter as they gently move with motion

Picture Hanging Tips
Turn a stack of framed works into a striking wall of art. Inexpensive paintings and drawings from thrift stores create a one-of-a-kind gallery in a guest bedroom.

Hang Plates
Instead of keeping your special-occasion china hidden behind closed cabinet doors, put it to use every day by letting it set the decorating theme in your dining room. These blue-and-white classics pop against the yellow wall.

Nature On Display
Dried gourds become mini sculptures when coupled with old glassware and cloches.

Painted Furniture
Refresh patio furniture with a coat of paint. Coat wicker pieces with a primer, then add a coat of exterior latex paint. When dry, mark off an argyle pattern using a paper diamond template and painter's tape. Paint the pattern in a contrasting hue, such as the pretty periwinkle blue used here. Hand-paint intersecting lines using a long straightedge for a guide.
Check out more wicker projects

Furniture Makeovers
Transform old furniture with a coat of paint and a simple decorative treatment. Here, a non-descript secretary's desk becomes a classy writing desk with stenciled details. A leaf-and-berry pattern decorates the drawer panels and bronze upholstery tacks enhance the legs.
Check out more furniture updates.

Source: Country Home

Chocolate Lovers Rejoice

I found the following tips about chocolate at Heart-Healthy Living. I'm sure you've heard that a bit of chocolate is good for you, but maybe you'll pick up a few more tips from the following article and check out the recipes. Didn't we all know that something that makes you feel so good had to be good for you?
Savory
Dark chocolate not only tastes good, it's good for you, too. It promotes heart health by lowering blood pressure and boosting your mood.

By Lynne Meredith Schreiber
Photos by Scott Little
Food styling by Greg Luna

“Dark chocolate saves lives,” says Arthur Agatston, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and an admitted chocoholic. He bases his claim on a 2006 Scandinavian study, which showed that consuming small amounts of chocolate with 70 percent or more cocoa content—and without fattening mix-ins such as caramel, butter, or too many nuts—significantly diminished the likelihood of heart attacks.

Derived from the cacao plant, dark chocolate contains flavonoids, which help keep blood vessels clear and flowing, says Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic.

Dark Chocolate Increases HDL
Dark chocolate and cocoa powder increased good (HDL) cholesterol levels by 10 percent, according to a Finland study.

When buying chocolate, avoid:

* milk chocolate
* heavily processed bars
* chocolate with marshmallows
* chocolate with caramel
* chocolate with cream

Heart-healthy nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, are OK. “The more plain the chocolate, the better,” says Julia Zumpano, R.D., of the Cleveland Clinic.

Salad With Oranges And Chocolate
Scientists believe nuts may play a role in protecting against heart disease. Here almonds or walnuts team with salad greens, oranges, and a hint of chocolate for a spectacular side dish.
View the Recipe

Feel Better With Chocolate
Chocolate’s naturally occurring serotonin and dopamine are potent antidepressants, Zumpano says. That makes this indulgence a good alternative to cigarettes and addictive drugs; its quick, blissful high won’t hurt your body.

Chocolate also prompts pleasure because it contains phenylethylamine, a natural pain reliever.

Saucy Chicken with Garbanzo Beans
A little chocolate stirred into the chicken and bean mixture just before serving provides a rich but subtle flavor without adding lots of calories and fat.
View the recipe

Heart-Healthy Living's Favorite Chocolates
We taste-tested about 20 brands of chocolate that contain at least 70 percent cacao for the best heart-health benefits. When the buzz wore off, six favorites rose to the top. Look for quality chocolate in specialty food stores or shop online at chocosphere.com.

Here are our picks:

Valor Dark Chocolate 70%

El Ray, Apamate, Dark Chocolate, 73.5%

Scharffen Berger, Bittersweet, 70%

Bernard Castelain, Macaibo, 70%

Unique Origin, Guyave, 71%

E. Guittard, Quetzalcoatl, 72%

For more heart-health tips, visit:

Tips to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Low-Sodium Recipes

30-Minute Recipes

Register for the free Heart-Healthy Living e-newsletter

How To Peel A Potato

Hot Chocolate Cake

Oh, do I have a Valentine's Day gift for you. You may have guessed, it involves a recipe, but the real gift is much better. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I've been reading a blog for years - Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. It's one of my favorite food blogs. The recipes are great, the posts are witty and fun to read, and the photography makes you drool. What more could we ask from a food blog? Enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Cake

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup prepared hot chocolate(your favorite kind)
1 TBSP butter
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325F.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until very thick; the batter should fall from the beaters in a thick ribbon. Beat in the vanilla.
While you’re beating the eggs and sugar, heat the hot chocolate and butter in a small saucepan to just simmering. Add the hot chocolate mixture to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream as you continue beating.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until they’re just combined.
Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9 inch cake round. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the cake is a deep golden brown and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove the cake from the oven and cool it in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the pan.

Remember. If you forget to bookmark Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, you can always find her in my sidebar under What's Cookin'.

Earth Tones Anyone?

I love the earth tones in this bedroom and how the design relies on form, shape and texture.
Photo Credit: Gridley + Graves
Source: House Beautiful

A beautiful life???

During the past few weeks, I've found myself participating in Melissa's Beautiful Life series over at The Inspired Room - not overly enthusiastically at first, but slowly warming to the idea. I mean, who am I to speak of a beautiful life or how to find the key to that most mercurial of locks?

Then I realized she didn't ask us to come up with the key but only to search for it - to open our eyes to the beauty in our lives. This week has been a particularly difficult challenge for me.

Not one but two tragedies - one on the heels of the other - galloped into my life this week. Unexpectedly, without one ounce of warning, they came bounding through the door like puppies let off their leashes for the first time. A dear friend diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and a nephew diagnosed with a brain tumor will make you sit up straight.

While beauty has been elusive, perspective has been born at tremendous cost this week, as perspective always is. Why is it that the opportunity to see life in proper proportion almost always comes at a significant price? We need a jolt sometimes in order to understand the value of what we have.

Tragedy may not bring beauty, but it brings clarity, and it fosters a humble gratitude that only a glimpse at what we could lose will ever do.

On this day my husband is healthy, my son and his wife and children are healthy, and I am loved by them. Can there be a beauty more undiluted, more valuable, more enviable than that?

Swedish Home Décor

I've always loved color - big, bold color! I've splashed it from one end of my house to the other without a single regret. I find its warmth and personality comforting and stimulating all at once.


So why am I loving Swedish design lately? Isn't it the polar opposite of rich, deep colors, accessories scattered about, bold art displayed on every wall, and curtains on every window? You get the idea.


There is definitely something that appeals to me in Swedish design, though. I love the wood floors, area rugs, furniture with legs so you can see underneath, neutral colors everywhere, the clean, open feel of the simple lines and light colors, and then there's the light. Oh, yes! Light that seems to stream in from every window. Notice how the subtle design elements rely on texture, shape and style rather than color.


If rich, bold colors offer comfort, the airy atmosphere of Swedish design frees and lightens the spirit. Enjoy these photos that I found at Country Home.