Remember our tiny guest room? The one we miraculously squeezed a queen bed, desk and night stand into… Yea, it’s still really tiny. After we evaluated our needs, we finally decided to make it a bedroom for O. Her old room (once her baby nursery) is bigger and will serve us better as an office and guest room combination since Hubby works from home more frequently now. He needs space!

Plus, it was totally time to give her a big girl room. I knew she’s relish the opportunity to choose some of the colors and elements herself. I always enjoy a clean slate and a challenge, so I pitched the idea to her. She was in.

I started by asking O what color she wanted her room. Boy, was that a big question! Her Answer: ALL THE COLORS IN THE RAINBOW. Wow, thats like a lot. So I asked her to choose 2 or 3 colors, hoping I could find a feature color and maybe some accent colors (provided the ones she chose would “go”‘ together). You guys, this child has my heart. Can you believe she told me she wanted “mint”?!?! What five year old has preferences of color variations?!?!? And she also said she wanted hot pink and gold. While I’m not super into pink, I know a thing or two about mint. Afterall, it is the color of our front door, our kitchen has a mint hue to it, I think much of my closet even has mint in it too. I’m sipping out of a mint coffee mug right now! The hot pink would normally pose quite a challenge for me but I knew it would be great with her other colors. And gold is so on trend and I was impressed that she picked it. Take a peek at what we came up with!

I used my better judgement and opted not to paint the entire room minty. It is already a vibrant color and I wanted her room to feel fresh and fun, not overwhelming. I chose to paint the wall that her bed goes against as the mint wall and the three surrounding walls went white. The mint color we went with is Ben Moore “Waterfall” and the white is Decorator’s White straight off the shelf.

The hardware on her existing dresser, curtain rod, flower pot, frames (from my arsenal of frames in the garage), a wooden letter “O”, and one small canvas all got spray painted gold. I think you can fix almost anything with a little spray paint, right?

I wanted the two big elements in the room to be the gallery wall with dresser vignette and the bright mint wall. I wanted the gallery wall to be collected and not overly busy but very much a statement. to top it off, I was hoping to make this room work for a five year old and beyond. Challenge accepted!

Gallery Breakdown:

1- I framed a Vivienne Westwood scarf that I had that happened to go well with our color scheme.

2- Watercolor glasses print from Erica Hammer.

3- I spray painted a recycled canvas from my collection gold and then I made a bow out of pink ribbon and hot glued it on the canvas for an instant wall hanging.

4- I framed a watercolor that O painted. I mostly chose it because it fit an awkward sized frame and it actually worked out just fine.

5- A wooden Target Dollar Spot “O” spray painted gold and mounted on another recycled canvas painted with the opposing wall color.

6- This one is not finished. It is a place holder for a silhouette of O that I’m having made. So just pretend that is what you see there instead.

7- Paper flowers that I purchased at the Target Dollar Spot. I bought the pink/blush combination and a mint/navy combination. Then I hot glued them onto a canvas painted white to match the wall.

8- Target Dollar Spot gold framed mirror. It came with twine as the hanger but I swapped it out for pink ribbon and used a pretty glass drawer pull to mount it to the wall. I hung it low so O can see herself when she’s sitting on her bed.

9- Scratch art (remember that stuff?!?) by O.

Family photos- fun pix of family, vacations and even the dog!

Beta Fish- This is Raspberry. He is Blueberry’s (who lived 2+ years!) successor and I think it’s cool that he lives in her room! And there is a little potted plant too.

Painted dresser- this was Hubby’s when he was single. I painted it white for O’s nursery and took off an odd cabinet door to open the book shelf up.

Spectrum books- Inspired by The Home Edit, we arranged her books in raind

Paint Color- Ben Moore – Waterfall

Tassle Garland- on clearance at Target. For $4 its a pretty good match!

Pink Fuzzy blanket- Amazon. It makes the perfect “pop” of pink.

Fiesta Sheets- Target Pillowfort. O chose these out of about 4 sets I had narrowed it to. I’d be lying if I said they were my favorite, but after putting them in the room I think they are the best fit of all the choices I gave her!

Spindled End Table- I think this was given to me but it has been a while so I’ll say it was a yard sale find. Apparently I have such a furniture addiction that I can’t recall where exactly it came from!

How happy does a rainbow bookcase make you feel? I’m kind of obsessed. And those hot pink sneakers are pretty awesome too.

It’s been a while but I want to get back into the swing of “Things I’m Loving” posts. Those posts were always fun to curate and a little more out of my usual “box” of topics. And aren’t we all dying to jump into something fresh? I have fun telling you about new things I’m digging. What’s your jam lately? Tell me in comments!

This Personality Factors Map is super cool and was insanely accurate (at least for me). Take the test at this link. I think it’s hilarious but true that it said I’m 94% in the orderliness category.

Snickerdoodle Donut Muffins! I made these a couple of weeks ago and they were awesome! They have all the flavor of snickerdoodles, the dough-like texture of a donut in the form of muffins. Heaven! (photo from SweetLittleBluebird)

Valerie McKeehan’s Complete Book of Chalk Lettering.  I’ve been dabbling in calligraphy and hand lettering a bit… and have been following Valerie’s instagram and I’m mesmerized by her videos. I’m not going to lie, I’m dying to try her book!

On Instagram: The Real Brooke White the former American Idol contestant turned lifestyle blogger at The Girls With Glasses chronicles motherhood, home renos, making a fool of herself in stores and general lifestyle in bright witty and often musical insta stories. She does everything I wish I had the courage to do on Insta-stories… laugh, cry, sing, dance and do life along with Brooke. You won’t regret it.

Okay… I know I’m late to the party on this one but I’m really feeling emerald green lately. I know, I know. It was Pantone’s 2013 color of the year. I’m way behind! I liked it then but I’ve recently been smitten with it in bold prints, next to soft pinks and even on jewelry and bags. Plus, St. Patrick’s day is coming up and green is just really growing on me. I’m secretly (shhh… don’t tell Hubby) shelving the idea of an emerald front door after we paint our house a soft gray hopefully later this year. I like it so much I even have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to emerald green. I hadn’t even realized until I sat down to write this post!

Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, I found a not-green-or-green-beer St. Patty’s Day “Pot Oro Gold ” cocktail recipe. Bonus points: it has Champagne in it. You can thank me later! (Photo by LoveHappyHour)

So what are you loving? Are you late to the party on anything like I am? Or maybe you are a trendsetter and way ahead. Tell me! I’d love a few new things to try!

It is rainy and gloomy here in Cincinnati today. Instead of letting the day make my mood gloomy, I’m going to whip up this classic Tomato Basil Soup! I got this original recipe from my boss but I have switched it up a little bit (I like it to have a zestier flavor so I added a red pepper and spiced it up with a little kick from red pepper flakes). I also love this recipe because it can easily become vegan if you omit or substitute the butter! Enjoy the fruits of your labor hot or cold and of course, with a grilled cheese. It is a little bit more labor intensive than most things I make. But I promise it will be divine and your house will smell incredible too!

What you’ll need:

3 lbs ripe Roma tomatoes, cut in half length wise

optional: 1 red pepper, seeded and halved

1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP olive oil

1T salt

1 and 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 chopped yellow onions

6 cloves minced garlic

2T unsalted butter

1/4 -3/4 tsp red pepper flakes

28oz canned whole plum tomatoes with juice

4 cups fresh basil leaves

1Qt vegetable broth or water

Now for the work:

Preheat oven to 400F /205C

Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, spread in single layer on parchment paper lined baking sheet with sides, sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can add the seeded/halved red pepper to the pan if you’ve chosen to include it. Roast in oven 45 minutes.

While tomatoes roast in oven:

In a large stock pot, melt butter with olive oil, add garlic, red pepper flakes and chopped onions. I only use 1/4 red pepper flakes for a mild taste suitible for kids. I personally like more like 1/2-3/4 Saute about 10 minutes until onions are translucent and begin to brown.

Add canned tomatoes, basil, vegetable broth. Simmer on low until tomatoes are finished roasting.

Add roasted tomatoes/red pepper and juices to the stockpot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 40-50 minutes.

Allow to cool. Pass through a food processor or blender in batches. For thinner soup you can add some water for desired consistency.

Enjoy! Hot or cold. With a classic grilled cheese or gourmet panini. I love to make a mozzarella, pesto grilled cheese and dip it in the soup.

Last year (particularly the latter part of last year) was busy for me and admittedly, my blog suffered. I like to make sure my life is in balance… errr, um… as much balance as possible. So my plate got a little fuller for a bit and I didn’t have much content here for a while. If you follow me on social media you know that I’m still around and my Instagram and Facebook are still active with articles and funny tidbits. I’m ready to share all the things that have been keeping me busier these days though. I’ll have several posts catching you up on all things Hilda… but for now I’ll share the most fun one. Hint: it’s pretty, comes with adult beverages and great friendship!

I’ve been helping my dearest friend Erica make some amazing Hand Lettering and Calligraphy Workshops happen. It’s all her: her talent, her dream and her hard work. But even genius needs a little help sometimes.

Pretty… right? One day Erica called me up and was like “I want to do a calligraphy workshop. Am I crazy?” and like any good friend I assured her she was only the best kind of crazy. She decided to go for it and was kind enough to take me along for the ride.

With just a few weeks to prepare, Erica put together a top notch Thanksgiving themed workshop. I drove 3 hours (I live in Cincinnati and she lives an hour North of Columbus) to help with last minute details. We worked around the clock to finish assembling her workbooks, spray painting tons of things gold and packing things to haul to the workshop location (which was GORGEOUS). Erica also arranged for a local bakery to make scones and pastries for the workshop which she complimented with a signature apple cider mimosa cocktail.

There was a little sweat on the brow… I mean, this was a wild idea just a few weeks beforehand but the whole workshop sold out. She added more seats and it sold out again! It was awesome to watch nearly 3 dozen women come together on Saturday morning to learn brush calligraphy, traditional calligraphy and hand lettering.

While Erica taught her workshop, I took tons of pictures, took over her social media accounts and even did a Facebook live on her page ( you can watch it here ). I had so much fun tagging along and watching it all unfold. You can read Erica’s blog post all about it here.

I am so proud of this little dream Erica had and also so proud to be a small part of it. Erica had not just taught a class, she built an incredible workbook from scratch and taught a class around it, she had created an entire experience. All the decor, food, cocktails and the instruction were over-the-top gorgeous! When it was all finished, we packed up our cars and headed home. On the ride home we recounted the day and decided to do it all again in December. Same idea, change up a few things like ditching brush lettering this time and making it cocoa themed.

Here are a few pictures from the Calligraphy and Cocoa Workshop. Try not to drool. I promise it was as tasty as it was fun. You can read more about the December workshop on Erica’s blog, but a sneak peek is below.

Needless to say, both workshops were a huge success and totally gorgeous! Erica had such wonderful feedback and lots of people requesting holiday gift certificates that she has announced not one, but two a Gal-entine’s Workshop on February 4th. If you’re in the Columbus/Mansfield area and want to come, you can register here.

I promise it will be fun and you’ll learn a ton. And of course, you’ll get to sip the signiture cocktail she’s named “Love Potion”

Bonus: you’ll get to hang out with me too. Hope to see you there!

Last week I told you I was working on a dream living room mood board project with Arhaus. How exciting! I needed a jumping off point because while “build your dream living room” is my dream assignment, it’s also like being a kid in a candy store… I want it all! I had to kind of give myself a process (you know, because the kids in candy stores can sometimes end up with a stomach ache) and so I started by asking myself how I want to feel in the room. Answers: cozy, fresh. And what I wanted it to say: layered, traveled, thoughtfully collected. I want a room that is moody in the best way… fresh and cheery enough to enjoy my morning coffee but subdued and soft enough for curling up with a good book at night. Then I built a mood board of just general things I like. You can see my inspiration board here.

Well the wait is over! I based my room around two of my favorite Arhaus pieces. First I knew I wanted an amazing handwoven rug from Arhaus that would be durable, comfy and beautiful. What more could a girl ask for?! I also knew right away that the Pier sectional sofa from Arhaus was the one for me! Cozy, plenty of padding and pillow space with a solid corner for nesting, but lacks nothing in the design aspects. I mean, check out those clean lines and delicate modern legs. Hello, gorgeous! And the upholstery comes in “Tribeca Peacock” which delivers the exact moody punch I was going for. In addition, I went for Platinum Gray by Benjamin Moore for the walls. I think it would be crisp enough to feel light and fresh but I knew it would also provide a simple contrasting back drop for the bold sofa choice. I mixed in some texture with several kinds of pillows in jewel tones, the pleated side table and woven upholstery. And most of the concepts on my inspiration board translated well into my dream living room.

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