A Sunday morning Minnie Mouse inspired breakfast

Winter is approaching, school is back in full swing and I thought we needed a bit of cheering up this morning, so I made these for breakfast......

.....I know they aren't stylist perfect, they are a real breakfast and were served hot! 

I made a batch of crepes then used my Mickey cutter (which started life as an egg ring but used for a variety of other things as seen here) to cut out the main mouse shapes - I got 2 per crepe and using the scraps, i cut out the bow shapes which I turned over to show the different colour.

The nose and eyes are sultanas and a raisin, and shortly after I took this photo, Minnie was swimming in Maple syrup.  Yum!!

My crepe recipe: (well not mine, but I don't know where it came from and I use it all the time)

3 eggs, 115g plain flour, 250ml skimmed milk - an electric whisk - my experience is that a regular whisk doesn't get the same results.

It's really simple: Beat the eggs, once they are all bubbly and fluffy looking, add the flour quite slowly to create something affectionately known as 'flubber' (it's about right when it tries climbing up the whisk - you will know what I mean when it happens!) then add the milk, I add a little first and use the whisk (turned off) to gently start stirring it in to save it splashing everywhere before adding and whisking the rest.  And as quickly as that, its done - less hassle than a ready made packet!!

Real Home Interior Design - Theming 'Disney Style'

So you've probably have guessed by now, I love a theme, but I'm also boringly practical.  

I adore Disney, and I am really inspired by the theming in Disney hotels, but even I couldn't live with that much theming full time.  So I'm going to look at ways to bring that theming to real life.

In this post, I will focus on a few Walt Disney World hotels for different reasons....Animal Kingdom, Art of Animation and Saratoga Springs.  Animal Kingdom for full on but still quite grown up theming, Art of Animation - Little Mermaid Rooms for 'drop you straight into the film' theming and Saratoga Springs as an example of just a few hints of a theme.

So firstly, Animal Kingdom Lodge, where you are transported to the the African Savannah, complete with Animals outside the window.  Since I can't help you get a giraffe into your garden, I'm going to concentrate on the interiors.

The first thing to mention in the lounge area of the room is the dark furniture, which is balanced by light walls and carpet.  I love the bench by the wall and a small, slightly simplified version would be a great eating area at home.  The plates on the wall above the bench are a really simple way of bringing the theme together too and definitely could be used in a real room at home.

The TV cabinet is great and really adds to the theme although I know I don't have the woodwork skills to create it, maybe some of the tribal style designs could be painted onto some existing furniture if you wanted to create this look. I'd probably decorate a wardrobe in this way rather than a TV cabinet.

Another really fun way to add to this African Savannah theme is to add frames and art or maybe help your child to create their own African style art?










This carving in the headboard is super cute and could be recreated in paint at home for a Lion King theme.

Next to the Art of Animation - Little Mermaid Rooms, these are pretty extreme theming, it would be an amazing child's bedroom, and if money was no object, I'd recreate something similar for a child who loves Ariel.
However, reality kicks in and I'm not really sure that any child would want this for a number of years, so I'm going to pick out some simple elements that will translate to a real home.

The beds are amazing, and the headboard is definitely something that could be bought or made reasonably inexpensively.  Create the headboard easily by buying a shell shaped headboard,  trimming with pearl effect trim or if you are feeling more artistic, paint a wooden one.  Bedding is another item which obviously can be changed easily to keep with a theme.
While I'm not usually a fan of painting, some wall decals could look fab on a pale blue wall.  For more effort and more expense, a full wall mural would be amazing.




Another brilliant feature in the Little Mermaid Rooms at the Art of Animation is the hanging space, I would translate this to a real room by painting the inside of a wardrobe.  Obviously the outside of the wardrobe could be painted but I think in reality the inside would be just as fun for the child and they would not get bored of it so quickly.  I'd also get a light fitting like this for inside the wardrobe to really show off the design. To make it a bit more fun, I'd use the inside of the doors to make a scene complete with attached painted boxed which would be used to store all the little mermaid toys.

The Little Mermaid bathroom is an excellent example of quite an ordinary room being made extraordinary with some very simple theming.  The mirror is a simple and non-permanent item to change for a themed frame and the shower curtain is also really inexpensive and easy.  

And finally, Saratoga Springs, which to be honest isn't my style at all.  What I can appreciate, and the reason I chose this resort as an example is the theming.  The themes here are Victorian and Equestrian but neither are over the top.

I want to focus on the equestrian theme, at a first glance at the Studio room, there isn't a theme screaming out to me.   The first hint at a theme are the pictures on the wall, equestrian themed prints, nothing too eye-catching but a nice detail.  

The next themed item i noticed were the cushions - a much more obvious theme here, but on a smaller item like a cushion, you can be a bit more bold with a theme.  

This is definitely something that would translate easily into a "real" home.  I think it would be a good idea if the reverse of the cushion was plain so you can flip them over if you fancy a change or if, like me, you have visitors that just don't appreciate Disney or your particular theme.

The next detail is probably my favourite from the whole room, it is the bedside lamp bases.  Again, much more obvious theming but still quite small in the room so it would work in real life. There are similar equestrian themed lamp bases available, or many other animals if you have a different favourite you want to include!

So I hope those 3 examples have given you some ideas, I think I'm going to go and make a little mermaid headboard! 

A princess bedroom

My little girl has just turned 3 and for her birthday asked for a pink princess bedroom. 

Now call me mean, but the last thing I want to do is paint a whole room pink for her to go off pink in a year or two and want something entirely different.  It isn't finished yet (waiting to find the right furniture solutions) but here are some of the features.

As a baby, the themes in her nursery were hot air balloons and tatty teddy.  

The curtains are called Flying High by Prestigious Textiles.  These were custom made with blackout linings and I'm not going to get rid of them after only 3 years so they had to be incorporated into the new scheme.

So working with the colours on this fabric I went in search of wallpaper and found a fab stripe wallpaper by Harlequin called rush that came in almost exactly the same colours.  

As the stripes are really bold, and working with the curtain pattern, I put them on one wall behind the bed and left the other walls magnolia (not ideal - although one of the colours in the wall paper is magnolia so it works for now - plus I am still waiting for the plaster to finish moving and cracking before I do any serious painting)

The bedding is the lilac from the wallpaper, but if i ever find the right pink i'll switch that and I had a throw made for the bed in the same pattern as the curtains.

So far, a bit pink, not "Princessy" (the key word in the brief) at all, so using the frames I bought from Ikea ages ago, I switched the pictures for Princess art. The first is a poster, the second a painting by my daddy (his very talented interpretation of a disney castle) and the third is a disney princess poster from etsy.

          

 


Inspired by Elsa's bedroom door in Frozen, used paint in the wallpaper colours to paint a pattern on the back (the side that only we see) of the door.

                

I didn't want to copy the design directly, so this is just an interpretation but it got the "princess" seal of approval so it can't be too bad - but more importantly, can be sanded back and glossed over when necessary.  I would have preferred to use stickers but just couldn't find any.