I posted about this last year for our 40th wedding anniversary and I thought you might enjoy our "Hawaii at Home" decorating/party m.o. ideas again this year as an easy dollarwise summer party. CDC-compliant, of course due to Covid. We set this all up inside, but it would be super fun to set this up in your own backyard too. (As long as you live in a low-wind zone, that is!) Here's the 2021 Cliff Notes version of our party, with product links at the end of the post for reference. DISCLOSURES I bought everything for our little at-home-luau on Amazon. We kept the food easy to make and arrange and we used melamine dishes. Steve assembled the pineapples that came with the paper straws. Steve picked out a new "Hawaiian" shirt on Amazon. I ordered this tropical sundress on Amazon. Next up on the luau party circuit: I put on my "Ginger Rogers-style high heels" -- a.k.a. my fave slippers, so we could dance the night away to wonderful Hawaiian music. And Steve put on his "beach thongs" -- a.k.a. his most comfortable slippers in the world! As you can see, we're the loud party type!! Actually, we did go to the (faux) beach! As in, we bought the Elvis Presley movie "Blue Hawaii" and after our dancing-in-our-dining nook escapade, we watched this cute movie from our bed. No sand required. I hope you enjoyed our little at-home-luau and will be able to create one of your own this summer. Luaus are really fun for kids, too! Product Links to actual, or similar products mentioned in my post: My sun dress, white shawl, pink poncho, slippers Steve's black palm tree shirt & colorful palm tree shirt Tablecloth & napkins Floral string lights Lighted silk orchid plants Small bowls for munchies Pineapple straws Melamine dishes & trays Plastic wine glasses Beach towels for chairs Blue Hawaii movie Hawaiian music CD Aloha! Kathryn #kathrynbechen #authorkathrynbechen #travel #DIYHawaiiLuau #Luau #LuauatHome #HawaiiatHomeParty #Hawaiitravel #TravelHawaii #HonoluluHawaii

Have you ever felt like this? Yes, I thought so! My hubby Steve and I are doing small dollarwise home-handy projects right now; I have spring-spruce-up fever! How 'bout you? “Spring is the time of plans and projects.” ― Leo Tolstoy Does your home need some little dollarwise spring-spruce-ups too? My favorite eBook I wrote years ago on that topic is useful if you have trouble knowing where to start, or if your home improvement budget is small. Happy dollarwise home improvements, Kathryn #kathrynbechen #authorkathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #homeimprovements #dollarwiselifestyle

DISCLOSURES I've been enjoying easier home cooking with our new big pantry m.o. that's working SO great! Our new skinny storage m.o. has helped the easier-cooking-in-our-small-home cause along too. (Small Space Organizing help.) And so, I thought I'd share a new super easy online "recipe find" that has so blessed our life since we became plant-based and almost vegan awhile ago. (We still eat honey and once in a great while, fish.) I love a good quiche/easy egg bake that I can make ahead and refrigerate for a next-day guest gathering, and I struggled for a long time in finding a no-eggs quiche that was super easy to make and actually tasted good just like real eggs quiche. (Have you ever cracked a dozen eggs at a time for a 9x13 quiche? Yeah, um, not my idea of a super-fun time, personally. And the hen probably didn't have a great time giving you those eggs, either, bless her little ruffled feathers heart.) :) Thank you to talented/prolific cookbook author/blogger Camilla at PowerHungry.com for saving the no-eggs quiche day! xxx, Camilla! Her chickpea flour quiche recipe is so easy and SO SO SO good. (Who even knew chickpeas were a thing?!) My husband Steve also gives this recipe double thumbs up! He told me there is absolutely NO WAY he can tell it's not made with eggs. (I showed him how to make it so now he can whip a pan up in no time too. Yay!) This quiche is dollarwise too, which makes it even better in my pandemic-thrift opinion. I think a whole 9x13 pan of it is around $10 +/- depending on what you put in it and whether or not you choose organic ingredients as I do. Also, you can mix any veggies or plant-based cheeses or crumbled veggie burgers etc. that you want into the chickpea "base batter," so you could make up several different flavors ahead of time for your Mom's Day Brunch or Graduation Breakfast or Post-Wedding Brunch held at your home. That's why I decided to share this with you now so you can plan ahead for those fun upcoming galas of yours. You could even set up a "quiche buffet bar" with several flavors to offer your guests. But alas, for your future guests who don't live in your home, I am not sure how you will feed them this quiche during the pandemic this year. Hmmm, on second thought, maybe you could email them the recipe ahead of your soiree date, and they can make the quiche at their house and then you can all virtually Zoom and quarantine-swoon over the different flavors from your own homes. Wow; a virtual "no-eggs quiche celebration!" A year ago or so, who woulda thunk it?! Well, during Covid, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?! Freeze this quiche! : It freezes for up to three months so as I already mentioned, you could make several varieties and store them ahead for your upcoming soiree/gala event. Or just for next Sunday's everyday-simple-at-home-brunch if you prefer. Or your next family breakfast-for-dinner meal at home. Single? Freeze them in my fave small fridge/freezer food containers. Just pop one into your mini oven to heat up later on the oven tray. (Minus the plastic container, of course, as you don't want "melted plastic quiche" as a flavor choice!) DISCLOSURES I've personally made these quiche flavors using Camilla's super easy base batter + add your own choice of goodies. Here's her basic PowerHungry.com recipe. Broccoli mushroom: I chopped up frozen broccoli, laid canned (drained) mushrooms on top, sprinkled dry onion/garlic/salt mix on top, my fave spice mix, and poured the batter over it all in a 9x13 pan, and then I baked it according to the recipe instructions. BTW, Camilla uses little muffin tins and her little quiches are so cute! Me? I was too lazy for "cute" so I opted for my latest fave 9x13 pan and then just cut mine in squares. Sometimes I cut them in "mini squares" and sometimes larger. The "mini squares" make a quick microwave snack for our no cooking on Sunday Trays. :) Potato mushroom: I "baked" potatoes in my crockpot the night before and refrigerated them. (This is my fave easy way to make baked potatoes, BTW.) The next day, I diced the potatoes up, laid them in the pan, put mushrooms and seasonings on top and poured the batter over it all in a 9x13 pan and baked. Onions and peppers: Using a frozen chopped onions and peppers combo, I did the same m.o. as above with just one bag. Yum! The flavors are endless using your imagination and your family's taste preferences. Maybe you could add some plant-cheese and crumbled bean burgers to come up with a kid-version "cheeseburger" that resembles a healthier version of fast food?! Just a thought! For best results, we let our quiche cool completely before cutting into squares. You need to do that so it "sets up" or it will be too mushy if you try to cut it when it's warm. Then, we eat it the next day, or pop a piece into the microwave for dinner. (It stays set up and doesn't re-mush after it's cooled initially.) I have both refrigerated and frozen this no-eggs quiche with great success. I love this storage container for keeping it in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy your new delicious and dollarwise quiche! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #homecooking #dollarwisecooking #dollarwisehomecooking #cookathome #eatathome

If you're a foodie who loves nothing more than trying new recipes and spices, you might consider that really fun, but as for me and Steve, we consider cooking pretty much work these days, so going out to cute bistros where someone waits on us and we get to enjoy the wonderful food, decor, and romantic ambiance would be our version of fun! But in case anyone hasn't noticed, cute bistros of the eating-out-variety are out of the question at the moment, in our opinion, due to you know. And so, my lovelies, we must create our own at-home-bistros, and to do that best, we need pantry storage! DISCLOSURES First off, an update: I showed you our new at-home food pantry storage system and it's working great after a week or so of using it! I can see everything at a glance so that makes grocery shopping online so much faster now as I know what I need to order at a glance. How and why I organized the baskets and bins the way I did. If you're seriously considering doing this in your home too, I say go for it! Our new skinny pantry: And now we also have a skinny pantry in our small galley kitchen too. On sale! This pantry's not for food, but for things we need to easily cook and do food prep quickly. Example: These lovelies work great for storing pourable cooking oils; I cut the lid thing-y off to make it easier to pour without fiddling. And I set them on an old cutting board to catch drips which soak right into the board. :) We placed this cabinet to the right of our range since we are both right-handed. And it's all organized inside like an airplane cockpit -- everything is right at hand. The cabinet package includes all the shelves, the handle, and feet that turn so you can level it. It had to be assembled, so my handy hubby Steve did that for us. Paper instructions were included. Leveling it was relatively easy with just a turn of the included feet. (And me saying to Steve: "Please turn it a little more to the left.") :) Having two people helps; one to turn the feet close-up and one to eyeball it from further away and give their two cents. Then at the end, a leveling tool works best to be sure. We didn't need any more shelving, but there are holes to add additional shelving if you wish. PROS & CONS PROS I like the height of this cabinet as it really holds a lot even though it's skinny. The quality is pretty good for the price and it's strong with thick sturdy shelves inside. I love Wayfair ordering and have had wonderful delivery service. This arrived quickly, without damage, and it was easy to track the package to see when it would arrive. (Helpful with snowstorms that impede deliveries.) CONS It's made from particle board with melamine over it so it has a strong chemical smell that outgasses. We placed our big IQ Air air purifier that helps remove chemicals right near it and turned it on high and that helped a lot. BTW, if you want an air purifier in your home for things like this, (and wildfire or cigarette smoke etc.), this air purifier has been repeatedly recommended to me by the many allergist MD's I've hired over the years. We run two of these 24/7 in our home. (But I have severe allergies so you may only need one. And, I don't know about you, but the extra cost for electricity for ours is fine by me so I can um, breathe.) Back to our new skinny pantry cabinet. If you're looking for fine custom cabinetry, this isn't it. But it's just dandy for the use we intended, sturdy, and you can "cute it up" with some flowers and greenery on a tray on the top like I did, and a pantry decal on the front door. (My pantry decal is on order from Amazon. So cute!) I also think these herb pots decals would be adorable on the front and easy to do. I hope this gives you another idea of how you can easily add storage to your kitchen/home, even if you don't have a big kitchen. Bistros-at-home don't have to be indoors. Outdoors works fine too. Our bistro set. I love all the new colors, especially the red and school bus yellow! Keep calm, organize your pantries, dream of future bistro outings, create a bistro at home, and think outside the box! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #pantry #foodpantry #athomefoodpantry #foodpantryathome #foodstorage #cookathome #cookingathome #athomecooking #pantrypanache #pantryorganizing #smallspaces #smallspaceorganizing #smallspacestorage

I told you in my recent pantry upgrade post that I'd share with you why I used the particular bins and baskets I did here rather than buy all new pretty colored matchy-matchy bins like you see on beautiful online boards, and also that I'd let you know which bins were my favorites. Here was my overall "flexible" strategy: I don't like colored bins and baskets all that much, (or folders or labels either), because if one cracks or breaks or whatever then you're on a hunt to find a discontinued color. To me, that's a waste of time and energy so I try to stick with white and clear most of the time if at all possible and then I can mix and match them all just fine and the different sizes and textures look interesting to me. Steve and I have been spring decluttering and cleaning in our home so we have moved things around and also organized and re-arranged a lot of things so that freed up some bins and baskets we already had. I used those rather than buy more. It's easier as I didn't have to shop for more, and we like to save money and repurpose. Speaking of shapes, different size bins and baskets fit different things better so the various shapes worked great. Baskets and bins that were not as tall enabled us to add more shelves and stack two baskets. Other baskets that were taller we lowered the shelf to accommodate that basket height. Flexibility is key here. DISCLOSURES Okay, now to specifics and favorites ... These worked so great for soup and veggie cans! Very sturdy. I don't like cans rolling from a cupboard onto my feet and that won't happen with these gems. These worked great for large cans of tomatoes and sauce. Better yet, they are economical yet sturdy and you can buy them in a 12 pack for a song. So what if they're "really" a dishpan?! You know me: a container is a container is a container and my readers and I love to think outside the box rather than be boxed in. :) These worked great for noodles and pasta. And for nuts, Larabars, and little bags of chocolates for our Sunday Trays. They seal well and stack nicely and they come in different sizes and heights. If you don't want to lift every bin to get to the bottom then use a vertical style. These I kept because I already had them and bought them specifically to fit a former cabinet, but if I were buying new flour and mixes bins, I would buy these instead as they hold more and stack well. They are really for the fridge, but you know me: I took the green fridge thing-y out of the bottom and now it's a pantry bin. :) They are quite pricey compared to some bins, but they are so nice they are worth every shiny penny! These I had in our bathroom so I washed them all up nicely and moved them to my new pantry. They have lids so stack well. Perfect for glass jars of olives and pickles and condiments. These are really nice for lasagna and spaghetti noodles. Our easy veggie lasagna recipe. These I've had for years and they've been in my freezer, fridge, and cabinets all around our homes as we have moved homes. The white and gray big basket was a nice sturdy large size for salad dressings and ketchup etc. I don't remember where I bought this but this size is similar. (Though doubtfully as heavy.) The other random bins in there are from the Dollar Store. I wouldn't buy them again though as just too flimsy for my taste. So, there you have my new big pantry organizing m.o. for now. Once we get the decorating around the pantry space done, I'll show you that too. That's evolving and later as we work on functional projects first to improve our storage needs and simplify our home too. (This never ends.) Most importantly, how's your Covid pantry looking lately and what can you do to make food prep at home easier for yourself during this pandemic? I thought I would quit blogging so much since I am working on a new eBook, but alas, I found I missed blogging after doing it for so many years, so here I am again. :) Never say never. Happy St. Patty's Day, (my hubby's half Irish!) I hope you had a good one! As for me, to celebrate the green after all this pantry organizing and cooking has made me tired, I virtually left our cozy Arizona cottage and armchair traveled today to this beautiful Irish Castle to take a luxe nap, have tea and a decadent dinner, and be luxuriously pampered. Dream on, and be simply practical, my lovelies! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #pantry #foodpantry #athomefoodpantry #foodpantryathome #foodstorage #cookathome #cookingathome #athomecooking #pantrypanache #pantryorganizing #smallspaces #smallspaceorganizing #smallspacestorage

How has Covid changed the way you and your family dine? For us, like most people, it's been zero restaurant outings and instead mega-cooking at home because we feel safer healthwise eating this way now. My husband Steve and I have not eaten out, had food delivery, nor bought grocery store deli take out even once since the pandemic began. (This is why I came up with our Sunday Trays to make things a little easier too food-prep wise, and now our new pantry m.o. will make our Sunday Trays prep even easier too. Yay!) So much at-home cooking is like running your own restaurant at home, right?! And so, it was time recently for a home-pantry upgrade from our several little mini-pantries we had set up pre-Covid to one big pantry that now holds 95 percent of our in-stock-at-home food, and all of the stock is more easily accessible and visually organized to make ordering groceries easier too. Note: We live in a 748 SF cottage-style home with no basement nor attic nor garage, and we cannot store food in our one small outdoor shed due to Arizona temps. In other words, chocolate melts really fast if you store it in the garage or a shed here! Of course, if you live where things freeze, well then that's something to keep in mind for your at-home food supply, too. :) DISCLOSURES For our new DIY pantry, we bought two large heavy-duty melamine cabinets and had them delivered to our home. Steve assembled them. When we needed more shelving inside, he took apart our white melamine kitchen cart that he assembled three years ago when we moved in so he knew how to take it back apart, and he cut the boards to fit. Since we are replacing the kitchen cart anyway, (more on that DIY project later), the boards were "free" and he didn't have to schlepp the cart to the recycling dumpster. He also saved the cart knobs and the wheels for future DIY projects. We both love to repurpose to keep things out of our landfills, to use our creativity, and to save money. Win. Win. Win. My part in this "little pantry project" was sourcing and purchasing the cabinets online, rounding up and washing any storage baskets and bins we already had in our home so I didn't buy more new ones than we needed, labeling baskets, and the overall organizing strategy inside once the cabinet was assembled and secured well to the wall for safety. (Important!) I wrote notes on paper of my overall strategy before we started this, made a budget for the cabinets and any new basket shopping*, and then we tweaked the organizing too as we went because things evolved. Please don't think you can do a project like this in one day. And it's best to have two people, at least. You have things to order, wash, assemble, label, etc. and you have to get your food supply sorted by category too and put it into the bins/baskets. You have to be flexible as you go too, and also allow for any more food storage containers that you don't already have on hand. In my case, for instance, I added a "sunflower seeds" bin just today, as well as two small containers for gravy packets. It's not perfect usually right out of the gate -- a few tweaks are needed down the road sometimes and that's okay! Something else to consider: Even with planning our project ahead of time, both Steve and I were tired and sore by the end of all the assembly plus the basket organizing and washing and strategizing, I'll freely admit. It looks easy when you look at the pix above now that it's done, but it was like a gym workout with all the bending and carrying and stretching. So you might want to allow at least three days of effort/take vacation time off work so you can finish this up efficiently, but not in one "power day." In a future post, I will show you why I chose varying baskets and bins rather than having them all the same size and "pretty-pretty matchy" like you see on beautiful online boards. Because real life is not an online board, no matter what any social media star tells you, so it's best to stay real when setting a project up like this. :) In an upcoming post, I will also show you how we decorated around this pantry cabinet since it's in our living room/foyer area, but I don't want anyone to know it's a food pantry decoratively speaking, so I have DIY dollarwise decorating tricks up my sleeve for that. I hope this gives you at least a beginning idea of how you can create a large-ish at-home food pantry for you and your family that will more easily help you cook from home, especially if you live in a small home and/or have a small kitchen. More help for small homes and spaces. Remember: Your pantry should be tailored to you, your family, and your space/home. Think outside the box; I know you can come up with things you already have around your home, repurpose them cleverly, and make it a creative family project that's fun for all. True DIY pantry story: Years ago I was asked during a media interview by a young Mom of two boys if I thought she was selfish because they had recently moved to smaller home due to her husband's job relocation so she wanted to turn one of her boys' bedrooms into a walk-in food pantry and have the boys share one bedroom. My response to her was to talk to your family about the pros and cons of this spatial arrangement and why not do this if your kids get along well so they can share one bedroom easily, and your family can save money on food by buying in bulk/on sale, and keeping everything organized in your "walk-in" bedroom-pantry so that you don't buy too many duplicates and can better plan your food ahead etc. For that matter, your kids can learn to organize a food pantry for their future grown-up years when they leave home, and see how it will help them save money on groceries too. Have them help you set this up and show them project planning! And, if siblings share a bedroom, they can learn to get along with others and how to keep their room tidy enough so as not to drive a roommate crazy. :) Of course, if one sibling is an extreme neat freak and one child is a total messy, you might want to re-think this whole idea. Also, now with homeschooling such a big thing, there might not be room for two kids to realistically share a bedroom so you may need to look around the rest of your home to find a "potential pantry" space and you'd be surprised what you might come up with if you think outside the box! :) I don't think this Mom's bedroom-turned-pantry idea was selfish at all; I think it's smart. But it needs some serious thought too if it will work in real life as I mentioned above, before tackling the project. Now that you have food for your body, my lovelies, here's a little food for your soul. Wishing you pantry panache! Kathryn *Since neither of us likes debt, we purposely budget, save, strategize, and plan ahead so that we can pay cash for all of our home goods and upgrades. Repurposing and DIY helps that cause along too. And by living in small home, vs. a big one, there's not as much to buy for one's home in the first place either, which also saves money, avoids debt, and builds our savings/investments. And since we love to travel, (before pandemic times), saving money on home items and projects helps that fun cause along too. Anyone can do this; including you! #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #pantry #foodpantry #athomefoodpantry #foodpantryathome #foodstorage #cookathome #cookingathome #athomecooking #pantrypanache #pantryorganizing #smallspaces #smallspaceorganizing #smallspacestorage

Do you love to cook at home, kind of like it, or are you super tired of a whole Covid-year of so much at-home cooking?! No matter which one you are, we all deserve a little cooking-labor break from time to time, so ... Hello no-cooking-on-Sunday-trays! To curb so-much-cooking-fatigue, you just "assemble" healthy attractive "nibbling" foods on trays, but no cooking allowed at least one day a week. That's what I came up with as a solution to so much home-cooking and my husband Steve and I love this m.o.! Here's what I did with our own "Sunday trays" to give you some easy ideas to get started ... DISCLOSURES I bought some new pretty tablecloths on Amazon and I really love this red checked one as it didn't wrinkle out of the dryer and is super heavy. I bought these cute red checked napkins too and they washed up like a dream. And several of these white trays from Amazon worked dandy as they have a lip so foods/bowls don't slide off, and they stack really nicely for easy storage. (These work great too as a lap tray to eat in your car if need be, but that's another topic for another day.) These little white ramekin cups work great for small nibbles like nuts. These bigger clear dessert cups work great for things like olives, dried fruit, dips, etc. And these little-bit-bigger bowls work great for chips and crackers. Bonus: The turquoise bowls come with a lid which is nice for leftovers. (If you have any!) My favorite thing I bought for this little "party" though was these cute little appetizer plates. Are these adorable or what?! These 20 oz. stainless tumblers make for a great cool or hot beverage and they hold a lot. I bought white and they are lovely and pair nicely with any dishes, but they have some really pretty colored tumblers too. The rest of the things for our trays I already had from past entertaining days, like these appetizer forks and spoons and napkin rings. I used my name-and-date-engraved baby spoon to scoop nuts. It's 62 1/2 years old so that was fun! (Home hack: I removed the tarnish on my baby spoon with toothpaste on a soft cloth, and then rinsed it off.) :) I ordered our nibbles food from Amazon Fresh, handily delivered right to our front door, and then I ... Put the tablecloth on the table Put the rings on the napkins Put the food in the dishes Arranged the dishes/food for visual appeal/color Filled the glasses with Club Soda with a splash of orange juice, over ice Moved my battery-lighted orchids to the table for a little floral flair and color And lastly added my Christmas votive flameless candles (These votive holders are so nice and come in so many fun colors.) Nibble all day on Sundays when the spirit moves you! For future Sunday trays, now I have all I need organized and stored together so it will be super easy just to set it all up. I highly recommend setting up a dedicated space to store everything together if you can. I rearranged the bottom shelves of our coffee bar, (similar to ours), for our Sunday-trays-supplies, sorting items into plastic baskets like this and this that I labeled with my trusty label maker. Photo below. For our Sunday trays, what did we eat? We personally strive for healthiest foods, so we had guacamole, gluten-free rice crackers, bean dip, organic potato and corn chips, dried fruits, apple slices, baby tomatoes, fresh carrot chips, hummus, green and black olives, chocolate covered nuts, plant-based cheese melted on crackers, etc. I arranged the trays so the food colors were varied and attractive. So yummy! Have fun with your Sunday trays! Prayers for your daily bread even if it's on a "Sunday tray!" In this pix above, I set two trays up on our foyer buffet vs. on our dining table, and put our candelabra in the middle. I like to keep things easy and simple. Foods on this tray included green grapes, baby tomatoes, cut-up muffins, pea pods, stackers crackers, and small biscuits, to name a few. And this time our Sunday trays were back to the dining table. Foods included dried apricots, prunes, dates, raisins. Tortilla chips with salsa, and sliced apples, just as examples. Blessings on your beautiful, simple, Sunday trays! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #bistrotherapy #KathrynBechenSundayTrays #SundayTrays #homecooking #comfortfood #appetizers #easyappetizers #appetizertrays

I have decided to start a new series here on my new blog called My Favorite Things Lately, with links, so that you can check them out for yourself if you wish. Hope you enjoy this and find it useful too. DISCLOSURES Here we go! MURPHY'S RUG LAW: Reader Margie in sunny San Diego, CA wrote asking me where we bought our new floral kitchen runner rug. I told her that I had just spilled a big blob of spaghetti sauce on the white area of it, (of course!), and it took some doing to remove it, so if I had to do it again, I'd buy this colorful rug instead so that any residual stain would never show after cleaning it up. Nothing like a little colorful camouflage to hide a stain! :) ARMCHAIR TRAVELERS GO TO JAIL: Have a hankering to stay in a beautiful Bed & Breakfast inn and get some rest? My hubby Steve and I have stayed in 69 inns in 17 U.S. states, since 1987, but since we can't do that now easily due to the pandemic, we are armchair traveling! We are at a point with so many inn stays by now that trying some really unique ones in the future is on our bucket list, and doesn't this historic Galena, Illinois Jail Hill Inn look delightful, unique, and fun!? I mean, how clever is their "repeat offender program?!" Enjoy the virtual ambience and decor, my lovelies! The best part? Virtual travel is FREE right now while you save up money for your next B&B inn trip, even if it's only for one night. Since it is the month of love and romance, and you are most likely cooped up at home like everyone else on our pandemic-planet, here's my popular article I wrote years ago, Decorate Your Bedroom Like a Bed & Breakfast Inn. So you can get started on that now in your own home while you are under, um, "house arrest," if you will. :) You don't have to go out shopping right now, (please don't/stay safe!), to create this B&B feeling in your own bedroom; use what you have on hand already and be creative! Or, shop online and have it delivered. LIGHT IT UP A LITTLE: I'm a big fan of small dollarwise things to make your own home feel lovely and cozy. (But not so many things that it feels cluttered.) I love the simple candelabra below that I bought for our coffee table. So easy to change out the color of the votive candleholders for varying occasions. I don't think they sell it anymore, but here's another similar style, and another. KITCHEN CABINET COTTAGE COZY: I found this cute brick-pattern vinyl wallpaper and we used it to line the floor of the cabinet under our kitchen sink recently. Cottage dollarwise cozy! ARMCHAIR TRAVELERS LOVE A COZY BOOK NOOK: Doesn't The Library Hotel look like a fun book-ish place in bustling New York City?! Steve toured their lobby for me when he was in NYC a few years ago for his work and he said I'd love it! Well, some day. TIME FOR TEA: Even if you work a super busy job in an office, (and especially if you do!), you can still take time for tea. Store this adorable little travel tea set in your desk drawer and when you go to your office break room for your break or lunch, there you'll be! And you can invite your co-workers too if you wish. FOR SERIOUS CHOCOLATE LOVERS ONLY: This spread is so good on these for a snack! Great with a cup of your favorite tea so maybe you'd better store these in your work desk too, along with your new tea set. :) LIVING LIGHTLY: Even though I've been home and office organizing, DIY decorating, streamlining, simplifying, and teaching and writing about it all in various ways for much of my life, I still like to read books by others on these topics because everyone has a unique perspective that's fun to read about. I'm not a die-hard-minimalist as I seriously love my creature comforts and a few collected lovelies, but instead I'm a small spaces author and dweller, and more importantly, a simplified-living-tailored-to-your-own-lifestyle-guru. Even so, a recent favorite book of mine is Lightly by veteran-minimalist author Francine Jay. She has a wonderful overall perspective on living, especially for our complex and cluttered-world times, in my opinion. This is really a beautiful book! She's funny in places too; I think you'll like her. Like Francine, I've gone mostly paperless, so I bought her book's Kindle version. I hope you enjoyed my first Things I'm Liking Lately blog series and if you want to give me feedback, please email me here. Keep calm, drink tea, and dollarwise decorate your home to make it your haven!* Kathryn :) *My eBooks can help you with that and they are all on sale for the entire month of February. #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #eBooks #declutter #decluttering #homedecorating #DIY #smallspaces #smallspaceorganzing #smallspacedecorating #travel #bedandbreakfastinntravel