New Year's Eve Tablescape via The Pampered Mom :: Hello 2014

Last year, in 2012, we had a record number of visitors to our blog after our debut of our New Year's Eve Tablescape, Bridal Edition, found HERE.  And honestly, we're still swooning over how good the table and bride looked in this photoshoot ... seriously, it's some awesome goodness!

 At the request of some of our loyal readers, we've been at it again!  Although it's not a bridal edition, this gold, bubbly inspired tablescape still takes our breath away!  We're also super excited that because this is in our home, we'll be able to enjoy the fruits of the labor by hosting a progressive dinner that evening with a few our our friends. We're dessert!!

Here's to a New Year, New Goals and More Inspiration in 2014!

All photos are property of The Pampered Mom

Sneak Peek: New Year's Eve ... hello 2014

The Pampered Mom's New Year's Eve tablescape ... sneak peek :: hello 2014

The Pampered Mom's Holiday Spiced Apple Wassail

This oh-so easy drink came about after a friend of mine told me about a wassail walk that takes place in a quaint small town just north of here.  Small shops in the town gather together and each makes their own special spiced wassail, just in time for the holidays.  Isn't that the cutest?  After hearing this story, I started taking it upon myself to find and perfect the perfect holiday wassail.  So far, the warm cider is perfect during the cold winter months!  Hope you find this recipe makes it into your own home ... new traditions maybe?

Ingredients:

1 gallon apple cider

6 apples, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks

4 cinnamon sticks

1/4 teaspoon ground mace

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

 3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 thinly sliced orange

1 lemon thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Combine the cider, apple chunks, and cinnamon sticks in a large kettle and bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn the heat down to low and add the mace, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and brown sugar. Stir to combine, and simmer for 20 minutes until the spices have developed their flavor.
2. Drop in the orange and lemon slices, simmer for 5 more minutes, and turn off the heat. Ladle the wassail punch into mugs and serve hot. Include a few pieces of cooked apple or a cooked orange or lemon slice in each mug.

enjoy!

Imhoff Christmas Cards 2013

Imhoff Christmas Cards 2013 are officially sent out!
This photo was taken during the Mizzou | Auburn Football game, and both kids were wearing their jersey's and looking up at the tree.  Luckily I had my camera out and was able to sneak a photo when they weren't paying attention! So precious they are, and even though they fight, this photo reminds me that they really are best of friends!

card made through Shutterfly on their metallic card stock

 

 

Happy Holidays from the Imhoff's!

DIY Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

The perfect DIY project for snow days ...

The Pampered Mom's Cinnamon & Applesauce Baked Christmas Ornaments

Only two ingredients that are staples in the home ...

Ingredients:

2 cups Cinnamon Spice

2 cups Applesause

Directions:

Mix together cinnamon and applesauce, roll out on cutting board, and use cookie cutters to make pretty shapes.  Use a straw to make holes if you're wanting to add ribbon to hang. Place on baking sheet and bake for one hour at 200 degrees.  Sit out to dry for the rest of the day before you hang.

The Pampered Mom's Favorite Beauty Products of 2013

 

 

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Imhoff Christmas Mantel 2013

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just a few short weeks again.  I am constantly reminded that I have not done an ounce of shopping yet, there are still no gifts under the tree, and that we are still hanging Christmas lights outside the house.

However, the tree is up, decorations are out and the Imhoff Household is definitely in the Christmas Spirit!

Even Tank, our black lab | great dane.  Actually he is just waiting for his treat for smiling for the camera :)

It's the first Christmas in the new house, which takes a while to figure out where everything should go.  However, this year ... the decorations just seem to fit.  It's the season to be thankful and there isn't a morning I don't wait up with a smile of my face ... we're home!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Tablescape 2013 via The Pampered Mom

One of my favorite things to decorate is our dining room.  I get pure joy out of designing a table scape that not only is functional, but beautiful as well.  This week was no different.  As we're decking the halls in the Imhoff Household, the dining room was the first room to tackle after the Christmas Tree.  From flatware to the hand-picked rosemary from our garden, this is truly a gorgeous table, awaiting Christmas Eve Dinner!

These photos are taken during the day ... tomorrow I'll post photos from the evening when all the candles are lit.  All items I had lying around the house, which makes it even more special to our family!

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Tablescape via The Pampered Mom

The Pampered Mom's 2013 Christmas Tree Details ...

Simple details that make the tree shine ... I love Christmas Time!

 

Full Christmas Tree Photos found here.

The Pampered Mom's Christmas Tree 2013

It smells like Frasier fur's in our house tonight.  I love that fresh-tree smell, don't you?

It seems like since we moved into this house, all I have done is bring boxes in, sort and organize the contents and put everything away.  Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I am pleased to report that we have FINISHED the house in regards to boxes and items put in their respected places.  Boy did it feel good!

 

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, so by Thursday evening, I was exhausted.  It has taken us 3 months to finally get the house to where we were ready to invite friends and family over, and then decorating for Fall and Thanksgiving on top of that, really did me in.  However, I must say, I loved every minute of it, and Thanksgiving couldn't have gone better!  I sold my nice DSLR camera a few weeks ago, so I didn't have a camera to take an photos of our tablescape and family who arrived at the house... next year!

Today, I brought up all of our Winter and Christmas Decorations.  Ryan asked me why I was in such a great mood today ... probably because I got to decorate for my favorite season of the year :)  I have the same routine each time ... pop in my Michael Buble or James Taylor Christmas Holiday CD's and get to work!  Each year is different, each year is something new, and I LOVE IT!

We have tall ceilings in our family room, so we knew we needed to get a tree that would at least make a statement, and we always buy REAL trees for our main living level.  I always flock our tree, making it more of a white snow-like effect before I string the lights and hang the ornaments.  I absolutely love the way it turned out.  The mix of whites, silvers and feathers .. just creates this luminous affect in our family room.  

Here is the pre-ornament and post-ornament shot of our tree this year

Hope everyone has a great holiday season!  I know we're going to enjoy every minute of ours!

The Pampered Mom's Thanksgiving Menu 2013

While everyone is busy preparing for tomorrow, I thought I would share what's on menu tomorrow.  I hope everyone enjoys the company of family and friends, stays warm and thankful.

What are you making for your family & friends?

Imhoff House: Basement Progress + Interior Paint Colors

After all the carpet in the basement was pulled up, we had to make a decision on what to put down.  Do we go with carpet, tile or stain?  It was a huge decision, and one that we needed to make quickly.  There are obvisouly plus's and minus's when flooring a basement.  I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted, but I knew I didn't want to carpet the main area.  This basically left tile and stain.  I also knew I wanted to the flooring to be dark ... basically black!  Because the flooring would have to be done the next week, we needed to get paint on the walls.  With a dark floor [either tile or stain] I wanted a light wall.  I feel like my whole house is grey, but really, the colors just worked perfectly.  Before we made an flooring decision, we picked out the paint and we ... I mean Ryan painted the basement bedroom, main living area and the bathroom.  

Here are the colors we used ...

 

 

It looks amazing!  I am in love with the colors [which were used upstairs as well].  

So what do you think?  Stain or tile? Benefits?

Imhoff House: Our Dirty Little Secret

It's not secret that moving into a new house is a LOT of work!  More that what most would prefer, espeically if you're moving a family.  Like any house, it needed to be cleaned ... however, our house ... basically needed all hands on deck.  It seriously was one of the dirtiest houses I had been in - in a LONG time.  From the outside and just walking around,  you wouldn't have thought so.  But when you're moving and getting down to the nitty gritty - you start to see things that you didn't before.

For example, moving our stove ... terribly dirty, and we would never have know just walking through the house.  During the first open house, we both agreed that if we moved in, there would need to be some serious changes to the basement.  What was fine for the family before ... was not going to work for us.  We knew that for sure.  From the multicolored berber carpet to the webs on the ceiling, our basement quickly became our dirty little secret.

 

These photos don't even really show how terrible it was.  I know people who came over wondered why we bought this house after seeing the basement!

When guests would come over to the house, we were in total defense mode.  We either skipped the basement completely, or tried to dodge the subject of the basement all together during tours. It was the worst of the worst.  One of the first things the hubs did when he moved in was rip it up.  It was wet underneath, it came up in a million tiny pieces, and the smell ... let's not even talk about the smell!

Let me tell you ... it wasn't pretty ...

However now ... it's quickly gone from a place where we wouldn't dare, to a place where we are excited to spend some quality time!

I'll begin sharing this week how we went from drab to FAB!  And it really didn't cost all that much!