Design Thoughts

I have a brown living room...very brown as you can see below.  My accent color is a lovely blue-green, but I am feeling really drawn towards pinks and reds and thinking of changing things up.  Maybe using an ikat fabric. I am always drawn to darker rooms, but maybe I'm ready for a change.

So, I'm thinking of adding in new pillows like this one:

I see rooms like this one and think that I should go much lighter.  I love the neutals with the great accents.

Thoughts?

Book I just finished: Sing Them Home

Cover of Sing Them Home: A Novel

I've finished a book a couple weeks ago-- Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos.  I enjoyed Kallos' book Broken for You and had high hopes for this one.  I picked it up because I read an article about the book's editor who was editing it at the time the article was written and said it's one of the best things she'd read in awhile.  So, I really wanted to like this book.  I'm curious what others thought of this book-has anybody read it?  How did you feel about the characters- did you like them?

Recipe of the Week: I hate chicken salad, but...

I had a variation of Tyler Florence's ultimate chicken salad tonight and I really, really like it.  So here's the recipe variation:

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped


Kosher salt


About 1 cup mayonnaise


1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard


2 celery stalks, small diced


2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves 


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil


Freshly ground black pepper


2 cups shredded roasted chicken meat, roughly chopped


8 slices bread, your choice


4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature


Roughly chop the walnuts and then gently toast in a dry skillet over medium heat until they brown and are slightly fragrant. Season walnuts with salt once they are finished toasting. Add the walnuts, mayonnaise, mustard, celery, parsley, olive oil, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a large mixing bowl and combine. Fold in the shredded chicken and set aside while you prepare the bread. Toast the bread in a hot oven until golden. Top with a scoop of the chicken salad and cover with the other half of the bread to complete the sandwich. Serve.