Entertaining in Style

lighten-up

Lighten Up!

I love candles and votives and special wrought iron pieces, but lets face it, too many mismatched pieces and old rusted items can weigh down the mind!  Revive your old eclectic collection with any assortment of fun finishes from Krylon to update your décor and renew your style this New Year!  With Krylon’s color and texture selections available in innumerable quantities that bind to various metals and materials, your possibilities are limitless! Read more

Happy New Year!

By Susie Coelho

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Read Susie's Bio.

I always enter the New Year feeling invigorated, filled with a sense of excitement and many new goals and plans laid out for the year to come. Instead of creating a list of New Year’s resolutions I first like to review the past year.  I look at all the things that I have accomplished; all of the successful actions that I implemented that furthered my goals and all of the new people whose lives I touched in some little way.  I also re-assess those things that did not go the way I wanted or could have been better and try and understand how I would do things differently if faced with the same obstacle again.  Then I let it all go and I focus on the positive new goals and all the new creations for the future. 

I apply this same process to all aspects of my life, even my style! I look around my home in January when I am taking down the decorations from the Holiday season and I decide how this year is going to be in terms of entertaining, family and general lifestyle.  Is it going to be the same as last year or do I want it to be different?  Do I want to entertain more or less? Are there a lot of events coming up with the kids and will there be a lot of activity around the home this year?  Will be traveling a lot, here for the summer etc.? Depending on how I want the house to function this year I then start getting rid of those things that have just been taking up space and I make room for a fresh styling experience. 

Now, every once and a while I will come across an item that I like but that doesn’t go with my color palette or new styling direction. This month's project was a salvage.  I didn’t like the original black wrought iron but thought it would be great in brown as it updated the look. With a little Krylon ingenuity, I was able to find a way to renew this piece and now it is a beautiful and elegant accessory that I display in my home.

In this day and age where people are not spending a lot but still want to add freshness to their homes it’s a perfect time to salvage and recycle pieces that you like that just need a new twist. 

Find ways to renew your style this month and have a wonderful New Year!

Featured Recipe

Caramelized Figs with Spiced Ricotta

Ingredients
1 cup ricotta
½ teaspoon of freshly grated or powered nutmeg
2 teaspoons granulated white sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 firm but rip figs, sliced in quarters
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
12 Cabaret or Vinta crackers

Instructions
In a small mixing bowl, add the ricotta, nutmeg, white sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Arrange figs on a baking sheet covered with a piece of aluminum foil. Sprinkle brown sugar over figs and broil until sugar has caramelized and figs are warm.

Spread crackers with the ricotta mixture and top crackers with a warm fig slice. Serve immediately.