Recipe: Roast Pumpkin & Haloumi Salad

This is one of my favourite salads. With most people going on health kicks in the new year i thought this would be the perfect time to share it with you. This salad is great to make for something bit more fancy but still really simple.

ROAST PUMPKIN & HALOUMI SALAD

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:
80g of Rocket
1/2 Butternut Pumpkin
30g Pinenuts
90g Haloumi
Balsamic Glaze
Olive Oil

METHOD:
1) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. fan forced. Cut up the pumpkin into small cubes and place in a bowl. Cover in olive oil and place onto baking tray. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until golden.
2) In a small non stick frying pan place the pine nuts and toast over medium heat until golden. Set them aside.
3) Place rocket onto a plate or wooden board and drizzle with balsamic glaze.
4) When the pumpkin is almost cooked slice the haloumi. Heat non stick frying pan over medium heat, spray with oil and place haloumi into the pan. Turn over the pieces once golden and cook until both side are golden.
5) Add the roasted pumpkin to the rocket on the plate, add haloumi pieces and sprinkle the pine nuts.


TIP: This plate serves 2 or could be used as side dish to another meal for 4 serves. Use any dressing you like. You could even add some roast chicken or marinated lamb.

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Preparing For Prestart Meeting

The first time we built the sales guy who was signing us up kept mentioning prestart meeting. I had no idea what this was and was not as prepared as I should have been. Second time around I was so organised complete with lists and sample cards.

A prestart meeting is where you get to choose all your colours, cabinetry changes, any upgrades like different sinks, fancy tapware, door handles and all those finer details. Before you have prestart you usually have a tile meeting or head to a tile shop on your suppliers list and pick out all your tiles and cabinetry colour. Some builders may do this a little different.

With most big builders you need to have done all your structural changes like moving walls, changing window sizes and ceiling heights when you sign up. These cannot usually be done at prestart so make sure you do these from the beginning. We did ours before signing officially with the builder as we wanted/needed to know the cost. Think of how your would put your furniture and see if it would work. If not you may want to change a full length window to a half window or move a doorway to another spot.

As soon as we signed up to build the second time i pretty much went into the tile shops to see which place I was going to make my selection. There's a builders range to choose from... outside the builders range you get charged a fortune so I tried to stick within in. In a dream world I would have had large rectangle floor tiles etc but I'll save that for future when our bathrooms are old and dated and need renovating. I changed my mind a few times before prestart so I'm glad I started early as I would have been sad if I was stuck with my first selection. Do not leave your tile selection until last minute!

To choose paint colours for exterior and all cabinet colours i went to masters and got paint card samples (sooooo many of them, all greys). I ordered laminex samples from their website. I also order some essastone samples too. This way I could play around with all my samples on my desk and see what colours would work well together and rule out colours instantly. Once I had decided I carried them around with me incase I needed to select something like flooring and glass splashback and had them as easy reference.

Next is all about lists. Write or type.. whatever method your prefer each room of your house. Underneath write down every change and upgrade you'd like to make to that room - they of colours, cabinetry, electrical, fixtures. Get everything on your list costed... even if you think it will be too expensive. It's easier to delete things from your list after its costed. You may even get a nice surprise with some items. Personally I set a price in my head for each upgrades/change. If it was too above that it got deleted.

PREPARATION LIST:

• Do your structural changes (windows, ceilings, door ways, walls, roof etc) before you sign up 
• Visit the tile shop and make your selections in advance
• Collect paint card samples, laminex cards and whatever samples you can
• Make a list of all changes per room to take to your prestart meeting
• Be prepared to be surprised/shocked in both good and bad ways at costings. Set the price in your mind.

Colour Pop: Navy, Pink & Gold

This week's colour pop was inspired by the gorgeous new range at Typo (not sponsored i just love pretty stationery)

I love the combo of pink, navy and gold. I think it can be classy or a lot of fun... perhaps both! With so many finds I ended up making 2 boards for you. Pink can be hard to use in the home if your partner isn;t on board. However I think this combo would look lovely in an office/study.

a) Milan Direct - Cashmere Chair

b) Grand Designs - Geo Cushion

c) Myer - Cake Plate

d) Beacon - Light Cage Pendant

e) Typo - Fold It Case

f) Freedom - Scribble Coaster

g) Adairs - Tripod Table

h) Typo - Gold Pen Cup

i) Lark - Beautiful Life Cushion

j) Sarai Homewares - Tealight Holders

k) Kmart - Rug (no longer online)

l) Myer - Towel Gift Set

m) Allissias Attic - Velvet Armchair

n) Beacon - Audrey Lamp

o) Adairs - Flinders Egyptian Towel Set

p) Fenton & Fenton - Wing Bookends

q) Fenton & Fenton - Ladybird Hook

r) Freedom - Scribble Coaster

s) Freedom - Peony in Jar

t) Adairs - Bed Sheets

u) Typo - Fabric Bunting

v) Typo - Weekly Planner

w) Little Rosie & Me - Felt Ball Garland

x) Target - Ombre Cushion

How To Make: Gold Animal Jars

If you're after a fun DIY project then this is for you. With so many purposes these jars will look great in all rooms of your home. They also make a great gift for others too.

GOLD ANIMAL JARS

What you'll need:
Dulux Duramax gold spray paint
Assortment of empty clean jars
Packet of plastic animals (mine were from spotlight)
Super Glue

Instructions:
1. Remove all the lids from the jars. Squeeze a little glue onto each foot of the animal and stick onto the lid in the centre. Only use a small amount as you dont want the excess glue to squeeze out under the feet.
2. Once the glue is dry (time will vary depending on your chosen glue) place the lids on some cardboard and lightly spray with the gold spray paint. I did a few light coats and touch ups where needed. Dont forget to spray under the animal also.
3. Once your lids are dry fill the jars with whatever you like - crayons, cotton buds, lollies, rubberbands, mini pegs... so many options. Display around your home for quirky cute decor.

These little guys now live in my study

**I received the Dulux Gold Duramax Spray Paint for the purpose of review. However the ideas, items and opinions are of my own. Full review to come.

My Etsy Store: Planner Stickers

You may remember early November i posted an unboxing of my new Erin Condren Planner. This year will be my first time in long time going back to paper planner. What I love about this planner is I'm free to decorate and make the pages as pretty as I want. I have really enjoyed making my own stickers so in the last few weeks I have started designing and selling them in my etsy store. You can now click straight through to Lime & Mortar's Etsy Store using the icon on in the right sidebar -------------->
The stickers are designed to fit Erin Condren life planner squares, however some of the designs could be used in any style planner. As i mentioned in my 2015 goals post im looking forward to increasing my range as time goes on. I'll continue to design and add more stickers and im open to ideas and custom orders.

See the listings to see real life photos of how the stickers will look in your planner. Postage within Australia is a flat rate of $1 (other countries the postage starts at $3).

For this week Lime & Mortar readers will get 10% off using the code 'TENOFF' on all orders over $10.

Here are some samples of my current designs. New designs are loaded often so keep an eye out or favourite my shop to get notifications!

Here are a few of my decorated pages ready to be written in when the time comes. I will also be doing a monthly post with the previous months decorated pages for all those Erin Condren fans. I used a mix of my own designs and others.

Choosing Bed Linen

Choosing bed linen is one of most important choices when it comes to decorating a bedroom. I personally will base a room around the chosen bed linen. The only exception being artwork - like my guest room.

Bed linen can change the mood and the look of the bedroom even with minimal changes to the rest of the room. You need to consider what feel you want for the bedroom. Whites and soft tones will give the room a clean calm feeling. Where bright colours add some fun and life to the room.

Here is an example of my bedroom. When we first moved in we had a white and light grey chevron patterned quilt cover with touch of chartreuse cushions. I then fell in love with a bright set from Adairs and I had to have it so I completely change it all. The only other changes I made to the room was print you can see in the ensuite. Everything else stayed the same yet the room felt a lot more happier to me. I have since added some items to my bedside also

In my guest room the artwork came first. I needed bed linen to suit the artwork however I didn't want to spend a fortune as the guest room is not used much. In my rush to have the guest room ready to use I grabbed a bold black/white stripe set from Freedom in clearance. A couple of months ago Adairs had a really good sale for Linen Lovers and I spotted a quilt cover with the mint and coral in it. It was reduced from $189 to $65... it was a sign. I love the softer look it has in the room and how it adds so much more colour as I don't want to add too much to this room. I like both these looks.

Choosing kids bed linen can help you work out the colour scheme and theme for their room. I fell in love with a fabric range in pinks, aqua and touch of red for Miss S's room so I had a quilt made in those fabrics and based the rest of the room decor around the bed linen. So my advice when decorating your child's room is to choose the bed linen first and go from there

FMS Photo a Day: My December

Another complete month of FMS Photo a Day on instagram. This month was so busy so i had to use some old photos (not used on IG) on some days. Here is my December!

Come play along for January. It's all new for 2015. No more monthly lists, instead the lists are released weekly. Here is week 1

Happy New Year 2015!!

I hope not too many of your are suffering hangovers. For some I'm sure they are so happy to see the back of 2014. I know for some of my friends it's been an awful year. I hope 2015 brings you all happiness and new adventures. Let's all aim towards our goals and have an awesome year!

Happy New Year!!