The Mountain View CottageThe Mountain View Cottage

Your bedroom should be the retreat of your home if its not already, today I’m going to share with you how to dress it up in your favorite farmhouse style and truly create a space that you love and look forward to retiring too each day!

DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. In fact, I oftentimes am able to negotiate a lower rate (or bonuses) not available elsewhere.
Plus, when you order through my link, it helps me to continue to offer you lots of free stuff. Thank you, in advance for your support!

1. LINENS: The first place to begin when trying to add farmhouse flair to your bedroom would be your bedding and linens! White bedding is a simple way to add a luxury feel to your room and keep a neutral soft pallet to add different textures and patterns! I found this flannel plaid sheet set at Target last year and paired under my white quilt and pillows! Which creates the perfect farmhouse bedding! It doesn’t have to be super expensive to create the look you are after! I have found over the years that when it comes to bedding, simple is always better! When you pick a bedding set with a busy pattern or bold color scheme you easily get stuck in a box and before you know it your stuck to a stringent “theme” that will quickly go out of style! So my tip is to keep it neutral and simple! If you want to get daring get some fun sheets or throw pillows!

ACCENTS: accents can easily help you transform your bedroom into a farmhouse haven on a budget. A few farmhouse style items I find myself regularly gravitating towards are:

2. Greenery, simple boxwood wreaths and topiary’s are a great way to add a little color to a neutral space! and definitely embody the farmhouse feel !

3. Galvanized items! Galvanized items are a great way to add a different texture to your room! The tin galvanized shelf linked below is a great statement piece that would look beautiful above a bed! but you could also pick simpler items like a galvanized pitcher filled with your favorite flowers, or a galvanized bin for storage and organization!

4.Exposed wood grain! Real wood is a perfect way to create that rustic farmhouse feel! You could use simple items like the rustic barn arrow linked below or a the ladder and display your favorite farmhouse quilts on it! No farmhouse inspired space is complete without some beautiful wood grain the older the better!

5. Light fixtures, there are so many amazing farmhouse inspired lighting these days its hard to even know where to start! My personal favorite style is a classic bronze chandelier! This is perfect for a bedroom because it is a little more elegant and upscale while also still feeling farmhouse!

6. Furniture- re-purposing something old is a sure fire way to really get the farmhouse look! paint an old dresser with a weathered technique or find an old iron bed that will pair perfectly with your farmhouse linens!

These elements listed below will help you create the farmhouse look effortlessly! They can all be found right on amazon! So get your jammies on grab your favorite drink and determine which items would help instantly transform your own bedroom! Maybe you need some fun throw pillows, or its finally time to switch out that boring light fixture with a bronze and Chrystal chandelier (my personal favorite!)

or a adding some pretty greenery to bring your dresser decor to life!! Simple touches like pretty baskets and wall decor will help you transform your room! Work with what you have and let me know in the comments what items you are loving most to create that farmhouse inspired look! And of course if you have your own suggestions feel free to leave your links in the comments below!

Thanks so much for stopping by I hope you found these farmhouse bedrooms finds inspiring and are ready to tackle you own space!!

-Haley

It’s been a little while since I have done any free printables! So I whipped these 3 plaid farmhouse printables up this afternoon! These are phrases that are pretty popular in the sign making world right now and for good reason! I decided to put a little farmhouse twist on them by adding some hand drawn plaid backgrounds! You could use these free farmhouse printables in a set or all on their own! Use them to make a gallery wall or finish off a bookcase display! However you decide to use them is totally up to you! I always absolutely love to see how you display my printables in your own homes! so be sure to tag me on Instagram so that I can see what you’ve done!

“They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts”

“Love grows best in little houses just like this.”

“if you want to change the world go home and love your family.”

TERMS OF USE: When you download these free printables you agree to only use them for personal projects. They cannot be used to market or display other retail items & they cannot be sold or distributed for monetary gain. If you would like to share these on your own blog I ask that you only use one image and link back here for all downloads! Please do not alter these printables in an attempt to create your own “version” of them If you would like to size them up or down for your own personal use you are more than welcome too! Thanks for you compliance and for sharing the love!!!

Thanks so much for dropping by! if you’re in need of more free printables Look no further

XO-Haley

Lets talk farmhouse decor, particularly farmhouse decor for your living room shall we?! With amazing designers such as Joanna Gains, and the Shanty2Chic sisters putting farmhouse decor into full spotlight it makes one wonder how to create that same farmhouse style in your own home and do it as effortlessly as they make it look!? I decided since I love the farmhouse look just as much as the next girl that I needed to hunt down some simple and affordable farmhouse home decor pieces for your living room, to help you see just how easy it is to create a home you love! Bonus points since everything can be purchased right from Amazon! Can I get an Amen?! Because I’ll be honest, the likelihood of me purchasing anything goes up about 90% if I can buy it from amazon! You too?!

When it comes to farmhouse decor my favorite place to begin in the living room is with a good slipcovered couch! If a couch isn’t in your budget that’s perfectly OK throw a crap ton of grain-sack pillows on the one you already have and you will be golden! NO really don’t believe me? Take a look at how the pillow queen Miss Liz Marie Galvan makes this work time after time! Side note: Well as if that wasn’t perfect timing! As I was looking up the link to the perfectly “pillowed” couch on Liz Maries blog she just so happens to have just posted about farmhouse pillows today! complete with drool worthy pictures of her pillowed out couch and chairs! FATE I tell you!

Another Item I love to add to any farmhouse inspired room is something galvanized! these buckets are perfect! Put some dried out hydrangeas in them or soft fluffy throws and you are good to go! Other things I believe help create that look are: something boxwood, something stained wood, something wrought iron, something chippy and all things neutral! Here are links to everything shown in my farmhouse inspired Amazon Living room finds! If you would like to add anything to the list just drop the link in the comments below!! I’d love to look at your picks too!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you found this post useful if you want to save this list for later be sure to pin the top image to your Pinterest account!

-XO Haley

There are few things I love more than brownies and chocolate chip cookies!! So why not put them together into one amazing confection known to many as a “Brookie” aka Brownie+Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar?! I cannot take credit for this amazing idea but I surely can offer up a recipe so that you can devour it sometime I predict in the very near future too!!! Perhaps this would be a perfect family night treat this weekend?!

A few weeks ago I camped out on the mountain with my church for our annual young women’s camp! The first night just the leaders and the oldest group of girls went up to get things all prepped and ready! The amazing kitchen cooks whipped these up after all our hard work and I couldn’t stop talking about them! I told my mom how awesome they were while visiting and in less than an hour she had concocted her own special recipe and we all got to enjoy them again!

They are soft and chewy and literally the perfect combination of two amazing things!! My little sister who is 12 years younger than me helped me stage and snap these photos! This cutting board has been in my family for years!! and I thought would be the perfect backdrop for something equally as wonderful?! The table its sitting on is equally as nostalgic! It’s a softer wood so naturally years of homework and doodles have been etched into its surface! My mom did however warn me to try and keep away from a recent etching the neighborhood boy made of some inappropriate items… ha ha BOYS!! check! I think we were able to crop those out 😉

These brownie chocolate chip cookie bars would be the perfect treat to share at a party or have during an at home movie night!! They are even better with ice cream and hot fudge.. ya know not that I know from experience or anything!

I sincerely hope that you enjoy these as much as I did! and If you happen to make this recipe please let me know your final thoughts in the comments!!!

“DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. In fact, I oftentimes am able to negotiate a lower rate (or bonuses) not available elsewhere.
Plus, when you order through my link, it helps me to continue to offer you lots of free stuff. Thank you, in advance for your support!”

For more delicious recipes like this stop HERE!

XO Haley

Swigg Sugar Cookie copycat recipe!! If you love a good sugar cookie than you have to try this version of sugar cookies complete with sour cream frosting! I also added some colorful sprinkles because lets face it! Everything is better with colorful sprinkles on it!!! for the full recipe you can LINK HERE

My mom Rachel and I took the BEST TRIP EVER! No really just ask either of them it totally was! this April to LDS Women’s Conference that is held on the BYU campus annually! It’s basically a conference dedicated solely to women who need a small little break from every day reality, while there you can eat your weight in BYU Mint Brownies (we did) spend your life savings at the BYU bookstore (we also did) eat at the creamery (CHECK!) and just get your cup filled from all the amazing and inspirational speakers! I would highly recommend it to anyone LDS or not who needs a little rejuvenation! Because lets face it we all do from time to time particularity right at 4 pm everyday am I right?!

My mom had already made THIS incredible Swigg Copycat Recipe Prior to visiting Utah and it was on our list of things to visit before we left! Non of us live in Utah and there are so many fun things to do while there that we seriously had a blast! Saturday after the conference ended we finally found a cute little Swigg Shack right near the BYU campus and headed inside! The cookies and drinks on the menu are enough to make you drool right there on the floor! We grabbed several boxes and headed to the temple! By the time we got out of the Temple the Swigg Sugar cookies had reached room temp and were seriously DIVINE!

When I visited my mom a few states away months later my dearest Mother whipped up this recipe to re-live that happy moment yet again! They truthfully lived up to my expectations having had the real thing already!!! Swigg Sugar Cookies you guys! SWIGG SUGAR COOKIES!! These are a thing and you need to try them and you don’t even have to go to Utah to try them just whip up this perfected recipe that Mandi Concocted!

for more recipes be sure to head HERE! Thank you SO VERY MUCH for stopping by!!

XO Haley

Fresh Summer Berry Cake! Its officially summer and with it has brought on one of the best seasons of all; berry picking season! So what better to celebrate the occasion than a simple yet utterly delicious cake that perfectly pairs with fresh picked berries?! Don’t worry I’ve got you covered!

This summer has been one for the record books! First I helped plan and organize a wonderful camp for the young women in our LDS church’s stake which has been months of preparation and ended with camping in the Mountains! It was so fun and I can’t wait to do it again next year! I arrived home from camp and in less than 48 hours flew out with my 9 month old daughter Portlynn so that she could meet all my family for the first time!

I am an Arizona native and 3 years ago my parents and 5 of my 6 siblings who still lived at home all up and moved across the country to Washington state! While I miss them terribly I have to admit that visiting them in the ever green state is always so much fun! You know the quote “home is where your Mom is?” Even though she lives in a different house and I’m now married with 4 kids that saying still rings true every time I visit! While there my Mother and I ( OK mostly just my Mother) baked up a storm. Including this fresh berry cake!

We went to a local farm The Ahtanum Berry Patch and picked these fresh blackberries by the bucket full! We ate them off the vines as we went and we all left with red stained fingertips and big grins on our faces!

I love this recipe for so many reasons! You can use any berry that you choose and its seriously so simple! Fresh berry cake for dinner, lunch, breakfast! There really isn’t a bad time to eat fresh berry cake am I right?! I personally prefer to eat anytime after 8 pm when my kids are all fast asleep SHH…

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!! for any questions or comments be sure to leave them below! If you happen to whip one up for yourself be sure to let me know how it turned out!!

Today’s Activity Day lesson centers around Emergency Preparedness. I often opt to “make up my own lesson” so for this lesson I marked off a Learning and Living the Gospel box in my girls books. We have been counseled by the leaders of our church to be prepared for what is to come including obtaining a 3 month supply 72 hour kit etc. Which is why I feel like this lesson falls under “Learning and Living the Gospel” because of the counsel we have been given.

Disclaimer- This post contains affiliate links however all opinions and reviews expressed are my own.

To learn more about the LDS faith you can go HERE

I do a pretty formal lesson with our girls that goes as follows

Opening prayer

Song

Lesson

Activity

Clean up

Closing Prayer

This is just what works for us we have a large group of girls and keeping to this routine helps! I also have a personal testimony of an opening hymn. The girls come into class and are so excited to see their friends the song is always a great way to bring everyone together and invite the spirit into our lessons!

Set Up

To set the tone of lesson I made this Printable:

and placed it on the chalkboard (we meet in the primary room) and then brought my 72 hour kit and laid out its contents on the table in the front of the room with a handout written by Rachel Wood that included a list of items for 72 hour kits. I printed out enough for each girl to take one home with them. Sister Woods 72 Hour Kit list can be found HERE I let the girls come and look at the 72 hour kit as they came into class but because the activity part of our lesson took some time I didn’t officially go over it.

Lesson

For the lesson portion of our activity I read/summarized several Surviving The Storm LESSON

Activity

For our activity we purchased

So that we could teach the girls to make paracord bracelets.

Using THIS tutorial from youtube we taught the girls how to make the bracelets. I would strongly suggest having a few extra adult helpers to help the girls make their bracelets most needed to be taught in small groups of 2-3 in order to get the hang of it!

I hope you enjoyed this Activity Day lesson! if you have any questions or comments please leave them below! thanks for stopping by!

-XO Haley

I’m always on the hunt for good slow cooker recipes, this easy 3 ingredient Lemon Ginger Sesame Chicken is not only good but its healthy! Which always earns extra brownie points in my book! There are a lot of wonderful slow cooker recipes out there but not all fit into the healthy category! Now don’t get me wrong I love a good indulgent recipe like THIS ONE here that is my all time favorite pasta dish. But I do try to save those recipes for the weekend and keep things a little simpler during the week!

This Lemon Ginger Sesame Chicken is not only tasty but its beyond easy! Its just 3 simple ingredients! I even skip the “thawing out phase” with my chicken and throw them in to my crock pot early afternoon after my kids have left for school and just add the ingredients! By the time my two little preschoolers get home from school the house smells heavenly and I have managed to get dinner on the table early… which lets face it NEVER happens at our house!

For more recipes be sure to look here! thank you so much for stopping by and dont for get to pin the top image to Pinterest and save for later!

If you are in on the farmhouse craze that is taking over the design world, these affordable farmhouse inspired shelves are just the thing for you! They take a few days to complete and will add so much character to any space in your home!! We decided to put these in after “Cottage White” magazine contacted me with a potential offer to be featured in an upcoming issue! I wanted to add more character to our home and really do something that was visual and impactful to the space! These fit the budget and you can see them in the summer issue of “Cottage White” EEEK someone pinch me!!

Disclaimer- This post contains affiliate links, however all product reviews and suggestions are purely my own.

The first thing you will need to do is prepare and cut your wood. Start by cutting your 4×4 inch boards into 8 inch and 4.5 inch pieces.

You will need:

8-8 inch pieces

8-4.5 inch pieces

Once you have made these cuts be sure to sand down the edges so they are smooth. Next measure the wall that the shelves will go on and make sure that you do not need to cut down the 10 ft boards. We ended up having to cut off about 6 inches of each board so they did not hang past the wall.

Once all the wood has been cut and sanded smooth you will stain each piece. I used a rag for the small 4 x 4 pieces and a foam roller for the large boards to speed up the process. You will need to let all the wood “cure” at least 24-48 hours before moving on to the next step in the process.

Once the stained wood has all dried you can then begin to create the chunky farmhouse corbels that will hold up your shelves. Take one 4.5 inch piece and one 8 inch piece and put them together like an L as shown in the image below. the short end will be the bottom and the long end will be the top and rest beneath the shelf itself.

Using your measuring tape measure the center of the wood so that the metal bracket is centered to anchor together the two pieces of wood.

Use a 1/2 inch drill bit to pre-drill holes into the 4×4’s using the bracket as your guide for where the holes should be placed. Shown in the image below.

Once the holes are in place use your 3/8″ drive bit to drill in the large hex screws like the one in the image below into both holes securing the bracket to both 4 x 4 pieces creating the L shape of the bracket.

Next secure the key hole fasteners to the top back of the corbels you just completed. Be sure to put these at the top back of the corbel where the shelf will rest on top. If its at the bottom or the middle it will hang at an angle.

Now that your corbels are complete use your stud finder and pencil to mark the studs on the wall where the corbels will be placed. There is a 19 inch distance between each of my shelves but you can do this however you prefer. Keep in mind that the closer together the shelves are will limit the types of items you can put in between them if the items are too tall.

Using your level to double check that both sides of corbels are even begin screwing your heavy duty screws into the studs and locking each of the corbels with the key hole into place. You may need to lightly tap the top of the corbel with a hammer for them to lock in.

Once the corbels are all in place simply place the shelves on each set of brackets and nail or screw them from the top into the corbels for extra security! and WA LA!! You have some farmhouse inspired shelves that include chunky corbels and are incredibly affordable! you can dress them up all year long and they are a perfect focal point for any space!!!

If you enjoyed this tutorial be sure to pin the image at the top of this post to save it for later and to share it with friends!! If you have any questions or comments regarding this tutorial feel free to comment below or send me a private message! I am always happy to help with any questions you may have! thanks so much for stopping by!!!

PASTA! If you are anything like me you could consume pasta all day everyday! Its the epitome of comfort food for me and this dish is hands down my absolute favorite pasta recipe! Slow Cooker Lasagna or “Crock pot” Lasagna is where its at folks!! I’ve modified this lasagna recipe over the years to make this lasagna slow cooker friendly because I live and DIE by my slow cooker!! When life is busy, there are few things as helpful as crock pot meals! with 4 kids under the age of 5 its hard to whip up anything that pleases the masses but this one does it every time! My 5 year old Tristan who I have long since decided has an aversion to food in general will even have second helpings and that is an occurrence that usually happens only once a year!

This crock pot lasagna dish is perfect on a cold day and will warm you right down to your toes! ( promise!) It also makes wonderful leftovers!!! I think something about this is even better when eaten the second day!! Right before I delivered our 4th little baby this summer miss Portlynn Blake, I made a double batch of this and froze it for when my wonderful mother left! (and let me tell you she took good care of us before heading back to Washington!!) It was so nice to pull out one late afternoon when the baby was screaming and my 3 YES 3 toddlers were all on a “lets drive mom mad kick” I’m sure you’ve had these days too eh?!

Needless to say we all survived and having a few freezer meals ready helped us ease into the land of 4 kids. I thought the transition from 2-3 was tough but 4 takes the cake! Speaking of cake this total goes well with cake, but I think just about everything goes well with cake!!! Now on to the recipe!!

Slow Cooker Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb. Medium Italian sausage

½ yellow onion chopped

1 jar your favorite marinara sauce I prefer Prego

1 ½ cups 2% cottage cheese

1 box of Penne Pasta

2 ½ cups 2% milk

¼ cup real butter

¼ cup white flour

¼ cup shredded mozzarella

Directions:

-Remove the sausage from the link pouches and brown them in a skillet with the yellow onion.

-Once browned place in your slow cooker and add the marinara sauce.

-In a small/medium sauce pan melt the butter, once melted add the flour and whisk quickly together, before it begins to burn add the milk in very slowly. Wisk on medium heat until the mixture thickens to a thick creamy consistency. Immediately pour into the slow cooker and add the cottage cheese.

-Mix all the ingredients in the slow cooker together and cook on low 4 hours.

– 30 min before the lasagna is done add the penne pasta and watch carefully as it cooks be sure not to overcook and immediately remove the lasagna into a room temperature pan once the pasta is done so that it does not overcook. Its best to move it just before the pasta is done.

-Sprinkle mozzarella to the top and serve immediately! Can be frozen for up to 4 months in an air tight container and makes a great take in meal!

Printable Recipe:

If you enjoyed this recipe be sure to leave a comment below and save the pin to pinterest! Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links however all product reviews are purely my own. Thanks for your understanding!