Hollywood Regency Decor: How To

How to Bring The Glamour To Your Home

If you’re looking for a new decor trend to match your outgoing personality, Hollywood Regency is it.  Even if you’re keeping your parties small, there’s nothing that says your style has to be. Hollywood Regency is all about glamour, sophistication and elegance in the home. 

Hollywood Regency style came about during the Golden Age of Hollywood and reflects the charm and sophistication of the 1930s. It mixes together the Art Deco glitz and glamor with  mid-century modern’s clean lines and throws in Victorian elements like velevets, tufting and bold color palettes. Roll all of that together and you’re starting to get the idea of Hollywood Regency. This isn’t a quiet design style. This is dramatic and bold, all about making a statement about who you are and what you like.  Hollywood Regency was inspired by the over the top interiors that designers created for the silver screen.

 The Hollywood royals loved the look of the polished glamour that they worked in and wanted to bring that into their homes. They employed iconic designers like Paul R. Williams, Dorothy Draper, and William Haines to create their homes, and they went big! They brought the same designs that looked great in black-and-white and brought in the attention to detail, color, texture, and finishes that make Hollywood Regency what it is. 

So how can you replicate it yourself? You might not be able to get Dorothy Draper or William Haines to decorate your home, but you can still get the looks that they created by paying attention to a few rules. 

1) There Is No Such Thing As Too Glamorous

This is the top rule for this style. Sumptuous fabrics, rich textures, layers of details, and luxurious accents. Think of it as opulent as a Queen’s jewel box and as comfy as you can make. Hollywood Regency doesn’t take itself seriously, so if you feel like you’re going over the top, you’ve nailed it. 

Courtesy Inspiration Design Books

2) Be Strategic With Your Placement

Although you’re looking to create the opulent look, you don’t want your colors to clash. There should definitely be a singular color palette for each room so that it can be relished in, rather than run from.  Keep patterns to one or two in a space so that they don’t fight with each other, and stick to just one type of metal.  They look great on their own, so you want them to shine when you do highlight them. 

3) Keep Your Furniture Small-Scale

Courtesy Everly Quinn

While it might sound strange, the furniture isn’t meant to be the feature point of the style. Hollywood Regency is all about open floor plans and parties, so having plenty of space to move is important. Instead, look to bright, glossy furniture with lacquered surfaces so that each piece pops. 

4) Pay Attention To Your Details

Courtesy of Ballard Designs

Like we said in the last point, the furniture doesn’t command the space, so your decor is what does. Luxurious fabrics, metal hardware, crysta lights and objects de art are the requirement of the day. Velvets, silks and furs, Turkish rugs and golden hardware and patterns.  It’s about making things sparkle and shine. You can even bring in mirrors as wall decorations, shaping them into a larger sculpture or art piece. 

5) Don’t Be Afraid To Grab Inspiration From Other Eras

Courtesy Simple Shapes

Hollywood Regency was inspired by a large number of different eras, so don’t be afraid to pull in other concepts. Rococo and Chinoiserie are both styles that mesh in nicely in different ways and blend well with the glamour of Hollywood Regency. 

6) Bring In The Black And White To Temper Things

Another key mark of Hollywood Regency is the use of black and white in different ways. Whether it’s checkerboard flooring, large photography or zebra prints even, there are many ways you can fit this into your home to create a quieter corner amid the opulence. 

7)  Don’t Shy Away From Lacquer

Courtesy of Ellen Quinn

With the love for all things shiny, lacquered finishes are just the thing to fit in with Hollywood Regency. Whether you apply this to furniture like tables, to room dividers or accessories like trays and vases, or to your walls or ceilings, get creative with it. There’s nothing that’s off limits for this one. 

You can probably tell we LOVE Hollywood Regency and the luxe feeling it brings. What about you? Do you think you’ll be doing up your home in Hollywood style this spring? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page! As always, we love to hear from you. 

If you wound up here looking for help with your dryer and not your decor, no worry, you’re still in the right place. Whether you’re in McKinney or The Colony, we’re here to help get your major appliances running again. We’ll work with you to find a time and date that works best for your schedule. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to get your home running smoothly again. You can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ( (214) 599-0055). 

Jalapeno Chicken Bowtie Pasta

Warm enough to get you through winter, hearty enough to keep you healthy in spring.

We’re well into the coldest part of winter, getting hammered from all sides with cold weather and we need something to warm up! This week’s recipe is a great recipe if you’re fighting off a cold or are just sick of the cold. It’s got the same basics as a good chicken noodle soup with some extra added kick to it. 

Ingredients: 

1 medium yellow onion

3 large carrots

3 celery stalks 

salt and pepper

3 garlic cloves 

2 Tbsp butter

3 chicken breasts

1 pt of heavy cream

1 bay leaf

Fresh parsley

1 tsp of thyme 

chicken bullion 

1 lb bowtie pasta 

jalapeno slices 

Tools: Two large pots, a blender or food processor, a cutting board, slotted spoons and a few bowls 

Recipe: 

To get us started, grab a paper towel and wet it with cold water in your sink. Lay it next to your cutting board, and then grab your onion. Chop the onion into large quarters, remove the outer skin, and be amazed that your eyes aren't watering, thanks to the paper towel. Does it sound weird? yes. Does it work? Also yes. This is a trick we use all the time in our own kitchens for the ARS staff. Put the onions aside into a large bowl, and take up your carrots. You can choose to skin them, or just give them a quick scrub, it's up to you. Once you've prepped them, go ahead and give your carrots a few rough chops, breaking them down into thirds.  Do the same with your celery in terms of prep, and make sure not to leave any of the leaves on. 

Go ahead and turn your stove on high and place your large pot on the stove, tossing in 2 Tbsp of butter. Let that melt down, and then add salt and fresh cracked pepper to the pan. While that's going, take your garlic cloves, nip off the top, bottom, and the skins, and then quickly mince them. Toss that into the pan, and stir until the garlic is aromatic. At that point, add in your onion, carrots and celery, turn the heat down to medium, and let it sit. You're going to let the vegetables simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, to allow them to start softening and cooking. 

Once your onions are halfway to translucent, fill the pot with water and add in the chicken. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the water has reduced by half. 

Turn the burner off and grab two different bowls. One bowl is just for the chicken. The second bowl is for all of the vegetables. Take up your slotted spoon and remove all of the vegetables from the stock. Make sure to lose as little stock as possible, as it's the base for the sauce.  From here, grab your blender or food processor and pour in your vegetables. You might have to do this in batches, you might not. Either way, add about 1/2 cup of stock to the blender, just to make it easier, and set the machine to chop. Once you've got the vegetables much smaller, you can switch over to blend and let the machine work until you have a smooth puree. Pour your puree back into the pot, and return the pot to medium heat. 

Pour 1 pint of heavy cream into the pot, give it a stir, and taste. This is the stage to add spices in. Add in 1 bay leaf, a few sprigs of fresh parsley, and 1 tsp of thyme. Give that a stir and let it bubble for a few minutes, then taste. At this point, we realized we needed more chicken and add in 1 tablespoon of chicken bullion, but you might not. Let the pot continue to bubble, reducing further until you have a thick sauce that stays on the spoon when you lift it out. As this works, you'll also want to skim the top and scrape the bottom occasionally to remove anything from building up. 

When the sauce is nice and thick, grab a second pot and add water, plus enough salt to make it as salty as the ocean. Bring that to a roiling boil and add in your bowtie pasta. Set a timer for six minutes, and go back to your cutting board. This time you're going to be tackling the chicken and being much more uniform than we were earlier in the recipe. Chop the chicken into bite-sized chunks, or you can shred it depending on how easily it's falling apart. Eitherway, once that's done, toss it into the sauce pot and give it a good stir to incorporate it. 

By now your pasta should be done, take that off the burner, strain it and add the pasta to the sauce. Give that a stir and let it simmer until the pasta is fully cooked. 

While that's finishing up, you've got one final choice to make. Do you like your food spicy or really spicy? If you like it just a little spicy, dish out the jalapenos in small dishes set to the side of each bowl. If you like it really spicy, add the jalapenos and the juice they come in into the main pot and let that mix. 

Either way you prefer it, once your pasta is fully cooked, congrats! You've got a healthy and delicious meal that no one will suspect has a whole bunch of veggies hidden in it. 

Let us know over on our Facebook page if you plan to give this one a try! We'd love to see how it turns out. 

If your appliances are giving you trouble, you can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). At Appliance Rescue Service, we're here for you and want to help you get your home running smoothly again.

Decluttering In the New Year

 5 Tactics To Get the Clutter Under Control

It's the end of January, and that means the buzz of the holidays is wearing off and now we're well into the "need for getting things done." Your resolutions for the year may or may not have fallen by the wayside, but the gifts you were given are still scattered around your home. Some have found places where they belong, some might not have. So what are you supposed to do? The 'easy' answer is to do what many busy people do, ignore it. The more realistic answer might be to stare at it until you get annoyed and chuck it out. For some, though, there is a third option. 'Organizing' or 'decluttering' depends on your search term of choice. Many of us struggle with it, so we're tackling 5 different ways you can declutter your home as we go through the new year. 

Courtesy: Andrea Picacquadio

A quick note. Some or all of these methods might not work for you. They might work for specific types of items and not for others. The point of this article isn't to force you to stick to one method for the rest of the time. The point is to help you to find a method that works for you and your home. To find organization and peace with what you have in a way that is uniquely yours. 

The Ski Slope

Let's start off looking not at individual items but at the mess as a whole. For many of us, that's overwhelming and can lead to putting off cleaning for longer than you meant to. One way to tackle that is the Ski Slope method. This method was developed by therapist-turned-interior decorator Anita Yokota. Instead of focusing on one type of item, Anita suggests working your way across a room from one side to the other the way you might tackle a mountain. You let your brain focus on tidying up and decluttering one area before you cross the room and work on a different area. As you go from area to area, you'd be sorting things into one of three categories, keep, give or dump. You can have boxes, or you might label different items with sticky notes. Whatever works for you.  As you work your way through, you not only declutter your space, but you also end up decluttering your brain as well. 

The Flow Method

Courtesy: Tatiana Syrikova

The Flow Method is our next concept. This one focuses on organizing what you have instead of decluttering. Here, we're working under the idea that you already have your room decluttered, and now you're trying to put everything into a specific place. The flow method works from the concept that every room has a certain 'flow' to it, the way a river would. You flow around a room, moving from place to place working in different areas at different times. You might go back and forth between areas, but you'll still keep the relevant items near to where an area is. So if you're working in your kitchen for example, you might keep your dishes near your dishwasher, all of your pots and pans near your stove, and all of your spices in the same area you do your food prep. This keeps everything together for when you're working on specific projects. 

One In One Out 

Courtesy Emre

This one is an interesting take compared to the others as it's a much slower way of looking at things. For every new item you bring in your home, you need to remove something else. Now, this doesn't apply to things like food, or repairing something. But books? Clothes? Shoes? Blankets and pillows? All of those can have this rule applied to them and it helps you to question "do I need this, or do I just want to splurge on something?"  

Quarantine Method

Although the term might not appeal to many of us, the concept is one we're all familiar with at this point. Take a selection of things you can't quite get rid of and pack them up. Write a date on the outside of the box and set a reminder in your calendar of choice, say six months. If after that time has passed and you can't remember what's in the box, and you haven't needed what's in it? Then feel free to donate it or gift it to someone else who can make better use of it. 

KonMari Method

Courtesy Andrea Piacquadioa

This might be the most popular method currently. Between her books and her tv show with Netflix, and the various magazine articles, many people know Marie Kondo's philosophy of "does it spark joy?" Now, the question is, what does that mean for those of us that haven't deeply interacted with Ms. Kondo's world? The idea is, "does this thing make you happy?" For every item in your home, you should ask this, and if the answer is "no," then you donate it. Now, for the items that you say "yes" to, you find a place for them. The idea is to go through every 'category' of item over time and remove anything that doesn't make you happy. From there, you will find a place for each of these items. In theory, you will end up with far fewer items to find space for. The flip side, though, and the one that many people miss, is that you're not getting rid of everything. You're just getting rid of things that you don't love. If you love your entire library? Then keep it. If you love all of the tiny ceramic frogs that you own? Keep them. It's not a matter of "keep only the best" or "keep only X number of things." That is why this method seems to have gained so much attention, at least from where we're sitting. 

Do you think any of these will work for you? Which one are you interested in trying? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. As always, we love to hear from you! 

If your appliances are driving you insane and not the items scattered around your house, we can help with that. You can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We'll work with you to find a date and time that works with your schedule to ensure we get your appliances running again. A stove smoking when you're just preheating the oven? Is your refrigerator not getting cold enough? Is your dryer sounding like it's trying to shake the house apart? It doesn't matter. At Appliance Rescue Service, we aim to get your home running smoothly again. 

The MoodUp Refrigerator to Shake UP Your Kitchen

Time to Start the Party

At the 2023 consumer electronics show, LG launched an impressive new refrigerator. Called the MoodUp refrigerator, this fridge could either be a new take on appliances for the modern home or an epic flop. We will walk you through the features that it offers as well as questions we still have and leave it to you, dear reader, to decide. 

 The MoodUp refrigerator comes with many different features. There are two major ones that we will discuss first before we dig into the more practical set.

The first feature that we're excited about is the built-in Bluetooth speakers. Being able to have music while you clean or cook is really important for a lot of us, especially if you are looking to enjoy your time in the kitchen more. Whether it's food prep or making the nightly meal, or cleaning up after a long day, having something to listen to can make all the difference. After all, that's why Audible and services like it are so very popular. We like the addition to the refrigerator, and we're excited to see LG being inventive.

Courtesy of LG

The showstopper of course is the panels that are on the outside of your refrigerator. If it was a normal refrigerator, you would need to remove them and change them out if you wanted to change the color or material. Or, heaven forbid, you might have to purchase an entirely new refrigerator if it no longer matches your kitchen. LG, with their MoodUp refrigerator, asks what if that was no longer an issue? Instead, you now have the capability to match every Pantone color of the year that you could want. You can even go so far as to change your color every day if you want to. 

Courtesy of LG

The demonstration advertises 190,000 different possible color combinations. The key word in that sentence is combinations. It doesn't mean that you're getting the capability for 190,000 different colors. Instead, you're getting the capability of multiple different panels that can all do different colors at the same time.And that's just at the rollout. There's nothing to say that LG won't update or improve the color offerings over time.  

That isn’t everything that the MoodUp can do though. You also are able to knock on the upper right panel to see what you have inside the fridge without having to open it and waste the cold air. You can also have it set to a ‘nighttime’ mode so that you get a quiet glow from the fridge when you’re forced to wake up in the middle of the night.  Last, but most importantly, we’re excited that you can also set the fridge to more muted colors like stainless steel, silver or a wood color if you’re not in the mood to be vibrant on a particular day. 

After all this though, there is still quite a bit that we don’t know yet about LG’s new friend. So, we’re left with several questions. 

How good are the speakers? It's not every day that you attempt to build speakers into your refrigerator, not to mention a refrigerator is not conducive to sound output. Much of the insulation that goes towards keeping your food cold is going also to block sound waves. 

Courtesy of LG

Is LG attempting to replace the need for a conventional speaker system? It can be pleasant to be able to play music while you're cooking, but it's not something we consider our fridge for typically.

What are the size options? Can we get this in anything smaller than what the video portrayed? We know there is a French door model, but what about the various arrangements of the freezer and refrigerator portions? Is this counter depth, or will it stick out past everything? Knowing how a refrigerator will fit into your space is vastly more important than whether or not the color will match and that doesn't change simply because the mood up is capable of changing colors.

Are there other features than the ones we've discussed here that won't be revealed until closer to the release date?

And that leads us straight to what is the release date? LG was not clear in the video on when this would be released to the consumer market. Will it be locked to certain regions only? Is there going to be a waiting list? All of these questions are ones that we urge consumers to ask before getting too excited about the new fridge.

That right there is everything we know so far about the LG MoodUp refrigerator as of January of 2023. With what we know, are you interested? Would you consider updating your fridge once the MoodUp comes to market? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. 

If on the other hand you’re fighting with your current refrigerator, and you really just want it to function properly, that is something we can help with. Whether it’s getting too cold, not getting cold enough, or it’s making strange noises, we’re here for you. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to help you get your home running smoothly again. You can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We’ll work with you to choose a date that works best for you and send one of our expert technicians to solve the problem. At Appliance Rescue Service, we’re here for you. 

Sausage Bread to Get You Rolling

Or Something To Eat While We Hide From the Cold

We're taking a look at a delicious, grab-and-go dinner that's great for parties. Looking through our recipes, we were thinking about something that would work best for the Superbowl parties that people are already planning. This sausage bread is great for just that, as you can make several of them now, and freeze them ahead of time to be ready for the game. 

This recipe comes in two parts. The first, is for making sweet Italian sausage because it is remarkably difficult to find in the Dallas area. The second is for the delicious sausage bread that is going to have you making the sausage on a regular basis. 

Ingredients for Sweet Italian Sausage: 

3 lbs ground pork

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 ¼ Tbsp dried parsley

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp onion powder

1 Tbso dried basil

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp freshly cracked black pepper

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

¾ tsp ground fennel seed

¼ tsp brown sugar

⅛ tsp dried oregano

⅛ tsp dried thyme

Ingredients for the Sausage Rolls:  

2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing 

1 pound sweet Italian sausage 

4 ounces Genoa salami 

2 cups shredded whole milk mozzarella (roughly 8 ounces) 

Vegetable oil cooking spray

flour for the work surface

Oregano - for the surface

minced garlic - for the surface 

frozen pizza dough (not the premade crusts, the actual dough is what you want here. Alternatively, you can make your own dough.) 

Recipe: 

For making the sausage, add the pork and vinegar to a large bowl and then sprinkle the spices all over the top. Scrub down your hands and, if you like, put on some gloves. Mix the pork until the spices are thoroughly incorporated throughout the pork. Divide the pork into one-pound sections. Put one pound aside for the recipe, and the other two into separate freezer bags. These will freeze for 6-12 months and can be used for many different recipes. 

Now let’s move on to making the actual sausage roll.

-Start by preheating your oven to 340* F. Nope it's not a typo. It works for this recipe. 

- Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, add the sausage and cook until brown, 12-15 minutes, breaking it up as it cooks. 

- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a medium bowl and let cool. Once cool, add the salami and mozzarella, mixing with your hands. 

- Spray a half-sheet pan with cooking spray.  

-On a floured surface, roll out your dough into one long 18 x 6 inch oval. Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle the sausage mixture all over. Make sure to leave a 1-inch wide perimeter uncovered, as that will be important later. 

- Gently stretch one long side of the dough and fold it so that it covers half the mixture. Tuck in the short ends to trap all that meat inside and roll it onto itself so the seam of the dough is on the bottom. (Think of it like making cinnamon rolls, instead of like making a burrito.) 

-Carefully and gently transfer the log to the prepared sheet pan and curve it into a slight crescent. (You want it to look more like a ( and less like a C .) Poke holes along the top with a fork to release the steam while it's cooking. Brush the top of the bread with a mixture of melted butter and sprinkle with oregano and garlic. 

- Pop the bread into the oven and cook for 20 minutes. At this point, the top should be lightly brown. 

Let it rest for 10 minutes, and then slice it into 1-inch rounds. 

-You can actually freeze this one up to 2 months in advance. For that you'll follow all of the steps up until you transfer it to the prepared sheet. Instead, you'll wrap the roll in tin foil and then tightly wrap that in plastic wrap. When you're ready to eat, thaw it completely at room temperature for 3 hours, remove the plastic wrap and bake it still wrapped in the foil at 350*F for 15 minutes. 

You can serve this with bolognese sauce, ranch or anything else you might put on top of your pizza. Personally, your blogger is fond of ranch. Let us know on the Facebook page what you serve yours with!

If you're here because you need help with your oven, we can help! We're here to help with all sorts of major appliances, and your oven probably shouldn't be smoking. You can reach out to us by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or by heading to our contact page. We'll work with you to set up an appointment that works best with your schedule. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to get your home running smoothly again.  

Photo by Midget Momma