Growing up in sunny southern California where every day is 75 degrees was something I definitely took for granted. These days I love being outside in our backyard, watching our kids play, and having dinner outside on the patio. Now that we live in Utah we can’t do this year round, only a handful of months a year. This year I decided to try something that would make it possible to enjoy dining outside a bit longer, even through the cooler months of Fall!

We built our outdoor dining area a couple years ago – I can’t believe how far the backyard has come! We had the cement pad poured and built a covered gazebo with a dining set underneath. I decorated the space with outdoor string lights, hanging basket lights, a cute rug, and some real and faux plants. The one thing I didn’t until this year was an outdoor heater.

I hesitated in the past because all the heaters I have seen before were larger and took up too much space. Since this area is only 10ft x 10ft, space is a huge factor. That’s when I came across the Dimplex DIRP15A10GR. It’s an electric plug and go mountable heater! It’s the perfect solution for this area. We mounted it inside the roofline of our gazebo and it was super easy to do. We just plumed it in and we were ready to go! This particular model is also remote controlled, which was a huge selling point for me.

One of these units is enough to heat a 10ft x 10ft space so it worked out perfectly! This will now make it possible to enjoy our outdoor dining space through the Fall and I could’t be happier about it. I see lots of chili and cornbread, soups, and stews being enjoyed out here this year!

If your family is like ours chili is a staple when the weather cools down and there is only one recipe I have that everyone loves, even my picky eaters!

                       -Grey Birch Designs-

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Fall is making its appearance around our home and I couldn’t be happier. This is my favorite time of year! I love the crisp cool air, the sweaters and boots, pumpkin spice everything, and of course the Fall decor!

I love the warm color palette Fall brings to my home – it instantly gives it such a cozy vibe! This year I’m drawn to deep burgundy, gold, cream, and rust colors for the season. My dining room was one of the first places I decided to decorate this year, and that meant a trip to Walmart. It’s one of my favorite places to find affordable decor and this season they didn’t disappoint

Walmart is where I found my all time favorite dish set. They are great year round, but with the gold rim on this set and color palette I’m going with this Fall, they are perfect. I wanted to do a mixed table setting so I paired them with the black Onyx Stoneware set with the same gold detail around the edge that I love so much! These two sets together are beautiful and can be dressed up or dressed down for casual dining!

Next, I put together the centerpiece. I found the perfect dried eucalyptus in the deep burgundy color I’m loving right now. I grabbed a few bunches to add to my vase for a warm, classic feel for my dining room centerpiece.

I didn’t need a lot to make this space feel like Fall and I didn’t need to spend much either thanks to the prices at Walmart! The only thing missing to get fully into the season is my favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies! I have been making this same recipe every year since my kids were little. It’s going on 15 years now and we all look forward to it each year! Here’s my favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe:

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What are your favorite things about summer? For our family it’s swimming, boating, riding bikes and of course eating lots of ice cream! I recently picked up this ice cream maker from Walmart and it has been the best purchase. With ice cream being my kids’ treat of choice it’s been getting a lot of use!

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 With the holidays around the corner, one of my favorite things to make in the kitchen is a charcuterie board. There are so many different varieties but my favorite is the traditional cheese and meat board. Before I head off to the market, I like to make a list of everything I need. My Samsung refrigerator has a super cool voice controlled assistant called Bixby that makes things really easy. I say “Hey Bixby, add Brie cheese to my grocery list” and it does the rest. Then I can quickly send the list to my phone and head out the door. On the off chance I forget to send the list, I can view the inside of my refrigerator from my phone at the market. Pretty cool! 

When I build a charcuterie board I like to include fruit, crackers, meats such as prosciutto and salami, and a variety of cheese. My favorite is baked brie. For my baked brie recipe you’ll need:

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This recipe is delicious! I have a lot of fun making these charcuterie boards with my family and awesome appliances like my Samsung refrigerator make it stress free! To read more on some of the awesome kid friendly features our Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator has to offer check out my blog post here 

-Grey Birch Designs-

I have always wanted to be a plant lady! I have bought and killed many plants in my lifetime and thought I would forever have a black thumb. Every time I walked through the plant section at the home improvement store I thought to myself “I can do many things, but keeping plants alive is just not one of them.” They would tempt me every time as I walked the isles picking out my next victim. That is until I bought a ZZ plant 2 years ago. TWO YEARS I have kept this plant alive and thriving!! This got me thinking that maybe there are other plants that can work for people who are challenged in the garden like myself, so I did some research!

1. ZZ Plant This is the one I stumbled on over 2 years ago and it is thriving! Truth be told, the more I ignore it the happier it is, that’s my kind of plant! It has a beautiful deep green leaf and helps clean the air inside your home! These are my favorite house plants!
2. Pothos These come in so many color variations and each one is absolutely beautiful!! Something really neat about these is you can easily propagate them with a clipping and then have more of these beautiful plants without having to go buy more!
3. Snake Plant Although I HATE the name (I’m deathly afraid of snakes…) I love this plant! It’s similar to the ZZ plant since it likes to be ignored and only requires 1 cup of water every 2 weeks. It also likes low light and has beautiful colored leafs!
4. Fern These are beautiful and easy to care for indoor/outdoor plants! You only water the soil when it is dry and they require medium light!
5. Peace Lily If you want something that has a flower on it then these are a great option. They grow best in high light but can tolerate low light too, making them a go with the flow kind of plant. They do need to be watered weekly so on the scale of low maintenance plants these are a little more high maintenance but still easy!

• strawberries, lemon, and mint leaves
• sliced cucumber and mint leaves
• strawberries and pineapple 
• orange and lime
• kiwi and orange