Seven Layered Desk

Over the holidays I finally found the time to paint my desk I purchased in what turned out to be the *wrong* color. The “walnut” stain really was orange-y, self-tanner walnut- why, oh why, didn’t I read the review? I had been trying to steer clear of the white desk “everyone” is doing, but immediately cursed myself when I saw it in person…. in my house.

Before….

Shopping for our home has really shown me just how much stores DO NOT carry in-house, but solely online- tons of furniture, bedding, curtains, you know, all the kinds of stuff you want to touch and see in person before forking over some big ones. Okay, vent over.

After taking apart the desk, I went over all the pieces with primer. Then a zillion times with milky white color in semi-gloss. Spent two days in painting clothes, coming back every 30 minutes for another layer here, a touch up there. Just about took my sanity.

I bought a custom vinyl decal from Empressive Designs (along with the one I used in the laundry room).

After……

Down below, I added some color by spray-painting some baskets and hot gluing ribbon around white storage containers. Glass storage jars are a mix of vintage and Ikea.

Oldest DIY Trick in the Book

I’ve been making some progress on my craft room / office this week to my artwork wall. I found the right assortment of frames from just a couple different thrift stores, spent a good hour playing around getting the right arrangement, then spent another hour probably deciding on which color each would be.

With this as my color guide:

I decided on mix of silver, dark brown, turquoise, which meant I only needed a can of the last color (the perks of a growing spray paint collection). I decided on “Mediterranean” by Valspar.

After a few rounds of paint and reassembly:

Still a couple empty frames that I slowly will fill as I find things.

Postcard of a Van Gough’s flowers and of Tiffany’s stained glass, souvenirs from the Met; a photo from our wedding.

A professional certificate; a vintage photo postcard; a peacock print over an antiqued book page, ordered from Black Baroque over on Etsy.
 

A photo art print from local art photographer from my San Juan Island vacation this summer; a square mirror.

A little spray paint goes a long way.

Tortellini Tomato Spinach Soup

This winter I have been getting into making soups. It is quite  amazing to taste real, homemade tomato soup when you *think* you know exactly what it tastes like.

I made this today for dinner along with some flaky buttermilk biscuits. The tortellini definitely adds heartiness to an otherwise light soup.

1 small onion, minced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 carton chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Salt, pepper to taste
1 package cheese tortellini pasta
10 ounces fresh spinach, chopped

In a soup pot, sauté onions and garlic over medium heat with some olive oil for a few minutes.

[While the onions are sautéing, come up with crazy idea of having a fresh-out-of-the-oven baked accompaniment and feverishly pull out your trusty Good Housekeeping and flip to the quickest, easiest one you know, biscuits. Dump ingredients into KitchenAid, check onions. Mix ingredients, stir onions. Preheat oven.]

Add broth, tomatoes, and seasonings, turn heat up to high and bring to a boil.

[Roll out dough, dig out your round biscuit cutter… it’s around here somewhere… Cut biscuits. Dang is that the oven beeping already?]

Add the tortellini, cover, and turn down to a low boil.

[Slid biscuits into oven and set the timer like it’s no big thing.]

Cook for 12 to 15 minutes until tortellini is nearly done, add spinach for another few minutes.

[Clean kitchen, cuz now it’s really messy.]

Enjoy!

Recipe found here from Food.com. Made 3 main dish servings.

List Mania

I *love* lists. To-do lists. To-craft lists. Home-improvement projects lists. Christmas lists. Errand lists. Not much beats the satisfaction of crossing things (neatly with a highlighter so I can still see the item… don’t ask) off a list.

Years ago while visiting my husband’s aunt in Florida, we had stopped in at a Publix grocery store. There they were near the front doors- long narrow cardstock blank grocery lists, organized by departments. I did what I like to think any tourist without a Publix back home would do- I grabbed a stack. My favorite souvenir from the whole vacation. I kid you not, these have been a standing birthday present from his wonderful aunt ever since.

However, this tutorial from Beckie at Infarrantly Creative appeared in my Reader this week and I loved it.

 
Using her generic grocery list as a guide, I drafted up my own with the items we commonly buy and in the order I pick them up throughout the grocery store. I made a simple table in Word and copied enough off for a year- I figure I’ll want at least tweak it a year from now, plus highlighter smears printer ink, but not copy toner :) Conveniently, I had some cardboard in the recycle bin with a scored fold the exact depth I needed.

 

I Mod-Podged on some stripey paper and attached the whole thing using the same plastic posts that Beckie used from Ace Harware.

All I Need is Some Love

The local thrift store decided to open a temporary store for just Christmas decorations. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

One item I picked up was this wire card holder. Originally it was a dark green. A few coats of spray paint fixed that right up.

I have genuinely shocked myself that in the first week of December I had all my Christmas cards mailed out… now I am just patiently waiting for some Christmas love in return :)

(I pulled out some saved *pretty* ones from previous years for now).

My First Experience with Etsy

I learned about Etsy.com a few years ago and would always peruse it for ideas when I wanted to make something like a piece of jewelry or a pillow, but never took a plunge and made a purchase.

I found this blank metal sign at a thrift store and had an immediate idea.

Some spray paint and a navy blue vinyl decal from Empressive Designs and I got this:

  
It's going to be hard to stay away; I've already have made another purchase that I am eagerly awaiting for another project :)

Overcoming Designer’s Block

Over the summer I got a good push of motivation to work on my craft room / office: I painted the walls a celery color, I bought a funk teal lamp, a large trestle work desk, some cork boards, and hung some curtains. Then I just got stuck. I became unsure of my choices, of my color scheme, and we had other huge projects we began tackling in later summer.

I had some beginning ideas of a funky, but mature; feminine, but not girly room. But I just couldn’t find the exact inspiration I needed  to push me to confidently finish. I swear there is only like 5 craft room / feminine offices floating around in the blogosphere.

A walk through the Lowe’s paint department last night, I finally saw the confirmation I needed. A part of their Audubon Collection is the Grandeur assortment….. exactly what I was thinking, but hadn’t seen put together.

Cool blues, celery greens, deep turquoises. Elegant, but casual. Feminine, but mature. Bold, but clean.

Here’s what I’m wanting to do:

I was trying to be original and not get a white craft desk, but my gamble busted when Target’s Madison Trestle Desk in Antique Walnut turned out to be a Self-Tanner Overkill Orange Walnut. I guess I’m having that white desk after all.

Here is the white version in action in this awesome space by froggymonkey, via RateMySpace.com or Flikr.com

 

The plan is to paint it a soft, milky white and personalize it with a giant monogram decal, a la Living With Lindsay:

Perhaps using one of Empressive Designs’ decals

 

Or Vinyl Graffiti’s

Then I want to fill my IKEA RIBBA picture frame shelves with all sorts of fun things encased in teal, silver, and walnut frames:

Some embroidery art, a la White Nest

Some button art, a la Letter Perfect Designs

 

Some modern quill art, a la Yulia Brodskaya

And somewhere I want to find room for a ceramic elephant, hopefully vintage, but mass produced would do. Just cuz.

I’m digging these Audubon prints from AllPosters.com:

A smaller framed White Crowned Finch

A large framed Louisiana Heron

 

Eventually, replace the builder light with something a little fancier, like this one from Overstock.com

Guest Bathroom Update

It’s been forever since we began our journey of bathroom remodels. Our hall / guest / future kid’s bathroom has really done us in and taught us never to underestimate the skills needed to gut and tile a bathroom. Never.

We honestly thought this bathroom would be a great “learning experiment” for the master bathroom which we also desperately want to tackle. Yeah…. that’s gonna take a few years to gather the strength and the savings, cuz we’re going professional that time around :)

Here’s how it looked at purchase:

 

Crummy, gross shower. Yucky toilet. Teal countertops. Builder grade tile, mirror, light.

We had a family member help with do the tiling, while my husband did the demo and reinstall of the molding, fixtures. I proudly can say I grouted and agonized over tile and paint choices.

As you can see, the shower fixtures and vanity top are still MIA, hopefully to appear sometime this week. But in the meantime I want to show off my purdy tile .

 

The subway tile and inset niche shelf were automatic givens. The strip of accent tile was love at first sight. Mix of light sage green glass and creamy natural stones. Wall color is Valspar’s “Roasted Garlic”- love, love, love.

Also a given: giant diagonal floor tiles in a creamy stone.

  

Vanity, mirror and lights will be the same as our half bath:

Fall Mantel

After taking ages to get a basic (summer-ish) mantel display   going, I swore I wouldn’t let myself feel like I had to do a fall spread- just shoot for something to carry over the Christmas-winter months. But, alias, that permission didn’t last.

As soon as October hit, I was on the hunt for gourds. The uglier, the better. Less than a dollar each, plus a small bag of faux fruit and some faux fall leaves. Not too bad for not really knowing how it would turn out.

Yeah, I know, I really need to find some fall-y candles and I am on the hunt for a great rustic burnt red, orange, or maybe even olive-y green vase. Perhaps even replace the photos or artwork altogether. I tell myself to let it go so that next fall I can really do a bang-up up job on mantel. Surprisingly, it’s worked really well for this Type A+ perfectionist.

Apple Walnut Coffee Cake

I have been waiting for a reason to try this recipe- an October work  potluck was the perfect opportunity.  It comes from my new favorite cookbook, Good Housekeeping Step By Step Cookbook.

It really didn’t seem to be as involved as the number of steps made it seem. Also, while I of course never post a recipe that turned out crappy, this one was oh-my-sweet-goodness divine. This will definitely be a go-to recipe in the future for… well just about anything.

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup plus 2 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons plus 1 cup butter, softened
3 Golden Delicious apples
2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 container (16 ounces) sour cream
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs

Create streusel topping by mixing in a medium bowl walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, 2/3 cup flour, and 4 tablespoons butter until mixture forms large pieces.

Peel, core, and thinly slice apples. Place in another medium bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 14” by 10” pan.

In mixing bowl, beat 1 cup butter with 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add sour cream, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, eggs and 2 1/2 cups flour. Beat at low speed, increase for 1 minute at medium speed. Spread batter into pan.

Arrange apple slices on top, slightly layered, edge to edge (any uncovered batter will bake up over apples).

Crumble streusel topping over apples layer. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until cake pulls away from sides of pan.
 

Pear Butter

I wanted to try this recipe from Little Birdie Secrets even more than I wanted to make a batch of plain ol’ yummy canned pears so I made sure to keep several pounds aside for another day. I don’t put much onto my *Starred Items* list in my Google Reader, but this was a keeper.

I was hoping to give some away as Christmas gifts, but my 6 or so pounds only turned out 3 4oz jars and a husband who wants to make sure we keep at least one for ourselves. I see some apple butter canning in my future….

We Have (Some More) Pergo!

Ack! It’s taken two solid weeks to eradicate our house of the construction dust that seemed to blanket everything for the previous month. Yesterday, I got my formal rooms after-picture worthy, and today finally our real living space- the kitchen / family room is reveal worthy.

I don’t think I’ve taken updated photos of these rooms in quite some time, and we did quite a bit over the summer, most of the DIY stuff. So I’ll give ya’ the quick tour. There’s (of course) a list still to be done :)

So here’s our (current-state) kitchen and family room:

Love, love, love our eat-in kitchen set. What started out as a steal of a deal, turned into a DIY fail: in itty bitty text at the bottom of my receipt for the cross-backed chairs that I bought in May was a backorder notice for two months out. Needless to say, the very day the chairs came in in July, I custom-matched a quart of paint and went to town on that table. In all for the four chairs, table, and paint supplies, the set came in around $400.

I like to call this one “Where’s Otis?”:

I’d call this one “Where’s Ginger?” but she just really doesn’t play as well:

Plans left for the kitchen: new countertops (something light, like beach sand-y colored), new light pendant, giant diagonally-laid tile flooring (top of next summer’s list), and in the far-off future stainless fridge and stove (ugh, why must backless stoves be crazy expensive??).

On to the family room.

We love, love, love the paint color we chose after some paint sample speed dating (I have quite the collection of little tubs of green-grays and blue-grays): Dusty Miller by Glidden. Matches the unique, but kinda cool blue-y brick fireplace and calms the warm wood cabinets and floors. All the drapes, valences, and rods are from Target.

 

Only thing (major) left to do: buy a new couch and accent chair. We’re thinking dark brown leather. Once we do that (hopefully this winter), both this room and our front formal room will be complete as this couch will move there. That will be a glorious day.

Some crazy before photo that always lift my spirits when I keep whining thinking “we still have so much to do!”:

  

Sometimes I’m even shocked how much I was able to see past those curtains and teal, teal, teal carpet….