Hope you all have a happy day! Here's a little beauty I painted for a gal pal of mine! I wish you all love, a true non-harming peaceful love! Today along with the rest of the world I'm Rising!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Embracing hole-ness
Making bagels for breakfast seemed like a natural choice since "Gaping Holes" seem to be the theme around here this week. The bathroom project is finally gaining momentum after 2 full days of demolition! While the bathroom decor choices may have been questionable, the installation of all those 70's fixtures was meant to last. Jess pulled no less than six million 4 inch nails out of the floors, walls and cabinets! We are almost ready to begin the tile stage and I couldn't be more excited!
Labels:
Baked love
0
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Monday, January 14, 2013
Mastering the Bath
Finally our long awaited master bath redo is upon us. Boxes and boxes of beautiful tile are stacked and waiting for their turn to shine!
The dark wood is certainly a departure from my usual love of painted cabinets but for this small space it just seemed right. This is the last of the renovations for our little house and I cannot wait to see it all together.
Wish us luck!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Our Enchanted T.P.
It really is a great thing having kids, had I spent 6 months collecting tp tubes and then assembled them into a castle for any other reason I'd just look crazy!
the proud architect!
This well appointed abode quickly found a deserving family
And a staff of knights to protect it!
The King and Queen are enjoying settling into their new digs
and the royal pooch seems to be enjoying the view!
The king is planning on expanding his castle and a royal decree has been issued for more t.p. rolls!
What are you up to this sunny afternoon?
Labels:
DIY,
oh boy,
t.p.
7
comments
Friday, October 5, 2012
Cake Mix Flare
Spiced Pear Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
The beauty of this cake is that it is so flexible, You can add as much or as little spice as you want. I almost never use the oil a cake mix calls for, instead I will use either sour cream or yogurt. Sometimes if I am in a particular rush I will just use "Pumpkin Pie spice" in lieu of using all the spices individually. making the cake a little healthier without the oil always makes me feel a little bit better about piling on the cream cheese frosting, but you could omit the frosting all together as the sliced pears at the bottom of the cake do make their own yummy glaze. Any which way you do it just do it, and enjoy this amazing treat!
For the cake:
1 box spice cake mix
1-2 fresh pears sliced (or) 1 can good quality canned pears
1 1/4 c. apple juice (or) water
1/3 c sour cream (or) greek yogurt
3 eggs
2 tbsp. marmalade
1/3 c. ground flax
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
For the cream cheese frosting:
1 package 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/4 c. or half a cube of butter
powdered sugar (I don't measure but somewhere in the 1 1/2-2 c. range)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Begin by prepping your pans and turning your oven to 350 degrees. I lined two 9" round cake pans with parchment paper and said to heck with greasing anything! Next I sprinkled some brown sugar and cinnamon in the parchment lined pans and arranged my sliced pears on top of the cinnamon sugar mix.
In the bowl of a stand mixer go the cake mix, spices and ground flax. I like to mix a little to get all the flax incorporated. Add the water, sour cream, vanilla and marmalade and mix it up. You may not be a marmalade fan but I happen to have 8 jars or marmalade that need to be eaten so in it went. The orange does provide a really delicate flavor but feel free to leave it out. I like to add my eggs 1 at a time after all the other wet ingredients and then mix up the whole heavenly scented batter for a minute or two. carefully pour the batter into the 2 pans and bake about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted to the middle comes out clean. I chose to make cream cheese frosting which only involves dumping all the frosting ingredients into the mixer and whipping it up, easy peasy! Allow cakes to cool completely before flipping them and peeling off the parchment because those amazing gooey pears are hot! Frost your cakes and enjoy!
Labels:
cake,
pears,
Recipes
1 comments
Monday, October 1, 2012
Paper hauntings
I found this forever ago on here from pinterest and have been waiting to finally make it! I am also going to add a bat, a witch, a vampire and maybe even a pirate!
What fun decorations are you planning?
Labels:
Halloween,
paper skies,
pinterest
0
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Adventures in Budget Renovations- Doors and more (part 2)
*since these were impressively sturdy cabinets we decided to re-purpose them as garage storage*
just look at all that visual space!
Once the offending cabinets (shown here on the floor waiting to be carried to their new home) had come down from the wall we began planning a shallower pantry cabinet to fill this wall. After sketching and debating for several days Jess finally set to work building my pantry, eek!
At 7' tall and 5' wide this is a much more suitable fit for this space!
Here is the beginnings of the new pantry cabinet. In order to make the best use of the limited space we have in our kitchen we opted for a shallower floor to ceiling pantry. The new cabinet measures just 13" deep but with six shelves we are sure we will have ample storage for everything. Personally I find it is a lot easier to keep a shallow pantry tidy rather than the extra deep ones that things get lost in!
Here is the cabinet as of this morning. Hopefully by this weekend it will be finished and then I can fill/sand/prime and paint while Jess starts on the doors.
We are off this weekend on a camping trip with my son's school, which is perfect timing since the sawdust and tools are really starting to get old!
I hope you also have a fabulous weekend!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Adventures in budget renovations- doors and more (part 1)
looking a little cramped, right?
yup, that's a door back there!
Here is the outside of the soon-to-be door to somewhere
(don't worry this doug fir lumber was slathered with that nasty green weather proofing/bug proofing stuff before we added the decking)
all built by this handsome man!
here is a messy but finished view from the old deck to the new, if you look between the grey storage box and the blue ice chest (classy, right?) you can see where the darker, older stained wood stops and the lighter newer wood begins.
we actually only had to add about 12 feet of deck to tie it into the existing deck but since it is quite a ways up in the air it took several summer afternoons and weekends to get it all finished. Jess has, of course, done 97% of the work on this project, leaving me just the painting and sanding and such. Having to learn as we go has been hard but it is really amazing to see how far our construction skills have come since we started!
Tomorrow I'll be back with the second part of this huge project. This week has been crazy busy and the never ending construction in our kitchen has of course left our house upside down! Currently the entire contents of our pantry cabinets are on our kitchen table, and our kitchen counters are covered with drills, levels, screws and plaster dust! We are almost there, and someday soon I'll be able to say that I have a FINISHED kitchen!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
I {heart} Funky Furniture
Complete with high gloss hunter green paint, a suspicious smelling drawer and 11 unmatched antique glass knobs...stunning isn't she!
As many of you know milk paint does not require primer, but I did lightly sand this high gloss piece and then wipe it down with TSP substitute. I painted 3 thin coats of milk paint sanding lightly between each coat, as I wanted to build up the paint for a more durable finish. After painting, sanding and distressing I waxed the piece with an old T shirt and Trewax furniture wax.
For the hardware I chose to re-use most of the beautiful antique glass knobs, but for the top 3 drawers I used some antique chrome bin pulls my mother in law gave me a few years back. I love the way the chrome bin pulls remind me of it's collegiate past while the sparkly glass knobs add a little pop of contrast.
I love the way the piece looks weathered and funky without looking too contrived. The former green color peeks through the white paint in just enough places and the soft focus quality of the milk paint really add a much needed texture to my living room.
I get such a kick telling people that my husband and I share an alma mater with this chest, and since we do not display diplomas around here it's a great reminder of the the musty classrooms and labs we spent years in!
Labels:
decorating,
DIY,
projects,
rehabbed furniture
8
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Going Crackers
Rosemary, Sea salt and Flax Crackers
Labels:
crackers,
Recipes
0
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