lookie loo

Remember when I posted about wanting an umbrella stand for my front hall? 

Well my Daddy is the best and he took my plans and made this beauty out of some left over MDF he had in his workshop. 

OK, so she's not a beauty yet.  She has some zit cream (aka wood filler) on her face but as soon as I sand that stuff off and slap a few coats of makeup on her, she is going to look like the beauty I know she is!

Thank you Daddy!!

Dipped in Gold

Awhile back I started to notice painted legs on furniture. You know, just one of those details that makes something look extra special.  Kinda like nailheads I guess. Anyway, when I saw Jenny do a post on dipped legs I knew it was something cool and I just had to try it.

(design sponge)

(House and Home)

It got me thinking, what legs could I paint in my apartment?

This side table in my family room was just the victim I needed.
Here is the before so you can see what I was working with

Yes, I know they aren't straight legs like the inspiration photos- but I was going to make it work anyways.

I got out a ruler and pencil and started taping out how high I wanted to paint.   I decided not too far up since the table is not huge to begin with. But, not too low that you don't notice them. 

For reference, I taped up 3 inches.  I probably could have gone up an inch or so higher on the legs, and I could always go back and paint more- we'll see.

I forgot to take during photos because I got so excited how they were coming out, oops.  But after two coats (and ripping off the tape while the paint was still WET) this is how they came out

I went with GOLD for no other reason then I love it lately.  They kinda look like extra large gold leg caps, but it's just paint

It's one of those details you might not notice right away, but when you do it's like BAM those are some hot gold legs.

This project took very little paint & tape and maybe 45 minutes of my time.  Oh, and since I had all of the materials already it was a $0 makeover- the best kind!

So people, get out those rulers and start marking up your furniture to paint.  I promise it's an instant gratification kind of DIY that has pretty results.

PS- anyone notice the pink stools gone in the after photos? Yup, those are in the process of another makeover too.  Like I tell my husband, no need getting too upset if you don't like something around here, it will be gone in 3-6 months anyways.

Sunday Morning Coffee

I love this little kitchen seating area.  First of all that table is too cute and I LOVE that they brought a loveseat in here for more seating.  Its a perfect multi purpose space.

I imagine curling up here on Sunday mornings.  You know, reading the paper with my feet up on the loveseat and enjoying a large cup of coffee.  In fact I wish it was Sunday morning again and not Monday- I hate the Monday blues.

(Photo from Style at Home by Victoria McDonald)

happy days ahead

Happy first day of Fall!

I am the happiest girl today.  Everything about this time of year makes me giddy. From the tiny acorns on the ground to the beautiful leaves and warming up with cozy sweaters is the best!

Just look at the amazing color pallet at this time of year

And some of my favorite things

What is your favorite thing about this time of year?  Do share.

A different kind of wall color

I really enjoy a good gallery wall.  I'm working on re-vamping my hall art wall and would love to add some more colored matting to what I already have.  Since I live in an apartment and the walls are boring white (yes I can paint, but since I don't know how much longer we will live here I've just lived with the white) adding some colorful mats is the perfect way to bring color to a bland hallway.

For a clean unified look I could do all the same color mats, although this is a little too perfect for me

love these colors, but it may be a little too in your face color

 

Love this one.  Although the walls are green and super fun, its not matchy-matchy at all

The following 3 photos are from Thomas Cary's apartment as seen from NYSD (you can see it HERE)

IMO its a massive panic attack waiting to happen.  I would start shaking and might need to turn right back around and leave...if I could find the door. Although he really does have some awesome treasures, to fit everything I think he might need 10,000 more square feet.

Anywho- he has some really cool colored matting going on

purple, green, orange, yellow...oh my

And of course from Lonny- they just do everything right and this fun gallery wall is no exception. Red isn't my favorite color but this wall is making me want some red mats.

What's your favorite color matting to use for art?  Are you a Plain Jane or do you like to spice it up?

(photos from:Coastal Living by Annie Schlechter, Martha Stewart, Pinterest Thomas Cary from NYSD by Jeffrey Hirsch, and Lonny)

woven usefulness

When I registered for my wedding I went a little nuts with the scanning gun and added a few spur of the moment items that I thought were cool.  One of those was this huge basket from Crate and Barrel and I am so happy I scanned it.  It is one of my favorite things because it is so versatile and I can use it in just about any room in the house.

Basay Basket

After seeing large baskets everywhere I started to keep a folder of images and I have collected quite a few.  Here are just some of the many ways to use a large basket

(Photos from: Lee Kleinhelter of Pieces, BHG, House and Home, House Beautiful, Lonny, Pinterest, Southern Living and Style at Home)

Summer all year long

Back in July (or maybe it was June) I went strawberry picking.  Since I couldn't eat all the strawberries before they went bad I decided to make myself some strawberry jam so I could enjoy that Summer taste all year long.

This is only about 1/4 of what we picked that day.  Bad blogger me forgot to take a photo before I started making the jam...oops.

Since this was the first time I had made jam, or even canned in my life I decided to make it easy on myself and just follow the recipe that came in the Pamona's Pectin box

I chose to use the Pamona's Pectin because I wanted to make my jam with less sugar, my whole batch of jam only used 2 1/2 cups of sugar as opposed to other recipes that require 5-6 (or more) cups of sugar

my washed and sanitized jars ready to go

I put the tops in a simmering (not boiling, you don't want to ruin the plastic seal on them) pot of water till it was time to can

washed and hulled strawberries ready to go 

 I decided not to cut them up for a more chunky type jam.  I used my handy drink muddle tool to crush the crap out of them instead. 

Once I got all my aggressions out by crushing I added them to the pot along with the sugar and pectin

 After I let the mixture boil for the allotted time I used a Pyrex measuring cup to pour the strawberries into my sanitized jars

I didn't want to pour a hot liquid into cold jars, so I kept my jars hot by standing them up in a pan of simmering water.  Not sure if this is the correct way to keep them hot, but in a tiny kitchen with little to no counter space this worked for me.

Once all the jars were filled I put them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Side note- I thought about investing in a canning pot, but since my kitchen is tiny I decided to work with what I have.  I realized that the All Clad pasta pot I registered for was perfect for this job.  It saves my fingers from being burned to a crisp as its super easy to lift the jars in and out in one sweep

After the jars were finished in the 10 minute water bath out they came and I let them sit on the counter overnight to cool and seal

I totally forgot to take pics of the jars after I added the cute labels I whipped up, but here is what they looked like so you get the idea

I ended up giving my Dad two pints of the jam to enjoy.  He eats peanut butter and jelly like he's still in kindergarten.  I figured some homemade jam would be just the thing to make his sandwiches special.

In other canning news, remember when I blogged about the pickles I made (you can see that post here)?  Well since I used a boiling canning method and didn't use any additives or grape leaves (as recommended by some) they didn't turn out as crispy as I had hoped. 

I was so sad when I finally got to try them that they were soggier than I would have liked.  I'm not giving up on pickles yet though. I'm going to try them again but make sure I find some grape leaves to get that crispiness I was missing the first time.  Any canning friends out there that can recommend a good CRISPY recipe?

Since I'm really getting addicted to this whole canning thing I cant WAIT to go apple picking this month.  I'm already drooling just thinking about homemade applesauce and apple butter.  Again to those canning friends, what apple recipes are a must try?

Happy canning everyone!

Color my world

September kinda just crept up on me, it just came out of nowhere.  Does anyone else feel like that?

With September came the start of school and this semester I am taking a Color Theory class.  I'm only 2 classes in and already I love it!  School is totally different when you are taking classes that you LOVE and are really interested in.  Color Theory is nothing like my Econ 101 class in college.  Talk about booooring.

Anywoo- if I am absent every few days or so I'm blaming my homework.  In fact, this weeks homework was coming up with my own color wheel. 

It's not as easy as it looks- all that mixing and getting JUST the right colors.  I really hope I don't have too many wrong, ekk.

The syllabus has us doing so many fun things in this class and I'll be sure to share more than just my silly paint mixing.

PS- can we discuss the whole target.com site crash this morning? Like how did they not know the Missoni line would be popular. I was beyond PO'ed

ding dong...

...Oh its just me.

These have got to be the coolest doorbell button cover things ever.  I don't even have a doorbell but I want to mount one outside my apartment door because they are so cool!

get your own at Rejuvenation.