PAINTING KITCHEN CABINETS || part 1

It has already ben eight months since we moved!  We haven't done any major renovations on our own home, since having children {about four years ago}.  It's not that we forgot how time consuming it is to do a renovation on our own home, it's that we can't find the time to do it…..without little people helping. We thought we would have the basement completely finished before football season started.  Nothing has changed in the basement for two months, and we still have a ways to go!  Anyways, the point is…..we plan on doing a major renovation to our kitchen next winter.  But, I am quickly realizing that it may be a couple of years before we renovate.    Since we moved into this home, I haven't touched the kitchen.  Well, the rain came this week and I decided to start painting the kitchen!  I started with the walls, and yesterday I painted the kitchen island.  I was reminded of how much I love Chalk Paint®!  It truly is an amazing product!  I still have more cabinetry to do, but I thought I would share some tips and tricks for painting kitchen cabinets.

Use steel wool or a scotch bright pad to remove gunk, spills and food.

Wipe down cabinetry with low-odor mineral spirits or a degreaser cleaner.  Finally, wipe cabinets with warm water and a clean rag, let cabinetry dry completely.  Tape any area that need to stay 'clean'.

You can see that the first coat can be a bit scary.  The first coat always looks bad!  The dry time is fast.  Once the paint is dry to the touch, you can start with the second coat.  After the second coat is dry, you can distress the edges, if that is the look you are trying to achieve.  I always distress in areas that look like they would naturally get worn and beat up.  If distressing, sand with a high grit sandpaper and wipe down the cabinetry.  You don't want any paint dust on the cabinets when you wax!  Wax with soft wax and you are done!  This island {which is really big} only took me a few hours.  I finished it during the girl's nap time and then finished waxing while I was making dinner….it really is that easy!  I will post more pictures when I finish the other cabinets.  Until then, I have listed a few tips below!

Helpful tips for painting cabinetry with Chalk Paint®

-The simplest way to paint cabinetry with Chalk Paint®, is to paint them in place.  You may choose to remove the doors and drawer faces for painting.  Make sure to mark each cabinet with a labeled  piece of tape, then you aren't playing a guessing game when it's time to put the doors back on.

-Remove knobs and pulls, place all of the hardware {including screws} into a ziplock bag.

-If you are painting the interiors of the cabinets, remove the shelves and support clips and be sure to mark each shelf accordingly.

Painting over previously finished cabinets:

-Make sure that the surface is clean and free of loose particles.  Use a scotch bright pad or steel wool to lightly scrub the surface.  Next, remove any old, greasy, waxy or oily residue (you can use low-odor mineral spirits, TSP, Crud Cutter or any cleaner that cuts through grease}.  Rinse with clean rag and warm water and let it dry completely.

-Fill any cracks or holes with wood filler or speckling.  Allow to dry and sand smooth with fine grit sandpaper.

-Typically there is no need to sand or prime.  Although in areas that receive a lot of use, it might be wise.

-Tape any areas that need to stay clean {floor, appliances, etc} and begin painting!  It typically will take two coats of paint.  Distress if that is the desired look.  Wax with soft wax.  Cabinets will clean with a mild soap and warm water.

GALVANIZED CLOCK || adding a touch of industrial

So, the Fall Vintage Sale was awesome!  A huge success and so much fun!!!  I was tired for days afterwards, and of course hardly snapped ANY photos!  I can't believe it….I only snapped a couple with my phone, right before we went to open the gate and let the flood of shoppers rush in!  Thanks so much to all of you lovelies who came, and to new peeps, it was fun to meet new faces and hug on the old ones!

On a different note, I have slowly starting gathering and ordering items for when we have a downtown space.  One of my favorite things so far has been this galvanized clock!

Anything galvanized has become so popular over the last few years.  I love that it can really go with anything and yet totally changes the look of a space!  I bought two of these clocks….one to keep and one to sell.

DETAILS::  33.5" W x 33.25"L.  $128

If you are interested in purchasing it, just let me know!

ADDING 'FARMHOUSE FLAIR' TO A RANCH HOME

As most of you know, we sold our home and  moved about 6 months ago.  We just moved a few miles, but we now have a couple of acres.  Just enough space to grow a big garden, raise some animals and give the girls room to run and play.  The house we bought is a classic ranch and we are slowing adding a little farm house flair.

Construction for the barn started a few weeks ago.  This beautiful barn is actually very similar to what ours will look like.  Matt put a lot of thought and time in to designing the barn….I can't wait to see the walls go up!  I won't bore you with all of the details (widths of batts for the board and batt siding, color of siding, style of barn too, etc.…..but we sure had fun figuring out all of the details)!  Our goal is to make the barn look likes it's original to the house (1948).

We have plans to add 'farmhouse flair' next Spring.  We will paint the exterior, add corbels, cupolas, shudders, all of the extra touches that give a home personality and character.  We are having the chimney re-built and I am struggling with the type of brick to choose.  All of the little details that can really make a big difference!  In the mean time, we started switching out the exterior lighting.

Here are a few inspiration photos….

Arn't those homes darling?

I am so weird about remodeling my own home.  I am always wanting to hurry things up and just be finished, but on the other hand I really enjoy the process!  Does anybody else have the problem when it comes to projects around the home?

xoxo

BEFORE + AFTER || oak table

Matt has wanted to build a farm house table for our dining room, but the reality is, it's falls short on the priority list.  My wood working skills do not even compare to my handy husband, so I knew there was no way I would attempt to build my own!  My in-laws lent us their extra oak dining set since we sold our last dining room set with our house.  A few weeks ago I was telling Matt's mom that we just couldn't agree on a new dining room set to buy.  Matt really wants to build something but I want something sooner than later.  :-0

She said we could just have the dining room set we were borrowing!  Perfect!  The next day I started painting..

The table is in great shape.  Solid oak and the perfect size for our dining room.  I painted the base with Chalk Paint® {Old White}.  Just one coat since I wanted it to be heavily distressed.  I then applied one coat of clear wax and a bit of dark wax to age the base a bit more.

The top is painted with Chalk Paint® {French Linen} and thinned with water, for more of a washed look.  I sanded the edges and applied two coats of the Annie Sloan lacquer.  The lacquer has a matte finish and is very durable, great for our family who uses this table almost three times a day.

I bought four metal chairs and two upholstered chairs to replace the oak chairs that were part of the original set.  I love mixing different styles and finishes.  Plus, these chairs are pretty indestructible…..good for a family with little people and messy big people ;-)

A FEW {more} FALL TOUCHES

We leave this morning for Crater Lake.  A few nights away with my little family is always so good for my soul!

I thought I would post a few photos of a bit more Fall decorating around the outside of our home.

Have a lovely weekend friends!

**corn stalks and pumpkins from our garden

**fire wood delivered and stacked

**our front door dolled up for Fall

**our new barn is ready for the concrete foundation

A FEW FALL TOUCHES || using what I already have to decorate for fall

This time of year always gets so busy for me (and I know for so many others!)  The tourism is so seasonal here and our vacation rental reaches the peak of busy-ness in August and September.  For me that means a lot of cleaning, gardening and paper work.  But, even during the busy-ness of life, it's so important to make time for family and friends.  Saturday was spent hosting a booth at Carlton Crush ( a darling, local festival ).  It was a long, fun, successful and exhausting day, but the good kind of exhausting!  Sunday we spent the day at Pacific City with Matt's parents….celebrating his dad's birthday.  Pacific City is one of our favorite places to spend the day.  We drive the truck down onto the sand and set up camp for the day.  Football, fire, food and lots of sand and salt water….the best kind of day!

And today has been our first 'slow' day at home in a while.  So, the girls and I have been cleaning and slowing adding touches of Fall.  When decorating for Fall, I like to go 'all natural' and use things from nature.  Mostly branches, berries, pumpkins and gourds.  It's easy, cheap and looks great.  A couple of years ago I painted all of my fake orange pumpkins white and light green.  I used Chalk Paint to paint my pumpkins, but I am sure any paint would work just fine.

As you can see by the dining room photos, the room is in progress.  When Matt starts paneling the stairway to the basement, he is going to add an opening to the dining room and panel the entire room.  We contemplated wall papering but we would need to tear off of the layers of wall paper and it honestly would be easier to panel the room than to try to remove the wallpaper, patch the holes and hang wallpaper.

The girls and I are planning on adding some Fall touches to the their bedrooms and the outside of the house later today, I will post pictures later in the week!

xoxo

BEING THANKFUL AMONG THE MESSINESS

I am learning to embrace the way I am 'wired'.  Creative, orderly, energetic, hard working, sympathetic and a lover of beauty.  But, I also struggle with not letting these things demand how I will live each day.  Living with people is messy, both physically and emotionally.  I can choose to love on the people around me or get frustrated because they don't allow me the time or the ability to keep things orderly, clean, organized, etc.  I can easily loose perspective!

Everywhere I look we have un-finished and half finished projects.  The chickens are crammed into a little pen with a shanty of a home.  The excavator will break ground this week for Matt's barn.  The basement looks like somebody started construction and then walked away.  And those are all such trivial complaints!   All around me friends are hearing hard medical diagnoses, family and friend's marriages are falling apart, people are loosing jobs, and I can hardly even think of the heartache happening in the Middle East.

But, I am learning to embrace the messiness of life and enjoy the beauty in the little moments.  Life is hard and when I start to feel overwhelmed by it all, I kiss my babies and thank God for the goodness around me!

PAINTED CERAMIC TILE

Every time I talk to one of you lovely ladies (or gentlemen) who reads the blog, you always say how much you love seeing pictures of our home projects.  Matt and I both love working on our home, so it's fun for me to share pictures and projects!  We have A LOT of 'un-finished' projects, as 'one things leads to another'.  The beauty of this is that all of the sudden a lot of projects will be wrapped up at the same time ;-)

I am slowly working on making changes to our powder room.  I hope to wallpaper within the next couple of weeks and I just finished painting the ceramic floor tile last week.  I thought I would share a few photos and my thoughts on painting tile.

Here is the 'BEFORE' photo.

Now, let me start by saying my approach with painting the floor tile was that if it didn't turn out, we could rip it out and replace it with new tile.  That wouldn't be ideal, but I knew it was an option.  **I may not have been so brave as to paint the floor tile if I didn't know that we could replace it if it was a total bomb.**  Also, we had some extra floor tile stored in the basement.  I tried painting and sealing several pieces before actually painting the floor.

I began by scrubbing the floor with TSP. I let the floors completely dry and made sure they were clean before I moved onto taping the trim and plumbing fixtures.  Once everything was clean and taped, I painted the entire floor with 'Country Grey' Chalk Paint® decorative paint.  As you know, I love (and sell) Annie Sloan's paint.  I love it and use it on everything!  I have used it on concrete floors, and was curious as to how it would paint and hold up on a tile floor.

After two coats of the 'Country Grey', I cut in the alternating squares with 'Pure White'.  'Pure White' is the bright white offered in the line up of beautiful colors.  I used an artist brush to cut in.  I probably could have used tape to tape off the squares, but I didn't want to risk the tape pulling off the freshly painted grey paint.

I cut in (two coats) of 'Coco' Chalk Paint® over the grout lines.  I wasn't loving the look because the grout lines were not straight.  I just looked like painted tile, but not necessarily in a good way.  My sweet and well intentioned husband kept making suggestions and I knew he was trying to think of a polite way to say it look a bit tchotchke.

So, I took my own advice…..keep working on it until you love it!  You can always change something to make it more of what you like.  I lacquered the floor with the Annie Sloan Lacquer.  It's an awesome product.  It seals and protects and has a beautiful matte finish.  Not to mention it's water based for easy clean up!

After two coats of lacquer, I applied a light coat of dark wax.  The dark wax provided just the bit of aging and distressing I needed to make the imperfect grout lines look worn and a bit more authentic.  I kept everyone off of the floor tile during this entire process and followed the instructions on the lacquer container.  I also kept everyone off of the finished floor for a week, this little powder room gets a lot of foot traffic and I wanted to give the floor a fighting chance!  So far it looks really great and has held up very well.  And for those of you who know my husband, he is a tough critic!  He likes it and said it looks great ;-)

The last picture makes the wallpaper and floor tile color look a little off.  It actually matches perfectly and looks really good against the oak wood floor which is right outside of the bathroom door.  Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon of the new wallpaper!  Until then, I am off to paint the ceiling of the dining room and living room.  Not super fun but I love what a fresh coat of paint does to a room!!

If you have questions about painting tile, don't hesitate to shoot me an email or ask in the comments section.

xoxo~

Darci

REPURPOSING CABINET DOORS || painted signs

As you may already know, I love to use cabinet doors to hand paint signs.  I love that they are already 'cut and framed'.  No building or prep work, just paint and hang!

I made these these two last summer and hung them in our covered outdoor space.  Matt used old square-head nails to hang them, they were my favorite.  When we sold our home, we sold it furnished, these two signs were included in the sale.

Since we have moved, I haven't taken the time to make any new signs.  Last week a friend/client gave me some extra cabinet doors from a kitchen remodel she had done years ago.  She was keeping the doors for a future project, but was finally ready to just clean and purge.  I know that feeling well ;-)  Anyways, she sent me home with four large cabinet doors…..

Simple little reminders.  And they just cost me an afternoon and a little bit of paint!  My kind of project!!

**For any of you who might want to make a similar sign, here are some very technical instructions {wink}…

I painted the cabinet door with two coats of French Linen {Chalk Paint®}.

Typed the wording than printed the wording in black.

Cut the words than traced over them firmly with a ball paint pin.

Used an artist brush and painted the letters with Graphite {Chalk Paint®}.

Distressed with 180 grit sandpaper.

Waxed the entire sign with clear wax.

Happy painting!!

ONE PROJECT LEADS TO ANOTHER || the joys of remodeling your own home

We are loving this sunny, warm weather!  What about you?

We have been working hard, but balancing it out with some fun play too.  Matt is just finishing up a couple bathroom remodels and starting to build the cabinetry for a client's home library, it's going to be a beauty!!  (I hope to get pictures of the bathrooms soon, they turned out really nice.) On the weekends and some evenings, we have been working on our basement.  The playroom is progressing….

And one thing always leads to another….Matt has to rebuild the stairs leading to the basement, which leads to new trim work, which leads to 'why not add paneling to the wall', which leads to ' let's make some changes in the powder room since you see the wall and stairs from the powder room'….we have a sickness.  Seriously.  And the worse part is, we feed off of each other!

So, now with all of my other half finished projects, I am going to start on the powder room.  Below is a quick sample board I threw together and a few pictures of the powder room as it sits now.

We are going to cover the existing wall paper with a neutral buffalo check wallpaper, add new doors and new trim to the current built-in and then paint it blue, new lights and plumbing fixtures and I am going to attempt to paint the tile.  I am thinking a black and white check?!?  I have seen a lot of painted tile projects online, so I am going to try my hand at it!

In the mean time, I am off to make paper chains with my sweet pea!

Happy Summer!!

THE PLAYROOM || progress

So the 'to-do' list is never ending, as well as the grocery list, the 'project' list, the 'friends we would like to have over for dinner' list and so on.  I have always been a list maker.  But, shortly after we moved in February, I realized the lists had a bit too much control over my mind and my attitude.  What's with that?  That's not how I wanted to live.  I wasn't leaving room in the margins, and if someone or something came between me and crossing off an item on my list, I was snappy.  Not so fun to be around!

All of our house projects are taking a lot longer than we anticipated.  We have hit some speed bumps with the house, but that is just part of any remodeling project!  But you know what?  I have let go of the lists (not all of them ;-))) and it doesn't bother me that the house projects are taking longer.  A lot of things don't bother me like they use to.  This 'letting go' business turns out to be really good for my heart.  And my family appreciates a wife/mama who isn't so project oriented all.of.the.time.

I thought I would post a few photos of the play room.  It's taken quite a while to get to this point, and it will still take me at least another month to get it finished.  But, it's further along than it was when we moved in {wink}.

There is no natural light in this space, so it's hard for an amateur like me to get decent photos!  You can see I still have a lot to do!

I am curious to see how the door knobs turn out.  They don't lock, they act as a handle to open the doors.  Once I paint the oak doors, I will wax the doors and the door knobs, I will let you know how it turns out.

The flooring all comes up soon so I am trying to paint everything now while it doesn't matter if paint gets on the floor.  In the mean time, the girls love playing in the space and I can't wait to get it finished for them.  There is something so sweet about siblings playing together, even if it only lasts for 30 seconds at a time ;-)

A LITTLE GREEN || adding new {magnolia} life to an old wreath

When we moved {a few months ago} I did a lot of purging.  It felt so good.  We accumulate so much stuff!  I don't know if you are like this, but when we moved and lived out of boxes for the first few weeks, I realized how little we needed.  As we remodel our home, I am working at cleaning and organizing as we go.

As I am slowly starting to decorate some of the rooms, I am working hard at re-purposing items I already own.  It's so easy to go buy new {which I seem to do a little too often}.  I am really going to push myself to be creative with what I already own!

I was cleaning the storage shed last week and just about tossed this wreath into the burn pile.  It survived the 'purge and move' but it was just taking up space and I was ready to toss it.

I changed my mind set and tried to think of how I could fall in love with this little darling of a wreath.  So, I loaded the girls into the car and we ran to the store in search of some artificial flowers….which can be tough since some look we too artificial.  Especially when I didn't want to have to leave our little town of McMinnville in search of   fake greens.

Believe it or not, I found some decent magnolia stems and leaves at Wal-Mart.  I directed the flower stems, and hot glued the leaves and one of the  flowers to the wreath. It gives it a little personality, and I spent $10 and less than 10 minutes on the project.

We are looking at tile to resurface the fireplace.  My top two contenders are...

and

both are from Pratt and Larson.  If you haven't been to Pratt and Larson and you are thinking of adding tile in your home, it is my absolute favorite place to purchase tile.  They have a 'seconds' store which is fabulous for smaller projects.  Their tile is hand made and B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L!

I am slowly adding accessories here and there.  I have a few bigger projects I want to tackle for the living room, but I need to steal doors from the house and a dresser that's being used to hold our tv.  So, I will wait until my new doors are installed and the basement is finished.  All in good time….at least that is what I keep telling myself ;-)

Have a lovely weekend!

KID'S PLAYROOM || my list of necessities

Last weekend,  Matt passed the 'point of no return' with our home remodel.  He started moving windows and doors, pulling down drywall and lighting and more.  It's definitely a series of 'one thing leads to another'.  I feel like we continue to change our mind the longer we live here!  We always recommend clients live in their space for a while before we start designing and remodeling.  It's really hard to take my own advice, but I really believe it pays off!

One of the bigger projects on my summer TO-DO list, is to turn this room in the basement into a kid's playroom.  It's a long space and it's perfect for a playroom.  It's tucked away from the rest of the living space, which translates in YOU DON"T SEE THE MESS ALL OF THE TIME.

The only 'big' things we will be doing in this room, are painting and new flooring.  For flooring, we still haven't decided on carpet or vinyl/marmolium.  I continue to agonize.  I have such sympathy when I am helping clients in their home, it can be so hard to decide on a material/paint color/layout/etc.!  We all want to make the right choice the first time.  Right?  Definitely don't want to waste time and money re-doing something!  Uggg.

So, before I get my paint brush out, I am working on a list of play room necessities.  Creative areas that I think are necessary for our play room.  I want to inspire my girls to be creative and imaginative.  A space where kids can go play and I don't worry about safety or messes.  I guess that's what we all want in a playroom!

I found this GREAT blog post on how to set up a playroom.  It's written by a teacher and has super tips and ideas!

I am loving the bright colors in this room!  Doesn't it just make you happy?  I am definitely going for bright colors and a good dash of whimsey in our playroom!

Love this darling sign.  I am finding some great art work to order from Etsy.  Sometimes it's just better to order things instead of trying to make everything ;-)  Says the girl who has a hard time taking her own advice…..

Of course I love the chalkboard wall in this room!  As well as every other detail.  Can you believe those polka-dots on the ceiling?  I am about to break out in hives just thinking about painting polka-dots on the ceiling, but they sure are darling!

Love the maps and definitely want to add those to the wall (Etsy).

Who doesn't love all of the fun subway style signs?!?

We have a perfect closet to create a fun reading nook.  I think that is one of the things I am most excited about for this space!  I will probably kick the girls out and cozy up in there by myself.

I just love walls with books.  Both girls love to be read to, and look at books.  I definitely want to cultivate that love for reading.  A wall and/or book nook sure seems like a great way to do that ;-)

Another combination of my two favorite things….chalkboards and books!

Look at this great idea for a coffee table top.  How great is that?

And I will stop here, I could go on and on.  Don't you just love the bright colors in this room?  So fun!

I promise to post pictures as I progress.  It will probably take all summer as I am busy with clients, Chalk Paint® customers and my own sweet family.  But, it's a space I am really excited to tackle, hopefully just in time for the change in weather that comes with Autumn!

All of these pictures are from my Pinterest page 'Kid's Playroom'.

A LIVING ROOM UPDATE

I thought I would post a few photos of the living room.  It's slowly coming together and I am loving everything about it!!

Our living room furniture arrived a few weeks ago.  I still have  A LOT I want to do in this room.  I am amazed how fast time flies!  Kiddos and moving seem to make me realize it even more. :0) When I would tell someone that we moved 2, 3 and now almost 4 months ago, I realize how time is gone in the blink of an eye!!  And it doesn't seem like we have done much to our new space….the to-do list is long and we better get cracking!  With little people in our lives, we spend a lot more time playing and adventuring than just working on the house {like we use to}.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way!

This was the living room when we moved in.  Clean, and great natural light.

I painted the walls a soft gray, and added blue and green floral curtains and the room looked quite different with just those changes.  The bay window had an great upholstered cushion, however, the fabric didn't go with my new color scheme.  I knew I couldn't sew one, so I tried painting it with Chalk Paint!  It took three coats, but it covered beautifully! It isn't soft, I would compare the feel to that of an outdoor furniture cushion. But it doesn't crack when you sit on it and it serves is purpose beautifully!

I am in love with the new sofa and chairs.  The cushions are down and super comfy, and the fabric is a soft linen color with a subtle herringbone pattern.  It has enough pattern that I don't worry about noticing every bit of dirt, but it's still light and keeps the room feeling lighter.

Remember our beautiful cherry mantel?  Matt really loved it but it was just a bit too dark for me.  While he was gone at work one day, I painted it with Chalk Paint®.  That's one of the beauties of Chalk Paint®…..I painted 3 coats of paint and waxed it in one day.  I didn't need to prime or prep the existing wood…..I love this stuff!!  I painted the mantle COUNTRY GREY, a soft grey with a bit of green.

Matt wants to replace the stone and I want to add some art work above the mantel, we will see when that happens!

I bought two matching oak tables from this little hole-in-the-wall space.  They were in great shape, but very dated with a yellowed varnish- very 80's oak.  I wanted more of a chocolate brown color to compliment the oak floor.  I used MMSP MILK PAINT to act as a wash/stain.  I sill wanted the wood to show, I just didn't want to go through the hassle of stripping, sanding and refinishing the oak tables.  I used the color CURIO.  I applied one coat and sealed it with furniture wax.  It was done in less that one hour….love that!

And we still have A LOT of work to do in the house!  This is the view into the dining room and kitchen.  You can see all the way through that we have all of our new interior doors stacked in the kitchen.  Matt needs a place to spray all of them, so they just wait.  We both really enjoy having projects. but there comes that time with every project that you just want to be done!  We haven't reached that point yet, hopefully we are a lot further along before we do ;-)

Enjoy the sunshine friends!!!!

THE GARDEN IS PLANTED || and some garden fresh recipes

The weather has been gorgeous for the last 4-5 days!  Oh it makes me super excited for summer!!  On Mother's Day, my sweet hubby and girls treated me to a trip to the garden center {Kreamers-for you local ladies.  They are soooo helpful and knowledgable and the girls love it there because of the fish.}  And after a day of being spoiled, Matt spent all afternoon roto-tilling the garden for me….such a gem!

At our old house, I had an entire raised bed full of strawberries.  We will miss those this year!  But, my mom gave me a box of strawberry starts and I got those planted a few weeks ago.

The terraced and fence garden {that was already built when we bought the property} is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  And, it has automatic sparklers!  For 11 summers of my married life, I have hand watered my gardens.  This little gardener was doing the happy dance the first morning the sprinklers turned on-by themselves-while I was still sleeping!

I planted most of our favorite summer fruits and vegetables.  Below I will link to some of my favorite 'garden fresh' recipes.

Last summer, Matt welded together these great tomato cages.  He used rebar so they are super sturdy, and I love the way they look.

And, as soon as you walk out of the garden, you see this.  I am trying to tackle the blackberries.  I never understood how crazy blackberries were until I have now clipped and sprayed them, only to see them still grow back in a matter of weeks!  Next summer we are getting some goats for sure!

And then there is this view from the garden as well.  Pretty awesome, right?

Here are a few of my favorite summer salads and veggie dishes….

BLACKBERRY & ARUGULA SALAD

TOMATO & AVOCADO SALAD

CABBAGE & MANGO SLAW

FRESH CORN & TOMATO SALSA

FRESH CUCUMBER & TOMATO SALSA

GRILLED GARLIC & ZUCCHINI

STUFFED TOMATOES

GREEN BEANS & ALMONDS

All the recipes are here.

Happy gardening!!

A LITTLE BREAK || and a lot to be thankful for

You may {or may not} have noticed that I haven't been as regular at posting as I usually try to be.

We have been sick, injured and I have just been a little burnt out.

And then the trees and flowers began to bloom.  The sunshine appeared and I am gently reminded that the seasons come and go.  The seasons in our lives {the good and the bad} are short lived in light of eternity.  The last couple of months have been a little rough.  I am ready for this season to pass, but I know that the trials bring me closer to God.  And, they remind me that I have so much to be thankful for! {That is our neighbor's barn in the background, isn't it cool?!?}

To add a little sweetness to our home, we brought home 6 new chicks.  They are darling.  I haven't had luck introducing new girls to the old girls, but I am determined that they will all get along.  This whole 'pecking order' is so disturbing.  Hens can be so mean!  Matt still needs to build them a chicken coop, hopefully by the end of summer they will have a beautiful new home!

My mom made this quilt for Savanna.  Isn't it darling?  It's so bright and cheerful.  She just dropped it by last week!  I am not a quilter, but I sure appreciate the time that goes into it.  And what is better than snuggling with a baby swaddled in a beautiful blanket?!?

She made Addilyn's quilt for her when she was born.  Isn't it darling?

And there is nothing like chocolate to cheer a girl up!  Do you know my secret ingredient to box-mix brownies? Sour cream!  About a half cup of sour cream makes all of the difference {thanks for the tip Candice!}  Toppings don't hurt either...

I added marshmallows, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips.  It took less than 5 minutes to prepare.  The house smells amazing and the other people instantly think I am amazing and the best cook in the world.  I am telling you, boxed mixes to wonderful things for my family!

I have a lot of fun projects in the works.  Both for clients, and in our home.  I can't wait to post pictures!!  In the mean time, go make some brownies ;-)

A LITTLE UPDATE || and a sweet treat recipe

So sorry for the leave of absence last week!

It was a busy week with design clients, getting the cottage ready for a long term guest, and life with my two little ladies and one big man!  But, I thought I would post a few photos of the latest happenings here at our home.  And a cream puff recipe that is so easy, you will want to whip up a batch 'just because'!

I finally ordered furniture for the living room!  We have about 4 weeks until it arrives so I am hoping to have the living room painted and ready when the furniture arrives.

Matt is patching cracks and repairing an old ceiling leak.  The bonus of living with a contractor who is also a perfectionist…..the cracks get fixed before painting.

I am more of a 'i-just-want-paint-in-the-walls' kind of girl. I would have this room painted during one nap time.  Now, it wouldn't look nearly AS  good, but I would feel good about having paint on the walls.  Matt's approach is more along the lines of….puddy every hole, patch + texture every crack, cut in perfectly, paint the ceiling…..you get the picture.  I am slowly {after almost 12 years of marriage} learning that his approach is actually better than mine and always results in a great finished product.  So, the living room may actually take me closer to 4 weeks to paint ;-)

There are some built-ins in the hallway.  They provide excellent storage!  They all had brass knobs that were in great shape.  I painted the knobs black and I love how a simple change can make such a big impact!

See what I mean??

The bedrooms are all connected by this great {long} hallway.  I have been busy touching up paint, caulking and scrubbing.

Won't this hall look beautiful with all of our new black doors?!?  Matt is ordering the doors this week, I will keep you posted!  Matt replaced the lights for me and it instantly changed the look and feel of the hallway.

Here it is now with the new lights, painted hardware and some plates on the walls.

I am working on some family photos to hang on another wall in the hallway.

So, as you can see, the list of projects is pretty long.  But, we love having little projects and we really love our new home!

Now, to keep my sweet husband going with the list of projects seems too long, I often bake him something sweet.  A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of chocolate cream puffs.  A friend reminded me how easy {and tasty} they are, so I found an old recipe I had and give them a try.  Sure thing….they are so good!!

Chocolate Cream Puffs

Ingredients

1 cup water 1/2 cup butter (one cube) 1 cup all-purpose flour 4 large eggs Bavarian pastry cream Melting chocolate

Directions

1. Mix the dough.  In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, place one cup of water and one stick (1/2 cup) of butter.  After the butter is melted, turn off heat and add one cup all-purpose flour all at once.  Stir until the dough forms a ball and flour is absorbed.
2. Place dough ball in your stand-type mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until the dough starts to cool, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the eggs all at once and mix on low speed until the dough absorbs the eggs and the dough becomes very sticky. This will take about 8 to10 minutes.
3. Bake the cream puffs.  With a large spoon or ice cream scoop (1/4 cup), spoon mounds of evenly spaced dough onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees for another 10 minutes. You can also use a small cookie scoop as shown in the pictures. You'll just need to lower the baking time to 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then turn down to 350 for another 7 minutes.
4. Fill the cream puffs with Bavarian cream.  If you are using a scratch recipe, make a horizontal slit in the edge of each cream puff and slip a large spoonful of cream into each cream puff.  If you are using professional Bavarian cream, insert the tip of the plastic bag into the edge of each cream puff and squeeze.

Melt the chocolate.  Melt your chocolate in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time until melted.  Do not overheat the chocolate.  You can either dip the tops of the cream puffs into the chocolate or spoon chocolate over the cream puffs.  Let the chocolate set before serving.

Enjoy!

REFRESHING A VINTAGE OAK CABINET || an afternoon project

Whenever I have a few minutes of free time {girls are playing together and keeping each other happy, so not truly free time ;-} I sneak away to work in Matt's office.

A few days ago, I purchased this great old oak cabinet from a friend.

She had texted me a photo of it.  I knew it would be perfect for Matt's office!  I wanted something that didn't necessarily need to function, was darker and masculine, and was at a decent price point, this fit the bill!

I wiped the entire thing {inside and out} down with a vinegar + water solution.  There were spider webs, a little mold, the usual things you find in  "old, funky furniture".  Once it was clean, I wiped it down with MMS Hemp Oil.

Hemp Oil is so simple to use.  Just pour some onto a clean cotton cloth and rub it onto the piece.   Just wipe it on and, since it’s all natural, it doesn’t have a strong smell.

Hemp Oil takes about 30 days to fully cure.  You can still use the piece during that time, but it might feel a little oily to the touch.

The top of the piece was in bad shape.  I painted it with Chalk Paint® {GRAPHITE}.  Once the paint was dry, I added a coat of clear wax and buffed it out.  I wanted the top to look a bit more aged, so I added a coat of dark wax.

The top would look best if it was still the original wood.  But, it's not and I feel this in the next best thing.

I have to replace a couple of the metal tabs, but other than that, it's good-to-go!

Isn't it a fun piece?

And the best part, it took less than 1 hour {total} and cost less than $100!

Have a great weekend!!

HOUSE PROGRESS || a quick update

Thank you for all of your sweet  comments, emails and FB messages about Monday's post.  You guys are so great.  I try to keep this space primarily about decorating/design/construction, thank you for the encouragement!

I thought I would update you on the progress of our various house projects!

In between  work {Matt has several smaller jobs going that is taking up all of his time during the day and I have a couple of ongoing design projects}, loving on my family {Savanna is almost 1!!} and just doing my best to keep our home in order, owe don't have a lot of room for working on projects.

We have replaced one of the doors.  We picked a style that we thought fit the house, painted it black {Matt sprayed it with a true black, semi-gloss} and Matt hung it over the weekend.

We decided to replace all of the interior doors {upstairs} and paint them black.  We both LOVE them!  You may remember this conversation we had before we moved ;-)

I have started taking down the wall paper in the dining room.  By started,  I mean I have spent a total of 15 minutes.  I take what I can get!

And, Matt's office….

Over the weekend, he sprayed the book shelves white.

Ahhhh, the power of paint!  Don't you love how it brightens the room??

We also got the first coat of the wall color on.

We have been working in here after the girls go to bed, so it's taking a while!  By 8pm my mind is mush and my body is tired!  I help for about 15 minutes, then go to get ready for our ice cream and tv viewing.  Sad, I know.  Matt is a rock star and has obviously been spending more time painting than I have!!

Well, that's it for now!  I am hoping to have photos of the design studio by Friday.  And possibly a little give away!!

Have a great day!!

THE HEART OF HOSPITALITY || and it's not all about me

Hospitality has been growing in my heart for the past few months.  Isn't it the ache of every human heart to be known and loved?  I get way too caught up in entertaining and 'putting on a show' {which can be a lot of fun!!} instead of focusing on sweet people around me.

I should be use to the fact that we always have a project going at our home.  Now that we have moved, we have a lot of projects, and no furniture.  It's the perfect storm for me!  I LOVE to create and work on projects, I can easily get lost in them and forget about people outside of my walls.

It's been a about 7 weeks since we moved.  God has really placed on my heart being hospitable.  Opening our home and lives to others.  Loving on people and not being so concerned about having a perfectly cleaned or decorated home.

It's hard on my pride to open up my home to people when my home is not furnished or decorated/designed how I want it to be.  Not that I have always had a perfect home, or one that was perfectly decorated.  But sometimes it's in the least expected times that I realize I am selfish and prideful.  Ugh.

This weekend we had a lovely little family over for dinner.  We have only met a few times.  We really didn't know anything about them, and they didn't know anything about us, other than they are nice and have two darling little girls just a bit older {6 months} than our girls.

That's what it's about.  Opening our homes when they aren't perfect, because really, when are they ever perfect?  Sharing food, and laughter, and stories.  It's about relationships.  I can get so caught up in everything else and forget to focus on the hearts of others.

When our 'new friends' came over, I kept wanting to apologize.  Apologize that I didn't have furniture,  that there were toys everywhere, that I didn't have dinner perfectly displayed…..

But, when we are invited to someone's home, I just love being there.  Talking.  Doing life.  I don't care about their decorations, their furniture, if the food is perfect.

So, this weekend was a bit of a stretch for me.  To open our home to others who don't 'know our story'.  They don't know that we always seem to have a project, or we like to fix things up.  And I don't want my identity wrapped up in that.  I want to love on others.  I want my girls to see that first hand.  I want them to love on others and be hospitable.

As I come up with easy hospitably tips, I will be sure to share them here.  It's so much easier to have people into our homes when we don't feel like it's a big deal.  Don't you think?? If you have tips, I would love to hear them!!