Front Door Fall Decor

Here comes a confession - don't hate me:

I'm really not into Halloween.  I know it's many people's favorite holiday, but I didn't grow up with it, and really dislike dressing up, carving pumpkins, and awkwardly making small talk with strangers and their children.  I eat chocolate with reckless abandon year-round, so there's no big excitement over the candy surplus, and (and this last one might be downright anti-American but...) I don't like pumpkin spice lattes.

Fall in general is admittedly pretty but, to me, the chill in the air is just a sign that a LONG midwest winter is on its way, and that fact is obviously nothing to be happy about.

Fall this year though, is coming with a certain amount of pressure. I've become obsessed with the idea of making a good impression on our neighbors on the evening of Halloween.  Virtually all of the families on our street have kids, so I'm expecting a significant crowd of trick-or-treaters, and this will be an opportunity to say hello to the many neighbors we haven't yet met - I have to assume they will be curiously stopping by.

So far, the only effort that has been put into the outside of the house is mowing the grass.  This is effort of the husband variety of course, until the mower died and then it was effort of the financial variety - which I'm starting to believe is how everything ultimately ends up.  Anyway, I could go on and on about leaf piles (because there are a LOT), but what I really mean to say is this: we really don't have a lot of curb appeal going on around here, and the front door decor is just weird.

Here's what we're working with:

Awkward red wicker chair, weird red milk crate thing.  Thanks previous owners.  I find these items on the front step strange, but it really doesn't seem worth the effort to get rid of them.  I'm also not convinced that we couldn't make some kind of improvements (can you say, spray paint?) to make them tolerable, and for now, the chair is serving as a nice resting spot for delivered packages.

Here's how we made it work:

Mum gave us the plant the week after we moved in (and I almost didn't kill it), and we bought the rug at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I think it's ultimately probably too small for the space, but I love the "greek key" pattern so it's staying there for now.

The wreath is my very first Pinterest-inspired craft.  We'll call it an attempt.  I'm currently making another because I'm not happy at all with how this one turned out, so I'll post an update on my wreath experiences when I've figured it out.

Overall the decor is basic, but I was on a serious budget and didn't have lots of time to devote to this project.

Now, back to worrying about not having enough candy...

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

If there's one thing you can take away from this post, it's that you should not tell your hungry male audience that you are in possession of this recipe until you are prepared to actually make it.  I told a few friends that I had a recipe for Car Bomb Cupcakes approximately a year ago, and have heard virtually nothing but demands and begging ever since.  Finally, a fall gathering last weekend was the perfect opportunity to end the madness.

Having never tasted the drink, I cannot say if these taste anything like it.  The Guinness taste does not specifically come through in the cake, but enhances the chocolate flavor (and makes my kitchen smell especially delightful). They were pretty much exactly what I expected, and I doubt I'll make them again unless specifically requested - they're not exactly universally appealing.  I would recommend heating the cupcake in the microwave for a few seconds if you'd like the filling warm and gooey. It's delightful.

IRISH CAR BOMB CUPCAKES
Source: Annie's Eats

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup Guinness
16 tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pans with liners.

Combine Guinness and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  When butter is melted, add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream.  Add the butter/stout mixture, and beat until just incorporated.  On low speed, add the dry ingredients until combined.  Divide evenly between cupcake liners and bake until cupcake tops spring back when touched lightly - about 18 minutes.

Bailey's Ganache
Ingredients:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cup
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream

Heat the heavy cream until simmering, then pour over chocolate in a heat proof bowl.  Let sit for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth.  Add butter and Bailey's and stir to combine.  Ganache will thicken as it cools.

To fill cupcakes, cut out a small cone from the center of each cupcake and pipe ganache into the center.

Bailey's Buttercream
Ingredients:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
4-8 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream

Beat the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add powdered sugar and Bailey's until frosting reaches desired consistency.  (If frosting is too thick, add milk gradually).

Pantry Overhaul

Here's the thing about dirt: it's gross, and it's much much grosser if it's someone else's. 

Cleaning the house before we moved in was not a fun job, but the previous owners were clearly not dirty people, and relatively speaking, the whole place was already in really good shape.  

Even so, there was no way I was putting my food in here:

PANTRY UPDATES

Step 1: The original plan was to replace the contact paper and call it a day, but the shelves looked even worse underneath.  They were porous, and bowed, and honestly, a little smelly.

So we ripped 'em out.  It was pretty fun.

Step 2: Painted the floor, spontaneously, without priming - oops. It turned into a sticky mess.

Step 3: Spackled and sanded a bunch, and painted the inside of the pantry the same green as the dining room, and primed and repainted the floor.

(This was taken after only one coat on the walls; the second looked perfect, I promise)

Step 4: Replaced the door.

Did you catch how I said that as if it was a simple, quick, easy little task?  It wasn't.

Even though the door was the appropriate size, it didn't close.  After a lot of planing and sanding, it did close, but after repainting the sanded edge, it didn't again.  We were frustrated, so we abandoned the cause for a while.  Then autumn arrived early and the temperature dropped by 25 degrees, so the door now works.  I guess we'll deal with it next summer...

 

Step 5: Installed melamine shelves from Lowe's.  Lesson learned: they will not cut this particular kind of shelf to size for you.  Husband cut them with a circular saw, and yes, he still has all of his fingers.  I know, it's quite impressive.

Step 6: Sealed the floor with two coats of polyurethane to make it super hard and durable.  It was supposedly "clear gloss", but clearly tinted my floor yellow.  I considered getting a rug or something to cover it, but ultimately decided that I don't care that much.

Step 7: Collected some baskets and shelves, threw the food in there, and have since spent many hours trying to figure out the best way to organize it all.  It's still a work in progress, but here we stand at the moment.  Ignore the mess, please.

Project: Pantry reno.

Cost: Low-Moderate

Payoff: Well, we have a place to store food now, so there's nothing to complain about.  I think it's a big improvement!

BEFORE                                                AFTER

      

Getting Ahead of Myself

There are countless important, necessary, projects still left to do all over the house. Like, maybe, unpacking the rest of those boxes? Doing something about that trim situation? Figuring out why trash cans are so freaking expensive? Really, it's obscene.

But I can't help it, I'm constantly distracted by this awesomeness:

Source: Good Girl Gone Glad

Source: All Things Beautiful

This stencil pattern is all over the web, and I'm so obsessed. I've had a wall earmarked for it since the moment we designated one of the bedrooms as a craft room for me - I realize that this is likely the only time in my life that I'll be able to justify having a craft room, and you better believe I'm doing it. I'm also painting it a really girly color, but that's a story decision for another day...I need this wall in my life.

Unfortunately, I'm a chicken when it comes to trends. It seems like the more popular something becomes, the harder it becomes to take the plunge.  I have no idea what I'm so afraid of - maybe that the copycat police will come to my door as soon as I bring succulents, or anything chevron into the house? It's a shame, because I love chevron.

So, I threw together a few other pattern options in powerpoint (yes, that's my design program of choice - be impressed).

1: I call it "Quilt Rings"...and therefore, immediately ruled it out.

2: This one has potential, but I don't feel especially strongly about it.

3: Too festive? I can't decide if the long straight lines would be a help or a hinderance while painting.

4: This was my favorite at first, but now I'm thinking it might be too intense over a whole wall.

5: This is just the slighter lamer sibling to my original inspiration photo. Sigh.

So, what should it be?  A new unique pattern, or the original pattern that I adore, but that you see everywhere (at least if you consider Pinterest to be an accurate representation of real life...which apparently I do)? 

But wait, there's more!  

Oh yeah, that's an iPhone photo of the paused TV screen during a Home Depot commercial.

  

I love this pattern a lot, and the commercial implied that it was a painter's tape project...but can you imagine cutting all those strips and making sure they're on the wall straight?!?!  The horror. 

Also, while trolling the web for inspiration I came across this gem:

Source: Sawdust and Embryos

She painted her design in the same color as the wall, but in a high gloss finish.  That is an interesting alternative to painting the pattern in white (or any contrasting color).


Decisions, decisions...what's a girl to do?

No Contact.

This was my least favorite kind of project.  Dirty, difficult, long, & unavoidable.

About two weeks before we moved into the house I tackled the interior of the kitchen cabinets.  This is what we were working with.

Old contact paper makes me sad.

You're probably thinking that after 30 years, the adhesive would be weakened and tearing up the paper would be easy.  I was too. 

Well friends, that was incorrect, and I had the bruises for a week to prove it.

Cute, right?

Once all the paper was out (and it took most of a day; not even kidding), I scrubbed all the surfaces inside and got to work recovering the shelves.  I chose this non-adhesive liner for the bottom of the cabinets, and used it as an excuse to buy a staple gun.  It's nice and grippy so my glasses don't slide all over the place, and wipeable which is handy for spots like under the sink.  I used this adhesive paper to line the drawers and wrap the upper shelves.  The glossy finish makes it all look a lot more updated.

Isn't that better?  I think so.

I should also call your attention to the fact that the cabinets were painted gray in order to sell the house, and on the inside of the doors we can see the color they used to be.  Is anyone surprised?

While hanging out with my staple gun inside one of the upper cabinets, I found a little piece of history.

Nov-7, 1966.  I never really doubted that the cabinets are original to the house, but it was still neat to find the date stamp.  We're making history here people, one evil piece of contact paper at a time!

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

I'm finding it impossible to resist anything with "salted caramel" in the title lately (you hear me Starbucks? you take that mocha off the menu right now!!), and since the kitchen is still in awful disrepair from the move, I recently made this recipe twice within 3 days.  It's quick, it's foolproof, it requires few ingredients, and it's the perfect treat for a crowd, or someone who especially deserves one.

SALTED CARAMEL CHOCOLATE PRETZEL BARK

from Legume Loyalist via Pinterest

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup brown sugar

12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Sea salt - I used Kosher because I already had it

Enough pretzels to cover a baking sheet - original recipe calls for mini pretzels, but I used sticks because I already had them on hand.  They worked fine, but next time I would try using standard pretzels to amp up the salty/sweet contrast.

Let's Do This:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Assemble the team.

Spread pretzels evenly over a foil-lined baking sheet

 

Melt butter over low-medium heat.

Once melted, add brown sugar and simmer until sugar has dissolved completely.

Pour caramel mixture over pretzels, and bake for 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips.

Spread melted chocolate over the pretzel-caramel combo, sprinkle with salt, and chill for at least an hour.

Break into rustic, bark-type pieces.

I would write some more detailed instructions, but I really don't think this recipe needs any more explanation.  I actually did something wrong both times I made this over the weekend, and both times it was still delicious.  That's what I call a keeper.

Like Being On The Face Of The Sun.

I literally shielded my eyes from the white-ness in our kitchen the first time we looked at the house.

Listing photo

Whoa, put those sunglasses back. on.

Our long-term plan is a major renovation, but we have a few minor cheap updates in the works to make the kitchen feel a little more "us" until then.

The highest priority was warming up the color on the walls.  Winter is coming, and standing in a kitchen so reminiscent of the Arctic Circle is not how I want to spend it.  We had already chosen (and purchased) glass tile for the backsplash, and were waffling over whether to paint the cabinets or not, so there were a lot of variables in play.  It was a really tough decision, though I'm not sure why...

...because some of those colors were really, truly awful.

The final color was the most beigy beige we could find.  The only one apparently without obvious hints of pink, green, or ghastly gold.

I really love the wall color (especially since it means no longer feeling like you need sunscreen to have the lights on in the kitchen), but it caused a problem.

The gray cabinets now look very blue in comparison.

Thus sealing their fate, and mine.  I have to paint them.  In fact, I bought the paint the very next day, but then completely chickened out.  

Stay tuned.