Just 16 Hours and a Can of Paint

When last we spoke about the kitchen it was looking like this:

But messier in real life.

Painting the cabinets had been our plan all along, but somewhere along the way I realized that it would be a big, agonizing, pain in the butt and, as it turns out, I really didn't want to do it.  So we bought some backsplash tile (which then sat in the garage for two months), and painstakingly chose a paint color for the walls that we hoped would compliment the gray cabinets as they were.  Well, we know how that theory worked out...with me deciding to paint the cabinets after all.

I walked past that intimidating can of paint every day for weeks and weeks until one Thursday afternoon when very suddenly, around 4:30pm, motivation struck like lightning.  I slapped some paint on the inside of one of the doors "just to see" , but never really stopped to "see" - which is probably a good thing, because the color of the paint while wet was less than appealing...

  

I kept painting into that night, slept, then painted all day and into the next night without stopping (I honestly don't know if I even used the restroom - it was like one of those times you pull into your driveway and can't even remember driving home).  When there was nothing left to paint, the kitchen looked like this:

A total warzone.

We lived like that without closing the doors and drawers for almost a week to try and avoid the thick paint sticking to itself and chipping, but it did anyway.  Now, I can't seem to get the motivation back to do the touch ups.

My fresh shelf liners look even better now

I would really be remiss if I didn't mention our relic of a dishwasher here, since it adds such a lovely touch to the kitchen.  The inspector found a stamp that dates it to 1972 (!!), and the repairman sent from the home warranty company when it broke immediately after we moved in told us that it's the Cadillac of dishwashers.  Great.  I was really hoping it would break beyond repair before our year warranty is up.

So, what's the verdict?  Ultimately, the cabinets are just old fashioned.  There isn't much I can do about that.  I don't know if painting them is an "update", but it's a huge change and we are really happy with it.

Yay!

My First Date with Craig

A few weeks before our wedding earlier this year, I was completely tired of planning it and excited to move on to furnishing and decorating our prospective (now actual) house.  Of course, now that I'm totally exhausted by the house, I really miss planning the wedding...grass is always greener, huh? Anyway, I was trolling craigslist for furniture, and was intrigued by a listing for a solid wood china cabinet for $100.  I had never contacted anyone regarding a craigslist post before, and was really nervous to send a stranger my phone number, didn't know what the procedure was, or what questions to ask, and needed some encouragement to follow through, but I am SO glad that I did.

The seller was a really sweet girl, who was making room for a new dining set she had already purchased, and so just happened to have the matching dining table and 6 chairs available as well.  Super convenient and also, I loved them!  She held all the furniture for us until the weekend when we could come back with a truck (and sweetly deducted the cost of the truck from her asking price - $100 for the table and chairs as well).  The ride home was slightly iffy, and we had to make quite an urgent pit stop after coming dangerously close to losing the table.  

Here's Husband re-securing our cargo:

That photo still cracks me up because we were 3 weeks away from our wedding, buying a roomful of furniture for a house that we didn't even own yet.

Our haul lived at Mum's house for weeks and weeks until we actually moved into the house.  Then, finally, we got to see it in our freshly painted dining room!

The chairs are painted brown because the seller was planning on rehabbing the whole set before she found her new one.  She gave me the paint just in case I needed touchups, or wanted to finish the job she started.  I don't, though.  I have another in the works. You'll also notice the lack of cushions on the chairs.  We have them - they're just awaiting their transformation in the garage at the moment.

The wine tower in the corner was a wedding gift (thank you!), the rug was on clearance at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and the bowl on the table is from IKEA.

And that is the story of how we furnished the dining room for under $200.

Moving Day

This is a boring post with photos of boxes. Excited? Me too.

Two months ago we moved.  

Since we did not start packing very far in advance of the move, we were up very late the night before.

 Somehow, we managed to have enough stuff to fill this truck three times.

But the last trip was my favorite, because I think this shot of the table saw is pretty classy.

And I'm fairly certain that the boxes will never actually all be unpacked, and that my life will look somewhat like this forever.

 Sigh.  The end.

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?