Kitchen Bouquet

I wanted to give our friends somethin small for their wedding. She said that having the ceremony at the house was enough and not to worry about a gift. However, when people say things like that I still feel the need to get them something. I like handmade gifts, something that says I care about you enough to make you something I know you would like. To me it is more personal than wondering through Target trying to find something, I do this on occasion. (we all can't be craft godesses)

This was their wedding. I wanted to make them something and was running short on time. Hot pan holders it was, simple and easy yet completely usefull. I whipped up two in my favorite colors, teal and red. Two hot pan holders was just not going to cut it, I needed something more to round it out. Off to Target to wonder the aisles. I came home with three wooden spoons and a set of flour sack towels, I have a drawerful and it is never enough!

Now to wrap it up pritty.

Throw it all in a large vase and tie it off with coordinating ribbon. Rather cutsy don't ya think?

This was such an easy and fun project to put together! And think of how easy it would be to change it up with different fabrics in the hot pan holders. This might be making a reocurance in some future bridal showers.

Under the Birch Tree

It was a crazy busy week for Mr. B and I. Dusting, scrubbing, organizing, pruning, vacuuming up all the Gus-bunnies, and wiping all the nose prints off of our windows. Knowing we were going to have all sorts of strangers at our house was a tad nerve racking. I wanted them to like the house and not think that I was a horrible house keeper. Mr. B was amazing and so helpful. He had to remind me a few times that our house is a work in progress and is not going to be "perfect".

It was well worth it. Saturday two of our friends got married and had the ceremony in our back yard, right under the birch tree. 

It was an honor to be a part of such a special day for these two wonderful people. Wishing them a life time of love and happiness.

A Change of Heart

This weekend it was in the high eighties, and you know what I decided that Mr. B and I needed to do. Repaint the dining room. Yup we painted. The results were awesomeness as usual.

When we first moved in to the house all the rooms and trim downstairs were this awful shade of green/lime/off-white. I wanted needed to repaint. The green, which I am sure was lovely back in the day and complimented the comoshag carpeting marvelously, scared me. I was NOT painting any room green on the remote chance it would look like the original color. I went with the furthest thing from green I could. ORANGE. I liked it for a while. Then it was ok. Then I didn't like it. But you see it bothered my mother so I was stubborn and kept it. Then it got to the point of hating it. I have dark furniture for in the dining room. The combination of the orange and the dark brown was starting to remind me of those mushrooms painted on the wood or crocks that were popular back in the day, not in a kitschy good way either. I was starting to loath my dining room.

So with out further ado I give you the before.

I think that everyone is allowed to have a paint one bobo per house. I thought it would look nice. It did for a while and for about an hour or so a day when the sun shone through the windows just right. Who am I kidding it was a mistake with a capital M.

(please excuse my mess. I wasn't going to clean just to move everything out of the room any way)

 I have two rooms and a hallway painted different shades of beige and that is enough for me. I can't have my downstairs all tan. I need color! I decided I was going to take the plunge and paint it a shade of green. Yes green, but not the same green as it was before. I went to the home improvement store and brought home just about every paint sample in the green family they had. Mr. B and I narrowed it down to about five. We smacked those up on the wall with tape and stared at them for a few days weeks two months. It got put on the back burner for a while. I was afraid of picking out another color that I ended up hating. I didn't want to be a complete color failure.

It took me a while but I got over my fears (and consulted with my mother) and I chose Meadow Grass. Seriously who picks out names for paint shades. And you know what, I LOVE it!! It makes the room look much bigger. And brighter. And open. My furniture looks nice again.

  

We need to find a few more things for the walls. I am thinking a frame wall would look nice or a gallery wall if I can find a bunch of pictures of the acres and the animals that I like. 

I did cave and let Mr. B hang up his scull mount. He got this bad boy with the truck last year. Most expensive freezer full of venison ever! Yes there are dead things hanging up in our house. I draw the line at mounts with the glass eyes. Sculls ok, creep glass eyes not so much. Mr. B said he liked the green paint. Once the mount was up the compliments started flowing about how nice the green complimented his deer. Boys...

Don't tell any one buy I think it looks fabulous on the wall too. 

Lessons learned from this adventure:

• Think twice about painting your dining room a dark shade of orange, if I remember correctly it was called Pumpkin Spice.
• If you do paint a color and you don't like it after a few months it's ok. Really it's just paint. We all can't be interior designers. 
• I also think that you should live in your house a while before you change/put color on your wall. Which I believe was one of my biggest mistakes. Take time to see what you use the room for and what kind of light it gets. 
• Primer is cheaper than paint. We primed this before we repainted and although it was a massive pain in the arse it was worth it. It took two coats of primer to cover the orange and then we did two coats of green. If we didn't prime I can only imagine how much paint we would have gone through.

They Are Up

We planted our garden a few weeks ago and I wanted to show you how much our seeds have sprouted. I tried planting cauliflower this year and sadly none of it made it through the transplant from the house. We are having a really dry summer and I think I wasn't watering enough at the beginning; we lost some peppers and tomatoes too. But check out what we can grow!

Radishes

Lettuce

Beans

Tomatoes

Not pictured are the peas, peppers, and herbs cause I'm and air head. Oh and the carrots to, but they are just starting to poke up. You can barely see them and it wouldn't make a nice picture. Not that I take amazing pictures any way but you get my drift.

Triumph

I DID IT!

I baked a pie! First pie ever for this girl. The presentation needs some work, my crust edges aren't picture perfect, but it tastes amazing! The strawberry rhubarb combo is oh so delicious. 

I used my trusty cook book for a butter crust recipe and searched the Internet for a strawberry filling that would require no trips to town for extra ingredients. Most of the strawberry ones I found required tapioca, well we gots none of that on the acres. I managed to find this recipe. It is a really moist pie and a little on the runny side, so I might be changing it up next time.

My Granny makes the best pies ever, but doesn't every one's granny? I have a lot to live up to in the pie department. I know she makes her crust with lard, I might have to give that a try next time. I know doesn't sound so appetizing but it's the bestest flakiest crust that you will ever taste. 

I would have to say this adventure was a success and pie has defiantly been added to the rotation of baked goodies that come out of my kitchen.

Pink Shoes

I am beginning to notice a trend in the colors of my wardrobe. Pink is starting to dominate, well next to black and grey. These are the latest in my collection. 

HOT PINK SNEAKERS

I think I have been overcompensating working in an all male environment. You see I run the office at a warehouse and all the other employees at my building are guys. I need to express my femininity somehow and these babies are just the icing on the cake. (pink cake with sprinkles) 

Mr. Owl

This fellow hangs above the stairway.

 Every time I go down the stairs he makes me smile. I have a soft spot for cutsie owls.

Hallway Redo

I am pleased to say I located the camera!! Enjoy the photos of the upstairs hallway, I already showed you the stairs case redo. The hallway just continues the awesomeness.

We tore up all the carpet and repainted. Mr. B and I chose a nice neutral tan for the walls and a soft white for the trim. We only have one ceiling light in the hall and it is in an awkward location. We needed to do everything we could to optimize the brightness. Going along with the stairs and to brighten it up some more, we opted to paint the floor up here too. A detailed post on this to come.

Take a left at the top of the stairs and you will head toward the bedrooms. My mother and I decided the walls up there were rather bare. (actually all the walls in my house are rather bare). We, my mother and I as Mr. B could really care less as to what we put on the walls, wanted something that was colorful on the beige wall but yet functional. Most importantly we wanted to use things I already had.

We came up with this:

We hung a up a mirror and next to it a curtain rod. We knotted all of my scarfs on the rod for some added color. Pretty nifty I think and useful. Now I can double check that my scarf is tied just so before I head down the stars as part of my grand entry. You know like in the movie She's All That.

 Notice that crazy thing going on above the scarfs, we think that is were the old stove pipe came out. When the carpeting was tore up this patch job was on the floor underneath it. As with alot of the quirks in our old house we just roll with it. It's a nice conversation starter anyway.

 

If you would take a right at the top of the stairs you would enter what is going to be the library/office/command center. I promised Mr. B that someday we could get a second TV for up there so he could have a space to game undisturbed. Mainly so he could be out of sight and out of mind while gaming and it wouldn't interfear with Dancing With the Stars.

This space looks 100% better that what it did at the beginning of the year, again I never thought to take before pictures and am kicking myself now. For now we hung a few things on the walls and put some extra furniture in there. I am sure in the next few months it will change, I have big plans for this space and a whole board on Pinterest full of inspiration. I am in the slow process of perusing Craigslist for the perfect pieces of furniture, in my price range!

The farm picture is an actual photo of our house that was painted over. The previous owner gave it to us last year. How cool is that!! The chair was a thrift store find and my dad sanded and refinished it and my mother helped me make new cushions for it. The book shelf will be moving out of this space as soon as i can find something to replace it with, not to fear I have a plan to give it a face lift for use in another space. The library table was my great grandmothers. The picture does not do it justice it is an amazing piece of furniture.

The process of making our house a home is coming along nicely. Now that the hall and the side room are close to being done, well at least painted, I cannot wait to get started on the other rooms!

MIA Camera and Operation Stairs

It was a crazy busy productive weekend at the acres!! I have so many things I am excited to show you. We were able to finished up allot of our half done projects, with the help of my supper amazing mother. Truly a wonder woman, our house would still have several lime green walls and shag carpet if it weren't for her!

We had started some projects early this spring when it was still crummy outside. Then it got nice and we put all the house projects on hold for a while. Big yard = lots of work! I snapped some pictures as we went along and last night it was sunny out so I wanted to get some good ones of the finished product, wouldn't you know I couldn't find the camera! I think it got misplaced in the clean up. I guess I will have to look for it tonight.  

I did snap this picture on my phone and I thought I could share one project with you. I finally finished operation stairs! (Well almost done, I need to clean the vent on the bottom stair and put it back to cover that gaping hole. But let's pretend like that's done already) 



I really wish I had a before picture for you to see how far these stairs have come. I'm talking shag greenish/cammo carpeting and pale lime green walls. I wish I could take credit for the idea but I got my inspiration from this staircase redo.

Instead of staining my sitars like Kate, which was the original plan, I ended up painting them. When we tore off the carpet back in March we realized they were already painted. I was not about to go though the hassle of sanding them all down, call me lazy I'm OK with it. After a discussion with the peeps in the paint center at my local Homedepot, I figured that using deck and floor paint would be the best paint to use. (seriously talk to these people if you have a question most of them know their stuff!) Three months and several coats of paint later the fruits of my labor paid off.

I learned somethings along the way and thought I would share them with you.

• With my mother, there is no such thing as ripping up a corner of carpet to see what it looks like underneath. Mr. B was not the happiest person that we went ahead and tore up all the carpet on the stairs and hallway. He got over it and is glad we went all out on this one.
• Paint the top board of the stair first. Yeah, I did the white base board and kick board (whatever you call it) first. I ended up having to do allot of touch up work on this one.
• Painters tape is your friend on a project like this. Normally I am anti tape, give me a good angled brush and we can skip that annoying and time consuming step. Not on this one. Let me repeat, tape is your friend.
• Make sure all of the adhesive from the linoleum/rubber matting is off. It stained through my primer and my paint. Maybe it's the primer I used or maybe it's the glue that was on the stairs. Either way I had to resand and repaint some areas. I was not about to have some nasty brown stains on my white stairs.

All in all it was a time consuming project with a huge payoff. Defiantly work the time and effort.