Initial Frames

I've always loved those wooden initials that you can purchase at craft stores and nearly any home decor store.  However, I'm on a tight budget and free sounded a lot better.  So, I came up with this idea. 

I took an old frame, sanded it, painted it white, and sanded it to distress it slightly.  Then I found a font I liked and printed out a big "O" for my oldest daughter and a big "L" for my youngest daughter. I cut out the letters and traced them onto scrapbook paper that I had laying around from a previous project.  After cutting them out, I outlined them with a black sharpie - I did it this quickly and not evenly.  Then I simply picked a contrasting paper to tape the letter onto.  I used green and pink because those are the colors of their room.  Then I hung them up over their beds.  I couldn't get a clear picture of the "L" so you only see the "O" but the "L" was made with green paper and backed with pink. 

Pretty cute for a quick afternoon project.

Initialing our Walls,

Molly

Makeover Mondays: Jazzing up an old brass chandelier

When we moved into our new home, we didn't have a big light fixture budget so we replaced the fixtures that just plain needed replacing and worked with others.  Here is a picture of the dining room as it was when we did our walk through.  Notice the brass chandelier...not my favorite.  In fact, I pride myself in seeing an item's potential, but this I really didn't see, it was my husband who said, "Aren't we just going to paint this black?" And I still questioned whether I'd like it, but he was absolutely right.

Here it is when we were in the process of ripping up carpet and painting. 

And here it is redone.  A quick coat of black spray paint and some new shades and it is as good as new.

At first my husband's sister loaned us some black lamp shades, but since the dining room is the only room in our house without windows it gets pretty dark.  I checked out the little shades at Home Depot and Lowes and decided I didn't want to spend that much money unless I got a new light fixture all together.  So, I kept my eyes open and one day while I was out yard saling, I found this fantastic, like new set of golden tan lamp shades for $4 (for the set)! Big score.  Now our dining room is much brighter than it was with the black shades and much prettier than it was with the brass and glass fixture!

Turns out I really like this chandelier after all!

Lighting the Dark Corners!

Molly

Get Horizontal!

Isn't that every mother's dream? To get horizontal, even for a few minutes.  Boy I love power naps :)  However, we're not discussing naps today, actually I wanted to share how I made over my entry way.  We have a very small entryway in our house, there's not enough room for an accent table or anything, it's simply room to open the front door and a door to the coat closet. 

When we moved in, I painted an accent wall in our living room chocolate brown.  It's such a deep brown that many people think it's black until they hold something black up to it.  I love it, it's dramatic and pretty and really brings your eye to the focal point of the room, our fireplace.  When we were deciding what to paint the entryway, I was toying around with hot pink! I know, crazy but it's our accent color in the living room (the room directly off our entry) and the entry is so small I thought maybe it could handle the bright color.  Well, I was nervous and several people convinced me to paint it the same color as our accent wall (chocolate brown). 

I lived with it from August to April and then I just couldn't stand it anymore.  The look and feel I was going for in my entry was/is fun and upbeat and this chocolate brown seemed really formal and it was so dark that it felt (to me) like I was entering a cave - definitely not how I wanted people to feel when walking into my home.  So, while my husband was away on a mission trip my parents came for a visit and I talked my dad (who is a professional painter) into painting these horizontal stripes.  I've seen horizontal stripes on Nate Burkus and Pinterest and have loved them every time I see them.  I love how it turned out, every time I look into the entryway it makes me happy.  What do you think?

I would love to hang a round mirror with a really ornate frame in the place where this little picture frame/mirror/key hook thing is, but that will wait until I find a used one somewhere :)

Didn't my dad do a fantastic job? Love it.

Making a statement with stripes!

Molly

Makeover Mondays: Window's Aren't Just for Looking Through

When we got new windows a few years back, I asked them to save the old windows because I had some projects in mind. When I returned home I found, to my dismay, that they saved all the exterior aluminum windows and took the nice wooden frame windows. Ugh. Do you hear my excited heart deflating? I sure did. Thankfully my mother-in-law  was able to salvage one window for me. 

For this project, I cut 8 pieces of paper 4"x6" and taped them onto the window panes where I wanted the pictures to be.  I then sprayed the window with a glass frosting spray paint.  This allowed the window to still be translucent but not 100% transparent. I did this so that I could use tiny pieces of tape to attach the pictures and the frost would cover enough so you don't see the tape. 

 

Then I opened up the pictures on the computer and played with the contrast and color saturation to make them fun, playful colors and had them printed at Walgreens. 

To hang the window I had my husband or his father (can't remember who did it) drill holes in the back.  They have a jig that makes that keyhole type hole so that the screw or nail fits in the bottom of the hole and slides up to the top (not sure what that's called).

We used this method to make sure it was securely fastened to the wall because we hung it over the crib and it is heavy.  We didn't want her to be able to pull on it enough to get it to fall on her.  We also pre-drilled our holes and used plastic anchors to help make it super sturdy. 

Not too long ago as I was driving home, I saw this little window sitting by the curb...score! I think it looks pretty just hanging there and would look nice painted an accent color as well.  However I have another idea that I will share in a future post. 

Turning Trash into Treasure,

Molly



Pasta with Vegetables and Pine Nuts

Cooking through the Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook, Recipe # 3, Pasta with Vegetables and Pine Nuts.

I was so glad we tried this dish, I bought the broccoli and cauliflower two times before actually making it.  It has great flavor and was easy to put together.  I added half an onion to the recipe because I LOVE most any dish that starts with sauteing onion and garlic. I used rice penne noodles as well to avoid gluten.  I have heard that rice noodles get mushy, so I was careful to pull them off the stove top as soon as they were al dente - actually a little more firm than I usually cook pasta - and they turned out perfect.  We had no problems with the noodles breaking or getting mushy and they weren't too hard either. 

What I like about this dish is that it is full of vegetables but it doesn't feel like you're eating a plate full of vegetables. 

I'm not a fan of mushrooms, but I think if you are, this recipe would be a good one to add mushrooms to.  To see some of Cathe Olson's recipes, visit her blog or check out her cookbooks.

Makeover Mondays: Office Chair turned Side Chair

I love how Nate Berkus can take something hideous and turn it into something beautifully modern and fresh.  This project was inspired by his show.  He's always talking about getting chairs at a yard sale and painting and reupholstering them.  So, I thought I needed to give it a try. 

We just moved into our home last summer and it's nearly 50% larger than our first home.  At any rate, we went from one sitting room to two and our budget doesn't accommodate buying new furniture.  So, I combed craigslist for weeks waiting to find the right set of chairs for our living room.  And, wouldn't you know it, some wonderful woman posted these ugly office chairs for free. 

Convincing my husband to drive across town to pick them up and that they would actually be comfortable and nice looking when I was done was the hardest part of this project :)  But, he's smart, so he finally agreed to go get them. 

Here's what we picked up.

Not so bad, two of these office chairs, a little dirty, a little ugly, but they have potential. 

I immediately started taking out staples and screws. While I did this, I wrote down what I did so that I could redo it in reverse order.  It's also a great idea to take pictures of each step to help if you get stuck on a particular step. When I had all the fabric off, I gave the wooden frames to my husband to sand and paint.  I went to the fabric store and purchased fabric and 1" foam to make the seat a little more cushy. 

I sewed the part that needed sewing and then my husband and I stapled and screwed them back together.  Here's what the finished product turned out like. 

Pretty nice set of side chairs for $15 a piece!

Decorating on a Dime,

Molly

Bean and Nut Loaf

Cooking through the Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook continued. 

Today's meal was Bean and Nut Loaf.  The sound of it is quite atrocious to me, however in my determination to cook through this cookbook, I'm trying everything. Guess what? Discipline pays off!

This mock meat loaf is made from walnuts, pinto beans, carrots, and flax seeds among other things.  It "dries" in the oven to form a nice crusty exterior and a soft, gooey interior.

I served it with ketchup, per Cathe Olson's recommendation and I think the ketchup was necessary to make this loaf really taste like meat loaf. 

Spaetzle, (a German egg noodle) sauteed in butter and salted, was our side dish .  The combination was very satisfying  - a good comfort food meal :)

And, let me just say, I love having fake meat that I prepared in a few minutes in the food processor rather than something from the frozen food section of the grocery store that is full of wheat gluten and soy protein as well as preservatives.  And, yes, Spaetzle does contain gluten, but it's nice that it's only in our side dish and not in the main dish as well. 

Cooking the musical fruit!

Molly