Table transformed

I was generously given a coffee table by my dear friend K. She was reconfiguring her living room and I happily took it off her hands. I forgot to take a picture of it before I took off the hardware and started sanding it, but it was pretty close to this one.

Here she is after some sanding:

As you can see the center drawer is pretty wide and there are drawers on both sides, which I loved for all the storage possibilities.

I gave her a new coat of paint in Valspar's Meadowlands. One of the knobs was missing so I got a cheap ORB set from Tarjay (it was 14.99 in the store):

But it didn't look right.

So I spray painted them Heirloom White:

But still, I wanted something more vibrant because I knew what I wanted this table for.

So in came my friend Bauhaus Gold et voila!

It was exactly what I wanted. I added some number stickers in black, to pop off the golden yellow knobs.

My oldest approved:


And immediately started to set up a Godzilla monsters battle on top:


My plan, however, was to make this a homework/craft table for the boys - the storage is great for all their workbooks, paints, stencils, crayons, markers, etc.


And the height is also perfect for them - the table is bright and cheerful, and a great addition to my kids' playroom.

I am very happy with the finished result - it is my first time re-doing a piece of furniture and now I have plans for my youngest's dresser. You know how it is, the first step is the hardest and now I am off, running in search of furniture to paint.

Hope you enjoyed my super-secret project!

Recent harvest

We've been harvesting lots of yummy cherry tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and this week, corn and cucumber!

Unfortunately, it all gets eaten before I get the camera so onions and a cucumber are all I got.

Shhhhh . . .

working on a super secret project - hope it will be done in the next couple of days ;D

Past Projects: Our Kitchen and Dining Room

The first project we tackled when we moved in to our home in August 2004, was the kitchen/dining room. The cabinets needed to go, and the general color, although light, was very dingy and dreary. The white appliances probably didn't help, and the tile wasn't our favorite either:






That's our realtor in the last picture :D

We decided to go bold and my husband chose a warm red for the walls - Briquette by Behr and honey colored cabinets with a granite top. He and a friend did the demo and my husband's uncle hooked us up with the cabinets and granite.

Now here is the dining room as you walk in from the living room


Our hutches are both from IKEA


The door goes into the laundry room/pantry area and then into the garage


I found these sweet fleur-de-lis candles on clearance at Pier One - score!


My fridge is covered in picture magnets as you can see


I love the hanging pot rack so much that we added another one - saves so much storage space!


I have a lazy susan to the left of the stove with my oils, vinegars and often-used condiments, some of them I've decanted onto glass bottles and labeled with chalkboard labels. On top of the microwave are our Torani syrups. We had a Torani bar at our wedding since it was kind of our signature to offer guests an Italian soda :D

Next to the fridge on the counter you can see the most often used ingredients in the house - oatmeal, peanut butter and honey. I recently stopped using the instant packets and now make the less sugary kind, with just a dash of honey. My youngest sure loves his oatmeal!!!

I love my kitchen and dining room, it is warm and inviting with colors that draw you in. I hope you've enjoyed look at this Past Project!

Results of the Pinterest menu week!

Last week I decided to make some meals from the items I have pinned on Pinterest - I didn't get to make all of them, but here are my opinions on the ones I did make:

Source: quick-dish.tablespoon.com via Claudia on Pinterest

The 3-ingredient (pork tenderloin, root beer, bbq sauce) pulled pork was pretty tasty. Both my husband and I enjoyed it. It wasn't spectacular by any means but I think we would have needed other ingredients for that. The meat was tender and juicy and you could not taste the root beer at all. It is a very good base recipe and I would add some other spices next time.

Source: realsimple.com via Claudia on Pinterest

This sandwich was underwhelming for me. The bean/avocado puree makes for a very nice spread and I will use it again, but it needed stronger flavors. My husband enjoyed it, though.

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Claudia on Pinterest

I made these as an accompaniment to the pulled pork sandwiches and they were very good. You could go a whole bunch of different ways with these depending on what you put on top.

Source: foodandwine.com via Claudia on Pinterest

We both enjoyed this pasta dish, but the sauce really merits something more succulent. Maybe next time we will serve it over a nice filet.

So there you have it, a nice batch of meals overall, we didn't have one bad meal although a couple of them I would play around with and change up a bit. It was definitely nice to have a few new meals in our rotation!!

Girl Crush: Hayley Atwell

A few months ago I watched a miniseries called The Pillars of the Earth and I just fell in love with actress Hayley Atwell.

Photo from lainformacion.com

Her portrayal of Aliena centered the story and I wondered what else I had seen her in. Turns out she was in The Duchess, playing Keira Knightley's BFF turned rival turned I-won't-spoil-it-for-you.

Photo from thecinemasource.com

She is (hopefully) now hitting the big time, appearing in the new Captain America movie:

Photo from screenrant.com

I dig a leather jacket she wears in the movie and hope we'll see her in lots more movies and series stateside. Yeah, I know, I will have to sit through endless minutes of half-naked Chris Evans in Captain America but one has to do what one has to do, right? ;D

A wreath on my door

I love the smell of lavender. I am lucky enough to have some growing in my backyard. I have made sachets to give as gifts before but I decided it was time to make a nice wreath for my front door.

I started with a wreath form and floral wire, both totaled under $5 at Walmart:


My lovely lavender sat to the side while I arranged stems on the wreath form:


Halfway done - I decided I like really full wreaths, and considering buds will fall off, I wanted to add more to this:


The finished wreath perfumes my front door, I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, it was so easy and cost so little!


I have lots of lavender left over, so I can still make my usual sachet gifts, which people love to receive.

Hope you enjoyed this craft!