Bathroom Paint

 

I've got another home improvement project for you today!  This is probably the easiest way to give a room a fresh feeling: a new coat of paint! 

I felt like the bathroom just needed a kick in the pants.  Before, the paint color was a pale beige.  It made the room look big and bright, but it also had the effect of making everything kind of blend together.  Nothing popped.

So, we added a couple coats of Behr's Flint Smoke.

It really makes the oak trim pop in the room, but it doesn't make the room look small, either!  I also took out the roll down shade and added a cafe curtain instead.  What do you think?  Have you been itching to change up your paint colors?

Rhubarb Cake

Hi all!  Happy Monday!  Over the weekend, John and I got to go up north for a weekend off the grid :). You'll be seeing some snapshots over the next several weeks from our trip.  It was so nice, but now I've got to catch up on all my blog reading!

Today, in a departure from my home improvement projects, I thought I would show you a tasty cake recipe :)  We all need a break for cake, right?

So far this summer, I've made rhubarb syrup and peach rhubarb cobbler.  But our rhubarb plant is massive and just begging to be used more.  So, I dug up another Granny recipe to share with you: rhubarb cake!

I made this for Father's Day....but then totally forgot to bring it with me!  Sorry, Dad :(

To make your own, you will need:

• Batter:
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 cup shortening (ours was bad, so I used the same amount of room temperature butter)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 cups chopped rhubarb
• Topping:
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons margarine

Sift together the dry ingredients for the batter in a large bowl.

Add the shortening (or butter), eggs, and milk and mix well.  This gets hard to do because the batter is very stiff.  If you have a stand mixer, it might be wise to use it :)

Add the chopped rhubarb and mix slightly.

Spoon and spread the batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan.

Make the topping by mixing the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.  Cut in the margarine.  Then, add the nuts.  Press the topping on top of the batter, patting it down with your hand.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!!

Saturday Snapshot: Keep Off!

I just thought this was funny.  The ice in June is dangerous, folks! ;)

Kitchen Renovation

At the beginning of the week, I told you that I'd be showing you home improvement projects, big and small.  Well, this is definitely one of the big ones!  We moved into this house a few years ago, and there are some wonderful features in it.  The kitchen, however, was not one of them.  Soak in these before pictures to see what I mean:

Formica counter tops... you can't see it here, but it's a lovely green pattern

This fluorescent light was great for adding brightness, but it was heating the pantry!  It had to go.

Do you see that?  That's Formica ON THE WALL behind the stove.  Uffdah.

And of course, who doesn't love an exposed fluorescent bulb light fixture?

Pale green patterned Formica; on the counter or on the walls, it's ugly.  And stained.  It's just bad.

The first step was to get granite counter tops installed.  We actually got a different shade than we ordered, but it turned out to be a happy accident, because we love how it turned out!  We also added in a tiled back splash and a new light fixture.  The improvements, plus a little reorganizing gave us so much more useable (and attractive) space in the kitchen.

Our shiny new granite!

A close up of our back splash- there's a mix of silver, smoky blues, and natural stone.  Love!

I am in LOVE with our new Delta faucet!

No more Formica on the walls!

I love this new light fixture, but let's be honest, anything would be better than the "before"

So, what do you think?  Are there any rooms in your home that you're dying to give a facelift?

Folding Chair Rehab

 

John and I recently received an antique table that my Granny no longer had space for.  It's beautiful!  But, the chairs that came with it were pretty ugly (and not antiques).  We sold the chairs off, but short-sightedness has left us with only folding chairs sitting around our dining table!

They're pretty beat up

And the seats are pretty dated

Not too cute.  So, I decided to do a little rehab on the chairs and make them look like new!

To do the same, you will need:

• Sandpaper
• Rust-proof spray paint
• Fabric
• Staple gun and staples (as small as you can get- 1/4 inch or so)
• Fabric shears
• Screwdriver

First, sand down your chairs. I like to do this outside so that I don't have to deal with cleaning up the paint and metal bits that come off while sanding.

Now, hopefully your old folding chairs will have their seats attached with screws.  Just undo the screws and pop out the seats!  But, if you're unlucky like I am, you have a seat that is riveted to the chair.  Rivets.  Seriously.  But don't worry!  If you find yourself with riveted seats, use a small drill bit to drill all the way through, then a large one to drill away the rivet.  It should pop off after that!

Next, you'll want to take your sanded chairs and spray paint them the color of your choice.  I stuck with black.  It's timeless, right?

Allow the chairs to dry.  While they're drying, take the seats and use them as a guide for cutting squares of fabric.

Then, simply staple the fabric around the edges of the seat.  Start on one side, then do the opposite side.  This prevents big wrinkles on the seat.

Trim the excess fabric.

Pop the seat back into its frame, and reattach the screws.

Done!  And so much better than before!

Lighten Up: Front Porch Lighting

 

Last month, bunches of my posts involved using up old craft supplies.  Now, it seems that I'll have a ton of home improvement projects, big and small.  Up first is a quick fix that anyone can do: updating the light on the front of your home.  Our whole street is full of houses with itty bitty lights out front.  Tiny porch lights are neither welcoming nor terribly illuminating.  So, I decided we needed to go bigger. 

Check out the before and after pictures and see if you don't agree: bigger is better!

Before

After!

Before: so small!

After: big and bright!

We also put in a tube to make our light go from dusk to dawn, saving energy!  What do you think?

Saturday Snapshot: Inside an Iris