Dinning and Patio Updates!

I really have been enjoying my dining and patio area over the past few years. Now that summer has actually kicked in, I'm hoping to grill out some(fingers crossed the rain stops soon). I started with updating the kitchen with some better lighting. For those evenings that are still hot and humid, it's much nicer dining in the AC. I decided to go with two very inexpensive floor lantern lamps from IKEA  for the corners surrounding the back sliding glass door. I went with the HOLMÖ Floor lamp for $7.99 each.


HOLMO floor lamp pictured here. I chose a soft yellow light bulb to help give the room some warmth and add a relaxed feeling. As you can see, Oppie is enjoying the new lighting as well!

The lamps were extremely easy to assemble too, and I also picked up a cute black lantern, BORRBY for $7.99 to help hide the cords. This lantern can also be used indoors or outdoors and there is a larger version available for $14.99 <Here>.



After assembling the lamp I decided to use staples to secure the cord to the wall. I then added zip ties to restrain the excess wire. This helped visually with keeping it from looking as messy. Especially because it's the first area you see when walking from the living room to the dinning/kitchen area.

I'm so happy with the results and it gives the dining room a restaurant type feel. No more harsh, unflattering overhead lighting at dinner time!

PATIO UPDATE....

I finally got around to updating my patio area as well, which has been pretty lame for some time. When I first purchased the house I chose a very affordable table and chairs from Costco. The thing with affordable is it doesn't always mean comfortable, so I went on a hunt for a comfort solution and found some basic cushions at target. They were NOT for the outdoors and I should have starched them. In time they have faded and were looking pretty sad. Additionally, my former roommate burned several holes in them from cigarettes, so it was definitely time to retire them.

I decided to go with green (big surprise), black, and white. For some time now I have looked for cushions that would fit my smaller round back chairs. I had found some on Home Decorators.com and a few other sites, but didn't really want to pay full price. In time I found almost the exact same product on Target's website! I was very excited because they also carried the throw pillows I wanted to use in the seats as well, which were also on sale. Overstock.com also carries them for a reasonable price.

In addition to the update to the chairs, I also purchased another KARDEMUMMA pot from IKEA and planted some petunias to add some color. This particular pot comes in several different sizes and designs. This is the second one I've purchased with the vertical stripes and I also have one with a diamond pattern in my bedroom.  The pot is intended for indoors, so I placed quite a bit of gravel in the base again to help with watering, and so far so good.

Can't wait to enjoy the new and improved patio with my roommate and neighbors! I'm so ready for some sunshine, drinks, and KC style BBQ! Cheers!

Homemade Spicy Pickles

 

 I don't really know a girl who doesn't love Pinterest, but we all know that often there are so many things we would like to try it's overwhelming. Too many options and ideas sometimes makes it challenging to just commit to one project and just go with it. So, I've decided to try and force myself to do at least one project per week. Try is the key word here, and I'm hoping that as long as school and work aren't too busy I can manage this summer. I've not explored a lot of things in the world of food and cooking, so I'm definitely going to explore that arena. My artistic area is mainly visual, so those projects and ideas come naturally to me, but food is just a foreign medium.  I've got several friends that are amazing cooks too, so I've always been a little intimidated, but here goes! For one of my first foodie projects I decided to try and make pickles. I LOVE spicy food so I went with a spicy pickle Pinterest recipe, but made a few small changes. Here's a link to the original recipe Homemade Spicy Dill Pickles. The only changes I made is I added some lemon and used a lot hotter spices!

First I added all of the spices and vinegar to a sauce pan and boiled for 2 minutes. Then I let it cool to room temp before adding to the pickles. This process was as easy as making spaghetti and I'm hoping to continue to play with the recipe.The pickle cucumbers I purchased had two large and two small sizes, so I decided to use the small ones for my first attempt. I also already had two small jars at home, so I was able to reuse them for the pickles. The larger pickles will require a bigger jar and hopefully my second attempt will turn out even better!

After letting them sit for a day I decided to test them out at a Kansas City Royal's game! Go KC! They lost to Boston, but our tailgate burgers, veggies, and pickles were a hit. Definitely making these again, they were crunchy and tasty!

There are so many different recipes and approaches to making pickles or even pickling fruit and other vegetables. Additionally I hope to try several different flavors including a family recipe that my mother will be providing! That recipe is for sweet pickles, so the flavoring will be very different.  Should be fun and easy to add homemade pickles to my summer BBQ's and picnics, or even as a housewarming gift. Cheers!

Ceiling Fans and Door Repair

As my home settles, several of the doors on the first floor do not close properly now. Particularly the door to the garage and the front door. Additionally the pantry doors were damaged by my former roommate and they also don't quite close correctly now. The original damage was done to the pantry door was stripped out of the henge. To fix this I took as many toothpicks as I could and jammed them into the doors stripped holes. Each time breaking off the excess toothpick. Once I did that I was able to reattach the hinges to the door by simply replacing the original screws with wood screws. All I needed was some toothpicks, wood screws, and a drill! I apologize for no photos on this project, but I did it some time ago.

The latch to the garage door that was not in alignment

To repair the latch to the garage door I needed to make sure the door was better aligned. You can use a wood router for this or just a hammer and chisel. First you have to figure out the alignment to lower the female end of the latch. This requires two steps with the chisel. Not only do you need to lower the large opening but also where the metal cover is inlaid. You can repair the area where the metal plate initially sat with some wood filler.

 The second problem with the pantry doors I faced was the original latch had worn out. The latch is located at the top of the door and involved a spring and ball mechanism called a Ball Catch. I had originally replaced one, but now both are not working again. You can usually find them easily on line when using the search term "closet door ball catch latch." My next project with the pantry doors will be to repair the damage to the wood caused by the last door latch.

The latch above the pantry door

On to the next project! I also decided to install two ceiling fans upstairs. I'll be honest...I think they are hideous and really am not a fan of ceiling fans aesthetically speaking, but they are very functional. This is especially true for a two story row home. My roommates room is directly of the garage, so keeping it cool in the summer and warm in the winter is a challenge. I also have very large windows in my bedroom facing west so my room heats up shortly before dusk. I'm hoping the fans will help cut down on cooling costs this summer and provide a little more comfort!

Master Bedroom Ceiling Fan

Luckily my home was pre-wired for ceiling fans. All we had to do was figure out the wiring and install. This did take some time and a lot of running up and down from the basement flipping the circuit breaker for safety. If you chose to install one yourself, please use precaution and do not attempt to do it alone. If my home wasn't already wired for a fan I would have hired someone to do it. Each fan has probably unique instructions so follow them carefully. Hopefully this is just an example of how it can be done if it's wired and ready to go.

The overhead light before

Basic wires (please turn off the circuit breaker before handling)

Be careful when testing the wires and make sure you don't attempt alone; also they may not color match the same.

Ceiling Fan parts

Might want to put a tarp down if you have trouble leveling and have to remove dry wall.

In progress

Be sure that the fan is level

Blades go on last!

I'm so glad it will be a lot cooler in my bedroom, and hopefully cut down on energy costs this summer. Cheers!

Indoor Herbs

Another fun recent project has been growing herbs. Initially I attempted to grow them from seeds and pretty much failed miserably. My next attempt was to just purchase the plants and pot them, and so far so good! For the planters, I just picked up some basic pots from IKEA and added rocks to the bottom to help with watering and root growth. I did get some Miracle-Gro Indoor Plant Food to help too, and it's been working pretty well. 

I've been watering once a week and just adding one "pump" of the plant food. The cilantro has been the most challenging, but it seems to be picking up. The Thai basil initially was looking a little sad as well, but I think that's due to me not planting it that straight and the plant growing towards the sun. I have them sitting off my back door window, which faces east. The back patio is fairly enclosed, so hopefully they will continue to get enough sun and thrive! Cheers! 

Two More Wine Glass Projects

Yet two more birthday gifts that involved a little bit of creativity. I had done wine glasses for my mother and they had turned out really well. There were only a few things I wasn't too please with regarding the use of sharpies. In that project I learned to be careful with the width of writing or how thick of lines or shapes you create in the middle of the bulb of the glass. Once the glass is full it's fine, but when it's not, you can somewhat see through the strokes of the drawing. This time I did slightly different designs to personalize them.

 

I did slightly different patterns and one was specifically for a dog lover. A second thing I learned from these gifts is my silver marker works better to prevent the see through effect for larger areas, but it seemed to not stick as well. I guess I'll just have to visit them and enjoy some wine while I correct any rub off! 

Both of these friends love to entertain so hopefully these glasses will be a nice addition to their homes. Cheers!

Master Bedroom Updates

New mirror and lamp

My master bedroom is nearly completed and has turned out quite well! I did do a few more simple things to add a little bit of "sparkle" to the room just to add those finishing touches. Primarily I added votive candles above the TV, curtains, and a floor mirror with a light above it.

New candle holders and candles 

Hanging the candle holders from CB2 was pretty simple. I chose the wall-mounted candle holders all you need is a nail and some teal light or votive candles. I do suggest being very careful when you blow out the candles though, the wax tends to splatter. Additionally I opted for tea lights and the use of a lighter for grilling to minimize mess.

CB2 candle holder

I decided to hang them in a random pattern that I first laid out on the bed for visualization. I tried to make sure it wasn't perfectly symmetrical, but still pleasing to the eye. For example, the two outside candles I didn't want them to be too different in terms of width and height of the arrangement, but still a nice visual close to the outline of the candles. Oh, and yes that is Bill Burr and I'm glad someone in this world is trying to read...Hahaha!

Once lite it really added nice lighting to the room despite my camera not exactly capturing the effect. 

Here's another angle of the new candles. 

Next up were the MERETE curtains! They are from IKEA and were way too long so I just gathered the fabric together at the base. In time I would like to shorten them, but I do like the effect of them gathered on the ground. 

New IKEA curtains

In addition to the candles and curtains, I also finally purchased the Hovet floor mirror that I just love! It's also IKEA and has helped out a lot with getting ready in the morning. It's much larger and lighter than my old mirror, which is great if i need to move it. The ÅRSTID wall lamp you see above the mirror was also added and extremely simple to mount. Luckily there is a plug in directly behind the mirror minimizing the exposure of the wire.

Wall lamp

Overall I'm pretty happy with the bedroom updates, in particular the candles. The curtains add a nice finished look, but they do make the room feel a bit smaller. The mirror also was a great addition and somewhat helps balance out the size issue caused by the curtains. Cheers!