Hello Again...

I'm alive, promise.

It's been an interesting last couple of months.

Lots of changes.

One notable change:

The Steinberger's have relocated!

Our decision to rid ourselves of the project our living situation came just before the bathroom remodel. It was much more lucrative for us to leave, rent for a year or so and buy something with enough room, less projects, etc, etc.We are truly enjoying a break from the endless chats about projects, endless lists, material shopping, late nights spent grouting, dry walling, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I feel so blessed to have such a handy hubby and to have a strong enough marriage to easily handle and actually totally enjoy doing renovations together. BUT, we're over it. Time to move on. Above is a picture of our new digs. We're totally at home here, for now. Honestly: home is where ever my husband is. I'm fine with how cheesy that was. I just really, really love the dude.

Tricky Treats

Every self proclaimed (and professional) cook has a couple of random and unexpected frustrations in the kitchen. The chefs that I work with surprise me with their soft boiled egg or perfectly shaped cookie setbacks. Super simple dishes, right? And for professional chefs? What kind of restaurant does this girl run, anyway? If you're in the kitchen at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't fret, even the pro's experience these simple dish vexations. Oddly, candied nuts and home made hash browns have been my personal tricky treats. However, I am very proud to say that I may have mastered the trick to these treats!

For perfect hash browns:

1. Peel and grate desired amount of potatoes, I normally do about 4 for Jeremy and I  (brown, red, sweet all work)
2. Put grated potatoes into a bowl of cold water, wait until the water is very cloudy (approx 7 mins)
3. Strain grated potatoes, really well
4. Repeat 3 times, maybe more depending on how starchy your potatoes are, until the water is fairly clear with the grated potatoes in it
5. Strain potatoes extremely well (I normally let it sit in the strainer for 20 or so mins to drain as much water as possible)
6. Pour all of the grated potatoes on to a kitchen towel and pat dry, the dryer the better
7. Heat a large skillet with 1 tbsp of butter (for 4 potatoes), 1 tbsp of minced garlic and enough olive oil to lightly fill the bottom of the pan.
8. Once the butter is melted and you can smell the garlic, transfer the grated potatoes to the pan, sprinkle whatever seasoning you would like and leave until the pan side is browned, flip, done!

And for delish candied nuts:

1. Boil raw nuts until soft- 15/20 mins ish (pictured below: about 1 lb of whole/raw walnuts)

 2. Strain the nuts and immediately transfer to a boil of white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and I add a pinch of chili powder. Coat every nut completely by tossing them in the sugar mixture. (Tip: save the nut water to make a yummy gravy with to pour over chicken or any protein later on)

 3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Transfer coated nuts to a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 or so minutes, you'll know when they're done when the sugar stops boiling and starts caramelizing; sticking to the nuts.

 4. Let the nuts sit for just a few minutes and transfer into a bowl. You don't want them to completely harden on the wax paper, unless you eat wax paper intentionally as a supplement for some sort of fiber deficiency...

And there you have it! Enjoy and good luck conquering  your personal tricky treats!

Summer bucket list...

... errrr, Winter bucket list? It's always a little hilarious to me when I set a date or time frame for home renovations. Projects always take longer than expected. We always have busier schedules than anticipated. And on and on. My personal struggle with being very type A has eased considerably and I'm pleasantly content with any sort of progress being made. A couple of weekends ago, Jeremy and I FINALLY got a couple of coats of paint on the house! We've been preparing for paint since June, how crazy is that?? All of our windows are installed and trimmed out. We ordered/assembled and installed the new front door. We finished our roofing and installed all of the flashing. All of the fascia has been scraped and primed. Holes have been filled, all of the scraping, priming, pressure washing, random hardware removing, caulking, etc is totally done. Now, we are waiting for the weather to improve to finish the following:

-Prime/paint office exterior door and trim
- 3rd coat- front/sides fascia
- 1st/2nd/3rd coat back fascia
- Paint exterior doors: office, shop, kitchen, second office door
- Stain front door

We were so lucky to have had a couple of extra hands on the second day of painting and were left with very little to complete.

We also completed a third set of shutters. Now every window have shutters in the front of the house.

 On the left is the door when we first installed it. Since, I ordered Baldwin door hardware and a dentil shelf. Eventually the door will be stained a deep red and the front porch will match.

 The top is the after view. I love how the gray hue accentuates the ranch style house and the beautiful white trim around our brand new windows. The shutters are such a great touch. *pats self on the back

 Pretty great, right?

Windows

All of our windows are finally installed and the outside trim is done. We are now in the process of replacing the old/mismatching trim and by the end of the month we are scheduled to paint the entire exterior.

The house will be a creamy gray, trim will be off white and our shutters are black

It's all in the little things

Today, I was able to work from home and check some things off of my list of to-do's. Typically, I have two types of lists for myself: 1. my daily lists that are created and achieved every single day and 2. my on-going lists that are for myself but are not time pressing projects or chores that can get done when I can find the time. Amongst the phone calls and email correspondence, I had laundry and the crock pot going, I got the house cleaned and the dogs bathed. I did some organizing and other general productive items on my list. In the middle of the day, I started noticing that there are elements of my home that made me smile. They are small but smile worthy. And if you're anything like me (quite particular and OCD in many ways, tidy, clean, etc), and are living in, what seems more of a project than a home, it is important to take note of the things that you truly enjoy about the project home that you live in.

 1. A pretty and small bouquet of flowers in a mason jar on the table (even though they're roses, not my favorite)

2. All of the laundry is done :)

3. I got to spend the entire day with my Jeremy's puppy. (he's normally with Jeremy on his job sites while I'm working)

4. I have been wanting to break up the sterile look of mostly cream on the guest bed and found this couch blanket at Costco. It's perfect and I'm totally going back to get one for the couch. It's super warm and cozy.

5. The entire day was over cast and very intro-to-Fall-esque. Which inspired me to browse for sweaters. I found these at TJ Maxx. They're perfect.

6. I, recently, found a way to organize all of my batteries and light bulbs. I can't tell you how much more enjoyable it is to reach for a replacement bulb or battery, knowing that they aren't unorganized or messy in their wrappers, but instead, in bins.

 7. As I was taking a break from the inside chores by throwing the ball around for Peter, the puppy, I noticed that our gardens and fruit trees could use some harvesting. I love eating the produce from our own yard.

8. I planted some dwarf curry and several different kinds of lavender plants in our front flower gardens and they are spreading and growing like crazy. The combination of the two are so beautiful and smell heavenly.

Projects: chevron inspired and nesting baskets

 Hello all! I realize that my blogging has turned into a consistent inconsistency. I do have several projects and vacations, etc to share. Be prepared, this might be a bomb of blog posts kind of day or two.

Until December, we had nothing to hide the wires hanging from the TV, and that bugged me. And, until recently we had nothing around the TV. Just a blank wall. With a big TV. That, also, bugged me. I had different intentions for the space around the TV then what we ended up with but as with most DIY projects, I switched gears mid project because: a. I can and b. my original thought was not working once it came to life.

For above the TV, Jeremy and I built a large 64" x 11" Chevron inspired wall hanging out of Cedar 1x4's and used old stain from countless past projects alternating boards or even splitting one board with a lighter stain on one side and darker on the other. The trick was to be as random and non uniform as possible. Even with the sanding.

To the right and the left of the TV needed something also. I have been looking forward to pulling the trigger on some non-authentic African style nesting baskets off of Amazon (shameful, I know... there are many wonderful websites that sell authentic African woven baskets by men and women in Uganda and Kenya... they were just a little spendier than what I was looking to spend) UNTIL! I found this link on Pinterest for home made nesting baskets.

The gals at Two Girls Being Crafty explain this process very well with step by step instructions. The only thing that I would add is make sure your patience level is at an all time high because the process of Mod Podge-ing and swirling the hemp (or whatever material you use) can be quite frustrating. Be liberal with the Mod Podge (it dries clear). And don't remove the bowl off of the bowl mold for a day or two, to make sure that it's totally dry and doesn't lose it's shape. I also sprayed mine with a clear sealant.

 

And finally, below is the product of the craftiness. I love how the snake plants and white elephants subtly add to the African theme in our living room.

 

House Update

My mom came to visit us in August (wow, has it really been that long ago??) and we had a massive to-do list that we basically tackled. We took a serious break from house projects after we waved good-bye to my mom. But, as any other obsessive, compulsive person would, the one remaining item on the list has been driving me crazy! I've been silently going crazy, don't go thinking I'm a slave driver with my amazingly talented husband, now. Speaking of Jeremy, he finally checked that item off of the list.

The entertainment center:

Can you believe that he made that thing? Pretty awesome.

Here are some other new projects:

This one was fun and basically free. The picture was hung all by itself until I rummaged through my mother-in-laws storage furniture and found the shelf, made the wire elephant, swapped the the potted greenery from the bathroom to the shelf and found this old hard back book about African animals at St. Vincent.

All of the movies are now in the entertainment center so I used the shelf to decorate! With a couple of more thrift store book finds that were theme appropriate and some decor swapping, presto!

Some exciting purchases:
I know that 24 is way too young to be this excited about these but boy o boy am I excited!

Our old fireplace doors were glass and super old and weren't functional at all. That and the glass blew out one night... Kind of scary!ACK! The new toilet is our most recent addition to the house. Imagine: a toilet that you don't have to squat over and that flushes without holding the flusher down for 10 minutes. Incredible!

Windows and a bamboozled yard

We've been planning to get rid of our bamboo in the back yard for the two years we've been here. Wanna see why?

And this is with serious grooming. True story.
Here are some during photos. I didn't snap very many because I was in absolute awe and amazement at every transforming movement of the tractor. Kind of awesome.
Here's some afters. We rototilled the area and very meticulously sorted dirt from root. We need to treat the area and baby it for the next month before we can think about planting anything, landscapers orders. We drained out the pond, also. We basically need to redo everything we've done to our yard. It's fine though. I'm still on a post-bamboo high. It's like magic, what the lack of bamboo has done for our yard. Our yard has been bamboozled!

We also knocked the trim in the living room off of our list.
It's hard to tell in a picture what all needed to be done. We needed to sand/caulk/fill in holes/prime and paint...
This is what a hard working husband looks like when it's late at night and he's determined to finish a lingering project.

And viola! It's finally finished.

Check and check!

I saw the sign... And then I hung it on the wall

My family sign has finally been hung on the wall and the coat hooks have also graced the wall with their presence. Here's the grand finale (minus the bench):

Here's a shot of the sign on the wall with the slate entry.

And the bench, once it's made, will go right under the sign. It'll measure about 18 inches high and will be the length of the sign I made. I'm pretty stoked about it!

Bedroom Decor, Check!

My poor bedroom has been the object of neglect for two years. We've painted it, built a closet in it, half-heartedly hung some below parr decorations in it, along with some wood blinds to replace the drapes that came with the house. Beyond that, nothing. How sad! Thankfully I included our bedroom in our checklist and went to work to decorate the poor thing. Here's the transformation process in action:

We started with this... (don't judge)

I designed an eclectic wall mural, of sorts, collection of things-whatever you want to call it- that included things we loved. I designed it to wrap from that window on the left to a window on the right. I started by repurposing some things, painting things, assembling, making from scratch, etc. to get a large pool of things to pull from in the making of this design.

Here are the letters l-o-v-e that I stenciled onto wood from our scrap wood pile. Jeremy cut them out and I painted them

I painted frames that were for art that used to go in our old office. They were actually pictures that were in our "Goodwill pile." I took out the old pictures, painted the frames and popped in some unframed wedding pictures that have been stored for years.

Here is the start of my collection of things I had planned to paint and use in the design

Here are some of the decorations getting their either black or gold spray paint bath

Once everything was painted/repurposed/tinkered with, I arranged them on the floor to make sure everything would fit in the space I had planned for them on the wall. To make the hanging easy I just measured and drew guidelines on the wall so I knew exactly how high and how low the design could go.

And here's what it looks like on the wall:

Other gold/black decorations in the room:
Before:After:I was also able to check the "add height to the corner" item off of our list by moving those candle sticks from our living room into our room.

This whole project grand total: free.

We used things that we had and painted them with paint that we had. Gotta love that!