You've Got Mail!

Beth and I met our freshman year of college.  Depending on who you're talking to, we met either first semester between piano lessons or the next semester in freshman speech.

We were seated next to each other in freshman speech, and she said "Hi, I'm Beth."

Stricken, I stared at her.  "I know who are.  My piano lesson is right before yours."

I still give her a hard time about not knowing we were already friends, and she talks about thinking I was a crazy stalker.  I prefer to think I was a friendly stalker.  Crazy friend?

We became the kind of friends that being in speech class together creates.  Four years, lots of coffee, laughs, heartache, and two diplomas later, we took jobs at the same music school and moved into a house together.  That summer we both supplemented our teaching jobs with babysitting, and the family Beth worked for bought her a pool membership.  We spent every weekend of that sticky, South Carolina summer at the pool reading novels, drinking La Croix and listening to the You've Got Mail soundtrack.  To this day I can't hear Dreams by the Cranberries without smelling suntan lotion.

When Beth got engaged, I knew I had to throw her a You've Got Mail bridal shower.

In the name of research, I watched You've Got Mail.  Then I armed up with some custom typed prints, cookies, and a few special decorations.

I couldn't find a craft mailbox anywhere, so I bought a regulation-sized mailbox at Home Depot.  It came in handy for Christmas decorating too!  Now I'm trying to figure out how I ever decorated without one.

The print-outs were downloaded from Etsy. I put them in assorted frames I had, and displayed them on that bird stand and a couple stacks of books.  The little gift box and napkins are from Target.  

The brunch spread included my favorite breakfast casserole from Taste of Home and Smitten Kitchen salted caramel breakfast pudding.

No You've Got Mail event would be complete without a typewriter, daisies and a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils.

I am a lone reed.

The cookies were custom ordered from my favorite local bakery Bakery Off Augusta.

Congratulations, Beth!

My friend Rachel took the beautiful photos.  Go check out her blog The Hippie Homestead.

Match Made in Sherwin-Williams

Renovating the guest room is starting to get exhausting. After working on it all day last Saturday, Thursday and today, I am ready for a week of sitting at a desk.  I told my FIL we should go into construction business and call it Collins and Collins  But I've since changed my mind.

But we have managed to go from this:

To this:

To this!

Progress

It's a little dusty right now, in spite of my FIL's best efforts with a broom and shop vac.

Between the heavy lifting (i.e my FIL's availability) I've been working to stain all the unfinished pine trim.

The former DIYer owners had pulled down some of the crown moldings in the house.  I couldn't figure out why, until I found it in the banister of the loft railing.  NOT the correct way to upcycle.

So I pulled out all the moldings in the guest room and set them aside to fill in the missing spaces in the dining room.  I plan to stain all new molding as close as possible but not put any old next to new. 

In order to have stain matched, Sherwin-Williams needs a sample of the wood that will be stained.  I went to Home Depot and bought a 4x1 pine board.  Then I dropped it off at SW with a sample of the existing trim.  The next day, they called and told me my stain was matched!

The board showed all the different stains they'd tested to get a match.

To achieve the same look as my existing trim and moldings, I needed to buy wood conditioner and gloss in addition to the stain.

I can't believe how much more finished things look with the wood stain.  I'm slowly getting the hang of applying it.  Although, I did discover wood stain on my ear yesterday just before going out with friends for Valentine's Day.  Thankfully the restaurant walls were wood-paneled, so it was easy to camouflage.

See Henry in that picture up there?  He's been alternating between hiding under the table and trying to slip into the room behind us.  It's harder to know who will be more relieved when we're finished with this room!

Oh, and see that work around the door?  Yeah, we didn't do that.  It looked like that when we moved in.  Just one of the reasons I cried in this room during the walk-through.

Part of this door jamb was the original color (possibly former crown molding??) and part of it I stained to match.  Pretty good match, right?

Now that I've started staining, we're questioning what to do with all the wood in our house.  I had originally thought we could have the dark and light pine together.  Now I'm thinking we need to stain it all.  I just wonder if that stain is too dark for all the wall and if we should match the trim to the light pine.

I hate to replace all the wood trim, doors and the stairs, but I do want it to look finished.

To stain or not to stain?

Thoughts??

Paint Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Stained wood trim is a wiley beast. It turns out you cannot use the same paint in your white-trimmed townhouse in your wood-trimmed farmhouse no matter how much you love the hue.  It is just not the same animal.

In my (limited) experience, white trim is far more forgiving.  Wood trim stained in cherry like ours, is orange tinted.  Put that orange next to the beautiful golds and tans I had in the other house and you have the equivalent of mustard and cheese next to each other on a hamburger bun. Not pretty.

Our old bedroom was painted in Sherwin-Williams Anjou Pear.  It was pretty much my favorite paint color and I recommended it to everyone.  

See that orange chest on tall dresser?  Imagine that is the wood trim all along the floors and ceilings with that paint color.  

Exactly.

Throw in brick floors, and you're left with one viable option: cool neutrals.

This has meant a lot of research and a lot of paint samples on the walls.  Not a single wall in our house is free from a paint sample right now.  Matt asked me if I am immune to it and now think it's art.  Not a bad idea.  Maybe use throw some empty frames up there...

The top contender for the primary color in our house right now is Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray.

I went to Sherwin Williams and told the sale's associate, "I'm looking for Amazing Gray?"

He sighed and said "Everyone is looking for Amazing Gray."

That was enough to make me reconsider.  I don't want to be like everyone!  But I'd done a lot of research online and had a good feeling about this one.

He said "I'll be so glad when this gray phase is over.  Everyone wants a true gray, but true gray doesn't exist."

Ok, so I'm not like everyone.  I already know this because I have wood trim and spent hours on the internet.

I said "I know the internet isn't always right."

He interrupted me "It's never right."

I promise not to blame you, Sherwin-William's man, if this doesn't work.  But I really think this is the color family for me.

Wordly Gray is one color down the paint chip from Amazing Gray.  

See how the gray looks pretty, well, gray up there?

Look at it here with the wood trim:

Next to the cherry stain, it suddenly looks less gray and looks a little more taupe.  

This is pretty obvious, but it had me flummoxed for weeks.  I could not figure out why the colors I loved so much looked so green-tinted and pukey on the walls of our new house. 

I'm very excited to paint a full wall with this stuff and see how it works.  Anything to go from 1970 to French countryside.

Maybe one day our grandchildren will be talking about going from French countryside to 1970.  Go for it!

Guest Room Plans

It feels so good to finally be doing something.  The last two (what??) years have felt like a lot of time spent sitting around, but it turns out that whole lot of nothing has to happen before one can do something.

It can be frustrating when I want to paint, but I can't paint because drywall is damaged.  There's no point in patching the dry walll, because we're replacing the windows.

I divided up our list of projects into "Contract Out" and "DIY."

Since the newer part of the house (living room, master bed/bath) has the most work needing to be contracted out (windows!), I designated that "The Forbidden Zone."  I'm not letting myself do anything over there no matter how small or doable.  This has been immensely helpful in keeping me sane.  As I'm lying in bed at night staring at the misfitted moldings, I just tell myself "Forbidden Zone!" and fall asleep.

And if I am in the other half of the house thinking, "I need to do something!" I simply walk into the guest room and pull nails out of the wall.  But more on that later.

When I walked into the guest room during our final walk through, I burst into tears.  The two times we had viewed the house, the room had been crammed full of furniture and had curtains hanging up.  Completely bare and lit up, the room now obviously had water damage that had been incorrectly repaired, cracked drywall, missing moldings, and an awkward "walk-in closet" that the previous owners had DIY'd.

Note: The previous owners DIY'd in every room of this house.  It has completely soured my opinion ofhome renovators.  May I suggest that the next trend be DIYCOHAP (Do It Yourself Correctly or Hire A Professional)?

There was no away around it.  We were going to have to pull out the drywall and install it correctly.  Also biting the dust was the awful, awful closet.  Words cannot even describe, so maybe this picture will help.

The back of this admittedly oversize room had been converted to a closet and an outdoor storage unit. At some point someone decided using an inside room as an outdoor storage unit wasn't working too great, and the sealed it up.  Without using an insulation..  So there was a standard sized room, a walk-in closet flush with the window, and a sealed up space that we couldn't access.

I'm going for something a little more like this:

Space we can access! Space for window trim! Even more space!

We're in the process of pulling down the drywall, but in the meantime, I put together an inspiration board.  Because that's more fun and less itchy than pulling out moldy insulation.

1. Paint: Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray and wood trim stained to match the rest of the house.  More to come on choosing paint colors and matching wood stain!

2. The wiring in our weird unique house is mostly on the walls because the ceiling is wood paneled and there is no attic. Something I never would have considered before having to deal with it.  It is tricky to find wall lighting that gives off enough light and doesn't look like it belongs in a bathroom.  I was thrilled to find this barn light at Joss & Main (unfortunately, that item is sold out).

3. With the gray walls, wood trim, and brick floors, I think a subtle painted piece of furniture would do great in there.  I have my eye on this bookshelf from Shanty 2 Chic, but we'll have to see how that goes.  If I don't build it myself, I'll have to have my friend Hazelnut paint something for me.

4. These curtains are also from Joss & Main.

5. The furniture and bedding is moving from our bedroom to the guest room.  As hard as we've tried, we cannot make the solid, king-sized set fit in the master bedroom.  But now the guest room will have plenty of space!

6. I waffled for a while on replacing the ceiling fan with another ceiling fan.  There are some gorgeous orb chandeliers right now.  But as much as I like a modern French Countryside style, we don't have a French countryside climate, and fans are necessary.  I think the clear bulbs on this are lovely.

7. I am so in love with that little blue pug, I can't even stand it.  He might just end up in our house.  And I like the idea of mixing in some illustration art with the classic furnishings.

Stay tuned!  There is a lot more dust and heavy lifting before I get to hang any curtains, but I'll be back soon to talk about getting wood stain professionally matched.  #DIYCOHAP

Chaos

Renovations have begun.  And my dining room now resembles an antique store.  If this goes on for much longer, I might slap some price tags on things and open the house to the public.

A Great Big Room

It is time to finally begin some real renovations on the house.  Matt and I sat down and listed every change for every room.  We've had some vague, dreamy notions over the past couple years, but now we're nailing things down (literally and figuratively).  After we had our detailed list, we tried to prioritize the order we'll do things. The chicken coop comes first. 1. because we need to weather-proof that siding, and 2. because we've had the paint since Memorial Day.  Rainy days and chickens have slowed that progress, but I'm hoping to show the finished results SOON.

The second project on our list is the dining room/great room.  Prepare for an onslaught of pictures.

If the reclaimed wood front doors had me at hello, it was the great big dining room that sealed the deal.  Forget the half finished crown moulding, the total lack of electric lights in the kitchen, and four (4!) colors of paint on the outside of the house.  I loved the house's warm brick floors and the soaring wood ceilings.  As Anne Shirley would say, it gave me much "scope for the imagination."

What I failed to imagine was how difficult it would be to change light bulbs.

Here is what the dining room looked like the day after we closed.  Thank you to my FIL for providing me with the picture.

I don't know if the pictures can convey the sheer size of this room.  The previous owners actually sectioned it off and used it as both the dining room and living room and then used the living room as their master bedroom.

Every time I suggest this to Matt, he gives me a look and says "Uh, no."  Can't you see it, though?  Gargantuan Master Bedroom with bay window, door to patio and an attached sitting room and bathroom (aka existing master and bathroom)?  I can.

Here's what the dining room looked like after we moved in our furniture.

There have been some minor changes along the way: Marcia helped me paint the walls, and we bought a light fixture (but never hung it). It has a long ways to go.

I'm mostly happy with the new wall color.  The grey blue works well with the wood and brick, but sometimes it looks purple or periwinkle.  I plan to paint over it with something more green and less red.

The built-ins are made from cheap particle board.  I've since painted them white and hung embossed wall paper in the back.  It's my very own wall of white, and I look forward to showing it off here soon.

I left our rugs at the townhouse while it was listed.  After we moved everything back in, I put a big red and beige rug under the dining room table.  This helps divide up the massive room and add some definition to a dining area.

Here's looking at the other side.


Most importantly, the whole room needs more light.  Don't let those glowing squares fool you.  At night, it's like eating in a cave.

The wood makes things look warm and rustic, but there are actually four different shades going on in one room.  Neither of us have ever worked with wood stain before, but we're going to give it a go.  Any tips would be appreciated!  From what I understand the key is: go slow and wear gloves.

We're working on getting quotes on new siding and windows.  The plan is to add windows to that outside wall and let some views and natural light into the dining room.

I put together this mood board to help us keep our visual goals on track.  The source list and explanations are below.  The main objectives are to finish the mismatched wood, bring more textures and colors for visual interest, and add more light.

1. The blue-grey tone of the wall paint is close to what we were going for, but I want something with less red.  I think Sherwin Williams rain SW 6219 would be a good one to try.

We're going to attempt to have the existing stains matched, but I want to get our natural woods down to just two shades.

2. This Pottery Barn lantern hung in front of our door will create more light and also help give the impression of a foyer.

3.  We already own this Bolten Lantern also from Pottery Barn.  It is big enough to fill the space created by 15 foot (!!) ceilings as well as add definition to the dining area.

4.  I have a cedar bench that I use for storage.  Adding pillows to the top adds visual interest in both the colors and the textures.  I love the feathers on the lumbar pillow from World Market.  It suggests chickens and turkeys to me without being too country.  The orange velvet pillow is from Pottery Barn.

5. A traditional wool rug really pops on those brick floors.  We have one from our old house that we are using.  This one from a local store, Capel Rugs, is just a placeholder on the inspiration board.  But the more I look at it, the more places I think I could put it.

6. These Sango dishes in eggplant are what we got for our wedding and have been using ever since.

7. My friend Emily painted this print available on West Elm.  It is 30" x 40".  I like the idea of using a picture of sky expanse to fill in our tall walls.

8. The existing balusters needed to be replaced like yesterday.  They are cheap 2 x 2 pine boards installed with wood putty (warning: do not lean against them).  We love the simplicity of these metal balusters with just a single knuckle.  Watch us learn how to install them!

9 I'm utterly charmed by these textured mercury vases from West Elm.  I stumbled across them when looking up Emily's painting, and now I'm going to be checking in on them regularly in hopes they go on sale.

Let the home improvements begin!

How to be Tender

One of the best books I've read on food is An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler.  I have to thank Alison for mentioning it in the comments a while back.  She thought I would enjoy it, and she was correct.

(Please keep recommending these books to me!  Addy told me about Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, and I've already read it twice)

Tamar Adler has a strong core belief about food and a simply beautiful way of talking about it.  She writes about buying food she loves and cooking it rather than buying ingredients to make complicated recipes.  She says she tries to never start any meal from nothing, but rather to let every meal fall into the next like dominoes.

Her chapter on boiling water will make you want to fill every pot in your kitchen and carry it over to the stove.  I fell asleep reading the chapter entitled "How To Stride Ahead" and dreamed peacefully about roast vegetables.  Seriously.  I still remember it vividly.

She says to waste nothing.  Use the stems and greens from your vegetables to make a green pesto, throw anything else in water and make broth.  Even the heat of a cooling oven can be used to warm plates for dinner.

After butchering chickens this weekend, I turned to her chapter "How To Be Tender" for insight. I have no qualms eating meat or even meat I raised myself.  But there is a sobriety to cooking something that we've raised.  When I've witnessed the life go out of the chicken, it becomes even more crucial not to waste it.

Cleaning out the chickens, I carefully set aside the livers.  I had never eaten chicken livers before, but I have always liked foie gras pate.  After salting and refrigerating the chickens, I got to work cooking the livers.  They cooked up golden and aromatic.  Then, following the directions in An Everlasting Meal I mixed them with butter and cooked shallots and just the smallest splash of Scottish whiskey.

Here's how Tamar Adler introduces her instructions for chicken liver pate.

"As for forays into the murky, hidden, tender world beneath what we consider meat, start small.  The hearts and livers of chickens and kidneys and hearts of lambs are simple to cook and delicious.

"The livers can be salted, lightly seared in butter, then sliced and eaten on buttered toast as tentatively and inquisitively as you want." (pg 172)

I certainly understand approaching livers tentatively.  As one person told me, "I don't think I can eat organs."  But these livers, cooked up tender and velvety and whipped up with an obscene amount of butter eaten on toast with bread and butter pickles might just change your mind.

You can (and should) get the original recipe from An Everlasting Meal.  But here is how I made mine.

1/4 lb chicken livers
salt & pepper
4 tablespoons of butter
splash of whiskey (or white wine - whatever spirits you keep on hand for cooking)
1/2 shallot finely chopped
pinch of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of water
pinch of ground clove

Clean the livers of any membrane and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan.  Fry the livers until brown, turning once.  Remove from pan.  Add shallots to pan along with the whiskey and water.  Cook until the shallots are tender.   Combine cooked livers, shallots (be sure to scrape the pan to get all the cooking flavors) and remaining butter to a food processor.  Blend until smooth.

Refrigerate before eating for best consistency.  Eat on toast rounds or crackers.