side table refresh

Over time, everything in my home gets moved around and re-purposed. And I'm always looking for ways to use what I have. So when my roommate was going to be putting his old nightstand out on the curb almost two years ago, I took it and painted it white and gave it new hardware and it served as a good nightstand for me for a while.
But I was never too fond of it, the bamboo styling didn't really fit with my bedroom and it was at lot bigger than I needed, though having a drawer was excellent. So when I started the whole domino effect project of getting a new mattress> new bed frame> new rug etc it was time for this nightstand to go. And while it sat in the hallway for a week so I could ponder if it was time for it's long awaited trip to the curb, I thought, maybe I can use this somewhere else. And then I happened to be obsessively looking at Emily Henderson's bedrooms pinterest board for inspiration when I stumbled across a little green bamboo table. This one was more of a mini cabinet, with doors instead of a drawer and shelf, but I thought, it's just one can of spray paint, it can't hurt to try.
So off I went to the hardware store to pick up the brightest green they had in a gloss finish.
This is the table up on my roof mid paint job.
  
After it had finished drying (I took advantage of a spectacularly sunny day so it only took about 30 minutes but I left it up there longer so all the fumes could dissipate) I carried it back downstairs and tried it out next to the sofa. It fits perfectly tucked behind the arm, and while the drawer isn't easily accessible that doesn't bother me as I have nothing I need to store there, and the top is nice and wide so that I can have both a plant and space for peoples drinks or snacks or whatever they might need to set there. It's a fun bit of color and for just the cost of a single can of spray paint, it was a satisfyingly quick update so for now, I think I this little table can stay.

March muni people

I'm still going strong with the weekly muni people project I set for myself at the beginning of the year. They are starting to look like a pretty awesome collection all laid out together. I'm excited to see them continue. You can follow along in real time, they are at #munioftheweek on Instagram.

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Working on an Ikea hack.....

pies and recipes

I believe last week I said something about sharing recipes for some of the pies I made for the pie day party. It's difficult for me to write about recipes because I rarely use them and if I do I tend to only vaguely follow them. But I did actually use several so here's what worked for me. 

First, the most popular, the key lime pie. I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I didn't change anything (other than using my own gf crumb crust) because it was perfect and boy did it turn out great.

The apple pie was just my standard go to, the filling is pretty much apples plus lemon juice plus a bit of brown sugar and cinnamon. The berry pie was similar except, you know, berries in place of apples. For both fruit pies I used an olive oil crust recipe my mother. 

2 cups flour

1/2 cup oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

I use ice water for more traditional pie crusts, and then I stored the crust in the freezer for two days before the party. This appeared to help it to hold together better, since I often struggle with gluten free crusts being difficult and crumbly. 

The lemon blackberry pie was another big winner (people really responded to the tart citrus pies-good to know) and while it used the same oil crust as the apple and berry pies, I did work from a recipe for the filling. This is what I ended up with (adapted from better homes and gardens) I ended up using less sugar and more lemon peel because I wanted the filling to be super lemon-y.

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup shredded lemon peel

3/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup blackberries  

I combine the eggs and egg whites with the lemon juice with an electric mixer (I just have a small hand mixer but it works quite well) and then added the butter and lemon peel before pouring it over the blackberries in a prebaked pie crust. I believe I baked it for about 20 minutes at 350 as I was working with very small pies, but I imagine with a full sized pie 30 would be better. I just took them out when the lemon filling was no longer liquid.

I can't seem to find my notes from the coconut chocolate creme pie but I will keep trying to locate those because it was fantastic. Until then, lets talk about Banoffee pie. Banoffee seems to be a British thing? It's bananas and toffee and frankly I made it mostly cause I wanted to say Banoffee over and over again. However it was also excellent and super easy. 

First, take one can of sweet condensed milk with the label peeled off and place it in boiling water for 2.5 hours. When you take it out, it will be caramel. This is like magic! After that it was as simple as slicing a bunch of banana into a crumb crust and pouring the caramel/toffee over the top. I suggest setting it a bit in the fridge before serving though as it is a bit gooey. In a good way.

let there be light

Do you ever get a hankering to make something specific and you just have to make it right now? This happens to me frequently. I think it's partly to see if my idea will work, partly so I can try it before I forget the idea, partly just plain old impatience.
So I kept seeing this candle holder everywhere in house tours and on pinterest. And it is beautiful but also many many dollars out of my budget. But I had a lightbulb idea where I remembered something I had seen in the hardware store and thought maybe I could make one of my own. Obviously not as nice but worth a shot. So off to the hardware store I went and then it went a little bit like this:

The finished product is very cute, and I think it will be a fun little addition to my table setting next time I have people over. I did learn a lot though and think I could make it way better next time. And of course, since I think the bigger eight candle cube is even better, I figure I will be making another version soon. 

I feel I should note that yes, this is a blatant copy of something beautiful and fancy and wonderful. I would never sell something that's such an obvious, for lack of a better word, rip off, but for my own home, when my budget doesn't grant me access to the original, I think it's fun to make my own if possible. I think someone said something once about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, so I always hope that projects such as this can be seen as just that. 

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oversized card

I've been making some extra large cards recently. There's just something super fun about unexpectedly over or undersized things and especially when it's for someone who I cannot celebrate in person, I thought it would be fun to send a card that really feels like a big festive party!
This one was made with a recycled old lino embossed print for the outside (I like the all white texture) and I had to come up with a bit of a closure because it's so thick inside it liked to pop open and I didn't want to ruin the surprise within. I used mini paper fasteners and ribbon.

The inside is just layers of crepe paper fringe and a little hand lettered quote. Pretty simple to make and actually very quick for how fun I think it looks, but has a lot of impact. I of course have had to make custom giant envelopes for each card. I can't get enough of this and might just have to make it a thing I do for a while. I'm thinking how fun it would be to leave one on a desk or doorstep, maybe attached to a balloon? So many ideas!