That Moment When You RealizeYou Painted the Window Shut

Ever have one of those Charlie Brown moments? The kind where you really put yourself out there, you try your best, and then at the last minute someone pulls the football out from under you? Yup. That's how I was feeling on Monday when I repainted the trim of our kitchen window. I'll save the one bright spot in this anecdote for later. For now, lets just concentrate on how I totally tried to F up our kitchen window.

Having successfully painted the kitchen ceiling in one day, I wanted to move onto the trim. I wasn't sure how far I could get in a day (I have a tendency to stretch a single paint job over several months) so I decided to start with the area that was most visible while using the kitchen.

Before...

I don't have a full shot of the window. But you probably get the idea. Peeling paint, discoloration, nail holes and chips.

Not to mention hardware that was carelessly painted over, one of my pet peeves.

I taped off the window and began painting with what was leftover of the ceiling paint (some of you may have spotted one of my mistakes already). As I painted I tried to move the window open and closed, letting it dry in the different positions before moving on. I ended with the window shut, then pulled off the blue painters tape and marveled at another job well done.

After...

Beautiful, right? Look at how the white pops against the grey. Then, about fifteen minutes after finishing, I found out that using flat for a trim is a big No No. Whoops.....

It looks okay, but because flat paint is more porous than any of the glosses, it won't clean up very well and will probably end up showing dirt and scuff marks. It should work for now though. I figure that I can repaint it in the spring along with the rest of the trim and windows.

Now for the really good mistake.

My husband got home from work and I wanted to show him what a good job I had done. I went to display how the window looked open....and to my surprise it wouldn't budge. I climbed up onto the counter to get some leverage...still, not an inch. Insert obscenities of your choice here.

I spent the better part of an hour that night cutting along the seams with my box cutting knife and prying it open with a paint scraper. When I finally got it to open again, the new paint job was ruined. It now has cut marks, scrapes and chips along the edges. It still looks better than it did before, but lets just say its a good thing that it needs repainting in the spring. Lesson learned.

Apple Peel Jelly and More Chalkboard

Despite being incredibly busy and working way more hours than I ever would want to at work, I've been able to get a few small projects done this past week.

We have two buckets full of apples left. At this point I'm pretty sure they're McIntosh, but thats just a guess based on the color and how sweet they are. They will probably only be good for another week so we've been in a hurry to use them all up.

I had Monday off, so  I spent the day canning applesauce and a jelly that was made from the peels and cores. I really cannot praise this jelly recipe enough. Not only did I get use out of the cores and peels that I would normally throw away, but it tastes amazing. More like an apple infused honey than a jelly.

 Here are the jars cooling. As always I was a little concerned about the jelly setting up, but it turned out fine. This was my first time using a recipe that called for pectin, so I was nervous that the taste might be off, but I really can't stress how awesome this jelly is. Recipes! :  Applesauce and Apple Peel Jelly.

I also tested out my new chalkboard cupboard door. It works well. I'm really into faux bois (French for false wood, cool huh?) right now, but this rough design didn't seem to work all that well with the pig that would be below. Plus I drew it on upside-down. Oops.

I guess its back to the drawing-board. Haha. Okay, I'll stop.

This little piggy went to market...

The new chalkboard door will open up just above this larger one.

Lastly, my crowning achievement of the week, I woke up super early Thanksgiving morning to clean out the fridge! Some of you may remember how my attempt last week somehow turned into cleaning behind the fridge and then painting back there and then painting the trim above the cabinets, etc...

I was going to post pictures of the inside but then I realized how pathetic it was for a married couple to have their fridge stocked like a bachelor. Soda, beer, condiments and eggs. Done and Done.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. The holiday season is officially upon us. I will start working on making labels for all my canning projects in the next few weeks. :)

Painting the Kitchen

I finished painting the kitchen yesterday. My plan for the day was to clean out the refrigerator. My husband helped out by moving it away from the wall and when I saw all the dust and grime behind it I got completely sidetracked. I cleaned and painted the bit of wall behind the fridge as well as the ledges that had been blocked by our cabinet doors.

Don't judge me by the insides of my cabinets.

I went around and touched up spots from the last time I painted as well. I even brought out the chalkboard paint to finish the second door of my built-in cabinet. I'll post pictures later this week when its safe to write on.

I really scrubbed behind the refrigerator. Its a very serene feeling knowing that the backside of you fridge is spotless.

Much better. All that is left to paint is the trim and ceiling! I never got around to cleaning the inside of the fridge. No wonder I never get anything done. I get distracted way too easily. Oh, well. Next weekend.

A Kit Cat Klock

Remember those slightly creepy cat clocks with the wagging tail and shifty eyes? I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of one. An early birthday gift from my sweet husband. These unique clocks have had a special place in my heart since I was a kid. I remember my mom having one when I was growing up, and my seven-year-old animal loving self was just enamored. I'm not sure what happened to that clock, but this one is all mine.

I'm usually not that much into the whole unboxing thing, but I have to share because the packaging is actually pretty awesome. I haven't been this impressed since I got my iphone. Clearly, this is where Apple got its inspiration for artful presentation. Ok, maybe not, but its still pretty good for a product that's been around since the 1930's.

I'm just now realizing that the kitchen is starting to get a pretty strong animal vibe. Owl cookie jars, pig trivets, deer antlers and now a kit cat clock. I guess some things never change.

How Not to Hide Power Cords

Cords are ugly. Its a fact. The most that we can hope for is to hide them behind a desk or table, or even sweep them under a rug like some horrible secret. Even with our best efforts, cord ends and outlets seem to pop out at every opportunity.

Although I love our modern comforts, I'm not huge on the aesthetic that goes with. Recently I found this awesome little GE clock, I'm guessing from the 70's. Its in great condition and perfect in every way-   except that it doesn't run on batteries. It has a cord running down the bottom.

Really cute. Its not that bad, right?

Right?

...

WRONG.

My solution? Let those cords show in plain sight and have a little fun with it. I used this really great example from xbmc.org as my inspiration, though I wanted something a little more organic and free flowing to match the fun style of the clock. I went to work with a little double sided tape and super glue.

Luckily the tape I used is only slightly cooler in tone than the paint in our kitchen. From a foot away it blends in really well. You can follow up by trimming any excess with a blade so that the tape is hardly visible at all. The double sided tape doesn't really have the surface area to hold the cord on its own, so a little bit of super glue between the cord and tape helps to keep everything in place.

 The end result...

Much Better!

I'm considering painting the cord so it pops from the wall even more. Maybe black or yellow?

Just goes to show sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too. (Not totally sure if the saying applies, but I do love cake)

How to Knit a Sweet Little Remnant Rug

This is a super easy project for anyone who can do a basic garter stitch. Use whatever fabric scraps you have on hand, or if you have a particular color scheme in mind, raid the remnants section at the fabric store. I found most of what I needed at the yearly Buddhist temple rummage sale in Perry District.

All you need...

Size 17 US circular knitting needles
Lots of fabric scraps. (The longer, the better)

The amount of fabric you need will depend on the rug size you want. My finished rug was about 22x36", and I probably used close to 3 yards to achieve that length.

Cut the remnants into 1/2" strips. These don't need to be particularly neat or precise. You can go wider or skinnier depending on your preference.

 You can either tie the strips together in a knot, or making a slit at the end, loop the strips together like you would a rubber band.

 Cast on 35 stitches. Make sure these are loose enough to work with comfortably. Depending on the width of your strips and type of fabrics you are using, you made need to change this number up a bit.

Start knitting!

  

Knit to the end of the first row.

Repeat row until desired length.

Bind off loosely and weave in the ends. 

Simple as can be!

This Rug is so easy and has a really neat texture under bare feet.

Puppy Approved. Dirty Dishes and all.

Range Hood Re-do

The paint has been peeling off of our kitchen's range hood for the past five years. Most people would consider it an unbearable eyesore, but its amazing what you can get used to when you see it everyday. I'd been meaning to repaint it for some time, but it just wasn't all that pressing since the rest of the kitchen kind of matched. Now with the new paint, hardware, and everything else, its gotten a bit harder to ignore.

I know. Its terrible.

I decided this would be the perfect weekend to give it a try. I'm not at all ashamed to admit this project was very ambitious and possibly a little beyond my skill level. Thankfully, my husband was home to help me out. Plus, I figured that even if I messed up horribly, it still couldn't end up looking much worse than it already did.

This was a very cheap project because I didn't have to go out and get a bunch of supplies. Besides the degreaser and spray paint, most of what I needed was already lying around the house.

My husband started by taking down the hood, removing the wiring, light bulb, fan and filter. I just watched this part. We took pictures of the wiring so that he would know how to reassemble it. Outside, I sprayed the hood down with the heavy duty auto degreaser. We sprayed the filter as well, but left that in the sink to soak. Outside, I began scraping off what I could with a paint scraper. The front area peeled away fairly easily, but the sides and rear required a bit more effort. I removed the rest by alternating between wet sanding and using a metal brush.

I decided to leave the paint on the sides and top because it wasn't peeling and wouldn't be seen once it was re-installed. After letting the hood dry overnight, I was excited to get back to work in the morning. I started by applying several thin layers of primer (spray paint of course). This worked really well to hide any light scratches that were left by the sanding.

 After letting it dry for an hour I began applying the main color. I had picked out a satin color called Sparkling Canyon. I was hoping that it would come close to matching the copper switch plates I had recently installed, but after finishing I found that it was much too light, and looked too modern in comparison to the rest of the kitchen. Luckily, I had some leftover darker metallic copper that I had used for a previous project. I layered the two paints over one another to create a color much closer to what I was hoping for. I suppose its important to note that I didn't use any specialty appliance spray paint. I don't think that our range hood gets hot enough to cause any problems. Plus, I had a very specific idea for the color I wanted. Most appliance paints only come in black, white and maybe red. After letting everything dry, my husband put everything back together again.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, but I'm not gonna lie, sanding was a lot of work. Definitely worth it though. And look at that grease filter...

I only wish that I had been able to get more of an aged copper look, to go with the feel of the rest of the house. I know its a silly thing to complain about, that something looks too new, but I love the personality that comes along with age.