Underneath it all.... :)

I'm a window gal. I love 'em. I'd rather have them than wall space:)

Well this week my beloved old windows were all covered up

because they were painting outside (yay!!).

 We went with choice #3. Providence Olive by Benjamin Moore:)

 

Honestly I was about to go insane. It felt like solitary confinement.

And solitary and me aren't a good thing!!

 



There was ONE window left untouched...and check out the view.

 



 

Lord have mercy. When we bought this house we knew instantly

that it wasn't originally a stucco house. It just didn't make

sense with the stucco being flush with the window trim.

So we decided to do some investigatin'...

And lo and behold!!!

Feast your eyes on this gorgeousness!!

We are actually able to rescue the ceiling, and re-install the battens

on the house:)

 

 

We also discovered that these weren't the original columns either!!

(I swear a house will talk to you, if you just give it a listen)

We think maybe these were built because the others were rotted?

Who knows. What we DO know is...

 

 

They are supposed to look like my neighbors columns. A base with a taper.

The footprint from the original one was still there:)

 

Sooo,we are putting them back in:) We're both happy girls:)

 



And I KNOW all you "kitchen triangle" people will sleep soundly tonight.

The fridge got moved:)

 

What didn't get moved? My hoard. Nope. Nothin.

It's still sitting out there waiting for the tag sale fairy to

come and sort it all out:) Sooo, the ole sale ain't a happenin'

this weekend. Sorry to disappoint:(

I'm thinkin maybe the next? or next?

Ugh...I'll let ya know:)

***Oh, and Happy Birthday to the man of my dreams. The guy who makes
so much of this ol' blog happen. The one and only...
Hubby:)



Oh maaaan!!.... :)

You guys!! Outside reno is in full swing over here!!

 

 

Scraping and power washing and prep for paint:)

 

 

I've never had a harder time picking paint in my entire life!

I have no idea what my problem is....

I'm swaying between 1 and 3....I think.

 

 

And my once lovely Halloween front porch display

is now out in the front yard....

 

 

Amongst its dead Oleander friends.

Lovely.

 

 

And let's just have a gander at what's going on in the back yard too!!

Framing, painting and electrical.

It's wonderfully exciting and ridiculously stressful at the same time.

 

 

Why so stressful Dorie??? Weeeell, maybe because the hoard that I had been

blissfully ignoring (because it lived in said garage) (out of sight out of mind!)

....is now staring me in the face.

UGH.

 

 

Old windows anyone? How bout lamps? Headboard? Tables? Shelves?

 

 

And I have no stinkin idea what the sam heck is in these boxes....:(

 

 

I was getting hives while looking at all this stuff and I just had to stop

a minute and smell the roses...

Or in this case, look at this bee in my mums to give me a little happy:)

 

 

Because not only is all this happening OUTSIDE.....but as you read this, the guys

from the shop are here un-installing and reinstalling this set of cabinets!!

Sounds fun right??!! We realized we really needed the

fridge closer to the kitchen.

So we're gonna play a little game of switcheroo:)

The green arrows are totally helping this to make sense right??

I know this may sound insane to some...but please remember I'm married to a cabinet guy:)

 

 

And while all this is going on.....

He sleeps:)

 

 

I'm planning on having another hoarder garage yard  tag sale in the next couple

of weeks. Like maybe November 2nd? That will give me plenty

of time to clean out from under my bed....

 

** I'll post pics of some stuff up for grabs next week:)  

Quince.... :)

I bought this beautiful fruit last week at the farmer's market.

I had no idea what it was.

Quince. They're kinda like an apple, but not edible raw.

I couldn't find very many recipes for quince, but I

needed to cook 'em.

 

 

I found this super easy recipe from Ina for apple tart.

It uses puff pastry which is super fabulous when you want to make

a dessert in no time:)

 

Here we go:

1-sheet of thawed puff pastry

2- peeled and cored quince

2- peeled and cored apples (I used granny smith)

Sugar

Cinnamon

Butter

Apricot Jam

Rum

 

Roll out your thawed pastry into a square.

I rolled up my edges to make it more "rustic".

Just kidding, my square was all wonky so I had to improvise:)

Slice your peeled and cored quince and apples.

 

 

Alternate laying your slices of quince and apples. Ya know, for pretty factor:)

Ina's recipe calls for just "sprinkling" sugar on top.

Um no ma'am!! I pulled out my grinder of sugar and cinnamon!!

I'll just say I wasn't shy about coating my quince and apples

with this deliciousness!!

 

 

Dot with butter. A whole lot of butter. Because everyone knows

more butter is better:)

 

 

Stick that rustic square of loveliness in a 400' oven for about 25 minutes.

 

 

While your tart is cooling, make your glaze.

I did like 1/2 cup apricot jam and a couple Tbsp. of rum.

Just heat it through:)

 

Then brush that liquid gold onto your tart.

 

Ooooh look at that beauty!!

 



 

Cut yourself a piece and get to tastin...

 

 

I dare you to eat just one piece.

 

 

No really, I double dog dare you!!

 

FI-NA-LLY!!..... :)

Done and done!!

Ok, 98% done. Still needs touch up paint and a lil tweaking

but overall....I'm a happy girl:)

 

This kitchen is kind of an L shape. It's L's to the left into the laundry room:)

 

Aaaaaaah!!! (que angels with jazz hands)

A huge thank you to our family biz for this amazing

walnut top. She's a beaut!!

Aaaand she came complete with a bullet lodged in her! The guys at the shop

knew I'd love it, so they left it there:)

It's kind of a reminder of what I'll do if anyone dare cut on her!!

 



That corner back there is where I house all my everyday dishes.

 



 

I wanted open shelves where I can hone my lazy skills. I mean seriously,

I can pretty much empty the dishwasher with my eyes closed.

Which come to think of it...is every morning before I have my coffee:)

 

I love this wall o' cabinetry. That's my fridge on the far left:)

 



 

And what girl doesn't love a place where you can hide everything

(the hideous microwave) and shut the doors??!!

 

 

These doors to the "appliance garage" are pocket doors, so they slide

back and out of the way:)

God bless my hubby kitchen designer!!

I love him:)

 

I can't decide what I love to do more. Spend hours with this gorgeous lady....

 

 Or wash my hands repeatedly here??!!

You guys. I've wanted this stinkin faucet for. ever.

Totally worth the wait:)

 

 

 Thought I'd show you some of the little details...

My curtains. Just black and white ticking with ribbon trim.

Simple:)

Ok, and truth be told- they look fabulous with all my Halloween stuff:)

 

 This adorable sheep head. The hubby mounted it to my chalkboard:)

Love it!!

 

My chippy door and original door knob.

I've had several people ask if I'm going to paint the door...

I'm kind of torn about it? I reeeally love the warmth of the chippiness,

but maybe I'd love the crispness of new paint??

 

 

My schoolhouse lights. They're perfect.

The rusty brown and the glow that they put off at night-

LOVE:)

 

 

The deets:

Cabinetry: Denovo Fine Cabinetry

thank you for putting up with my crazyiness:)

 

Carrara marble tops: Custom Stone Works

 Chrissy-(602) 430-7995

thank you Chrissy for not freaking out when I was

freaking out thinking my tops were going to

be too grey:)

 

Wood Countertops- William Rogers Wood Products

We gladly ship nationwide and yes! Canada:)

thank you Houston for your amazing handiwork

and for saving that bullet:)

 

Faucet- Rohl from Central Arizona Supply

thank you Margarita for helping me convince the hubby

that after all these years I deserved that faucet!! :)

 

Appliances- Spencer's Kevin Rymer (623) 202-7029

thank you for finding that most perfect ever Viking range:)

 

Lighting- vintage from FOUND

Thank you Dan for always having the best in the west goodies..

and then delivering them:)

 

Paint-the walls are Windsor Greige by Sherwin Williams

the cabinets and all the trim is Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore

 

Accessories- the chalkboard, sheep head, small eau minerale glasses,

 and feed warehouse sign are all from FOUND.

 

-the big old wood tool box, I found at a garage sale

 

-the scales are vintage and found at...I can't remember

 

-the glass jars that hold my sugar, oatmeal etc. I got at

Tuesday Morning years ago. At the time they only had the three

and I never could find the "flour" one:(

there's a chance I'd give Little Bully up for that one!

Just kidding, I'd give my right arm.

 

-the curtains were made by yours truly:)

and by made I mean cut to size and held together with stitch witchery-

that amazing iron on tape stuff. Just black and white ticking fabric with

black grosgrain ribbon

 

 



For now..... :)

Hey I know! Let's play pretend!!

Let's pretend I never told you I'd have pictures of my finished kitchen.

Let's pretend my 5" thick walnut top is sittin pretty on this island.

Let's pretend I don't get totally bummed out when the shop

is too busy and my job ain't top priority:(

 

 

Weeeell, since I can't show you my kitchen...I'll show you the little

bit of Halloween that has finally made it's appearance:)

Oh my goodness!! Just take a look at those adorable lil pumpkins that

I found at.....FOUND!! Duh!! :)

These pumpkins are the original Lynn Bonnell ones, with the

beautiful real stems:)

FOUND just got a new crop and they sell fast, so you might want to

git while the gittins good!!

 

Don't judge but....am I the only girl in the world who always thought

Frankenstein was handsome in a way??!!

 

 

I know for a fact I'm the only one in my family that thinks my freakish

vintage doll heads are cool!!

 

 

Oh my goodness look at witchy's adorable green stripey legs!!

And she has the hugest green eyes:)

 

Another fab velvet pumpkin.... :)

 

Ok, so I bought some black chalkboard paint to use on my old

outdoor chalkboard that had seen one too many days in the sun.

Anyway, after I painted it I went around wanting to paint

EVERYTHING with chalkboard paint!!

I found these old pots that I was going to throw away

and painted em up:)

Now I just got to figure out what to write on them...I'm thinking something

super original like- Boo! or the number 31.

 

 

I got me some daisy's at Trader Joe's and just cut them up and stuck

them in whatever white vases (or in this case little white creamer) I had:)

 

 

 And that's all the Halloween I got for now:)
Oh wait...speaking of Halloween, I'm seriously considering this Yoda
costume for LB...

Source

Oh I wish I had Emoji on this keyboard! That pic would have been followed
by the crying laughing face.... :)