Etsy......and other stuff.. :)

 I wake up everyday to the sound of a nail gun overhead. I'm totally serious.

And I'm totally happy!

We are starting the reno of the upstairs and it's happening at

lightning speed I tell ya!!

I married speedy Gonzales:)

Anyway....while I'm supposed to be researching lighting, tile,

sinks and such...

I find myself looking at pretties on Etsy:)

 

 

 

How adorable is this bunting! I think that's what it's called??

From France!! It was $28 and who doesn't love getting a package

from France? No one! that's who.

 

And let me introduce you to my friend Marni Zarr:)
We met while working together at FOUND.
She had this dream of designing and selling her own line
of stationery...

 

And whadda ya know.... she did it!!
You can find it here on Etsy:)
 

These note pads are perfect for teacher gifts or gasp! I'm gonna say it...

stocking stuffers!!

Christmas is right around the corner:)

 

 

Marni is as sweet as this birthday card she created:)

 

 

And who wouldn't love to get this little gem in the mail?

Again, no one!!

 

 

While supposedly looking at lighting...this cow picture ended up in my shopping cart.

I hate when that happens!! Just kidding, I love when that happens:)

Thank you Pottery Barn!

 

 

Something else that made it's way into my shopping cart?

A butter sculpture of a turkey.

I found it at Sprouts and held it on my lap the entire

ride home so it's cuteness wouldn't get smushed:)

 

 

And who wouldn't want to slather their Thanksgiving rolls

with that adorableness?

Let's say it together.......

NO ONE!! :)

The porch.... :)

Let's go back. Waaay back. Let's go back to when we bought this

beauty...sight unseen! Yep, we only knew what the

outside looked like, but that was enough.

We were in love:)

Not sure why those metal gates were ever put on this porch,

but they were one of the first things to go.



Here we are pulling stucco off and finding buried treasure:)

Body and trim painted and starting the rebuild of the columns:)

And here we are today!!!

Squeeeeel!!!

That was the house squealing. She's sooo happy:)



Here's a close up with the screen door closed.

With the weather hovering right around fabulous,

the front door stays open pretty much all day:)

(oh, and do you see how we "camouflaged" the other door? We're

leaving that door there until the upstairs is done, so all the trades

are able to access the upstairs without coming inside. Score!

then that bad boy will make it's way into the dumpster (buh bye 1985!) and

 be replaced by a window:) 



I ordered this mailbox. How cute huh??

Not that there was anything wrong with this one, I just thought

that the scale would be better:)



And see the old stamped concrete?



I'm thinking about doing something like this...?

If anyone knows where this picture came from originally, let me know?
I found it on...Pinterest of course!

Your thoughts??

The deets:

Body paint- Benjamin Moore Providence Olive- HC98

Trim paint- Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee OC-45

Front door paint- Benjamin Moore Black Beauty 2128-10

Screen door- Home Depot

House numbers- Me:) I just painted them on an old window

Door mat- Pottery Barn



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!!