What I'm Loving Right Now

Happy Friday! 

Did you watch the royal wedding this morning?  I was up at 6am, so I did get to see most of it.  What a beautiful wedding!

OK, back on the homefront, I thought I'd share some things that I am loving right now.  Some home related, some not. 

First, I love Fiddes and Sons Supreme Wax Polish.

I am so impressed with this product so far!  I used a water based poly on my ironing board cabinet and then I used this on my hutch and now I wish I had waxed the hutch first because I don't think I would have used the poly at all.  I'm even thinking of sanding the poly off the cabinet and putting the wax on it.  That project went too smoothly and I guess I just have to think of a way to complicate it!

I've heard people say something went on like butter and thought I used some paints that I could say that about, but this product truly does goes on like soft, warm butter.  I put it on with a chip brush, let it dry and then buffed it out with an old nylon.  The buffing is a pretty quick process and its kind of therapeutic to physically work at something and see the soft sheen appear right before your eyes.  It leaves such a soft, silky finish. 

I've been reading all about the chalk paint craze and I am intrigued, but I just used this over some Sherwin Williams Pro Classic latex paint. 

Here is a sneak peak at one of the shelves:

Love it!

The second thing I am loving is pinterest.com, which you have probably heard about if you read even half as many blogs as I do.  If not, pinterest is like a pinboard, or a place to catalog everything you see while surfing the web.  You can also follow people whose taste you admire and see what they pin. 

If you haven't joined yet and would like to, leave me a comment, with your email if you are a no reply blogger, and I will send you the invite you need to join!

In honor of the royal wedding, I thought I'd make some scones.  Then, I got lazy and thought a coffee cake would be easier, which I am sure is not English at all.  Oh well!  This recipe, by Ina Garten, is fabulous!

Image from Food Network

And my version:

Here is what it looks like sliced:

I made it as the recipes states, except that I doubled the filling.


Speaking of the wedding, I loved Kate's dress!

Just gorgeous!

And finally, have you seen The Voice on NBC?

With these judges:

It just aired this past Tuesday and I love it!  You can read here about the details of the show.  I am looking forward to next week's episode.  My husband and I have watched American Idol in the past, but this may be more my thing.  We'll see as the weeks go on!

That's it for now!  How about you?  Have you recently discovered anything that you just love?

My Fabric Dilemma

Good morning!

I am moving forward with the laundry room and looking at fabric.  I need fabric for my window, to cover my ironing board and to line the back of my hutch.  The colors I'm looking for are blue, grey and green.  I'm flexible on the green and if I found the right fabric, I can work with it.

So, I did find some fabric I love.  I saw Amy Butler's Daisy Chain collection and loved it right away. 

Here are the three I liked:

Sweet Jasmine-Grey



Happy Stripe- Grey


Dandelion Field- Silver


 I ordered all three and received them last week.  Do you see the words in the description that follow all three?  Grey and Silver?  They don't mean a thing when it comes to describing what the fabric actually looks like!  There's no grey.  No silver.  Its brown!  Or tan.  Or on a really good day with the right lighting, its taupe.  My husband even said it was green.  No one that I showed it to said grey though.  Looking online, the vast majority of the images show it as being grey, but there were a few that showed its true color.
Here is a picture I just took this morning:

  So, sadly, its not going to work and I am back to square one with the fabric.

Which brings me to the true dilemma.  The other stuff not working out isn't a big deal because I can sell it on ebay.  Its annoying, but I understand things like this happen when ordering online.  The problem is that I can't find anything I like!  I want grey and blue and maybe green or yellow and I can't find anything.  Everything I see has brown instead of grey in it. 

So, share with me, if you can, what is your favorite source online for fabric?  Have you seen any fabric like what I described?  I saw this at Marshall's last night after looking without success at every single style of fabric for the third time at JoAnn's and had to laugh.  It kind of spoke to me:

That's my newest challenge for today!  What are you working on?  Is it going smoothly?



 

Leftover Ham? No Problem!

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and Easter Sunday.  We had a great day here.  Lots of good food, fun with family and even some decent weather for a change!  (those of you who live in warm climates may debate that last one since it was only in the 50s and partly sunny, but we've had a brutal Spring so far, so I'll take it)

I thought I'd share an easy way to use leftover ham.  This year, we had pork for Easter dinner, but I had bought a ham last week and made this dish with the leftovers.  My boys loved it, which is always a bonus.  They are normally good eaters, but need to be reminded constantly during dinner to eat, so when I find a meal that they eat without any prodding, its a keeper!

Its inspired from this recipe, but I modified it to get this:

Ham and Potatoes Au Gratin 

Ingredients

• 4 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 cups diced cooked ham
• 15 oz can corn or frozen corn
• 3 tablespoons minced onion
• 2/3 cup butter or margarine
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 TBS dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• small pinch cayenne
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• generous dash  pepper
• Chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, ham, corn and onion in a greased 9 x 13 casserole; set aside. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add milk; stirring constantly until mixture thickens and bubbles. Add cheese, parsley, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper; stir until the cheese melts. Pour over potato mixture and stir gently to mix. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned on top.

 Like I said, these guys loved it:

Plus it was easy.  It doesn't get much better than that!

On the remodeling front, I have to admit that my little mishap with the hutch sucked up a lot of my energy and enthusiasm last week.  I am happy to say that the doors no longer look like this:

and now look like this:

(Ignore the orange oak cabinets...their day is coming)

It really wasn't that difficult to fix after all.  It just took a lot of detailed sanding, but the repainting was a breeze.  I am planning on finishing it this week with a little light distressing and then some finishing wax.

Thanks for your patience as I crawl along!  Have a wonderful week! 

The Big Fail

Alternately known as, "I Wanted to Give Up"

or

"Is This a Joke?"

or

"I know I'm Being Overly Dramatic, but I Don't Care"

It all started out just fine.  I finished painting the hutch that is going to go up in the laundry room. 

I still have to wax it, but the sanding, priming and painting is done.  The plan is to put the doors on the end and leave the middle as open shelving.

Which brings me to the doors.  The doors.

I sanded them, sprayed the wire front, taped around it, primed, sanded, painted, sanded and one and on and now it looks like this:

Insert scary music here:

Once I removed the tape that was protecting the wire, it started coming off in CHUNKS!

Even though I sanded, I am guessing I did not sand the inset area well enough.  Even now, as I sand it again, it is hard to get a rough surface there.  The paint on the rest of the door, so far, seems just fine. 

Now, I need to fix this fiasco.  We are going to remove the wire front, which I wish I would have done first, but I was afraid it was  going to be hard to staple it back in place.  My husband has informed me that it would be really easy to do that (Thanks for mentioning that NOW, Dear).

Speaking of the wire front, the tape pulled some of the paint off:

It just gets better and better!

Ok, I am almost done with all the belly aching and self pity.  It could be worse, I know.  I just thought I was following all the steps so carefully and really didn't foresee this hiccup.  It will be better.

For now, though, I just want it D.O.N.E.

Hope your projects are going better than mine, but if not, please feel free to commiserate with me and tell me all about it!

Free BM Paint Sample and Target Reusable Bag!

Happy Hump Day!

I just wanted to post a great coupon for anyone thinking of doing a little painting.

Print this coupon to get a FREE 2 oz color sample of Benjamin Moore paint.  The coupon expires on June 30, 2011.

Also, if you head to Target on Sunday, April 17, 2011, you will get a FREE (with purchase) reusable bag.  Go here for more details.  Get there early because they tend to go quickly!  I love the strap on it!

Have a great day!

Getting Crafty

Good morning everyone! 

I took a little break this past weekend from working on the laundry room and worked on a baby shower gift for a friend.  I always struggle with what to give someone who is having their second child and the sex is the same as the older sibling.  They already have all the big stuff and if the seasons match, clothes aren't that helpful either.  Usually I go the diaper route, with maybe an outfit as well thrown in there.  For this friend, though, she has been wisely stocking up on Amazon's awesome diaper sales and really didn't need those.

So, I decided to make some changing pads as part of the gift:

Don't you love the fabric?  Who says you can't be stylish while changing a diaper?

When my boys were little, my mom made me something kind of similar and I used them for changing diapers on my family room floor.  There was no way I was going to go upstairs to the changing table everytime I changed a diaper...I had two in diapers for a while and that just wouldn't have worked for me.  I also kept them in my diaper bag and  also used them as a mattress or sheet protector.  They got so much use around here!

I am not a skilled sewer at ALL, but these were so easy and a great project for someone just learning to sew.  I bought some soft flannel fabric from Joann's in patterns I liked and had some leftover blackout liner that I used as the waterproof pad.  The material really seems to repel water, so why not? 

Then, its just a matter of sewing all four sides together with the nice side facing in, leaving about a 6" opening.  Then I pulled the fabric through the opening so the nice side was facing up and sewed the opening shut with my machine.

I also took a little break to go through the cabinet where keep our medications and some first aid supplies.  It was so full that something fell out everytime I went in for something. 

Its started like this:

Looked like this during:



How did all this fit in that small cabinet?!  Expired meds are on the left.



And looked like this when I was finished:

Much better!  I love a little order!

Wish I could say the same for my basement.  The room where I am painting my cabinets and hutch looks like this:

And the laundry room still hasn't changed much and looks like this:

Lots of big changes coming up though!  The ceiling will be up and finished soon and the hutch will be completed in a few days. 

And finally, one of my all time favorite blogs, Just a Girl, featured my license plate mirror on her blog! I think my heart skipped a beat or two when I saw it. 

I think I will ride that high all week, thank you very much!

OK, I will be back next time with some laundry room PROGRESS!  Have a wonderful week!

Rethinking How to Use Shower Curtains {by Lisa from A Vintage Vine}

Happy Friday everyone!

It has been a very busy week here.  Since it was Spring Break here, I was asked to work for a coworker and the twelve hour days have kept me from getting as much accomplished as I was hoping.  The laundry room is moving forward though.  I have my hutch primed and I hope to paint it this weekend.  Then we can put it in place and finish the board and batten in there.  Lots to show you coming up!

Let's talk about today though!  I am excited and honored to introduce you to Lisa from A Vintage Vine.  We are swapping blogs for the day and she has something very special to show you. 
Lisa and I became friends before I started blogging.  She was new herself (though you would never know it) and was so helpful  as I was starting out, answering all my newbie questions with such patience.

Lisa's blog, A Vintage Vine, is full of amazing DIY projects.  She is so talented when it comes to refinishing furniture and pulling a room together.  Her ideas are unique, creative and sure to inspire you to try them yourself.

As  I was trying to find some fabric for a roman shade in my laundry room and picking Lisa's brain, she came up with a great idea to use a shower curtain for something other than its intended purpose.  What a great idea!  I knew within minutes exactly what I would do.  I knew Lisa would come up with something divine as well, which she has.

So, hop on over to A Vintage Vine to see what I have done and enjoy Lisa's post today .  You'll never look at a shower curtain the same again!



Hi fans of Roly Poly Farm....I am Lisa from A Vintage Vine. I am so glad to be here blogging today....Jodi is over at my place...blogging a great project.....and I am here showing you a project I made out of a Target
fabric shower curtain........it was even on clearance!

 

Shower curtains are great resources of affordable fabric.....I saw this fabric shower curtain and knew it was a great option for a chair makeover project in my daughters room. I bought this chair at a thrift store for $7....After some TLC, it is perfect for her room..

I first cleaned it with TSP and then sanded it...I painted it with Krylon Fusion

Dove White spray paint.

Tore off all this lovely black fake leather.....

After adding new batting for the cushion,  I recovered it with the fabric shower curtain.......

I won't bore you with all the details of how I recover cushions or benches...I blogged about it here if you need any tips....

I think she fits perfectly in my 5 yr olds room......

Look how much fabric I still have......Don't worry I have a project in mind for this too!!!

Now go find a great shower curtain and use it for something besides the shower!!!!
Have a great weekend!