Studio & Kitchen Updates

It was Christmas up in here yesterday because we finally got the Ikea delivery we've been waiting on for five weeks!

via Instagram

This will keep us busy for the next few weeks—but priority #1 was to get the studio situated.

I've been using the desks from my old studio, which work fine but things were just a bit cramped...

The large cutting desk has a shallow drawer that pulls out and the chair was right in the way.

Fortunately, I was able to find the exact same table tops (Linnmon) that were 6" shallower. Not a drastic change, but when you cut your studio size almost in half, every square inch counts.

These desks were narrower but longer, so we had to trim them down to the same length with a table saw.

First we cleared everything out...

Then brought the first new table top in:

We were able to reuse the same legs so it was a pretty straightforward swap.

Here's what we ended up with, after the second desk went in:

I still need to re-trim the cutting board desk which will happen in the near future.

I'm glad we got this out of the way so now I can focus on the final decorating touches!

We also decided to address this empty wall which is on your left when you walk in:

The shelf ledges from my old studio were the perfect fit. We brought them in and secured them to the wall using walldogs (best invention EVER... took less than a minute per shelf)

And now I have a place to set my ready-to-ship prints:

Ignore all of the disorganization going on in these photos—I'm ditching the blues & greens and going for something a bit cleaner and more monochromatic. There will be a big organization post coming as soon as I get the motivation.

I also finally got around to spray painting that gold light, and hanging the DIY sign I made last year:

I also found a place inside the closet for my brocade wall file (purchased a few years ago from the Container Store):

And there you have it, the current status of the studio. It's about 83% done right now... here's what's left:

-Repaint/relabel/reorganize console table storage
-Hang art
-Build floating shelves for extra storage in the closet
-Buy/hang window shades
-Attach a fabric "wall" to the front of the cutting desk to hide the storage underneath
-Build a large storage bin for underneath the desk to hold shipping supplies

The kitchen will be taking up most of our time over the next couple months, but hopefully I can squeeze in a few of these updates in between our bigger projects.

Speaking of the kitchen... we have a new door handle:

I considered a silver one for a second, but ultimately went with ORB because 1) it matches the cabinet hardware, and 2) I bought identical replacements for the front door and garage door at the same time so I could have them all keyed to fit the same key. I decided to make them all consistent throughout the house, and I'll be ordering the same style for the interior doors in the future.

I think the oval shape is different and fun.

Also, our very last appliance—the dishwasher—is finally in!

Anyone have any suggestions for a good stainless steel cleaner??

Did you notice I replaced the bulb in the pendant light?

I found this vintage style bulb at Lowe's for $6. The color is warmer than the recessed lights which I'm still not sure about, but apparently that's standard for these types of filament bulbs. I think it's worth it—hopefully our electric bill won't go up too much!

So now you're all caught up to the current state of our house. Tonight I plan on ripping into some Ikea boxes to build the pantry. Oh, I can't wait for this one. Please send some good furniture assembling vibes our way...

"Homemade" Truffle Fries | Baked Truffle Parmesan Fries | Steak Frites

"Homemade" Truffle Fries

For the dinner party we had last weekend, I served these Baked Truffle Parmesan Fries with Roasted Beef Tenderloin and Cabernet & Thyme Mushrooms.  It was one of my favorite meals to date.  The thing that makes me dream about Steak Frites is how the fries soak up the simple wine sauce usually served with the steak - in this case the Cabernet sauce that the mushrooms had simmered in all day long.  Ahh.  

I'm a complete fool for candle light, a big glass of red wine, steak and fries soaking up that fabulous sauce.   My favorite "restaurant" dinners are at small, cozy bistros that "get it" and serve dinners just like these.  If Steak Frites (Steak & Fries) is on the menu, it is usually what I order... or Moules Frites (Mussels & Fries), if I'm in the mood for seafood.  But, for some reason at home, anytime we make steak I serve it with mashed or roasted potatoes - I forget about fries.  Or, maybe it is that fries seem too daunting to make.  Don't you need a deep frier for that?  

I came across a recipe for "Italian Fries" in Lucinda Scala Quinn's cookbook, Mad Hungry.  The recipe calls for peeling and cutting potatoes into fries, then baking them layered with herbs and Romano cheese.  I decided that this would be a fabulous addition to our dinner party - but instead of Italian herbs, I thought I'd add truffle oil and parmesan to make them a little more ala French Bistro.  

The day of the party, I was all geared up to peel and cut potatoes... then I got very lazy.  I found myself with a bag of russet potatoes in one hand while I was browsing the freezer section.   I found some really good frozen french fry options - all-natural, sea salt fries that had already been perfectly cut and par-cooked.  In the interest of relaxed entertaining (and not being exhausted before the party began) I decided to just jazz those up and make a fabulous dinner. 

However, if you would like to peel and cut your own fries (which I'm sure I'll opt for at some point when I have more time), the recipe is exactly the same.

Don't you like this shapely little platter?  It just might be a sneak peek of what's to come to the store in a couple of weeks...

"Homemade" Baked  
Truffle Fries


Get my Printable Recipes, here.

Frozen Fries (or russet potatoes peeled and cut)
Truffle Oil
Parmesan cheese
Thyme
Sea Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (or how directed on the package).    

Drizzle truffle oil on a baking sheet, then add fries - overlapping is fine.

Drizzle again with truffle oil, then sprinkle with fresh grated parmesan cheese. 

Bake as directed - for about 30 minutes.  

Remove from oven, drizzle more truffle oil, generously salt with sea salt, and sprinkle parmesan cheese.



Pile onto a serving platter and top with fresh thyme as a garnish.

Here is everything ready to go into the oven pre-party last Friday night.  I baked the tenderloin for 1 hour at 275 first, then raised the heat to 425 and baked the roasted carrots and fries for 30 minutes.  It was such an easy dinner to prepare... especially with frozen fries.   Read all of the details about the party, here.  Roasted Carrots recipe coming tomorrow.

Tiling, Vol. 2 and Cabinet Hardware

Last weekend, I conquered the tile cut around the outlets.

This past weekend, I had the supports for the floating shelves to deal with.

I wish I could say I planned it--(I'm just having good DIY

karma right now--but the support rods almost all fell perfectly

on the edges of tile so I could just cut around them.

You'll notice the little stripes on the ends

of the tile.  That's some kind of plastic or hot glue that gets

added to prevent the tile from scratching in shipping.

They pop off really easily with the putty knife.

These half circles were fairly easily to clean out with the wet saw.

Not perfect but the shelves will cover my errors.

There was only one place where the rod fell right in the

middle of a tile.  They do make diamond-edge hole cutters

that fit on your drill but for $27 I thought I'd try this.

I cut the tile horizontally and then cut the hole in the center

of the cut.  It's not pretty the shelf covers it so who will know?

And I saved $27!

Another thing I found really helpful was drawing two

vertical lines that marked the placement of my first

whole tile in each row.  Such a time saver.

I'm really loving the reflection of light off the tile.

It really makes the kitchen feel brighter and larger.

As I got close to the ceiling, I decided to put in another

row of the cigar/pencil tile almost like a picture rail.

It was a spur of the moment decision but I think it

makes everything look very well planned.

For those of you that said I should leave the shelves

unpainted, I also see that possibility...but not this wood.

If I wanted to go that route, I'd look for some boards that

were a little more rustic.  Maybe I can have two sets

of shelves:  Spring/summer and fall/winter shelves.

 

I can't remember if I showed you the hardware I picked
out for the cabinets.  It's all from Restoration Hardware.
The pulls on the left are the Bistro Pulls, the round knob
is the Season Knob and the bin pull is called the
Ornate Square Pull, all in oil rubbed bronze.

The Bistro Pulls are used on the top drawers above

cabinets, and the knobs are on the cabinet doors.

The bin pulls were added to the old bin drawers.

I haven't yet painted the old bin drawers.  Once the new

hardware was added, it transformed them.  I'm kind

of liking them unpainted.  It's a little quirkier which is very me.

I do wish the two sets of bin drawers were a little farther apart

so the unpainted wood was better distributed around the room.

But I have to live with them like this for now.

Slow-Simmered Cabernet & Thyme Mushroooms

It is hard to believe that these slow-simmered mushrooms were my favorite part of the meal last weekend.  You know something's good when it almost outshines Beef Tenderloin.  Even Mike (a known non-mushroom fan) took a liking to them.  They had almost transformed after being simmered in cabernet all day a turned an amazing deep purple color.   

They are completely effortless to prepare - you just have to make them early in the day so they have time to cook about 4-6 hours and make the transformation.  

slow-simmered
Cabernet & Thyme Mushrooms


Get my Printable Recipes, here.

1 stick of butter
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of Mushrooms (I used baby bella), cut in half
1/2 bottle of Cabernet
2 cups of beef broth
2 teaspoons of sea salt
6 sprigs of thyme

In a medium/large heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.  Add wine, broth, salt & thyme.  Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook, covered for 4-6 hours.
 

Looks like a great way to start a recipe - all of my favorite things.

Be careful not to burn the garlic, keep the heat low.

Add mushrooms and let them begin to soften and absorb the butter.

Add wine, broth, sea salt and thyme.  Rosemary would also work - especially around the holidays.

Simmer on low (or put in the oven covered) for 4-6 hours until the mushrooms have absorbed the wine and become deep purple.

 

I served the mushrooms piled next to the Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin and Roasted Colorful Carrots at our Dinner Party with friends last weekend.  More of the recipes coming this week... including Baked Truffle Parmesan Fries!

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Living Room Plank Wall DIY

We took a break from the kitchen this weekend to focus on this wall...

It has been the biggest eyesore in our home and, after a few weeks to rest from planking the studio, we decided to just get it over with.

I won't go into a lot of detail here since I've covered the planking process when we did our kitchen ceiling, kitchen wall, and studio, so here's a quick rundown...

First, I decided I wanted a light fixture on this wall. The living room currently has zero light sources (we hope to add recessed lighting in the ceiling one day) so for now, we needed something in there ASAP.

There was an outlet in the corner which was controlled by a switch at the top of the stairs, so Brad tapped into that by running a wire up to our new light box location...

Luckily, it didn't have to look nice because it would all soon be covered.

Then it was time to get down to business!

We started on this edge since the boards all needed to line up even with the wall. We'd make our cuts at the other end where the measurements didn't have to be exact since they would be hidden behind quarter round trim.

I expected this to be our most challenging planking experience and I was right. This wall was not straight at all because of the cutout in the center. There was a lot of prying and hammering and forcing into place. Several of the boards had to be screwed in to get them to stay up against the wall, but it was nothing a little putty and sanding couldn't hide.

Once we got to the light, Brad cut out a hole to fit and mounted the box.

We worked on it over the course of a few nights.

For the stairs we made the long cuts with a table saw and short cuts with a jigsaw.

After night #2, all of the wall planks were done. Whew!

But it wasn't just this wall... it had to wrap around to this little wall on the left:

This is the first thing you see when you enter our home so it's quite important. But we had a problem—the original door trim wasn't thick enough:

So out they went...



We decided to reframe it the same way we framed out our windows—with 1x3" and 1x4" boards. They are actually 3/4" thick so they line up flush against the planks.

Blank slate after removing the trim:

This part is always the easiest—took no more than 5 minutes!

Then we chopped the boards to size and mounted them right up against the boards on the other wall. This part went fast too.

Done!

Then it was time to build the ledge to finish off the top. We used cheap plain 'ol 1x2"s and nailed them right into the planks...

I mitered the corner for a nicer finish.

Next up was the L shaped corner piece. You can pick these things up super cheap at Lowe's/HD, and they are pre-primed and lightweight.

Next up was the baseboard. I used the same style as my studio—I bought enough for the rest of the living room which will be replaced soon.

And finally, the quarter round in the corner went up and the trim was done!

Then came the tedious, time consuming part...

Spackling, caulking, patching, sanding, taping, prepping. This part takes almost as long as it does to plank the dang wall in the first place.

To address the seams where one plank met up with another, I first used some lightweight spackle, let it dry, then we went over it with this beast of a sanding machine:

This is seriously the key to seamless planking. It would never work sanding by hand, because it's rare that the planks are perfectly level. And if they aren't perfectly level and smooth, you will definitely see them.

But this thing works wonders...

I wish you could feel how smooth this seam is—actually, reach out and touch it on your screen and that's what it feels like. You can't even tell there's a seam. I love you, belt sander.

After the surfaces were prepped, we taped it off and it was ready to go! We didn't bother taping the walls because they're about to be painted over anyway.

Let's get right to it...

After 3 coats of Kelly Moore's Swiss Coffee (in satin, same as the kitchen)...

The stair treads are next, don't worry!

Oh—and as for my light?

I picked up this guy last week:

I wanted this in black, but it was the only one I could find online and the price was right ($48 shipped) so I bought it and spray painted it black.

I'm digging the rustic/industrial look it brings to the space, and it ties in nicely with the cage pendant light we installed last week in the kitchen.

It's lonely right now but I have a vision for this space... as soon as I can find the right pieces!

We decided not to put the hand rail back on, but we're definitely planning on reinstalling the railing on the right side of the stairs (we're redoing it so it isn't quite as 70's).

Looks much better when you walk in the door!

And I'll leave you off with the view looking down from the kitchen...

It's a little plain and unexciting with it being empty right now, but it's the perfect backdrop for what I have planned.

And beige walls—your days are numbered. We're going to have to hire this paint job out because the walls at the highest point are just way too tall (even with an extension ladder), and they're over a staircase so there's no way we'd be able to get in there. One step at a time!

More kitchen updates in the near future...