My Fireplace Was Bugging Me.

First of all, just want to remind you to sign up for my email updates... over there, to the right...

Anyway, I woke up this morning and for some reason, my fireplace was irritating me.   So I gave it a mini make over.

Some before pics.  That brass - my, oh, my.

I removed the Brass pieces and brought them to the garage.  I gave them a light sand.  I was hesitant to sand the brass because it scratched easily, and i could reeeeally see the scratches, but I was more worried that the paint wouldn't stick because the brass was soooo shiny.  In the end, I am glad I gave them a light buff.  The paint is quite thick so you can't see the scratches at all.  Good call Cait.

I sprayed them with Rust-Oleum's black heat resistant paint.  It only takes about 1/2 hour between coats to dry, so I managed about 5 light coats through out the day.  It didn't need that many coats, but I sprayed really lightly, so to make sure I covered everything, I just kept going.  Besides, the kids thought it was hilarious that I was painting the fireplace.  They love watching!

I was terrified I wouldn't get the damn thing back on, so I took precise mental notes while taking it off. It went back together with ease!  Just a few screws here and there..

Ta Da...

What do ya think?  Looks good eh?!?  Not bad for a $7 dollar makeover!
And you thought I'd paint the stone...silly Sharon.  NEVER!

Update:
Here's a pic of my mantle today (Sept. 2012). I've spruced it up a bit!

 
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Home Stories A2Z

Grandma Hluchy's Great Rice

I think I am subscribed to some 75 different blogs and shopping websites.  Every morning, I wake up and shuffle through my emails to see if anything interesting catches my eye.  Today, I see in the subject line "Grandma Hluchy's Great Rice"... Cha Ching...Jackpot.

A slovak recipe from Grandma Hluchy's kitchen beats any home decor update any day!  THANK YOU AUNTIE VIOLET.  I'll be attempting this recipe tomorrow for dinner.

Thought I'd share..

Grandma Lookey’s Rice

March 1982 revisited June 18, 2012

Fry Onions and Oil, when onions are translucent add a bit of butter

Wash & Drain 1 cup of rice

Fry for 5 minutes – add Salt & Pepper, nutmeg and ginger (Nice

little pinches)

Boil 2 cups of water

Add water to rice – cover, turn off element, and let it sit for ½ hour

(or til rice is done)

You can add a chicken boullion to the boiling water for more

flavour

When rice is done, fluff it up and add parsley flakes, fresh or dried

for a nice look and

taste.

Ugly Valance No More!

I really wanted to update the window treatments in my kitchen, but for fairly cheap.  I'd love some roman blinds, but I know that I'll be bored of them quick.  And, even if I'm not, when I reno my kitchen in the future, I'll want to fork out the dough for something really nice.  Not going to waste my money on something that is temporary.

Valances seemed to be a fair solution.  The rod was already up, and I didn't need to blow my budget on a ton of fabric.  Valances tend to look dated and cheap quickly, so I wanted something that had a custom look.

I searched through my fabric box an found these old brown curtain panels I had from our Jarvis house.  I saved them because I liked the texture of the fabric.  Here's how I made 2 old curtain panels into 4 custom looking valances.

First, I sprayed the valance rod black.

Then I cut a strip of fabric from my banquette and pressed it nice and even.

I cut the tabs off the curtain panel and cut the panel in half.  Next, I cut my 2 panels to 16" long, which is the basic length of a valance.  

I went bananas pinning my strip to the bottom of my valance to make sure I sewed it straight.

I could have just left the valance like that, but I decided to add some grommets.  I think that grommets made the valances a little more modern.  

Grommets are so easy to add.  Just mark your holes, cut your holes and snap the grommets in place.  

Most important, add an even amount of grommets (6, 8, 10 etc...) so both your ends are facing in.  Also make sure not to leave too much space between each grommet.  Once hung, your fabric between each hole will stick out too far if you leave too much space.. Yea, I made both those mistakes!!!  whoops.

Voila...here they are.  I actually like how they turned out.

Exterior decisions

If you've talked to me in the last 2 weeks, you know how much the exterior of my house is irritating me.  Seriously, I can live with someone else's appliances, and even a yellow ceramic tiled shower.... But I can't stand having an ugly exterior.  I want a new door.  I want new shutters.  I want new garage doors.  And, I want to paint my brick.  I don't care what anyone thinks!!!!  I want to paint my stupid brick.

Here's my house when we first moved in.

I want raised panelled shutters...not louvered in a deep taupe colour, or black.

Garage doors will be Coach style.  I'd like black handles. The colour will be a sandstone - the same colour as the window casings.

I picked out a new front door.  A black executive style door, with a 3/4 lite, antique bubble glass and an interior black iron grid.  Make sense??  Here's kinda a picture...

I wanted black, but Ryan wants red.  A red door?  That throws off my whole plan.  But, I thought he may have a point.  So, I found some old red exterior paint I had from the farm and went to town painting the existing door red just to see if I'd like it.  It takes 8 weeks to get my new door, so why not?!?!

 F-words - I hate it when he's right.  I like it red!!!
I took off the storm door and now I think the red door looks great.  I'm back to square one.

As of now

• I removed the storm doors
• I'm ordering the new front door in red.  
• I bought some new, gorgeous Murray Fiess light fixtures that Ryan is installing (one above the portico and one between the garage doors)
• I painted that ugly piece of brown above the garage doors.  
• I also ordered some new house numbers that'll go on the portico.  
• And, you can't see, but I painted my mailbox black.

Now that my door is going to be red, I have to come up with a new plan.  I'm putting off the new shutters and garage doors until the spring when I am ready to paint the brick.  We're getting a new roof in the spring so that'll make a huge difference.

I'm having a hard time committing to anything in this house!  Hope that's a sign this house is "the one".

A small before & after!

DIY Kitchen Banquette

The BEFORE...

The AFTER...

My original plan with this banquette was to just make covers for the pink cushions.  BUT, when I took them off to give them a good clean, I literally had to peeeeel them off.  BARF.  The underside of them all were covered in grease and rice.  No joke.  It was so nasty.  So, I put gloves on, put them in the back of my van, and brought them to the dump.  EWWWWW.

On to plan B... Call my Dad!

First, I made a stencil with kraft paper of the 3 pieces I wanted to make.

Then, I headed to Pop's house to go lumber shopping and cut our plywood to size and get Baba to watch the kiddies while I go fabric hunting...  My Favourite thing on earth to do!!

At home, I cut the foam to size and used spray adhesive to adhere it to the plywood.

Next, I layed out my fabric and batting and went bananas stapling.  I knew 2 years in Cut 'n Paste school would come in handy.

Every great piece of art needs a signature!

Flip it over, put it in place and admire my hard work...

Can't forget to sew 100 pillows to match.

I love how it turned out.  The best part, is that when I get bored of the fabric, I can rip it off and re-staple a new pattern.  Super Easy.  I also chose an Outdoor fabric.  My kids have spilled everything imaginable already, and it beads right off.  Awesome!

A few updates in the Kicthen

So, it's been about 4 weeks and I am finally settled in the new house.  I LOVE this house and I LOVE the area.  Unfortunately, the house needs quite a bit of TLC.  I wake up every morning thinking 'I wanna do this and I wanna do that today.... and this, and this, and this, and this"...!  So much to do and so little energy!!!

We aren't planning any major reno's just yet.  We've had quite a few changes in the last few months (who am I kidding?  the last few years), so we are trying to take it one step at a time.  Like 'normal' people.  A new door, wait a bit....then maybe a new bathroom...then maybe a new fence, shutters, garage door, countertop, roof, laundry room, basement.... hahaha No need to do it all at once like we have been doing in the past.  I really want to enjoy this house and bring it back to life slowly, but surely.

So lately, I've been doing some cosmetic fixes that make the home feel more like "me".  I'm putting my personal touch on a few things and decorating, rather than renovating.

First, the kitchen...

A few "befores"....

There is nothing I can do about the pink countertop.  It's corian, and super durable...It's going to stay until I do a few reno.  Also not changing the backsplash.  My goodness that thing is plastered in there so good the entire wall will come down if I try and remove it.  Not interested in that much of a project.  The fridge needs to stay because it's built in, but I'll be replacing the cook top, oven and dishwasher sooner than later.  So nasty cooking on someone else's appliances....

So, with a new banquette, knobs, faucet and window treatments...I actually like my kitchen (for now!)

The new knobs I got on ebay for a steal... all 50 of them for just $80 (with shipping).  Way better than the gold crystal ones!!  Ryan installed the new faucet for me.  Limited options since the layout of the sink is so odd.  I wasn't about to change the bar faucet since I'll be ripping that out one day.

I sewed the window treatments with valances I had from the old house in Jarvis.  I like how they turned out.  Ideally, I'd have some nice roman blinds, but I'll do something fancy when I do a reno.  Nothing beats FREE!!!

The biggest change was the banquet... I'll do up a "How-To" post next.  Took a lot of work, but I loved building it with my Dad!

Hope you like my first mini update!!!

It's been a while.

I know I haven't written in a while, but I haven't been so motivated these days.  The move was tough.  I was devastated to leave the country life, and when I got into this place, it was nasty.  The previous owners left crap in every drawer and cupboard.  There was grease and dust everywhere and rice....rice everywhere!  EWWW! I had to clean out under the sinks and throw out old lotion bottles and bandaids from the bathrooms.  Nasty stuff.  So needless to say, my motivation to 'joyously' share my moving experience on my blog has been zip.

But, it's been a few weeks now and things are looking up.  I've cleaned the house - my nose is burnt from breathing in so much bleach.  I've fix a few things like the shelving in our closets and the door knobs that have no function.  And I have to admit I LOVE this house.  It's my favourite out of all 10.  It's severely outdated, but I can't wait to touch every room.  And, I love the area.  We aren't in the centre of Burlington, so when I do my shopping I'm not amongst the soccer mom's and their nannies.  I'm in  a mature part of town where it's very quiet during the day.  I think I am going to like it here.  I know the kids will.

The first project I have undertaken is my kitchen.  I'll do a big post another day with all of the changes. I been sewing my brains out and I got to use my chop saw.  Good stuff.  I'll share my projects soon.

This week, I hope to finish my kitchen mini makeover and on to the exterior.  I have guys coming to quote for a new front door, garage door, shutters and fence.  Number 1 priority - the fence.  I am so sick of look at my neighbour with his shirt off.  He reminds me of Kevin James.  Anyway, stay tuned... lots of good stuff to com :)

Meh.

 Not feeling too 'home-decor-like' tonight.  I'm moving in just a week and a half and I'm having a tough time holding it together.  I've met some great people out here, and I've started a great life for myself and the kids.  I love being in the country.  I feel like I am my best self out here.  I have finally found a place where I feel I belong, and I am proud to live here.  It's going to be tough moving to Burlington.  I'm not a fan of Burlington at all.  There are some things that I am just going to have to let go.  Whatever... I have to keep reminding myself that I am taking one for the Geddes team and I will have to make the best of it.  I am VERY excited to be closer to my Brother and his wife and their twins that will be arriving in a few short weeks.  And one of my bestest friends is due next month.  I can't wait to be able to see the babies when ever I want.  And I did a drive by of my new house last week.  I'm excited to pimp it out. 

Whenever I am feelin' a little down, there is a big ball of furry love that never fails me.  I love my silly dog so much.  This is my favourite pic of him.  Makes me smile every time.  I caught him outside one day just watching the world go by.  I wonder what was going through his head.  Marley - the old man in a dog suit....