Our Vintage Home Love

Vintage Walnut Rolling Pin and Shop Update

2012-03-05T13:09:00.000-06:00

Howdy friends! I love when it when I come across a great bargain, especially when it's on Etsy and involves something I adore collecting. Now, let me back up a bit.......the good thing about being sick in bed.....online shopping. The bad thing about being sick in bed.....online shopping. And I did a good bit of it while I was laid up with the flu a couple of weeks ago, but shhhhh, that's a secret. Every now and then a girl just needs to shop to feel better. In my defense, it doesn't even count if each thing you buy is under 10 bucks, right?! :-D

One of my favorite places to shop is Etsy and during my little shopping spree, I came across this absolutely wonderful solid walnut rolling pin for only 6 bucks!

I could NOT pass that up because if you read our blog or visit my Etsy shop, you know how much I adore walnut and also how I adore rolling pins and collecting them.

What a treasure this thing is.....can you imagine all the wonderful stories behind it in the kitchen, families making pie crust or bread dough? I'm sure there is a lot of love behind it, too.

And it will definitely make rolling out dough for a pizza a lot more special and fun because of those things. I just love that.

The almost black aged color of the walnut is gorgeous. And I love how it is all one solid piece, instead of rolling handles.

Any of you collect rolling pins?

Shop Update:

We haven't gotten much work done in our shop because of, well, life getting in the way, but our goal is to open up at the end of April. We're gettin' busy and hoping to share some photos soon. We'll post the address as soon as we're ready to open, for all those that have emailed asking. We appreciate your support in this huge adventure we are taking on more than anything and it never would have been possible, or something we would even consider, without YOU! So, thank you!

Found Ironstone

2012-03-01T05:00:00.001-06:00

Digging through crates of junk covered in filth a couple of weeks ago acquired by hubby,

this is what I found lurking in the bottom.

8 gorgeous very old ironstone platters and a lovely little bowl. Can you believe the luck??

I certainly couldn't. In fact, I almost overlooked them because they were covered in so much dirt, they weren't recognizable. It's amazing what Mr. Clean Erasers can do.

I was so excited to add these to my tiny collection of ironstone.

Any of you collect ironstone? What are your favorite pieces?

First Signs of Spring

2012-02-23T09:33:00.000-06:00

The strawberries that are beginning to show up in local markets have been so delicious and remind us that spring is just around the corner. I picked these up yesterday and they are so sweet and juicy that we didn't have to add any sugar to them. They were also so pretty that I wanted to take a few photos of them in this cute little container I picked up at Anthropologie. I love little containers like this to hold fresh produce and can't wait to use it to harvest our cherry tomatoes from the garden this summer.

On another note, hubby and I had so much fun celebrating our anniversary yesterday. The weather was gorgeous, we shared lunch together outside and he brought me beautiful tulips, my favorite. Nothing fancy but the absolute perfect day with my man.

I hope everyone has a beautiful day today. I am home sick in bed with whatever strep/fever/sore throat virus my children have been passing around since Christmas. So I'm going to treat myself to some movie watching as I stare out the window at the beautiful weather.

But at least I have my beautiful tulips to cheer me up.

I'd love to know, what do you all like to do with fresh strawberries? Do share!

Handmade With Love - Happy Anniversary

2012-02-22T05:00:00.006-06:00

Twenty years ago today, my man and I were married. Wow! It really seems like it was just yesterday. I can't even begin to describe how much I adore this man. Before we start celebrating, I wanted to share with you the special gift I made him.

He has been asking me for a while to make him a drive in theatre sign whenever I had time. So, I thought it would be really cool to make a sign inspired by the drive in theatre in his favorite movie, Grease. I got to work and this is what I came up with.

I built a simple frame with 1 x 2's and then attached lattice strips to the front of it with a nail gun. Then I stained it with Minwax Special Walnut and printed a few stencils off the computer. I just used plain white for the words and then, to give "Drive-In Theatre" some pizazz, I took a pencil and dipped the eraser end in black paint and added dots in the words to resemble lights.

That's it!

I always like to give my hubby something made from my heart. I know those things are more important to him than anything I could buy and I know this will mean so much to him.

Have a great day everyone!

Vintage Dental Cart/Table

2012-02-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! Last week my hubby purchased the contents of an old home and while a lot of it was junk, we did find a few goodies, one of which was a very cool vintage metal cart/table. I immediately remembered seeing something similar at Pottery Barn, so,

I was pretty happy that this was among all the junk.

We thought this was the perfect space for it. And I thought it would be great to use as a snack or drink cart for our own kiddos or when we have guests over since this is usually the room we entertain in.

Another special little find was this set of glasses with a "G" on them, perfect for our family. I almost didn't find them as they were in the bottom of a box covered in ick. But after a couple of hand washes and a go through the dishwasher, they are like new.

The cart is metal with castors and the shelves are heavy porcelain, maybe? I'm not really sure, but they are very heavy. I didn't have to do anything to it other than give it a good cleaning.

We also found this cute little silver bowl that I filled with pumpkin seeds,
one of our favorite snacks.

We're just crazy about this nifty little table and think it fits in perfectly with the rest of the room.

I love little surprises like that. What do you think?

Valentine's Dessert Ideas

2012-02-12T10:26:00.001-06:00

We aren't huge chocolate fans around our house so I usually make desserts without it for Valentines Day. One of our favorites, Sticky Toffee Pudding. However, I make my own version and turn it into individual trifles. It somehow seems easier that way and I'm all about giving everyone their own little individual container with their own little dessert. It just makes it more special.

This recipe is pretty easy and uses ingredients that you probably already have, with maybe an

exception to the dates. Start by chopping 3/4 cup of pitted dates into fine pieces and throwing them into a small bowl with 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Pour 1 1/4 cups of boiling water over them and set aside. Next, in another bowl, combine 1 cup + 1 TBS all purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder, combine and set aside.

While those sit, combine 1/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter and 3/4 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer) and mix until light and fluffy.

Add one egg and 1 tsp vanilla and mix until combined.

Slowly add flour mixture and mix only until combined. Do not overmix here.

Here's what it should look like.

Pour in your dates/boiling water mixture and carefully fold it into the butter mixture. It will be very thin when you are finished, looking like this.

Pour into a greased 8 x 8 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until it looks like this (and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center).

Yum! While that cools completely, whip up some fresh cream. Take 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla and mix until stiff but before you turn it into butter. I completely forgot to take a pic here, sorry! Set that aside and make your toffee sauce. Grab a stick of butter, 1 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of heavy cream and put into a small heavy saucepan.

Heat to boiling, reduce heat and gently boil on medium low, while stirring for about 8 minutes. It will look like this when done and you will want to drink it straight from the pan.

Let this cool and thicken. Next take your cake and flip onto a piece of parchment paper and

cut into squares.

Take your little serving dish, I used stemless wine glasses, and layer starting with the cake, then the toffee sauce and fresh whipped cream, repeat ending with the cream. Drizzle a little toffee sauce over the top and you are done. This dessert is so good! Don't make it too far in advance or your toffee sauce will get to thick. You could make your cake and cream a day in advance and make the toffee sauce and assemble the dessert a couple of hours before you plan to serve. Try it! I'm tellin' ya, you'll love it and so will your sweeties!

Have a great day!

Valentine's Dinner Ideas For Your Sweeties

2012-02-06T05:00:00.032-06:00

I happen to love the month of February. It's a whole month of love for us, not just Valentine's Day but our anniversary happens in February along with a couple of our kiddos birthdays, so, it feels like we celebrate our family the entire month, which I just love.

On Valentine's Day, I like to go all out at dinnertime and make something for my man and kiddos that we don't eat on a regular basis, just to make them feel extra special. Around our house, that is homemade Fettuccine Alfredo with fresh pasta. I just don't think there is anything better than a rich creamy pasta dish eaten with those you love on Valentine's Day.

This recipe is really simple for those that think homemade alfredo sauce is hard to make, like I used to. It's not. And it tastes so much better than the jarred variety. I wouldn't say it's healthier, loaded with heavy cream, cheese and butter, but at least you know what's going into it. And there is nothing wrong with enjoying a rich dish like this on a special occasion every now and then.

To make the fresh fettuccine, I followed the same pasta recipe that I use here, then use my Kitchenaid attachment for fettuccine to cut the pasta. After it's all cut, toss it with a tiny bit of flour and this pile of golden goodness is what you have.

While your pasta rests, put your salted water on to boil and grab a fry pan.

Throw in 4 TBS of unsalted butter.

Melt completely and add 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and 1 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Simmer until it begins to bubble, whisking the entire time. After bubbles appear on top, turn off the heat and continue whisking a minute or so until thick.

It should look like this. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

Set aside and add your fresh pasta to your boiling water. Remember that fresh pasta doesn't take as long to cook as dried so it should be ready in a few minutes. After the fettuccine is done, drain and toss it with the alfredo sauce.

Oh. My. Word. Look at that creamy goodness! Traditionally, nutmeg is grated over this dish but we don't like nutmeg in our family so I leave it out, but feel free to add it if you like it. Oh. Yes. Dinner is ready. It's really quick to make if you prepare your pasta ahead of time. Or you could just buy dried pasta or prepared refrigerated fresh pasta. It's so good! Top it with freshly grated parmesan cheese. I also like to sprinkle a bit of smoked paprika over the top. It really adds a special flavor to the pasta and I happen to love smoked paprika.

Add a simple leafy green salad with a light vinaigrette, some crusty bread and a nice bottle of wine (for the grown ups) and you have yourself a pretty special Valentine's dinner.

I thought it would be fun this week before Valentine's Day to share some fun ideas for making a fabulous dinner/evening for the special people in your life. So stay tuned for some yummy dessert ideas, some cozy decorating ideas, and some fun little goody bags for school parties.

Have a Happy Monday! And for all those that have emailed asking, I just listed more bread boards, finally! Enjoy!

Dining Room Finds

2012-02-01T05:00:00.016-06:00

Hey there! Happy first day of the LOVE month! Speaking of love, my amazing man brought home more loot this past week from his picking adventures and put it in storage. I was able to go check it out over the weekend and pick what I wanted out of it. I came across this huge wood frame that I HAD to have. As soon as I stumbled across it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Yes, I know, chalkboards are everywhere but I really don't care and this thing makes me so happy. Plus, I am so inspired by this quote from one of my cookbooks. I have this quote on another chalkboard at our shop to inspire me while I work on bread boards.

I also picked out this vintage wood cutlery tray and silver tray. I didn't get a good shot of the silver tray but I love it and that sucker is so heavy. And it goes perfectly with our vintage silver flatware.

I think this might just be my favorite corner of the house.

To make the chalkboard, I simply attached a piece of plywood that I had painted with chalkboard paint to the back of the frame and stapled. Voila.

Getting ready to give the kids rooms an overhaul and I. Can't. Wait.

Still working on the stairs, too. I loved all of your suggestions on our stair project, thank you! I think we've decided to stain the treads a dark color and paint the risers a decorators white. But that's not a done deal yet. Stay tuned!

Have a lovely day!

New Finds for The Kitchen

2012-01-30T05:00:00.011-06:00

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great weekend. My hubby brought home some things the other day for me and this one particular thing, I just fell in love with. And it's perfect for Valentine's Day.

How cute is this old coffee tin?? So cute! I filled it with one of my favorites, tulips. I just love that you can find fresh tulips in my local grocery store during late January and February. So, I treat myself to some each week when I shop for groceries. They are such a cheery addition to the house during the drab winter months.

My other find is from Etsy. I just love Etsy and always try to support handmade when I can. There are some wonderful sellers there and I could spend hours looking in their shops. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to cook. It is one of my passions. I have a couple of knives that I've had forever and they were always getting thrown into the drawer with my other kitchen gadgets, dulling the blades. So my hubby had my knives professionally sharpened for me for a surprise.

Well, now that they are perfectly sharp and slide through a tomato like butter, I didn't dare throw them back into that drawer, so I went looking for something to keep them in. I've always loved those magnet wall knife holders and found the perfect one on Etsy. And the best part is that it's made from sustainably harvested walnut, my favorite. And did I mention, it's gorgeous!?

It goes perfectly with my walnut cutting board, also a gift from my hubby many years ago and such a cherished piece in my kitchen.

I'm in love.....

The walnut knife block can be purchased here. There are also other selections using different woods if you prefer lighter colors.

So that's it, just a couple things I added to our kitchen that make me smile.

For those of you that don't follow us on Facebook, here is the latest photo update on our stair project.

I still have to sand the top of each stair and figure out what my next step is going to be from there. But I'm loving the carpet gone. I'm curious, what would you do to the stairs?? Do share!!

Have a great Monday!

Bread Board Winner

2012-01-20T09:36:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday everyone! First, I want to say thank you for all the sweet comments. I read every one of them and they all made me smile, so, thank you!

The random number generator selected number 36 as the winner of the giveaway.

christymanarJan 16, 2012 06:11 AM

Everytime I see another blogger getting ready to redo their stairs, I start staring at mine again. I so badly want to redo them!!! Hope to win the bread boards!!!

Congrats Christy! Contact me via the contact page to give me your mailing info!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Stairway Redo and a Giveaway

2012-01-16T05:00:00.003-06:00

When we first moved into our home 5 years ago, I was so disappointed with the stairway. I had always dreamed of having a beautiful staircase and ours was just boring. We always wanted to redo it but could never find the time. However, hubby came home with some huge old barn beams the other day that ignited my fire again. I was having trouble figuring out what to do with them until I saw this pic on Pinterest.

Our home isn't quite this rustic, and I don't really want it to be, but I really want to incorporate those barn beams into our stairway somehow like in this inspiration pic. Here's a look at how it looks now.

That half wall is coming down and I'm gonna try to build some type of railing

incorporating a barn beam. I've got some ideas and can't wait to see what I can come up with. Of course, I might also be out of my mind by doing this. :)

The nasty carpet is also getting the boot. Yay!

I'm so excited to take this stairway area from boring to beautiful. Hopefully there won't be too many surprises when I remove the carpet and wall. And hopefully it won't turn into a giant fail. But I guess I'll never know unless I try, right?

And now for the giveaway! To celebrate the milestone of 1000 members here and on Facebook and to say a big thank you for taking time out of your day to visit, I've decided to give away to one OVHL reader 1 set of my mini french bread board set and one large rustic walnut bread board,

as shown below:

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment in the comment section below. That's it! The giveaway ends on Thursday night, January 19, and the winner will be announced Friday morning, January 20.

Have a great day everyone!

Comments are now closed.

Blueberry Pie

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

There is nothing I love more in the dead of winter than pulling out some preserved summer blueberries from the freezer and making a pie for my family. It will definitely cure the winter blahs.

And it gave me a good excuse to use my new vintage pie server that hubby brought home with a box of vintage flatware. Anyone else think the pie photo above looks like a face?? My youngest, who's sitting here with me as I type, this just pointed that out. And I think I'm gonna have to agree.

This pie is simple to make because I just use a store bought pie crust dough, which is just as good as the homemade kind, if you ask me.

Put 4 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries in a bowl with 3/4 cups sugar,

1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup flour. Combine.

Place one roll of pastry dough in the bottom of a pie dish.

Next, pour blueberry mixture in, making sure to evenly distribute the sugar, flour, cinnamon mixture.

Next, unroll second piece of pastry dough and place on top of the pie, seal the edges and cut four slits in the top for steam to escape.

Whisk one egg to make an egg wash for the top and brush the top of the pie, then sprinkle with sugar.

Place pie on top of a cookie sheet to catch any spills and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.

If the top of your pie browns too quickly, place a piece of foil over the top.

Grab your favorite vanilla gelato or whip up some fresh cream to serve on top of the warm pie and sit back and remember your favorite summer memories. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Vintage Wardrobe

2012-01-11T05:00:00.002-06:00

My man has found himself in the middle of a vintage furniture smorgasboard getting ready to open our new shop. The furniture and other items he has found are amazing

and hard for me to let go of.

This wardrobe is one of his finds. I just love it and get to keep it.

It definitely needs some love so I can't wait to see what I can do with it. I don't want to use it as a wardrobe, but instead, add some shelves to the inside and use it for storage in our laundry room, which we desperately need.

And I'm also thinking of giving it a paint job, but haven't decided on a color. I think I've narrowed it down to white or gray. What do you think?

A Fresh Start

2012-01-09T05:00:00.032-06:00

I love the renewed feeling our home has when we take the Christmas decor down and clean up after all the mess, get things back in order and start fresh for the New Year.

And with a New Year comes second chances. Another chance to forgive, to do better, give more, be more, love each other more. For me, it's also another chance to stop worrying about what if and start embracing what could be.

To remember to open myself up to a great adventure, a great friendship, a wonderful opportunity, instead of closing myself off for fear of getting hurt.....or just plain ol' fear.

To remember to live in the moment....

To work hard and be optimistic about doing the things that I'm afraid of and realize that the courage to do them is inside me and has been all along.

To never give up on anyone......including myself.

As always, thank you for visiting today! :)

The Little Things

2012-01-04T22:16:00.001-06:00

Hey there! I apologize for the lack of posts recently and the lack of commenting on your blogs, as well. Holidays are tough and this one was a doozy. But I'm looking forward to what's in store for the New Year. And I'm looking forward to getting back to regular blogging. With that said, I wanted to share one of my favorite sayings........

After posting pics of my newly renovated studio at our shop, I received a lot of emails asking what the difficult to read quote is on the chalkboard on the wall. So I thought I'd share it. And for anyone wondering, that chalkboard is just a piece of plywood painted with chalkboard paint. I suppose that I could've put a frame around it but hey, I was lazy. :)

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony." Fernand Point.

I love this quote as well. I found it in one of my favorite cookbooks from Charlie Trotter.

What are your favorite sayings or quotes? As always, I'd love for you to share!

New Studio/Workshop Before and After

2011-12-27T23:25:00.001-06:00

Hey everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends.

I spent lots of time working on my new "studio" which is in the back of our new shop that we are currently designing. It's so nice to have a warm place to make my bread boards now instead of using the gravel carport behind our house. I know this is nothing that exciting but I wanted to show you how it looked before I worked on it.

In a word, gross. This place use to be a taxidermy business so there was all kinds of this and that splattered on the walls and floor. I'm not sure what it was and I really don't want to know either, I'm just happy it's gone now. First thing I did was pull up the floor.

Then I replaced it with parquet wood floor tiles. Next, the ick splattered cabinets had to go. I gave them a good cleaning and coat or two of Kilz, then, another three coats of Valspar Ultra White paint in semi gloss. I'm thinking about adding knobs, just not sure what kind yet. Then I sanded down the wood countertop and put a coat of Minwax Special Walnut stain. The doors also received a coat of ultra white and the walls are painted with
Elmira White by Benjamin Moore.

I still need to add a few more things and install baseboards at some point.

Here's what it looks like now.

I also brought in some personal things to make it feel homey. I know it's just a workshop but I really believe in surrounding yourself with things that make you happy, especially when working. I also brought in this stainless steel table which is so perfect for working on. The stool was left behind so I cleaned it and recovered it with an old coffee bean sack.

I am so happy with the entire room and it really inspired hubby to get to work in the other rooms.

One really special thing I wanted to share about this place is that it's right across the street from my dad's old office before he passed away. I just think that's pretty cool since this all happened because of my bread boards, which were inspired by my dad. That makes me smile and I know he's smiling, too.

Can't wait to share the rest of the place with you soon!

Have a great day!

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T10:03:00.000-06:00

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season!

I'll be taking a short break from blogging to spend Christmas with my family.

Love to all of you!

Vintage Industrial Railroad Cart

2011-12-15T11:06:00.000-06:00

Hey there everybody! Is anyone else slightly overwhelmed by the fact that it's almost Christmas? I'm sure hoping that some of you are as behind as I am? I always have such great plans to make everyone's gifts, bake cookies with my kiddos, spend time planning teacher appreciation gifts, buy presents, etc., but by this time every December, I've done none of that and I rush to get it all done at the last minute, forgetting what Christmas is about in the first place. Shame on me.

Somehow I found the time to work on the vintage industrial railroad cart that hubby brought home. We were so blessed to receive 3 of them as a gift from one of my biggest bread board suppporters. He gave us three of them and I just couldn't wait to get to work on one of them. Luckily, it didn't really need much work. I just cleaned it, sanded it, coated it with Minwax special walnut stain and polyurethaned the top and hardware. Then we brought it inside to use as a coffee table in our living room. I have always wanted one of these ever since seeing the ridiculously high priced one at Restoration Hardware. Here's how it looks in it's new home.

We are so excited about this piece and will cherish it forever because it was given to us.

I'm off to catch up with Christmas! Have a great day everyone!

Amazing Find

2011-12-09T11:48:00.000-06:00

My hubby surprised me today with something we've always wanted.

I'm so overwhelmed that I'm just going to show you the photos.

Vintage railroad carts. 3 of them.

I can't wait to get to work on these bringing them back to their original beauty.

Christmas Mantel/Ledge Ideas

2011-12-07T08:39:00.005-06:00

Hi everybody! It's the middle of the week, I've got tons of work to do working on our new shop and bread boards so this will be short and sweet. I hope everyone is having a great week so far.

We don't have a fireplace, though I sure wish we did, so I use this ledge that I built for our mantel. I always try to keep it simple when decorating it for the holidays.

Just some simple greenery that I clipped from some trees in the woods, bright white candles, some silver candle holders for a little sparkle and I added these vintage spools for some warmth and because they look a little like candle holders.

I think it all goes perfectly with the rustic pallet bench hubby and I built.

I made the stockings from leftover pieces of canvas painters dropcloth and then wrapped the tops with jute webbing for a little texture.

And some nights, we remove the stalkings, add a bunch of candles to the top of the bench, light them and pretend it's a fireplace. Hey, you do what you gotta do, right?! I'm off to work!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Be sure to link up to the Mantel Link Party at Rhoda's! Lots of fantastic ideas!

Christmas Table Decor Ideas

2011-12-05T11:18:00.004-06:00

Hey there! I worked on our table decor this morning and as usual, I kept it pretty simple.

For the table, I used vintage Christmas sheet music for placemats. Then placed my favorite white plates on top, along with my newest set of mini bread boards. On top of those, I added the gorgeous vintage silver that my hubby brought home to me. And simple white napkins complete the look.

I added some greenery into the hurricanes that were already on the table to add a little "festiveness",
is that a word?

I found this wonderful vintage dough trencher on Etsy last week and snatched it up to add to my collection. I filled it with gorgeous pomegranates. Simple, natural and pretty.

For above the pocket door, I simply went into the woods and clipped some greenery off some cypress and cedar trees and stapled it to the wall. Free.

I bought one of those inexpensive faux green wreaths and added burlap strips to it that I cut from some of our coffee sacks, then hung it from our built in corner cabinet that holds my collection of transferware. I also hung a glass berry garland from our light above the table.

For our buffet, I bought a mini Christmas tree and put it into a bushel basket wrapped with burlap and rope. Then brought out my special vintage wine decanter with etched glass wine goblets that my hubby bought for me for our anniversary one year.

To add some festiveness to the dining chairs, I tied strips of canvas to little berry wreaths that I made from glass berry garland, and hung them on the backs of the chairs.

And that's pretty much it. Nothing fancy, just simple and inexpensive, but still pretty, cozy and warm for the holidays. That in itself is beautiful to me.

Happy Decorating!

Come join us for a week of Holiday Decor link parties!

A Special Announcement

2011-12-01T05:00:00.021-06:00

Hey everyone! We wanted to share some exciting news with you as this probably wouldn't have seemed possible without all of you wonderful readers.

If you read our blog regularly, you all know what an amazing "picker" my hubby is. In fact, he has a storage building bursting at the seams full of his finds from over time. And you also know my love for transforming his finds into something unique and special, as well as my love for designing and building furniture along with my bread boards.

Because of the unbelievable success of those bread boards and his amazing picking skills, we have decided to go for our dreams and open a new business right here on Main Street. And all of his finds and my creations, will be available there!

We signed the papers yesterday and get to start fixing up this cute little shop today! We can't wait to get started. We're hoping that in the next few months, we'll have everything ready. It has so much potential and of course, I'll be blogging about it along the way. We're doing everything ourselves so hopefully, we won't run into too many road blocks.

My hubby will be able to do something he has always dreamed about and I will finally have a place in the back, indoors, to work on my bread boards and furniture pieces. With it beginning to get cold, our gravel carport "studio" just wasn't cutting it. And I won't be annoying our neighbors anymore with noisy power tools. :) Actually, we have the most supportive neighbors EVER.

So, that's the big news, and we are pretty darn excited. This would not even have been something we would have dared consider if it wasn't for all of YOU and your encouragement along the way. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support! We are so grateful.

I'll blog about the inside soon so stay tuned!

Have a great day!

I'm Over At Beneath My Heart Today

2011-11-30T06:45:00.001-06:00

Hey there! I'm guest posting over at Beneath My Heart today. I was absolutely thrilled and honored when Traci asked me to join her for Simple and Inexpensive Christmas Decorating ideas. I just love Traci and her inspiring blog. And I can't wait to see how her current home renovations look when complete.

Hop on over to check out our Christmas tree and a few ideas for decorating for the holidays in a simple and inexpensive way.

Have a great day!

Vintage Cabinet Redo

2011-11-28T05:00:00.014-06:00

Hey there! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I was finally able to work on this cabinet that hubby found and let me tell ya, it had me completely stumped. I just didn't have a clue what to do with it.

No matter how much I stared at it, I came up with nothin'.

But after some time away from it,

I finally decided to just try to bring it back to its original beauty.

Here is the before pic.

The top had a huge hole in it, so I removed that and bought another top at Lowe's for around 10 bucks.

We attached the new top and I applied two coats of Minwax Special Walnut stain.

I decided to just leave the tin sides alone, but I did give them a good cleaning. We removed all the hardware and I spray painted them with Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I also gave the entire piece a couple of coats of Minwax special walnut to match the top and when it was completely dry, I gave it a coat of wax. Here's how it looks now.

I really love the darker color. This pic isn't that great because by the time we were done, it was dark and the kitchen is the brightest room in the house. But after being stumped for days, I'm happy with it and even happier that it's finished.

What do you think of it?

My hubby and I have some very exciting news to share very soon.
Stay tuned!

I have just listed more bread boards. If you're ordering for Christmas, I'm accepting orders until December 16, to get them shipped in time for Christmas.

Click here to order.

Thank you lovely readers!

Warm Spinach Salad with Sweet Vanilla Bean Vinaigrette

2011-11-26T13:27:00.002-06:00

Hey there! Did everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving?
Did you stuff yourselves silly like we did?

We have been nursing our sweet little boy back to health so I wanted to make something fast and light today. Although, with a stick of butter in the vinaigrette, I'm not sure it's light on calories. But hey, all the healthy fruit and spinach cancels that out, right?? The warm vanilla bean vinaigrette is what makes this salad so special and I could seriously just drink it by itself. It's that good.

Also, this salad is a good way to get some veggies into your kiddos because of the sweetness of the dressing and the fruit added. It's really a simple recipe and so yummy. If you like vanilla or vanilla bean, you will love this salad. Here's what you need for the vinaigrette.

Melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan.

To that, add 3 TBS of brown sugar and 2 TBS of honey. Then scoop in the pulp of a vanilla bean and stir together until brown sugar is melted. Now, I know vanilla beans are pricey, however, I buy my vanilla beans in bulk from ebay for about $15 including shipping. I get about 30 beans and if you wrap them up tightly and store them in an airtight jar, they will last forever. I use vanilla beans a lot so this is a pretty good bargain for us. Much better than paying 10 bucks for 2 of them in the grocery store.

Transfer entire mixture to a blender. If you don't have a blender, just whisk for several minutes.

Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and pulse (or whisk) until combined (about 2 minutes). While pulsing, add 3 TBS of olive oil continuing to pulse to incorporate. Pour into a small pitcher and keep warm.

I'm telling ya, I could drink this stuff without any salad. Look at all those yummy vanilla bean specks. So much goodness! Set this aside and grab a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, toss them onto a small baking sheet and toast in the oven at 375 degrees for 5 - 8 minutes checking frequently.

Set aside to cool while you assemble your salad. For the salad you will need a regular sized container of baby spinach, 3 oranges segmented (or a can or mandarin oranges, drained), a couple large handfuls of red seedless grapes and 2 red apples quartered and then cut into bite size pieces. You could also add blue cheese crumbles if you like those, we do not, so I leave that out.

Combine your salad ingredients and drizzle the warm vanilla bean vinaigrette over the top. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe:

Warm Spinach Salad with Sweet Vanilla Bean Vinaigrette
For the Vinaigrette:
1 stick melted butter
3 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS honey
1 vanilla bean
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 TBS olive oil

Melt butter in small sauce pan and then add brown sugar and honey, stirring until melted. Add the pulp of a vanilla bean. Transfer to blender and add vanilla extract and olive oil. Pulse until combined. Keep warm.

For the Salad:
1 package baby spinach leaves
2 handfulls red seedless grapes
2 red apples, quartered and cut into bite size pieces
3 oranges segmented, or one can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted

Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl and drizzle warm vanilla bean vinaigrette over the top.

I'm Over At AKA Design Today

2011-11-22T06:28:00.002-06:00

Hey all!

I'm guest posting over at AKA Design today and I've got a fun Christmas inspired wooden sign project how to! Be sure to click here and check it out and also make sure to check out the rest of their amazing blog, such inspiration!

Have a great day! I'll be taking the rest of the week off to enjoy the holidays with my family! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

DIY Christmas Gift Tags

2011-11-21T06:00:00.009-06:00

Happy Monday to you! Although I wouldn't actually call a Monday a happy day, it's a short week and Thanksgiving week, too! I don't know about you, but that makes me pretty happy.

Tis the season, it's almost gift giving time, one of my favorite things to do ever, and that means lots of possibilities for pretty packaging. When I saw these oh so cute vintage school styled gift tags at Anthropologie, I just knew there could be a way to DIY them. So how lucky was it that I came across this easy tutorial for them over at Flamingo Toes. It's super simple and cheap, my kind of project, so I spent an evening whipping these things up and I just LOVE them! Here's my version.....

All you need is card stock, red thread, blue thread and thin hemp twine, or whatever kind of twine you prefer. Flamingo Toes even provides you with a template to print off to make it easier. For teacher and coach appreciation gifts, I picked up these fun kraft gable boxes, available here, and some red and white twine, available here.

They reminded me of a lunch box so I thought they would be perfect with the school themed gift tags. Fill the boxes with yummy baked goodies and you have a simple perfect gift to show your appreciation for those that spend so much of their time teaching our children. I can't wait to get to work on mine!

If you'd like to make these cute little tags yourself, click here for the easy tutorial!

Have a great day!!

Happy Weekend

2011-11-18T08:19:00.001-06:00

Hey friends! I apologize for the lack of posts this week. What a week it has been! I had hoped to work on this....

But it is still sitting right there, just waiting for me to spiff it up. I'm fairly certain I've decided what I want to do with it and hope to finish it up (or at least get started) this weekend so I can blog about it next week!

Have a great weekend all! What are you working on?

Vintage Cabinet and $50 Visa Gift Card Winner

2011-11-14T05:59:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday everyone! Did you have a good weekend?

My hubby is in the process of cleaning out a few storage units he purchased so he has been bringing home fun things for me to play with. His latest find is this cabinet that I've not figured out what to do with yet. Here it is in it's original state.

I think it is beautiful but I'm not really sure what it is. Does anyone know? The end reminds me of a little pie safe with it's tin sides and shelving.

The hardware is beautiful but I'm not sure I want to keep the hinges. However, I love the door handles so they are staying.

The top has a hole in it and will have to be replaced. And I haven't decided if I want to paint it or just improve it's original features.

I'm also not sure if I even like the tin sides. I love the aged tin sides on this piece from Anthropologie.

via

I wonder if there is some sort of treatment I could apply to the tin to replicate that look.

Anyone know? Lots of decisions, huh! What do you think?

P.S. The random number generator has selected 199 as the winner of the giveaway and that belongs to:

Gail who's comment was:

"I found the blog site, Yeah!!! LOl. I love the end tables...I must also say, I liked the swirl...haha But I would never have had the forsight to turn them into end tables with reclaimed wood. They are beautifyl!!!"

Congratulations!! Please email me your address info via the contact page and we will send this to you so you can enjoy it! Have a great day all!

Kids Snack Tray Ideas

2011-11-11T06:00:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday everyone! Just wanted to share a fun idea with you in a short post today.

I came across these old metal trays going through a box of junk and I thought surely they could be used for something.

They've certainly seen better days, right? Anyway, I grabbed a can of this.....

And gave each one a few coats and let dry (after I gave them a good cleaning). Here's what I did with them....

I thought it would be fun to use them for snack trays for the kiddos. My older children are, well, too old to enjoy them, but my youngest is certainly having fun using them for his after school snack. Include a piece of chalk and they can have a little fun while eating their snack or meal. If you have a lot of them, they would also be lots of fun for a kids party.

Have a great day and weekend!

P.S. Our $50 Visa Gift Card Giveaway is still going on so if you haven't left a comment on this post to enter, be sure to do so before Sunday!

Reclaimed Flooring End Tables and a $50 Giveaway!

2011-11-09T06:00:00.003-06:00

Hey there! I'm so excited about today's post because I LOVE giveaways! More on that below.

First, I want to show you a project we worked on over the weekend using the remaining section of this reclaimed bowling alley flooring leftover from our coffee table project.

I was afraid it was going to go to waste because I had decorators block and couldn't come up with anything to do with it, until hubby came home with a pair of these amazing iron nesting tables that he found. The scroll work isn't my cup of tea, but, I knew we could remove that somehow.

Because I'm unorganized and get in a hurry when working on these things, the pic is just of one of the tables and I forgot to take pics as we worked. To remove the scroll work, we just used a jig saw with a blade for steel cutting (and eye protection, there were plenty of sparks) and then I sanded down any sharp edges with sandpaper. I liked the aged roughed up look of the iron tables so I just left them as is after removing the scroll piece instead of spray painting them.

After that, I simply placed the table upside down on the slab of flooring and traced around the outside. Then we cut them out using a circular saw, cutting just inside the line we just traced. This way, the piece would fit perfectly inside the lip of each table. At least, that's what we hoped.....we did have to do some minor sanding to make them fit perfectly into the table. After they were secure, I applied polyurethane to the top and sides and voila! Two perfect end tables to go with our coffee table we made from the same slab of flooring.

I was so excited when we split the first piece and inside it were these letters stenciled on the wood. I thought it was a perfect touch and really added to the industrial vintage feel of the table.

I'm so happy that we were able to use every inch of that wonderful slab of reclaimed bowling alley floor and none of it went to waste.

And I'm glad we were able to remove the scroll work. I love the simplicity of these tables. There is such beauty in that.

Now onto the giveaway! I'm a true believer in paying it forward and we've been blessed with great friends who have always been there for us, so, we're giving away a $50 Visa Gift Card to one Our Vintage Home Love reader. We love our readers so much and I LOVE giving gifts. Making someone feel special is what life is all about.

To enter, just leave a comment. (One comment per person, please)
The giveaway will end on Sunday night, November 13 and will be announced on Monday morning's blog post, November 14.

Have a great day!

***********************COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED*************************

Mini French Inspired Bread Board Set

2011-11-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

Happy Monday everyone! Did you have a good weekend? We experienced our first earthquake Saturday night and let me just say, I'm not a fan. Hubby slept through it but our boys were a little unsettled, as was I. Pretty sure I'd rather poke my own eye with a stick than experience one again. :)

Anyway, I'm so excited to show you a few new bread boards that I've been working on that are now available in my shop! I have always admired french cheese boards but they are always out of my price range. So I decided to come up with a set of mini bread boards that are inspired by my favorites.

I'm crazy about these and I hope you will love them as much as I do. I also decided to add a large maple bread board to my shop. I've started purchasing my maple from the same supplier that I purchase my walnut and I think the wood is just gorgeous. I couldn't be more happy with it. The colors running through the grain of the wood are stunning.

And so many of you have sent emails requesting me to make a longer version of my medium walnut bread board and a wider version of my large walnut board, so I did!

All the info regarding my new bread boards can be found in my shop. Click here if you'd like to purchase one of these. And as usual, I've also added more of my other bread boards!

I worked on some fun things this weekend that I'm excited to show you. And because we can all use some extra $ during this time of year, I'm giving away a $50 Visa Gift Card later in the week! I can't believe how fast time is flying. It will be Christmas before you know it! Has anyone started shopping yet?

Have a great day friends!

Thrift Chair Redo

2011-11-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

Hey there! It's Friday! Without a doubt, the best day of the week, yes?

A few weeks ago, I picked up this chair at a yard sale for 8 bucks. It was marked $10, but I did a little bargaining...... :)

I don't know why, but I was really drawn to it. Then when I got it home, I had no idea what I wanted to do with it, so, it sat outside, neglected, for a couple weeks. And then finally, I had an idea.

Because I sometimes get ahead of myself, I painted it white BEFORE removing all the fabric. I knew I wanted it white, so, I thought if I got that done, I could figure out what direction I wanted to go in for the rest of the chair.

Because the wood was so old and porous, it sucked up the white spray paint like crazy, so it took A LOT of coats before it finally looked good.

THEN, I completely stripped the chair to find the upholstery webbing in pretty sad shape.

So, I removed all of it and replaced it with new jute webbing, available at any fabric store. I used carpet tacks to attach it to the chair. Why? Because that's what was there before. I am no expert on upholstering a chair. :)

During this time, the ideas were comin' and I decided I wanted to use light gray linen to upholster the chair, so I ordered it here. I ordered two yards for this project.

When it was delivered, I was so happy because it was exactly what I wanted and you know how ordering fabric online can be a little iffy sometimes. But it was perfect, so I got to work.

I replaced the cardboard strip that was across the webbing originally because it was still in good shape.

And over that, I added some low loft quilt batting to give a little extra cushion.

To make the slipcover for the chair, I used a piece of newspaper to create the pattern, making sure to leave at least a 3 inch overhang to allow for the fabric to be attached under the seat.

Then pinned the newspaper pattern to my fabric to cut it out. I attached it to the chair by simply pulling and stapling with a staple gun underneath the chair.

That part is done!

Originally, I was going to stop here, but, that would be a pretty boring chair. So, because ruffles are big right now and I'm a girl, I decided to keep it very similar to the original chair and attach a ruffle around the edge.

However, I have never sewed or made ruffles before. So, I guessed my way throught that part and cut 4 inch strips of fabric and hemmed one side. Then hand threaded a piece of strong thread through the top and bunched up the fabric to create the ruffle. I have no idea if that is the correct way to do it but that's what I did.

After that, I attached the ruffle strips with tacks around the edge and covered with a piece of trim. I attached the trim with a hot glue gun. Then I cut out 1 inch strips of linen to make ties for around the arms. To make it easy, I just left them rough and didn't hem 'em or anything.

It still needed a little something so I made a cushion to place on top of that by measuring the inside of the chair and cutting out two pieces of fabric accordingly, sewed it, stuffed it, and threw it in the chair. To give the chair a special touch, I stenciled three very meaningful numbers on the top with some vintage stencils hubby brought home and gray craft paint. Here's what it looks like all spiffed up.

This chair is a bit of a departure from what I usually go for but I. AM. LOVING IT! It's super fun and I like to mix something unexpected with the expected every now and then. And besides, I really believe if something makes you happy and smile when you're decorating your home, you should go for it and not worry too much about decorating "rules".

And I love the way it plays with the rustic bench we made. What do you think?

Stay tuned for lots of fun things next week! Have a great weekend my lovely friends!

An Antique Cabinet Redo

2011-11-03T06:28:00.000-05:00

My hubby brought home this piece of furniture last week, but honestly, we weren't sure what it was. It looked like something that perhaps at one time, went in a bathroom? At least that's what the medicine cabinet, pile of very old linens and old mirror suggested. Here's a look at it.

I thought the base cabinet was amazing, but, I could do without all the "stuff" up above, at least not on the cabinet anyway. So, off it came. I saved the mirror and medicine cabinet and removed the scroll work. I'll be doing something with those, just not sure what yet..

I removed all the hardware, and gave it a good coat of Kilz because it did have that "old" smell that I didn't want in our home. One coat took care of that. Next, I painted it Valspar Ultra White and then sanded the edges to distress it a bit.

I liked the original hardware, but wanted something a little different that would be more in keeping with things in our home, so, I made a trip to Lowe's and picked up some new drawer pulls. I did keep the original hinges on the little door. This lovely piece went in the dining room next to a chair that hubby also brought home.

It still had the original porcelain castors that I think are amazing. (Yep, my floor is dirty......)

I am crazy about this piece and now all I have to do is find the perfect piece of art to hang on the wall above it.

What do you think? And if anyone knows exactly what this piece was originally, we'd love to know.

My next redo is a chair we picked up at a yard sale for 8 bucks. It got a complete transformation that is a bit of a departure for me but I'm crazy about it!

I'm getting my shop ready for Christmas and so I've designed a few new bread boards to show you within the next week. I'm very excited about them and hope you will be too! Stay tuned!

Thinking about Christmas makes me want to decorate for Christmas and, therefore, start Christmas baking! Anyone else feel that way? I love love love making goodie baskets during the holidays for friends. Nothing eases holiday stress and anxiety for me better than doing something for someone else. And if you have a friend to spend the day baking with, well, that's even better! And so, I've got another giveaway planned! Check back soon for that, too!

Vintage Flatware

2011-11-02T07:04:00.001-05:00

Hey there! My hubby recently purchased the contents of another building to "pick" and has been bringing home all kinds of fun things for me to play with. One of which was a big box of vintage silver flatware. I just love vintage flatware and this particular group happens to be from the 30's. Imagine the wonderful history it has.

I was torn between leaving it as is or polishing it up as very old flatware patina really appeals to me. But after polishing one of the spoons, I decided I had to spiff it all up. It took an entire morning but I'm sure glad I did. Here's what it looks like after all that work.

The picture here really doesn't do it justice. They are perfect and I'm crazy about these fork and spoon collections, as well as, this collection of odd shaped spoons on the end.

And these larger forks and spoons are just lovely and sparkly.

There were also this collection of serving pieces that I was so excited about. I'm crazy about the pie server because I don't have one and so this beautiful piece will come in very handy.

I didn't want to just put all of it away in a drawer to never be admired, so, I decided to do something special with it. I grouped the forks, spoons, small and large, together and tied them with jute twine, kind of like a flatware bouquet. :)

Then I took an old bushel basket and lined it with part of a coffee sack. I tied a piece of rope around the overhang and attached this cute little merci clay tag to it. Then filled it with our white cloth napkins and all the beautiful vintage flatware "bouquets."

I placed it next to the small pedestal chalk board I made, as well as, the wonderful french wine box I received.

I am loving warm wood tones with whites and light grays right now. I put my our wine collection in this wonderful wood crate that hubby found.

Love it!

I'm also working on another piece for the dining room that hubby brought home that is getting a total transformation. I'll give you a sneak peak of the before.

Can't wait to show you what I've done with it! Stay tuned! Wishing you all a happy day!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T06:00:00.010-05:00

Hope everyone has a happy, fun and safe Halloween with friends and family!

Lots to share with you this week. A thrift chair redo that I am crazy for, a giveaway, new french inspired bread boards and a very cool find from hubby! Stay tuned! I'm going to go enjoy Halloween with my family! Have a great day!

Click here for bread boards.

How To Make Homemade Ravioli

2011-10-27T08:19:00.001-05:00

As the days get shorter and temps get cooler, we find ourselves craving those wonderful comfort foods of winter like, stuffed pastas full of gooey cheese, comforting soups and my kiddos favorite, ravioli. They are the perfect marriage of cheese and pasta in one perfect bite.

Making homemade pasta seems like a daunting task and it was to me too, but it was one of those things I wanted to learn to do. My youngest has serious food allergies and after a couple of very scary moments when he was a baby, it became clear that making homemade food was best for him. This ravioli is his favorite.

And let me tell ya, making ravioli from scratch is a heck of a lot easier, and faster, if you have one of these gadgets.

It's a ravioli press and they are pretty inexpensive and save lots of time. And if you enjoy making your own ravioli, you gotta get yourself one.

To get started with your pasta dough, grab these ingredients. I doubled my recipe here, however, the recipe listed below is NOT doubled.

I use eggs, olive oil, and two kinds of flour; cake flour and all purpose. Combine your flours and create a well in the center. Crack 4 eggs into it and then add your olive oil.

Whisk the eggs and olive oil until combined and slowly begin adding small amounts of flour until it is all combined and looks like this.

Dump the mixture out onto a floured surface and begin kneading. This part is a little work, so if you've had a bad day, this is a great way to release some frustration. :)

If it looks a little dry like mine does, add a little bit of water, about a teaspoon at a time, until it comes together but isn't sticky. It will look like this when it's finished.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for about 30 minutes and up to an hour while you prepare your cheese filling.

The cheese filling I make consists of mozzarella, sharp provolone, ricotta and cream cheese. So yummy and cheesy and did I mention I am a huge cheese fan? Combine them all in a bowl and set aside while we make the cute little raviolis.

Take your pasta dough and cut into four equal pieces.

Take one piece of dough, wrap the others back up so they don't dry out, and roll it out a bit, then, if you have a stand mixer with a pasta attachment, feed the dough through it. I highly recommend the pasta attachment for stand mixers. It makes making homemade pasta so fast and easy.

I start on the lowest setting, which is 1, and then go up to about a 7 for ravioli. After you've done that, take your ravioli press and lay it on a towel so it won't slide around on you. Lay your dough on the press.

And then take the top portion of the press, and "press" it into your dough to create little indentations for your filling. It's very important to grease the entire press, especially the plastic part, so your dough won't stick to it and cause you to throw a fit in your kitchen. Not that I did that or anything. :)

Now scoop your cheese filling in, about a half a tablespoon, maybe a little less.

Now take the rest of your dough from that section and place it over the top.

Press down gently with your fingers, then take a rolling pin and roll over the press to seal and cut the edges of the ravioli.

And that's it! You just made 12 ravioli! Turn it upside down on a floured baking sheet and pop 'em out.

Aren't they cute?!

Repeat that process with the remaining three sections of your dough and then you will have two baking sheets full of yummy fresh ravioli.

If you aren't eating these right away, pop the baking sheets into the freezer as is and let them freeze. When the ravioli are frozen, stick them in a freezer bag and return them to the freezer. Then you will have homemade ravioli whenever the desire strikes.

I like to do this on a rainy day. There is something so comforting about cooking up something special for your family on days like that. And I am not a pasta making expert by any means, this is just how I like to do it. When cooking it up, boil in salted water until they float to the top. Then combine with your favorite marinara, some fresh parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of baby basil leaves. This is why I love having the ravioli already made and frozen, I can get dinner on the table in about 20 minutes. Scroll down for the recipe.

Homemade Ravioli with 4 Cheese Filling

Pasta Dough
3/4 cup plus 2 TBS all purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 TBS cake flour
2 eggs
2 TBS olive oil

4 Cheese Filling
8 oz. ricotta cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup sharp provolone
1 egg

To make pasta dough, combine flours, make a well in large bowl and crack both eggs into along with olive oil. Whisk, slowly incorporating flour until your dough comes together. If it's too dry, add very small amounts of water at a time. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest at room temp. for approximately 30 minutes.

Prepare cheese filling by combining filling ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

After dough has rested, cut the dough into four portions. Working with one portion at a time, flatten the dough into a disk and send through a pasta machine on the lowest setting. Roll through each setting up to setting 7.

Place dough across ravioli press and using the top portion of the press, press it into your dough to create indentations in your pasta for your filling. Fill with about a half a tablespoon of your filling and cover with another sheet of pasta dough. Take a rolling pin and roll across the dough to seal and cut the ravioli. Turn onto a floured cookie sheet and repeat entire process with remaining dough. After all ravioli are made, you can freeze them individually on the cookie sheet and then when completely frozen, transfer to a freezer bag, or cook immediately in salted boiling water. Ravioli are done when they float to the top.

I'm working on a thrift chair redo that I can't wait to show you! I'm so excited about it! And I've got another great giveaway next week so stay tuned! And have a great day everyone!

Amore Sign

2011-10-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hey there! I worked on a little project over the weekend that I wanted to share. I've been crazy about this painting ever since I first saw it a few years ago.

And even though I love it, it's just a little too modern for the decor in our home. So, I created my own version that is a little more us.

I started by cutting down 1 x 4's to a 3 foot length, laying them side by side and attaching with supportive beams in the back that were made from the left over pieces that were cut off. I attached everything with screws in the back. Then I stained the entire piece with Minwax special walnut stain and let dry.

Next, I printed out the letters from a word program on my computer. I don't remember the name of the font but I enlarged it to around 700 so it would fill the entire page. I cut them out and used the cut out letters as a stencil. I placed the letters where I wanted them and then, using a stencil brush, painted around the letters with Glidden pebble gray paint.

After that dried, I dry brushed different areas with plain white paint and added some white detail to the letters, as well. After that was dry, I applied a glossy sealer over the entire piece and voila!

I'm super happy with it and instead of being over $3000 like the inspiration painting, my version cost me less than 10 bucks to make. We hung it upstairs because frankly, that area is drab and probably one of the most neglected areas of our home when it comes to decorating. Usually, it's the place that furniture I'm tired of gets banished to.

But this fun sign is inspiring me to do something up there, though I'm not sure what, it will be fun to figure it out! And I love that this is the first thing you see when walking up the stairs.

What do you think? Any of you with an upstairs, do you neglect it and instead spend more time decorating downstairs?

I can't leave without saying thank you for all the sweet and encouraging comments and emails I received yesterday about yesterday's post. Thank you sweet friends! You put a big ol' smile on my face!

Have a great day!!

Special Gifts

2011-10-23T23:58:00.000-05:00

Last Monday I received a gift in the mail from one of my bread board customers.

It was this adorable french wine box that she made! Isn't it great?

I just love it! Here's a look at the inside...

And she added her initial on the back.

It really came at a perfect time. I received it last Monday, which was my dad's birthday, so I was a little sad. What made it even more special was that my dad was a huge wine collector. He had a fairly good size collection when he died, part of which I received. I'm pretty sure the wine isn't drinkable anymore but I'm not about to throw it out. I've wanted to build something special to keep it in but haven't been motivated to do so.......until I received this special gift.

But what made it the most special was the french saying on the front. Un petite oiseau m'a dit, which translates to "a little bird told me."

I don't share personal stories very often because I'm a fairly private person learning to open up more, but I've also struggled with whether or not I should share personal stories on my blog. Would anyone be interested? But here goes......

Years ago, after my dad passed, I was going through a particularly difficult time. I was driving down the road praying to God, my dad, anyone, for guidance, a sign someone was listening or watching over me, anything.....when something a little strange happened. A dove landed on my windshield and just stared at me.

Normally this wouldn't be a strange thing, but I was driving on a highway going about 65 mph, so, I couldn't believe the dove was able to stay on the windshield without being blown off. Maybe that's normal or not strange at all, but, at that moment, I felt a sense of calm come over me that I'd never experienced before. I decided from then on, whenever I would see a dove, that was my way of knowing that my dad was still with me in spirit, watching over me. Maybe it's silly, but I guess when we lose those closest to us, we do these things to make ourselves feel better or ease our pain a little.

Currently, anxiety has become my middle name, but, thanks to wonderful blog friends who have shown me that it's okay to admit when you are going through a rough time, I feel blessed. So, when I received this gift on my dad's birthday with the saying "a little bird told me", it was a wonderful reminder that I'm not alone.

I hope you didn't mind me sharing this story with you. Thank you all so much for making me feel so welcome in the big blog world. And to the person who sent me this gift, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

P.S. The holidays are approaching quickly and my reserve list for bread boards is growing, so if you plan on ordering them for Christmas gifts, now is the time to get them, before my backorder list gets too big that I can't get them completed before the holidays. Thank you again for making my bread board business possible. You have made my dream come true. Have a wonderful Monday.

DIY Easel Chalkboard

2011-10-20T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hey there! After receiving several requests, I put together a tutorial of the easel style chalkboard I made for our front porch. I am certainly no expert at making these and there may be an easier way, however, this is how I did it. I used inexpensive 1 x 2's and leftover bead board. You will also need 8 L brackets, two screw eyes, two small hinges and a piece of twine, I used hemp. Total cost was around $15.

Since I already made the larger one for the front porch, I decided to make a smaller tabletop version for the tutorial that I could use in the kitchen or dining room. Decide on the height and width you'd like to do and then cut your wood based on those measurements. This one is 23 inches high and 13 1/2 inches wide. Put your pieces in position to get ready to attach them. I wanted to make this easy using as few tools as possible, so I attached my pieces with L brackets.

Attach all 4 L brackets for each side. You will have two of these sections.

Next up, I applied two coats of Minwax Stain in special walnut. Make sure you do both the front and back of the two frames.

While this is drying, apply chalkboard paint to whatever you are using for your chalkboard. I used the back of leftover bead board that I cut to be a little larger than the inside portion of the frame.

Paint both pieces and let dry.

After everything is dry, place your chalkboards (chalkboard side down) on the back of each frame and attach. I used wire brads because it's what we had.

Remember, this is the back of the chalkboard. Next, just to make everything look nice, I put a coat of chalkboard paint over the white bead board so it wouldn't stand out so much under the frame.

Next, you will need two screw eye hooks.

Insert one into the bottom center of the chalkboard on the inside.

Do this with both sections and then line them up, back side facing up, tops together.

Yes, my paint is still wet, I tend to get in a hurry when I do projects because I'm on limited time with dinner, picking kids up from school, etc... Take your two hinges and place them where I have in the photo above and attach with the screws provided.

Now, fold over the entire piece and stand it upright. Take your piece of twine...

And make a knot in the end. Thread it through one of the hook eyes you inserted inside the easel.

Thread the other end through the other hook eye and make a knot.

This will prevent it from sliding open and falling. Some have chains, but I like something more natural like twine. And that's it! You have an easel style chalkboard!

I'm going to use this one in our dining room on our console table with a very special gift that I received the other day from someone and I'll be blogging about that soon. If you have questions about this tutorial, just ask in the comments or email me. If you do make one, I'd love to see pics! Have a great day!

Rustic Pallet Bench

2011-10-16T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hey there! Have a good weekend? My hubby and I worked on a pallet project together and we had so much fun! It was just one of those great weekends, you know? We worked on this and then he surprised me with a special date night. Something we haven't had time to do in a while so it was extra special. And then we had a fun family day on Sunday. Those are the best kinds of weekends.

I'm so glad hubby was there to help. Those suckers are heavy and it was just plain fun working on something together. We recently purchased a vintage record player, yes, I said record player, for our outdoor "studio", so we popped on an old Dean Martin album, turned up the volume and got to work. Fun, I tell ya! :) Here's what we started with, a pile of free pallets.

And here's how it ended up.....

This was one of those projects where I just kinda planned it as I went along and when we were finished, we just couldn't stop grinning.

Everything we used for this bench was something we already had so it was FREE! Love that! I really wanted to use rustic barn hinges on this because we have been collecting them for quite a while, just waiting on the perfect project and this was it. The detail they add is perfect for this bench.

Hubby came home with those numbers above the ledge. They are from an old gas station and since Halloween is around the corner, I thought the number 31 would be appropriate and fun.

I can't wait to decorate this area for Christmas!! Any of you have any pallet projects? What kinds of projects are you working on? Would love to hear about 'em, as always!

Have a great day! Click here to order more bread boards! I've had several requests for sets of 5 or 6 numbered maple boards. If interested, message me via Etsy and I will set up a custom order for those. Thanks!

Burlap Coffee Sack Winners!

2011-10-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

The two winners of the pair of burlap coffee sacks are:

Lauren R. who's comment was:

Your home is beautiful and inspiring. These look great in your kitchen. I admire your hard work on everything in your home & the best part is that everything has a great story behind it. These 'curtains" would look great in my kitchen as well. Thank you for the opportunity for someone to win these!

and,

Cindy Carter who's comment was:

Wow! What a really great idea! I LOVE coffee and these would look terrific in my kitchen. I'm new to your blog but I'm finding inspiration on each page I look through. Keep blogging!!

Congrats!! Email me your address info!! Have a great weekend everyone!

A Fun Wreath

2011-10-13T17:57:00.001-05:00

Hello, hello! I should say this first, I've never liked wreaths. I've tried, I really have but I've just never cared for them much, except for the wreaths made of Christmas greenery hung during the holidays. But then I saw the perfect wreath that Ashley made over at The Handmade Home and I fell in love with it! It has an Anthropologie vibe going on, in my opinion. And I'm a sucker for ruffles and fringed canvas edges. So I made one for myself following her simple tutorial. The only changes I made were that I used painters canvas drop cloth and a styrofoam floral wreath form. Here's my version.

Here is a closeup of the texture and fringe. LOVE.

I love that it goes with the room since we keep the front door open a lot in the fall. Never thought I'd find a wreath that I loved but I did! Thanks Ashley! Have a great weekend friends!!

P.S. Friday is the last day to leave a comment on this post for the coffee sack giveaway! The two winners will be announced Saturday morning.

Inexpensive Window Treatments and a Giveaway

2011-10-12T06:00:00.006-05:00

Hello! Because I tend to get tired of things quickly and because our wood blinds had been on the windows the entire 5 years that we've lived here, I decided to change up our kitchen window treatments. I came across this photo and have been drooling over it ever since. So, I thought I'd give it a try. I picked up some coffee bean sacks at my local farm supply store and got to work. It took all of 5 minutes.

I'm so happy with the result and it was so stinkin' easy! How great was it that the coffee sacks fit the width of the window perfectly. All I did was attach them to the inside of the window trim with screws, bunch up the fabric and tie it with hemp twine that I already had. Simple and cheap!

Obviously, this part is just for looks and I needed something for privacy on the lower half of the window. So, I found some corresponding inexpensive fabric that looked like some kind of faux linen, $3 per yard, and sewed some cute little cafe curtains to pull at night. I already had the little cafe rods that I purchased from Lowes years ago. You can't really tell from the photos but the two textures together are wonderful.

Love it! It's something small that makes me smile every time I walk into the kitchen. And because I picked up some extra coffee sacks, I thought it would be fun to share two sets with two readers that would like to do the same, or something different!

There are two of these.......measuring 26 1/2 inches x 40 inches.

And two of these.......same measurements. To enter, just leave a comment! Two winners will be randomly selected and announced on Saturday morning, October 15. Comments will be closed Friday night, October 14.

Have a great day!!

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

2011-10-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

Hey there! Decorating the table for Thanksgiving dinner with my family is one of my favorite things to do. It's a time we are all able to come together as a complete family to share a meal and be thankful for our many blessings, so I like to make it special, so, they will feel special. I know it's a little early but as I was taking photos of my new bread boards, I was inspired, so I went with it and wanted to share some simple, inexpensive ideas with you. I'm certainly not an expert, but these are some ideas I have fun with and maybe you will find them helpful.

For a simple rustic table runner, try a coffee grain sack. I love the natural feel and warmth it brings to the table and I'm giving away 5 of them! Details coming soon......

Vintage serving flatware pieces are a charming addition, as well. You can find these all the time at tag sales and flea markets and they aren't very expensive.

For napkins, I like to use something simple and pretty to balance all the rustic elements. Same idea applies to dinnerware. I choose something a little more modern for plates, bowls, glasses and serving pieces. Our dinnerware was a gift from my man for our anniversary and I am crazy about them.

I love vintage salt and pepper shakers, as well as, more modern unique styles (the blue glass salt and pepper bowls with tiny spoons came from Anthropologie). While you don't need this many, of course, it's fun to mix and match different styles.

An old crate full of plain white candles makes a simple but beautiful center piece. I like to pick up white candles at the dollar store because you can get much more for your money.

Last, but certainly not least, a couple of pumpkins. I picked up these gorgeous heirloom varieties at my local grocery store. The color of each of them is beautiful.

If any of you are struggling with how to decorate your table for Thanksgiving dinner, like I do, I hope you will find some of these ideas helpful. Nothing fancy, just simple and warm.

This is my newest set of walnut mini bread boards.

I'm very happy with them because they correspond with all my walnut bread boards for any of you that like things to match, as I do, occasionally.

Click here to order. Lots more of my other bread boards have been listed in my shop, as well.

I hope everyone has a great Monday! I'd love to see pics of your Thanksgiving table. Email 'em to me! :)

Fall Porch Ideas

2011-10-07T06:00:00.020-05:00

What is it about fall that is so warm and lovely..........around our house it means leaving the screen door open in the evening to let the cool night breeze waft through while we cuddle up with a soft blanket and relax after a long day. Or sitting outside at dusk on the porch swing listening to all the night sounds that always sound different at this time of year.

Taking special care to decorate the front porch just as I would the inside of our home means a lot to me. I like to think of it as the first impression others will have of your house. And you don't have to spend a lot of money to do it. Take a look........

Fall decorating outside is so much fun because there are so many decorating elements to choose from. Pumpkins, hay, corn stalks, mums, the list is long and fun.

The first thing I did was build this chalkboard with 1 x 2's and left over bead board. I've always wanted a chalkboard like this for the front porch because it reminds me of the kind you see outside of cute cafes or boutiques. It wasn't hard to make at all and hopefully soon, I'll write up a tutorial for anyone interested in making one yourself. Total cost was around $15.

For our statement row of hooks, I thought I would incorporate some warm color into the porch by making an apple garland with real apples. Baby white pumpkins would also look great. I drilled a hole into each apple, threaded rope I already had through it and knotted the end. Then I coated the apples with spray polyurethane. I've heard doing that will slow down the rotting process, not sure if it works, but hopefully they will look nice up until it's time to decorate for Christmas.

The copper sheet with a scarecrow on it is something hubby found in a box of junk from a yard sale. I punched two holes in the top, threaded hemp twine through and hung it up. I used leftover wood scraps from my bread boards and created these fun scrabble tile inspired wood blocks with letters on them by cutting each wood piece into a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2" square, printing stencils from the computer and painting them on.

I love these so much that I'm considering doing each letter in the alphabet and storing them in a large wire basket.

After completing our salvaged bowling alley floor table, I needed to find a new place for our coffee sack ottoman, so, I sprayed on some fabric protector and moved it to the front porch.

I bought the white bucket for the mums sitting on the ottoman at the Dollar Tree, along with the tall jar candles. I tied some jute twine around the slender, somewhat boring candle jars to pretty 'em up a bit. The wood tray is a find from my hubby.

This year, I thought it would be fun to use gray pumpkins instead of orange, simply because I'm crazy about the calm color. When it gets closer to Halloween, we'll carve up some scary jack-o-lanterns and put out there with them. I wanted to keep the pumpkin decor pretty simple.

My hubby found this old bird cage and I just loved the lines, but not the color, so, I spray painted it my usual go to color, oil rubbed bronze. To create a lantern with a soft glow, I cut out a small piece of unbleached kitchen parchment paper to line the inside of the cage with. Then I put a strand of Christmas lights inside. We also have a strand of outdoor lights up inside the trim around the porch. The lantern, the candles and lights make a warm and cozy atmosphere at night that makes you want to sleep out there.

On the other side of the porch, I changed out our summer pillows for some pretty fall natural pillows that I just wrapped in burlap and jute webbing.

And that's it! Can't wait to make it spooky for Halloween! Do you like to decorate for Halloween, too, or do you just stick to a fall theme? I thought it would be a lot of fun to hang a witches hat on that row of hooks. I am crazy about Carla's Bewitched hat door decor hanging on a vintage hanger. So cool!

Here's a fun question.......do you all have a favorite holiday (any holiday) movie that you like to watch every year on that particular holiday? For us and Halloween, it's The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. I have seen it so many times that I could act it out in a one woman show. LOL What's your favorite?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Technical Difficulties....

2011-10-04T18:53:00.000-05:00

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog for a computer virus. I had originally planned to reveal my porch pics Wednesday but our computer is having problems and getting repaired.....our brand new computer. Isn't that frustrating? Hopefully before the week is up, I'll have them posted. This has been one of those weeks for sure and I'm not a fan of blogging from my phone. I haven't even been able to read all of your wonderful blogs, either, so I really feel out of touch. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Pallet Project Inspiration

2011-10-03T03:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!

We came across a lot of pallets last week and rather than throw them out, I wanted to put them to good use. There are lots of great things you can make with pallet wood. Just do a google image search for pallet wood and you will see lots of creative ideas. I came across this inspiration photo featured over at Design Sponge and thought this bench was really great!

via

Isn't this cool!? They did such a fantastic job! I thought something similar would be perfect under our ledge in the living room. So, I'm working on my own version. I'm looking forward to finishing it up and posting pics soon!

Tomorrow I will be posting pics of our newly fall decorated front porch!

Have a great day!

P.S. Click here to order bread boards!

Medium Walnut Bread Boards

2011-09-29T22:36:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! I don't know about you but I'm so happy it's Friday.

Got a little overwhelmed with things this week, so, I'm ready for the weekend.

I'm finally ready to list the medium walnut bread boards that so many of you have been requesting. I happen to love this size and I have 6 available this week, but will have more.

When I first listed these bread boards back in August, they had a "3" on the front. I decided to do one with a single initial to see what that looked like and I'm super happy with it.

Of course, you can choose to do any single letter or number you like, just list your specific request in the note from buyer section when you place your order.

I had fun playing around with these photos, though, I'm certainly no expert, it's just something I enjoy doing.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Click here to order my medium walnut bread board. Many thanks to you all!

Guest Post: Fall Decorating Inspiration

2011-09-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hey there! I've got a special guest post for you today by the creative folks over at Arcadian Lighting. They have offered up a fall decorating inspired post guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing.

Welcome Susi, a writer for Arcadian Lighting, one of the top online retailers for home light fixtures and lamps. Check out their website and cool blog for more information.

Shorter days and cooler nights herald the fall season. Mums and pumpkins are appearing at the farmers' markets. Now is the time to shift our decorating from summer to fall and the cooler months of winter. Nature is a great inspiration for fall decorating. We've pulled together eight of our favorite fall decorating inspirations for you. Enjoy!

Bing

Bold hues of fall paired with black make for a dramatic color palette. Swapping out white accessories for black or painting a mirror frame black will drastically change the feeling of the space.

Better Homes and Gardens

Not only can leaves inspire the colors of our fall decorating, they can become part of it in so many ways. Framed fall leaves make colorful art for your walls or mantel.

House Beautiful

Seasonal decorating does not need to be bold to be beautiful, as this stylish bedroom shows. Eclectic furnishings and lighting fixtures are already in place. How easy to add fall color in subtle touches—pillow shams, soft blanket and delicate branches in a stunning glass container?

Martha Stewart

Soft metallics lit by candlelight are beautiful for fall. Shimmering rose golds, mercury glass, golds, silver and bronze are all perfect for accents against the colors of all foliage.

I Heart My Glue Gun

Inexpensive decorative touches like ribbons, leaves, wreathes and candles can add a touch of fall décor to any room. Branches from your yard and autumn squash are other inexpensive fall decorative touches.

Organize and Decorate Everything

Take inspiration from Halloween and be creative. A jar of candy corn inspires a colorful runner that transforms the dining table into a seasonal star.

Better Homes and Gardens

Of course fall décor does not have to be all reds, oranges, plums and browns. Pale wheat, silvery gray and white colors mixed with natural fibers and textures make for a beautiful autumn palette.

My Sweet Randomness

This rustic dining room with contemporary orange leather chairs is the perfect space for entertaining. Simply add a fall-inspired tablescape beneath the stunning bell jar hanging lanterns and you have an effortless change of seasons.

Content provided by Arcadian Lighting, a site that specializes in top quality lighting fixtures at extremely affordable prices. If you like this post, be sure to stop by the Arcadian Lighting blog and say hello!

****************

Thank you, Susi for putting together such a lovely post! I know that I'm going to be trying out several of those ideas. How 'bout you?

Fall Mantel/Ledge Ideas

2011-09-26T21:57:00.001-05:00

Hey there! It's only the beginning of the week and I'm exhausted already and wishing for Friday. Can you believe we are nearing the beginning of October? I can't! It will be Christmas before you know it.

I finished up our fall mantel/ledge this past weekend. I think I changed it about a 100 times until I was satisfied with it. I tried to use things I already had around the house cause I don't like spending extra dough on seasonal things. First thing I did was top it with a wide plank of barn wood to warm up the ledge and give it a little more depth so I would have more room. Here's a look.....

Remember those vintage music magazines from 1936 and 37? Well, I didn't use them in the guest bathroom. I decided to use them here but I didn't want to commit to actually sticking them to the wall, so I picked up 3 foam boards from the Dollar Tree and glued interesting ads from the magazines to each one, then nailed the boards to the wall. The trays are also from the Dollar Tree, but I spray painted them oil rubbed bronze cause it's what I had.

The pumpkins were decor I had left over from last year, except the small white ones, which are real. The old wood frame is one of the finds from our picking trip. I love the the music ad centered in the frame. I thought it tied in very nicely with the New York subway art also hanging in the room.

The books are vintage finds, the candles from the Dollar Tree. I wrapped them in jute twine for a little texture. These aren't going to be lit, so it's all good, no worries about all the paper and fire. :)

These iron pots were also found on our picking trip. My kids love candy corn and caramel so I filled 'em up so they could grab a treat when they walk by.

That's it! What do you think?

Happy Fall! Have a great day! Linking up with TLC! Come join the fun and get some great ideas for fall!

Salvaged Bowling Alley Floor Table

2011-09-26T05:53:00.001-05:00

Hey there! I finished up the salvaged bowling alley floor table this weekend and we are super happy with it, considering what we had to go through to make it. Here's a look.....

We started with this gigantic section of salvaged bowling alley flooring that hubby picked up on one of his trips.

That sucker is 3 inches thick and the only thing we had to cut something that large and thick was a chain saw! And I'm leaving the chain saw using to my man, so, he cut it for me.

We didn't have a very large table to put it on while we were cutting it, so, to keep it from moving around on him, I sat on the edge of that slab while he was using the chain saw behind me. Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing that. :)

But we got it cut and surprisingly, the chain saw didn't leave the edges very rough and we were both still in one piece when we were finished.

To complete the table top, I took my palm sander and completely sanded the top smooth. After that, I applied about 4 coats of glossy polyurethane. I then reattached the pieces of trim that were attached to the flooring section originally.

The bottom of the table is an iron base we found on a picking trip.

I cleaned it, sanded the rust off and spray painted it with Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint and then attached the top with large screws drilled through the iron into the wood. We were lucky that there were already holes in the iron base for this.

I love all the imperfections in the top combined with the industrial looking base.

We are so proud of this table! Of course, now I need to find a new place for the ottoman I recently built for this room, but that's okay. I just had to make this and put it in here cause hubby was so proud of himself for finding that section of salvaged flooring. It's something that we have always wanted to find.

Tomorrow I'll be revealing our fall mantel/ledge, also in this room! After changing it up about a thousand times. Anyone else do that?

Also, so many of you have requested this bread board to be in my Etsy shop again, so tomorrow I will be listing more of them. :)

We have found the best walnut supplier and I'm just absolutely thrilled. There are more of my other bread boards listed now. Click here to order! And check back tomorrow for the medium walnut bread board. Many thanks to you all!

New Walnut Mini Bread Board Set

2011-09-23T06:44:00.000-05:00

Howdy! I've had so many requests to make and sell the walnut mini bread board set I recently featured in my giveaway, that I've decided to start selling the set in my Etsy Shop!

I'm so excited about this because these are walnut and you know how much I LOVE walnut.

I just can't thank you all enough for the wonderful comments you left about this bread board set, as well as, my others.

Click here if you'd like to order a set. I hope you enjoy these as much as the others! I also added more large walnut bread boards to my shop. Click here to order those. Many thanks to you all.....

Have a great weekend!

Fall Porch Preview and a How To

2011-09-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Hump Day! It is Wednesday, right? What a week! Sure feels like it should be Friday! I've been working on our fall porch decor and one of the things I wanted to include was this gorgeous wood oversized row of hooks.

Pottery Barn

It's called the Statement Row of Hooks and I just love it, but I didn't love the price, so I set out to make my own. Here's what you need.

I picked up a 1 x 6 x 4 at Lowe's along with 4 table legs and some 2 1/2 inch wood screws. Since the 1 x 6 was already 4 feet long, I didn't have to cut it to length. For the hooks, which are quite large as the name implies, I chose to use table legs that I cut off to be 8 inches long.

Next, I placed them exactly where I wanted them on the 1 x 6 and traced a circle around each one. My "pegs" were 6 inches from the end with approximately 10 - 11 inch spacing between each one.

This is the back side of the row of hooks. Next I pre drilled a hole into the center of each circle.

And then pre drilled a hole into the center of each of the cut table legs.

Then drill your screw into the pre drilled hole in the circle until it begins to come out the other side of the board. Line it up with the hole in the table leg and while holding the leg tightly against the board, continue drilling the screw into the table leg. It should be very tight. It's important to use 2 1/2 inch screws here because they make the pegs very sturdy and able to withstand holding something fairly heavy.

It should look like this, only your screw should be completely screwed in. I left mine out a little so you could see how they line up. Continue doing that with each "peg" until each one is attached. After it was all finished, I put a couple of coats of Minwax Special Walnut stain on and let dry. Here's my version.....
I'm super happy with it! I've got some special things to hang from it for fall, as well as, some other fun things in store for the front porch but I wanted to show you what it would look like first and show you how you could make your own. I really wanted to add some warmth to the porch for the fall season and make a statement so what better way to do that than to add a statement row of hooks, right?!

Total cost for this project was just under $25 for the pine 1 x 6 x 4, the 4 table legs and the package of screws. The stain and foam brush I already had. Can't beat that! I just love it! Stay tuned for the complete Fall porch makeover very soon! Have a great day!

My First Pickin' Experience and an Upcoming Great Project

2011-09-19T07:00:00.004-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! This weekend I got to go with my hubby on my first picking trip. In a word, ick. Now I know why he, and his clothes, come home filthy from these trips. The place we visited was an old garage/shed that was filled with junk. Here are some pics I took of what we were pickin' through.

Yup, a bunch of junk. But, oooohhhhh, did we find some great stuff and it was all free.

There were so many piles of stuff that we he had to sift through and it was also raining. And gross.

After all that, here's the loot I picked. It still all needs to be cleaned up, but I actually like that part.

We found lots of old solid wood frames that look like they were made from barn wood. Those will be fun to do something with.

And some old wooden crates and a caddy. I never get tired of those.

Some cast iron and vintage kitchen utensils for my collection.

Lots of red enamelware, vintage wine and milk bottles and a vintage Christmas tin.

And one of my favorite things is this old metal tin. I love it! I think it will look so cute with fresh flowers in it. One of my other favorites is this old kitchen stool.

Love this, too, and I'm not planning on doing anything to it but clean it. I think it's perfect and I love the color. I can't wait to put it in our kitchen. And it will come in so handy because we have tall cabinets because of our very tall ceilings in the kitchen and I've been using a dining table chair to reach to the top cabinet, which has been a pain. This will work perfectly! This is our other pile of loot that hubby picked the day before.

More frames, another caddy, kitchen utensils, a couple of vintage yard sticks and a very old metal Pepsi crate. I was thinking that metal Pepsi crate would be adorable with a couple of pots of herbs hanging out in there.

I have fun plans for all these things after I give them all a good cleaning but I saved the best for last. A couple of weeks ago hubby found a couple of sections of salvaged bowling alley floor (something we've always wanted to find) and brought it home. I've always dreamed of making a unique table with salvaged bowling alley floor but had been struggling with what to use for the base. Until I found this today. It. Is. Perfect.

I am super excited to get busy on that project! Here's a pic of the salvaged flooring. It needs to be refinished and cut but I'm excited about that, too! There is something magical about bringing wood back to it's original beauty!

Stay tuned for that! I'd say we had a pretty successful day and I was thrilled he let me come along!

It's Bread Board Monday in my Etsy Shop! My pre-order waiting list has grown tremendously so be aware that there will be at least a 2 - 3 week delivery time on these. :) Thank you! Have a great day!

Fall Transitions in the Living Room

2011-09-15T06:00:00.011-05:00

Hey there! Hope everyone has been having a great week! Have any of you started your fall decorating yet? I've been doing bits here and there. I like to keep it simple when transitioning from season to season in decorating. In the fall, I bring out the cozy throws, add more natural elements that remind me of nature and Thanksgiving, yummy scented candles and, of course, pumpkins. My living room is finished and I wanted to give you a little peek. I did a special fall mantel but I'm saving that reveal for another post. Here's a look at the simple, inexpensive things I did to transition into fall in this room.

I brought out our cozy sherpa throw for those nights of cuddling on the couch. I had trouble finding the perfect fall fabric for pillows, so, after seeing lots of jute or burlap wrapped pillows online, I decided to wrap some of my own linen covered pillows with jute webbing that I had from a leftover project. I really prefer natural elements in my decorating, so I thought this was a fantastic idea and had to give it a try.

And I'm so glad I did! I love the natural, calm and cozy feel and textures.

I wrapped another pillow I made with part of a burlap coffee sack, attached grommets and then threaded hemp twine through it. Love these pillows!

My hubby found this old wooden box by the side of the road and I LOVE it. It will show up in another post coming soon. It has perfect fall colors and I didn't have to do anything to it but clean the spider webs, grass and mud off.

We eat lots of apples around our house and they peak in the fall, so, I love to include them in decorating. They really do add wonderful fall color. That's about it for this side of the room. I've decked out my mantel/ledge for fall on the cheap and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I'm posting about that soon, so stay tuned! I'd love to hear what everyone else is doing to their homes for fall! Have a great day!

Laundry Room Ideas and a Vintage Ironing Board

2011-09-12T03:36:00.000-05:00

Howdy! I was so excited last week to find a wooden vintage ironing board for only 15 bucks at a flea market. That combined with the cute Wine and Cheese bag I bought, really inspired me to give some extra attention to a room I don't enjoy decorating much, the laundry room. Our laundry room used to be the catch all for pretty much everything, so I decided to organize a little and find a place for everything that we throw in there. Here's how it looks now.

It's a fairly small room with a lot of doors. Door to the outside, door to the guest bathroom, door to the hot water heater and little door to the furnace.

I made the sign above the door and the wall shelves with the last bits of our barn wood.

I pretty much already had everything in the room, I just moved things around a bit. My favorite way to decorate, not to mention, cheapest. I picked up those white metal hooks at Lowe's. Thought they would be perfect for that cute bag and my favorite apron.

Oh, how I love that wooden ironing board! And the best part, I'm actually enjoying ironing now.

I love the patina on it! And it is so sturdy, unlike the cheap metal one I used to have, which fell over all the time.

And I love the X detail underneath. I'm so drawn to that design on anything.

Hubby was surprised I only paid $15 for it. So, I did good and he was proud. :)

I just love it. Reminds me of hanging out with my grandma, talking, while she ironed after bringing in clothes from the line outside. A happy memory for sure.

So, that's the laundry room. Nothing fancy but sure makes me happy. Too bad it won't stay this neat, with all boys in the house, it's almost impossible. Does anyone else have a wooden ironing board? Do you use it or is it for decorative purposes?

And because it's Monday, there are more bread boards, large walnut and mini sets, in my Etsy Shop! Have a great day everyone!

Remembering September 11

2011-09-11T09:51:00.000-05:00

May we never forget......

Bread Board Set Winner

2011-09-10T07:00:00.003-05:00

Happy Saturday everyone! The winner of the walnut bread board set chosen by the random number generator is:

mrsj who's comment was "Beautiful!!!"

Congratulations! Email me your address info via the Contact page!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Vintage Home Favorites - A New Feature

2011-09-08T21:18:00.000-05:00

Hey friends!

I'm starting up a fun little feature here on Our Vintage Home Love! This feature will consist of things that we love, that could be anything we think you'll love, too, that will make you smile, make your life easier, mundane tasks more enjoyable, or a recipe that we are crazy about and would like to share. I will blog about these things every other Friday and I'm really looking forward to it, cause when I find something I love, nothing makes me happier than telling everyone else about it so they can, perhaps, enjoy it, too!

To kick off this feature, I want to blog about something that I just bought that I am crazy about! Sasha, over at Lemonade Makin' Mama, makes and sells these adorable Wine and Cheese bags in her Etsy Shop and I just had to buy one after I saw them on her blog. I just love her blog. She is a tremendous inspiration to me and she takes the most beautiful photos, not to mention how incredibly talented she is. Well, when mine came in the mail, I jumped for joy when I opened the package. It is so adorable!

I just love it so much! The lining is bright and cheerful and makes me so happy just looking at it!

I use a lot of wine in my cooking and I also LOVE cheese, probably more than what is considered normal, and so I will use this a lot when I visit the liquor store. I don't know about you but I love to have something special like this to make very mundane activities a little more fun. I don't necessarily like to go to the liquor store but being able to take this adorable and stylish bag and use it, will definitely make it more enjoyable and I love that. And of course, I'm looking forward to taking it to the Farmer's Market.

The bag easily holds 3 bottles of wine with room to spare. And I can't stop looking at that cheerful lining on the inside! This bag would also be so much fun to fill with goodies for a wonderful fall picnic with your family or friends. I love it so much that I'm actually spiffing up my laundry room, that's right off the kitchen, where it will hang and look so lovely.

You can order a bag for yourself by clicking here! I also ordered her EAT napkins because I found the perfect little vintage basket for cloth napkins at a flea market for a quarter!! I can't wait! Sasha makes beautiful things so make sure you check out the rest of her shop, too!!

Have a great weekend everyone! The winner of the mini bread board set will be randomly selected and announced tomorrow so check back!

Kitchen Changes

2011-09-08T06:44:00.000-05:00

Howdy! Have you ever made a decorating decision that you thought you liked, but, the more you looked at it, the less you liked it until you just had to change it ~~so you could sleep at night~~?

That happens to me sometimes and because I'm known to change things often, that's exactly what I did. I'm referring to the big ol' EXPRESS sign in my kitchen. I love it, I really do, but NOT in our kitchen. I just felt like it didn't belong there, so, that kinda started a couple of small changes that I'm really happy with.

I think this word definitely belongs in our kitchen. :)

My hubby is always picking letters and numbers for me so I looked to see if I had the letters to spell out Family. I didn't. I was short the L and Y, so I decided to make them myself with wood scraps.

I simply printed out an L and Y from my Word program on the computer, traced them onto the wood and then cut them using a jig saw.

For the L, I used walnut, so I coated it in the dark raw tung oil that I coat my bread boards with. For the Y, I used maple and I didn't want it light, so I spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze. I also spray painted the A and M the same color. The F and I are iron so I didn't do anything to those.

My goal was to have different shades of earthy browns. I really like this so much better than the Express sign and it fits us perfectly because the kitchen is the heart of our home.

Another change I made was to bring the vintage looking concession menu that I made for my sweet hubby for Father's Day into the kitchen. It just seems more appropriate in the kitchen and I'm so happy I did. I think it's the perfect space for it.

And I'd really like to fill those two large jars to the side of it with vintage cardboard popcorn containers. I filled the smaller jar with gray and white paper straws which we love.

Just small changes that made my day.....

I'm currently working on my laundry room. Which is the room you see through the french door in the photo above. And looks like you can see laundry all over the floor in the photo above that. :)

I bought the cutest thing that I'm going to feature on my blog Friday for the new twice monthly feature here at Our Vintage Home Love. I love it when I find something that makes me so happy that it inspires me to give some attention to a room that I otherwise wouldn't.

And I would like to take a moment and say that the comments you have all left on my bread board giveaway have truly touched my heart. I don't like to get all sappy, but, sometimes you just gotta..........some of your comments had me in tears, not because they were sad but because some of you shared little memories about your dads and family that made me so happy. I feel so blessed that something that is so special to me, has become so for you, as well. Thank you for loving my bread boards. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)

Special Bread Board Giveaway

2011-09-06T07:00:00.022-05:00

Hey there! I had some reclaimed walnut remnants left from making large bread boards so I decided to make a set of four small ones just for fun. And to celebrate the wonderful fall weather we had this weekend and to say thank you for your amazing support of my bread boards, I wanted to give it away to one special Our Vintage Home Love reader!

Walnut.........it's gorgeous. I really can't say enough about how beautiful and rustic it is.

These boards are 9 1/2" x 5 1/2" and are a set of 4.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below! That's it! The giveaway will end Friday, September 9th, and a winner will be randomly selected and announced Saturday the 10th. Have a great day!

************************COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED*************************

Happy Labor Day & Bread Boards

2011-09-05T00:25:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! Happy Labor Day to you!

What's everyone been up to on this holiday weekend? We had a major change in weather and it was just beautiful outside. Made me ready for fall, that's for sure. We worked in our back yard to prepare for a movie themed Halloween Party we're having. All the details on that later!

Hope everyone continues to enjoy the holiday weekend! More bread boards are listed! Click here to order! And thank you so much!! :)

A New Addition

2011-09-01T06:56:00.001-05:00

Hey there! I spent a lot of last week working on a new large walnut bread board that would be the perfect companion to my mini bread board sets and I was so happy with it when I was finished, I cried. Okay, not really, but I sure felt like crying happy tears.

I have a serious love affair with walnut. I think it is such a gorgeous wood. Especially in the form of a bread or cutting board. The dark rich color reminds me of an heirloom that has been passed down to each family member that holds lots of special memories in the kitchen. I really do enjoy making bread boards because they combine two things that I admired so much about my dad.....creating things with wood and cooking. Here's a look......

It is the perfect size for an entire loaf of whatever kind of bread you love. And it looks great with the numbered boards or the regular boards on a rustic table.

Or you could use it to serve appetizers.

Isn't the color so beautiful?! These boards are very near and dear to my heart. I have 4 of them for sale in my Etsy Shop and will have more soon. If you'd like to order one, click here. I hope you will love and enjoy them as much as I do.

A person who purchased my boards the other day told me that they inspired them to have friends and family over for dinner. That just made my day. Because these boards are a way that I honor my dad, I hope they inspire us all to spend more time at the table with the people we love.

Have a great day!

Coffee Sack Ottoman How To

2011-08-29T07:00:00.016-05:00

Hey there, Happy Monday to you. First, I'd like to say that I hope any of our readers who were/are in Hurricane Irene areas are all doing okay. You've all been in my thoughts and prayers....

Remember all those coffee sacks I picked up at the farm supply store? Well, I decided to use some of them to make a slipcover for an ottoman I built and I am so stinkin' happy with the results!

I love this thing! And considering I didn't really have a plan and just kinda created as I went along, I'm so happy that the end result was the way I saw it in my head and not a big pile of junk.

I wanted to make it as inexpensively as possible so the only thing I bought was two 2 x 4's for the frame and 4 castors. I started out by making the frame with the 2 x 4's. This is the frame I came up with.

I ran out of 2 x 4's during the process, so, I used some scrap wood we had in our shed. My frame measurements were 24" width and length, and 18" high. After finishing the frame, I needed to find something to attach to the sides. I didn't want to buy anything, so again, I used something we already had, which happened to be these wood strips that I had purchased for my Father's Day gift for my hubby. Plywood would work just as well. The goal here was to spend as little as possible to make this and use things I already had.

I attached those all around the frame with a nail gun leaving about an inch space between each one. There was no reason for that, I was just trying to make sure I had plenty to cover the entire frame.

Next up was the top. Since this was an ottoman, the top needed to be strong enough to sit on and those lattice strips aren't strong enough to hold a person, so, I used some thick maple scraps I had laying around from making bread boards. I attached those with a nail gun, as well. I'm actually starting to be able to use the nail gun by myself without being ~~terrified~~ uncomfortable.

I really wanted to put castor wheels on this because, well, I love castors and being able to easily move a piece of heavy furniture around if I need to is a bonus. So, I headed to Lowe's and found these.

I really liked the copper/bronze look and thought they would pair nicely with the coffee sack that I was planning to use. And they only cost 5.69 for a pair.

After attaching the castors, I brought it inside to finish. I wanted the ottoman to have some cushion to it, so, I wrapped it in medium loft batting.

Next I measured out the sides and top and cut the appropriate pieces from the coffee sacks. For the top, I used canvas drop cloth instead of burlap coffee sack. Burlap isn't soft and I wanted the top to be comfy in case we wanted to rest our feet and legs up there.

After measuring and cutting all the fabric for each section, I placed the fabric on the ottoman, inside out and pinned. Then I removed it and sewed and then gave it a good ironing. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of the sewing part, I was trying to get it done before it was time to start dinner.

And that's it! I can't tell you how excited I was when I slipped the slipcover over the frame and it fit!! I'm still new to sewing my own slipcovers. :) I chose to make a loose slipcover, instead of actually attaching the fabric to the frame with a staple gun, because I preferred the loose casual slipcover look for this project better. I am LOVING this ottoman! And the castors peeking out from the bottom are a fun addition.

I'm not the best at tutorials, but I hope these instructions are clear enough should you want to make one for yourself. :) And if I just confused you, you can always contact me with questions and I will help as best I can!

I am huntin' for some pretty fabrics for fall to change out the pillows on the couch for the fall season. I can't wait!

Hope you have a great day!

P.S. More mini bread boards sets are listed in my Etsy Shop! And I've designed and made a new large one. I'll be sharing that with you later this week. It is the perfect companion to the mini sets! Take care and be safe! :)

Linking up with TLC today! Come join the fun! It's a party!

Fall Sneak Peek

2011-08-24T06:00:00.062-05:00

Hey there! I just couldn't hold out any longer. I'm so anxious for fall decorating that I decided to spruce up a little corner in the den for the upcoming change in season. I was inspired by this gorgeous, dark green throw at Ikea. The rich dark color is perfect for fall and the cozy blanket invites you to snuggle up with it and watch a good movie with someone you love. I just had to have it! I thought it would be perfect with our white arm chair in the den.

The dark green color is scrumptious, and the perfect back drop to the new pillow I made from the coffee sack jackpot I got the other day.

I picked up 14 burlap coffee sacks at my local farm supply store this past weekend for around 15 bucks!! Got all kinds of projects planned for those. So, if you are looking for some, check out your local farm stores.

I think this might be my new favorite corner in the house!

And I love this pillow and olive throw together with the crisp white chair so much! I'm gonna have to make more of them! The pillows aren't the most comfortable thing to lean on so we just throw them in the floor when we sit in the chair. But they sure are pretty to look at, aren't they?

I can't wait for fall! The gorgeous array of deep rich colors, the piles of pretty leaves, cooler nights, Halloween, football, yummy comfort food, the scent of pumpkin spice scented candles burning all around the house and cuddling up with your family. That's what fall is to me. What about you?

Happy almost weekend! :)

Guest Bathroom Project Inspiration

2011-08-23T06:00:00.002-05:00

Howdy! Hubby came home the other day with a couple of vintage music magazines and I LOVE them. Everyone in our family is a huge music fan so these were pretty special.

Check out the date......1936 and 37! How cool is that? And they are full of all kinds of wonderful vintage ads.

And sheet music, of course.

I thought they were so interesting and unique but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with them, until I saw this.

Pottery Barn

We have a guest bathroom off of our kitchen in the laundry room that is very neglected as far as decorating goes. I saw this pic in my recent issue of Pottery Barn and was instantly inspired to do my own version with the pages from these beautiful vintage music magazines and since it's a tiny bathroom, they will work perfectly. I've got some really neat things in mind and I'm excited to give our overlooked guest bathroom a little TLC. Oh, I love a project!

Have a great day!

Console Table Handcrafted By Dad, A Craft Project & Bread Boards

2011-08-22T06:22:00.000-05:00

Hi there! How was your weekend? I finished up working on a table that my dad made for me before he passed away. I painted it white and put it in my dining room. After he finished building it, he had a little gold tab engraved and attached it underneath the top. It says, "Handcrafted by Dad". :) Here's a look.......

I'm so happy with it!

I wanted to put something fun and different on it and since I've seen lots of projects lately involving spray painting glass jars, I decided to do a version for myself.

I had an old set of glass milk bottles that were just hiding away in a cabinet. They were beautiful but the glass was so old that they were pretty scuffed and etched so I thought they would be the perfects candidates for painting.

I bought some foam stickers from a craft store and stuck those on the bottles. I used numbers with special meaning, sentimental letters and did one that said milk, just for fun. I primed them first with Valspar white primer before recoating with Valspar white spray paint and a clear glossy sealer. The other color is also by Valspar and is called soft grey. Here's what they looked like when I was finished.

I LOVE the way the spray paint made the letters on the milk bottles stand out.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

P.S. I have listed 8 sets of mini bread boards in my Etsy Shop and 8 burlap bread board bags. :)

Desk for Master Bedroom and a Vintage Mirror

2011-08-19T06:00:00.057-05:00

Hello! My hubby came home the other day with a beautiful vintage mirror and an old black desk with wonderful old wooden castors. Here's a look at them....aren't they lovely? So much character....

Turns out it was perfect timing. Originally, I had planned to put our computer and all the equipment that goes with it in our living room on the new desk I built, however, we ran into cable issues and putting a computer in there wasn't going to work.

But, I didn't want to move the new desk out of it's perfect little place in the corner of the living room, so, I painted the old black desk white and put it in our master bedroom. I sure hope that makes sense to someone other than me! :)

Here's the old desk after I painted it white and the beautiful mirror....

Worked out perfectly and we already had this old chippy aqua chair that we picked up at a flea market. I just think the mirror is so beautiful. I love the little flowers etched into the glass around the edge. I tied a piece of rope to the back of the mirror to the wire that was already there and then attached an oil rubbed bronze hook that I picked up at Lowe's for a couple of bucks and voila, a pretty piece of wall art!

It amazes me how well my hubby knows me and what I will love when he's out pickin'. He brings home the best things and the excitement he has when he's unloading his truck just makes me smile and warms my heart. Love this man so much......

*sigh* Anyway...... :)

Love this room!

The other side of the room is where I'm putting the table I worked on last weekend. We are currently looking for some fun things to put on it other than my sewing machine. Several months ago, hubby came home with TWO of these.

Pottery Barn

At the time, I didn't know where I would put them and we are short on storage space, so he sold them! Sure wish I had one of them now! Oh well..... :)

Have a great weekend!

Homemade Brioche and Fig Jam

2011-08-18T06:00:00.006-05:00

Hey there! How is everyone? Our summer vacation has come to an end which means the kids are back in school. For me, that means a bit of adjusting and a little sadness. I really miss my kids during the day when they head back to school. We spend so much time together during the summer and I enjoy it so much that I really dislike the beginning of another school year.

So today, I decided to do something that always makes me happy because it brings up such special memories with my youngest, who loves to be in the kitchen with me. When he was younger, he loved to help me bake bread and we had so much fun together in the kitchen.

Brioche is a favorite of my kids and a bread that is hard to find where I live so several years ago, I learned how to bake it myself with a lot of practice. I follow Ina Garten's recipe for brioche rolls and just make loaves out of it and let me tell ya, if you have a stand mixer, it isn't hard at all. It also freezes perfectly so I put a loaf in the freezer for later.

You throw the ingredients into your mixer the night before and after the dough is all kneaded and gooey, put it into a large buttered bowl and stick it in the refrigerator for the night. The next day, let that sit at room temperature for an hour. Divide in half, shape each half into a 6" x 8" rectangle and roll up. Place each one seam side up in two greased loaf pans.

Let them rise for a few hours till doubled in volume.

Then brush with an egg wash, which is one egg and 1 tablespoon of milk mixed together. It will make the top of the bread golden and beautiful.

My bread was perfectly risen but when I went to brush on the egg wash, I guess I wasn't gentle enough with the pastry brush cause it deflated the bread a bit. So after it baked, I had flat top bread. :) But, it's all good, it still tastes the same.

I took this outside this afternoon for a quiet little snack by myself on this cute little rattan tray with matching cloche. If you haven't tried this fig jam, you definitely should. It's so good! And it went perfectly with the warm brioche. My kids will be so excited to see this yummy treat when they get home from school today and I will be so happy to see their smiling faces!

Have a great day!

Weekend Project and Yes, More Bread Boards

2011-08-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! I worked on a fun little project this weekend. Last weekend when we scored the gorgeous sideboard for our dining room, we also picked up this cute table.

I am a sucker for tables and can hardly ever turn my back on them. It needed a few minor repairs and a fresh coat of paint, as well as, a fresh coat of polyurethane on the top. Here's how it looks now.

I love it! Don't worry, it isn't staying in the dining room. It will be the perfect sewing table for making my burlap bread board bags. Currently, I sew on the floor. Not much fun but my sewing machine was my grandmothers and doesn't have a very long cord so I can't use the dining room table. I'm moving it into a little corner in our bedroom where I work on projects. Stay tuned for that project reveal soon!

I also worked on a table my dad built for me that I hadn't had a chance to work on yet. It is going in my dining room. It's one of my favorite pieces that he built for me because he had his name engraved underneath it. Stay tuned for that one, too.

And last but not least....I've got more sets of bread boards listed in my Etsy shop!

Have a great day friends! :)

Burlap Bread Board Bags

2011-08-12T20:52:00.000-05:00

Hi! Happy day to you! Finished up with a burlap drawstring bag for my bread boards and I have to say that I think it's the cutest little thing! Get ready for a lot of photos! ;)

I really wanted something lovely to keep my special boards in and at the same time, I wanted to make the bag pretty special, too.

The bag is made from 100% burlap and the drawstring is natural hemp twine. I stenciled the initials of my Etsy shop, Vintage Home Designs, on my bag, but for anyone who wants this bag and purchases it from my shop, I will put any initials or numbers you would like, with a limit of four. I thought it would also be special to put your child's birth month, or you and your sweetie's anniversary month. Or, if they are a gift, you could request the initials of the person you are buying it for. Wouldn't that make the recipient feel pretty special!

I can only do up to 4 letters or numbers. This bag will be listed in my Etsy shop for $10 + 4.95 shipping. I will be setting it up as a custom pre order listing so convo me on Etsy to let me know what monogram or numbers you would like after you purchase the bag.

They look great sitting in the kitchen or you could hang them from a hook or put on a pretty shelf in the dining room. I love their rustic feel and anyone who reads my blog knows that I LOVE that, and hope you will, too. :)

And for those of you who have purchased walnut boards, they will fit perfectly in these bags, as well! We are desperately huntin' for some rough walnut so I can start making those boards for you again.

The bag measures 9 1/2" x 14 1/2". If you're interested, hop on over to my Etsy shop!

Have a great weekend!

Announcement

2011-08-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

Hey there!

After receiving so many requests for numbers on my mini bread boards, I'm adding a new listing.....these numbered mini bread board sets. They will be exactly the same as the original mini bread board set, but with a number stenciled on the front and a $4 (1 dollar per board) charge for the numbers, as I am free handing that with espresso stain and it does take a good bit of time. If you would like to request specific numbers, please do so in the note to seller box when you purchase the item.

I'm also adding cute little burlap and canvas totes to keep the boards in! They would make great Christmas gifts! Watch for those soon! They will be a perfect fit for my little bread boards.

I appreciate you all so much!!

Nostalgia

2011-08-10T15:30:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling so nostalgic lately and when I came across this photo and caption from Paula Deen's Facebook page, it touched my heart and made me wonder about what types of things around YOUR home come from the past, that you hold dear to you heart.

For me, scents stir up all kinds of nostalgic feelings. One of the reasons I love to make things from wood is because of the smell of it. The scent of wood instantly conjures up wonderful memories of my dad building something in his garage. On Saturdays, after I was already married with kids, I would run over to my parents house on gorgeous fall mornings and sit in the garage and have great talks with my dad as he worked on his wood furniture. The air was always crisp, there were beautiful leaves on the ground, and my dad always had on his flannel shirt.

The scent wafting through the air of the wood he was cutting and smell of sawdust were such a wonderful sense of security for me. Those memories are precious to me now as it never occurred to me that he would be gone one day. I can't walk into home building supply stores without being taken aback by the memories that come to mind simply from the smell of the store. This photo is of my dad taking me and my younger siblings for a wagon ride with our new puppy.

I have several pieces of furniture that my dad built for me and they are treasured items. My bread boards were inspired by my dad. He loved to cook and he loved big family dinners. He would create the best recipes out of thin air and they were scrumptious. I couldn't think of a better way to honor my dad than by designing and creating my bread boards. To me, they embody love and family and when I'm working on them, my dad is smiling.

I'd love to hear about what makes you nostalgic or special things in your home that conjure up happy memories from days gone by....

Bread Boards and New Beginnings

2011-08-10T06:00:00.005-05:00

Hey friends! Just a heads up on 4 more sets of bread boards being listed in my shop today. I also wanted to let you know that because of the demand of these boards, as well as the time I spend working on large amounts of them, it was necessary to make a small increase in price from 19.99 to 25.99. I do hope you understand.

Hubby is in the process of locating a supply of rough walnut so that I will be able to make and list my single walnut boards in the near future. When I begin making them again, I will take special orders on different numbers or a letter placed on the front of the board. I made one for our family with our last name initial on the front and it is so much fun! They would make fantastic Christmas presents for someone special.

I just want to say again, how blessed I feel that you all have embraced my bread boards like you have. They are very near and dear to my heart for several reasons and sharing them with you, in their special little package, makes me so happy. I hope they put a smile on your face. I am truly humbled that you love them as much as I do.

I'm working on another item to list and I'm so excited about it. Details coming soon!

Express Sign and a Pot Rack

2011-08-09T06:00:00.005-05:00

Hey there!

I blogged about this old metal Express sign on Friday and I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Since it was red and I have red accents in my kitchen, I decided to put it above the big window over the sink. Since we have 12 foot ceilings, I thought it would look neat to have an eye catching, fun piece of art way up there. So here's how it looks!

Okay, so looking around, the only red accent I see is my stand mixer! :) Oh, and the stripes in the curtains! Oh well!

I also wanted to blog a little about that pot rack. I made it following the same plan as the ladder I made for our master bath that is now in the dining room. I just used smaller dowels and stained it a dark walnut. Then I attached screw eyes to the top and added a chain so that I could hang it from the huge screw hooks I screwed into the ceiling, making sure I got them into a stud, joist, whatever the ceiling frame wood is called. :)

Tall kitchens are just beggin' for pot racks and I really wanted one to display my favorite cast iron pans that my hubby found for me. He came home this weekend with a cast iron Griswold ebelskiver pan, which is that interesting looking bubble pan in the photo above. I've never made ebelskivers before. Have any of you? Anyway, my hooks for the pot rack are just S hooks that hubby opened a little so that they would fit around the dowel.

It's an inexpensive way to have a pot rack. Or you could just use an old ladder if you're lucky enough to have one of those. :)

Have a great day!

The Dining Room Gets A New Table Runner and Sideboard

2011-08-08T06:00:00.010-05:00

Hey there! Hope everyone had a good weekend! We had a great weekend all around, celebrating my oldest son's 19th birthday and enjoying a garage sale extravaganza in our little town. We got some great things, one of which was this old sideboard.

I have always wanted a sideboard for our dining room, so, needless to say, I was thrilled, hubby was thrilled! I actually liked it in this aged condition but decided to give it a fresh coat of white paint, strip the white paint off the drawer pulls and then spray paint them oil rubbed bronze. And guess how much it cost.........5 bucks!!!!!! Here's what it looks like in it's new home.

Pretty nifty, huh?

This piece, along with the old soda crate hubby found and the linen table runner I made from my tablecloth fiasco, inspired a little mini dining room redo. So, here's a look at the table runner I sewed.

I used grey linen that I ordered from here. I originally bought three yards because I had planned to sew a tablecloth instead, but, after I was finished and put it on the table, I didn't like it at all. I think it was the thought of covering up such a special table, so I cut it down to make this table runner.

After being inspired by the look of these tablecloths, I decided to make a patch from drop cloth and then stencil my favorite number on it with grey craft paint. Then I sewed it onto the runner and fringed the edges.

To go on top of the runner, I filled the aged soda crate with our pretty white napkins, a variety of vintage mismatched salt and pepper shakers, my mini bread boards - one for each of us, and cute little bowls to sit on top of the bread boards for dipping oil, butter, or whatever we decide to eat with our bread.

And because the vintage ladder was driving us crazy in the master bath (we kept tripping over it cause it's a small room), I decided to bring it out to the dining room and hang those gorgeous coffee sacks hubby got me from it. And since it is no longer in the bathroom, we can enjoy looking at the ladder more often.

Here is a look at the entire room with all it's little changes.

I can't wait to have our family dinners in there now! I am just itchin' to get the fall decorations and candles out! I had so much fun this weekend with hubby, my kiddos and all our fun garage sale finds. We are nearing the end of summer vacation and I dread that. I enjoy having my kids home with me so much.

Have a great day!

P.S. I will have more bread boards towards the end of the week. I sell out faster than I can keep up with but I feel so blessed and thankful that everyone is enjoying them so much! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! :)

More Bread Boards

2011-08-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

If anyone is interested, I just listed 4 more sets of my mini bread boards on Etsy!

Hope you're having a great weekend! :)

Fun Finds This Week

2011-08-05T06:00:00.021-05:00

Happy Friday everyone and I say it couldn't have gotten here fast enough! What a week. Our computer died and I lost so many family photos. That's upsetting, you know? And then of course, we had to buy a new one. Then I tried to sew a tablecloth with the linen I purchased and that was one big fail. So, I'm turning it into a table runner. :) I loved hearing your opinions on a tablecloth vs. no tablecloth. I think I discovered I'm a no tablecloth gal. Linen is impossible to iron! So, table runner it is. Hubby found some cool things for me this week while he was out pickin'.

I am loving this metal Express sign. Pretty sure it was from a post office. The vibrant red color is amazing. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I can't wait to put my noggin to work and figure it out. He also brought home these coffee bean sacks and they are huge!

One of them was covered in something that I thought was mildew but after putting a little bleach on it, I think it might be motor oil or something similar. Anyone have any ideas how to get that out? I love them and would love to be able to put them to use. He also found this old soda crate that I'm crazy about. I love the thick sides. It's going on my dining table with the new runner and I'm so putting my little bread boards in it!

I just love it!

And I think the contrast between the fine grey linen and rustic wood crate will be fantastic.

I will blog about the table runner next week! Today my first born son turns 19! Wow, where does the time go! Happy Birthday Son! xoxo

P.S. I've had several requests for different numbers or a letter instead of a number on my small walnut bread boards. I'm happy to do this at no extra charge. When I list another batch for sale (which will hopefully be soon) and you would like something different than the number 3, just specify what you would like in a note when you purchase one. :) I will only do a number or letter.

Something Special

2011-08-02T21:03:00.001-05:00

Hey there! Hope everyone is having a great week so far! A few weeks ago I got my hands on something really special. Some friends of ours, who also happen to be our neighbors, had a walnut tree fall during a storm a couple of years ago and they had it milled and then left it to cure outside for a couple of years. Walnut happens to be one of my favorite woods. It is absolutely gorgeous. To me, it is true vintage in it's look with that scrumptious dark color and character. So, I was beyond thrilled to be given some. Here's a look at some of it before I got to work planing it down for a special project.

I wanted to make something really special with it since it is a rare find. So, I decided to make a unique bread board. I love bread boards because they remind me of things I love. Family, sharing meals together, bread baking and passing down a family heirloom used with care by each generation. So, I started planing down the wood with a sander. In the heat. Did I mention it was hot? 110 degrees hot.

I even put up this little umbrella to keep things a little cooler. Did it work? No. But at least the sun wasn't burning a hole through my skin any longer. So, after all that, here's what I came up with.

I think this bread board is so much fun! Doesn't it look like an heirloom?

I love how you can see the marks in the wood from being milled. It just adds to the vintage character. I thought it would be super fun to put my favorite number on the front of the board. It's completely food safe as I used brown food coloring for the number and then I sealed the entire board with raw tung oil, also FDA approved.

Here is a before and after shot of the wood. Isn't it amazing what it can turn into? I think the rich dark wood is so beautiful. I made five of them (one for me) but four of them are going up for sale in my Etsy shop!

I'm working on several projects in our home right now so stay tuned and have a great day everyone!

More Bread Boards Coming

2011-07-31T11:45:00.000-05:00

Wow! I can't believe I already sold all my bread boards! I'm still learning to use Etsy and didn't know how to alert shoppers of this but I wanted to let everyone know that I WILL have more bread boards up for sale at the end of the week! Several people have emailed me asking when I would have more. Thanks so much everyone! I feel so blessed by all the love and support I have received here in blog land!

Have a great week!