Picture of the Day: Pulpit in Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal
Montreal, Canada
3.16.2012

New (To Me) Vintage Kitchen Table

I love my kitchen. It's a nice size at 13-1/2 feet by 13-1/2 feet which gives me lots of space. Last year I decided to make use of some of the open floor space and have some seating by making an island out of salvaged cabinets like I did for my mom previously. I've never really been happy with it because it it blocks the view of my sink, which is my favorite part of my kitchen.

On Saturday I went to one of my favorite places to find things, The Treasure Mart. It's a consignment shop in town selling housewares and furniture ranging from antiques to mid-Century with a few more modern pieces scattered in. On this trip, buried under a bunch of toys and hiding behind a Betty Boop poster and a framed picture of a statue of Buddha I spotted an awesome vintage table. The table had a white and red enamel table top with leaves that pulled out at either side. I knew it would be just perfect in my kitchen.

The cherry on top was the price. The table was originally marked $100 but I got it for $60. The Treasure Mart marks the date that items come in and every month that it sits in the store the price gets reduced by 10%. Since the table had come in back at the end of March I got a 40% discount. What a great deal! In no time I purchased the table, squeezed it into the back of my little hatchback and had it home.

I think the table looks great in my kitchen and it makes everything more open. The red and white is so cheerful and lightens things up a lot more than the heavy cabinet island.

The table has some light scratches so I need to figure out how to spruce that up.  Also, the legs are cream so I plan to paint them the same color white as my cabinets. I also want to find some new stools to go with the table.

The pull out leaves are wonderful and nearly double the workspace when necessary. Being an engineer I love the old wood glide and and spring mechanism that makes the leaves work. I like the flexibility of being able to have them open or close them up.

Do you think that the table looks better than the island? Do you have any tips for sprucing up enamel? Have you scored any great deals lately?

Picture of the Day: Carving Detail at Notre Dame Cathedral

Paris, France
3.17.2012 

Week in Pictures: 8.13.2012

This past week wasn't too exciting. I mostly worked a lot trying to catch up from being sick. Otherwise it was a pretty typical week at home, enjoying good food and doing projects around the house.

First Row
- One of my favorite places to get weekday dinner with Frank is a Middle Eastern place called Jerusalem Garden. We went on Tuesday and I got my usual, stuffed grape leaves.
- I found some pretty lamps on sale half off at Meijer that I love. The base is a pretty clear seeded glass. I'm not crazy about the shades but those are easy to switch out.
- Friday evening Frank and I grabbed dinner at a little Korean place called Seoul Street. They had a few new fusion menu items. One was Kimchi Fries with caramelized kimchee and onions, cheese, green onions, sour cream and spicy mayo. The fries were wonderfully crispy and the toppings were a delicious combination.

Second Row
- In addition to the fries I got a Bul-Dog which is a beef frank with bulgogi, kimchee, pickled radish and spicy mayo. It was a tasty combination because of course anything topped with bulgogi is awesome.
- Did you know that Friday was National S'mores Day? I didn't know myself until Friday, but I was happy to enjoy a tasty s'mores bar that one of my friends made to celebrate.
- Dancing at Conor O'Neills! 

Third Row
- Saturday afternoon I went to The Treasure Mart which is a local consignment shop in town for home goods and furniture. Under a pile of toys I found an awesome red and white vintage table that I couldn't resist. I'll share a post later this week about what I did with it.
- I also went to Ikea and picked up a bunch of fun things for my house including the baskets I used to make my laundry organizer.
- Sunday I spent most of the day working on things at home and then walked over to Frita Batidos, a Cuban street food inspired restaurant, for a quick dinner. I love living downtown and having everything just a short walk away. I got a beef frita and a coconut cream batido. Yum!

How was your week? Did you do anything especially fun or did you have a typical week like me?

Picture of the Day: Capuchin Monkey in Tree

Gatun Lake, Panama
6.12.2012

Basket Laundry Sorter

To say that I have a laundry problem is a bit of an understatement. I let it pile up on my bedroom and closet floor and then gather it up and sort it when I have time to do the laundry. It's out of hand and I needed to do something about it.

When I was at Ikea yesterday afternoon I spotted the Nasum baskets and a light bulb went off in my head. I thought they would make a perfect laundry sorter solution for me. The single handle is perfect for hanging and when I measured them I determined that I could easily fit three on the inside of my closet door. I also thought the banana fiber texture looked pretty plus each one is about the size of a load of laundry. 

I brought three baskets home and went about making labels for them. I printed out initials for each basket: C for Colors, W for Whites and D for Dry Cleaning. I thought about tracing them and painting them on the baskets, but I wanted something removable in case I wanted to use them for something else later. I cut out the letters out from white adhesive foam and then stuck the letters on the front of the baskets.

Due to the texture of the baskets the letters are a bit bumpy but I still like how they turned out.

With the baskets labeled I turned to hanging them up on my closet door. My closet has a door to my master bath as well as my bedroom. I decided to hang them on the door that opens to the master bath so that I could toss clothes into the baskets before I hop in the shower.

I didn't want to put holes in my antique hardwood doors so I turned to using Command hooks which are removable and won't mark up or damage my door. I got some large ones in oil rubbed bronze finish and attached them to the back of the closet door. Just to make sure that I wouldn't have any issue with the hooks falling off the door I let them sit overnight before hanging the baskets. 

I love how this project turned out and I think that this new system will keep my dirty laundry off of the floor. I'm also hoping this will motivate me to keep on top of my laundry instead of letting it pile up.

How do you sort or organize your dirty laundry? Do you have a system? Do you let your laundry build up or do you keep on top of it and do it regularly?

Picture of the Day: Bake Jizo Statue Close Up

Nikko, Japan
9.2010 

Picture of the Day: View of the Positano Hillside

Positano, Italy
3.22.2012 

Picture of the Day: Lindbergh Bay Shoreline

St. Thomas, USVI
7.01.2011

Drying Lavender From My Garden

Although I planted my lavender plant in my herb garden a few years ago it has never been big enough to have more than a handful of flowers over the past few summers. This year my lavender plant has finally come into its own and I have quite a good number of flowers. In fact, the lavender flowers are so bountiful this year that it seemed worthwhile to gather and dry them.

The lavender flowers should be harvested when they are dry and after any morning dew has already evaporated.

It is also good to cut the flowers before they have fully bloomed because then the dried lavender will be more fragrant. Unfortunately due to being out of town a lot of the time this summer I am a little late with gathering my lavender, but I'll just have to make do. I think that my lavender will still be nice.

When cutting the lavender I cut as low down as I could to have the longest stem possible. Once I had cut all the flowers I gathered them into several small bunches and secured them with an elastic band on the end. As the stems dry they can shrink so using something stretchy means they will always stay secured. I then tied a bit of twine to the stems to hang the bunches in a cool, dark place which for me meant a spare closet.

A few weeks from now I should have some nice dried lavender for craft projects or recipes. Do you grow lavender in your garden? Do you dry it?