Laundry Building Preview

Every bit of me is so sore. I think I caught my hubby's cold, but that didn't stop me from building this weekend.  As much as I would have liked to at least had the molding cut and nailed in place, this is as far as I got.

I'm building a pedestal for our washer and dryer. You probably think I'm crazy for not buying the pedestals that come with it, but after talking with several people about not being able to store anything in the pedestal because it was too small, I thought there was a better solution.  I'd build my own so that I could fit laundry baskets underneath, while raising the washer and dryer at the same time.  Here's my preview.  With being sick, I wasn't able to complete it.  I hope to finish at least the sanding, molding and staining this week.  Next will be painting the laundry room.  Shh..don't tell my hubby.  He'll think I am crazy for even thinking it.

A touch of Yellow - Round 2 of the Office

This is what my hubby's office looked like after the first round of furniture placement.  I knew I wanted the office to be grey with a pop of color, but of course since it was for my hubby, the pop of color needed to be somewhat masculine.

I bought this yellow lampshade a few weeks back for my master bedroom.  I hadn't put it in yet because I didn't find a lamp base that I was ecstatic about.  Yet, when I placed it in the office, both my husband and I loved it.  Yellow would be my pop of color and this lampshade was the start to our color scheme.

On one of my shopping trips, I found this pillow I had to have.  At $12.99, I couldn't resist.  I loved the texture and the details and it matched the yellow lampshade perfectly.

It went perfectly with the couch.

 For the other side of the room, I placed the other yellow lampshade on a turquoise base.  I liked it, but not for that desk so that was a quick no.  I ended up returning it.

 

Instead, I replaced it with a more masculine mercury looking lamp.

 On the other side, I replaced the huge armoire with a bookshelf.  The size was a better fit.

I still need artwork on the walls, a new rug, and some floating shelves.  At least now, I know my color scheme.  I'm so happy with the yellow.

 

Peaches Cream Pie

We picked so many ripe peaches that I needed to do something with them.  I decided to bake a Peaches Cream Pie.

 

Peach Cream Pie (modified from here)

• 3 cups fresh peeled and chopped peaches
• 1 unbaked 9-inch deep dish pie pastry
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 fresh peach, sliced for garnish if desired
  
  Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
  
  
  
  Place 3 cups fresh peaches into pie pastry.
  
  
  
  
  
  In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and salt.   Add eggs and sour cream.  Pour mixture over peaches.
  
  
  
  
  
  Spread mixture over peaches.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
  
  
  
  
  
  Sprinkle meal mixture evenly over pie.
  
  
  
  
  
  Bake 60 minutes or until golden.
  
  
  
  
  
  Outside is crispy, while the inside is creamy.
  
  
  
  
  
  Garnish with fresh peach slices, if desired.
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a great desert to have on a summer day.
  
  
  
  
  
   Refrigerate leftovers.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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Peach picking

We planted a peach tree two years ago when we built our pool.  Due to the tree being on the far side of the yard, we tend to forget that it is there.  What a surprise to find hundreds of peaches this year.

 Big, ripe and ready to be picked.  We harvested them all.

A. had so much fun picking them off the tree.

We found some happy friends along the way.  Can you see it hidden in the trees?

15 minutes later and we had buckets full.  This is only a fraction of what we picked.

 Now its time to get baking.

Macy's $10 off $25 Coupon

I know I have been absent in blogging lately.  It's been crazy juggling our summer schedule of spanish and movie making classes to art and writing classes..not to mention our weekly piano, karate, and daily swimming lessons that are killing any extra time I have.

Here's a coupon for you though that I thought would be great.

Last time I had this coupon, I was able to buy my cake stands for a fraction of the cost.  Here's my white cake stand from Martha Stewart.  I bought it for $28 and used my coupon to bring the price down to $18.  It retails for $42 so that is a huge savings.   Just in case you are wondering, they're on sale right now for $29.99 so with the coupon it would be $19.99.

Here's the coupon if you want it.  Note, the coupon is ONLY valid Friday and Saturday from 8-1.  I've made the mistake before, not watching my clock and missing the time!  Plenty of sales going on so have fun shopping.

The beginnings of a new office

When E. and R. moved out of their room, all the things that didn't go into their new room stayed.  Along with all the furniture that was in the rest of the house that we didn't want.  My hubby decided to camp out in this crazy space and make it into his office. 

As you can see, it was a disaster area.  Furniture was everywhere.

 

There were still E.'s posters up.  I built up some muscles moving out all the furniture myself.  You can do a lot when you are forced to.  I have mastered wiggling the furniture back and forth and scooting on my bottom and using my back and legs to move heavy pieces.  Who needs a man, right?  Well, eventually I did need someone to help carry the couch downstairs.  Pushing only gets the furniture out of the room, not down a curved set of stairs (although, I have managed to figure out how to get a table downstairs by my self). 

 

 

Enough about moving, more about what I've done.  So, I woke up super early this weekend to paint.  The taupe color is now Tempered Gray.  I LOVE it. Getting rid of all the furniture and adding the new furniture, I am left with this. 

The room looks so much more light and airy.   The furniture placement is just a start.  I am still moving things around.  The armoire at the end has been banished out of here, along with the super mario picture on the closet.  The door has been rehung (we had to remove it to get the couch into the room).

The large monitor/t.v. will be hung on the wall and the table will be removed.  I plan on getting new chairs and pillows for the couch.  The desk by the couch wasn't supposed to be in the room, but my hubby suggested we keep it so that I can scrapbook in there if I wanted to.  Isn't that sweet?  I do have a craft room, but it gets a little too quiet for me so I am always scrapbooking or sewing in the living room to be around family.

 

The book shelf in the corner has already been moved to the other side of the room (where the armoire is).  The cords will also be hidden once we get his monitors situated.  Now that he has a bigger table, he is able to get three monitors and wants a special stand to hold them all.  I bought him the huge monitor/tv for that purpose, but it wasn't enough for his work.  I also plan on getting a bright rug and changing out the lampshade.

Art work will need to go up on the walls as well as maybe some floating shelves.

 Much more to do, but it is a great start. We both love the new space.

What a difference a little paint and the right furniture can do to a space.

50 shades of Grey

No, I'm not talking about the popular book, 50 shades of Grey, but more of the literal interpretation.  It's really 33 shades to be exact.  I decided to paint my hubby's office gray.  It's been my go to color for the past decade.  Slowly my house is moving away from warmer tones to cooler ones.

My sister came home with these sample colors when she went to the hardware store.  For the first time, I was able to narrow the selection within minutes.  The new sofa I bought was my starting point.  That quickly eliminated 2/3s of samples.  The sofa was gray, but it had taupe undertones so I steered away from the grays that had bluish undertones.

Then I took my narrowed selection with a sofa cushion (since the sofa was sitting in my dining room at the time) to the office to look at the sample in the correct lighting.  I've neglected to do this in the past and have regretted it.

Under the room's natural light the choice was remarkably easy. My choice is Valspar's Tempered Gray.  Since I prefer Olympics No VOC paint, I chose to color match it in an eggshell finish. 

The room currently is a light khaki color. Due to the rough and tumble of two boys, it is ready for a coat of paint and my paint brush is definitely ready to get to work.