Like A Cup Of Tea

Renovation Recap: The Living Room Reveal

May 7, 2013 – 10:00 am

There are those moments in life when something happens and you look back on it and realize the work to get there was worth it, and that is exactly how I felt when we finished our living room 99% and moved into it this weekend! It was such a surreal moment. I came home tonight and immediately walked into the living room, sat down and just enjoyed everything about it. I can’t wait to show you the reveal, but I will because there were a few steps before we moved in and a few photos you just need to see first.

This is a pine trim which Andy milled from strapping he received with the delivery of another product. It was clear, it was perfect, and it was free. I married well.

The baseboards are also a beautiful routed pine. It’s a fairly traditional style but that’s right in line with our craftsman/shaker/farmhouse preferences.

Once Andy finished putting the Danish oil on the trim, we let the room air out and did the final cleanup consisting of cleaning windows, scraping the windows, vacuuming and in general relishing in the room before we moved furniture in.

Then we took all of our furniture junk, and moved it into our really nice new living room. Actually, only the couch can be referred to as junk as all other furniture pieces are handmade and are actually quite nice.

The photo above sums up how we’ve been living for months, so let me just say I’m a little more happy that view now looks a lot more empty.

Someday I’ll look back on this photo and be like, “ahg, I can’t believe it used to look like that, and I was totally cool with it.” Truth though, I honestly don’t care. I am just so darn elated with this accomplishment which was no small task, considering this room from the other direction used to be a falling in porch which I once power washed an old toilet on.

Now, that old fallen in porch is long gone and our new living room is a cozy, warm, friendly, loving space.

It might look a little plainly decorated in photos, but in person it’s so nice. I love the layering of woods, the neutral walls, the open and airy feel to it. There are obviously still some interior design type things we need to do like get a light shade for the center of the room, upgrade the lamp on the table, add some art, maybe some window treatments, and get a new sofa but I don’t even see those things at this moment. They just don’t even matter. No interior design is going to really matter until the house is complete and we can see it in one piece. We have a few sentimental items up now, and I brought in my baskets of yarn, but besides that we’re good as is.

You can see my kindle charging next to the sofa, which brings me to another awesome thing Andy did in this room for convenience purposes. He put outlets on either side so we could each plug in our electronics without always tangling them around each others stuff. For Andy this simply meant a laptop. For me, it’s a laptop, my camera battery, my phone, my kindle, the lamp—you get the point. So needless to say I have a double outlet on my side and he has a single on his. On my side two of the plugs are also operable by switch. If you walk into the room from the kitchen area, you have the option to either turn on the dimming overhead lights or flip on the lamp. It’s definitely not a “need” and it never was, but when Andy mentioned the option without a lot more work it was a no-brainer. It’s a nice convenience to have, and it means I have three other outlets I can leave my other chargers plugged into if I want.

The other “design element” I did in this room was to re-organize the bookshelf so it was more visually appealing. I know what the books look like I use the most (i.e. cookbooks and gardening references) so I can grab them quickly. I hesitate to call this a “design element” only because it was more of a “dust your shit once in a while and make things look nice”. I did this by organizing every book by color family. I used to do this with my clothes in my closet in high school sometimes and I loved it. Turns out, I now love it on a bookshelf. I think this was a thing like two years ago. I seem to remember seeing people organize things by color on some design show a while back. Consider me up to date and totally hip to trends (*nods head in a sarcastic “yeah, that’s it” manner*).

What, you didn’t think we’d be highlighting a hand turned vase, a chainsaw book and a sawmill book on our bookshelf? Come on now. Oh, and to the far left is a book called American Brassiere. It’s a cook book that I don’t work out of a lot but I still thoroughly enjoy none the less. Just throwing that out there.

Andy and I were both wowed and loved how the bookshelf looked in the room for the sheer fact that all of the natural light made the wood grain glimmer. It never looked like this in the darker room before so we’re happy to see the fine grain in all of the glory it deserves. Well played natural light, well played.

At the end of the day, we are incredibly happy with this room and how it turned out. It’s so nice to have one room you can come into and not have to look at the items that still needs to be done. At this point, window treatments, etc. don’t feel like things that need to be done. Finishing the flooring in the other rooms are on the need to be done list, so as far as I’m concerned right now this room is done. OH and as it turns out, when you have nice things you want to take care of them. Guess who’s going out to get felt pads to put on the bottom of the coffee table? I guess I’m officially that adult. At least I’m not putting tennis balls on the legs. Did anyone else have to do that to their chairs in elementary school or know what the heck I’m referring to?

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reads this post and/or as followed my blog. I know there are a lot of people who read and never comment and that’s totally okay (though I would love if you said “hi!”, I’ll say “hi!” back!). This blog really is a cathartic place to get some of my feelings and thoughts out and I absolutely love sharing our little life with you. I wish you could all just come and sit in here and feel how relaxing it really is. Then again, if ALL of you were in here it wouldn’t be relaxing at all, so let’s just do it one at a time. I’ll put on some tea for you.

xo,

Heather

P.S.) I’ll be back within the next week or so with an update on the other parts of the renovation we’re still working on! There’s also been some talk up at the farm, and some gardening underway so I hope to write about all of that soonish too. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Tags cherry, concrete hearth, douglas fir, handcrafted furniture, heart pine flooring, mahogany, maple, Pine, reclaimed flooring, walnut | Permalink | Comments (8)

kitchen mischief savories

My New Favorite Way To Eat Burgers

May 2, 2013 – 10:00 am

I realized I haven’t posted a recipe on here in oh….a very long time. Let’s not even look back and see just how long it was. STOP IT. Stop going back to the archives and looking. Let’s just live in the present.

So here’s the thing, I have this favorite way of eating burgers/chicken/sandwiches made at home that I’m not sure I’ve ever disclosed. Here’s my secret:

I absolutely love burgers wrapped in lettuce. No bun, just lettuce. It gives it a really nice crunch and isn’t as filling. This is great for people avoiding extra carbs too. I for one am not avoiding carbs because I absolutely love carbs, but I don’t totally love a meal of super heavy foods all put together, plus the lettuce wraps are just tasty in their own right.

“Well, Heather, what kind of lettuce?”

I’m glad you asked! The answer is simply any kind of lettuce I have on hand that has leaves big enough. Iceberg? Sure. Romaine? Why not. This isn’t much of a recipe, but I thought I would show you two of my favorite ways to eat burgers “protein style”.

First, I mix my ground beef with whatever spice is of my fancy that night. Lately it’s the Greek mix from Penzey’s. It’s no secret I love Penzey’s spices. They don’t know I exist in the blogging world, so I’m not paid to say any of this. I just highly recommend them.

Second, I add whatever toppings my heart fancies but my two favorites as of lately are most definitely a salsa burger, and a spinach and basil burger. These are both so simple it’s mind boggling.

Spinach Burger

Place basil on the bottom, then cheese if you’re using it – or nutritional yeast if you’re not. We limit our dairy quite a bit, but besides that I LOVE nutritional yeast so I prefer it.
Put your burger on
Put some tomatoes on top of that
Put a handful of spinach on that
Put whatever sauce on top you like
WRAP IT UP AND EAT IT.

Salsa Burger

Place salsa on the bottom
Add nutritional yeast or shredded taco cheese. 99% of the time I always opt for the nutritional yeast. Weird fact, I don’t even really like regular cheese on tacos. I was raised using nutritional yeast so it just seems normal to me.
Add tomatoes
Add sauteed onions
Add your burger
WRAP IT UP AND EAT IT.

So that’s it. Go get yourself some beef, turkey burger, a chicken breast, smoked tofu, whatever suits your fancy and wrap that delicious nugget of delight up in some lettuce. Here’s a hint, you can also make pretty much any burrito this way too and it truly is, in the words of James Lipton a la Saturday Night Live, scrumptrulescent.

Enjoy!

xo,

Heather

Tags beef, burger, dairy-free, easy healthy meals, easy meals, healthy, local, low-carb, maine, quick dinner, quick meals, under 20 minutes | Permalink | Comment (0)

Chatterbox Cafe Homesteading The Dooryard

A New Addition to the Family

April 26, 2013 – 11:30 am

It’s been a big couple months for us. We paid off my school loans in March. We paid off our tractor this month. Well, we also had another surprise this month. Or rather, make it two. I’m both excited and somewhat still in shock, but mostly excited.

Andy and I have been thinking for a long time about expanding our family. We had been researching, thinking and we just kept deciding it wasn’t the right time for a variety of reasons.

We weren’t ready
We couldn’t afford it
We felt like we wanted to finish most of the renovations first

When it came down to it we just wanted the timing to be right. We know everyone says “there will never be the right time” and, “you’ll never have the money”, but we really felt like there WAS a right time and we WOULD have the money if we just were diligent, saved and waited patiently.

Everyone seems to have an opinion too. It’s not like anyone was pressuring us to expand our family, but we knew they would like it. We knew they would enjoy it if we did. It’s not that our little family now isn’t enjoyable, but sometimes when you know, you just now.

So with that said, I’d like to introduce you to the new members of our family…..

…..

….

Welcome home 2004 Suburban LS and Husqvarna XP 562! You will be loved. You will serve our family well as we work on the family woodlots, tow our tractor, and drive up to camp down the long and rough old logging roads. We’re so happy to have you.

We are beyond thrilled. We have been looking for a good suburban for a couple years now. The issue is that in the northeast, especially Maine, they are often rust buckets and beat to high-hell from doing things like we plan on doing – towing and going to camp on rough roads. Finding a decent one is like getting a needle in a haystack. Well, on Sunday night we found that needle. On Monday, unbeknownst to me, Andy bought it. I knew he was going to talk to the bank about financing, but I didn’t know he was going to buy it. It was all so quick and sudden but when you know, you just know. On Monday night while I was at Home Depot after work I called Andy and he told me it was sold. I was sad but something in his voice told me he was messing with me. See, I’m pretty gullible but I am very cognizant of it which means I try and pick up on it. His voice was just too happy. When I got home we went on a walk, all while I was saying “Are you sure it’s sold? I won’t believe you until we check every neighbors driveway and the farm.” All while in my brain I was thinking, “what if I’m wrong? Wait, am I wrong? Is it really sold? No. It must be here. Is it?” I wouldn’t have put it past him to park it somewhere in the pasture. Needless to say, he had to “return something” to our neighbor. Well, that “something” was a ploy because he had hidden the suburban in the neighbors garage.

As far as the chainsaw, this is my husbands dream chainsaw. Andy will talk for 20 minutes straight about it and tell you the entire story behind it. If you know Andy, you know that means he’s pretty excited. The long and short of is that it’s an amazing saw, which has an expensive handle on it, and it’s been ported for better performance from some top guy in the industry….and he managed to get it for the same price as if he bought it off the shelf completely stock. So yes, he’s beyond excited.

Yay for new additions to the family!

XO,

Heather

Wait…what?! Excuse me?! You thought this was a pregnancy announcement! Oh no. No no no. We aren’t there yet. The status of my uterus is how I like my wine glass, EMPTY.

Permalink | Comments (5)

Addition House and Home kitchen

Wednesday Renovation Recap: Stepping it Up

April 24, 2013 – 10:00 am

Last week was crazy at work with my first big annual dinner to do, so the blog took a bit of a hit. Working until almost 7 every night for a few weeks will do that. With the dinner over, and spring finally starting to show it’s face, I’m super excited to share with you a lot of things we’ve been doing on the house, and outside of the house.

So let me just say….

STAIR PARTS. BUILT. ME LIKEY. AHG!

Let me take a deep breath and back up. When we decided to renovate our home, we knew we were going to be building a lot of the final touches ourselves. I’m using the marital “we” because I really mean Andy would be building the final touches, since my level of building is something closer to a rugged potato box (I’ll be blogging on this later).

It has always been important to Andy to build a lot of the house himself, including the finishes. For one, he knows how to do it. For two, he can build it for less money than a cheaper quality version he could buy. For three, it’s a family thing to have little touches throughout the house to make it personal. Every single piece of wood has some sort of story of how it was found, or how cheap it was bought, or where it originally came from, etc. It gives the house what many houses these days are missing—character.

I trusted Andy to build a beautiful set of stairs, so I stayed out of the way and didn’t really give any input. I knew he would turn out something wonderful and I’m most definitely not disappointed. At this point we only have parts which need to be painted and/or sealed so let’s dive into the finishing process. The first thing we had to do was decide what treatment we wanted for each part. Since the risers and balusters are made of poplar we decided they should be painted. However, the railing, balusters and newel posts are made of walnut and beech. We absolutely knew those were going to stay as solid wood. We haven’t reached the painted parts yet, or installation, so I’ll discuss those in a later post. For now let’s get into the finishing of the unpainted parts.

We quickly decided the best bet would be multiple coats of the same clear finish we used on the exposed trusses. It would give a nice hard surface and show off the beautiful wood without adding any tint like a stain or oil might do.

It’s still too cold to do the finishing outside, so we had to set up in the house. We decided to use our master bedroom on the second floor as a staging area for finishing, and utilized the roll staging as a drying rack for the treads.

For finishing I simply followed the instructions on the water based clear coat, which in our case included letting each coat dry for two hours and a light sanding with 250-grit sandpaper in between each coat. I started with the rough side, since I knew it was important to get a coat on each side to help prevent warping. That said, I only did one coat on the back side but plan on doing about 5 or so on the front side.

You can see just how different they look after one coat!

After a light sanding I did a second coat and with each coat since then I’ve been loving the stairs more and more.

In addition to the stair treads I also did the newel posts (there is a third one but it wasn’t in the shot).

My favorite piece of the entire staircase so far has to be the railings though. I absolutely love touched of dark woods like mahogany and walnut, so these walnut railings are right up my alley. Once we put a clear coat on them they really took the cake.

Each of the three railings will get a few more coats, including the sanding in between, before they are finished. They keep getting prettier with each coat and I adore them. They all look like one piece of wood, right?

Surprise, they’re actually each three pieces of wood! Andy did an incredibly fabulous job making them all look like one cohesive piece.

Now that it’s the week and we’re back to work eight hours a day, it pretty much means I’m doing about one coat a night as each coat needs about two hours drying time. So far they are looking beautiful and shiny. I can’t wait to have time to get the other pieces painted and document that for you. Finally, and obviously, the biggest excitement will be getting everything installed!

In addition to the stair parts, we also finally finished sealing the beams above the stairwell, which means they are D.O.N.E. DONE.

And since spring has finally sprung, it means the tarp has been taken off the kitchen we’ve been housing in our garage. More on the kitchen later, but oh Lord, it’s beautiful even with the few dings. The granite knobs more than make up for any dings.

Spring is certainly refreshing, no doubt about it. It means finishing touches, fresh air, building new structures for the garden, planting the garden and getting to spend time outside with those you love. How does a park on a sunny Sunday with your friends and their kids not just make a soul happy?