A Curtain for the Kitchen

Here was last night's crafting fun! A Roman-style curtain for our one Kitchen window. This project took a little longer than I expected, but the end result didn't turn out too bad. Here are the supplies I needed:

I used red burlap fabric (1 yard, which was more than enough), a white grosgrain ribbon (wide, and an entire spool), my iron and ironing board, scissors, a curtain rod (of the suspension variety, since the window area is a little too tight to hang a real curtain rod), measuring tape, and a roll of Heat N' Bond.

The window is 31 1/2 inches wide, and we didn't need to measure for the full length of the window, since the curtain is decorative, not functional. I figured that I wanted it to go down no more than 12 inches, but because I was doing a Roman-style curtain, I needed to go cut the fabric longer (to compensate for the folds of fabric). The Heat N' Bond is just an easy, no-sew option -- the roll is 3/4 of an inch wide, so because I was hemming the sides of the fabric to hide the raw edges (see below), I doubled that to make 1 1/2 inches on either side. So, if you follow that, the width of the fabric was 34 1/2 inches (window width + left and right sides).

Here, I hemmed around three of the sides of the fabric. For the fourth edge, I estimated how wide the loop needed to be to slide the curtain rod through, and folded that edge over, creating a sort of pocket. Next, I attached two strips of ribbon vertically to the front of the curtains, each about 8 inches from the edges. The Heat N' Bond didn't work out so well here, because when the goop melted to bond the fabrics together, you could see a dark spot under the white ribbon. So, to keep the ribbon from flopping around, I stitched little X's along the ribbon that could easily be hidden when I did the folds. Unfortunately, I'm not so good with remembering to take pictures for each step, so this might sound a little confusing! Next, I loosely folded the fabric in a sort of layered fold to do the "Roman" part of the curtain (see final picture for what this looks like!) and pinned the folds down (because my curtain was so short, it was only 2 folds). I Heat N' Bonded those folds to each other, and stitched along the edges, so they would be secured. Then, with the extra ribbon, I made little bows:

These were stitched onto the ends of the white ribbon that goes vertically along the fabric. And that was it! I slipped the curtain rod into the pocket I'd made earlier, and asked D to pop it into the window frame (I couldn't reach, and at 6'6," he's perfect for reaching things that are too high. He has no problem asking me to get things that are "too low" to make up for it). Here it is:

There are a couple of minor things I'll need to fix on it to make it look better, simply because if I don't I will go crazy, but hurray! We have a curtain in our kitchen now!

Sips n' Strokes

I had a pretty awesome time at Sips N' Strokes with some of the girls the other night. I think this might become a frequent activity -- I'm no artist by any means, even though I love to do artsy type things. But it was a really relaxed, fun environment, and the instructor did a great job showing us how to paint step-by-step. Our paintings turned out pretty well -- we did an "Abstract Guitar," and enjoyed a bit of wine along the way (this was after a dinner full of Margaritas over at El Azteca!).

Here's the bestie and I mid-painting:

My final painting:

I LOVED Christina's...she went against the norm and used a palette that matched her bedroom colors (pinks and grays):

And here were a few of the other girls' paintings:

Pretty cool...I think we're going to go back soon -- and yet another "masterpiece" will fill our bare walls at home! Or maybe even a Birthday or Christmas gift one day...

Turtle Power!

We cooked some homemade pizza last night and watched TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze (brought back so many memories!). Here's the recipe we used (although we mostly just winged it!). I'm still looking for a good pizza crust recipe, so I just got a store-bought crust for last night. You can use any toppings you'd like, here's what ours consisted of:

Margherita Pizza

1 can Pillsbury Pizza Dough (Thick Crust style, found near the biscuits)
Olive Oil (3-4 Tbsp)
Shredded Mozzarella cheese (as much as you like, we used about 1-2ish cups)
2 Vine Tomatoes
Half a cup of mushrooms, sliced (more or less, depending on your preference)
1 Avocado, sliced
3-4 leaves fresh basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 425*. Pop open can of dough, and unroll -- it should be in a rectangular shape. If it keeps shrinking, let it set to room temperature -- that should reduce shrinkage. Spread Olive Oil from the center, all the way to the edges (it'll make the crust crisp). Scatter cheese (NOT to the edges). Slice tomatoes to desired thickness (ours were pretty thick) and arrange on pizza. Sprinkle with mushrooms, avocado and basil. Bake 20-25 minutes, until crust is golden brown. You may need to eat this with a fork and a knife, depending on how heavy your toppings are!

Basement Staining Hell

One of our many projects before we moved in included replacing all the flooring in the house. We found really great deals, either through Thomas Paz or where I work, it was within our budget, and frankly, I'm not a big fan of breathing in other people's dead skin.



The house had been mainly carpet, with lino in the bathrooms and part of basement, and Pergo (fake hardwood) on the main floor. The carpet was disgusting -- filthy and old. When we pulled up the carpet and padding (we did this ourselves to save money), there was so much dirt and grime, it made us seriously reconsider ever having carpeting again. Buuuuut, we prefer to have it in the bedrooms (I hate cold floors at night, and I'm not a big fan of rugs). SO, we had Alberto Navarrete come and install hardwood (oak, with a cherry stain) on the main floor and stairs, as well as the upstairs hallway. Foster Enterprises came in to do the carpeting in the three bedrooms (we did a Frieze carpet -- sort of a shag -- in a multi-color). Dave Grashorn came and tiled all three bathrooms, the shower and tub surround in the master bathroom, and our laundry room. The only thing left for us to do flooring-wise was the basement. It was suggested that we refrain from installing hardwood or carpet in the basement (just in case it flooded -- with the laundry room & water heater down there, you never know!). I'm not a huge fan of tile in a big room like that, so we started looking into other options. We found out about concrete staining (http://www.concretenetwork.com/stained-concrete/sawing_and_patterning.htm). This is a really cool look, and we figured it'd stand up really well if the basement ever decided to flood. Through a friend of a friend, we received instructions on how to DIY the staining. Thus began the nightmare that is our basement floor.



When we pulled up the carpet and lino from the basement floor, the concrete was extremely damaged. The people who laid in the carpet previously nailed the tack strip (this runs along the edge of the wall to hold the carpet down) into the concrete. So when we pulled up the nails, each nail popped out a little hole of concrete. Then we pulled up the lino, which was apparently superglued to the floor. It left behind most of the papery backing of the lino, or just squiggles of yellowed glue. There were also cracks, paint stains, and bits of pine straw that had been laid in with the concrete. Here is the before picture with all the carpeting removed:













Well, we had two options. Option #1 was to pour a self-levelling concrete onto the floor to resurface it -- easiest option, however we would have had to wait 30 days to stain the floor (had to wait for the concrete to completely cure). Well, we didn't want to wait 30 days -- we, the all-knowing homeowners, thought we could get EVERYTHING done within a month and be all set. If only we'd known then! Option #2 was to clean the floor, fill in the cracks and pockmarks from the tack strip, grind the concrete to make it smooth, clean it about 4 more times (with NO chemicals -- just water), and THEN stain it. So we decided to do that. Well. We poured Quikrete into the holes and cracks. The grinding was horrible. It was extremely dusty, so D & Thomas came up with the idea of using it as a wet grinder (one person grinds while the other uses a hose to spray the dust down). We had to stop every few minutes to suck up all the water with a shop vac, and empty the vac every so often. Quikrete apparently doesn't bond properly with real cement, so it popped straight back out of the holes. 6 hours later, the floor was grinded (ground?). We found the right kind of concrete to use, and applied that to the holes. Filling them using a putty knife wasn't working out so well, so we tore up our hands mashing it into the holes. Piece of cake, right? So we did the next step, scrubbing away. D went to a specialty store in Duluth to get stain and sealant and applied both to the floor. Here is how it looks now:







Amazing, right? Not. You can't really tell from the picture, but the places where the holes and cracks were filled are super dark -- it looks like a row of misshapen polka dots around the perimeter of the room and around the doorways (there were squares of lino in front of the back and garage doors, so the carpet tack strip ran around those squares). There are some places where the holes weren't filled in 100%, so it looks uneven. Some of the grinding marks showed up. All in all, we weren't too happy about the final result.



As it stands we're considering a few options. The first is to resurface the floor, wait 30 days, and restain it and see how it looks (although I'm not too impressed with the way the stain turned out). Secondly, we can resurface and use concrete paint to paint the floor. Third, we can refrain from the resurfacing and just paint the floor. I think we're going to start off with the third option for now, and test some spots to see how it looks (if the unevenness shows up, we'll move on the resurfacing the floor!). We'll do another post to show the final results as soon as we get to it!

Brie en Croute

Here is an appetizer recipe that seems to be a hit. It's from a recipe that I found online and modified quite a bit. Enjoy!

(We haven't forgotten about housewarming pics...we've just been otherwise preoccupied! Stay tuned!)

Brie en Croute

1 small Brie Round
1 puff pastry sheet
1/2c Apricot Jelly
1/2c slivered or sliced Almonds
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350*. Defrost pastry sheet and unfold until flat. Lay Brie round in center of sheet (rind can be left on cheese). Spread apricot jelly on Brie, top with almonds. Bring up edges of pastry sheet around Brie and seal together. Brush egg white on pastry. Bake 25-30 mins, or until pastry is golden brown. Let sit 15-20 mins. Serve with crackers.

Bagel Sandwiches

Well, it's been quite some time since we last posted! We were so busy trying to get the house ready for the housewarming (pictures to come soon!), the blog was put on the back burner. This post today is going to be a recipe for another breakfast item that is super easy and can be made in bulk for the week: Bagel Sandwiches.

Bagel Sandwiches
Serves 2 for one 5-day work week

10 bagels (we prefer plain or multigrain)
10 eggs
10 slices of your favorite cheese (Swiss for the McKinkys)
Mayo
10 rashers of bacon or sausage patties (optional)

Slice and toast bagel halves. Spread mayonnaise on each half. Cook eggs separately from each other, over-medium or over-hard style (the sandwiches aren't very appetizing if the yolk is runny several days later). Flip egg onto one half of the bagel, add bacon or sausage (or not), and slap some cheese on top. Put the other half of your bagel on top, and put each sandwich into individual baggies. As you are running late to work(inevitably), all you have to do is grab one and heat it up for ~30 seconds (until the cheese is melted). YUM.