a new addition.

Sorry for the silence around here, but we've been busy.  Mostly with work and not fun house stuff, but we have some new projects to share soon.  For now, check out the newest addition to our family:

Meet Hamilton Bonaparte aka Hambone.  He's an 8 week old australian shepherd that we picked up yesterday.  We definitely have our hands full with him!

hairpin leg nightstands.

Since we've been too busy to start any new projects, I'm sharing an old project today.  We searched for months for new nightstands when we first bought the house.  My old one didn't fit with the style of our bedroom and Rich's old one was a few pieces of wood attached to the wall.  We had a really hard time finding tables that were low enough to go with our bed.  We finally decided to build our own.

Don't mind the mess of cords behind mine - I'm still trying to figure out the best way to deal with that.  

Anyways, this project is super simple.  We purchased our hairpin legs online from hairpinlegs.com - we went with the raw steel version.  Then we picked up a pre-made wood top from Lowes and a can of clear matte sealer.  The raw steel version of the legs will rust if left untreated, so we chose to use a clear sealer to keep the original look of the legs.

Spray the legs, following the directions on your particular sealer.

Next, we screwed the legs on to the bottom of the wood tops.  Make sure you either create a template or measure so that all the brackets are evenly spaced from the edge of table. 

Finally, we had to finish the tops of the table.  We were trying to get the nightstands to be as close a match as possible to our bed frame.  We coated the tops with Howard Feed-N-Wax for now.  It made the color of the wood a little richer and provided some protection.  

After living with these for quite a few months, I will say that the Feed-N-Wax might not have been the optimal solution.  It was a convenient solution - we already had the Feed-N-Wax on hand.  Down the line, I think I'll either add a clear coat to these or choose a very light wood stain to provide a better seal. Since the tables are pretty much raw wood, they are a bit difficult to dust.  Other than that, these nightstands have awesome.

happy hour: pimm's cup.

Welcome to a new feature here at my so-called modern life: happy hour.  I've been working on becoming a better moderate drinker (seriously, this is one of my life goals right now) and I like to mix up my drink offerings.  The goal is to post a new drink every Friday... wish me luck!

A few weeks ago, we saw temperatures reach into the high 70's... in March... in New Hampshire.  This is not typical.  I took advantage of the weather and made myself a nice summer drink and enjoyed it on our screened in porch while I took care of some business.

The Pimm's Cup is addictive.  The first time I made it I had some friends over and by the end of the night, everyone was hooked on it and we'd polished off an entire bottle of Pimm's.  These go down easily - mostly because Pimm's is only 25% alcohol.

Pimm's Cup

1.5 oz Pimm's No.1

Ginger Ale

Lemonade (optional)

Lemon and Cucumber slices for garnish

Add the Pimm's to your cup.  Fill almost to the top with ginger ale.  Top with a splash of lemonade (optional).  Garnish with lemon and cucumber slices.

Note: As you might have noticed, I skipped the cucumber slices in the photo above.  Don't be like me.  The first time I made a Pimm's Cup, I skipped the cucumber because I'm not one to put vegetables in my drinks.  But as I made them for 5 other people, I thought I should get a little more legit about it and give it a try.  It's delicious.  I only skipped them here because I was out of cucumbers at the time.

Second Note: I like to add a splash of lemonade to mine, but it's completely optional.  Some people also make their Pimm's Cup with lemonade instead of ginger ale.  I tend to like the carbonation, so I prefer the ginger ale method. 

homemade laundry detergent.

Sorry things have been a bit slow around here... I've been working a lot of overtime at work and we've been away from the house a lot, so not much is getting done around here in terms of projects.

For now, let me quickly tell you about something that has revolutionized our laundry: homemade laundry detergent.

Seriously.  It sounds ridiculous, but it made a huge difference.  Mostly for our wallets.

I followed the directions from yellow brick home.  It's super easy - the hardest part is grating the bar of soap and even that only takes about 5 minutes and gives you a quick arm workout in the process.  Our last batch lasted us months - I think almost 9 months.

I was unable to find all the ingredients locally - I still have a few more spots to check, but I got impatient and purchased the supplies from amazon instead.  It's a $25-$30 investment up front, but the boxes of Borax and Washing Soda will make multiple batches.  I also ordered the two pack of the Fells Naptha soap since it was cheaper that way.

We've seen no downsides to using the detergent.  It's cheaper and lasts longer than store bought alternatives.  It smells really good while you're doing the wash, but the clothes come out unscented (our preference) and combined with the dryer balls we use, it has cut our laundry related bills dramatically.

starburst mirror.

Ah yes, the starburst mirror.  It seems like owning a starburst something (mirror, clock, whatever) is a requirement of owning a mid-century house.  And I'm okay with that.

I've been on the hunt for a good starburst for a while now.  Pretty much since we bought the house - so over a year.  I disliked everything we found in our price range and refused to spend hundreds of dollars on one.

And then this came around.  I saw it on some random blog on Tuesday.  I saw it again Wednesday on Retro Ranch Revamp's blog.  I held strong.  We have some big projects in mind and I didn't want to spend our house budget on decorative items.  By Friday I caved.  It only cost $35!  And I love it!  And I have no willpower.  

If you're interested in it, you can get all the details here.  It's the Wales Circle Mirror from the Martha Stewart Living Collection at Home Depot.

home tour: master bedroom / master bathroom.

This is our master bedroom in all its glory.  It has super fancy wood paneling.  Seriously... check that stuff out.  Darker/richer than the rest of the paneling in the house and no knots.  It's really gorgeous paneling.  

Two things bug me in this shot.  One, if you look closely, you can see how crappy a job the previous owners did on the trim when they replaced the windows.  I don't know if they just stained it wrong or if they chose a bad wood for staining, but it's a splotchy mess.  It's a small detail, but it drives me insane.  Second, the quilt at the end of our bed.  I bought this when we lived in an all-cream apartment and I loved it.  It was bright and airy and gray!  Everything I needed.  Now I think it looks washed out against the paneling.  I'm hoping my aunt might consider whipping us up a new quilt with some brighter colors.  But until then, it stays (hello budget!)

This is my nightstand.  It's usually not this clean.  We made them from a finished wood top and hairpin legs.  I'll post about that sometime.  The lamp is from Target.  The pillowcases are from Ikea.  I love these pillowcases.  The orange pillowcases have seen better days though and just aren't as white as they once were.  I'm on the lookout for something new.  I want something with a bright pattern that isn't too matchy-matchy with the rest of the bedding.  That's apparently really hard to find.

Behind this folding screen slider thing is my closet.  Yes, my closet takes up an entire wall.  I can't even fill it because I don't really have a lot of clothes.  It's at least 1/3 empty.  You also get a glimpse of Rich's man corner - complete with backpack, random axe, and his red plaid hat.  Rich may not be from NH originally, but he's learning to fit in pretty well.

This is the wall across from our bed.  The pocket door to the master bathroom is on the right.  These are old dressers from our last apartment.  The apartment that had no functional closets, so I bought a pair of these and forced Rich to use them.  The other one currently resides in Rich's closet.  His closet setup drives him insane, so a renovation is probably in our future.  This dresser above is way to large for the space, but does the trick until I stop being lazy and sell them.

The master bathroom.  I try not to think about this room much despite the fact that I use it everyday.  It screams 80s to me.  I wanted to demo it as soon as we moved in, but then the general costs of homeownership got in the way.  The bathroom will probably be renovated down the line - maybe 3-5 years.  It's a completely functional bathroom and nobody uses it besides us, so it's not a priority right now.  Notice how weird and square the toilet is.  Notice how everything is a slightly different shade of off white.  Notice the same crappy linoleum floor tiles as the other bathroom.  Ugh.

Fun story.  When we first moved in, the pocket door to the bathroom had been removed.  You can't see directly into the bathroom from the bedroom, but the bathroom is still a little too close for comfort.  The reason why the pocket door had been removed?  The previous owners set up a vanity on the other side of the closet and put a light fixture over it.  Seriously.  They chose a light fixture over having bathroom privacy.  We changed that pretty quickly.

home tour: the office / the reading room.

Ah yes.  The office.  Rich's office.  I avoid this room like the plague.  

I leave this room to Rich's devices.  Mostly because I hate it.  I hate that the previous owners painted the wood paneling.  I hate the shade of blue.  I love that there's a VCT floor, but I hate the colors/pattern.  Yes, that's a lot of hate and that can't be good for a person.  My solution?  Just ignore the room.

We refer to our third bedroom as the reading room.  Since we bought the house, this room has gone through a few changes.  Mostly because we have more space than we need right now.  The room started as a storage room, then transformed into the saddest craft room ever, and is now being resurrected as the reading room. 

There's not much in there - a bookshelf, two chairs, my old nightstand, an old lamp, and that's about it.  The space isn't a priority, but if we come across some great things, we'd love to add to the room.  On my wish list: a better table, a much better lamp, an old pull-down map of the United States, and some great accessories.  Rich really doesn't care about what's in the room... he just wants some footstools to go with the chairs.  

After my failed attempt at having a craft room, I still needed a place to put my supplies.  After a few trips to Target and a few hours of Rich forcing me to go through all my belongings, we ended up with this.  Now, you might be less interested in my organizing and more interested in the color of the closet.  As you might have noticed by now, almost our entire house is covered in wood paneling.  With nothing else to paint, the previous owners got creative with the closets.  Besides this, we've got a hunter green closet and a creamsicle closet.  I figured I would paint the closets right away, but they've grown on me and I think they'll be sticking around for a while.  Well, maybe not the creamsicle one.

home tour: the guest bedroom / bathroom.

The guest bedroom.  Rich is determined to make our guest bedroom the best guest bedroom ever.  It is on its way.

We're slowly piecing things together.  As with everything else - we're on a budget.  We bought a great new quilt, but threw on our old bedspread for an extra layer of warmth this winter.  We picked up the tables at a thrift store down near Rich's parents.  Originally, we just bought one and used it as a coffee table in the living room.  Then the thrift store slashed the price of the matching table.  The much lower price worked for our budget and we had some great end tables.  

This is our kind of sad looking gallery wall.  I wanted some time to grow into it.  You know, take my time to find and make stuff I loved.  Now part of me wants to just throw up anything and make the wall look a little more full.  Just replace filler stuff as I find and make the stuff I love.  We'll have to wait and see if a ton of frames just happen to fall in my lap in the near future.

This is our brown/peach bathroom in all its glory.  The peach might be on its way out, but that wallpaper will be there until it starts falling down.  The floor needs to be replaced.  It's some crappy peel and stick linoleum that was leftover from when the previous owner re-did the master bathroom.  It's purple-ish and doesn't match and drives me slightly insane.

We picked up the wild boar carving at a flea market.  Now, I'm not the best at picking out art.  I second guess my choices and get bored with stuff easily.  The wild boar changed everything.  I smile every time I see that little guy and he will always have a place in my home.  One of my favorite purchases ever.

home tour: the kitchen.

I love my kitchen.

See that light?  I love that light.  I didn't care if they took every other fixture out of the house, as long as they left that light.  It's original to the house and the original homeowner told me that she wished she could have taken it with her.  That doorway leads to the pantry area where our washer/dryer is.  And some very randomly placed cabinets.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way to organize those things.

The kitchen has great windows and a ton of natural light.  Don't mind all the dishes drying in the rack... there's only so much cleaning I had in me that day.  Plus, I hate when people's houses look too perfect.  We always have dishes drying in the rack and a few dirty dishes on the counter waiting to be washed, that's life.

There are some more great windows next to this counter.  This is my main prep/baking area.  Take note of the great birthday cards Rich and I get for each other.

We've got a great swinging door that closes off the kitchen when you have guests over and the kitchen is a mess.  But it never gets closed because no matter how dirty your kitchen is, everyone sill congregates there.  That small bit of counter that looks out on to the dining room is our bar area.  Perfect to make people drinks once you get them out of the kitchen and into the dining room.

I didn't photograph them, but we have a double wall oven.  I don't know how I lived without them.  We also have an electric cooktop.  I hate that thing.  I want to accidentally drop my cast iron pan on it so it cracks and we have to replace it with a great gas range (oh and we'll have to put in a gas line too).

There's not much that needs to be done in the kitchen.  The floor is in desperate need of replacement.  It's just not pretty.  It's a white linoleum type, but there's some major staining.  Plus, it's slightly textured and is impossible to keep clean.  But, it's in solid condition - no rips or peeling or anything - so for now, it stays.  

home tour: living room and dining room.

I suppose if I plan to write a blog about my home projects, I should probably show you what my home looks like.  Over the next week (if I keep my act together), I'll give you a full tour.  One thing to note - we have done almost no interior work to the house.  Mostly because there is nothing that needed to be done.  Sure, there are things we want to do, but we're taking our time and getting to that when it works for our schedule and budget.  The bulk of the work we did last year was on the exterior and landscaping of the house which I'll get to showing you once the weather gets nicer.

I'm starting off with our living room and dining room area, which is one large open space.  This is definitely where we spend the bulk of our time.

Eventually we hope to pull up the carpets to reveal the concrete slab below.  We'll either seal it, skim coat it, or paint it gray and use area rugs to warm up the floors.  Our couch was inherited from Rich's grandmother in all its pink velour glory.  It has served us well, but has seen better days, and will probably be replaced when we pull up the carpet.  White carpets and velour couches are hard to keep clean with three animals running around the house.

We have a wall of brick in the living room that houses our wood stove.  We used this as our primary heat source this winter since oil is freaking expensive.  The brick also runs throughout the main hallway in our house that connects the main living space with the bedroom area.

Our coffee table was inherited from Rich's great-grandmother.  I did a quick touch-up on the wood to spruce it up about a year ago.  However, Rich's french press has done some damage and it needs to be refinished.  At the same time, we're not sure if it will stay once we start working on the room.

The built-in bookshelf is pretty much the only interior project we've completed here.  When we first moved in, it was painted a dark maroon.  I had a week off between jobs and immediately addressed that.  The color came out slightly more blue than I wanted, but it does the trick.  Once the carpets get pulled up, this will probably get repainted so it doesn't blend in with the concrete floors as much.

The dining room is off to the side of the bookshelf.  As soon as we were under contract on the house, I jumped on craigslist to look for dining room chairs with the plan of building a dining room table down the line.  Coming from an apartment, I was incredibly excited to finally have a dining space.  I found the 6 chairs for $100.  I love them, but they desperately need to be reupholstered.  The dining room table was a generous gift from my parents.  It was the first piece of real furniture they purchased for their home years ago.  They decided to pass it along since the style fit better in our house and my dad was interested in building a new table for their house.  I love the table and the space it provides us to entertain.

Off to the left, there is a sliding door that leads out to our screened-in porch.