Chopped Collard and Kale Salad with Lemon-Garlic dressing

It's been a while since I posted a recipe.  Folks who've been here for awhile know that I only post one when it absolutely blows my mind.

This my friends, will do that for you. It's a taste explosion.

If you don't like raw kale or collards, skip on to the next blog :)

courtesy CountryLiving.com

This recipe came from my Country Living magazine

Please hop on over to their website to take a look and print it out.

Chopped Collard and Kale Salad with Lemon-Garlic dressing

I'll be back sometime soon with a new piece of furniture for you!

Where'd she go?

It's been nearly 2 months since my last post, and a few of you have written to me wondering where the heck I've been.

I've been avoiding the blog world for good reason.  We are expecting baby #3 in December!  I've just recently started feeling like myself again.  The nausea has been taking over my life.  Along with my 2 other little priorities.

Summer is my favorite time of the year.  The smell of fresh cut grass, the bright green trees, and the sound of happy children glad to be out of school.

We are usually quite busy during these months.  Between all of the weddings, parties, new babies and friends, I also like to take it easy and just let the girls play and be kids.

 I'm taking on less furniture, because honestly I'm a little burned out from painting at the moment.  And these sweet peas demand my attention most of the time.

I don't really know what the future holds for this blog, but I'm trying to figure it out.  I don't want to stop all together, but the posts will continue to be spaced out quite a bit.

You all have been great supporters of my blog and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  3 years of doing this and I've "met" so many people around the world that I would have never been able to connect to without this here internet.

 Thank you!

Cottage Side Table

This little side table came to me from the same client who wanted this dresser and this side table done for their cottage by the lake.

He explained that this will go on the sleeping porch next to a larger piece with a white, distressed finish.
I needed to match the color and the distressing technique with a cell phone picture of the other piece.

 We both believed I came pretty close.  

Color is Battenburg by Benjamin Moore.

Slow Cooker Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup

Seriously the best tomato soup this girl has ever had.

My husband was scraping out the crock pot to get the last little bits, after it was considered "all gone".

I've made this soup numerous times in the past few months and now I want to share it with you fine folks.
I know spring is just around the corner, but I think there may be a few cool days left to enjoy this soup.

What am I saying?  I will be making this stuff in the summer too!

I found this recipe at 365 Days of Slow Cooking.
Click on over for the full recipe
Please Pin from the original source.

 

 Photo by Clair Buys/BYU Magazine

 Happy Friday everyone!

Painted Bathroom Door

This is the entrance to the half bath right off the kitchen.  I wanted to give it a bit more character with some white and grey paint.

I'm still working on the re-do of the bathroom interior.  I will get a chance to work on it this weekend, since my girls and my husband will be gone for a couple days.

The original color of the door was this lovely orange wood tone which dominated our early 80's home when we first bought it.  I've since painted it all white.  Check out my kitchen.

 

My door already has the recessed rectangles, but I have seen people do this with tape and a ruler.

This would also look good in an upstairs hallway, you could paint all your bedroom doors.

See that little blur running through the bottom of the picture? Not a ghost, just my baby girl.

Teal Dresser

Sometimes I like to take chances with my furniture.

There are times that going with a "safe" color will guarantee a sale, but I like living on the edge when it comes to choosing a color.

This bold teal, with no name, happened to be sitting on the shelf along with all the other discarded paints that no one wanted.
If you have been reading here for awhile, you know that I get most of my paints from the "oops" section at my local Lowes.

It never disappoints.

Case in point, this beautiful teal.

The dresser drawers have a delicate curve across the fronts.

 

 

Link Parties

Creations by Kara

Cuteeverything

Elizabeth and Co.

From My Front Porch to Yours

Domestically Speaking

Redoux 

Jennifer Rizzo

Miss Mustard Seed 

French country Cottage 

Classy Clutter 

Finding Fabulous

Still here

In case you are wondering, I'm still here.

Furniture painting has come to a halt at the moment.  I have a dresser sitting and waiting, I also have a half bath currently torn apart awaiting my attention.

Me and cold air do not mix.  We cause a tornado of unfinished projects, that seem to only get worked on when the weather is nice.

I believe I have undiagnosed seasonal affect disorder. No, I'm not a doctor but I've read the symptoms and I'm pretty sure I qualify for most of the.

My mood greatly depends on the sun.  And I've seen very little of it the past several days.

When the sun is not showing it's pretty face, an all around laziness sets in.  This blog suffers.

Right now the thought of posting this is making me cringe, because I don't want to bore you with my drabness.
But I wanted you all to know I. am. still. here.

Here's a really cool picture so you don't feel it was a total waste reading this.

                                              Source unknown (believe me I tried to find one.)

Ten on Ten

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a month since my last installment of Ten on Ten.   A great link party over at A Bit of Sunshine.

All sorts of things happened this past month. My girl started going to preschool a couple days a week.   Which is so great for both of us.  And just a lot of usual business.  Keeping up with the blog has proved to be difficult for me.

The weather has also started to warm up a bit.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm partial to summer.
Winter is just something we have to endure to get back to the weather that really matters. Spring, Summer and Fall.

Cold weather, who needs it?!

On with the show~

Ready to eat!  (Hand made plates by my talented sis Christine)

Sticky bread.

 Fresh basil and rosemary, can't beat it.

Running.

First warm, beautiful day = yard work.  Raking leaves for an hour = sore back.

Bubbles are hard to photograph.  Try, you'll see.

 I love weddings!

Clean pots ready for plants.

3 week old flowers going strong.

FAQ~ Hardware

Over the past couple years I have received many questions about what, where and how I get the hardware I use on my pieces. 

More often than not, I re-use the original hardware.  I buy a lot of antiques so the existing hardware is usually very unique and perfectly fit for the piece.  I get most of my pulls from Hobby Lobby.  They have a very large variety and great prices.  If you don't have one near you, they sell them online.
I've also been known to get some from Lowe's.

 If the piece has missing or just plain ugly pulls I opt for now ones.  Or I do a mix of old and new.

The top are new and the bottom drawers are original

 New

Mix.  I love to keep them if the piece comes with circular pulls.

New, these bin pulls go with just about anything.

Bin pulls

 Mix.

Bin label pulls from Harware Hut

On the pieces below I used the original pulls

A couple of tips for choosing new hardware for a piece, is to take one of your already painted drawers with you to the store.  

That way you can try on each piece until you find the right fit.

Also, keep with the style of the dresser.  Modern pulls on an antique piece might look unnatural.

I hope this helps!

FAQ "Granite" Counter tops

 This week I'm going to address some FAQ's. 

Question for today~

How are my "granite" counter tops holding up?

About a year ago I received a kit from Gianni granite paint to use and talk about on my blog.  I was very happy about the opportunity to try it out because my faux butcher block counter tops were not going to work in my new kitchen. So I painted them. 
 For the full story on that click here.

  

 So as for how they are holding up, well see for your self.

The paint is chipping in several areas.  The area next to my stove where I do most of my cooking, is the
worst.  The edges also seem to get damaged easily.

Occasionally liquids are spilled and not cleaned up immediately, which causes the paint to soften and peel.

Since we can't afford new counter tops right now, these will have to do.  I've considered re-painting them, but to be honest I probably won't.
It was time consuming and if they are just going to scratch again in a year, it's not worth it.

In closing, if you have counter tops that you just can't live with or can't afford the real thing, then this paint is a good option.
Just be extra careful and for goodness sake, wipe up your spills :)


If you have a question you'd like to see answered here on the blog, please don't hesitate to ask!