Movin' in

Last week my side tables moved in with their new owner. As much as it pained me to see them go, I was glad they were going to such a sweet girl. The lovely Julie was kind enough to send me pictures of the tables in her beautiful home. She is a wonderful photographer in the Athens area so go check her out! Click here for her website.
Here is what the tables look like in her house

She changed the pulls, which I think I like better than the glass ones I had on there.

I've got several more end tables in the works so if you would like me to customize one or two for you please email me at betweenblueandyellow@yahoo.com. Right now I'm only delivering within the Atlanta area. But hope to ship all over the country one day.

Where I blog

Today I'm joining Kate over at Centsational Girl who had a lovely idea for a Link party showing the spaces of wonderful bloggers all over Blogland.
So this is where I blog, it's your standard home office complete with printer and all the other necessities for "officey" type activities. It's very homey and comfortable albeit and little messy at times. I also have a little craft corner to the right. I'm also trying to find a cuter desk to re-finish for the computer.

However, I sort of wish we had wireless so I could blog here instead.

So there you have it, my little space where I type up my posts to share with all you lovely people!

If you have a blog come on over and join us and show off your space!

Little girl's desk

I finally finished the custom desk that I've been working on for the past week. I really love the way it turned out. It was my first time doing a custom piece for a client, and I loved working with her to get the results she wanted. This desk was chosen for her two sweet little girls, and I worked with their bedroom decor to make it fit in perfectly.
Here is the before

She wanted it to be white, and distressed to match all the other pieces in the room.
After

The walls in the room are a greenish/yellow color, so it's reflecting off the top and makes it look yellow, but it's white. I painted the pulls to match the walls and

lined the drawers with the same fabric from the girls bedding and curtains

Here they are checking out their new desk! I think they like it :)

Linking this post to~
http://craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/2010/08/motivate-me-monday-33.html
http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/2010/08/decorative-spheres.html
http://cottageinstincts.blogspot.com/2010/08/make-it-4-monday_29.html
http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/2010/08/craft-o-maniac-monday-link-party_30.html
http://thegirlcreative.blogspot.com/2010/08/q-and-timeandjust-something-i-whipped.html
http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/2010/08/twice-owned-tuesday-and-queen-awards.html

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2010/08/nifty-thrifty-tuesdays-no27.html

http://craftedition.blogspot.com/2010/08/take-look-tuesday-and-dresses.html
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/2010/08/creative-share-blog-hop_31.html
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/2010/08/35th-power-of-paint-party-mercury-glass.html

Dark wood

Some pieces of furniture are meant to stay just the way they were made. Even though I love to paint them, there are a few pieces I own that I may never paint. I say may, because you never know. But I love these as they are, dark wood and all.

Like this piece, it had been hiding away amidst other stuff in my in-laws loft for years and when my husband and I got married they offered it to us. I'm not sure how old it is, but I'd guess it's over 80 years at least. I know that if I painted it, I would regret it in the years to come.

This is another piece I love. I got it off Craigslist for my daughters room before she was born. It's in near perfect condition, all original hardware, solid mahogany and only $100!

I could never bring myself to paint this one.

And then there's this one, which resides in our dining room.

I searched for a long time for a sweet China cabinet and I finally found one in an antique store in small town Georgia.

So if you have a nice piece, that is 100% solid, dark wood and hardly a dent in it, I urge you not to paint. I believe only old, dingy pieces require new life. But these I have are meant to last a lifetime as they are.

Please leave a comment and tell me what your thoughts are!

Yum, Chicken Pot Pie

Lately I've been making winter type meals, but I can't help it they are so good! This Chicken Pot Pie is one of the best I've ever had. Everyone I've ever made it for says the same. Although you don't have to make your own pie crust for it to be good, but it sure does help.
Here is the recipe for the dough/ pie crust~

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half, and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Roll out dough on a floured counter. Don't over work it. Use as directed in pie recipe.

Chicken Pot Pie
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Boil for 15 minutes in water. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
It may sound like a lot, but really it's pretty easy when you use prepared pie crusts.

*Source Allrecipes.com

By the way, here is what I'm currently working on for a client~Stay tuned for the after pics!

New home for my dresser

I never mentioned that I sold this dresser a few weeks ago. I had posted it on craigslist and the lovely Sarah over at The Ugly Duckling House who just happens to live one street away, finds my ad and ventured over to buy my dresser. How weird is that?
She is also so sweet to feature this story and my dresser over at her blog. So please go on over and check it out!
Here are some photos of my(her) piece in her house.

I just love it when a client sends me pics of a piece I did set up in their own home. Thanks Sarah!

Weekend finds

Another estate sale under my belt, and more treasures were found. This time I had a sidekick with me, my cousin tagged along in search for, well anything that caught her eye. She was unable to find anything she wanted but I sure found something! This awesome mirror, for only $5!! I had been looking for something to put here on my china cabinet in my dining room and I think it looks perfect.

It was in the basement of the first house we went to, just sitting there being passed by everyone. It didn't have a price on it, so I figured "why, not offer $5 and see if they accept." Sure enough they did!
It's a very heavy and solid mirror. There is some cracking of the frame, but who cares! Isn't she a beaut!
We also stopped by a little shop where I found this sweet little rattan piece for only $45.

I can't wait to fix up the porch with this and some of my other furniture.

I will show you once I get some cute cushions or pillows for it.

Just in case you are wondering these items not for sale :)

Linking to

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/weekly-treasures/

http://cottageinstincts.blogspot.com/2010/08/make-it-4-monday_22.html

The Beastly Piece

Okay, so I think I'm ready to revisit the antique dresser. This was one of the most difficult pieces I have ever refinished. It was very large and very beat up. I had never worked with a piece that had peeling veneer, so I was unsure of what to do with it. Should I replace it, pry it off or patch it with some wood putty? Turns out I did two of the above. Some parts were too far gone to try and repair, so they required complete removal, other places I fixed with wood filler. Prying off old veneer sounds like it'd be relatively easy, but I was wrong. It took lots of elbow grease, a hammer and a blade to get that stuff off. I had to chisel away slowly in order to get it off in one piece, otherwise it would split and that was not good.
So I ended up prying off several pieces on the drawers and on the inner side.

Once I got all that off, then it was time to sand. That all went well, then the primer went on. I allowed that to dry and then mixed up my concoction of paint. I used a light gray called Woodlawn colonial gray and mixed it with a white I had on hand until I achieved the pale gray I was looking for. I gave it two coats. I then applied an antique glaze to give it a worn look. After it fully dried I gave it a coat of clear semi gloss poly acrylic.

I debated over what hardware to use, I searched high and low for something that would do this piece justice. But in the end found nothing in my price range, so I decided to try and spray paint the old ones.

They looked pretty, so I decided to go with it.

Once it was time to put the handles back on, it got a little tricky. If you look closely, you can see there was a plastic part on the handle that I took off. That made it a little more difficult because the screws didn't line up the same. Let's just say I wanted to throw my screwdriver in the woods and never look back. But finally I made it work.

Then it was time for the doors to go back on. I made the mistake of not marking where each screw and hinge was to return. So it took me several attempts to get them back on right. Because when they don't line up correctly the doors won't close.

Ugggghh! This was the most frustrating part, but eventually I got it right. So from now on I will be taking note of each and every screw and hinge I ever take off in the future. Let that be a lesson to you.

So even though I've had my time with this thing, I still love it dearly. It was a great learning experience overall. Please see the after here.

Side tables before/after

As promised here are the side tables I've been working on for the past week. These were very nice tables, solid wood, no defects of any kind. It's so much easier to work with a piece that requires little improvements.I purchased these tables from an estate sale a while back. They had great structure and elegant details.

Before

I sanded the tops down really well, and applied a dark walnut stain. I didn't sand the rest of the piece, just used oil based primer. I painted it a mix of a pale green, gray and white.
After

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the eye candy, because everyone loves a good before /after!

New Camera! ...And a recipe

Last night I finally got a new camera! Lately I have been borrowing my mom's Nikon D90, which is a fantastic camera but waaaaay out of my price range. So after lots of research and talking to people about what camera they like, I decided to go with the Nikon D60, which I got a pretty good deal on since they have been replaced with the Nikon3000. So I have been playing around with it this morning, but need to fully understand the manual and how to use it before I start posting it's pics. So I leave you with one of my favorite recipes... Also my dresser is featured at House of Grace today!

Turkey and Roasted Red Pepper Meat Loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
kosher salt and pepper
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups mixed greens

Directions

Heat oven to 400° F.
Combine the turkey, onion, bread crumbs, egg, Parmesan, 2 tablespoons of the mustard, the parsley, red peppers, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Shape the meat into an 8-inch loaf and place in a baking dish. (See Tip, below.)
Bake until no trace of pink remains (internal temperature should be 165° F), about 45 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.
Whisk together the remaining mustard, the vinegar, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl.
Divide the greens among individual plates and drizzle the vinaigrette over the top. Serve with the sliced meat loaf.

I hope some of you really make this, because it really is good!

Mountain Trip

This past weekend my husband and I went on a camping trip with a large group up in the foothills of the Appalachians. The site was located just outside Asheville NC in a small little town nestled in the hills. This place was unbelievably beautiful. The weather was great and the land we stayed on was perfect. It was owned by a sweet lady that had lived there for over 30 years and took great pride in her property. She had previously been a farmer, but now primarily caters to private groups. The house was over two hundred years old and she had fixed it up and made it a lovely home.

I loved the front porch, with the overgrown ferns. You could hear the little stream that ran next to the house while you relaxed on the rocking chairs. Several animals also lived on the land. She had a few dogs, couple of cats, horses, a pony and a donkey. They were all super friendly and happy as could be living in this amazing slice of heaven.

There was a garden where she was growing corn, tomatoes, and squash. Along with several species of flowers.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend as well!

I heart Estate Sales

Last weekend I was able to go to an estate sale sans kiddo. My hubby stayed with our angel as I rummaged through some old lady's junk. But it turned out it wasn't junk at all. It was a pretty cute house albeit infested with mold, but cute nonetheless. I was able to score some great stuff, and since I went the last day everything was half off!
Here are some cute bedside tables~ I like how they are both different.

Here is a sweet little high chair I also discovered in the mold ridden basement. I'm not kidding you, this basement was a health hazard. I was only down there for a total of 5 minutes and I started to feel the mold creeping it's way into my lungs.

And also these great lanterns found in the shed out back.

Not sure if they work, but I'll probably just clean them up and use them as decoration.

Just FYI, there is a great website out there called Estatesales.net where you can put in your zip code and it will email you when an estate sale is in your area.
Tell me your funny estate sale story- did you go into a smelly house, or the house of a hoarder? I'd like to know!

Vegetarian Lasagna

Once again another recipe I got from Real Simple, their magazine may be getting repetitive but I always seem to score a new recipe or two. Lasagna is one of my favorite meals. It is so rich and filling. It's the perfect summertime treat. Wait, I mean wintertime. Regardless it tastes good all year round. I had a dinner party not too long ago where I made this tasty, heavenly dream.

Broccoli and Three- Cheese Lasagna

Ingredients

1 15-ounce container ricotta (about 1 3/4 cups)
1 pound frozen broccoli florets—thawed, patted dry, and chopped
2 1/4 cups grated mozzarella (9 ounces)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
kosher salt and black pepper
1 16-ounce jar marinara sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 no-boil lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the foil
4 cups mixed greens
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

Heat oven to 400º F. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, broccoli, 2 cups of the mozzarella, ¼ cup of the Parmesan,½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. In a small bowl, combine the marinara sauce and cream.
Spoon a thin layer of the sauce into the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. Top with 2 noodles, a quarter of the remaining sauce, and a third of the broccoli mixture; repeat twice. Top with the remaining 2 noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of mozzarella and ¼ cup of Parmesan.
Cover tightly with an oiled piece of foil and bake until the noodles are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until the top is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
Toss the greens with the olive oil, lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the lasagna

Big Reveal!

The reason I'm making such a big deal out of this one is because it has been a beast of a piece. This has taken me a week to finish, longer than any piece of furniture I've ever worked with. Probably because it was the biggest and most damaged. I worked many hot, sweat filled days on this and I'm very proud of the way it turned out. First of all, it had a lot of veneer on it that had started to peel and was difficult to get off.
Exhibit A~ Before It also had a good bit of dings and scratches. Exhibit B~

Exhibit C~The top was also a little worse for wear.

But nothing a little sand paper and elbow grease couldn't fix!
Are you ready? First another before~

Here she is in all her glory~
AFTER

I decided to go with the original hardware, but obviously I changed the color a bit.

I used a mix of oops paint, a light gray mixed with a bright white.
Then I used an antique glaze and heavily distressed it. I spray painted the handles Heirloom White by Rustoleum.

And one more, just because she's cute~

I absolutely LOVE it! Thanks for stopping by, have a great day :)
PS- I'm sorry there is not a more detailed "how to" on the piece, it was a very difficult process and I'm not sure I'm ready to relive it yet. I'm linking this post to
http://thegirlcreative.blogspot.com// http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2010/08/show-andtell.html
http://www.luckystarlane.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/2010/08/32nd-power-of-paint-party.html
http://www.bargainshoppingparadise.com/
http://meandmybucket.blogspot.com/2010/08/show-us-what-youre-workin-with-23.html
http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2010/08/under-100-linky-party_11.html
http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/2010/08/book-smarts.html
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/08/strut-your-stuff-with-creation-corner.html
http://lifeaslori.blogspot.com/2010/08/get-your-craft-on-thursday_11.html
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2010/08/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link.html
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/2010/08/feature-yourself-friday_12.html
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2010/08/sns-44-brings-you-your-most-favorite.html