Archive for Home & Garden

Scottish Oatcakes

Ok so it all started when I was reading a book set in mid evil England, and the character mentioned oat cakes with honey, and I thought to myself “I must have these!” Then I thought more on it and realized they would make a great breakfast item to keep in the house.

So I scoured the internet and came up with about 50 variety of oat cakes – sigh – damn you internet why can’t anything be easy. And they all ranged from a pancake consistency to a cracker consistency – neither of which I wanted. I wanted a cookie/shortbread consistency.

So I made up my own – let’s now say there are 51 varieties to oatcakes on the internet.

Crumble in your yogurt, eat them as cookies, have them before you go workout – very versatile little snacks – very low in sugar and high in fiber.  Also I make some of them somewhat bite sized to keep as quick pick me ups.

Be My Guest

If you’ll remember – this room used to look like it was sponsored by Tang…and a shelving company.

Now it’s my lovely serene and calm office / guest bedroom. No pictures of the office side because photos of the back of monitors and cords make me break out into hives – plus that side of the room is minus many decorations as of right now.

I was inspired by this photo

And this was the result – with my own flare added – you may recognize that chair from my post on things you should buy on CraigsList so I won’t – well I did anyway – dammit!

Painting Bath Cabinets Almost Drama Proof

I found a great “recipe” to paint my bathroom cabinets. The current cabinets were scuffed, worn, dated and ugly.

They are now sleek, pretty and contemporary.


1. Clean the cabinets with a deglosser/sander – Klean Strip is a great brand, you can only find it at Home Depot.

2. Let the deglosser dry, only takes about an hour.

3. Apply a latex primer – or all purpose primer with a good quality brush – the site recommended 2 1/2″ but if you have any kind of raised decorative face to your doors you may want to use a 2″ – Purdy are awesome brushes and worth every cent!!

Have then tint the primer dark – very necessary.

4. Let the primer dry overnight. Then apply your OIL based paint with a Purdy 2″ brush that is made for all paints or oil based paint.

Paint with the grain of the wood.

You should only need a quart of paint. I painted this vanity and used less than 1/4 of the can!

Soak your brushes in a can of brush cleaner, since it’s oil based this is the only way you’re getting them clean. Rinse with cold water.

Good luck

Tips provided by Addicted2Decorating.com

Decoration Inspiration

As I venture forth decorating and updating my home I realize it may be fun to show off a little of what inspires me as I plan rooms because really 90% starts in my head and then I tend to stumble upon a finished product on the internet etc. It can be a little exhausting to have a complete idea in your head and then have to go search for the items out in the real world to make that idea come true, especially when like me you’re on a budget or just refuse to pay full price.

To get a room the way I want it takes a lot of scouring Craigslist, vintage stores, online stores, sales, estate sales and consignment sales. Out of all of these sources I have advice and opinions on each which I’ll formulate on another day.

But here are some images that show you what inspires me, from wall color to furniture to bedding to art work. Of course there are a lot of cool things out there that I love and you can see those here – but these are all images that actually will be reflected in my home one way or another.

 

above photo courtesy of bradybunchremodel.com

Sources include:

ApartmentTherapy.com
BradyBunchRemodel.com – great for mid century modern lovers
Etsy art
Dwell Studios

Austin Craigslist Hotties

The hotties being awesome furniture that is!

Buy these items so I won’t be tempted to

this chair would be a great project – picture a fabulous contemporary pattern with the traditional style and bam!

Buying the house was the easy part

Being a realtor and buying a house was really interesting. I definitely see where some of my clients anxiety comes from, they are excited and hopeful and that alone makes them afraid because what if? At the same time I see where some people pass up awesome deals because they get really caught up in the small things, like.

-floor
-paint
-kitchen cabinets
-ceilings
-etc

When I found my house I fell in love with the layout, utilization of space, potential and location within the neighborhood. All the practical not fun stuff ya know?

Because let’s be honest, you CAN CHANGE FLOORS AND PAINT, not so easy to change a floor plan or where a house is in the area. I have to remind my clients of this kind of stuff all the time. It’s like finding the man of your dreams and he’s wearing a Cosby sweater – loose the sweater, done deal!

So as predicted I found and had my house under contract in less than a week, only looked at houses for  a week. Negotiated it in a day and closed a week early – yeah my lender rocks by the way – local loan officers all the way!!

A lot of things needed to change about the house – but getting a great deal on the home means I can now afford to change all the 1980′s horror features like…

popcorn ceilings and country baby blue paint

ugly bathrooms

saloon doors

retina burning and cave dwelling bedrooms

but check out this kitchen and yard!


yeah, you know some before and after pics are coming, cause I’m a sucker for that kinda stuff.