The Nifty Foodie's Life

So, our house is about 25 years old. When we moved in, there were a lot of things reminiscent of the 80s. Wood looking laminate floors, really old closet doors and well, in our bathrooms, super ugly pink formica countertops.

It was always something we wanted to change, but we knew it would be a fairly large financial change. We originally thought to do granite, but the quotes to do such small amount of work were just terribly nauseating. At that point, we knew we wanted to DIY, but heck, what a huge project to take on!

We actually thought about using a pre-cut piece of formica that looked like faux granite. However, the measurements were for kitchen counters…2 inches longer than needed to go over our cabinets.

So, we decided on tile. This was the most fun part for me. I love choosing things like this for our house, and after a couple of trips to Lowes and Home Depot, we ended up choosing this for our bathroom.

This ended up being quite a huge undertaking for us (mainly the hubs). We chose a porcelain tile, which is harder to cut than ceramic. The hubs is the power tool genius of the house, and worked HOURS on cutting this tile. He’s awesome.

Here’s how things looked during demolition. That stuff was glued on WELL! Eesh!

Like I said UGLY pink formica.

The hubs really made these counters happen. Not much credit for me, except I did occasionally vacuum up tile pieces and dust, and helped him position tiles as needed. Please don’t flame me…our guest bathroom is fairly small, as is the countertop. Two people in there at once ALL THE TIME is a crowd.

The cost of this countertop makeover? Just over $300, including tools that we’re going to use for the master bath redo as well.

OK, I’ll stop rambling and just show you the after.

Isn’t it AMAZING? We’re going to eventually end up doing the master bath in the same tile too. Can’t wait…I’ll be able to help much more this time around too. 

What house projects are you working on?

This weekend, my dog got jealous. Mad jealous. Something was taking up her precious play space, and well, she wasn’t going to have that happen! So, she stared it down, I guess hoping that her eyes would turn into lasers or something and burn this new intrusion into dust.

I bought a table this weekend on Craigslist. Not just any table, but a sewing table. I do already own this table, but it doesn’t look much like furniture, and I thought that a new table in the guest/craft room would look much more welcoming than my current table.

As you can see, it’s a little rough looking, and it’s totally sitting on Millie’s play rug as we work on it. She’s an angry pup.

Hubs went to a local hardware store and bought an orbital sander. Look at the gorgeous wood that was hiding underneath!

Now, the dilemma. Originally, I was inspired by Heather Bailey’s studio furniture and thought I could paint this a gorgeous turquoise color and distress it slightly to give it an antiqued look. However, the hubs mentioned that her furniture that had a lot of detail that made the paint job look awesome. Also, now seeing this wood underneath, I want to stain it (a la Young House Love).

Now, the problem is, the table-top folds out revealing a drawer for the sewing machine to sit in, but that drawer is veneer, not solid wood. We’re sure it’s plastic veneer, so you can’t sand that down to reveal bare wood, meaning it can’t be stained, but possibly painted. I’m thinking of staining the wood that you can see, and when you fold out the table, it reveals a fun painted color (where the veneer is)? What do you think I should do? I really need help/advice on this.

My first quilt has been quite a great experience. I learned a lot about sewing straight lines and really feel proud that it all started with this. I now have a fun blanket that will keep me warm, and I’ll cherish it even more since it all started from a few yards of Hobby Lobby fabric. Amazing, no?

This quilt is a tied quilt with some funky green yarn that I had in my knitting stash. Yeah, I have a stash of yarn too…eep!

I found this to be an excellent quilt for a beginner and it gave me much confidence to try this again! I can’t recommend this book enough to people. I’ve learned the most from this book, as well as sewing blogs.

Without further ado, here is the quilt. Isn’t it just so much fun? It’s now hanging over a loveseat in our living room until I can figure out a permanent place for it.

Oh, and another thing? I finally hung up our fleur de lis from the painting class we took last week. Hubs is embarrassed of his painting, but hey, I think they look great in our room!

By the way, feel free to leave lots of comments with painting love for the hubs. He thinks his painting is terrible…he needs a boost.

My husband and I have been cleaning maniacs for the past week and a half. We tackled clutter, dog hair, dust bunnies…you name it. It was really gross how much dust can accumulate in a month. Why the sudden urge? Well, we decided to host a party for our families on Saturday!

Besides cleaning, I had a little sewing to do as well, because I’m nuts like that.

I’m sure you remember when I purchased these pretty fabrics.

I was definitely going to make bunting with them because I have a sore spot for bunting lately. Plus, how easy are little triangles? I also was planning to make napkins, but realized that my guests probably wouldn’t care and Party City napkins would work just as well.

I was trying to think of other ways to incorporate the fabrics into the table decor. I originally thought a long table runner would be nice, but I quickly imagined our puppy pulling the runner to the ground and playing with it like a new toy. So, I shortened it, incorporating most of the fabrics in there, and it served as part of the centerpiece.

You can tell it’s not ironed…funny story. The centerpiece fabric  has fusible fleece on the inside, and not thinking, I placed the iron on the fusible fleece as I was assembling the top, fleece and bottom together. There is heck of a LOT of residue on that iron now from that mistake, and I can’t use it on fabric until I get it off. I hope this stuff does the trick.

Oh, and here is the bunting. This was after the guests left and my feet were basically jello from standing up for hours, prepping, cooking, etc. Right after this picture, I basically glued my head to the  pillow and I was out until hubs woke me up.

I will say the work was worth it, and the party was an awesome success! I’m still getting the hang of hosting large parties, and I was so glad that everyone loved the food! If you want to see food-wise how it went down, check out this post on the ol’ food blog!

How was your weekend?

I’ve been in such a funk lately, but don’t judge me too harshly. I’m living in the Louisiana Summer right now. The afternoons went from pleasantly breezy to horribly disgusting. It’s to the point where my car air conditioner JUST balances out the searing heat, but I never feel cold in my car anymore.

Most of the time, I can’t help to think of all the negatives that summer brings. It takes a good awakening to realize that things are, in fact, amazing.

Millie had a 3 inch long coat of fur a week ago (she’s been groomed since). It’s the border collie in the Heinz 57 that she is. She decided to look up at me and just smile in the middle of the summer heat. Sure, she’s probably hot as hell, but she’s still amazingly happy. I love her for that. I need to think like her.

So, I thought of the positives of summer. LSU is out, so traffic is substantially less. The tomatoes are ripening and peppers are finally growing. Snowball stands are open (even though I’m on diet, I will occasionally splurge on my wedding cake snowball). And also, summer parties.

I’m very excited to be having my family over next weekend. We’re throwing a huge party, and I’m going all Hostess with the Mostess with party colors/theme. I know it won’t be as pretty as her parties, but I’m hoping it will impress.

I even found inspiration at Hobby Lobby today. It’s not quite the 4th of July yet, but I can’t help but do some red and (aqua) blue.

Yes, I’m sure you’ve been seeing that color combination everywhere lately. Go ahead, call me a copycat, because I’m going with that color palette.

I love hosting parties with the hubs, and seeing everyone have a great time. Parties also make me super excited about my food blog. I enjoy it when I have quite a few fun recipes to blog about.

So, it’s time for me to get out of this funk. I need to remember that there are some positives to think about and enjoy in this hot, gloomy Summer. However, if I ever forget, I know I’ll have this face to help me remember.

What are some positives that your summer is bringing?