5 Months of work will get you nowhere

I went back to work full time 5 months ago and I've had no time to do projects or experiment beyond the basics. It was more necessity than desire that drove me so here I am, working all the time, not having any fun. I've managed a few quick crafty things and some new foods but I'm really looking forward to working on the house again. I have a feeling this is going to be a long term work in progress.
I recently purchased the marble tile that will make my bathroom vanities. I'd been swooning over it for several years but at $10 a square foot, it was more than I wanted to spend when I could do so many other things for less. I tiled my kitchen counters at our Maine house and wanted oh so much to use that tile but I am so so glad I didn't. 7 months later, we decided to chuck it all and move the Vegas. The new counters and other work I did in the kitchen helped to sell the house in a really tough market but we still took a beating on the final price. Not to mention that I'd feel even worse about leaving it behind. Home Depot just dropped the price on the Emperador Cafe marble to $3 a square foot. I had to really stare at the price tag a long time before the reality hit me how drastically cheap it would be for me to buy what I needed for the two bathrooms. I spent $75 and will have plenty left over for oopses.
It's actually turning out to be a good thing that I don't have time to work on the house. The time has allowed me to really think through what I want to do to get the highest function out of our living space and end up with something beautiful as well. I had a million ideas, as usual, but I've paired them down to exactly what I want to accomplish. I've even managed to decide on the kitchen plan. That was the toughest one because my hubby and I disagreed on the look, I couldn't settle on anything and I needed to do it right the first time because we pretty much live in the kitchen.
So the bathrooms will be next when I have time, the kitchen will come after that and our outdoor kitchen will be last.
Here is a rundown of the mini adventures we've been on: We tried our hand at smoking tri tip for the first time and it's came out perfect. And amazing. I started making my own spinach hummus and rosemary crackers for snacks at work. Recipes originally from Pinterest but the hummus came out better with my own tweaks. I also had to change up the cracker recipe to suit my taste buds. Nothing major, just little secret ingredients that make it especially yummy.
I made this

with a heavy candle holder, some pretty embossed sheer fabric and modpodge.
The most exciting thing of all was going back to Maine for 5 days to attend my son's wedding and to see my first grandchild for the very first time. I got to spend precious little time with family but it was all worth it. I wish I had time off and money to go visit every six months but alas, that is not my life. I will hopefully get back there sometime early spring for another visit, longer maybe.
So that's the rather sad story of my existence at this point in my life. Not a lot going on to share but I will try to share what I manager to squeeze in.

Home made chewy granola bars!

So this was a fun Pinterest project. I had repinned a recipe some time ago and it popped into my head today at the grocery store. I used the basic quantities in her recipe but mixed it up for something that would suit my tastes better. You always start out with 3 cups of your base dry ingredient. In this case, I used quick oats. You can use differing ratios of oats with your favorite cereal. If you really like corn pops, use all corn pops. If you want variety in texture, half oats and half cereal. Whatever combination appeals to you will work. I am thinking maybe Life cereal would be good too. To your 3 cups of whatever, you add, well, whatever you like. I went nuts, literally. I used a handful each of sliced almonds, chopped pecans and dry roasted sunflower seeds. Then I added a generous handful of chopped Craisins and about the same amount of chopped dates because I love that combination. Any soft dried fruit will be fine. You can add coconut flakes, chocolate chips (I did ;), gummy bears!, just let your imagination run wild. The combinations are endless! So once you dump all your dry stuff in a big bowl, mix it together and set aside until you have your binder cooked.
The binder is a syrup that holds all these delicious bits together. If you really went hog wild, increase the amounts of binder ingredients so your chewy granola bars will be bars and not chunks. Unless of course you like chunks. Who am I to say? So you put 1/4 cup butter (NOT margarine) in a medium sauce pan. Add 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, any pure natural syrup. I did one batch with the basic honey, butter and brown sugar. I did a second batch using agave nectar. You will bring the mix to a low boil and it will start to foam. If you've made fudge, you are familiar with this. Let it boil and be foaming for two minutes then remove from heat, add a teaspoon of vanilla and stir well. In the batch that I made with agave nectar, I added a 1/3 cup of natural peanut butter after I removed it from the heat, then added the vanilla. You can be really creative with what you use in the syrup as well. That's what makes this fun. You don't need to let it cool but you do need to stabilize your bowl with a towel as you will be stirring everything together as you drizzle the syrup over you dry ingredients. Go slow. Do NOT dump the whole pot into the bowl and expect it to disperse evenly because the cereal and oats will start to absorb it immediately and it won't go well from there on out. So you slowly drizzle your hot syrup over your dry stuff, stirring to make sure everything gets a good coating. Just a heads up: don't add your chocolate chips now nor anything else that can melt from the intense heat. Sprinkle them over the mix after you've panned it and press them in . That leads me to the next step. You can choose your pan based on how thick you want your bars. It's all preference. I like mine just about the thickness of the store bought ones so I used my 9"x11" pan. Dump your mixture into the pan, no greasing needed, and firmly press everything evenly into the bottom of the pan. Let it set for 20-30 minutes then turn out, cut and store in an air tight container. You can wrap each one individually if your packing them to go or giving them as a gift. These came out so incredibly delicious.
I had a really hectic week being my first back to work. My schedule was horribly all over the place. I would have love, love, loved something that I could grab quick and eat during my drive into the city. Alas, I went hungry if I didn't have enough time to make something. I'm not much for mornings so I sit around with my coffee too long, take too long on my hair, makeup and dressing, then end up running behind. I much prefer to wake up on my own and be lazy in the morning for a couple hours. I don't mind late nights at all. With hubby's schedule, we are up 'til 1 or 2 in the morning most nights. That seems to suit me well.
So have fun whipping up different combinations of these treats. You can even add things like chia, flax or wheat germ powder to kick up the nutrition. You can keep your syrup really simple and be careful with what you add for dry ingredients to make a lower fat, low sugar alternative. They were fun and quick to make and I am enjoying one right now :)

The dry ingredients...

The boil...

The finished bars!

As you can see, I had to taste asap to make sure they weren't icky.

Have you ever wondered...

I know I'm not alone in this. I log onto Pinterest and start browsing random categories only to find these pins that tout magic callous removal using Listerine and shaving cream,  make your own Mod Podge with Elmers Glue, miracle stain remover, home made dishwasher detergent, etc. As I'm reading, I'm thinking "What kind of an idle, warped mind would dream this up and apply it to that?" I know there are people out there with way too much time on their hands who can't seem to fill it with something "productive". I put that in quotes for the simple reason that productivity is subjective, depending on who you talk to. And you know I have to try everything that sounds like it might work, if there's even the minutest amount of logic to it. 90% of the time, it doesn't work as stated but I love to go back and read the repins where people say they did it and it was AMAZING! I haven't figured out if there are multiple dimensions of reality in existence but I'm sure they are full of crap.
Here is my first case in point: Smear shaving cream (no one ever says what kind, brand, version for obvious reasons) all over your feet then soak two cloths in a 50/50 mix of Listerine and hot water and wrap your feet for 30 minutes. When you take the cloths off, you are supposed to be able to simply rub all the callouses off. There is even a word of caution on one pin that says if you follow this procedure more than once a week, it will leave you feet sore and raw. LOL! Wouldn't it actually have to do something tangible first? This is my I had to try it. The first reason is that shaving cream has skin softening properties regardless of the brand you choose. So does chicken gravy but I wouldn't soak my feet in it. Anything semi-liquid will "soften the skin" because it's wet. Anyway, reason number 2 is that podiatrists have recommended Listerine for foot odor problems for decades. It's antibacterial ingredients reduce the problems that cause stinky feet in the first place. My result was, as I'm sure you already know, minimal change. There are two things that did end up being a benefit though: the callouses were deeply softened so I got out my PedEgg and scraped off what I could remove. Mind you, again, a 30 minute soak in anything, chicken gravy included, would provide the same benefit. The other benefit was incredibly cool and minty smelling feet which I thoroughly enjoyed for a full day. I was having a bit of an odor problem from wearing actual shoes after 6 months of flip flops almost daily. Odor issue solved!
So last winter, I was rummaging through clothes that I haven't worn to decide what to toss, donate or get out and wear when I came across several white or light shirts that had armpit stains from wearing deodorant.  I hadn't been wearing them because I couldn't get the stains out. So back to Pinterest I went in search of a recipe to remove the stains and reclaim the clothing. I tried several. None of them worked. Borax, washing soda and peroxide paste did nothing. Overnight pretreatment with Dawn dishwashing liquid and peroxide did nothing. Overnight soak in dishwasher powdered detergent, Dawn and peroxide did nothing. Overnight soak in hot water and bleach made the fabric fragile and I ended up throwing the items out. Either I have armpit stains of steel or the concoctions just don't work. I am inclined to go with the latter.
So then there is the home made Mod Podge using Elmer's Glue and water. I had a seriously funny feeling that this would be sticky when dry and not protect the finish at all and I wasn't wrong. I don't recommend you do this on anything of importance. Period. I also tried the home made alcohol inks which didn't work on anything that I would do but I tried it because I wanted to try doing alcohol ink stained glass. I just broke down and bought the damn commercial alcohol in which actually did work as expected. Making your own with Rit dye and 91% isopropyl alcohol ends up being expensive unless you already have multiple colors of dye just laying around. For what it cost me, I could have bought the mega selection of the real deal. And I wouldn't have wasted money on dyes that I will never use. Next time I will skip the stain removal pins and go straight for the dye to cover the stains. Yep, you guessed it. This one peeved me a little because I fell for it believing the testimonials that stated this is exactly the same as the commercial product. Sometimes people just suck. And they already know it. They have no real life friends so they resort to duping complete strangers online.
Now the dishwasher detergent was a believable idea.  I make my own laundry detergent and love it. I use the original Dawn blue dishwasher detergent for all kinds of household "magic" and it doesn't let me down ever. I use it to pretreat fresh stains, I mix it with vinegar to clean my shower, bathtub and bathroom sinks, it cleans my jewelry to a sparkling shine when I add a few drops to super hot water and, of course, it cleans my dishes, pots and pans beautifully. I use baking soda, vinegar, borax and washing soda for lots of things too so when I read the ingredients, I thought I had another inexpensive winner. Wrong again. It didn't clean my dishes, smelled terrible when my dishwasher was running and took many, many cycles to eliminate from my brand new dishwasher. On top of that, I now have spots on the stainless steel interior that feel like pits in the finish. They should at least warn you that if you have a stainless steel interior, don't use this.
Now for my favorite Pinterest home made, home remedy, super miracle solution. Using straight peroxide as a mouth wash...If you go to the dentist regularly, talk to your hygenist about it. Have that conversation. She/he won't laugh at you but they will caution you about a few things. I've used baking soda and peroxide to brush my teeth a couple times a week for many years. No harm, no foul. The pin stated clearly that using straight peroxide twice a day as a rinse was a "secret that dentists don't want you to know about". Let me rearrange that quote for you so it's a little closer to what your dentist might want you to know, not to mention how grateful you will be to know this. The person who started this pin with the first post was a malicious liar. The quote should read "The secret that you won't want to admit to your dentist". Hydrogen peroxide reacts with oxygen, causes your taste buds to swell up and turn black. When I say black, I mean coal black. It's a condition known as black tongue and it's gross, destroys your ability to taste anything, looks horrible and doesn't just go away when you stop using peroxide as a rinse. It does nothing to whiten your teeth, as promised. It simply doesn't stay on your teeth long enough to do anything. The whiteners dentist sell are in a gel form and the gel is held in place with mouth trays so it can do what it's intended to do. People who overuse or incorrectly use teeth whitening gels can suffer from black tongue.
Of all the bogus pins I've talked about in this post, there is only one that I'd recommend even though it doesn't work like the pin assures it will. The shaving cream/Listerine combination. The stipulation I will add is that you go to a discount store or dollar store to buy cheap shaving cream and knock off Listerine. You don't need a brand name to accomplish the same end result. Get out your PedEgg and foot file to finish the job. Or...you could just stop by your local Sally Beauty Supply and pick up a bottle of Be Natural callous eliminator. It's expensive but a bottle will last you an eternity. Don't be afraid of it. It's strong medicine but it will do the trick lickity split. Keep a pan of warm water handy to wash it off after it's set 3-5 minutes. A foot file with a good amount of grit will remove any callouses that have been treated. Remember to moisturize well twice a day if you use this. Here is the bottle you'll be looking for.

Happy pinning and happy Cinco d'Mayo!

Oops! The pics I forgot

I was just browsing through my blogs and realized I never ended up posting pics of the (mostly) finished kitchen and living room. My life is always a work in progress but, for now, this is what I've done.
This was my kitchen before:

And here is where I am to date in my kitchen projects:

I'm still enormously proud and pleased with my floor tile. We have had lots of visitors and each one has expressed total disbelief at my creativity and tiling prowess. None has yet to guess that the wood-look tile isn't wood until they bend down and tap it. My hubby shows these pics to people he works with and anyone else he encounters when he has the chance and they all ask the same thing: "Does she have a business card?" I have to laugh(and cry a little) because I'd love to do this for a living and I know I have the opportunity yet my body is unwilling to set aside the effects of time so that I can get on with living.
I am still not in like (much less love) with my cabinets but I have learned a valuable lesson with home projects. If money is scarce and ideas are too plentiful, it's always best to wait until the two converge before making a move. It's much harder and more expensive to undo your mistakes than to live with what you dislike.
My first order of business when I am back to work will be the purchase of tools. I have been eyeballing a nice table saw, a router and a miter saw. Hubby keeps telling me not to buy them because they will have limited use in the long run but how else can one complete projects of this magnitude? I borrowed a table saw for quite a while and I've decided that it's better to own it than to use someone else's. My love of building things will keep the saw dust on it for many years to come.
I think I never got around to posting the pics of my laminate floor too so here are a few. I do love the ease of care and the coolness underfoot of laminate.

I ended up changing out the base trim after I finished the floor to a style that I liked better than what was there before. During the install, I figured out why they used the corner caps instead of mitering the corners. The corners of the walls aren't square, they're rounded. That was something interesting that I hadn't noticed in any of the houses we'd rented and never saw in Maine. The only square corners are the inside ones. I installed the trim with miter cuts anyway and filled the gap with white caulk which I smoothed up to the wall in a gentle slope. It actually looks a lot better than those odd little quarter round pieces that were there.
I feel pretty confident that I have finally covered all my bases but I'm sure there will be something I missed. There always is.

Polish like a pro

As with every perfect finish, what really matters are the quality of the tools and techniques you use to get there. I've decided to depart briefly from my normal home project blogs and teach you the right way to polish your toe nails. Is there a right way and a wrong way? Well, yes and no. Yes if you want them to look professionally done and for the color to last without chipping. No if you could care less how you waste your time as long as there's color on those toe nails. So it's totally up to individual choice. I've spend more than 20 years of my life as a cosmetologist and nail technician. Who better to learn the tricks of the trade from?! So here is what you will need:

From left to right is top quality base and top coat, reusable medium grit nail file, stainless steel combo cuticle pusher/scraper, pure acetone, full jaw nippers, orange wood stick, soft foam acrylic nail buffer and, optionally, a speed dry product. Now to explain these items. I've used Seche Vite base and top coat for the entire 23 years I've been in the industry. Why? It performs. You will want sturdy tools that will last, are sharp and do the job they are supposed to do without a battle. Pure acetone is very inexpensive, has multiple uses and just works quicker and better than regular polish remover. If you are going to put a solvent on your body anywhere, why not have it work faster so it's on there for a shorter amount of time? I love Orly Spritz Dry because it really does speed drying, it moisturizes your skin and smells so good. As far as polish goes, it's pretty much your choice. Whatever you love works unless it's a really really cheap stuff. My three top brands are OPI, China Glaze and Orly, in that order, but I have other brands in my stash (bucket lol). The one brand I don't ever use or buy is Essie. It's because of the shape of the bottle and the length of the brush and no other reason. It's impossible to use even half the bottle before it's useless. The same goes for Nicole by OPI. On to the process.
The first thing I usually do before polishing is a pedicure because I have the worlds worst callouses and they need constant attention. At this point, I will also take a moment to apologize for my ugly old feet. They are just that: ugly and old. I have abused them for nearly half a century and they are not taking it well. Most feet don't. I don't buy commercial soaks because I've been down that road and just couldn't get the same benefits as with home made soaks. Being in a for profit business and self-employed, it mattered what I spent on supplies and whether they worked well or just meh. This is my simple soak recipe: In a large pan I reserve only for feet, I add 1/2 cup of borax, 1/2 cup finely ground oatmeal (coffee grinder works great!) and a quick squirt of Castille liquid soap in lavender to rather hot water. I usually soak for 15 to 20 minutes then go to work grating and filing off the icky stuff. I won't bore you with the details other than to say, once I'm finished, I slather on an inexpensive cuticle remover I get at +Sally Beauty Supply  and let it set for a few minutes. I use my ss pusher to gently slide back the cuticle and the scraper side for stubborn dead skin that sticks to the nail plate. After I finish all 9 toes (yep, missing one), I use my nippers to carefully cut away any dead skin that is left. Never nip any life tissue! I'm sure I don't need to tell you that as you will figure it out if you do. Messy. I dry off my feet and apply a good lotion like +Gold Bond. After wiping the excess lotion off my toe nails, I use the same buffer I have for smoothing my acrylic nails to lightly smooth the nails. Don't go crazy with this because you don't want to shine them, you just want to remove the high ridges and take down the natural shine a little. Your nails should be pretty dry now so it's safe to clip and file them. It doesn't work well on soggy nails. Remember to file square and only smooth sharp corners. It makes for a stronger nail and prevents ingrown toenails. Now you can dampen a cotton pad with pure acetone and wipe each nail to remove any dust and oily residue because you are ready for the main event. Polish!
Start with a single, smooth coat of +seche vite clear base. Even though it's clear, you still want to keep it off the skin the same as you would with color and your top coat. The logic holds true that, not only does it get dry, white and crispy when it's left on the skin but it prevents a good seal between your nail, base, color and top coat. This is where the orange wood cuticle stick comes in handy. Pour a little acetone in the bottle's cap, dip the stick in and just wipe away any polish from the skin. It works like a wick to give you a clean application. Once you've base coated all 10 nails (9 in my case), apply your color in a smooth, fairly thin coat. Here's a trick: don't dip your brush wand back into the bottle all the way. You want a ball of polish on the end. The idea is to get a smooth finish while getting complete nail coverage. Your first coat should achieve this. You can wiggle the brush up to the cuticle nice and close, don't forget those corners (if you have them). Don't fret over the first coat much, that's what the second one is for. Start applying your second coat on the first nail you polished without waiting in between for setting up. You want this coat to be thicker and you want enough polish on the brush so that the brush doesn't come in contact with the previous coat. That's what causes brush marks, pulls and uneven finishes. Go straight to your top coat and apply a thick coat on each nail. You don't want it flooding the cuticle but you do want it close enough to seal the color in. Run the top coat across the free edge of the nail first, then place a healthy dab in the center of the nail, gliding it toward the edge. With your big toe, one dip isn't going to do it so place the center line, redip for each side working quickly before it sets up. After the last nail is top coated, spritz with speed dry and relax. This is your excuse to do nothing for an hour. Well, not nothing. There's always Pinterest and Facebook to catch up on. Your polish will last until you are ready for a new color. Not cracks, chips or wear.

Completed cabinet

I finally got around to finishing the new kitchen cabinet that I was working on in the last blog. I'm not gonna lie to you. The doors were a bugger. I'm pretty happy with the outcome and I am leaning more toward all white cabinets now that I've seen it on a bigger scale in someplace other than my mind and on +Pinterest . Take a look and see what you think

I didn't decide to go with classic black pulls until I saw them at +Lowe's Home Improvement while I was picking up hinges and a hole boring bit. It occurred to me at that time that this would be a nice touch and I'm pleased with the look. This little change added almost 4 cubic feet of eye level food storage and tons of charm to my kitchen. I am really excited to build the two additional glass enclosed cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.

This pic is pre-move in but it's the best angle to see what's going on with the right side of the kitchen. My plan is to add a 4 foot tall glass front and side cabinet in each corner of this 9 foot section of base cabinets. It's a really big area and it looks a little blah with nothing there. Not sure exactly when I will get started on that but it may be early next week.
I'm about to do something totally out of character for me: I'm doing two blog entries in one day! Haha, only because I want to cover the promised subject and it's totally unrelated to this.

The reality of Minwax GelStain Pt. 2

I'm not sure if I ever got around to stating what the reality of Minwax GelStain is in my last blog but here it is: First of all, it's not really a stain unless you think in terms of tinted lip gloss. The word stain denotes that the product should be a stain but, even on bare wood, the product doesn't sink in and stain anything. It's more of a sheer paint in wood finish colors. Secondly, the Minwax company is horrible at labeling their products with precise directions for use of the product that's actually in the can. The third and final reality check for this product is that it's just mean to work with. I actually finished the cabinet I was experimenting on and, I must warn you, it looks dreadful. The only nice part is the drawer front which ended up getting a light single coat and I didn't go back and add another yet. It's one saving grace is that, if it darkens well and goes on evenly, I still may do the whole kitchen with it. I'm not committed to the shade. If I don't, it will be several coats of antique walnut Polyshades, also by Minwax. Have a look and see what you think:

The pic doesn't give a good view of how uneven and motley the door came out but, trust me, it's uneven. Enough so that my OCD might become a problem. The on thing I do like is the depth of color and the low sheen achieved when top coating with a satin finish. The drawer front hasn't gotten one yet but the richness in the color is really sweet (at least where it's even).
I've used Polyshades many times over already stained and finished cabinets with great results. The only problem with it is that the two dark shades it's available in are extremely dark. I saw that there are a couple new shades that are more modern that I may take a gander at. One is called espresso and that calls to mind a rich, dark coffee color. I may have to pick up a pint to see if I like it while I still have a bare cabinet to play with.
I finished the cabinet on the end of the kitchen today. Okay, let me rephrase that. I rebuilt the upper cabinet so that it goes all the way down to the counter and finished painting it today. I love how it looks without doors and it's making me think of an open cabinet for dishes. Maybe.

The top photo is the before and the bottom is the current. I am still working on the doors but should have to painted and mounted in another day or two. Hubby is off for the next two days so that is a random thought more than a commitment. I really struggled with what to use for door material. I didn't want to spend an enormous amount of money but I wanted them to feel solid like the existing. I knew there was no hope of finding the right size in a match so I removed the uppers as well and made doors for them as well. I stood in the lumber isle of +Lowe's Home Improvement  and later +The Home Depot  for quite some time, racking my brain for an idea. I went home and slept on it, and as is customary for me, I had my light bulb moment. I went back to +The Home Depot and bought the 5/8 tongue and groove. I revised my entire idea in the process. Since the doors were going to be different, the whole cabinet had to have a distinctly separate look. That's when the idea for white came into play. I had the idea to build two tall cabinets on the other side of the kitchen with glass doors and sides and they would be white. Here is the inspiration:

I love this look and have the perfect place for two of these. So anyway, I went with white on the new one for that reason. My hubby and I both expressed concern over going with all white cabinets or all dark for fear that the kitchen would become either too dark or two antiseptic looking. We both love a very tidy, clean kitchen and all white might be a disaster for us. I think it's going to look excellent with the mix of both light and dark. If it doesn't, I'm just going to live with it until I get the time to redo it again. It's all changeable.
I forgot about having made the dividers for the drawers while I was wandering the house looking for small, quick projects. We love the organization and will def be adding many more like this.

I have so many pins that have inspired me on organization and, eventually, I will get most of them done. While I'm playing catch up, here's a better pic of the toe kick drawers that I love so much.

These are literally the best thing since sliced bread. It's time for me to go do real life again so I will leave you with an idea for my next blog (while I buy time to finish my cabinet doors lol). I was a licensed cosmetologist for well over 20 years and it's bugs the crap out of me to read pins about "the proper way to apply polish" so I'm going to teach you the industry secret for polish that will stay on your toenails until it grows off!

The reality of Minwax GelStain

This has been a week of intense consideration and indecisiveness. I am fully and totally in love with the kitchen from the movie Practical Magic. I obviously can't fit that exact kitchen into my home but I love the tall white cabinets, the glass uppers and transom lights. I love the rustic island, the little nook that serves as a dining room. I especially love the way it makes me feel when I look at pictures and imagine capturing that same feeling in my own kitchen. I am scared to death of painting my wood cabinets. As much as I hate the builder golden oak and the crappy, dated feel, I am still subject to mini seizures when I think about layering on white glossy paint. Again, no fear of paint or color here just a long held notion that my ultimate desire was dark hickory with wood grain showing through.
So, fortunately, I have a few of the same cabinets in the garage that I can experiment on without committing to the whole ball of wax. I took out an 18" upper and lower cabinet in order to fit the stove and fridge that I wanted into the space that I had, along with two of those useless 15"x 30" mini wall cabinets. Mind you, I replaced them with two more useless mini cabinets in 12" height for no reason other than I needed a place to hang my range hood microwave and to fill that space above the fridge. Come on, admit it. We all do things without thinking then stand there wondering what we were thinking a month later. I will insert my generic excuse here: I was completely exhausted and strung out at the time with laying flooring and all the other lovely things that go along with moving into a new home before it's actually ready. So anyway, I have pieces to experiment on. I am, however, minus one because I got my panties in a bunch and decided to ditch all the useless stuff in the garage before it had a chance to take over our lives. I remember the nightmare that was packing and sorting when we were preparing to move from Maine to St. George, UT. Both will stay with me forever and cause me to exhibit impulsively bad and unrealistic behavior.
So I singled out the easiest cabinet to make into my first victim. It was a no-brainer because it was sitting in the middle of the floor between the two cars where we keep the trash cans. I removed the door, hinges and drawer, gave them all a good scrub down with TSP (super prepaint cleaner) and dragged the door and drawer out to the back patio. I took a 150 grit sanding sponge and rubbed them down until it looked like all the urethane sealer was gone. I then carefully removed all the residue with a old dry paint brush and vacuum cleaner and wiped down all surfaces with a liquid deglosser.
Before I go much further, I should probably tell you what my mission was and where my inspiration came from. My initial intent was to prep, prime and paint that cabinet with glossy white paint. After all the work that went into it, I realized that I had just completed all the steps I read on Pinterest to refinish your kitchen cabinets with gel stain. I took the rest of the day off from my mission and finished the shelf I made for the wall beside the hot tub. I needed to be sure of what I was about to do.
After much discussion with hubby on the subject, I decided to seek out some gel stain and give that a try. This is all that I could find locally...

My exact thoughts were as follows: Gel stains are all the same so what does it matter the brand. I am officially dumber than a bag of rocks. Well, I take that back. The manufacturer is participating in a mindless game of make-the-consumer-feel-like-an-idiot while they relabel all their products with different, trendy names and add a little of this and a little that to make the consistency slightly different. The above pictured product is the epitome of why people feel incompetent when it comes to DIY projects. If you spin this little bad boy around and read the instructions, you will find that all their products have exactly the same irrelevant steps and this one in particular made me quite angry that they couldn't at least make it seem like the instructions matched the product. Let me clarify. It specifically says to apply "liberally" with a brush or clean cloth. It then tells you to wait 3 minutes and wipe off excess with another clean cloth. Wait a minute. That sounds hauntingly familiar. I went to the garage and grabbed a can of regular oil stain and, sure enough, same directions. Gel stain is thick like pudding and goes on thick like pudding yet it states not to thin. Okay. So I did it and, no surprise, 3 minutes later this stuff was like half dry paste. My rag just stuck to it without budging anything. So I remove what I put on with mineral spirits and grab a brush to apply a less liberal coat. You can't not apply this liberally in it's natural state. Remember, it's thick like pudding. I guess I should have taken a pic of the first mess but I didn't. So now I am at the experimenting stage.
Experiment numero uno: I washed down both pieces with mineral spirits, dampened the brush as well and blotted it well on one of my now not so clean rags. I dipped the brush into the gel stain and brushed it over the surface. Lo and behold, it went on just like a sheer paint. Well, almost. I had to work it with many brush strokes to get a good looking finish but, so far, it looks pretty good. It's a lot of work. These are the pieces after prep...

And here is what they look like at this very moment. It's been roughly two hours since I applied the stain.

 The top is the back of the door and the bottom one is the drawer front. The larger surface was a bit more difficult to cover well. I will see how they dry overnight and what they look like and get back to you on that. Just an FYI, this girl is not sold on the idea of that much extra work to make a product behave. She's also not sold on stain as opposed to paint either. That's what this experiment is all about. The next cabinet will get a coat of primer and glossy white paint.
Oh, before I forget, I tried out the glass cutting by fire shown in the pin below.

http://www.zellaguide.com/2009/02/diy-glass-bottle-cutting/

It works! I tried it out on a wine bottle and there are a few things to know before attempting this. The most important is that you need to soak your string for more than a couple minutes. It needs to be thoroughly saturated with acetone. Second is a bowl of water with ice allows the bottle to just pop apart. I didn't get a clean cut for whatever reason but I can sand it smooth and use it for a candle cover. I'm going to save my big Liberty Creek wine bottles and cut them at different heights so make an arrangement of hurricane-style candle covers for the back patio. It's windy here most of the time and that would be ideal for ambiance. This is my bottle cut.

So that was a fun little time filler. I will get back to my cabinets now :)

Searching for projects

So I have come to the end of the cash string on the new house for now. I will be returning to work soon and I'm desperately looking for small projects I can complete for little of no money. I did find a few but I'm still walking through the house constantly looking for more. I am not the kind of person who can be idle. I have to be moving all the time, sort of like a shark. As long as I'm doing something, anything, I'm not getting into trouble. Well, that's not always true but close enough.
I've been resisting suggestions from hubby and other family to paint simply because I hate painting and I don't know what colors to choose. I'm far from color shy but, at the moment, I am not mentally ready to commit to color. My kitchen is a long way from done and I haven't settled on cabinet color or counter top color/material so, if I paint now, I have to repaint later.
I did finally get sick of looking at the dated bright brass ceiling fans I took down from the living room and made a project out of them. We had one working fan left on the patio and both were in serious need of a disappearance. The ones from the living room were high quality and the only thing I hated about them was the color. Well, and the light fixtures.  Other than that, they were prime candidates for repurposing.
This is what I started with...

And this is what I ended with...

Not remarkable by any means but it's a satisfying project to save something from a landfill ending. When something is good quality and still works well but is just ugly, a can of spray paint can go a long way. I love Rustoleum's new Universal series as it's paint and primer in one plus it can go any any surface, even shiny metal. This is oil rubbed bronze from the metallic finish line. I haven't decided what to do about the lights yet but I'm still digging through boxes and totes, you never know what I might find to repurpose.
I finally settled on using some of my leftover tile pieces to make a counter top for the lonely little cabinet between the stove and fridge. I knew that eventually I'd be doing totally new counter tops so I just needed something for now that wouldn't cost much. I didn't end up spending any money on this.

It's the 6 inch cut offs from the wood-look tile along with a couple full width end pieces from the 18 inch field tiles and some glass tile from the thresholds to had a dash of interest. Hubby thinks it's cute. I think it will do.
I am anxious to get back to work and start making money so I can spend it all on the house lol. I'm sure hubby would beg to differ but oh well.
I saw this pin for the first time today and it sparked an idea for my laundry room.

I already have a useless cabinet beside the washer and dryer that is serving only as junk storage at the moment. I think a tip out laundry bin would be much nicer than the sea grass basket that's currently sitting on top of the dryer. I've been trolling Pinterest specifically for ideas for that laundry room. This would be just one great use of space. I'm sure there are others.
Until next time...Love life and pin your little hearts out!

Once again, getting caught up

So once again, I am behind on posts. I've managed to get a few things done that I'd like to share but between life and visitors, it's been a little challenging to get here. Ah to have all the time in the world...
I'd like to backtrack just a little before going forward. In regards to the porcelain tile I chose for my kitchen floor, having lived with it for almost two months, I have a few words of caution to add to my previous warnings about the difficulty in cutting porcelain and the weight of it. Porcelain is supposed to be one of the toughest tile materials available, or so I was told. That's not true. Apparently, my hubby and I are a challenge to any flooring material (you know, people that walk around in slippers or bare feet). There was the one exceptional incident where hubby managed to drop a full glass bottle of Ketel One vodka about a foot and a half, shattering a single wood-look tile without so much as scratching the vodka bottle. I was utterly speechless which is highly uncommon for me. I said nothing, turned my back to him and just sat motionless. Seeing as how the scope of the project was still fresh in my mind along with the agonizing burning sensation in my hands keeping me awake at night, I'd say he was very fortunate. When he left for work the next day, I sat on the floor with my tools, removed, cleaned up and replaced the broken tile. I swear, not one evil thought crossed my mind. With that incident behind us, we move forward to my regular vacuuming and washing of the floor. Each time I do so, I notice yet another small chip in the tile. We are up to about 8 random chips and we haven't dropped anything besides an occasional potato chip or piece of paper. The brand is Marazzi from Home Depot. I am unsure whether the tile may have been handled roughly prior to my purchase causing the integrity to be diminished or if it's just low quality tile. The thought of having to replace this floor in a few years due to damage and wear does not appeal to me one bit.
Now moving forward. I managed to get through the construction and installation of the toe kick drawers but stopped at doing just the three large ones opposite the working side of the kitchen. This is not a project for anyone squeamish about banging up their hands or working from awkward positions. By the time these were done, I had removed most of the skin from the knuckles of both hands and severely bruised my ring finger on my left hand so that I couldn't wear my wedding rings or a month. I was working against a cement floor under the cabinets in a very tight space. I did do as instructed on the link on Pinterest and built the frames and drawers then installed them but the type of drawer slides I chose had to be installed on the frame while it was in place so that they were level and lined up properly. I wanted the rugged ballbearing ones rather than the plastic wheel guided type because of the width of the drawers and weight of the contents. Overall, I am extremely pleased with them and love having them so it was worth the painful struggle to get them in.
I ended up staining all the toe kicks and drawer fronts the eventual color of my new cabinets when I can afford to do them rather than matching the existing light oak ones. I am so not in love with the style or dated color and the toe kicks currently match the wood-look tile nicely.

I originally wanted the hidden drawer pulls but quickly realized three things: reaching down under the edge of the cabinets to find the pull was going to be annoying, they really don't need to be "hidden" that much and I would need two pulls per drawer due to their width of 36". I found some 12" black bar pulls on clearance at Lowes for a mere $2.97 each and installed them just high enough to be out of sight when standing but low enough to reach easily while just bending down. These drawers are fantastic for my large pizza stones, rarely used cast iron pans, baking sheets, spring form pans and all the other items we only use occasionally. These items would be difficult to store in regular cabinet space but fit perfectly in the drawers. 
I also ditched the ugly contractor grade recessed lights on the kitchen ceiling buy using the pendant light conversion kits found at Lowes with some pretty glass globes called "river stone". The recessed fixtures were so bizarre with the lack of a mounted can and diffusing glass or plastic cover. The glare was obnoxious. A word of caution for anyone thinking of doing this: Canless recessed lights make the installation of the kits unstable. I had to put them up, adjust them and readjust them repeatedly to get the ceiling plate to seat properly and stay put. In the long run, it would have been cheaper and easier to just remove the canless lights and install regular pendant lights. I do like the look much better than what I started with however.

 You can see about one and a half of the original recessed lights in the top pic and what the pendant conversion kits look like after. There are 6 total on the sloped ceiling. excuse my messy kitchen counters but here is the overall effect...

Just a few quick reviews of Pinterest posts that I've tried and their results: The home made laundry soap is awesome! I've done both the "liquid" version which isn't exactly liquid (more gel-like and messy to use) and the powdered version. I made mine with Zote pink laundry soap because it works so well and smells so soft. It's a power house of a concentrated detergent with added baking soda. I used a cup for a full batch. This stuff doesn't make suds at all and that may just be because I live in Las Vegas, home of some of the hardest water in the US. Our water is filtered with a Krystal Pure whole home system that removes some of the harsher chemicals but it's still very hard. What I love most is that the clothes don't have any residue in them when they are washed. I use bleach when needed for whites and add vinegar in the rinse to assure they rinse cleanly. You can see and feel the difference in your laundered items with this detergent. I will never go back to paying upwards of $10 a bottle for commercial stuff. Dawn dishwashing detergent is my stain removal, degreasing solution. I have also used the original blue Dawn/ vinegar combo for cleaning showers. This works extremely well too.
I've stopped paying through the nose for Bath and Body Works foaming hand soap by refilling my bottles with about a quarter cup store brand hand soap and warm water thanks to a pin I found also. The large variety of facial masks using bentonite clay powder have been a godsend. They do so much for your skin so quickly. From smoothing and tightening skin to drawing out makeup grime from pores, there is no commercially produced mask that does so much for so little. Plus I love the idea of using natural ingredients on my face. I've also make the sugar scrub with coconut oil, regular sugar and lime juice to slough dead skin for a closer shave and longer lasting smoothness. So cheap to make and it works so much better. You can make it any fragrance you like with essential oils. I added bergamot to my last batch and it's wonderful.
Well, that's it for this time. Happy pinning!

Aaahhh, finally a few minutes to get the world caught up with what's going on with us. A lot has happened in the few weeks since I last posted. We've been living in the new house for about two weeks now. Living with the mess, the construction and disorganization. Living without knowing where anything is when we need it. Making plan changes and rolling with the punches. As is customary in my life, nothing is constant and nothing ever goes as planned. It ended up taking much longer to complete the tile in the kitchen but it's done and it's stunning. We have had a number of service people in and out of the house and I've shared pictures of my work with people I am doing business with. All seem amazed at how beautiful it turned out. I myself am amazed. The first question I get from every single person is "You did this yourself?" Really people? Are you asking that because I am female or because I somehow appear incapable of such a project? Women have been taking on tasks much larger than my little home redo for decades (and longer). Why are men still so surprise when one woman accomplishes something they see as a manly project? I am no feminist and if I could have gotten someone capable and willing to work with me, I would have been more than happy to let someone else do the work. All I asked was that the person be able to listen and stand by their word. Apparently, that is a rare, rare thing.
So I have pictures to share of the before and after and I have actually figured out how to add a "Pin it" button. I think.

 

The tile is from +Home Depot and my inspiration was this pin

 I started out planning to use real hardwood but I would have needed to buy a planer and that seemed like an awful lot of work. I found this wood look tile at +The Home Depot and it matched my choice of laminate perfectly. That being said, here are a few things I learned from this project. Porcelain tile will dull your tile blade faster than any other kind of tile. There are many, many cuts to create a design like this, even using 18" field tiles. Having now completed this floor, I realize that real wood would have been infinitely more forgiving and fun to work with. If you have any type of physical limitations such as nerve damage, carpel tunnel etc., go for the material that's easier on your hands. I am very pleased with the finished floor but I will never take this route again. 

I knew I wanted a special and unique threshold transition from the living room into the kitchen, searching far and wide for just the right mosaic. I finally found what I was looking for at Lowe's. I had been to several different Lowe's stores and, it would appear that, they all carry stock unique to what sells in their area. I found this glass and stone mosaic...

And this is how it came out...

I will have a new picture of the entire transition from living room to kitchen as soon as I get the base trim back up. The effect is quite nice and I ended up using it again from the laundry room to the hallway. That occurred for two reasons: I forgot to cut the laminate deep enough to meet the existing tile in the laundry room and I had a full sheet of mosaic left that I couldn't return because I had taken the packaging off and thrown it away. It worked out for the best though. 

I've also taken another Pinspiration to solve an issue in another part of the house. That project isn't quite finished yet but I'll be sure to share when it is. We wanted just a little diffused light in the bedroom without having to have the whole room lit and the vanity light in the master bathroom cast a serious glare while we were watching tv in bed. I have modified the painted canvas screen with Christmas lights behind it into a sliding shoji screen that we can use when we need but doesn't take up visual space the rest of the time. 

That's all I have time for today but I'll be posting more regularly now that I have the big projects done.