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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Pumpkin Pound Cake.

I am a big fat sucker for essentially anything involving pumpkin.  Literally.  Anything.

With the arrival of Fall(!!) and therefore all of the pumpkin recipes flying around Pinterest, I felt like trying a simple little recipe myself.  Pumpkin bread sounded delish and simple, so that's where I landed.

I have a recipe that I've tweaked and adapted from a few different recipes over the years.  As I gathered all of my essentials, I realized that I was going to have to adapt a little more.  I was missing a pretty crucial ingredient - cinnamon.  Then I realized that instead of packed pumpkin, I had a can of pumpkin pie mix.

Eh, what did I have to lose?  I went with it.

And it paid off.  Sooooooo scrumptious.  A little different than your average pumpkin bread, but moist and flavorful.  Actually, it ended up being a little more like a pound cake.

Yeah, we'll go with that.



What you'll need:



3 cups flour (whole wheat or all-purpose)
4.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup softened butter
3 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1.5 cups canned pumpkin pie mix
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat softened butter until creamy.



Add brown sugar and beat at medium speed until well mixed.  I usually let it mix while I sift together the dry ingredients...


Sift flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.  Set aside.


Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture, one at a time, and beat well in between.  This is why I love my stand mixer!


Then it's time for pumpkin!  Beat well.


Add the vanilla to the milk, then add to pumpkin mixture.


Next, add dry mixture.  Sometimes I alternate adding the two.  Sometimes I get lazy and just dump it all.


Grease two loaf pans (I use 8"x4") and pour batter into each pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for about an hour.  I like to undercook them a tiny bit, because if there's anything I like better than pumpkin baked goods, it's undercooked pumpkin baked goods.


When they're done, cool them for half of an hour or so, then remove them from the pans and cool on the rack.


The tops edges are a tiny bit crunchy, almost caramelized.  The insides are dense and moist and absolutely delish.  And I sprinkled some powdered sugar on the tops for fun.  Love, love, love!

Pumpkin Pound Cake

3 cups flour (whole wheat or all-purpose)
4.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup softened butter
3 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1.5 cups canned pumpkin pie mix
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat softened butter until creamy.  Add brown sugar and beat at medium speed until well mixed. Sift flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.  Set aside.  Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture, one at a time, and beat well in between.  This is why I love my stand mixer!  Then it's time for pumpkin!  Beat well.  Add the vanilla to the milk, then add to pumpkin mixture.  Next, add dry mixture.  Sometimes I alternate adding the two.  Sometimes I get lazy and just dump it all.  Grease two loaf pans (I use 8"x4") and pour batter into each pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for about an hour.


Linked up with:




30 Handmade Days
Creating Really Awesome Free Things
 handmadehangoutparty

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Mary & Martha Giveaway!



I just wanted to spread the word that I have a little giveaway running over on my Mary & Martha facebook page.  Up for grabs are two of my favorite items that Mary & Martha offer - the "Open Our Home" sign and a bag of Mary & Martha direct trade coffee.  Head on over to  http://tinyurl.com/oc56dyd   to enter to win!


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

It's raining in the basement! (Alternately titled: Painting bathroom counters.)



It all started one day when Brennan yelled up from the basement that it was raining.  Raining in the basement.

Apparently, the old shiny yellow brass faucets in both our half bath and the boys' bathroom swivel.  And swiveling faucets?  Apparently they are a toddler playground.  Because if you can swivel a faucet, you can make a waterfall off of the counter and onto the floor.  And turn the bathroom floor into a wading pool.  Which of course, makes it rain in the basement.  Now what about all of that doesn't sound FUN????

Hint:  All of it.  



So after it rained in the basement for the third time, I called Brian and told him that we were replacing the faucets, like YESTERDAY.  But while we had faucets off of the counters, we might as well paint the counters like I'd been planning, right?

Right.  The half bath counter was a beige marble-ish.  Not actually all that ugly, but it wasn't what I pictured for that room.  The boys' bathroom however was an especially horrid pinkish marble-ish material.  Maybe it wouldn't look so awful if the tub surround tile wasn't the same shade of mauve, which was just made worse by the weird shade of builder beige on the walls.  Blegh.


I had heard good things about Rustoleum's Tub and Tile Paint  so I decided to go that direction.  First up, supplies:  Rustoleum Tub & Tile kit, 4-inch paint roller (& tray if desired), fine-bristled paint brush, Comet, sponge, Lime Away, abrasive sponge, tack cloth, 400-600 wet/dry sandpaper, bucket, and lots of elbow grease!

Remove your faucet and any old caulk from the counter.  Scrub the sink and counter with comet and a sponge and rinse well.  Then scrub with Lime-Away and an abrasive sponge; rinse well.  Next up, sanding.  Sanding is pretty important, as this is how you're going to get your surface nice and grabby for the paint.  I'll be honest, 400 grit sandpaper felt like I was just caressing the surface of the tile.  So I went rogue and grabbed some 320 from the garage.  The 320 felt like I was actually sanding something rather than giving the tile a vigorous rub down.


Sand sand sand til your arm feels like it might fall off, then wipe the surface completely clean with a tack cloth.  The sanding created a really fine white powder all over the surface, so I wiped with a damp cloth a few times, then wiped with a dry one.  Finally, I let the surface air dry a bit to be sure that it was completely dry.  Tape any surfaces that you might not want to get the tile paint onto (walls, vanity, etc).

Now it's time for some epoxy!  I'll admit that sometimes I'm not the best at following directions.  Sure I read on the box and from several websites that this stuff was stinky, but I wasn't prepared for just how stinky it actually is.  I now have no nosehairs left.   (Kidding.  Kind of.)  I mean, I had windows open and fans on and the kids were shipped off to Grammy's house for a sleepover, but I just kinda figured that needing a respirator was dramatic and that a little N95 mask would to the trick.  Um, no.  The scene went a little like this:  Kelli opens can of paint and can of activator.  Kelli's eyes begin to water.  Kelli realizes she's an idiot.  Kelli yells for Brian to go buy her a respirator.  Kelli thanks Jesus for making her buy a house that's 3 minutes from Lowes and 5 minutes from Home Depot.  Moral of the story?  Use a respirator.  You and your still existent nose hairs (and probably brain cells) will thank me later.

Painting the countertop is actually pretty easy.  The sink was a bit more tricky, but still not terrible.  The Rustoleum box recommends using a 4 inch roller with foam cover (or something with a very very low nap) and a very fine bristled brush for the edges.  I actually used a cheapo foam brush as well.

So, here's where you'll begin to see photos of the process of painting both sinks.  And you'll notice that one is nicely taped and carefully painted and that the other one is ... not.  We each started one sink and someone got kicked off of his project because **cough**PAINT BUBBLES**cough**.


First, I used the fine bristled brush to cut in around the edges of the counter.  I actually did the entire first coat with a brush instead of a roller.  I found it much easier to get a nice thin coat on with a brush.  On the other hand, Brian went straight for the roller.  No tape, no brush, just a nice, thick coat with a roller.  You know what happens when coats of paint are too thick?  Bubbles, my friends.  Bubbles.



I can't even.  By the time I saw it, they were half dry.  So, I let it dry, sanded the bubbles down, and went back for the brush!  Brush for the edges, roller for the rest.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

The trick with this stuff is not to get a super thick layer on there, but not too thin either.  Too thick = bubbles and drips.  Too thin = weird texture and marks.  I started with a thin layer and worked up from there.  We let each coat dry for about an hour before starting another coat.  The third coat was when I really started to get serious about texture.  Certain areas of the counter and sink were a bit more challenging to achieve a smooth finish - namely the corner behind the faucet and the bottom curve of the sink.  For behind the faucet and the tops of the pieces that crawl up the wall, I found that using the foam brush to kind of dab the paint on was pretty effective.  The sink just took a lot of smoothing with the roller.  Even the thinnest layer seemed to want to drip a bit. After awhile, we just called it good and decided to let it cure.

Same sink, I swear.  Just funky lighting.

Rustoleum recommends 24 hours of curing before touching the surface and 72 hours of curing before getting the surface wet.  After the third day, Brian installed the new faucets in both the half bath and the boys' bathroom.

In the half bath, I went with this pretty lady ...


Isn't she gorgeous???  And for the boys' bathroom this guy with a plate to cover the extra holes  ...


Handsome, yeah?  When I saw them I just drooled. And gushed. 


And I'm so hopelessly in love with the finished products that I don't mind the little bits of uneven texture here and there or the little drip mark in each sink.  They are barely noticeable unless you stand at the perfect angle and realllllly examine the whole thing.  And if anyone has that kind of time on their hands, they can feel free to critique my counters.  


For us, it was the perfect budget makeover for our 90s-tastic sinks!

Linked up at: My Fabuless Life,
      handmadehangoutparty     The Idea Room I was featured on Remodelaholic

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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Mood boards.

Making mood boards really helps me focus on a direction for a room.  It helps keep me focused and at the same time helps me feel brave enough to make choices that I would normally be afraid to make!  Mood boards also help me share my vision with Brian so that he is less likely question my choices along the way ... but let's be honest, he totally still does.  

So I thought I'd showcase my craptastic Photoshop skills and share a few mood boards that I've made lately.  First up, the boys' bathroom.  It was by far the most hideous room in the  house when we bought it.  Mauve countertop and bathtub tiles made the builder beige walls look fuschia.  And don't even get me started on the shiny brass loop light fixture or the cut glass sliding tub doors.  So since this is a small room, and particularly ugly, it's toward the top of my to-do list.  We're going with a vintage-ish nautical theme, splashed with some bright colors for the little boys.   Updates will include new light fixtures, new faucet, removing the tub doors and hanging a shower curtain instead, and fresh paint for the walls, the vanity, and even the vanity top and tub tile.  Progress is underway and it's already looking a million times better.  



Next up is the half bathroom downstairs.  I want to make this room girly.  It's my perfect opportunity to throw some pink into a room and I'm taking it!  I'm thinking blues and pinks, a light color on the walls, painting the vanity a dark navy, and embracing the fun navy chevron rug that's already in there.  It's actually a fairly big room for a half bath, so I'm not going to be afraid to go BOLD.

Last, but most definitely not least, is the Living/Dining Room.  It's all one long room, and up until recently it has been the playroom.  But Brian finally has the basement fairly kid-safe, so the toys migrated down there and I have an adult space again!  I'm planning a light gray for the walls and I already hung Ikea Ferle panels on 3 of the 4 windows that hang more in the Living Room space.  I've been contemplating going with something a little more daring for the big giant window in the back of the Dining Room, so I'm still stewing on it.  This room will also hold the giant dining table that Brian built for me last year, along with some vintage hand-me-down furniture we inherited from both Brian's grandma and my great-grandma.  



 Having a plan "down on paper" makes me feel so much better than when it's just in my head.  It's already feeling more like a home than just a house, even with just a few updates made.  And the process of transforming it can be described as nothing other than cathartic!