Butter from a Food Processor

I decided I wanted to make my own butter to go with my homemade bread. It's not hard, but I discovered that it won't save you any money.

Here's what you need: heavy cream, salt, food processor, and a cheese cloth (I tried a dish towel and it was terrible, get a cheese cloth)

Pour in cream.

Add a little salt. I think I did half a teaspoon.

 Turn on food processor and realize that you have a tiny one and take out half the cream. Notice drips.

 Now we are in business. Keep it churning for about 10 minutes.

 At the 5 min mark it looks like whip cream. Keep going.

 The butter will start clumping together and the butter milk separates out.

Place butter in cloth and squeeze out the butter milk.

You are left with fairly equal amounts of butter and butter milk.

2 cups of heavy cream produced just under a cup of butter.

Creative Idea for a Broken Necklace

I noticed a woman standing in front of me on the bus wearing a nice chunky gold necklace. I noticed it was tied with a ribbon and upon closer inspection, realized she had used the ribbon because the clasp was broken. I thought it was so clever and simple, and also very pretty. My only note would be to keep updating the ribbon often so it doesn't look tired.

It's amazing where inspiration can come from; you just have to keep your eyes open.

DIY: Custom Copper Curtain Rods

Living in an industrial space brings ups challenges when decorating your home. We decided for not just aesthetic reasons, but also for better energy efficiency that we needed drapes. We picked out beautiful champagne/mushroom (nice neutral) colored curtains with a great raw texture to them. The color really complements the brick it's against and blends nicely. We didn't want a color that screamed, "Hello you have lots of fabric over here!" These curtains also have blackout lining that helps to significantly block the heat from the afternoon sun.

We decided to mike some out of plumber's pipe to get that industrial feel. Because we were making them ourselves, we spent the extra money to upgrade to copper pipe. My husband just LOVES copper; I think it's because it matches his hair. On our trip to HD, we got funny looks from the people in the plumbing section. I guess where we live, people don't do DIY projects like this with unconventional materials. Finally the guy figured out what we needed a showed us to the adapter that connects copper pipe to a floor flange. We found out copper pipe that says 1/2" is different than 1/2" steel pipe and you need an adapter to bridge the gap since floor flanges are sized to the steel pipe. Because of the amount of stuff we were getting, I caved and signed up for the HD card. With our savings, we only spent around $120 on all the pipe and fittings for two 8' and one 4' wide windows. That doesn't include the pipe cutter at $11 and the hammer drill my husband ended up buying to drill into the impossibly hard concrete. I did the measuring and marking, he did the drilling. I cut the pipe (once I got the pipe cutter, before it was him with the Dremel) and polished everything with Barkeepers Friend.

Supplies:
3 - 10 foot copper pipes, 3/4 inch, Blue type (meaning sturdier)
8 - Floor Flanges for 1/2" pipe
8 - 3/4" to 1/2" copper adapter with threading (not sure of technical term)
6 - Elbow joints
2 - T joints
Screws (get appropriate mountings for your walls, in our case masonry screws)
Pipe cutter
Barkeepers Friend
Drill and bits
Measuring tape

My Dremel is in the shot because initially we used it to cut the pipe. It's fine if you only have one window and only a few cuts to make. Way too time consuming for more. So after first small window was completed, I went and bought a pipe cutter. Worth it! The adapters I was talking about are in the foreground between the screws and drill bits.

Installing the flange, the adapter, short pipe, and elbow. Great thing about copper is you don't have to thread the pipe. It just slides right into the fittings. We didn't even solder or anything so we can still take the curtain down, but everything holds together without it.

Cutting with Dremel and polishing. Wear gloves and read directions.

Final pictures. They are a little dark because it was night when we finished and we still need to get more lighting for our place. In the pictures, the curtains almost look pinkish, but trust me, in real life they are not at all.

So in the end, I have converted my husband into a man who wants to figure out how to make something instead of buying it. Finally! Now he wants to tackle all kinds of other things and loves the feeling of a power tool in his hand!

Little story about getting all this home without a car:

We walked to our local HD. We're lucky we have one just over a mile away. We picked out all our supplies and then I waited outside the entrance with our big cart while my husband went to the corner to try to flag down an appropriately sized taxi. After about 10 min with no luck, I called my favorite cab company. They said it would be a hour! So I called another. They said I would get a call when one was on the way. Fifteen more minutes went by with no call. Finally a Scion cab came and was dropping off a passenger. After a little convincing on my husbands part, the driver and he tried to fit the 10' pipes in diagonally from the corner of the windshield on the passenger side to the back corner of the trunk. The trunk closed with not a millimeter to spare! Once we were all inside and on our way, the cab company called with  an automated message that our cab was there. Gee Thanks! 

Weekend Street Fair and 2nd Bedroom Sneak Peak

I went to one of Chicago's summer street fairs this past weekend. I just love summer in this city. Each neighborhood will host it's own festival one weekend of summer. This one was in Wicker Park. One of the most memorable things I saw was this beautiful booth. Not only was the handmade jewelry pretty, but the booth itself had a great set up. It has inspired me to make more jewelry!

 I just love the natural stone!

Aqua Jewelry's Etsy

Here's a sneak peak at what's been going on in the second bedroom! (by no means a finished and staged shot) It's still a work in progress. Whenever you reorganize all your clothes, things have to get messier before they get cleaner.

This work surface was created using our two file cabinets and the door to the laundry closet that we have removed. Like many second bedrooms, ours is filled with mismatched furniture. I'm going to be sewing in here this summer, so I need a big clean space. All I did was re-purpose furniture we already had and used some textbooks to even it out. (The grey cabinet is a bit shorter.) This project was free! It also makes the room feel bigger for some reason; I think it's the long white surface that unifies the pieces into one.

Notice the black frames above? That's one of my eco-friendly, DIY, cost saving projects. I had white frames from our wedding and one other, so I painted them black (artist paint and brush, I can't spray paint in Chicago). Then I scanned pictures I had used previously for my "family wall" and sent them to Walgreens to print out black and white. Plus, I ordered a few wedding pictures in black and white as well. Because they were all just 5x7, I went for symmetry, something I've avoided in the past. It took lots of measuring, a little math, and a level to get them up. But now the small frames seem to function as one larger piece. The total cost of this project was free for the frames and only about $8 for the 5x7 BW enlargements.

The List

Inspired by many other bloggers who have posted on this recently, I would like to compile my own list of all I need to get done. I'm throwing a baby shower for my best friend next month, and in August I will have family coming to stay. It will be their first time for seeing our new place and I'd like it to be as put together as possible. Also with my summer vacation coming up, I'm starting to plan out my usual summer project list.

Before Baby Shower:

1. Cull and organize closet. This is a big one. My closet has overflowed to the futon in the second bedroom. I need to downsize and organize my beautiful closet (one of the big selling features for me
2. Finish my big organization of files and stuff in the second bedroom.
3. Make art for bathroom. I was thinking a painting using all the sample paints we decided against (we have 13, they need to be used for something.)
4. Hang light in second bedroom. I have it, just need to do it.
5. Hang hooks somewhere for my husband to hand his jackets. He is currently putting them on hanger hanging off my beautiful entry library shelves. He likes to let them air out.
6. Buy more curtains, figure out the hardware to use, and hang curtains in living area. We've picked out what we want, we just need to figure out how to hang them. When you live in the city (unless it's new construction) it's not always strait forward as to how to get things on the wall.
7. Replace bulbs in tack light. Not an easy task since they are 15 feet up and the only way to get up there is with the shaky wooden latter in the recycle room.
8. Continue mural behind the TV (or this can wait)
9. Plan menu! This is the fun part
10. Plan theme! It's a boy, but I don't want to be the traditional blue, I'm thinking black and white, White Sox theme (she's an avid fan)
11. Make a gift for her
12. Deep Clean

Before August family visit:

1. Buy more lighting
2. Pick out draping fabric for our canopy bed.
3. Paint bathroom
4. Get at least a new towel hanger for the hand towel if not all. (they are all these weird hooks and the hand towel won't stay on.
5. New bathmat
6. Plant an indoor herb garden (This is going to take some research to figure out. I've never had even indoor plants myself)
7.  Paint second bedroom?
8. Hopefully get shades restrung.
9. Maybe find awesome deal on perfect low china cabinet. (a girl can dream)
10. Do something awesome to my bedside table. I'm thinking mirrors!
11. Buy or make behind the couch console/desk table
12. Refinish dining room table and reupholster chairs. (hopefully, I might have to call in an expert for this one)
13. Have best 30th birthday ever!

I think that's everything.

Framing a Print

I have a ton of artwork I created in college. I had always wanted to get some of the best work up on the wall in my home, but it took buying a place before that happened.

My favorite piece is a copper plate etching of Big Ben. It is not a normal size, so it would require a custom frame and mat. Even with the online options for custom frames, this was too expensive of an option when I was trying to get so many other projects done in time for my friend's visit. Luckily, I'm resourceful. I thought of just buying the best size possible and having just the mat cut. Michael's had frames on sale, but the mat would be way too much money and take 2 weeks. What was that about? So then I thought of how I loved the torn edges of the paper and how I should display the whole piece, so it wasn't just a picture, but an object. Shadow boxes that big were once again way out of the picture.

Then I thought floating frame, you know glass front and back so you see the wall through it. I found a tutorial and thought I could pull it off. Getting a backing glass cut was out (money), so I ended up buying a cheap poster frame in the same size as the frame I was buying on sale. The tutorial I had seen online was for a much smaller frame that didn't involve real artwork. I didn't want to completely glue and seal in my print, so I thought of using tiny nails like the brackets that hold the back of a frame in. I took precautions and went slowly with my nailing. I got almost done, we are talking the last nail, and it was too much. The front glass got a hairline crack that spread. I can't begin to describe the utter frustration I felt. I had spent hours planning, researching, going back and forth to different art stores to get frames and the right acid free adhesive for the print. All without a car. Do you know what it's like hauling a 2' x 3' frame on a city bus.

"Fail"

So I was left with a frame, a plexiglass front from a poster frame (what was going to be my back) and a print needing a home. Back to the local art store (no more Michael's for me), I got a coordinating color of mat board and they cut it to size for the frame (only 50 cents a cut thank you local art store). Back to carefully lining up my print on the mat, always leave more room at the bottom, and taping down with a stronger hold then my first go around. Now it hangs right by the front door, hiding the fuse box. It's the first thing you see when you open the door.

"Success"

I posted a link to a link up party on GetOuttaMyHeadPlease for my Family Name Eye Chart and accidentally posted this link.

New Twist on the Family Name

Here's another project I completed in time for my friend's visit. I was inspired by David Bromstad from "Color Splash". He always does a painting for any room he makes over. In this one, he created a painting with the names of all the family members in the style of a eye chart. I thought it was a great twist on how to have a personal, family name painting. It's a bit more subtle, and therefor, I daresay, a little more sophisticated (which is what my loft likes).

I first created the image in photoshop, and agonized over the font choice (as I tend to do). Then, using my projector again (I did this the same weekend as the mural) I traced the text onto a stretched canvas in pencil. I will note, this project is not for the faint of heart, it takes a crazy steady hand and super patience. My skills from typography class finally paid off (we did every project my hand). After I finally finished tracing, I used a variety of brush sizes and shapes to fill in the letters in a very dark grey. My advise, go slow and take breaks. I ended up leaving the background completely white. I may eventually add the hint of a gradient in the corners, as if it were illuminated from behind, but I'm not sure.

Here's the final result.

It sits on the brick in the black nook that used to be an original window because the 3M picture hanging strips won't stick to the concrete we have no intention of trying to drill into. It's next to our vintage 1920's dinning room set.

           

Understated, Modern Family Room Mural

I'm an artist, when I have the time. So even before we moved into our new loft last year, I knew I wanted to paint a mural. In the TV area was a big beautiful (at the time white) wall. It spoke to me. It wanted something inspired by the city, not an ordinary framed picture, but an abstract painting right on it. I decided to do a contour outline of downtown Chicago. The adjacent wall was back at the time, so I first thought continue the black as the line to help tie the two together. Then we decided to paint both walls grey (see the post here). The mural kept getting put off.

About a month out from my best friend's visit for the first time since we moved in, I decided it was time to get lots of projects finished, including the mural. (Nothing like company coming to get you to finally check off your to do list. ;) ) I searched all over the internet for a great reference picture and finally went with a photo my husband took while on a sailboat in Lake Michigan. 

I brought my projector from school home for a long weekend. I set it up on one of our height-adjustable stools and plugged it into the computer. I had to play with the sizing on the screen till I got it just right, and then it was just a matter of tracing on the wall in pencil. Pretty easy, just don't rush. I was going to go with a  white paint for the line, but my husband convinced me to use the gold paint that was left over from our paint sample buying extravaganza. I tested it out just behind the tall shelf on the side. IT WAS HOT! I ended up having to do two very careful coats of the gold to get an even consistency, but it was worth it. We love the result so much that we are going to continue the mural to the wall behind the TV (eventually).

Eco-Friendly Picture Frame Updates

This past winter I was back in Dallas for my  visit to my Mom's house. She always has projects for me to do around the house. While growing up, I was the one who acted like the handy man in the family (and also the geek squad and interior decorator). I love helping my mom any way that I can.

Anyways, back to this past winter, she was working on creating a family wall (you know the large grouping of family portraits). We went through the large collection of photos, old and new, and started taking pictures out of frames and picking and choosing the keepers. My mom had a large collection of frames in all sizes and finishes, metal, wood, and black. We wanted to create a more cohesive look, so we decided on silver and black. So many of the old frames were natural oak and dated looking, but we hated just wasting them. It finally dawned on me, why buy new ones, just paint the old ones, "duh". 

The summer before, I had spent the better part of my month home spray painting branches and other things for my wedding; so I was a pro. 

We went to HD and bought a can of good quality, glossy finish, black spray paint. 

I removed the glass from the frames.

Sanded the wood.

Placed them on plastic garbage bags in the driveway.

Painted backs first and let dry.

Turned over and painted fronts. (you may need to sand paint drips like in photo) Did a second coat on front as needed.

Wash glass and put back in. Frame pictures.

Easy. Cheap. Less than $5 got us 6 new-looking frames.

I highly suggest the investment (like $2) in a nozzle gun thingy. Saves your fingers alot of pain.

It was dark when I finally got the fronts done so no pictures, sorry. I'm sure you get the idea.

The Painting Post

Picking out paint colors with my new husband for our new loft, should be fun and easy. Turned out to be the complete opposite. Creating our own style for scratch when we both have strong opinions and our place is a beautiful empty canvas that could go so many ways was frustrating. Also having champagne taste a a beer budget doesn't help. I'll talk about the furniture decisions later. This post is about the system I created for choosing paint samples.

Step 1:
Go to your choice of paint supply store and pick up a ton of sample swatches in the range of colors you are considering and in a good paint brand. When it comes to paint, spending a little more money per gallon will save you time and number of coats, saving you money in the end.

Step 2:
Take your samples home and at different times of day hold them up to the wall, next to any furniture and draperies, next to and wall art, against the floor and in my case even against the ceiling, making notes directly on the sample cards as to what works where. Like I tell my art students, everyone has an eye for what looks good. Pick out your top favorites.

Step 3:
Go back to the store and buy samples in your favorites. In our case that was 6 total for our 4 areas.

Step 4:
Paint sample squares of the paint at different parts of the wall. Since we had so many we made counting marks under the squares and wrote the corresponding number on the sample jar. I just used my artist brushes to paint the squares. Live with the samples for a while and see what works in all different times of day. If you are lucky, you will pick a winner for your wall and move on to step 6.

Step 5 (in my case):
Attend your condo association board meeting where they discuss the new design plans for all the common areas. Turns out their color pallet is way too similar to what we had picked. My husband decided we had to revisit all our color choices. So we repeated steps 1-4 and even made a few last minute choices for samples to buy while we were there ready for them to be whipped up. We ended up getting 7 more samples. I don't suggest ever getting this many samples, it got way too expensive. We also had to switch to roman numerals to keep track.

(The Kitchen stumped us, I just decided to go back to white.)

Step 6:
Go buy your paint and supplies. We went with a paint that has primer in it. It took one good solid coat and one light touch up coat to do the job. The second coat is mostly to go over those few spots that show after the first coat is dry. Word to the wise, the eco friendly roller sponges don't spread paint nicely. When rolling back and forth, they tended to pick the paint back up. Also, buy an angled brush for the edging, it's the only way to go.

Step 7:
Show it off. So happy with the grey, it's what's going in the TV area as well.

-Home Sweet Loft