Grilled Asparagus and Flank Steak Chimichurri

Living Room/Office Pull Double Duty

The After

The Before: Previous tenant loved her blues.

The Before

The Before

 The Afters

Here's how I made the toilet paper art

I slid an office nook behind the couch.

Now the filing cabinet also plays as an end table. I've since papered the top.

Bench works as seating and office storage.

Bacon & Egg Cups with Hashbrowns

Pan-Seared Scallops

Laundry Room Revamp

The third basement room--after the playroom and my bedroom--is the laundry room.

Laundry room/storage room. The hanging screens were old window screens left in the room that painted and papered.

The Before. I can't imagine having clean laundry in this room. Yuck. I still use the drain, but now I've ducktaped a trashbag around it and the hose and laid carpet over it. That's when you know you're fancy.

These are now nicely hidden behind my shoji screen.

Yarn Globe Light fixture

The After

The Before. Lovely pink ceramic mess.

All I did was dip yarn in glue and wrap it around an inflatable ball, leaving enough space for it to hang safely away from the light bulb. When the glue was dry, I popped the ball and pulled it out.

The Porch

The main reason I fell in love with this house was the enormous screened-in porch.

The After

The Before

"Pottery Barn" porch light fixture from metal cage

My inspiration

The previous fixture had a nice insect cemetary theme. Luckily they won't get trapped in the new one.

 Once I got the old fixture off, I slid hooks into the holes where the bolts had been. Then I just hung the metal cage on the hooks.

The finished product.

Basement to bedroom

Anyone who saw my play room post awhile back, knows that the basement of the new digs was a little dank, dark and dirty. It also needed to be my bedroom.

This came from...

Of the three basement rooms--the other two being the storage room-turned playroom and laundry room--this one is in the best shape. The original listing called it a "rec room," but I could only assume recreation for the previous owners would have been sitting in a dark paneled room. And apparently working a wood-burning stove due to the scorch marks on the wall.

The Befores:

...this

My mom and I put temporary wall paper over the paneling and added the same cheap vinyl tile as we did in the play room.

How I made my corkboard shoji screen.

I papered the back of the built-in shelves for shoe and bag storage.

Ode to the last day of summer

Zucchini fries

Happy Birthday Amia!

Proof that she was born with tons of stick-straight black hair :)