Messes, Couches and Ottomans that bug.

This bugs.  Every day. :

Yes, it is nice to throw Greta's toys in the storage ottomans before meals (sometimes) and before guests come (as long as it isn't a surprise).  But every day, this mess haunts me and bugs me and then yesterday I snapped.  I swapped ottomans.  The smaller storage ones went down to the family/tv room and the larger one came up to the living room.

And you know what, this bugs:

It is way too big.  And our family room which was already desperately needing help--really, it is my least favorite room in the whole house-- went from being the worst room:

To being the worst and messiest room:

And now, officially the least comfortable with the too-small ottomans in place.  I admit we have a problem when it comes to buying couches--we buy a lot far too often--but this secitional has GOT TO GO.  We are just too tall.  My 6' bod and Chris's 6'4" bod do not fit on this couch unless we have perfect posture.  Who wants to have perfect posture when watching tv??  If you want to sit straight, go up to the living room and have an adult conversation on the white couch with no toys around you. We always end up slouching on the sectional and then our butts hang off, which used to be caught by the oversized ottoman, but now--there's nothing.  

So yesterday, we decided--we need to sell the large ottoman (it really is just huuuggeeee) and the sectional and find something that we really love and is really comfy.  Here we go again.  Another couch purchase.  This time, "extra deep" is the word.  Suggestions are welcome--as always.  :)

Now we're Fan Fans.

The cool thing about blogging is if you don't want your readers to see something (like the laundry piled up in your closet) you just don't take a picture of it.  This perk has been used quite frequently when photographing our room and trying to hide our ugly ceiling fan:

It's not that we don't like keeping it real.  We definitely do, but that ceiling fan can be quite distracting and sometimes it still snuck in the pictures, eh well:

Last week we posted on our facebook page that we had finally got around to ordering a new ceiling fan.  We had it narrowed down to these three options:

a b c

We got a $100 Home Depot gift card for Christmas, so the budget and place was narrowed down for us.  We ultimately went with a, the Westinghouse Alloy 42 in. Gun Metal Ceiling Fan.  We both loved b, but 30" was a too small for our room.  C was nixed for size as well--it was 52", which is better suited for a much larger room.  A is 42" which is the perfect size, and although I kind of alway envisioned a white fan, the gun-metal finish looks sophisticated without drawing too much attention to itself.

Honestly, I never wanted to replace our old ceiling fan with a new one.  Ceiling fans really aren't my jam in the bedroom.  I don't like being cold at night and a chandelier or other contemporary fixture definitely looks better--BUT, after we used the fan every night last summer (even if it was on the lowest setting) I was sold on the idea.

Plus, having a hanging fixture would just compete with our statement lamps already in place.  So, we went with something simple, contemporary and sophisticated.

We were under the impression that the job would be a lot more difficult than it was--after all, they offer installation when you buy the fan.  It took Chris and I 25 minutes on Saturday night.  And now I feel a lot more comfortable shooting our bedroom:

Although, some window treatments would really do wonders.  I am officially on the hunt!

A Guilt-Free Sweet Treat: Coconut Almond Macaroon Cookies

I can't have sugar for at least a month and a half, but I found a recipe here for these cookies that almost fit my sugar-free, flour-free diet.  I tweaked it just a bit (more on that later) and was giddy when I took my first bite.  A cookie!  A real cookie!  That I can eat and not get sick!  That you can eat and not get fat!  That's a win-win-win. 

First, to clarify we're making macaroons, not macarons.  And they look like this:

And you make them like this:

Low-Sugar Coconut Almond Macaroon Cookies
(Makes about 16 cookies)

1 cup slivered almonds*
1 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut**
1/2 cup Xylitol***
Generous pinch of salt
1/4 cup non-fat Greek Yogurt
2 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325F/170C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat.

Use a small food processor or the bowl attachment for an immersion blender to chop the almonds, just until they are ground but still a little chunky. Put the ground almonds, shredded coconut, Xylitol, and salt into a medium-sized bowl and mix together with a spoon.

Separate 2 eggs to get 2 egg whites. (Save the yolks for something else or discard.) Add egg whites, fat-free Greek yogurt, and vanilla to the dry mixture and blend together with a spoon until the ingredients are well-combined.

Scoop out dough one tablespoon at a time and form into a round ball, then place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. (I used a metal tablespoon, which worked well.) Use a fork or spoon to press each ball down into a cookie slightly less than 1/2 inch thick. (The cookies don't spread out much, so don't worry about that.) I also used the fork to press the edges together because the batter is rather crumbly.

Bake cookies until they are well set and starting to get nicely brown on the edges, about 25-30 minutes.

*The original recipe called for "Generous 2/3 cup" slivered almonds.  Well, the slivered almonds in the baking section come in 1 cup bags--so I just went with that.  Easy Peasy.

** Unsweetened shredded coconut is hard to track down in your neighborhood grocery store.  We happened to find some at the Asian market while there, but I know they sell it at any health or natural foods store, as well.

***The original recipe called for Splenda or sugar.  I can't have sugar or Splenda.  Sugar is around an 80 on the glycemic index.  Splenda?  A 70.  70!!  Might as well just have the sugar and save yourself from all the artificial crap they put in Splenda.  I really wouldn't recommend the consumption of Splenda to anyone.  I use Stevia, an all natural sweetener, which is a 0 on the glycemic index and Xylitol, also an all natural sweetener suited for baking(find it at your health food store), which is a 7 on the glycemic index.  

Falling Block Art For Sale!

When my rockstar of a friend, Jane, approached me about getting her hands on some of my art--specifically the falling blocks I created over Christmas--I was thrilled with the opportunity to work with paper and collage again.  

So thrilled, I decided to make it available to anyone else that wants one, too.  Eeee!! This one is all Jane's, but I added the listing to our Etsy shop.  So head on over and let's get yours started. 

Get your custom Falling Blocks art here. 

Commenting: The Good, Bad and Rude.

Let's talk about what keeps us bloggers going--commenting.  5.8 times a week (that's how many times I post according to Google) I put words and pictures out there in the blogosphere and then I look forward to feedback.  Sometimes there is a lot of feedback, and then sometimes when I write about things that are small and relatively boring, like moving our mattress up, we receive less comments.  It's cool.  There's not much to say about moving a mattress up.  Unless we fell through it--I'm sure that would receive an overwhelming response.  Especially if there was an action shot included.

When I was studying art in college, there were days that extended into late nights where I would work on a drawing or painting or print for hours and hours and hours.  Then, the next day in class we would all hang our work on the wall and the teacher would critique each piece.  As the semesters wore on and us students got more comfortable, my peers and I would also jump in on the critiques--imputing our opinions, praise and thoughts on improvement.  It was great.  I grew as an artist and a person.  In the beginning,  I remember being a first year art student in my very first drawing class, Drawing 110 (killer!), one particular texture drawing I spent close to 8 hours doing.  It was a close up of a basketball and a towel.  When it came time for critique, the only thing my teacher pointed out was how although you couldn't see the whole ball (it extended off of the page), you could tell it wasn't round.  He concluded by saying, "that's unfortunate."  After 8 hours of work, I didn't receive a good grade or an ounce of praise, but I did learn a very valuable lesson:  use a compass!  In addition to learning some valuable skills as an art major, I also learned how to take constructive criticism, negative opinions and even praise.  I am a firm believer there is always, always ALWAYS room for improvement.  I believe that applies to paintings, projects and personality. 

Perhaps the idea of working and creating and then hanging my project up--or now posting it to this blog-- to be critiqued has been engrained in me.  It still excites me.  I still thrive off of feedback.  That being said, I hope you know that I don't expect all of your comments to be bubbling over with praise.   I can appreciate when a reader doesn't dig the purple wall in our living room.  If you think there is room for improvement in a project, like our 15-frame grid, let us know.  If you saw someone else do it better, leave a link, so we can improve for goodness sake.  It's why we blog, to share what we've been up to around here and to open communication with our readers.  

Yesterday, I made a comment on a fellow DIYer's blog, later to realize my comment had been deleted.  I was a little taken back.  I had never had a comment deleted before and I felt as if someone had virtually told me to "Shut up" without even giving me the satisfaction of saying what I wanted to first.  To clarify, I didn't think my comment was rude or even border-line bullyish.  I decided to write the blogger an email (names and project titles have been changed.):

Hey [Lisa],

I commented on your blog post today about "[Up and Up]" and how it was very similar to [Very Popular Blog's] "[One Upped.]" I went on to say "Round and round we go, us bloggers." My comment was simply stating how in the blogging world it seems there are very few truly original ideas, but rather ideas executed differently--perhaps even at different levels. I was shocked to see my comment deleted. I hope you didn't take offense, but even if you did--I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on comment deletion, and what qualifies for it on your blog.

As a DIY/design blogger myself, I encourage my readers to comment whether they like it or would leave it. I think publicly blogging is a great way to open up communication between readers and writers, to share ideas, to critique--even if all of the communication or comments aren't exploding with bubbly praise. I would love to hear your thoughts on this as I have fallen victim to what would obviously be grounds for deletion according to you.

Dish, sister. 

-Julia

http://chrislovesjulia.blogspot.com/

I receive the following response:

Hey Julia!

Thanks for your email! I am glad that I have the chance to tell you why! I did delete your comment but it wasnt because I dont want differing view point on my blog. I actually rarely delete comment on my projects or posts but because it was more directed to [Krissy] than me that is why I deleted it. She is one of my best friends and I didnt want her to see it and feel bad. To be honest I am not sure why you felt the need to leave it, obviously when we live in a world where we are so interconnected you will see the same thing a lot of different ways. I thought that by leaving that comment you were assuming that [Krissy] got the idea from [Lori], which she did not seeing as how she has done it more that just this year. I think that there is plenty of criticism in this world and although negative comments dont hurt my feelings, they do hurt many peoples. One thing that I see often in this online world is things being taken differently than they were meant because things are read a million different ways. If that is the case I am sorry for deleting your comment. I honestly have no hard feelings and actually really like your blog, you are super talented (I LOVE your painting that you just did that was the melty chevrony piece!) I hope that you can understand where I am coming from!

Although I am glad things were worked out, it did get me wondering about our own blog.  Would I ever delete a comment?  Chris and I have talked about it and have concluded if it is spam, crass or inappropriate for our parents' eyes, then yes.  This is only DIYing, so I can't really imagine how any of that would come into play, but we're just covering our bases.  We really want this to be a place where you can share your ideas and thoughts.  Whether praise or constructive criticism.

When I asked a few friends and family member's their thoughts on deleting comments in blogging, here is some of the responses:

As someone in publishing, I don't think any of the comments should be deleted. All feedback should be handled constructively. I say, use it as an opportunity to help your readers get to know you better.

If you are going to post online and leave things open to discussion, you need to try to be open-minded and listen. It gives the writer, as well as the reader, a chance to grow.

It's still the right of a blogger. And necessary in some cases. I think we all expect our reasonable comments to appear once we hit submit, but it's always possible they won't.

In my mind it comes down to severity. If the comment is severely negative and or over the top, then I can see a case for deletion. But the blog owner also must recognize than they will lose credibility in the process and feel that even though they will come across as fraudulent due to the severity of the comment it must be done.

Publish. Publish. Publish. It's what it's all about. I've had my comments deleted from peoples blogs before. And it really makes both my comment and my reading AND the blog/author of blog seem invalid. Block all or none.

Now it is your turn to weigh in.  What constitutes a deleted comment for your blog or, in your opinion?  Did I step over the line?  Should all bloggers take Drawing 110 before publishing a post?  *wink*

Ikea Latt Hack

Ah, the classic, cheap and standard Ikea Latt table.  We got this set for Greta for her first birthday nearly a year ago (I'll have a two year old next month.  Pinch me.). 

Of course to a toddler a table and chairs just their size is delightful no matter what it looks like--but after staring at it for a year, I knew that we could do better.  For the most part, this just hung out in her room and held her basket of books.  Occasionally, she would pull out a chair and actually sit and pretend to read.

Last night, after she went to bed, I snuck it out of her room to give it a little personality, a new life that didn't scream, "Ikea Latt!" and most importantly, I was hoping a lot more use.  After about 4 hours, the tabletop was now a chalkboard (I can't have all the fun), and I color blocked portions of the chairs and table for a contemporary, clean, mod look.  Ta Da!:

I had all of the paint on hand, so this project was a freebie.  For the chalkboard paint, I used Rustoleum, the same quart-sized can I had left over from my making my big chalkboard for our laundry room.  The white border around the chalkboard is right off the shelf semi-gloss white that we use for all of the trim in our house.  The green is Martha Stewart's Cornichon.  We have used it previously here and here.

The white and green color-blocking also got 3 coats of clear high-gloss Polycrylic to seal, protect and shine!  And boy does it shine:

I love the juxtaposition of the raw pine, the glossy color and the matte black chalkboard.  Once I showed Greta her "new" table and chairs--I realized I should have saved it for her birthday even if we would be regifting her own gift.  She went bananas.

And just when I was sure we had a left on our hands, she switched:

Of all the DIY projects we do around here, there is hands down nothing more rewarding than doing something special for Greta.  She gets so excited and is so grateful.  Now, I am just hoping the excitement of drawing on the chalkboard lasts the afternoon...at least.  

Open Shelving Evolution.

We love our open shelving in the kitchen.  It is so convenient to have our everyday dishes handy.  That being said, it has been a slippery slope keeping it organized and looking good.  When we put the shelving up back in August (photo on left), we put everything we thought we needed and wanted on the shelves.  I eventually painted the pots for the plants and that was fun for the summer (photo on right).

Fast forward a couple months...to yesterday and this is what our shelving looked like:

Yikes!  The blue potted succulent died a month after I got it and as you can see from the photo above, the other two were on their way out.  Why!?  Grrrr.  I needed a change anyway.  I packed up the pots for use later and cleared off both shelves and started fresh.

With the plant pots packed up,  I decided to do some other rejuvenating paring down.  We don't need multiple sizes of glasses out.  We're adults--and Greta uses her sippy cup for the most part, so having a dozen juice glasses taking up space didn't make sense anymore.  Also, having two sets of bowls that don't match is dumb.  For the record--I don't like either set much--and I would love new bowls someday soon, but having both out now isn't helping me like them more.

A few of Chris's cookbooks found their way to the shelf.  He reads his cookbooks cover to cover like novels and I found myself putting them away everyday.  But why?  If he reads them everyday, they deserve a spot.  After paring down what we don't need and adding what we do, this is where we ended up:

*Sigh* That feels better.  On the left of the bottom shelf, most accessible, is where I stored what we use multiple times a day.  Plates, a modest number of glasses and bowls.  A few more of Chris's books stacked next to the bowls so they won't topple onto our dishware add a pop of color.  The smaller clear plates we use occasionally, so keeping them out and extra handy was important to me. 

On the top shelf we have our fruit bowl (gotta love maximizing counter space) which is still very accessible and adds color, as well as smaller appetizer plates, sushi sets and serving dishes that we use often.  Whether we are having company over, or it is just a daily dinner for the two of us, Chris really likes his meals to LOOK as good as they taste.

 

I think it is a good idea for open shelving to evolve.  Hopefully those black bowls will evolve right outta here soon (I got them at Walmart when I was a freshman in college). But in the meantime, I am so happy that our shelving doesn't look like this anymore:

Sparse and dead:

Now--bold and organized:

Reason #76 to ALWAYS pick up the Mistinted Test Pots

I have a bunch of paint tester pots from the mistinted section at the hardware store.  They are always marked down to .50 and I use them for all sorts of small projects and even large paintings.  Today, I put a dark turquoise one I had on hand to use in the kitchen.  

It's true, this microwave cabinet isn't permanent.  None of the cabinets in our kitchen are staying once we get the renovation under way.  But, considering, we are still trying to finalize a layout (yep, we're back to the drawing board)--I figured we have some time before we break out the sledge hammers and this open microwave cabinet could use a facelift in the meantime.  

The interiors of all of our cabinets are this natural wood--which I really don't mind because the cabinets are usually closed.  The microwave cabinet never had a door on it--so this light wood with dark screws is always on display--which I do mind.

So I took out the microwave and gave it a good scrubbing and removed all the dust.

After a coat of primer and two coats of a very rich turquoise color (it's a mistinted tester pot, so unfortunately I don't have the name) this little cabinet looked 100x better:

Normally, I wouldn't recommend painting the interiors of your cabinets because dishes are constantly moving around in there which could make for some scratched paint in no time.  However, because we never move our microwave and the cabinet is an open one, there is no reason not to make it look a little more sophisticated.

I painted all 5 sides of the interior box twice and only used about half of the tester pot.  So does that mean that this project cost a whopping .25??  Why yes, I guess it does.  

An hour and .25 cents--no one has an excuse not to do this.  :)

Takin' it To the Mattresses.

Our bedroom has been slowly evolving.  We have painted the walls and our bed frame.  Got some swanky nightstands for cheap.  And I whipped up new lampshades that totally transformed some of the ugliest lamps I have ever seen.  Which means our room no longer looks like this:

Well, some parts do. We still don't have any window treatments and that OO-gly fan is still in place, but see those box-spring mattresses sneaking out from under the bedframe--they are officially gone and it only took 9 months, which is funny because the project only took around 30 minutes.

When we bought our bed back in 2008, it came with slats to hold the mattress.  And then my parents bought us this great mattress set--the box springs, too.  So, we used to stack the set on top of the slats and you could barely see any of the headboard.  Our bed was so high!  When we moved to this house, we wanted to get our bed set up immediately, and with the looming fan, having our bed as high as we had it in our apartment was a scary thought.  So we just kinda plopped the mattress set inside of the bedframe and called it good...for almost an entire year.

Yikes.  So one night this week, when we both had some energy--we moved our box springs into the third bedroom across the hall.  I love that they are just 2 twin boxsprings, because I know we will definitely use them when Greta and any future children are old enough for a "big kid" bed.  For now, they will fit in nicely with all the other junk we aren't using in that room.

This is the part when we moved the area rug from the dining room up to our bedroom.  Sadly, it was too small, so we brought it back down to the dining room and brought the slats up for the bed from the garage.  

Having the mattresses plopped inside of the frame for so long really stretched the frame out.  We had trouble trying to keep the slats in place while Chris screwed each one in.  Especially toward the middle, it was really bowed.  Word to the wise--your bed frame needs support, no matter how tired you are when you move into your house.  

Luckily, we eventually got all the slats screwed in with a little pushing and putting some screws in at an angle.  

And then we put our top mattress on and held our breath.  So far we haven't broke through the bed, so we're calling it a success.  And having space under our bed with no mattress showing makes me more giddy than I should admit.  It's just been sooooo lonnnngggg comminnnggg:

Psst.  We have officially ordered a new ceiling fan for our room.  We may have dropped hints on our facebook page.