Icing on the Cake

Hi everyone! It's been a while, huh? Not much has been happening as far as remodeling around here, but that should be changing soon I hope. We won't be able to finish the wood floor in our bedroom. I have found a laminate floor that I like, and we may be using that instead.

I wanted to share a quick and easy recipe that I came across last week. If you are like me and don't particularly care for store-bought cake icing, you might like to try this. It is not too sweet and has a whipped cream consistency and flavor.

1 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Mix water and cornstarch and heat on medium, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until mixture thickens. Set aside and let mixture reach room temperature.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup of sugar

In a mixer, beat butter until creamy then add the sugar. Gradually add the cooled cornstarch and water mixture and continue beating until light and fluffy.

I think this icing would be good on any flavor of cake, but my favorite is red velvet so that's what I made. I hope if you try it you like it as much as I do!

Lovely Living Areas

I was browsing through the website House to Home and came across some great inspiration pictures, some of which I posted below. There are so many gorgeous rooms on this site, definitely something for everyone.

I think we may be able to finish our bedroom floor after all. We have some more of the salvaged floor boards and I went through most of it today and found some decent pieces. Hopefully we will be able to find enough to do the rest of the floor. Keep your fingers crossed for me!








Have a good day everyone & a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Eva

New Family Room Project

I am sad to say that the wood floor in our bedroom didn't work out after all. After getting about 3/4 of the room finished, we found the remaining wood to be extremely warped and/or rotted. It was not in usable condition. I thought about finishing the rest of the floor with new oak planks but I was afraid it would look too "new", even after refinishing all of the floor. I didn't want the new part to stick out like a sore thumb. I finally decided to scrap that project and move on. I have been too disgusted with the floors and myself to even blog about it! But I am now ready to dive into another project!

We decided to do the family room because it is a room we use every day and it would maybe serve as inspiration for what we will do with the rest of the house. We decided to panel (yes panel!) the entire room in cedar tongue-in-groove planks. I never thought I would like something like that, but hubs finally talked me into it. We put some up earlier and will do more later.

The planks are about 8 ft. long. The wall in the picture is 12 ft. high. We decided to put up the 8 ft. pieces and then put 4 ft. pieces on the bottom, and we will then put up chair rail where the ends will butt up against one another. Since the ends of our planks aren't tongue-in-groove I didn't see any other alternative that would have looked o.k.


The planks are unfinished and, since I like the color and patina of the wood, I am thinking a matte, non-yellowing poly would be good to finish it with. I will be looking for some inspiration pictures to give you an idea of the direction I am going in with this room.

Wishing everyone a good weekend!

Eva

Out Sick

We have either a cold or flu virus going around in our household. Last week I had it, my daughter and youngest son have it, and hubby came home early from work not feeling well. Check back with me next week for pics of the floor. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Eva

Remember Me?

It has been quite a while since I last posted! For the past couple of days I have been reading and catching up with lots of other blogs that I enjoy. I have been working on the master bedroom floor by myself here and there when I get the time, and have almost gotten it finished. I will have pictures of it to post this weekend. I have found some odds and ends for the room in my junking expeditions, which I will show you this weekend as well. It is coming along slowly but surely.
Hope everyone is doing well!

Eva

My Virtual Master Bedroom

Since we have started putting the oak hardwood floor in our room, I have been thinking about how I ultimately want the room to look when all the remodeling is finished. I went "shopping" online tonight and found some examples of what I would like to do in this room.

First I decided on bedding. I would love white bedding in my room. I'm not sure how practical this will be since we do have children and they like to romp around on our bed. But I do suppose that is what bleach is for.

I would like an iron bed like the one below, except I would prefer it to be weathered, with some rust here and there.

Then I started thinking about wall color. Since I would like to have a serene feeling in the room and nothing too jarring, I decided a warm antique white might be the color I will use.

I have a china cabinet that my mom gave me about a year ago. It was in my living room, cluttered with books, magazines, dusty knick-knacks, and the various odds and ends my kids would throw in it. I am reading "Straight Talk on Decorating" by Lynette Jennings and in it she talks about re-purposing furniture to use in ways other then originally intended. So, I got the idea that I would remove my old, laminated, worn, and ugly dresser and chest of drawers from my room and use the china cabinet for storage instead. I had taken the glass from the doors of the cabinet a while back and was going to replace it with chicken wire. Now I plan to put some bead board panels in and use it for an armoire. I found a color I like at Lowe's last weekend called Crocodile Tears that is a mossy green like the color swatch shown below. I think that is the color I will paint the china cabinet a.k.a. armoire.

I want simple window treatments that will let in lots of light, but still allow privacy when needed. I already have cafe shutters in my bathroom and LOVE them! I would like to use them in my bedroom as well.

I saw these window treatments on walmart.com and love them. Simple and pretty.

It will be interesting to see if this room will turn out exactly as I envision it. Good night all!

Eva

Andrew Wyeth

I was searching some art sites today and came across these Andrew Wyeth prints. I was immediately attracted to the earth-toned palette and the rural settings he depicted in his paintings. At the same time, I noted a sort of somber, lonely quality about them.
I do really like the prints though. What do you all think about them ?

"Christina's World" is the first print. Christina was Wyeth's neighbor and was afflicted with polio.

The second print is titled "Master Bedroom" and basically depicts a dog's bond with its owner.

The third print is called "Ides of March", the fourth, "Big Room", and the fifth, "Around the Corner".

The sixth print is called "Ground Hog Day". Notice the lone place setting?
I get a melancholy feeling from most of these. Maybe it's just me. Click here to learn more about Andrew Wyeth.

Good night all!

Eva