Guest Posting Today at Primitive & Proper

Happy Friday, everyone!

It is such a gorgeous day here...I was driving home earlier and leaves were raining down in the sunshine.  Fall is very much here and I'm loving it!

Just a quick post to let you know I'm sharing a furniture painting project over at Primitive & Proper today.  It's been awhile since I've painted any furniture around here, mostly because I've taken a paintbrush to almost every piece in my house at this point! 

Many of you probably already know Cassie of Primitive & Proper and I just adore her to pieces. I was so happy to have a chance to guest post. Here's the before photo of the project I worked on...now go visit Cassie to see the after photos!

Take care,

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

Good morning...

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

We actually celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday this year since it was easier for a few family members who were working or already had one or more Thanksgiving dinners to attend on Thursday. And honestly, I really liked doing it on Friday.  It gave us an extra day to prepare and since we're not Black Friday shoppers, we didn't have anything else to do that day. :)

Between my side of the family, my husband's family, and some friends, there were more than 15 people squashed gathered in our house.  An additional table and seating were very necessary since the dining room table only comfortably handles 6! And this is what I came up with in the living room...

The picnic table and bench were Craigslist finds from earlier in the fall that I painted Navajo White with my paint sprayer.  (A second bench came with the set, but I didn't use it here.)  They're meant to be used on the screened-in porch in warmer weather but they sure came in handy for this gathering. 

The tabletop decorations were kept ultra-simple with a linen table runner sprinkled with fake leaves, then topped with a small fall centerpiece. 

The three bistro chairs are from IKEA.  And the two blue chairs at the ends of the table were $5 yard sale finds painted in ASCP Duck Egg, lightly distressed, then waxed.

I really {heart} these blue chairs.

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I can really begin to think about Christmas. Yay!  I'm one of the few that doesn't put up the Christmas tree until December is actually here.  Does anyone else still do that?  :)

And speaking of Christmas, many of you have already begun your Christmas shopping. If you're considering giving the gift of handmade candles, check back here later tonight...I'll be posting a Cyber Monday coupon code for my Etsy shop!  

Enjoy your Sunday,
Erin

Back Home Again...and the Next Stop on the Home Tour

Handmade soy candle GIVEAWAY 
now through November 20th! 
Click here to read about my new Etsy shop and enter for up to five chances to win a set of holiday soy candles!

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Well, hello there!  I slipped out of town last week for a trip to Kentucky with a couple friends to attend the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and to spend some time in the Lexington area visiting horse farms.

When I returned home earlier this week, I was greeted by two surprises...

 
My husband and brother-in-law bought this tom turkey while I was away...and, yes...he's going to be Thanksgiving dinner. :(

The second surprise came later when I checked my blog email account: I was stunned to learn that I won The DIY Club's 31 Days of Painting Contest!  With nearly 100 seriously outstanding entries, I figured there was no chance I'd make it to the top 10, much less win the grand prize of two free gallons of paint from Dutch Boy.  Thank you DIY Club and Dutch Boy!

My winning entry was the cane back living room set I painted and then had reupholstered in drop cloths for my English-inspired reading nook.  I shared with you guys the before and after photos earlier this year, but here's a quick refresher.

And with fresh paint:

However, when I posted the after pics, I still had many more plans for this space.  Since this room is now finished, it's the next stop on the Carolina Country Living home tour!

This loft is just 8 feet wide and runs 15 feet long, and it overlooks the living room and dining room below.

I imagine when my son gets older, this will be his space as it's adjacent to his bedroom. But for now, I've co-opted it and have tried to inject a bit of vintage English country flair, inspired mostly by Cath Kidston fabrics.

Since finishing the furniture set, which was an auction find, I polished the room by white-washing the horizontal tongue-and-groove boards on the back wall with Minwax's Pickling Stain.

Envelope-style pillow covers made with Cath Kidston fabrics found on Etsy adorn the sofa and side chairs.  The larger pillow is covered in Provence Rose in Light Blue.  The smaller pillow is covered in Summer Blossom in Light Blue.

For an easy-peasy tutorial on how to make the pillow covers, visit Restoration House. 

This tutorial changed my sewing life!

This darling little pillow is a new arrival courtesy of Etsy shop Cornflower Creations.  The aqua ticking, hint of red gingham and the ditsy floral spiced up with the polka dots made me melt!  After seeing this pillow, I think I need to work more polka-dotted fabrics into this space. :)

In addition to all the floral pillows, there are three linen pillows on the sofa.  Two round ones with a button detail hide behind the blue floral Cath Kidston pillows below.  And a bolster that was recovered in linen by my upholsterer sits in between.

A pair of gorgeous yellow French Provincial tables from Spruce Antiques are a fun, colorful counterpart to the subtle hues of the cream and grey-painted furniture and drop cloth cushions.  They pick up the hints of yellow in the Cath Kidston pillows and further brighten the space.  The vintage hooked rug is a neutral backdrop to this sassy table.

Simple curtains sewn from fabric found at Hancock Fabrics dress the four windows.  I have no idea the manufacturer of this semi-sheer, quilting fabric, but it reminded me a little bit of the linen and faded floral fabrics made famous by Cabbages & Roses, another iconic English company.

For a romantic but frugal touch, the fabric panels were hung on $2 tension rods, then gathered, balloon style, and tied up with ivory grosgrain ribbon.

In between the windows, over the sofa, hangs a scrap of Cath Kidston stationery in an IKEA frame repainted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg.

The floor lamp was a purchase made by my husband in his bachelor days.  A quick coat of white spray paint on the base, and white pom-pom fringe hot glued to the beige shade, spiffed it up in a whimsical kind of way.

Milk glass adds to the vintage feel of the room. Here I cut a circle of fabric from Lecien's Flower Sugar line to provide a little more contrast between the white glass and the tinned candle, while adding another dose of this happy shade of yellow.

This wood tray was a thrift store find that I spray painted in Krylon's Cornflower. I like to keep my British home magazines here, since it only seems fitting!

The non-matching chair in the room is a slipper chair that came from my childhood bedroom.  Reupholstered in Waverly's Rose Sonata in Robin's Egg, and a coat of paint added to it's turned wooden legs (capped in casters!), I think it adds an element of older English style.   

Bright flowers--in this case, dried strawflowers--look sharp on a yellow table.

The only thing missing from this picture is me, stretched out on the sofa with a book in hand! :)

Thanks for coming along for the latest stop of the house tour.  We'll continue with the kitchen next week!

Hope you're having a great weekend,
Erin

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B &A: Cane Back Living Room Set

 Carolina Country Living's first-ever giveaway goes through Saturday night. Come check out the assortment of cottage-inspired goodies I'm offering and enter for your chance to win!

This giveaway is now over.

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So, before we get to the furniture, I need to do some cooking/baking venting.  I'm in a rambling kind of mood, so bear with me. :)

I love to bake and am usually very competent, even skilled, at it.

However, last week I made strawberry jam that flopped and turned out to be more of a sauce.

I'll admit, I didn't exactly "follow directions," so it was my fault. (It was a no-pectin recipe and I didn't do the plate test since I was being cocky after successfully making marmalade back in the winter. Lesson learned!)

The annoying part of it is that I now have four pints, seven half-pints and four 4-ounce containers of the stuff.  I was planning on making a year's supply of jam, hence why I made so many jars. Now we'll just have to suck it up and eat runny jam on our toast because my practical and frugal sides won't stand to toss perfectly good tasting, if ugly, food.

Today, I made a chocolate cake. I've dubbed it the PMS Cake because it'll completely satisfy those intense monthly cravings for sugar and chocolate. :)

The recipe comes from Staci at Life at Cobble Hill Farm and it is divinity on a plate. I made one Friday afternoon and it was completely devoured by Saturday night! (Not all by me, I promise!)

Since Aunt Flo will be visiting any day now, I had a hankering for some of that cake today and decided to make another.  It seriously satisfies like no other. 

The recipe calls for two sticks of butter in the cake, and one for the icing. I had just one stick left from the last cake, so I decided to sub coconut oil for the two sticks of butter in the cake batter.

At this juncture, let's do some simple home ec math real quick.

Two sticks of butter equals how many tablespoons, class?

Excellent, you are correct: 16.

So, how many cups does 16 tablespoons equal?

Right again, you smart people!  Sixteen tablespoons equals one cup.

Okay, remember this little lesson for later.

So I proceeded to make the batter, but it seemed a little greasier than I remembered. However, once the eggs were beaten in, they bound the batter together and all looked well.

Continuing on my merry, little Betty Crocker way.

Put the cake in the oven. It took longer to bake this go-round, but only by 7 minutes.

No biggie.

While the cake was cooling, I made the frickin' delicious boiled icing, poured it on the cake and let it sit for awhile to soak in.

Fingers tap-tap-tapping on the table.

Then I cut myself a piece and something was terribly amiss.

I sampled a corner piece and it just wasn't as sweet as the first cake. And gawd was it dense and oily.

I tried a bit from the center of the pan and it was moderately better tasting, but only because the icing was thicker there due to the fact the middle had settled noticeably after cooling.

I notice I could have moisturized both of my hands with the grease on my fingertips.

Then my mom popped in.  She cut a small piece and declared it decent tasting (because she's far too kind and doesn't have the ability to be truly critical) but not nearly as good as the first one.

Was it because I used coconut oil this time?  Or because I used dark cocoa powder as opposed to the regular cocoa like I did last time?  WHAT HAVE I DONE TO THIS CAKE?!?

And then I remembered.

When measuring the coconut oil earlier in the afternoon, my addled, pre-menstrual brain converted 16 tablespoons of fat to 16 *ounces.* That means I used 16 *ounces* of melted coconut oil in the recipe instead 16 *tablespoons.* 

Class, how many cups equals 16 ounces?

Yep.  That'd be two cups.

Needless to say, I immediately made an additional note on my recipe card that says to use only one cup of butter or coconut oil for the cake in the future.

Hand to forehead.

Let's hope this is my last kitchen blunder for awhile. My hormones are very unhappy about not having that awesome chocolate cake right now. 

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Anyhoo, now onto a project I didn't screw up!  Hurray!

This cane-backed living room set was an auction find from January 2010. It sat in my loft for over a year before receiving multiple coats of primer and paint back in February.

Sofa

Side chair to the left, rocking chair on the right

I took the painted pieces to my upholsterer, along with several washed and pressed drop cloths, and now here they are! 

Though it's difficult to tell in these photos, the chairs are painted Dove White by Sherwin Williams and the sofa is Gentle Rain, a whisper-soft grey, by Behr (but mixed at SW.)  Like I said, all the seat cushions are upholstered in drop cloths, while the bolster and round pillows on the sofa are linen from the same bolt used on this cane-back sofa I finished in March.

I tossed a blue ticking pillow on the rocking chair so it wouldn't look so naked for the sake of the photos, but that pillow actually belongs with its mate on my sofa downstairs.  Very soon, I will be making envelope-style pillow covers using Cath Kidston fabric I purchased from Etsy in these--as the British say--colourways:

Cath Kidston Provence Rose in Light Blue

Cath Kidston Summer Blossom in Light Blue

My eventual goal is to make this a British reading/lounging loft. This topic could be a post of its own, but ever since running across several wonderful blogs like Posy and HenHouse, I've grown to love the cheery colors and patterns of Cath Kidston's fabrics, and the general coziness of this style of British decorating.  

Future plans for this room including taking an old pine Pier One coffee table and painting a whitewashed Union Jack on top.  And I read somewhere that Briwax makes a pickling lime.  As you can see, there is a ton of natural wood on the walls, ceiling and floor of the loft and I'd like to break this up a bit by liming the horizontal wood siding on the wall with the windows.  And maybe even paint the window trim white. Daring, aren't I? :)

We'll see what happens!

Erin

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All Things Furniture at Perfectly Imperfect

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Air Your Laundry Friday at Freckled Laundry

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Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

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The DIY Club's 31 Days of Painting