Bathroom Redo

As mentioned before, Tony and I redid our bathroom and laundry room.  Our downstairs powder room was in major need of a face lift.  The room was a dark brown color.  This bathroom was my least favorite room in the house.  Here's the before pictures...



Bathroom: Before


We wanted to lighten up the room so we went with a black, white, and grey color pallet.  We primed and painted the entire room.  All of the trim was repainted and it made a huge difference!  Instead of buying a new vanity and medicine cabinet, we repainted the vanity and kept just the mirror.  New light fixtures, knobs, towel and toilet paper holders, and facet provided a much cleaner look.  The project took longer than we wanted because of the sink.  It took three different orders to get an unbroken sink. Here's how it turned out!  The bathroom is now one of my favorite rooms.



Bathroom: After



Bathroom: Entrance

Bathroom: Laundry

We've got to figure out our next project... Stay tuned!

Laundry Closet Redo

Tony and I recently re-did our bathroom and laundry room.  The original laundry room was dark brown, poorly painted and just gloomy.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the laundry closet before but it was the same dark brown as shown in the picture below.  I wanted something bright and cheery.  We wanted to make the laundry room as functional as possible with the little space we had.  

Before color

After spending a lot of time on Pinterest looking at my options, here's what I came up with.  The cabinet holds everything from detergent and stain remover to garment bags.  We even have room to spare.  The rod is for hanging clothes when they are still warm so they don't wrinkle.  The custom made counter is perfect for laying items flat to dry.

Completed Laundry Closet

The biggest dilemma we had was the counter-top.  We had a 31" by 32" space to fill so we decided we would have to build something. We looked at plywood but it wasn't going to be thick enough and it would look like plywood.  We wanted something that would look like a kitchen counter-top.  Tony came up with the idea of using a door.  We found and interior door that was 32" wide that we could cut to length.  After measuring twice and cutting once, we did a dry fit.  Cut number one was a perfect fit.  All that was left was to paint it a glossy black.

Creating the custom counter-top

Completed counter-top

Have you redone your laundry room??

Buttermilk Biscuits

One of Tony's favorites is biscuits.  Anywhere we go, if he can get a biscuit instead of toast or an English muffin, he will.  I had leftover buttermilk from the Lemon Poppy Seed Cake so I thought I'd try biscuits.  They are super easy and came out amazing!  Here's the recipe.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Bridal Edition 
Makes: 12 biscuits
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 14 minutes

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tarter
3/4 cup of butter, cut up
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
3. Cut in butter until it resembles the photo below.

Butter cut in to the dry ingredients.

4. Make a well in the butter and flour mixture and add the buttermilk.
5. Use a fork and mix well until everything is moistened.
6. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until it sticks together.
7. Pat or roll dough until it is 3/4" thick.
8. Cut biscuits using a 2 1/2" round cutter.  Flour the cutter in between to prevent the dough from sticking to the cutter. Reform the scraps as needed. (I had to reform 3 times.)
9. Place biscuits 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Pre-oven biscuits

10. Bake 10 to 14 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and serve warm.

Cooling biscuits!

If you have leftover biscuits, seal them in a air tight container.  To reheat, microwave for 20 seconds.  You can also wrap the biscuit in a damp paper towel to keep the biscuit moist.

Enjoy!

How To: Build A Custom Door

When Tony and I bought the house, the biggest security concern was the back door to the garage.  The door had been significantly neglected.  When we first moved in, we just stacked boxes in front of the door to make it difficult to get in.  Tony and I thought it would be easy to just buy a new door.  As it turns out, it's not a standard size door because it is only 27 3/4" wide.  To have a custom door made, it was going to cost us ~$800.  That was not going to happen!

Door: Before

Last year, my parents came to visit over the 4th of July.  My dad helped with little things like replacing downspouts and bathroom fans and teaching me to use a chain saw to trim the three large maple trees in our front yard.  The biggest thing we did was build a new door.  We thought about large planks screwed together to look like a barn door but that was going to be too heavy.  We decided to go with 3/4" plywood.  I didn't take pictures throughout the process but here's what we ended up doing.

How To: Build A Custom Door
1. Determine the door size opening.  Subtract about 1/4" in each direction to allow for clearance.

2. We had Lowe's cut us the door dimensions and rip us 3" strips to frame the door.  The 3" strips allowed us to make the 1 1/2" thick to allow us to put the door on hinges.

3. We used a mider saw cut the 3" strips to length and cut the corners.

4. Glue the framing strips to the door and secure with screws.

5. Prop the door up next to the opening and mark the hinge location.

6. Remove the pin from the hinge and screw into the door jam and the door separately. 

7. Add additional screws where the hinges are screwed in to the door to provide additional support.

8. Paint the door with exterior primer and paint to protect it from the elements.

9. Hang door.

10. Add hardware such as a handle or a lock.

Door: After

Enjoy your new sturdy door!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

A couple of years ago, my mother in law gave us a lemon poppy seed cake recipe.  I haven't made it in over two years but decided to try it out again.  We finished the first loaf in a couple days so I made a second one!

Enjoy!

LEMON POPPY SEED CAKE
Makes: One 8x4 Loaf
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients:
Cake
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter (room temp)
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

Icing
4 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions:
1. Cream butter and sugar together on medium until fluffy.
2. Add egg and egg whites, beating after each.
3. Add vanilla and lemon rind.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.  
5. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk by alternating.  Be sure to begin and end with the dry mixture.
6. Coat 8 x 4 loaf pan with shortening and dust with flour.
7. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.
8. Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar to make the icing.
9. Allow loaf to cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan.

Fresh from the oven!

10. Poke holes in the top of loaf and pour icing mixture over the loaf.

Freshly iced!

Let me know how your cake turns out!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt

If you don't have an ice cream maker, here's a great alternative!  You just mix everything together and you have an awesome frozen treat!  It won't be as creamy is the Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream but it is just as good!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH FROZEN YOGURT 
Makes: ~4 cups
Prep time: 25 minutes
Freeze time: 4+ hours

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients: 
1/2 cups Unsalted Butter, Softened 
1/2 cups Packed Dark Brown Sugar 
1/4 cups Granulated Sugar 
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 
1 cup All-purpose Flour 
1/4 teaspoons Baking Soda 
1/4 teaspoons Salt 
3/4 cups Mini Chocolate Chips Or Chunks 
1 cup Vanilla Yogurt 

Instructions: 
1. In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together. 
2. Add vanilla and beat until combined. 
3. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, soda and salt. Add the chocolate chips and stir. 
4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and fold in gently. 
5. Add yogurt and stir again. 
6. Place in a container and cover with lid. Freeze until set, ~4-6 hours (I usually freeze it overnight.) 

Let me know what you think!

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Another recipe that I have found that is easy and reheats well is a Chicken Broccoli Casserole.  For about just over $10, you have a meal that will feed 2 people for 3-4 meals.  For me, the chicken is always the most expensive thing at ~$6. 


CHICKEN BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
Makes: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:
Approximately 4 cups of shredded chicken (1 rotisserie chicken) 
16 oz bag of frozen broccoli (cooked) 
1 can of cream of mushroom soup 
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese 
Garlic powder and pepper to taste 

Note: You can use any type of shredded chicken. Rotisserie chicken works great for this. I highly recommend shredding it when it is still warm. As it cools, it gets harder to shred.

Pre-mixing

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a baking dish.

3. Cook for 25 minutes. 

That's it! Enjoy!!

Please let me know what you think!