Can I Reupholster? Kinda...

Another long weekend project wrapped up!  This one I started a while ago and what a pain in the, well you know.

As per usual, I didn't get a good before picture, but I have a picture and it has a back story!  I've had this dressing chair (is that a thing?) for 20 some years now.  It's original upholstery was in pretty bad shape so I had a slipcover made for it.  This worked good for many years but then I started reading blogs about how easy it was to reupholster furniture and I got the itch to try it myself.  I decided this chair would be the perfect piece to practice on, if it didn't work out, I still had a slipcover for it so no harm!

Funny thing happened as I started to take the old upholstery apart; my 21 year old son panicked!  "What are you doing to that chair?", he asked.  "You're not planning on selling it are you? (I was.)  "That was my timeout chair!"

And so it was!  In fact, that's the only before picture I have of the chair; with my son sitting in it in timeout!  I don't remember why he was in timeout but he doesn't look too distressed about it.  Isn't he just the cuuuutest ever!?
Needless to say, I won't be selling this piece.

Taking all the tacks and staples out was the real pain in the butt.  Once that was completed, the reupholstering of it really wasn't that hard.  There are plenty of videos out there to walk you through it if you're interested because, alas, I didn't get many (none) pictures of it.

I did get some after photos though!

I painted the legs with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint (Shutter Gray)

I purchased Navy Blue Bull Denim Fabric - by the Yard

for the fabric and Wrights 183 9001-29A Cotton Piping, 50-Yard, 1/4-Inch, Naturalto use as the piping.

Not too bad for a first time, in my opinion.  Like I said though, I still have the slipcover!

Dutch Oven Homemade Bread

I made more homemade bread this weekend.  This time I baked it in a dutch oven.  Without further ado,  here's where you can get the recipe:

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

And here are the pictures!

Baking it in the dutch oven creates a wonderful crisp and golden brown crust.

Inside, the bread is airy and delicious!
Add a little butter and....heaven.

Homemade Bread, yummmm

Thanks to my wonderful son, I received this for Christmas:


Since I had the weekend off, I naturally decided to make some bread!  I spent about an hour reading the book and felt I was well prepared to try my hand at making Ciabatta bread.  Bread-making is a lot like soap-making; it requires patience.  The end product is not produced within minutes, or even hours.

In this case I began by  making a poolish starter (pictured), a wet sponge-like dough that ferments for at least a day.

Using a starter for bread-making creates better flavor and texture. A biga is anther type of starter; it is not as wet as the poolish.

The next day, I made the bread dough and added the poolish to the dough.  This dough needed a couple more hours to rise then I created a cloche with a large white dishtowel and allowed the dough to rise again for at least an hour.

Baking the bread was quite the experience.  I purchased this Emile Henry Rectangular Baking Stone, Black

I heated the stone, a cast iron pan, and the oven to 500 degrees and placed the dough on the stone.  Immediately after doing this I added hot water to the cast iron pan which created a steam in the oven.  Apparently, professional baking ovens have a push button that will send steam into the oven!  

I closed the oven door and every 30 seconds I would open the door and spray water against the back and sides of the oven to create more steam.  This was repeated 3 times, then I lowered the oven temperature to  450 degrees and the bread was allowed to bake for 20 minutes.

The finished product was not bad for a first time but room for improvement.  The bread crust was crisp, not too tough, and the flavor was very good! Needless to say, I'll be baking more bread very soon!

Beeswax Candles

A year or so ago, a friend at work gave me a giant block of beeswax for my soap making.  I haven't used beeswax in soap before and still haven't, although I am going to try it soon.  Regardless, the amount of beeswax he gave me was WAY more than I'd use in soap so I figured I'd make candles with it.  How hard could that be, really?  You just melt the wax put a wick in and let it dry....

Well, it was a MESS, and a slight disaster.  The candles never really burned well; they'd create this pit as they burned then burn themselves out.  All in all, it was a failure.

Not to be deterred I decided to give it another go and remelt the wax.  This time I did a little research and discovered I used too flimsy of a wick.  Beeswax is slow burning and therefore you need a sturdier wick.

I purchased these CandleScience 50 Piece Natural Candle Wick, Medium
with a wick clip on the bottom from Amazon.  I set my containers on a paper towel, cut a hole in a piece of masking tape that I taped to the top, and slipped the wick though the tape.  This secured the wick as I poured the wax into the container.

I also learned, as I was researching my previous failure, that beeswax burns really hot and can sometimes crack the container it's in.  Blending the wax with a 'cooler' oil helps keep the temperature down.  Because of this I added one cup of coconut oil to a pound of wax as it was melting.

*Helpful Hint*  Do not melt the wax in any container you plan to keep.  You will NOT be able to clean the container.  I find it's easier to use an old coffee can, or in this case metal cookie can, as a double boiler,

Before I poured the wax into the containers, I added a little grapefruit fragrance oil for a nice natural scent that would complement the scent of the beeswax. 

With just these couple of changes, I'm happy to report, my candles now burn steadily, without pits, and smell fresh, not overpowering.

Swing Arm Vanity Makeover

Here's hoping everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great one!  Before I get started on my latest sidewalk find, I want to re-share an article I read this morning that once again explains how everyday  products, including skincare products, are contaminating our bodies.  Many chemicals found in these products have been linked to cancer and birth defects.  On that note, all of Lora's Beauty soaps and skincare products are free from toxic chemicals.  They are made the old-fashion way, by hand and with ingredients you can pronounce.  I've just replenished the Patchouli Cedar Sage Bar in the online store as well.

Now, on to another furniture redo.

This little table I saw on the sidewalk on my way home from work a couple weeks ago.  I liked the shape of it and the fact that it had drawers and stood on skinny legs.  I had no idea why it had  arms that swung out from each side, however.  When I explained my find to my mom, she knew instantly what it was, a swing arm vanity.

Apparently, back in the day when multiple people shared a bathroom in a house, women used these tables to apply and store makeup.  From the swinging arms a skirt would be hung which would conceal a stool for sitting and the drawers when not in use.


Here's the vanity after I re-glued the top, repainted it and added new pulls.

I used milk paint and distressed the legs and the edges of the piece.

The arms still swing readily and will soon sport a new skirt.





It's always nice to give an old, discarded piece new life and learn something new at the same time.

Blackberry Jam No Pectin

I tried something new this weekend.  Last summer was the best summer EVER for blackberry picking.  We went 4 or 5 times and came home with at least 3 pounds of berries each time.  I ended up freezing almost all of them, except the ones I pickled or made into jam using pectin.  Well this weekend I ran out of jam AND I had no more pectin!  I really didn't want to go to the store (it's kinda cold outside) so I started researching how to make blackberry freezer jam with out pectin.  Come to find out, it's not that hard at all; it's also better as in you don't need as much sugar.  Pectin imparts a sour taste in your jam, to get around that people add more sugar, twice as much as you'd need if you didn't use it.

To begin with, gather up 9-11 1/2 pint sized jars and lids.  I used glass jars although you might want to use the plastic ones if you have them since you will be freezing the jam.

Next heat 1 pound of blackerries over medium hear until they are soupy.

Once soupy, add 2-3 cups of sugar (or honey if you'd prefer).  Bring this mixture to boil and continue to stir for 20 minutes while berries are boiling.  This release the natural pectin all berries have.

Allow the berries to cool slightly before transferring them to your containers.  You should notice the berries have thickened.

Once completely cool, add lids and freeze!

It's really that simple.  You can do this with any berry really.  There is no need to add pectin or unnecessary sugar.

Gift Ideas

Every Christmas my son asks me what I would like for a gift.  Once put on the spot, my mind goes blank; so this year I'm going to try something different and make a blog post of what I consider to be AWESOME gifts for anyone (and if, by chance, anyone I know looks at it....all the better!)

*Warning*  This list is weighted with food and drinks, books about food and drinks, and gadgets to help eat  or make food and drink;  because well, food and drinks are AWESOME.  Also, *Warning* I'm going to practice using semicolons in this post because I read this recently on how to use them and  I'm all now like, why didn't I use this awesome punctuation before!?

Ok, so let's begin; in no particular order here are some FABULOUS gifts:

1. Pizza Rocker -- This gets bonus points because it's also a really cool knife and I have this soft spot for knives and that does NOT make me weird, thank you.  Lately, we've been making homemade pizza every week and this cutter would be just the item to make our pizza experience even better!
2. Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again
 Ok, I'm a little late to this fan club but I read this article about Ina Garten (THE Barefoot Contessa) and thought, hmmm, she's kinda awesome; so naturally, I need a book of hers!
3. Plant Hanger  This isn't technically food or drink related on the surface; look a little deeper though.  Can't you picture a couple or three bowls of herbs growing on it?  I thought so.
4. Chocolate Whiskey; enough said.
5. IMUSA, A417-82501, Electric Pressure Cooker, 5-Quart
 This was on my Amazon wish list and I don't remember exactly why.  I'm going to trust my instinct and figure I had a good reason for putting it there and it probably had to do with chocolate cake.  Speaking of which, I overheard this conversation at work about someone making chocolate cake in a slow cooker!  Seriously!  Well, I'm not putting slow cooker on the list this year.
6. Wine from Shallon Winery in Astoria, Oregon.  Unfortunately the only way to get this wine is to visit the winery, but lucky for you, the trip is so worth it!  This winery is a one man operation and he's about 80 years old.  The first thing he'll do when you walk in is lock the door.  Don't be alarmed, he just wants to devote all his attention to you and not be bothered by any other pesky customers.  Allow at least 30 minutes to listen to his spiel and taste his wines.  This will not be a quick 'run in for some chocolate wine' kind of trip.  WHOA!  Did she just say CHOLOCOLATE WINE!?  Yes I did and it is fabulous!!!

Here's a picture of my bottle from my last trip (in the pretty blue wrapping) and my bottle of spiced apple wine which I'll be serving with Thanksgiving dinner, thank you.

1. 9. Soap from Lora's Beauty -- Ok, this is just obvious promotion of my wonderful, artisan soaps and no, I don't expect my son to give me these for a gift as I have all I want!  However, for those of you who haven't tried the awesomeness that is artisan soap, may I recommend a few.  My favorite is probably the Cocoa Butter Cream and you can't go wrong with tossing in a Mug-o-Beer Bar with your gift and a couple bars of Himalayan Salt Soap would round out a perfect gift to be loved and used by anyone!

Well, that's all I have for now but I think this may be the best gift guide this year as well as the best post with semi colons!