before + after: buffet turned bedroom storage

One of my favorite things ever is to pick up old pieces of furniture from thrift stores or salvage places and fix them up. I love it. If I could, I would do it all the time. Unfortunately, I would probably run out of space real fast. There's something so satisfying about taking an ugly piece of furniture and completely turning it around. 

This summer, I decided that I needed some storage in my bedroom. Since I moved back to my parents' house, I now have like double the stuff. The stuff that I accumulated while living in Savannah PLUS all the stuff that had been sitting in my room. So, I needed some serious storage.

So, the search began. I looked at antique places. I looked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I went to the Brimfield Antiques Show (stuff was way overpriced if you ask me. But I did get a really cool old-fashioned picnic basket for half price! I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but it's cute!) Finally, after what felt like eons of searching, I found the piece at a second-hand furniture place in Holbrook. It wasn't pretty, as you can see. The hardware had to go. It was actually already falling off. And I wasn't crazy about the wood tone. But, the amount of storage was perfect. And it was a really solid piece. Dovetail joints, solid wood back, drawers slid without protest, and the cabinets opened nicely. Check, check, check and check!

So, I trucked back home and got to work! I hit up True Value for some paint and scored with a reject can of paint for $4. I was looking for a really dark charcoal and when I showed the paint sample to the paint lady. she told me that someone had returned a can of paint that was similar to the paint sample I had picked out. Bingo! $4 for a can of paint? Yes, please! I believe the color was California Paint's Dark Engine in a matte finish. PLUS, this paint was a paint AND primer in one. YES. Score.

I have to say, I love the look of the matte finish, however, it scratches really easily. If you decide to use a matte finish on a piece of furniture, use it on something that won't see a ton of use. So far, the scratches on this piece of furniture aren't too bad. I can deal with it because I just love the matte finish so much.

I decided to only paint the exterior because a) I'm lazy, and b) I really like the contrast of the warm wood tone with the painted black. Why not save yourself some work? The interior was in really good shape and only needed to be wiped down and vacuumed (there were a few spiders that decided this buffet would make an excellent home). So I figured, why not leave it as is?

And, as you saw, this piece seriously needed some new hardware. Anthropologie to the rescue! I absolutely adore their knobs and hardware and have been dying to use them somehow for years. I knew straight away that I was definitely using some Anthropologie knobs for the doors, but I wasn't sure what I was going to do about the upper drawers. I looked at Home Depot for handles since I really didn't feel like filling in the holes and drilling new ones. But nothing really spoke to me at Home Depot. Plus, the distance between the existing holes in the drawers was weird. None of the standard handle sizes fit. And the handles in the weird middle part there were smaller than the other two. Enter wood filler, sandpaper, a drill, and some more paint. 

Then came the new knobs. The upper drawers have the white ceramic melon knobs and the lower cabinet doors have the caricature knob. Omigosh, how I love these knobs. I love, love, love the hand-painted detail on the caricature knob. So pretty! And, while we're talking about Anthropologie knobs, I'm itching to use these gorgeous knobs on some future project. Or these.

Check out all that storage.

And please ignore all the dust on my floor.

Thanks.

 

Voila. The perfect piece for storage!

butternut squash + chickpea pasta [gluten free]

So, who watched the Super Bowl last night? I'm sure all we'll be hearing about is the power outage. The Outage. The Power Outage Super Bowl. And what about the commercials? I'm telling you, I feel like the commercials are becoming increasingly lamer every year. I remember when the Super Bowl commercials were funny. Like, the majority of them were funny. Not just a few. There were some good ones last night, and some really terrible ones. Before we get to today's dish, we've got to discuss some commercials. Here are my top three picks for the best and and the worst:

Best Commercials
1. The Oreo library commercial. Definitely the funniest commercial of the night, hands down. Fiiiirre!!!
2. The Tide commercial. I love it when things are taken to ridiculous extremes. And I loved the ending. Even though I was sort of rooting for the 49er's.
3. The Space Babies commercial. Very cute. Uvoplaywheelsonthebus!!!

Honorable mentions:
The Doritos goat commercial. It's a goat. Eating Doritos. Done.
Taco Bell's Viva Young commercial. That's what I'm going to be like when I'm old.

Worst Commercials
1. GoDaddy, the one with Bar Reafeli. This commercial made me want to empty the entire contents of my stomach. I'm not even including a link to this commercial. It was just gross. Disgusting.
2. The Bud Light superstition commercials. They were just weird.
3. Beck's Sapphire commercial. Again, just weird. Why is there a singing black fish? And why is it trying to be all suave and smooth? I just don't understand. The only acceptable place for singing fish is The Little Mermaid.

Mixed Bag
Budweiser's "Brotherhood" commercial. It was sweet, but it made it want to cry! I don't want to cry when I'm watching the Super Bowl. That's just not okay.

So that's my little wrap up of the Super Bowl commercials. Now, let's get onto the pasta! I was inspired to make this dish while flipping through this month's issue of Bon Appetit. The magazine included a recipe for fiorentini with butternut squash in their Seven Perfect Pastas article. The squash is shredded, so it almost acts like a cheese. Sort of. In my mind, anyway. So, I decided to use gluten-free corn macaroni for the pasta and to throw in some chickpeas for some added protein. Oh my goodness. Deliciousness. The shredded butternut squash really does mimic cheese, so it was sort of like a mac and cheese dish. Only with squash. And chickpeas. And I also threw in some greens at the end for some color.

butternut squash + chickpea pasta
gluten free, dairy free
recipe inspired by Bon Appetit

// ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups shredded butternut squash (about half of a medium squash, peeled)
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
about 2 tablespoons of dried sage (if you can, use fresh sage! I did not have any, so dried sage it was. If you can, use about 1/4 cup of fresh sage)
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
about 12 oz of corn elbows (I used Mrs. Leeper's)
some greens (baby spinach, baby arugula, mixed greens -- whatever floats your boat!)

// directions
Cook the pasta to al dente. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saute or sauce pan. I ended up using two pans since there was so much butternut squash! Add squash, chickpeas and sage and cook while stirring until the squash and chickpeas start to brown. Add a little salt and pepper.

Once the pasta is done cooking, add it to the butternut squash and chickpeas and mix it all around. Serve it with some greens on top. Enjoy!

super easy peasy valentine's day card

Hello, February!!!

Wow -- how in the heck is it already February 1st? Seriously. When did that happen? Oy.

I apologize for the lack of posts! I've been battling some lovely sinus issues yet again -- so much fun. Thanks so much, New England weather. I love it when it's like 10 degrees one day and 50 degrees the next. My sinuses love it too.

Anyhow. I figured the perfect way to kick off February would be a super simple Valentine's Day card. I love making cards. I hoard paper. Seriously, you should see the amount of paper I have. It's slightly terrifying. Well, especially in the state that its in now. I need like an entire wall of shelves and storage dedicated to my paper. Currently, I have boxes scattered all over the places with scraps and bits of paper along with one of those scrapbook paper accordion things that is overflowing with paper. And there are piles of paper just sitting on the floor. And on shelves. And basically any available surface.

I especially love making pop-up cards. They're so much fun and so easy to make! And they're super cute.

See? Let's get to it!

Here's what you'll need.

1. Scissors

2. Pencil

3. 3 pieces of paper (one for the inside, one for the outside, and one for the heart shape)

4. Double-sided tape

5. Ruler

6. Paper cutter

7. Gel pens/other pens for decorating/writing in the card

8. Bonefolder (I forgot to include it in the picture! D'oh!)

>> step one

Measure and cut your pieces of paper for the card to size. I like to use a cardstock for the interior paper, since it's sort of the "structure" of the card, and then a thinner paper for the exterior. For this card, I wanted a 5 by 3.5 size, so the pieces of paper measure 5 inches by 7 inches. Once you have the papers cut to size, fold them in half with a bone folder.

>> step two

Cut out the heart. [yeesh, that sounds a bit morbid!] I just freehanded the heart, but you can totally use a template if you'd like. [as you can see, I messed up on the first heart! too small!] Then, decorate it! I added some white dots around the edge of the heart with a white gel pen. You could also cut out a smaller heart with a different color paper to do a cute, layered heart.

>> step three

Take the interior paper and estimate where you'd like the heart to pop up. I took the heart and placed it on the outside of the paper, roughly where I wanted it to be. I then marked the spot with a pencil and cut two lines to that point. You can get super precise with a ruler if you want. But I'm lazy. I like to guesstimate. 

Open up the card and pop out the "stand" for the heart.

>> step four

Take some double-sided tape and attach it to the "stand." Then, attach the heart! Close up the card and attach some more double-sided tape along the edges. Double-sided tape is my new hero. So much easier than glue!

>> step five
Line up the taped side of the interior paper with the exterior paper and press down. Do the same thing with the other side of the card. Apply some double-sided tape to the edges and attach to the exterior paper.

>> step six
Voila! You're done! How cute is that?

There are so many possibilities with this pop-up card. You could have a double heart, or cut out a banner and write "Happy Valentine's Day." And this card can totally be applied to any occasion! I've made birthday cards with balloons and Christmas cards with trees and penguins -- the possibilities are endless! And it's so simple and always looks so cute when it's all done. The perfect card!

happy australia day! part two

(via)

(via)

(via)

(via)

Have a very, very happy Australia Day.

You're welcome.

happy australia day! part one

Note: Australia Day is really January 26th. Today is the observed Australia Day. So this is a few days late! 

Happy Australia Day, everyone! I really love Australia. It was the first country I ever traveled to. In fact, my trip to Australia was the first time I had ever been on a plane (well, not counting when I was like three months old or something, but I don't remember that) and it was the first time I had ever traveled anywhere without my family. It was the summer after fifth grade that I went on a People to People Student Ambassador trip to Australia. And it was one of the most amazing two weeks of my life. Australia has a very special place in my heart, and I'd love to go back. I just wish I could skip the 24 hour flight. That would be great.

In celebration of Australia Day, I've rounded up some Australian recipes. I wanted to try out making some of these over the weekend, but alas, did not have the time. They're all gluten-free, and there are no kangaroo or emu recipes. One thing I learned on my trip: emus are evil.

Pure evil.

One of the stops on our trip was at this emu/alligator farm. (I think this farm had emus and alligators. It's been a while, so the details are a little hazy!) Anyhow. This emu that you see right here tried pecking my face. I'm serious. Granted, I suppose I would be pretty cranky too if I were in a pen and people were taking pictures of me through the wire fence. So the emu and I didn't really get off to a good start.

That night for dinner, the options were either alligator chowder or emu sausage. Well, neither option sounded all that appealing to me. But, I decided to go with the emu sausage since the only experience I ever had with chowder was clam chowder, and as a 10-year-old, I hated clam chowder. I still dislike clam chowder. It's mainly the clams, I think. They're so chewy and gross. Anyway, the emu sausage seemed like the lesser of the two evils. Oh, how wrong I was. The emu exacted its revenge on me later that night.

Never eat emu.

Or kangaroo.

Or alligator.

Please.

At least I'll never eat emu again. I'm sorry, Mr. Emu.

So, you will not see any emu, alligator or kangaroo on my round-up. Or Vegemite. But, you will find other delicious Australian goodies! [gluten-free, of course!] So let's get to it!

1. Strawberry Kiwi Pavlovas. Okay, so kiwifruit is technically from New Zealand, but the pavlova is from Australia! It's said that the dish was created in 1935 at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth, Australia. Though, the roots of the pavlova do go back a bit further -- and potentially back to New Zealand. Home Cookery for New Zealand published in 1929 by an Australian author, Emily Futter, did have a recipe for Meringue with Fruit Filling -- similar to pavlova. Regardless, Australia has something to do with a pavlova. And this strawberry kiwi pavlova looks delicious! And how many times can I type pavlova?!

2. Fresh Kiwi Grape Juice. Get your vitamin C with this yummy drink! And, yes, I know its kiwifruit again. But New Zealand is so close. It's like right there. Australia by association, right? And kiwis are delicious. And nutritious.

3. Gluten Free Beer Damper. Those Australians. They love their beer. Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread, of sorts. Farmers, swagmen, and stockmen often baked their damper over a campfire. Stockmen, who traveled far and wide for months and months, created the bread since it only required the most basic ingredients. This particular recipe adds beer into bread. It isn't noted in the recipe, but be sure to use a gluten free beer, like Dogfish Head Tweason’Ale or Epic Glutenator.

4. Gluten Free, Paleo Lamingtons. Lamingtons are a traditional Australian dessert, dating back to 1902. Usually, a lamington cake is a sponge cake that is coated in chocolate icing and coconut. They can also have layers of cream or jam. This particular lamington is a vanilla sponge cake layered with chocolate icing and coconut. If you're not into the paleo thing, here's a regular ole gluten-free recipe for lamingtons with a chocolate ganache glaze. Yum, yum! Is there anything better than the combination of coconut and chocolate? Okay, well, a lot of things go with chocolate. But chocolate and coconut is pretty darn good!

5. Gluten Free Anzac Biscuits. Anzac biscuits are basically an oatmeal cookie. Wives would send anzac biscuits to their solider husbands since these biscuits kept for long periods of time. Original anzacs were a hard tack bread, a bit different from the anzac biscuits of today! These biscuits have been long associated with the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) -- hence, anzac biscuits! I'm pretty sure I wrote a paper on anzac biscuits in sixth grade. These would be delicious with some tea! I could go for that right now.

Hope you have a fantastic Monday, and a fabulous Australia Day!

a classic viennese affair

Okay, so we're back to The Letter Box! Clearly, I am an indecisive person. Changing my blog's name sounded like such a great idea the other night while I was drifting off to sleep. But then, after changing it, I started not liking the new name. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like it. It just sounded weird. And then, the internet was all wacky yesterday because someone ran into a telephone pole down the street. So I couldn't even change it back! I know, this long story about my blog name sure is thrilling. Let's get on to the good stuff!

Sophomore year of college, I had the incredible experience of studying abroad in Vienna. I absolutely fell in love with the city. The to-die-for cakes and pastries, the cobblestone roads, the beautiful old churches and buildings, the museums, the violin players in the Stephansplatz, the u-bahn (it's just fun to say!) Vienna is a truly gorgeous city that is just saturated with art, history, and culture. If I could, I would so move there in a heartbeat. Except my German is a bit rusty. Well, like really rusty. I'd have to work on that.

So of course, I felt compelled to create a Viennese-inspired wedding board. How romantic-slash-totally-awesome would it be to get married in Vienna? Yes, please.

1. First, we have a classic column-style gown, perfect for an evening soiree in such a historical setting.

2. Lots of gold accents, inspired by Klimt's paintings. A gorgeous gold-toned crystal headband for the bride.

3. Gold nail polish, with 18 karat gold flecks! Because you need a little bling.

4. Beautiful hand-made clutches that can be personalized for your bridesmaids!

5. Gold teardrop earrings covered in crystals completes the glamorous, classic look.

6. Vienna's Rathaus (City Hall), decorated for the holidays, looks straight out of a magical fairy-tale land (image from here)

7. A fox and mink jacket keeps the chill away as you celebrate long into the night!

8. Cafe Sacher, home of the famous sacher-torte. Instead of a traditional cake, serve up sacher-torte, an Austrian classic!

9. The Wallpaper City Guide to Vienna will keep your guests busy during their stay.

10. Beautiful deep blue sparkly shoes are your "something blue" and the perfect finishing touch to your classic ensemble!


Now, someone take me to Vienna! Please?

organization + indecision

So, as you can see, I decided to change the name of my blog. Nope, I changed it back! I wasn't too sure about The Letter Box -- I liked it, but I wasn't feeling it. I am a very indecisive person. I had like three other names for this blog before I came up with The Letter Box. And now I'm changing it again. Who knows -- maybe I'll go back to the Letter Box. I felt that I needed something a bit more cohesive with my portfolio and other social/interwebs media. (mediums?) I needed some streamlining. And every time I look at my portfolio website (named k. louise photography), I always think mmmmkay louise. Like, mmmkay? Get it? I know, I'm weird. Thus, mmkay louise. Nope, now my blog is back to the Letter Box! We'll see if it sticks. It's hard coming up with a name and branding and stuff that all goes together! Anyhow. This is step one of doing some streamlining and organization. I need some serious organization. My life needs some organization. Seriously. Here are some tips that you can use to get your stuff in line and organized.

1. Some ideas from Better Homes and Gardens for strategic organization and storage. Oh, I could use some of these. I wish my desk area looked like the one in the picture. Currently, I have piles of paper. Not the best organizational strategy.

2. LOVE this idea of using washi tape to make a calendar more organized and pretty!

3. Real Simple's Ultimate Bathroom Organizer guide. I'm sure I've got some products sitting around that are, oh, about five years old.

4. Some inspirational, organized closets from Apartment Therapy. It's so beautiful and...organized!

Ahh. Now I feel inspired to get ORGANIZED. I think it's time for a Staples shopping spree, no?