Friday, March 29, 2013
Hot Cross Buns
In my family, hot cross buns are an Easter tradition that I just can't quit. There is something about a delicious, doughy treat that is only around for a limited time that just sparks my inner child. So I couldn't help myself when I saw them in the store.
I'm usually a make it from scratch kind of girl, and maybe one day I will dive into making these yummy treats myself, but for now, picking up that box of Entenmann's is part of the memory. And having access to these 365 days per year is probably not a good idea :)
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Our Paint Colors
There are no pictures of us actually painting of our place. We got it done. It's not really the most exciting piece of our story. Our condo has 3 main rooms (large living area open to the kitchen, master bedroom, and guest bedroom). Before we moved in, every wall in the condo was yellow. Truthfully, the place is sunny enough with all of the natural light that we get, so I didn't also need the color of the sun everywhere. So enter my love for the color grey. Yes, I know it's cliche at this point--it's the new beige, etc, etc--but it's kind of my thing and has been for awhile. It also made an appearance in a large way for our wedding. One day I'll share that. We wanted to set a neutral tone in the main living area and keep the colors nice and cool in the two bedrooms. Below are the colors we chose.
We had all of the colors matched at Home Depot to the Low VOC Behr Premium paint in a flat finish due to the quality and cost. Low VOC was important for a few reasons, the most immediate being that the lower fumes helped make the headache sufferer in me very happy. We chose the flat finish because it is easy to touch up. Some people prefer wiping marks on a wall. For those people, an eggshell or satin finish might be right. But for me, nothing makes the wall feel fresher than a touch up coat of paint over a problem area, and that's just not possible with shiny finishes. Any touch-ups are easily noticeable, as the shine looks inconsistent in the place where you fixed it.
I had cold feet about going so dark in our bedroom, but I owe a huge thanks to Hooked on Houses which pointed out that Labrador Blue is also the color of the foyer in the Dunphy house on Modern Family. I had seen that wall color a million times on the show and always thought to myself that I liked it, so I was sold! Oh and I should also mention that my track record of picking paint colors leaves something to be desired. With this in mind, I narrowed down the options to about 3 choices for each room and had my talented husband make the final pick. I make alot of the decorative choices for the condo, and I find that these types of decisions are perfect for him. He stays involved so that the condo still reflects him, but he stays out of it enough to not get tired of it. We are both extremely happy with how it turned out. Pictures to come!
{Left: Benjamin Moore Stonington Grey- living area, Middle: Benjamin Moore Labrador Blue- master bedroom, Right: Martha Stewart Arrowroot- guest bedroom}
We had all of the colors matched at Home Depot to the Low VOC Behr Premium paint in a flat finish due to the quality and cost. Low VOC was important for a few reasons, the most immediate being that the lower fumes helped make the headache sufferer in me very happy. We chose the flat finish because it is easy to touch up. Some people prefer wiping marks on a wall. For those people, an eggshell or satin finish might be right. But for me, nothing makes the wall feel fresher than a touch up coat of paint over a problem area, and that's just not possible with shiny finishes. Any touch-ups are easily noticeable, as the shine looks inconsistent in the place where you fixed it.
I had cold feet about going so dark in our bedroom, but I owe a huge thanks to Hooked on Houses which pointed out that Labrador Blue is also the color of the foyer in the Dunphy house on Modern Family. I had seen that wall color a million times on the show and always thought to myself that I liked it, so I was sold! Oh and I should also mention that my track record of picking paint colors leaves something to be desired. With this in mind, I narrowed down the options to about 3 choices for each room and had my talented husband make the final pick. I make alot of the decorative choices for the condo, and I find that these types of decisions are perfect for him. He stays involved so that the condo still reflects him, but he stays out of it enough to not get tired of it. We are both extremely happy with how it turned out. Pictures to come!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Color crush: Lavender
This week I found easy ways to incorporate my latest color crush lavender into our home and my look. I switched our winter home air freshener scent from heavy cranberry and cinnamon to a springy lavender. Our hand soap changed from Mrs Meyers Basil to Mrs Meyers Lavender. And I got my toenails sandal-ready by painting them a sweet shade of mauve a la Essie's Lady Like. Even though there is still snow on the ground, I am letting spring know that I'm ready for it at any time.
Monday, March 18, 2013
From Blonde to Brunette
On our floors that is. There is something to be said for light colored floors. They certainly hide dirt better and keep things light and bright, but around here we prefer dark wood. When we closed on our house, we were in a mad dash to get these floors refinished quickly before we moved our stuff in.
We dove into our search for a "floor guy" with little to go on except a three year old post from Young House Love and a general idea of how much we wanted to spend. Remember, we're beginners here and just learning as we go. We used both Yelp and ServiceMagic to conduct our local search. We live by reviews, so it was really important that we found someone both inexpensive and highly rated. We decided on a place that had good reviews and charged about $1.50 per square foot--it wasn't the cheapest around, but certainly wasn't the most expensive.
Almost more importantly, they were able to fit into our tight time constraints. We needed to have them start on a Saturday and finish with plenty of time for the floor to cure before we moved in the following Saturday. A few days later, they got started. In a nutshell the process went something like this:
{Floors sanded down and ready for staining}
We dove into our search for a "floor guy" with little to go on except a three year old post from Young House Love and a general idea of how much we wanted to spend. Remember, we're beginners here and just learning as we go. We used both Yelp and ServiceMagic to conduct our local search. We live by reviews, so it was really important that we found someone both inexpensive and highly rated. We decided on a place that had good reviews and charged about $1.50 per square foot--it wasn't the cheapest around, but certainly wasn't the most expensive.
Almost more importantly, they were able to fit into our tight time constraints. We needed to have them start on a Saturday and finish with plenty of time for the floor to cure before we moved in the following Saturday. A few days later, they got started. In a nutshell the process went something like this:
- Preparation: Sweeping, moving the few things that were in the all but empty condo into the bathrooms and shutting the doors
- Day 1: Tarping kitchen appliances and cabinetry, sanding, applying floor conditioner to prep for stain
- Day 2: Staining
- Day 3: Poly coat 1
- Day 4: Poly coat 2
- After: We waited about 48 hours after the second poly coat until we started moving furniture in and put felt pads on everything that might come in contact with the floor! We were told to wait at least 30 days before putting any area rugs down.
{Stained}
We weren't allowed in the
condo for the duration of the process for obvious reasons, but I got
nosy and took a progress picture everyday from the threshold of our
front door, so as to not disturb the fresh finish. I pretty much jumped up and down everytime I opened
the door to see that a new coat had been put down, and I couldn't have been happier with the color! Speaking of color,
that is one area where we disagreed. I gravitated more
towards rich chocolate tones while Kevin found that it was the reddish
tones that resonated with him more. We must have looked at the Minwax chart for hours on end. I have seen other DIYers coming up with their own formulas, but having no idea how this might turn out, I didn't want to custom blend a color only to be disappointed in the end. It came down to Dark Walnut (my choice) and Red Mahogany (Kevin's choice) as shown below. I realize now that they look almost exactly the same, but it's funny how when you're in the midst of planning, the smallest differences look so much bigger. Luckily, fate played a hand at helping us choose.
While looking at the Minwax demo chips at the local Home Depot, we stopped by the "Oops" cart where staffers stick incorrectly blended paint colors and random returned products to sell at a reduced rate. It happens to be my favorite part of the store. As luck would have it, a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit in a lovely shade of chocolate brown was just sitting there, staring at us with its $35 price tag. Now let me back up for a moment. The two of us, the crazy DIY newbies that we are, had been contemplating refinishing our yellow toned cabinets ourselves to go with our "darker wood" vibe. Rustoleum sells kits that contain everything that you need to get it done, and they usually retail for about $70. At half price, we snatched it right up. We asked about it at the counter, and apparently someone had it mixed at another store and returned it later, so they had to mark it down, but unlike other "oops" items, the color was guaranteed to match that which was on the box. Once the kit was in our possession, I realized that the Red Mahogany just went better with it than did the Dark Walnut. Yes that's right, I made $1000 decision based on a $35 decision. Probably should have been the other way around, but it definitely worked out!
{Left: Dark Walnut; Right: Red Mahogany}
While looking at the Minwax demo chips at the local Home Depot, we stopped by the "Oops" cart where staffers stick incorrectly blended paint colors and random returned products to sell at a reduced rate. It happens to be my favorite part of the store. As luck would have it, a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit in a lovely shade of chocolate brown was just sitting there, staring at us with its $35 price tag. Now let me back up for a moment. The two of us, the crazy DIY newbies that we are, had been contemplating refinishing our yellow toned cabinets ourselves to go with our "darker wood" vibe. Rustoleum sells kits that contain everything that you need to get it done, and they usually retail for about $70. At half price, we snatched it right up. We asked about it at the counter, and apparently someone had it mixed at another store and returned it later, so they had to mark it down, but unlike other "oops" items, the color was guaranteed to match that which was on the box. Once the kit was in our possession, I realized that the Red Mahogany just went better with it than did the Dark Walnut. Yes that's right, I made $1000 decision based on a $35 decision. Probably should have been the other way around, but it definitely worked out!
{Left: Stained; Right: First poly coat}
See how shiny and rich it turned out? Even the professional made a comment about the color choice. He said that it's definitely not the most popular color that they do, but he thought it was the perfect choice for our place. Of course he had to say good things about his work, but I was really proud that Kevin had chosen a color that was a little less common but turned out so beautifully! It makes our place kind of unique. It's brown in the right light and reddish in the right light and we love it. The process was easy considering we were essentially having strangers all but destroy our place just a couple of days after we signed the papers. It is definitely one of those "there's no going back" types of projects. In the end, the company came in under the original estimate and turned out a great final result.
However, if we were to go through the whole experience again, there are some things we would change. I thought I'd share them here for your benefit. Now, we were definitely warned about the amount of dust that would be created whether or not we went with a dustless system (by the way, our professional did not use a dustless sander), but I will also mention here that tarping off is invaluable. Luckily we could just shut the doors to the bathrooms, but our kitchen is open to our living room, so they whole thing had to be tarped in plastic. If you are considering having floors refinished in a space that is already being lived in, then I think a dustless system is a must-have. It is probably worth the extra investment.
In addition, we went in knowing that some of the stain would end up on the trim, but had we planned ahead, we would have taped up the baseboards before they got started. It's taken quite a few coats of glossy white to cover, and some of the corners still look dingy due to uninvited dark stain. But that's a project for later. For now, I will just stare and admire.
However, if we were to go through the whole experience again, there are some things we would change. I thought I'd share them here for your benefit. Now, we were definitely warned about the amount of dust that would be created whether or not we went with a dustless system (by the way, our professional did not use a dustless sander), but I will also mention here that tarping off is invaluable. Luckily we could just shut the doors to the bathrooms, but our kitchen is open to our living room, so they whole thing had to be tarped in plastic. If you are considering having floors refinished in a space that is already being lived in, then I think a dustless system is a must-have. It is probably worth the extra investment.
In addition, we went in knowing that some of the stain would end up on the trim, but had we planned ahead, we would have taped up the baseboards before they got started. It's taken quite a few coats of glossy white to cover, and some of the corners still look dingy due to uninvited dark stain. But that's a project for later. For now, I will just stare and admire.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Happy Pi(e) Day!
Tonight we celebrated the famous number with mini pies.
I had a bunch of extra basil on hand and decided to try infusing some store bought cherry pie filling for a more unique flavor. On my best day I would have done the whole thing from scratch, but on weeknights sometimes I'm a little more realistic. More "semi-homemade" if you will. The below recipe makes enough to fill about 2 mini pies. The rest of the can and crust didn't go to waste though! I used the extra to make plain cherry mini pies to fill up the rest of the muffin tin. I love that Pi Day is such a great excuse to make dessert.
Cherry Basil Pie (The Easy Way)
1 cup prepared cherry pie filling
4 large basil leaves (I suggest using sweet basil)
Refrigerated pie crust cut to size to line cup of a non-stick muffin tin
Combine pie filling and basil leaves in a small sauce pan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Heat approximately 5-7 minutes or until slight basil flavor is discernible upon tasting. Let filling cool to room temperature. Place pie crust in muffin tin and fill to desired level with filling. Apply a second piece of crust on top (mine had a hole cut in it but lattice or solid also looks nice). Bake at temperature listed on pie crust box until pies are golden brown.
I had a bunch of extra basil on hand and decided to try infusing some store bought cherry pie filling for a more unique flavor. On my best day I would have done the whole thing from scratch, but on weeknights sometimes I'm a little more realistic. More "semi-homemade" if you will. The below recipe makes enough to fill about 2 mini pies. The rest of the can and crust didn't go to waste though! I used the extra to make plain cherry mini pies to fill up the rest of the muffin tin. I love that Pi Day is such a great excuse to make dessert.
Cherry Basil Pie (The Easy Way)
1 cup prepared cherry pie filling
4 large basil leaves (I suggest using sweet basil)
Refrigerated pie crust cut to size to line cup of a non-stick muffin tin
Combine pie filling and basil leaves in a small sauce pan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Heat approximately 5-7 minutes or until slight basil flavor is discernible upon tasting. Let filling cool to room temperature. Place pie crust in muffin tin and fill to desired level with filling. Apply a second piece of crust on top (mine had a hole cut in it but lattice or solid also looks nice). Bake at temperature listed on pie crust box until pies are golden brown.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Perfection
For those who have never been to Boston, there is an amazing section called the North End. It's akin to New York's Little Italy, with blocks full of authentic Italian delights. The moment you round the corner, you can just smell the garlic. It's incredible. The other night after dinner with friends, Kevin and I stopped into a dessert shop called Modern Pastry and picked up some goodies. I chose a cannoli and this little beauty.
It was perfection.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Condo Before Pictures
In order to understand our
progress, I thought it best to show you where we started. Unfortunately,
I have no real before photos of our condo. Many of these were taken the night we
signed the papers, and we wasted no time getting down to work. We ate
the infamous "first night in a new place" meal of pizza and beer
and started cleaning like crazy. We also patched all of the holes in
the walls.
What we have done since:
View of our kitchen from the living area
Fireplace
View from the master bedroom
Master bedroom bay window
The pictures below were taken while our floors were being refinished before we moved in. It's the only project in our home that we have hired professional help for thus far.
What we have done since:
- Installed in-wall power and speakers for TV above the fireplace
- Painted every wall and all of the trim
- Refinished the cabinets
- Built custom curtain rods for our master bedroom
- Refurbished a Salvation Army hutch to use as a buffet in the dining room
- Hacked some Ikea dressers to use as nightstands
- Built and upholstered a custom headboard
Friday, March 8, 2013
Welcome to the party!
Hello! Welcome to The Boston Sweet Tea Party-- a place where I blog about food, home decor, fashion, my life, and things that inspire me. I was raised in Virginia, but followed my high school sweetheart husband up to Boston after our wedding two years ago, a day that went so beautifully and perfectly that I still pinch myself sometimes. I often wish that I had started this blog back then, then I wished that I had started it when we bought our first place almost a year ago. Then I decided to just do it already and forget about the timing! So here it is. Welcome to the party!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
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