Our new eat-in kitchen

March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

From the moment I first saw our rental house kitchen, I thought the island counter-top should be extended to make an eating surface. There was plenty of room for a walkway on the other side as well as an extension. Kent is usually a good sport about all my crazy ideas but he said NO WAY are we going to buy a remnant of marble for a rental. Now before you go taking sides, let me explain that I wanted to make sure that I love marble, since that’s what I’m planning when/if we remodel our kitchen in Mystic. I thought spending the $500 or so would be way worth it to enjoy now and also to know for sure whether we wanted to invest in it for a whole kitchen. But Kent said absolutely no, so I dropped the issue. But, then I saw this image on a blog:

The blogger was discussing the various parts of the kitchen and she said that the bar the stools are tucked under was FREESTANDING. And – bam! – I told Kent that we could have a freestanding bar next to our island. He loved the idea and decided to begin the project that very day. =) Now, I still think the whole thing would be better covered in marble, but I am beyond thrilled with what I have now.

Here are a few pics to give you an idea of the area where we now have the freestanding bar in the kitchen. It’s between the island and a half-wall to the living room

As you can see, every square inch of this island gets used on Pizza Fridays. We are so happy to have a bit more counter space =)

We used to eat every single meal in the dining room. Now we eat in there once or twice a week at the most. In general Kent and I regret the casualization of our culture and we like things formal. So, eating in the dining room wasn’t a big deal. But, now that we have the option to feed the littles in the kitchen, it is soooooo much better. I now keep Everett’s highchair in the kitchen next to the refrigerator (which is so much more convenient for his food, supplements, bibs, etc.).

Kent spent about $40 on lumber which he attached using the Kreg Jig (which he loves – he used it for my built-in desk in the Schooling Room too) and metal brackets (to attach the top to the legs).

I caulked, painted, and waxed. And, viola!

Eleanor’s Nursery

March 10, 2015 / thepantrybook / 1 Comment

I finally took some pictures of Eleanor’s room with some daylight. I wish I could show it to you with her finished quilt, but alas – it’s not done yet. I’ll add a picture of it at the end so you can photoshop it in your mind. =)

Two of those windows are south-facing, so it could actually get lovely light during the day, but the wooden blinds are closed almost 24/7. Very occasionally I will give her a few toys to play in her crib, but mostly she just nurses and sleeps in here. This room is the perfect nursery, in my opinion: serene, simple, calming, and beautiful. And I can pull the white blanket off the rocker and wash it in the washing machine – easy peasy. Unfortunately, you can’t see the beauty of the antique dresser in these pictures, but trust me – it really is lovely.

I change diapers in the bathroom (just a few steps out the door), so I don’t need any diaper changing stuff in here. I sometimes use this changing pad to get her dressed. Above, you can see the lavendar stool I painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint (leftover from Adele’s room) – quick and easy! I left the wooden legs unpainted because they are so pretty. I realize that I have a LOT of different tones of wood in here – and I’m OK with that; perhaps it’s because the (non-wood) colors are pretty muted.

I know this crib area looks bare to most people, but I see calming serenity. I bought a crib skirt (really cute tiered white ruffles) – actually two so that it went all the way to the floor when the crib mattress was higher, but I like it better with nothing.

And the obligatory gallery wall. I know it’s a trend but I just can’t get enough. The three oval frames on the left were made by my late paternal Grandma Eva. She made lots of ceramics when my sister and I were growing up. The frames hold pictures of each of my babes, just hours old (Adele on the far left, then Everett, then Eleanor). I used an antique filter on the pictures, so that the colors would be extremely muted (to go with the muted colors scheme in the room), but I may reprint them with less adjustments.

Here’s a picture of her unfinished quilt to assist with the mind photoshopping =)

P.S. I bought the fabrics for the quilt and the poofies for over the crib and that’s about all I bought new for this room. I bought the crib, rocker, and dresser on craigslist and everything else we already had.

Eleanor’s quilt update

March 1, 2015 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

So, I finished sewing together the hexagons for Eleanor’s quilt – but now I think it needs to be larger than crib size, since she’s already mobile (i.e. not content to stay within the confines of a blanket). I am thinking it needs to be a twin size, which means I now have a bit more piecing to do. Here’s what I have so far:

It’s a mix of linen and quilting cotton. And compared to the loud colors of Adele’s quilt, this is very low-volume. I think the girls will end up sharing a room at some point, though, so I hope that the quilts will look good together, since Eleanor’s colors are just muted versions of the same colors as Adele’s quilt. Here’s Adele’s quilt for comparison:

Chalkboard art – around here lately

March 1, 2015 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

FYI,I realize my blog is probably pretty boring these days because I just post pics of my kids. But, I do have a project to show you in a few days. Kent built a free-standing table/bar so that we can eat at our island in the kitchen. It’s AWESOME!

In the meantime, can I just tell you how much I like having an enormous chalkboard in my living room? This is a 3′ x 5′ piece of MDF that Kent bought me for my DIY Aquaboard project – which was a giant fail. But, then I had the idea to paint over it with chalkboard paint! It’s large enough to anchor (ba-dum-bum) the living room, balancing our awkwardly-deep fireplace, and it hides our router. This is perhaps my fourth or fifth verse art piece on the chalkboard. I leave it up until I get sick of it and want some fresh inspiration. I use regular chalk and also “Wet Chalk” pens. It’s not super-easy to find the hour it usually takes to climb up there and draw a new verse (usually the kids are run amok as a result), but I’m always happy I did it once it’s done.

Here are a few others that I could find pics of real quick:

Remember how sad the mantle looked without art up there?

I took this picture because it’s pretty unusual. It’s NOT unusual to have to shovel snow, again – but it is unusual to shovel in short-sleeves!

I love this face!

and this one!

I’m pretty partial to this one too! (even if it is blurry)

But this one’s my favorite. Mwah! Love you, honey!

Adele’s First Guest Post: Surprise

February 28, 2015March 2, 2015 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

At first I had 2 loose teeth and my mom could see the Adult teeth in the
Back. 3 nights ago my dad pulled the loosest one out. Yesterday my mom took me out for ice cream to celebrate getting my tooth out. She said you don’t get ice cream when it’s snowing outside but this was an exception.
Last night my dad pulled the last one out but it hurt way more.😥
We used needle-nosed pliers with a Cloth to grip them and get them out.
Love, Adele
Age 6

Eleanor’s Quilt Update

February 20, 2015 / thepantrybook / 1 Comment

I am really making some progress on Eleanor’s hexagon quilt! It’s a really fun project!!

And, I am almost done with the last three years of mypublisher family albums! If you do these in your family, hold out until you see the $60 vouchers. It’s for up to 100 pages and it’s the best deal I’ve seen (unless your books are smaller, then the %off deals might be better for you). I just love having the looming expiration date as a fire under my pants to GET THEM DONE. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but I want them DONE!

Adele and her friend M set up a little bakery. Lots of fun!

I bought this little ottoman a loooong time ago but I never liked the (plaid flannel) fabric. I thought it would be an easy re-upholstery job, but I just never got around to it. I figured the easiest and fastest solution would be to paint the fabric (like I did with the formerly-green chairs in the living room) and I could still reupholster it later if I wanted to. So, now the little ottoman is lavender and it lives in Eleanor’s room, which I am happy to say is slowly coming together!

I am also finishing the quilt my grandmother pieced for my Aunt Jennifer — I am more than half-way done with the binding and then I have just a few finishing touches to the quilting. I can’t wait to cross that quilt off my to-do list!! That thing has been making me feel guilty for YEARS!

Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Mark Visit – Jan 2015

February 13, 2015 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

My Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Mark stopped by for a lovely visit in January. And, we got to celebrate my Uncle Mark’s birthday — Handfield-style. What a sport! He even wore the birthday crown!!

Yes, I am in my pajamas and Kent had just returned from a run. What can I say, it was Saturday morning and if we didn’t get the picture right then I wouldn’t have had one at all. As it is, we were missing Eleanor (sleeping).

I thought Adele’s house below was pretty great.

The Pantry Book

a notebook of permaculture, political thoughts, and professional motherhood