Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Shutter Headboard, Part 2

It's done! It's done!  Thanks to Ian and his handy skills, we have a truly beautiful headboard.  I won't talk you through the process of how he hung it...I'm not quite sure myself.  But after some TLC, a lot of careful measurements and the help of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, we got them all up there.


While Ian worked on the shutters, I hemmed and hung no-sew curtains.  I love those glue strips!  I really wish I could just sew them, but why bother when I can glue them?!


So here they are, close up.


And here's the finished product!  Love it!


I finally feel like our bedroom is done!  Actually, we still need to carpet under the bed and there's a few other things on the to-do list, but it looks so much better than...


and...


Ick, I can't end on that picture, so here's one Ian snapped when we were exploring our yard at sunset.  Ignore the butt, it's the style of the shirt, I swear!  But check out that bump! ...also a little exaggerated by the shirt style, but still exciting!


UPDATE! Our shutter headboard has been featured on Bloggeritaville's Flashback Friday!  Thanks Leigh!

I also linked up with Gluesticks, one of my new craft blogs!


Shutter Headboard, Part 1

Ian and I made a great find at a local barn sale...it was a great barn, brought here piece by piece from Spinnerstown, and then renovated into a beautiful Bucks County home.  Unbelievable!  There were so many great items, including an antique child's drop leaf table and chair set and beautiful egg baskets.  But when we saw these shutters, we knew they were just what we were looking for to make our headboard...finally!  And she gave us a great price!


We measured them and realized that we needed four to fit the width of our bed and fit within the window frames on either side.  Two have a great patina on them and two have lost most of their paint.  It's hard to tell from the pictures, but they're an incredible shade of green and fade to blue on their sides.


Just look at the little wood pegs!  So charming.


Using a stiff brush, I wiped away all of the loose paint chips and dirt.


I'm going to look into whether or not I need to seal or lacquer these to preserve them.  Ian is working on how we're going to hang them to become our headboard.  I'll be sure to post the finished product as soon as it's done!

I almost forgot!  Ian spotted another great find at the barn sale.  He found a white door with the original hardware and a moon cutout.  He likes it because it reminds him of an outhouse door.  I was hesitant at first but it really looks great in our living room!  I'll post a picture soon. IT'S DONE! Click here to see our new headboard!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Grilled Pierogies... hoody hoo!

 Oh my pierogie!  Ever find one of those recipes that you're unsure about but you go for it anyway?  That happened to us today.  In between cleaning out the attic, finishing some antique shutters, putting together a new bistro set, and cleaning up the yard, I tried this recipe from the July/August 2011 Food Network Magazine...Grilled Kielbasa and Pierogies!  Seriously.  The best part, it only took about a half hour to whip up, oh yeah, and it was delicious!  Because I wasn't expecting much from this recipe, I didn't take pictures along the way, but when I saw the finished product I knew I had to blog about it!


In a bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of coarse whole ground mustard, 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar, and whisk together with olive oil until it's nice a smooth.  

In a bowl, coat 1 pound of pierogies and 6 white onion wedges (cut from one large white onion) in olive oil and some salt and pepper. 

Throw the kielbasa on the grill.  These will cook up in about 8-10 minutes.  When they are cooked about halfway through, add the pierogies and onions to the grill until they get nice grill marks and the onions soften up.  When everything is done, take it all back inside, slice up the kielbasa and chop the grilled onions.  Add everything to the dressing with a little salt and pepper and some chopped fresh parsley.

Delicious!