Good Riddance, wood paneling!

UPDATE: See new pictures below!

I'm just going to say it, and not worry about who I may insult--

I hate wood paneling. It is the devil of any wall space, and I sure hope that all of the wood paneling left in the world is on it's way out.

Maybe I should stress that I am referring to the traditional wood paneling that most people think of in an (unfortunate) discussion concerning wood paneling. If you have the urge to create something like the masterpiece pictured below, by all means I hope you do.

 

 Anyway, I've found myself living in a great apartment that could qualify as a mansion in the world of city one-bedrooms. At least in respect to the price...

But the wood paneling was about to make me give up my newly acquired 450 additional square feet, and had really got me down. I was starting to feel like I was living in a 70's "adult film" cave or something... (the carpet probably doesn't help).

I decided I needed to do something about this.

I happened to stumble across a temporary wall-covering solution using fabric and liquid laundry starch--have you heard of this??

(See some more examples here or here)

I've seen this method all over online, and now I feel obligated to share this super easy fix to wood paneling (or any wall) in hopes that I will never have to see it again!

First, you'll need a few items:

1 box of cornstarch

water

enough fabric to cover your wall

box cutter/exacto knife

(see, it's easy already!)

The idea is to starch fabric to the wall. I know, I know, it sounds like you'll end up with sloppy, blotchy fabric falling off the wall in your living room, but that won't happen. I promise. You will be AMAZED out how professional and permanent this project looks.

Before you get started, you'll want to make a batch of liquid starch. You can purchase it from the store, but you will use a lot--and you can make the same thing for the price of a box of corn starch.

I purchased one bottle so I would have the spray bottle, and then refilled it with my own mixture. I also wanted to be able to compare the two--and the homemade starch actually worked better.

I doubled the following "recipe" for a 7' x 9' wall.

Stir 1/4 cup corn starch into 1/2 cup cold water. Then pour in 4 cups of boiling water and mix it up. 

Let this cool before using it.

You'll also want to find a fabric to cover your wall. Something without a whole lot of texture and weight will work best. 

Amy Butler Design

Amy Butler Design

Amy Butler Design

 Yes, it takes a lot of fabric. Yes, that could be very expensive. Or, you could do what I did, and go to Goodwill for a Queen or King size bed sheet. I bought a King (brand new!, Ralph Lauren) striped sheet for $3.99. I also bought a purplish/gray solid Queen sheet for $3.99.

Side note: I had some curtain fabric from Goodwill already. It was a bit heavy, and textured (with nobby vertical stripes). Here was my first thought:

"Oh!! I'll make really cool stripes on the wall with this curtain fabric since I don't want to wait to get the right fabric!"

(excuse the cell phone pictures)

...It could have worked with a lighter weight fabric, but after doing a few stripes I decided to go full coverage with a lighter fabric. The only part of this project that you could possibly mess up would be trimming the edges after everything has dried, so be careful (and take your time if you're going to do stripes that need a lot of trimming)! I messed them up, and the thicker fabric was pretty hard to cut through.

There would have been a bigger stripe in between each of the further-spaced stripes--I was doing every other piece of paneling.

So back to the how-to:

Put the starch that you made (and let cool) into a big bowl.
Grab some clean sponges.
Soak the wall in liquid starch (lay down paper/old sheets/painter's cloth to protect your carpet).

I ended up tacking up the top corners of the fabric, then lifting it up to soak the wall underneath. As soon as most of the fabric gets wet it will easily stay up on it's own, but I was flying solo and needed a hand. Oh! And make sure to leave about 2 inches of extra fabric around all of the edges so you can use your exacto knife to cut clean edges at the end.

Once the wall is soaked, press the fabric onto the wall. It will probably have pretty much done this on its own, but just to be sure.

Then, start loading on the liquid starch. You want the fabric to be soaked.--I've found the most efficient way to do this is to spray the starch on with a spray bottle, then smooth it around with your hand or a sponge. You'll want to work from top to bottom, and smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles as you go. Take your time on this part, but also remember that you can always peel a piece back up and re-starch it with no problems. The best way to help you visualize how this all ends up working is to remind you of what your wet t-shirt looked like when it was soaked and suctioned to your belly after your brother pushed you in the swimming pool fully clothed. Your belly is the wall, and the fabric acts exactly the way that t-shirt did.

Did I tell you I peeled off the stripes and went with my solid queen sheet from Goodwill?

It's kind of the same color as my favorite nail polish, "Commander in Chic" by Sally Hansen. Just a smidge darker, with a bit more gray.

Here's a horrible and unclear picture of how it turned out. I swear I will post a better one in it's place soon!

 

NEW! and better pictures:

wooooohoooooo! I love it! and it was so easy and fun. Doesn't it look just like wall paper?

Once it dries, simply trim the edges. If an edge starts to peel up a bit, just spray a little bit of the liquid starch and re-smudge it down.

When you move, or if you decide that you want to change your wall with the seasons (I never have the dedication to change decorations with the seasons), just peel the fabric off, and wash the wall down with a little bit of warm water...then start all over!

voilà!

Cranny Yarn Christmas Tree Giveaway!

Today is the day of great giveaways!

Check out skB's giveaway here for a chance to win three (3!) Cranny yarn Christmas trees!

Aren't they wonderful?

Ork Poster Giveaway at Forty Twenty Four!

My friends Micah and Catherine have an awesome blog about their journey through getting married and building their own house in Seattle. They have great design sense and a great blog! They've just recently started doing giveaways, and this week they are giving away an Ork poster of your choosing!

I would choose the Rainy Day Blueprint of Seattle!

Visit their blog, Forty Twenty Four to enter! Make sure you post it on your blog so your friends can enter, too! Take a look around while you're there, you'll love it!

I'm in love with Sweet Paul

I happened to stumble across Sweet Paul Magazine today while I was perusing the blogosphere. And, well, I've found gold, my friends!

Sweet Paul has amazing recipes...

a "No Pain Holiday" guide...

and inspiring gift wrap ideas!

Not to mention so much more!

Be sure to check out the Holiday 2010 issue, and all back issues! You can find Sweet Paul featured on Design*Sponge as well.

If you love Sweet Paul as much as I do, visit their kickstarter.com site here and help raise money for a redesign and special issue. There are rewards, contests, and behind-the-scenes opportunities for all contributors!

Recipe Boxes

I've never been someone who makes a recipe twice, no matter how delicious it is. I simply am not organized enough, and I don't cook enough to have any "classics". I'm not saying I've never made the exact same turkey sandwich twice, or pasta with some Safeway sauce poured over it a thousand times, but I won't find a recipe, follow it, and take it back out again a month later. Once I make a recipe, I put the piece of paper into my giant kitchen drawer--the one I call the "things I have to file" drawer. It is the catch-all space where important letters, paycheck stubs and recipes go to wilt until I pull out the big file (twice a year). Am I failing? Am I supposed to be more organized than this at 26? I certainly don't think so but it would be nice to pretend like I'm that not-lazy!

A few months ago I searched and searched for a classic recipe box. Do they no longer exist now that we can store all of our favorite recipes through recipe websites, iPhones, etc? I was beginning to think so when I saw the few options available for recipe storage. Anyway, I must've given up because I am yet to have a solution. So today I decided to do a little recipe "round-up" of my own.

"Collected Recipes" Accordian File from Meadowsweet Kitchens

Letterpress recipe cards, 1canoe2's shop at Etsy

Letterpress recipe box tabs, 1canoe2's shop at Etsy

1canoe2's shop at Etsy

Stainless Recipe Box, Amazon.com

Dahlia recipe cards, vohandmade's shop at Etsy

In Red, too!

Martha Stewart Collection Recipe Box

Cargo Recipe Box, Amazon.com

simple and inexpensive recipe cards, rfrantzdesign's shop at Etsy

Not sure what I'll decide to buy yet- I really like the boxes, but it seems that my rather lazy kitchen organizing skills would be better kept in check with the file folder. I won't have to write out recipes, and I can put my print-outs into the folder without it looking messy.

Have you seen any awesome recipe boxes lately? Do you have your own system? Are you as lazy about recipe organization as I am?

San Francisco

A few weeks ago I took a long weekend to visit some family in California. I flew in to San Francisco, spent a day in the city and headed north to Santa Rosa. The weekend consisted of some (much overdue) time with my big brother, Aunts and Uncles, Mom and Chuck--lots of wineries, and of course, a break from BOTH jobs. Thank goodness!

After having been in the rainy city for quite some time, California felt like the sunniest place on earth. The weather was perfect! I kept picturing myself in a sun hat and summer dress with dirty feet, eating blueberries in a field somewhere. ahhhh.

Anyway, I thought I would post a few pictures to share.

I took this picture while we were driving from the Redwoods State Reserve up a steep, narrow road to a  ridge over Bullfrog Pond Campgrounds. I love the combination of the focus and spinning here--and the color. I'm completely supportive of car pictures!

This one was a little higher up that same steep road leading to Bullfrog Pond. What do I have to do for this to be my backyard?! Park Ranger? Lottery? Creepy shack in the woods?

Wine Country, another view from the car:

I didn't take too many pictures at the wineries, but Ferrari-Carano was pretty amazing. It was a bit uppity for my taste, but rightfully so, I suppose. Everything there was delicious and their gardens were beautiful. 

I had never heard of a cork tree until I ran into this big guy.

Have you ever touched a cork tree? It's pretty amazing!

We debated for awhile whether or not to stop and see the Redwoods, and I'm so glad we did! My Mom and I walked through the State Reserve, and AJ and Chuck drove through and waited for us. Chuck is a trooper, but I'm not sure his new hips are up for walking that far.

Mom, AJ, Chuck and I. I propped the camera up on some fallen trees so we'd have a Redwoods family picture. It's been awhile since all of us have been together, let alone taken a picture for proof!

Early Sunday morning we took the Larkspur Ferry to San Francisco. Mom and Chuck hadn't been to the city yet, and I was anxious to look around a little more. AJ and I spent part of the day Thursday in the city... Just as we were leaving, his car broke down on the on-ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Anyway, we eventually made it back via ferry:

AJ, Mom and Chuck on the ferry.

Approaching San Francisco and the morning fog. It was a dense blanket between Larkspur and San Francisco--and much more compact than I had expected. I don't know if I've ever been in an area that is open enough to observe fog from a distance, but it wasn't that giant fog filter impairing my whole view like I had expected. I can't explain, so see below!

And then our fog horn tooted and next thing I know we're right in the midst (mist, haha) of it. I couldn't even see the front of the ferry very well so I was hoping there weren't any morning kayakers in our way. The fog was so thick for a few short minutes that it felt different just breathing!

I have a series of pictures where the fog gets thinner and thinner, but rather than post a thousand nearly identical shots, here is the end result: San Francisco!

I was told by my brow waxer that I must visit Chinatown, so it was our first stop.

 ... and the last picture of the city I took that day (that's worth looking at, anyway).

Here's the Haight/Ashbury sign from the aforementioned car-troubled Thursday we spent in the city.

And of course, the Golden Gate Bridge (taken Thursday)

Below are pictures from the ferry ride back to Larkspur for the evening. By the way, I forgot to mention how expensive the San Francisco ferries are! In Seattle, a round trip ticket is $6.25. We have an awesome ferry terminal with food, coffee, alcohol, handy wipes--whatever you want. In San Francisco, we waited to board the ferry outside, like a big crowded herd being contained behind a metal rail (there actually was a metal rail containing us). No bathroom, no coffee. And all of those things really make absolutely no difference to me, but we paid $8.25 ONE WAY! It cost the four of us (even after Chuck's sizable senior discount) $60.00 to ride the stinkin' ferry!

Here are a few shots from the return trip:

As if I didn't get enough of the Blue Angels flying over my house all summer, I happened to hit San Francisco for Fleet Week! You can just imagine my surprise!

This was taken inside the ferry. I was exhausted and couldn't stop dozing off to the water's reflection on the ceiling.

After our day in the city we went to a cookout at Alma's house.  This was part of Alma's front yard. Her and her husband have their own vineyard where they grow the grapes and sell them to wineries.

The long path below leads from the main house (on the top of the hill) down to their barn.

Everyone was super welcoming, and I had such a nice time! Wonderful food, good conversation, and of course lots of wine. I can't wait to go back!

For now, I'll leave you with this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem that I can't help but think of every time I'm on the ferry... and some new projects are coming soon!

            Recuerdo 

e were very tired, we were very merry --
We had gone back and forth all night upon the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable --
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on the hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.
 
We were very tired, we were very merry --
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
 
We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed, "Good morrow, mother!" to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, "God bless you!" for the apples and the pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.

Discovery Park, nearly a year ago

I took this picture in early August of last year at Discovery Park in Seattle, WA. I love a lot of the pictures I took that day, but this one has never really caught my eye--until now. I was perusing my flickr account earlier today and realized how much I like this one. The right side of the picture, I think, is hard not to look at because of the intensity of the sun, the deep blue of the water, and the shadows cast by the dark piece of wood on the right. But I really like the layers on the left edge of this picture. The mountains look like this on almost any clear day here, and I always say it reminds me of construction paper cutouts. The edges are so raw and detailed, but the rest of the mountains seem to lose dimension. Don't they look like 2D paper cutouts?

What do you think of this picture? Is it a completely boring scenery picture with the cliche silhouetted person/dog? Be honest!

I'm going to try to post a few pictures a week. It gives me a chance to better evaluate pictures I've taken, and refreshes some of the ones I haven't seen in awhile. It also lets me hear your opinion!

Thanks!