The Purple Frames

On a blog I posted July 10 I told you about a solution for Sweet Amanda's kitchen, and a fix for her purple addiction. Sometimes Hoarding Pays Off- Empty Frame Art
 The Country Wedding took up my free time for a while so I put this project on hold.

When Sweet Amanda told me that she had some paint left from her last apartment painting adventure before the wedding I was excited.  I had not actually seen her most recent apartment.  It was an efficiency that seemed to be pretty tiny.  She let me know that she did paint the kitchen like I thought she did but since the whole apartment was one room, she actually painted the whole thing this color. Baby Boy mumbled something about Barney Purple but I never looked at the color until this past weekend.  Here is what I pulled out of the bag:

 Wow- I wasn't even close with this color!  I loved the vivid fuchsia!  Her kitchen in Huntsville before was a darker purple.  I bought spray paint for the more ornate frames I found out on my shopping and scavenging trips based on the color of her Huntsville kitchen.  This is what I bought:

It is a dark purple- very similar to concord grape jelly.  It is 30 minutes one way into Walmart or Home Depot on a busy weekend so I tried to think of a way to make these two purples play nice.  I decided to mix some of the bright purple with both white and black to give me four shades of purple on the frames.  My thinking was that it would look intentional. 

When you mix colors it is important that you make yourself a road map in case you ever need more of the stuff.  I bought a set of measuring spoons and cups at Dollar Tree several years ago that live out in the Garagemahal just for my crafting.  I mixed the latex paint with some acrylic craft paints I had in my art bag.

 I measured out a cup of purple into a Cool Whip container.

 To a tablespoon of black craft paint.

The color really changed to a more muted almost gray purple.

I put the frames out on the drop cloth based on a photo I took earlier.



Then I randomly started pulling out frames and took off painting.  I mixed one cup of purple with two tablespoons of white to make a lighter shade of purple too.
I sprayed the funkiest of frames the dark purple.  I divided the frames into groups and then got them all painted.  Frames are a pain in the neck to paint at any time but painting them so that you can see the wall behind them really is gross.  I had to hold the frames to get the inside done and you can see the result on my finger.

 I loved the grape sconce.  It had to go in this collage of purple frames.  Someone ( Hubby) calls them ugly!

FYI- You can get paint off your skin with baby oil.  No harsh chemicals and no drying or cracking.  It takes a little more rubbing but well worth it.

The frames took several coats to look good.  All the frames were either in a pile of frames I did not have a use for or were super cheap at resale shops.  I paid $1.50 for the most expensive frame.  During the process Sweet Amanda and I decided that her teapots needed to be framed in the purple wonderland.  Hubby cut out small pieces of old wood that were primed and painted white.

 We bought brackets and painted them white to attach the blocks to the wall so that they almost disappear.  We want the emphasis on the frames and teapots.

I played with several configurations.

And then I added in a few pieces I collected at Christmas in July.  The thing I like most about this project is that a plastic oval frame that once held a duck with "Welcome Friends" on it gets the same treatment as a once very expensive gold frame.  I think we all look better with a little coat of paint on us too.

I get to see Baby Boy  and Sweet Amanda tonight for the first time since the wedding and will be bringing the frames.  I am not sure if we are going to tackle the installation or leave that to another day.  I will post them when they are all on the wall.

Making Room for a Dining Area at Star Hill

I LOVE this table and the benches!

When we bought Star Hill the one area we did not think about was a place to eat.  There was a small, narrow space at the end of the kitchen area in front of a set of patio doors and we thought it would work. We were wrong.  The space was WAY too small for our family.  Hubby is about 6'3".Baby Boy is about 6'5", Joe, the Southern Bell's fiancee, is probably 6'7", three of the nephews are way over  6'.  Beside the size of us are a lot of us too.  At times we have had 8- 10 people eating in the house.  Now we LOVE Star Hill.  It is truly a peaceful spot and has been a comfort to us in our busy lives, but it is only 950 square feet bedrooms, living space, bathroom and laundry room included. Space is at a premium in the main room.  Hubby has done everything he can to make my kitchen function better but I still only have five full cabinets and a bank of drawers.  He has added drawers inside the island cabinets so that they are used to their full potential and has built a buffet and hutch out of fencing material that was being thrown away to add storage.
I started searching my favorite site, Pinterest and found several ideas for banquette seating.

This was my inspiration from troveinteriorsblogspot



We knew what we had to work with would be small so we took out the sliding glass doors and a window in the corner.  We put in a single glass door with blinds inside the glass to make up for the lost light.  We bought the door at one of my favorite spots to get new stuff: Pasadena Builders Surplus.  The cost for the door was over half what it was at Lowe's or Home Depot. 


The Window

I measured the height of counter height chairs and tables then got busy drawing it all out.  I sketch out what I want then Hubby tells me what is possible and what is not.  I knew I wanted a pedestal style table along with storage in the benches.  The extra height means that my stand mixer, blender, and food processor can easily fit in the benches. 

The Required Storage for my Banquette  The small one has stuff for the deck table in it.

Star Hill was built from a kit back in the 70's  by the original owners so nothing is plumb, square or level. (Think Wacky Shack from AstroWorld and you are close!)  In order to get the bench to sit level and the back to appear level the back had to be attached directly to the wall, not to the bench. 

We used more of our reclaimed cedar to clad the benches and make the back. Apparently the trim boards once were white then were painted a red color.  When I sanded them both colors came through.  I left paint on some of the trim boards.

The short section of bench is not connected to the long section in case we ever reconfigure the layout.

Hubby cut plywood to cover the tops and we upholstered them with upholstery fabric off the clearance table at Hancock Fabrics.  I got enough fabric to cover all the cushions and a bench I have at home for $8.00. The trick to good looking upholstered cushions is to have an electric staple gun, an electric knife to cut the foam straight, and have someone stand on the plywood while stapling the fabric to the board. Clip off the corner of the fabric before wrapping the corners like you would a present.

The table was made from reclaimed cedar and left over scraps of wood.  The only cost was the plywood that went under the reclaimed wood on the top.  We did the top just like we did the farmhouse table.  I have included a link here:
Making a Farmhouse Table on the Cheap

The base was made from a 2X4 skeleton covered with reclaimed wood.  I didn't sand this wood because I wanted to paint over it and let the old paint come through.  The cabin had cedar siding when we bought it that had been painted brown with red trim.
Hubby ran the edge of each board through the table saw to make sure they were not damaged on the edges and that they were close to being straight. 

Hubby requested that two of the red boards be left with a lot of paint on them for the top.  The top has 7 coats of oil based Polyurethane that were sanded between each coat with super fine sand paper.  Because we have such limited counter space I need the table to be tough enough to serve as extra prep area in the kitchen.  We made the table three inches shorter than the long side of the bench so that it can slide in close to the benches when not in use.  When we have it turned out it can easily seat 6-8 people around the table.

 
I am not going to lie... it took three tries to get the table and benches the right height.  We seemed to have trouble with the math regarding adding the reclaimed wood to the skeleton frame.  Hubby had to totally take the benches apart two times and cut off the bottom another time to make it work.  He did not love my measurements at that time. 

 I painted the base of the table the same blue that I used on the farmhouse table.  Everything in our cabin has a denim, red and white theme. 

The 4 counter height chairs came from a resale shop for $10.00 each.  They look really modern and I am not in love with them but they are functional.  I am waiting for inspiration to figure out how to make them look more like the rest of the cabin.

The total cost of the banquette and table was just over $75.00 including the Polyurethane, plywood, sanding pads etc.  The chairs added $40.00 to the project so for just over $100 we now have a functioning seating area with storage that can double as additional counter space and actually takes up less room than a traditional table.  It is steady enough to use but easily moves position. Yeah us!

Making Jelly

Over the years at Star Hill we have added plants that produce fruit, nuts or berries. This year we have added thornless blackberries to our crops and we have muscadine grapes that produce tart grapes.  Three weeks ago we planted a peach tree which was another gift.  Baby boy gave me two grapevines about three years ago for my birthday. This year we got our first crop of grapes. 




We have had a ball watching them week to week turn from small green dots to green grapes to the ripe red ones that you see below.




All of my life my mom has canned vegetables, made pickles, hot pepper sauce, and produced tons of jelly.  I helped her last year, but I have never made jelly all on my own.  I decided that it was time for me to make my own jelly from this fruit. 

I searched the Internet for an easy grape jelly recipe.  Mom walked me through turning the grapes into juice.  Basically you boil the grapes in a little water for about 10 minutes then mash them with a potato masher then pour all the gunk into a colander that has cheesecloth lining it.  Let it cool then lift up the cheesecloth and squeeze out the juice.  I froze my juice after it cooled until I could get up the courage to make the jelly.

Here is my juice right out of the freezer. 

I found this easy jelly recipe at http://allrecipes.com/ 

• 3cups grape juice
• 5 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 (2 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin

I organized everything that I thought I would need for the Jelly making.  I probably overdid it but I did not want to ruin it.

 

I bought a canning kit at Walmart that had a funnel, jar lifter, magnetic lid picker upper, and a thing to get the foam off the top of the jelly and measure.  It came in the green box at the back of this picture.

Directions

1. Sterilize and dry jars for jelly, and set side .Mom said to use my dishwasher. New lids are recommended for best results.

1. Combine grape juice and pectin in a large pot over medium-high heat.  I box of Sure Jell powder.

1. Bring to a boil, and stir one minute at a rolling boil. Stir in sugar for a few minutes to completely dissolve. Remove from heat.

1. Ladle the hot jelly into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch of space at the top.

1. Wipe rims of jars with a clean dry cloth. Cover with a lid and ring to seal. Let stand 24 hours at room temperature, then refrigerate. Jelly may take up to a week to set. Once set, it is ready to serve.

The directions at this point included a hot water bath and some other instructions for long term storage.  My mom has made jelly for years without the hot bath and canning. I have included her instructions here. 

I boiled the lids while putting the hot jelly into the jars.





 She said to put the filled and sealed jars close together on a board and cover the whole thing loosely with towels. 

 My instructions were to leave the whole thing alone for 24 hours. She has never had a batch of jelly go bad, so I am listening to her.  I made two batches of jelly.  I made a mess the first time and only ended up with 5 1/2 jars.  The second batch got the full 6 jars.  Mom said to never try to double a batch of jelly.  Make it one batch at a time with clean up between.

 You know that the jars seal if you push the middle and they don't "click."  My jars definitely sealed.  Yeah!   We tasted the half jar and it was great. 

Our next jelly will be Muscadine.  This is a native grape like fruit that grows wild up around Star Hill. They are coming ripe now.  I have two vines planted on our fence but the ones below I took pictures of today out near our road growing wild.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscadine