Custom Furniture: DIY Couch Table

Our living room is a bit awkward; as soon as you enter the front door you’re standing right in the middle of it. It’s not very big either, so it offered some design challenges when it came to furnishing it.

We searched high and low to find the right couch and finally settled on a cozy sectional that fit the space perfectly, extending the full width of the living room wall and offering maximum seating. Unfortunately there wasn’t any room leftover for end tables and a coffee table would have made the space feel cramped.

I determined that what was needed was a couch table; a narrow table that would fit snugly behind the back of the couch.

After an exhaustive search it became clear that such a piece of furniture was not readily available and would need to be custom built. A combination of frugality and ambition made me decide to attempt this on my own.

I had 2″x12″ planks of spruce cut to the exact measurements of the height and width of the couch at the local building supply store and picked up some wood glue, 4″ wood screws, sandpaper, wood putty and a walnut colored stain.

I laid the top piece of the table on the floor and used wood glue to carefully secure the legs of the table in place. After allowing the glue to dry over night, I carefully flipped it over and used a drill bit to create 3 equally spaced, 4″ deep holes, extending through the top of the table and into the legs. After I’d drilled the screws into the holes, I used the wood putty to cover over the tops of the screws. Next, I sanded the entire piece and once the sawdust had been cleared away, I gave it 2 coats of the walnut stain.

The couch table is a great solution for our living room. Structurally speaking, there’s definitely room for improvement (I will not be dancing on this particular table), but as a surface for a lamp, a few books and a few drinks it’s perfect!

Cookie Monster: Simple Cinnamon Cookies

Ever since last week’s cake baking success, I’ve become a little obsessed. It suddenly dawned on me, that with a few ingredients, I can just whip up cookies or cakes whenever I want! (This is probably not the best thing for me, since I’m a sucker for anything containing sugar.)

In the midst of a sugar craving last night, I made a batch of these cinnamon cookies.
In my excitement I didn’t let the dough chill as the recipe instructed, I also made only 15 cookies, not the 24 that the measurements were intended to make… I’m not always the best at following instructions when I’m excited about something, but they turned out great anyway! They reminded me a bit of doughnuts.
A tasty, simple and dummy proof recipe! (I promptly ate 6 of them -they’re extra delicious when they’re still warm!)

Places I’ve Been: Sisters Oregon

 

About 3 hours away from Portland OR, Sisters is one of the best places I’ve ever visited!

We stayed at Five Pine Lodge, a charming resort. Our little cabin in the woods was cozy and rustic, but it had all the luxuries of a high-end hotel room.

On the resort’s campus there’s lots to do; with a salt water pool, a spa, a movie house, a brewery and an athletic club.

They have a daily happy hour where guests are invited to the main lodge for a free tastings of beer and wine that are produced on site.

The resort also offers free bike rentals so guests can check out the various shops and restaurants in the town. When I asked the concierge if they had locks for the bikes, she responded with “oh no, everyone in town knows the bikes belong to the hotel.” I love that.  We quickly extended our stay from one night to two.

 

We dined at a tiny little restaurant in town called Jen’s Garden which is located in a little cottage.  It was excellent and everyone we encountered on our entire trip was incredibly friendly.

One of my favorite nights was a night spent in our cabin watching a DVD of Dirty Dancing (borrowed from the lodge) while sipping wine and working on a puzzle. (I love a good puzzle!)

I hope to return one day. It was one of the most peaceful and unexpected places I’ve ever visited. And the drive there from Portland was spectacular- so incredibly beautiful.

Home Improvements: Plate Wall

I’ve been collecting plates for several years now, with the intention of eventually one day creating a plate wall. I finally found some adjustable plate hangers at Pier 1 and figured out how to drill into a brick wall (not as hard as I thought, hint: drill into the mortar) and ta-da!!! I now have a plate wall!

I’ll continue to add new plates as I collect them. These ones were gathered from Anthropologie, West Elm, China Town and vintage stores.

links to peruse to cure the monday blues

It was a great weekend, very productive, with all kinds of things getting checked off my to-do list, and I still managed to spend time with friends. Even though I’m feeling rested and ready for the week ahead, there’s just something about Monday’s…

Here are some of my favorite links to ease you into the work week:

1. Hilarious interview with a child hairdresser (Gawker.com)

2. I wonder if I have a doppelganger out there… (Twistedsifter.com)

3. In the future (now), we can live without hearts (vimeo.com)

4. History in colour (twentytwowords.com)

5. Best job rejection ever! (cheezburger.com)

6. Cats in tights (need I say more?) (thepoke.co.uk)

7. An invisible bike helmet (jalopnik.com)

8. If paintings could talk, this is what they’d say (sploid.gizmodo.com)

Dessert for the Queen of Desserts!

In my family, my Mom is the go-to person when it comes to all things baked.  She is a pie/cookie/brownie expert.  I, on the other hand, have very little experience when it comes to baking.  When my Aunt asked for a volunteer to handle dessert for my Mom’s birthday celebration, I saw it as an opportunity to get some baking practice.

I picked this recipe, because it looked amazing and suitably decadent with it’s pumpkin cake and cheesecake layers and cream cheese icing.

It turned out pretty great, and it took me exactly one entire day to make. My cakes took significantly longer than the recipe called for, I suspect the problem is my oven…

As a side note, my boyfriend, who is currently in Portland OR for work, suggested the idea of baking cakes together. I texted him the ingredients list and we had a good ol’ fashioned cake-bake-date!

He opted to replace the cream cheese icing for an almond butter icing which sounds pretty incredible and by all reports it was!

Another side note: my niece who is not yet 3 told me that, “this cake is really delectable” and my sister swears she didn’t feed her that line. ADORABLE!!!!

Chair Makeover

There’s nothing I love better than a good before and after.  I will gladly sit though 25 minutes of forced storyline and fake conflicts on an HGTV/TLC/(insert any network here) show just to see the final results.

When I saw these chairs curbside, I knew that what they needed, even more than a landfill, was a makeover.

Clearly their seats were pretty beat up, but I really liked their kidney bean shaped back rests, and they are surprisingly comfortable.

I knew I wanted to use these chairs for outdoor seating, so I began a hunt for vinyl in cute patterns.  My search quickly uncovered an unfortunate truth, which was that vinyl in cute patterns is not commonly available, and if it is, it costs more than I’m willing to spend.

This was when I turned to plan B:  pick out any fabric I want, then cover it over with inexpensive clear vinyl!

I picked out 3 different fabrics that all shared the same shade of spring green and used a staple gun to secure the fabric in place. I added the vinyl over top and made sure that the vinyl layer fully overlapped the fabric layer for maximum waterproofing.

Always great to have more outdoor seating, goes to show that one person’s trash is another one’s treasure!

Glorious Gnocchi

I’m still adjusting to daylight savings.  While I love waking up to the sun in the morning, I can’t seem to get used to leaving work each night in darkness. As the temperature drops, I find myself craving more comfort food.  One of my absolute favorite comfort foods is gnocchi; it’s potatoes, it’s pasta, how could you go wrong?

This recipe has become a favorite at our house.  It is incredibly rich, creamy and delicious. The combination of sage and butter gives it just the right flavor and smells incredible. It also has squash and kale in it so it’s good for you too!

For some reason it tastes much better when my boyfriend makes it.  It’s possible that he takes some liberties with the butter measurements, or maybe food just tastes better when someone else makes it.  Either way it’s a great recipe! Always a crowd pleaser.

Body Blitz Bliss!

I’m still feeling a relaxation buzz after an amazing afternoon spent at the spa.  My sister organized a ladies outing to the Toronto spa Body Blitz where the two of us, along with two of our cousins, soaked up some spa bliss.

The spa is known for “The Waters”, a circuit of pools and sauna/steam rooms designed to detoxify the body.  Other than the cold plunge pool, the entire experience is extremely pleasant!  They have a menu of juices, teas and shakes that you can pre-order and sip poolside. I ordered the Iced Chai Shake, which is amazing, that drink alone is reason enough to go back!

I had a Sweet Ginger + Milk Body Glo treatment.  I didn’t really know what the treatment entailed, but it involved being scrubbed down with various body scrubs, coated in warm milk and then massaged with oil.  My description might not make it sound too appealing, but it was really lovely and my skin has never been softer!

A perfect afternoon with some of my favorite people. I can’t wait to go back!

Towel Tier Cake

For my girlfriend’s wedding shower over the weekend, I decided to attempt a towel tier cake. I’ve seen lots of lovely “recipes” for these, but decided to freestyle and see what I could come up with.

To create my masterpiece I used:

• 2 Bath Towels
• 2 Hand Towels
• 2 Face Cloths
• 1 Dollar Store platter
• A bunch of Dollar Store fake flowers
• Safety Pins
• Straight pins
• Ribbon

I folded the bath towels into quarters, the hand towels in the thirds and the face cloths in half.  I used safety pins to attach the ends of each of the pairs of towels.

Then, I rolled up the towels to create the tiers.  I secured the outer edge of the roll with a safety pin and held the rolls in place with ribbon.

I used pins to secure the tiers and tidy any loose edges. Finally, I decorated the “cake” with flowers, tucking them into the folds of the towels and securing them with pins.

I’m pretty impressed with the outcome!