Cottage Hallway Progress + Garden Cake Fun

Wow, so many nice warm welcomes and encouragement from all of you last week - that's so sweet:) Sometimes I think my house is out to get me but I know that's not true - I know it wants to be completed just as much as I want it to be! Thank you for your kind words of support!

Another busy week here at our cottage in the making... I've been into a little of this and that and everything, from Goodwill "treasure makeovers" (I'll share those later) to cake making to shopping for business supplies to mudding drywall in our hallway. It seems that the only time I can be still is when I sit and visit with my birds while I drink my coffee in the morning!

So do you remember how short our hallway ceiling was before we removed the old ceiling? Literally, the ceiling sat right up above the door trim as you can see from the next two pictures.





After ripping out the old ceiling, we added the new drywall. I worked on mudding a bit this week. Here is the hallway thus far... It's strange how just a foot in height can really open up a space.



I made another garden cake and thought I'd share. These are so fun to make! This particular cake was lemon with lemon curd filling....MMMM! I used Duncan Hines Butter cake mix, lemon buttercream frosting, and the filling (below) from this recipe.

Lemon Curd Filling
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup white sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten

To make filling: In medium saucepan, mix together 1 tablespoon lemon zest, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth. Mix in 6 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup sugar, and bring mixture to boil over medium heat. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. In small bowl, with a wire whisk, beat egg yolks until smooth. Whisk in a small amount of the hot lemon mixture. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan, beating the hot lemon mixture rapidly. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes, or until thick (not to boil). Pour mixture into medium bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface to keep skin from forming as it cools. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 3 hours.







I received a couple of questions last week that I want to make sure I answer:):

I do have one question, all your photos are perfect quality and look like they are from a magazine, what kind of camera are you using? Do you have special photography flash's you are using?~Thanks!
Kristine

Thanks for the compliment, Kristine. The truth is, I hate having to photograph anything because photography is really tricky for me. My camera is big with lots of options and lenses- and that sometimes overwhelms me. It's an older Digital Rebel, though, and it's a great camera. The newer ones are suppose to be really awesome! I usually try to photograph in lots of natural sunlight and don't use a flash. I also use a tripod when I can to avoid blurry photos. THEN if my photos still turn out too dark, I upload them to Pixenate and select the "fill light" icon to add a bit more "natural" light to my photos without washing them out. Oh to just shoot and upload photos without all that fuss! No wonder it takes me so long to update my blog!

Would you give us a quick comment on those spools? I have saved wooden spools from my mother -- a great seamstress -- and this looks like a wonderful thing to do with them.
lucia

Lucia, these spools are so fun and easy to alter. I simply painted the spools, distressed them with sandpaper, and then measured the inner length and diameter of the spool. I found pretty scrapbooking paper, cut them to my measurments, and glued them around the spools. Lastly, I printed out some of my favorite words to glue to the paper seam. Easy Peasy! If you try this, let me know...I'd love to see your altered spools!


I love the (robin's egg blue) color!!! You'll have to post the ingredient label, so we all can enjoy it in our homes! ~Ambrea



Ambrea, I am so loving this color, too, and would love to share the ingredients! I looked on my can and I don't know if this will help you or not, but this is what it says on the top:

Manual Dispense One Gallon
107-17.5
101-13
103-10.5
Valspar Eggshell Base 1

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Studio Work Begins!

We started on my studio last weekend, and boy, what a lot of work! I'll be sure to post photos when there is something interesting to photograph:) For now, we've mainly been working on patching the walls and insulating the parts of the ceiling that weren't completely insulated. Work continues this weekend:) There were once sky lights in the studio room...and now there are just plywood "patches" that are quite the eyesores! We removed the skylights when we added a new roof a few years back and have been waiting to deal with the interior holes when we redo the ceiling. We're not ready for that, so I've had to come up with a creative way to make those square patches look like they belong. I finally decided that I would (try to) paint a pretty cloudy sky mural within each of the four squares and trim it out in a nice crisp white moulding. Hopefully the effect will realistic - we shall see! I hope to tackle that soon (this weekend or next) so I'll be sure to post some before and afters! I'm so anxious to have the studio finished because my materials and creations are taking over the rest of the house!

Hubs was also able to get around to mudding the seams of the new drywall in the hallway. Still lots of sanding, reapplying mud, sanding, etc., to go, but it looks sooo much better already! I can't believe we can walk down the hall now without seeing a single stud!

I've been experimenting with my faux creations and wanted to share one of them - a chocolate cupcake - with you...You can read more about it on my faux dessert blog if you like.











Thanks for dropping in! I hope everyone is doing well!

A Cupcake Laboratory

That's what my kitchen has become over the last few days - half bakery / half science lab! You see, I'm kicking it into high gear to really start producing my faux desserts for the opening of Lollishops toward the end of the year. More on that in a moment...

Well, I'm all better and up and at'em again! Unfortunately, after I recovered, two of my kidlets once again were sick. One (who had a fever for a day or so) complained once late at night that her ear bothered her...then her ear drum ruptured early the next morning! It was an ear infection we didn't even know she had - her first one ever in seven and a half years. The other one had a fever for several days - once up to 104.3, followed by bronchitis. She missed a week and half of school:( So it's been a tough month but we are ALL well now, thank goodness! Thank you to all those that stopped by and left well wishes - I really appreciate your kind words!

So...lately I've been dreaming about what kinds of things I want to make for my Lollishops store, and OH what fun! I went to Hobby Lobby last Saturday and had to keep reminding myself to focus on one or two products at a time...there are so many ideas spinning around in my head and it would be easy to leave a place like Hobby Lobby with a buggy load:) I picked up paint, pastel chalk, and three pretty glass cake plates of different sizes, from cake size down to cupcake size. They were half off and I couldn't resist!

I've been focusing for now on my cookies, candies, and cupcakes. I *wanted* to also be working on some sugared lollipops and sugared gumballs because they are so much fun, but there's only so much time in one weekend...*sigh*

I've used various recipes in the past for my faux cookies but haven't been completely thrilled with the cookies unless they were painted a yummy chocolatey color, which is fine - but not all cookies are chocolate. I basically needed a recipe that produced a cookie that looked delicious and natural right out of the oven and that only needed a clear coat sealer. I finally found it! I had some of my cookies on a cooling sheet the other day when my oldest daughter came home from school and she saw them and asked if she could have one, lol. (That's the tough thing about being a faux dessert maker and having kids...you do feel a *twinge* of guilt when you have to tell your kids that what they hoped was real was indeed fake, hehe. I do make plenty of real cookies, too, or else there would be a small uprising here!)

With my cupcakes, I've been trying to figure out how to make a realistic looking cupcake base - the actual cake portion of the cupcake. In the past I've used plaster and while it's easy to use and looks great piled high with yummy faux icing, I wanted something lighter weight and that wasn't flat on top - I wanted a bit of a rise like an actual cupcake. I experimented this weekend and am so excited that I think I've found it! Hubs was amazed (and it takes a lot to get a "Wow!" out of him!). I can't help but to think back to all the times I've spent pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to achieve a certain look or effect, using every product under the moon, and almost giving up. (And there will be many more times like that in the future!) I'm sure with many crafts, it's half art, half science experiment. You just never know if something will work until you try! My next "science experiment" will have to do with making faux fondant. I have my "ingredients" and tools but will have to see how it works out!

I'm also working on a new color palette. Chocolate is divine and I want to offer plenty of it, but in a place like Lollishops, there must be plenty of candy coated sweetness, don't you think? I've tested quite a few colors on some candy pieces and it looks like they are going to work! My girls especially loved the more "frou frou" looking candies. The same colors will be used on cupcakes, cookies, lollipops, etc. I've mostly only ever used red, white, cream, pink, and brown for my desserts, so I'm really excited about adding to my color palette!

On the home front, today a friend is coming to help hubs hang drywall in the hallway. Yay! One less area in our home with visible studs (and there are many!!)!!

But the most exciting news this week is that hubs gave me the go ahead last night to design my work studio! At this moment, the kitchen is slowly being overtaken by cupcakes and cookies as I work more on my desserts, and I have to have a place for all of it so that we can continue to function in there. BUT...here is the twist...

Ninety-five percent of my materials needed to create my studio will come from what we already have on hand in the garage. I need lots of shelving, a work table, seating, storage, and so on...and I want it to be pretty, of course:) So there will be a lot of trash to treasure projects to complete this makeover. I have some preliminary ideas already and hubs told me to give the plans to him when I'm done and we'll work on it together. When I'm able, I'll take a photo of the all the stuff I plan on using...from old woodend table legs to the bifold doors we removed from the dining room (you will probably think that I've lost my mind, hehe...but hopefully it will work out and also free up some space in our garage in the process!)

What I know I will have to buy is paint, some decorative trim for dressing up the shelving, and window treatments. The walls will probably be Malted Milk like the rest of our house so far and the furniture will all be white. For color, I've been dreaming about pretty long flowy curtains in a vintage or robin's egg blue. and the rest of the color will come from faux dessert displays. Ahhhh....

Wow, I wrote a novel! Thanks for popping in!

P.S

I may be having another much smaller online yard sale here in the next couple of weeks...probably less than 10 items:) Just a heads up!

P.S.S If you have haven't yet submitted your application to Lollishops, please do!

Another Cottage Project: Raising the Hallway Ceiling

We had a very productive (albeit messy, hot, and exhausting ) weekend here at our Twice Remembered Cottage. We got started with our hallway project! Our hall is very long and what made it very unappealing to me was it's extremely low ceiling. I'm only about 5'5" and I could literally touch the ceiling without much effort. It has long been our goal to someday raise the ceiling there, which I hoped would visually open up the narrow space a bit. This weekend, we did just that.

So here is where we started - our very gloomy and sometimes scary hallway. We've gone ahead and replaced all the hollow core doors with solid pine doors except for that one there on the right...we're working in that particular room (expanding a closet) and have waited to put up the door there until we're ready to also put up the new closet door. Anyway, can you see how close the ceiling is to the top of doors? There is absolutely no room for the beefy 5 inch wide door trim I want to add around the doors - and no room for crown moulding and a pine plank ceiling either. Clearly, the ceiling needed to be raised.



The first cut... Who knew cutting through popcorn could be so easy and exciting?




There's no going back now!




This photo reveals the air conditioning duct work! This would have been a problem, but don't worry... this is unused duct work from the old original air conditioning system installed 30 years ago. A new system (with duct work under our floor) was added several years back and the old one remained to fossilize in our ceiling, I suppose. But this explains why the ceiling was so low to begin with. Fortunately hubby had crawled into the attic to investigate well before we decided to tackle this project:)



I thought I'd take a photo of the "big mess" being created already. But compared to what was to come, this was nothing!



Within minutes, the old drywall was completely removed from the ceiling and we could get a good view of the old metal monster that was hiding above.... I had to help hubs remove the duct work and I was so afraid it was going to fall on my head! I had to hold one end as I stood on a ladder while hubs unscrewed it from the center and other end. Talk about scary!





Our first good view of our new ceiling height! Whew, it sure was dirty up there!



Another whole foot added to the ceiling height - from 7 feet to 8 feet just like that!





The metal monster wasn't so intimidating when it wasn't hanging by a few screws above my head.



Now to begin ripping out the hall walls...




See what I meant about it getting messier?



A good friend came by and helped hubs hang the drywall for the new ceiling. I tried but have absolutely no upper body strength and proved to be a pretty puny and clumsy helper. Hubs forgot to cut the hole for the light but he can go back and do that. I'm thinking about hanging an old fashioned baby chandelier, but hubs isn't thrilled. I think it will grow on him;)



I love the results so far - the hall really feels so much more spacious now! I really can't wait to add our plank ceilings and crown moulding, tall white beadboard, wide door trim (with maybe a nifty antique metal number above each door..."Where is your bathroom?" ...."Oh, it's down the hall, Room 2."), and of course, our long awaited wood flooring. But this is where we leave of for now because today, Monday, it's business as usual for hubs and his real job. We'll save the walls for another free weekend. I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our most recent cottage transformation project!

A Few Cottage Doors Installed and Accessorized

Ever so slowly, we're chipping away at our long renovation list of things to do. As I've mentioned before, we stay very busy with life outside of remodeling so that means every little thing we do here is a small victory. Installing three of our new pine doors this weekend called for a happy dance, to be sure. I just couldn't stop opening and closing the newly installed doors - Hubs did such a great job and not a creak to be heard! I'm so pleased with the new hardware, too, because I love the oil rubbed bronze finish. These new knobs were just 9.99 at Southeastern Salvage (and pine doors were only $98 each!).

Though we have a long way to go, our currently scary hallway aready feels nicer. There is just something about those big heavy doors that makes the house feel a little more substantial and old-fashioned. I can only imagine after we do the rest of the work including painting the doors, raising the ceiling, adding tung and groove boards like those in the kitchen, crown moulding, beadboard, and trim (oh yeah, and flooring) - what it's going to feel like then. Oh, I can't wait! Installing the doors is just the first step, but the other hallway projects will come later when we get more of the kitchen projects behind us.

I wanted to add a little more cottage charm to the doors so I'll be adding wooden appliques to the fronts and backs. The first one came out nice, I think. It's just an inexpensive little touch that you can add to just about anything...(I put them on the false fronts of our kitchen cabinets, too!) You can buy this particular applique at Lowe's for about $4 or search online for a bigger selection.



Speaking of the kitchen, I had someone come out and give me an estimate on installing the brick for the backsplash. He gave me a good deal and will hopefully he will be able to have time in May to come and do the install. I'll be taking care of the grouting and painting, though, just because I'm so persnickety. Also kitchen related - we have ants. I can't figure out where they are coming from and I hate the thought of just spraying chemicals all willy-nilly. I tried the Borax/sugar solution but it didn't work. Ugh! Any tips?

I'm in the throws of cleaning out closets now. You should see my living room now where the sorting and throwing away process is in full swing. I hope to be done by the weekend! My goal is to keep only the necessities and things that we actually use or are truly special.

So back to work I go!

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There is still plenty of time to sign up for my Cottage Charm giveaway and others if you haven't already. Or if you are interested in having your own Cottage Charm giveaway, here are the details. There are several of us so far! Thanks to everyone!