No more dish hands! Thanks DAD!

It was quite an exciting and busy long weekend here! We did a lot of cleaning, hosting, celebrating and rearranging! There were friends, engagement celebrations, lawn games, yummy food, and tons of grilling. I hope that you and yours had a fantastic holiday weekend. 

One of the most exciting developments was the purchase of our newest kitchen toy- a dishwasher! The last six months have seen nothing but hand washing dishes in the sink. Why, you ask? Well back in December over Christmas break there was a crazy freak thunder storm that caused much excitement in our house in the form of a power surge. The power surge caused our cable lines to catch fire, which did not cause as much physical damage as one would image. We lost all of our cable lines, which led to lots of cable company haggling, long hours on the phone, and headaches. While most of the damage from the surge was mostly mental, as I was afraid of every weird noise in the house for weeks!, we did sustain some monetary loss. Overall we were pretty lucky, losing only the Keurig and the dishwasher. Orginially we though we lost the fridge and washer too, however we totally lucked out! In all of the drama dealing with insurance, electric and cable companies we did not even realize that the dishwasher wasn't working until 2 days later! My dad, being the amazing HVAC, refridgerator, and electrical master that he is, came over to take a peek at the dishwasher. (Let me also say that he really helped calm our fears throughout the entire surge aftermath, providing electrical info and check-ups!) He pulled the sucker out and that's when we discovered that the guts of the dishwasher had literally exploded. During the second surge, we experienced a large popping sound followed by a foul smell, which we immediately determined was the circuit board of the dishwasher. While I'm writing this I'm wishing I had taken a picture of the mess that we found inside- but to do my best to describe it was a totally charred, burnt circuit board full of broken glass-like pieces. I think there was some talk of a capacitor? It all sounded like Back to the Future to me! Anyhoo, our plan then became to purchase the inner circuit board, which we located online for about $113. However after much research we discovered that the part was non-returnable and sort of gave up on the idea. Flash forward almost SIX months (I can not even believe it has been that long!!!) to this past weekend when snapped up this baby at Lowes-

We scored quite a deal with Memorial day sales. The dishwasher we chose was the Fridigdaire stainless steel. While the inner cheapo in me wanted to snag up the cheapest option, I opted for the next step up after some coaxing from J. It was originally priced at $399, however Lowes was having a 10% off sale on all purchases over $299. This brought our total sale to $359! Score! So we lugged our new baby home and quickly called dad to help install. Did I mention how amazing he is?! He came over and disconnected the old dishwasher and installed the new one in about an hour. I owe him a big one for that! Plus I got to watch some installation acrobatics!

 There was not much that I had to do aside from opening the box and be the cleanup crew, when lots of not so yummy water came running out on the kitchen floor.

J helped out dad...

And it was so exciting that even one of our cats came out to investigate!

 

I think my favorite part was getting to see the dishwasher coozie blanket that encases the dishwasher. It's pretty cute for an appliance snuggie!

 

My dad explained that the point was to help muffle sound and insulate against the cabinet and counters. 

Ahhhhh, no more hand washing! I love it! It had been so long without a dishwasher, J forgot and actually started hand washing the next day before it dawned on us both that we could load up the new toy! Mad shout out to dad for all the help! You ROCK!

Terrariums aka the Mini-Garden Parfait

That's right, I finally got my terrarium on! After seeing all kinds of cool posts about terrariums I picked up two small glass bowls with the plan to create a terrarium for myself. That was two months ago! Since then my glass bowls collected dust in the extra bedroom, well I should say inside a canvas bag in the bottom of the closet. Well last week I finally went out shopping for all the various items needed to create my new indoor garden masterpiece. I scooped up everything I needed from Wal-Mart, Lowes, and AC Moore. Here are my supplies-

So, yeah I went a little crazy. In reality you do NOT need all of these items but I intended to make several different terrariums: a mother's day gift, a housewarming gift, and uh a few for me! Here are a few close ups of some of the plants I chose. The first time I went in search of succulents I came up empty handed. But this time, my local Lowe's had a HUGE and interesting selection. It was pretty had to narrow it down because all of them were pretty neat looking. I do wish that the tags on the pots had more detailed information- they all said "succulent" and recommended high light.

On the bottom right of the photo above are some hen and chickens- well I suppose they are just chickens, that I propagated from another plant. Gotta love free plants!

This little guy is my favorite! I affectionately named him the "dinosaur toe." How cute/weird is this guy?!

The breakdown-

From Wal-mart: 

Aqua rocks in 4 varieties 

Activated charcoal 

potting soil

giant glass bowl

Lowes:

Various succulents 

AC Moore:

Art sand

river rocks

garden greenhouse 

All the items were really easy to find. The weirdest one is the activated charcoal which I located in the fish tank aisle in Wal-Mart. 

 The first piece I wanted to work with was the giant glass bowl, or what would later be deemed the "mini-garden parfait" by a recent house guest. To start, I lined the bottom of the bowl with rocks. 

Next up, I added a layer of activated charcoal and then sand. Some tutorials suggested adding a layer of sphagnum moss to act as a barrier between the rocks and sand but I opted out. I think next time I will try this, as I noticed a lot of sand went right on through the rocks.

Next up, I spooned in some potting soil. Mmmm,  a spoonful of dirt make the medicine go down! I spooned in about half of the soil, which allowed me to poke holes with my fingers to make little beds for my new plants.

Next was to arrange the plants I chose. I started with the tallest to help anchor my design. I dug down a big with my hand dandy spoon and set it into place. Then I added a bit of soil around it.

 I then continued to add various succulents repeating the same process. I ended up breaking up some of the larger plants featured above so that I could use them in a few of my creations. So after some arranging, I ended up with this "mini-garden parfait"!

As I stated I was making a a few as presents, and this one was intended for my grandma who lives on the river. So I wanted to stick with the beachy theme. I chose the succulent in front because of its similarity to a sea anemone. After I arranged all the plants, I wanted to add some more interest by adding a few seashells. I had some seashells on reserve from last year's beach trip- I always try to got seashell hunting! But if you don't I discovered that you can also buy them at the craft store.

I am so pleased with the way this project turned out! I absolutely love it! And I really think it will look great in my grandma's sunroom. 

I also made a few other terrariums with the rest of my plants. I used a ball jar and made a mini-terrarium for my neighbor's housewarming party as a gift. I followed the same process as above, and I found that working with the smaller opening was not an easy task. I found the spoon I used for dirt quite handy! 

 

 Lastly I made two mid sized ones for myself! Here's a picture of one.  I forgot to snap a photo of the other before I transported it to school to hang out in my windowsill. They are almost identical and feature the two bowls I thrifted a few months back.

So there's my terrarium wrap up! All in all, an easy project. I used lots of different websites for reference (this, this and this). The only downside is the mess it makes! I would highly suggest doing this project outdoors. I was working at night, so I was limited to the indoors. Also I'd suggest not going crazy in the succulent section like myself, and stick to a smaller amount of plants. (It worked out for me though, because I used my left over plants elsewhere which I'll share later!)

Next up is to turn this baby...

...into a swank terrarium. I scored this guy at AC Moore for $17.99! I've seen like items online for up to $300! What a score! I've got some more reading to do since it will be a closed terrarium, but I'm pretty excited!

Happy planting!

Friday Afternoon Thrift

 I scored this beautiful sweater!!!!!!!

I also saw this! But didn't buy it! I think I am losing my brain. I originally really wanted lockers for the laundry room and priced some at School Outfitters for about $300 bucks! These are such a steal- thrifting fail! No to mention it's only the second set of lockers that I have ever seen. Well, I hope someone snagged them up. If not, local Richmond-ers this is at the Mechanicsville Salvation Army.

Happy Monday!

Laundry Room Dreaming

Living in a hundred year old plus house, you run into a general lack of storage. People in 1907 did not have any stuff, needless to say I'm not sure I would have survived! We have neither a usable attic nor basement, so you have to get creative, learn to love the space bag, and utilize every hide-able spot behind and under your furniture. When I first visited this house when I was house shopping I made a comment about adding  some built in storage in the laundry room, as there is a perfect 12 inch recessed area along the wall. The space in question is odd, 11 inches deep plus molding and about inches 72 long.

I've been looking around and considering many options. The first place I looked was of course, Lowes. The area is too shallow for base cabinets but is the perfect depth for wall cabinets. So armed with my tape measure I hit the kitchen aisle and tried to but my rudimentary algebra skills to work. After coming up with many combos I still ended up with an undesirable look, at a very high costs. Each 30 x 30 wall cabinet runs about 150-200 dollars a pop. Bust #1!

My second idea was to use standard bookcases that can be easily purchased at any big box store. And for hidden storage, I figured that I could run a rod with funky fabric across the front. I located some bookshelves online at Walmart.com and priced them for about 50-75 dollars a piece for a 5-7 shelf unit. So immediately I ran out to my local Walmart and to my chagrin I discovered that what I was looking for did not exist in store. Bust #2!

My most recent idea takes me to my old friend Ikea. I first looked at the standard Billy bookcase, sticking to my second idea. And that's when I came across the Billy with doors! BINGO! Covered and uncovered storage, can we say heck yes! So here are my current ideas. 

1. Billy bookcase with doors (upper is glass)
2. Billy bookcase with lower doors only
3. Billy bookcase
4. Billy dvd storage
5. Lack shelf

6. Gruntal lighting
7. BÖJA
8 and 8a. Vaster (in white and red)
9 and 10. Calypso and Erbium

My favorite combo as of right now would go a little bit like this...

(Note: Excuse my low budget Picassa editing, I stake no claim as technology extraordinaire!)

Because the space is such an odd size, there is left over space to the tune of about 10 inches. I considered an addition shelf, number 4 above for a custom, finished, built in look. However, that leaves me without any storage for the broom and swiffer. So I was thinking that the above combination would leave me with just the extra amount of space for those items, along with some hooks for other small items.

As for the lights, I have been crushing on the Boja for awhile now- but I also like the reverse boob light of number 9 and 10. It all comes down to how much I'm loving it in real life. I find that a lot of times I fall in love with something in the Ikea catalog only to be bummed out by it in real life. Either way, I definitely want to grab some lighting for the inside top of the book cases so I can show off my tchotchkes.

So that's my plan right now, what do ya think? Help a gal out!

Kitchen sightings

This past Friday evening J and I went over to a friend's house for dinner and cocktails. As with any good gathering, the kitchen is the hub of activity. In the kitchen, I spotted a few very cool ideas and though I'd share. Thanks for letting me photograph and share your cool ideas, JJ!

DIY recipe (or whatever) holder:

I totally love this idea! JJ said that originally this creation was for an odd sized small window covering, but that it didn't work out. But, it's secondary purpose seems pretty rad to me. She uses it to store her desert recipes for a desert of the month club she's a part of.

I have used these types of hooks for no sew curtains for years, but I love this inventive and practical use. In the kitchen, it allows for you to clip up notes, take out menus, current recipes, cooking ideas, whatever. This same idea could be used in an office or bedroom for notes, inspiration, to do lists, etc.

Paint Can Storage:

JJ previously told me about this idea, but I had yet to see it in action. Being a super duper chef, she has many kitchen utensils and needed some large readily accessible storage. She looked all over, but came across these unused paint cans at Lowe's and scooped them up for 3 bucks a pop. The paint cans came in waaaaaaay cheaper than the other options she had been considering. I am diggin' on the industrial feel, and just think it'll be so easy to clean!

 Rice bags:

Aren't these just so cute- I love the color and rustic feel. JJ scored these from an old job (she's worked in lots of restaurants) and uses it to store things she'd rather not see, like plastic bags, etc. I need to get me some of these! (Note: check out her cool hanger with all the different hooks! Simple and sleek.)

Onion Bags:

These are onion bags that J bought over the years. She started searching for cool ones when buying onions, and decided to turn them into kitchen decoration. She says the Burger Buddies is her favorite because "they are pals, and belong together." Awww, ain't that sweet! I am envious of these, and again the colors are similar to the rice bags above and really pop against the color of the kitchen. And the cost? Free, with the purchase of onions.

Well those are my kitchen sightings! Have a cool kitchen sighting or idea that you wanna share?