Baby Room - Update 3

Once all those boards were primed it was time for another decision. A big one. What color would we paint the room? I knew I wanted a jungle-esque theme, something that would work for a boy or a girl, and a light blue/green seemed like a versatile color for either sex. I picked up a slew of color samples at Sherwin Williams and the debating began. Travis and I each silently picked our favorites and revealed.

While I'm glad to say we were clearly thinking on the same track in the color range, they are so close yet so different. Putting them under every light possible and comparing I still loved Tame Teal. Travis loved Pool Blue. Something had to give. We finally made a decision, and then Travis received this kind advice from his co-worker Chris that he found at a local hardware store:

It seems we likely made the right decision: Sherwin Williams Tame Teal! We bought a second can mixed down with white paint for the ceiling and some white for the trim as well. Now let's hope it looks as good on the walls as it does on that teeny tiny card.

Baby Room - Update 2

The next phase of the project began with the delivery of the paneling that will go up on the wall. Nine-foot tall 1"x6" tongue and groove panels of V-Edge Pine arrived ready to be primed, and thankfully Hannah, Pat and Randalle were on hand to help out. There was an assembly line of paint-dry-flip-paint-dry-rotate, until all 75 panels were complete. Stacked in our dining area, they are getting adjusted to the indoor air, anxiously awaiting to be installed and painted a wonderful baby color... In the meantime the electrical is back up and running in the room and every outlet works! The room has officially been upgraded.

Thanks again to all of our helpers!!

Cover to Cover Challenge 2013

You might remember, last year I made Shrimp Scampi Meatballs for something called the Cover to Cover Challenge from The Bitten Word. Well, they're at it again and I had to participate. This year they simplified to only one magazine, Bon Appetit with multiple people making each recipe.

My assignment: Creamy White Onion Soup
I thought I got off with a fairly easy recipe, until I realized there are actually four parts to this soup: pickled scallions, an onion jam, the soup, and a Fontina toast. Certainly not something I would be dumping in a pot and letting simmer for a few hours. But then again that wouldn't be a challenge would it?!
The soup itself was absolutely delicious. The combination of ginger and Serrano peppers with the onion created a really complex flavor, and when combined with the Fontina toast it was delicious. Personally I wasn't a fan of the onion jam, too sweet for me, though my other taste-testers enjoyed it.
I would certainly make this soup again for a special occasion or guests, but with all the details it is not a 'throw everything in a pot and forget about it' kind of soup, so not likely something that will be on regular rotation. 

Baby Room - Update 1

Work continues in the room for Mini Moore. After getting all of the major grunt work done (with alot of help from Joey - thanks Joey!) we moved on to the next fun step: sanding. And more sanding. What we can salvage of the original details we're trying our best to. The windows are original to the house with sash weights for moving them up and down. With the help of Travis' parents we sanded every nook and cranny of those windows. Afterwards a coating of tung oil* made the wood look absolutely gorgeous and worth all of the effort. We also discovered a nook in the wall when taking down the old wood. As a future shelving unit it will give us a little added storage - something we'll never turn down.

Travis managed to save the molding when taking it down, so we sanded it for painting later. And that is sanding by hand with strips of sandpaper, no palm sander allowed for those delicate pieces.

Then the front door. This door leads from the baby's room to the front porch. We knew the stain wasn't going to match once we sanded down the windows and other details, so we took it off the hinge and got sanding. I don't think any of us expected how pretty the wood would be underneath the years of weathering. It instantly brightens up our front porch, and now has us wanting to sand the other front door. (One project at a time here...) We'll add a coating of tung oil to the inside and and exterior finish to the outside so we can keep those gorgeous colors.

*While neighbors told us about the tung oil for the windows I was of course picturing tounge oil. Not so. It's from the seed of the tung tree and it hardens/dries when exposed to air to create a satin finish on wood. The oil is even considered one of the few environmentally friendly wood finishes available. The best part is that it resists water better than most other finishes - perfect for old windows. Definitely something we'll be using again throughout the house.