The Library: From Start to Finish

I can't believe I'm actually writing about our library being COMPLETE (almost)!!! When we first moved into this house, the giant empty room in the front was one of the reasons I signed my name on those mortgage papers because right when we walked in the door our Realtor said, "now how's this for a library huh??" Aaaaand the fact that it still had room for a pool table was enough to make Jason happy.

Home of the future library! This is what it looked like for about 4 months

It started with us finding a pool table and a couch, and for about four months, my books were in boxes piled against the wall. It was frustrating because I would think about re-reading a Harry Potter or Jane Austen and then realize that all of my precious books were stowed away. Jason started tackling the design of the library around mid-September by being a typical engineer:

show off

I mean I'm not going to lie, I was impressed. He's an electrical engineer and just decided to learn Autodesk CAD for fun but for all you DIYers with dreams of building bookshelves, you don't have to do this step, it's just fancier this way. So after doing all the maths he needed, the building started.

wait for it.....

TADA! And we had one, unpainted bookshelf for about a month

While he slowly kept building, I slowly followed by painting. Painting was a whole other animal. We decided to paint the entire room a nice neutral and calming color so we chose Sherman Williams Aloof Gray. LOVED how it turned out. For the trim and also the color of the bookcases we chose Behr Ivory Palace. Each shelf took several coats of wood fill, sanding, painting, sanding, more painting, then a matte polyurethane to finish it off.

then there were two

The days started getting colder and Christmas was fast approaching. We knew that we wouldn't be completely done by Christmas but we wanted to be nearly done so we worked through the cold. Two weeks before Christmas saw me out there in 30 degree weather shivering while listening to radio holiday stations, breaking every ten mins or so to go stand in front of the small space heater we had set up. We had to prevail though!!!

you have no idea how ecstatic we were at this point (sorry for the poor quality pic)

pretty close huh?

By the holidays we had all the bookshelves done except the last one on the right side and the overhanging unit. Jason kept putting that one off because I think both of us were a little terrified to make a wooden shelf hang over our heads while we read but he eventually buckled down and drew out his plans.

adding the final touches

THOSE PANTS AGAIN

After assembling everything, I spent the next morning populating all of the new bookshelves and was actually pretty pleased to find that I had more space for MORE books!! bwahahahaha!!! We finally received the custom frame we had ordered for the crowning jewel of the library, the Pride & Prejudice print that I bought about three years ago, pining for the day I would have a library to put it in. Get this thing:

at first glance it's not much...

but then you get closer and realize...WHAT

IT'S THE ENTIRE TEXT ON A SINGLE POSTER. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR

Yeah I know, I was pretty much blown away when I saw it. It's from this awesome company called Lithographs and I had to control myself to not buy every single poster/shirt/bag they have on their site. Bibliophiles, check it out. Now for the other library piece that finally gets a home was my Stitch (yep as in Lilo & Stitch) painting that Jason had given to me as an anniversary gift about six years ago. I remember when he gave it to me he said it would be the perfect piece for a library and I really could not agree more:

OMG dying of cuteness overload

When I saw everything up, books in the shelves and pictures on the wall, my heart literally stopped. Ok well maybe palpitated a little bit, but some emotional stirring happened because I think we've been waiting for this day for so long that it's hard to believe it's finally here. There are some final touches that still need to be done that I'm hoping to get to this year. Pool table re-felting (get rid of that awful bar green), curtains for the huge window, recessed lighting and eventually I want to get a big library chair to put on the other side of the couch but I have time for those things. IT'S DONE

think we could fit a grand piano in here somewhere?

featuring the coffee table Jason built, more on this in another entry

And as we speak, my own personal Mr. Darcy has fallen asleep in the newly completed fruits of our labor and I suppose I'll let him rest....FOR NOW! mwahahaha!!

Some closing notes to all your DIYers that are thinking that this is beyond your grasp. Don't be crazy, it's not. This room was imagined, designed, and built by an Electrical Engineer and a Biologist. If you've got some patience, a will to make beautiful things to hold books, and some power tools, you can do it too! Email me if you want more specific deets and I'll help you out to the best of my ability! All you Belle's out there, your libraries are within reach! (now where's my sliding ladder?!)

Chicken + Brie Puff Pastry Pockets

It's been a rainy week so there's been more cooking in the kitchen as opposed to the garage for now. I came across this recipe from Orgasmic Chef and made a couple modifications to it to fit our liking. First off, I'm not a huge fan of sweetness mixed with meats so I decided to sub some milk and herbs instead of nutmeg and apple juice. More on this in a bit.

So to start, cook those chicken breasts. I just cooked them in a light amount of olive oil over the stove in a skillet. I then set Jason to work cutting them into tiny pieces:

cuttin' that chicken like a boss

Then for skillet cooking the onion and garlic in butter, YUM. Once you add the basil, flour, and milk you'll get a bit of a gooey, porridge looking consistency:

mmmm butter

weird soupy mixture (it will thicken though!)

with the chicken added it started to look a bit more like filling

Now comes time to cut the cheese HA...literally. We love cheese in this house, especially Brie, so although the original recipe called for only 8 oz of the delectable creamy goodness, I opted for a lot more, like Costco sized a lot more:

now that's what I'm talkin' bout!

Yeah, I basically almost doubled the amount of cheese in these things but omg it was so good in the end. If you like Brie, trust me, just add more. Now that being said, I'm picky about Brie pieces and I don't like the edging. Most people eat the white skin-like part but not I said the fly. So cutting the Brie wheel is up to you. I chopped of the rind and ended up just doing small triangular wedges of the cheese to put on top of the chicken mixture inside the pastry pockets.

Ok so now comes the messy, creative part. I'm not going to pretend that my pockets came out all beautiful and perfect, they were pretty ugly as you'll see soon. I didn't get the puff pastry to cut super evenly because I accidently stretched parts of it out too much which ended up yielding oddly shaped and sized pockets. To the best of his ability Jason closed them up but wasn't worrying too much about making them perfect (this is what happens when you're both starving, and are already into a bottle of wine). 

After rolling the dough out, I cut it sporadically with a pizza cutter, brushed the edges with the egg bath, loaded them up with the chicken mixture, topped them with Brie and left Jason to closing the suckers up. He was neither delicate nor artistic about it, we were just too hungry (we even forgot to close the edges with fork tines! GASP!)

they see me rollin' and egg bathin'

just because it's ugly doesn't mean it's not delicious

The hard part really was waiting the 30 mins while those babies froze in the freezer. It's a pretty important part though because you don't want the cheese to be any warmer than it's going to be in the oven otherwise you'll have maximum cheese oozing all over the baking sheets. But once they are out of the oven, all that wait is so worth it! We feasted well that night and had more than plenty to have the next night for dinner as well. Just pop them in the microwave for a couple mins and you can relive the magic.

golden and crispy

yes please!!!

Chicken & Brie Puff Pastry Pockets              print recipe

2 T butter 1/2 onion, diced 2 garlic cloves,, minced 1 T basil OR 3/4 T rosemary salt + pepper to taste 1 T flour 3/4 C milk 2 chicken breasts, cooked and finely diced 1 lb store-bought puff pastry sheets, thawed 1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 T of water 10-14 oz soft Brie, sliced 1. Cook chicken breasts with light cooking oil in a skillet over the stove top. Once cooked, finely dice into smaller than bite-sized pieces 2. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Saute until soft, about 4-5 mins. Add your basil or rosemary at this time. Salt and pepper to taste 3. Sprinkle flour over the mixture and mix well. Whisk in milk and reduce heat. If mixture is too thick, add more milk 4. Add the chicken to the onion mixture and stir to combine. Simmer on low for 2 mins. Remove from heat and set aside 5. Roll the thawed pastry out if required. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 5" X 5" squares until you've used all the dough 6. Brush edges of each pastry square with the egg wash 7. Spoon in the chicken mixture till you have enough to fill the center of half the square, into each square. Place a slice of Brie on top of each pastry center 8. Either fold squares in half diagonally to enclose the filling or use two pieces of puff pastry. Pinch together edges to seal and crimp with the tines of a fork 9. Brush tops with egg wash 10. Place pies on parchment-lined baking sheets and place in freezer for 30 mins 11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 12. Position oven racks in upper and lower two thirds of the oven 13. Bake the pies for 25 mins, switching positions of baking sheets halfway through, until puffed and golden brown 14. Let pies settle and cool for 5 mins before serving

Chicken + Gnocchi Soup

Alright DIYers, it's time we start cooking some grub up. I've been trying my hand at some new recipes in recent time and came across one that I absolutely love. What is better on a cold, cloudy day than a warm bowl of soup? While living in California we didn't see the rain too often, but every once in a while, a rain dance or two would work and a trip to Olive Garden for all-you-can-eat soup and salad was in store. The Chicken + Gnocchi Soup was always my go-to so when I came across a homemade recipe version, I thought I would try my hand at it. Results: delicious and wonderful even though we were having a sunny day!

For starters, most people either prefer chicken breasts or chicken thighs, I myself preferring the later. If you want to go the simple route, take 3-4 chicken breasts, pan fry them, and then dice them into bite sized pieces. I love chicken thighs though and I love how soft and tender meat gets once you slow cook it so I took 6 thighs and added these with about 5 C of water + salt to the slow cooker. I let that cook on low for about 6 hours so the meat was ready to shred easily once I took them out.

thrilling, I know

Then came time to dice all the veggies and garlic and throw them in a pan to saute (you could save a dish though and do this in the large pot that you'll be eventually cooking the soup in. You'll notice that carrots were omitted because no matter how much they might help my eyesight (which trust me, I could use some help there, but oh well), I just can't stand cooked carrots. Rabbit style and raw? Sure, but ew cooked carrots. So, yeah:

I also cheated, and added 2 T of butter because everything is better with butter

Now in a large pot, add all the veggie/garlic goodies, with your chicken plus your chicken stock, half-and-half, salt, pepper and thyme if you are adding it. Jason has a major aversion to it so I withheld on this recipe (we're a picky bunch if you didn't get that already). Bring all the contents in the pot to a boil then add your gnocchi:

this bad boy

Boil that for about 4 more minutes, then turn down to a simmer and let the mixture sit for another 10 mins. After this time has passed go ahead and add your spinach, either chopped or leaved. I buy organic spinach from Costco and it comes leaved like a salad:

go veg, go green!! 

Let the spinach wilt for 1-2 mins and then get your cornstarch ready. I took 1 T of cornstarch and put it in a mug with 2 T of water. The reason you do this is to break down the cornstarch so you don't get nasty little pockets of it in your soup. Simply beat with a fork and it should break down and create a thickening white mixture. Boil your soup again and add the cornstarch mixture to thicken the soup. At this point I turned off the heat and stirred a while to get that cornstarch to work its magic. After that, you're done!! Like they do at Olive Garden, it always helps to add some fresh shredded Parmesan on top and you've got yourself a soupy masterpiece!

SSSHTEEMY (my attempt at Ace Ventura impersonations womp womp)

Chicken & Gnocchi Soup                                print recipe

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced OR 5-7 chicken thighs, cooked in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours (on high) or 6-8 hours (on low) 4 C chicken stock 2 C half-and-half 1 stalk celery, diced 1/2 onion, diced 1/2 carrot, shredded 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 C spinach, chopped (or whole leaves) 1 T olive oil 1 tsp thyme salt + pepper to taste 16 oz potato gnocchi 1 T cornstarch +Parmesan cheese as garnish 1. If using chicken thighs, place in slow cooker with either salted water or chicken broth (to cover chicken)  and cook for 4-5 hours (on high) or 6-8 hours (on low) 2. In a large pot, saute  the onion, celery, garlic and carrot in olive oil over medium heat until onion is  translucent and celery is softened 3. Add chicken, chicken stock, half-and-half, salt + pepper, and thyme to the pot with the vegetables.  Heat to boiling, then add the gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 mins, then turn down to simmer for 10 mins 4. Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 mins until spinach is wilted 5. Heat to boiling and add cornstarch that has been dissolved in 1-2 T of water 6. Serve and garnish with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Placemat to Wall Art

Happy Spring DIYers!! I've finally emerged from hibernation a bit shaggy and worse for the wear, but enjoying this Seattle sunshine and ready to DIY. No joke, last weekend it was like waking up from a fog. The sun was out, the temperature was up and instead of laying on the couch and reading in the almost completed library (more on this upon completion), Jason and I started ripping things apart, cleaning out the very messy garage and listing our project priorities in the weeks to come. That being said, there will be some new cool posts in the near future but until then you'll have to be satisfied with this very very simple project!

So, last fall I was in my favorite store on Earth, Anthropologie (have I mentioned this before? Oh yes, I think I have) and was stoked to find that it was the greatest week of the year (a bit of an over-exaggeration but still....): THE ANNUAL SALE. I went a bit mad and bought a ton of random things for the house that when I sent the list of pictures to Carly she asked, "soooo what are you going to do with those things?" Like take for example the beautiful gorgonian (sea fan coral) placemat I found for $7.95

Gorgeous right?? Too nice to be a placemat in my opinion

We live a bit further from the ocean than we did in Carpinteria, CA but none-the-less, I love having ocean-inspired pieces of artwork throughout the house to make us feel at home. Back to Carly's question, what the heck was I going to do with a single placemat? Hmmmm good question, but I knew I would figure something out as it was just too pretty to pass up on.

I got it into my head that I indeed wanted it to be hanging on the wall but how could we do this? While visiting one of my favorite places in Seattle, Second Use Building Materials, we found some old baseboard that I loved the color and texture of so we though, hey, why not make our own frame for it? I'm sorry that I didn't take pictures of the baseboard before, Jason basically ripped into it and started chopping right when we got home before I knew what was going on. But to do the basic frame he did simple 45 degree angle cuts on four pieces to give the shape of a basic frame and then wood glued the thing together. Since I wanted this to be an open piece with no glass, I decided to back the placemat with a beautiful linen I picked up from Jo-Anns with a coupon. I got two yards and that was more than enough. Now for the fun part. With the frame assembled, I ironed out the fabric, doubled it up and began stapling it to the back of the frame, pulling to tighten it as I went.

This shows the fabric stapled on and trimmed up around the edges

Next, very carefully, I started sewing small holding stitches through the placemat into the backing linen to hold the placemat in place:

Doesn't look pretty from the back but just you wait

Not going to lie, this step was the hardest part of the whole simple thing because you have to be careful not to stretch the linen out too much so it won't sag in the frame. You could always do this step first but I felt more comfortable doing it this way, you're choice of preference. Once the edges were trimmed up and the placemat was securely in place, we just added a saw-tooth hanger to the top of the frame with small nails:

AND VOILA!

Finished and hanging like it never was actually a placemat

Now I have a beautiful custom piece in one of the hallways that reminds me a bit of diving in my beloved Santa Barbara every time I look at it. Lesson of the story, even placemats can be made into something beautiful so just be creative!