Jen Caputo

2 Quick Home Decor Art Projects

I made two super quick home decor projects this weekend (about 20 minutes tops for each) and I thought I'd share :)

For this one I:

1. Spray painted a frame with glossy white
2. cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the frame
3. used a scallop punch on some white cardstock
4. wrapped ribbon around a chipboard M (to stand for Murphy, my future last name)
5. stuck it all together and framed it
6. tada!

Next, I was flipping through the latest Real Simple and was totally inspired by one of their Thanksgiving tablescape ideas. And it had a tutorial!

You need:

• A bottle or vase or anything else you want to cover - dig through your recycling bin for a bottle you were going to throw out!
• Twine or string
• super sticky tape (I used a roll of red-liner tape I had around, Carpet tape from the home improvement store would work great too)

My  bottle is from Koval Distillery (local in Chicago!) which used to house "my crack" (as Adam calls it), their Organic Ginger Liqueur. It is heaven on earth. I've been saving the bottles because I really like their shape.  For a while I was taking the labels off but they do not come off easy. As you can tell I got half done with this one and gave up.  Which made it a perfect candidate for this project!

1. Wrap your bottle in super sticky tape
2. Peel of the section you will work on first
3. Wind the twine around the bottle
4. and wind
5. and wind
6. and wind
7. I secured the ends with a drop of super glue

And in just a few minutes, you have a pretty new vase recycled from your favorite liqueur!

Well, we're having a party tonight so it's about time for me to jump in the shower and clean up my art projects!

And while I'm here - here's one more way I've recycled a Koval bottle:

To hold dish soap. I just added a liquor bottle spout.

Kitchen Renovation: New Goodies in Action

I picked up my Container Store order today and did some more kitchen organization, this stuff is so fun!

Look at how this expandable drawer uses every inch of space!

And these undershelf baskets that just slide on any shelf are perfect!

These baggies used to occupy an entire drawer.  I freed it up for kitchen gadgets in a jiffy by tucking them in this undershelf basket instead.

And then there's these Cleanser Racks that are ideal for my undersink area since I was unable to fit a roll-out drawer.

Everything I use the most, right at my finger tips, no digging around under the sink for it.

Yes, I use the Goo Gone a ton! Have you ever bought something from Home Goods?  They do not stick those price tags on lightly.... (I don't know if you can tell but there is literally 3 different bottles/sizes of Goo Gone in this rack)

The cleaning ladies come tomorrow!!! First time they'll have been here in about 5 weeks. I am so excited to have a sparkly clean house again.  They can resume their regular schedule now which makes me very happy :)

I am no housekeeper...

Kitchen Renovation: Organization Sneak Peaks

Very soon I will do a full scale reveal of the kitchen but in the mean time, I have been doing some organizing.

For instance... my wonderful spice shelf.

These lovely green-tinted jars from Home Goods are looking fabulous stuffed with coffee beans, powdered sugar, brown sugar, sugar, etc....  (I'm gonna stop back tomorrow and grab a few more I think as I need to add some flour jugs)

They are totally air tight when clamped shut and they were just $5 a piece!  I love how they fit perfectly on my spice shelf and keep everything within easy reach yet off the counters!

Then there's this box of lovelies which arrived the other day.

I ordered 55 of them and promptly shipped back 40... I ordered the 16oz tins which wound up being WAY too big.  I kept 15 for some of our bulk spices but the rest went back to get swapped out with the 8 oz tins.

My rationale in ordering the 16oz was that they were only 2 cents more than the 8 oz... Then I realized extra air in the spice tins is not ideal for keeping them tasting fresh.  So... back they went.

I also did some Container Store shopping last night.

They are having a 20% off sale on EVERYTHING!!!  PLUS, if you go through eBates you get an extra 4% back. PLUS, if you spend over $50 you get a 3 month subscription to Real Simple. But if you're like me and already subscribe to Real Simple, you can get a $6 rebate instead.  I choose to pick up my goods at my local store meaning my shipping was free too!

All of this adds up to some AMAZING deals at The Container Store. My cart was probably full with about $70 worth of goodies and after all the deals and ebates and rebates and free shipping I was at about $45.

Man I love a good deal!

Here's what I got:

  

 

Several of these things I got multiples of. You can click any of them to go to their product listing.  Don't forget to use coupon code savenow to save 20% and to go through eBates to get another 4% back!

Somebody loves me!!!!

So you may remember me speaking of Calamondin's before. The only place I've been able to find them is down at my parents place on Hutchinson Island. They're almost my favorite part of going down there.. So I bought a tree and tried to grow them myself.  Back in the spring, my tree looked like this:

Now it's dead....

I don't know what happened... I think it got too much water (not from me, from the Illinois rain of about a month or two ago).

I instantly plunged into a deep depression.

But today, a box arrived, and look what it was full of...

Oh those are Calamondins!! A whole box full!!!!

The box was labeled "Trick or Treat". 

Oh man was it a treat.  I literally jumped up and down.  LITERALLY!

Wanna know what the first thing I did was?

Got out a glass and filled it with Perfect Ice Cubes , and then the juice of 5 calamondins.  They are tiny little guys but they are 100% juice. just cut them in half and squeeze them between your fingers and all of their juice just oozes out.  I probably only needed 3 calamondin's in this drink. They are very concentrated. But I was soooo excited I kept squeezing.

Next, I added Vodka.  And promptly realized that by drinking out of this jar which has markings for every 4 ounces I was easily able to see just how much vodka was going into my drink...  well, we have a few shows to watch tonight (like Flash Forward!) so no problem!

Then, I just topped with Club Soda.

Did anyone else notice Calamondin's disappear between the last 2 pictures?

Dammit Adam, that is my stash!!!!

Thank you soooooooooooo much Mom and Dad!!! You have no idea how happy you made me tonight!  3 hours later I'm still drinking my Calamondin Cocktail.  Well.... it may have gotten refilled once..... ;)

Best drink ever!

I definitely owe the grand finale kitchen renovation pictures but we're still loading up the cabinets and such so I'm going to wait a few days until we're totally done. 

Expect some sneak peaks in the next few days.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Thieves

Well that's it... I'm officially done driving my car to concerts in downtown Chicago.

For the second time in 16 months I've had my car window smashed in while enjoying a concert in the city.

As we're looking for a parking spot, Adam drops Erin and I off on the corner. At the last second, we decide we don't want our jackets or purses in the Sweat-ro where we were seeing The Gossip. So we open the car back up, toss in our stuff, and by some stroke of genius, I think to pick up our coats and drop them on top of the purses. When Adam parks the car, he thinks enough to take the GPS down and put it in his jacket pocket, which he then also tosses in the back seat on top of our coats.

Yes, we are brilliant! No thief will ever think there is anything valuable hiding under those jackets!!

Low and behold, we get back to the car to find the window smashed in, the glove box and center console both ripped open and their contents strewn everywhere.

What did they take?

• The GPS charger
• The GPS suction cup
• My car's user manual.

That's it.

Seriously.

No jackets, no purses, no GPS, no power inverter, neither of the two phone chargers that were right next to the GPS charger. Not even any of the money in the center console that was wide open!

Seriously.

Worst. Thieves. Ever.

I'm just dying to know what they're planning on doing with that users manual...

 

In case you are curious, we didn't bother filing a police report or calling the insurance company as we learned the first time this happened in Chicago... nobody really cares. And getting the window fixed is cheaper than my $250 deductible.

 

Oh and you know what else is awesome? Driving home on the highway at 1am when it's 40 degrees outside and you are missing one whole window. And having to wear sunglasses because you are afraid a piece of glass may fly loose.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 22

Really not too much different then yesterday.  Looks like they grouted and hung some window treatments in the living room and that's about it.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the final day (besides waiting for the bay window to come in which will be late next week), this is the list:

• Install outlet plates
• Caulk backsplash corners
• Hook up water & electric to downstairs fridge
• Clean out garage
• Secure shelf to right of sink
• Hook up cable/phone jack
• General clean up
• Install finish panel in sink base

So yeah... not too much for you to look at on the final day either :)  This weekend we will do lots of cabinet-filling and I plan on doing some accessory shopping at HomeGoods.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 21

Today: Backsplash.  Well, almost. It hasn't been grouted yet but it's up.  I wasn't 100% sure I'd love the backsplash until I saw it today - now I'm positive I LOOOOVE it!

Since we finally have countertops and running water and pretty much everything we need to start cooking, I decided it was time to go to the grocery store.

We cooked the first meal in our new kitchen today! 

Pub burgers on Ciabatta rolls with 10 year aged cheddar, avocado, and tomatoes. Paired with Lagunita's Hop Stoopid of course!

I love you new kitchen!!!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 20 - Counters!!!

Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! (said in my best Tessie from Little Orphan Annie voice)

We have running water!

We have counter tops! (Silestone Quartz in Ivory Coast)

We have stools!

We have this awesome new cactus (I found him for 12.99 at Ikea today.. a little more than I'd have liked to pay but I thought he looked soooo cool! The pot he's in was 1.99. I am in love with those pots!)

woo!  It was obviously so so so exciting to come home today. The counter tops are so beautiful but the running water and working dishwasher... well that's just priceless :)

Can I say how much I love my farmhouse sink and my pull down faucet?  I LOVE them!!! The water pressure is crazy strong, the different sprays on the faucet are so useful. Oh.. and the instant hot water? Just makes me want to immediately have a cup of tea (If I knew where my tea was...)

I thought I'd share a few more views of the craft room too, so here is a full view from all corners.

 

Kitchen Renovation: Day 19

Lots of little things got done today in preparation for the counter top install tomorrow. I'm so excited. This time tomorrow I will have countertops, running water, and possibly a backsplash!!!

In addition to a bunch of little things around the kitchen and living room, they also re-arranged my craft room.

This morning it looked like this:

I didn't like how the Expedit was blocking my pretty new barn-door closet. So they pushed the island over a few feet, moved the shelves hanging on the wall to the other side of the room and put the other Expedit where the shelves used to be.

(not really sure what happened with the colors in the second picture...

I think I might ask them to nudge the island about a foot further from the wall. I didn't realize how much room there would be and so I want to even it out a bit.

I realize the pictures have been kinda boring the last few days as the updates have been small but please come back tomorrow to see the huge changes with the new counters!!!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 17 & 18

You may have noticed I didn't post yesterday. It wasn't because I forgot... it was because I didn't get home from work until almost 3am.  I got there at 8:30am. Nothing like an 18 hour day...

Anyway, things are pretty slow moving as we wait for the counter tops.

I did manage to unpack a few boxes.

and the cats took it upon themselves to re-pack them.

They finished trimming out this window and painted the trim. Of course the walls still need to be painted.

This should be the point where I show you my bay window but that thing gone wrong that everyone kept telling me would happen finally happened. Home Depot tried to trick me, thinking I must have never seen a bay window before, and thus I wouldn't notice when they sent a normal casement window instead.

I did.

So now I have to wait 1 to 2 weeks for them to send the new one :(

My custom spice shelf was installed today... well, kind of.  By the way, it was absolutely inspired by this one.

When I say "kind of" it means they haven't really attached the shelf since it's not really supposed to go up until they do the back splash.  But, he routed out the wall where the brackets are so that the tiles will lay flat over them. Look:

The shelves are just taped on for now.  They got the shelf material from the cabinet manufacturers so that it would match perfectly. It's 1"x6".

I put a couple button jars up there so you can see what it will look like with cute spices on it!

I won't be using jars though because spices are supposed to not be exposed to light. Instead, I'll be ordering some metal tins and doing like Martha Stewart does ;)

I'll be making my own cute labels for the tins of course. So far I've found them in bulk in  a few places for decent prices.  Here and here. If you know of a better place, send me a link!

Ok, that's about it today. There have been several questions in the comments recently but I haven't had a chance to respond... (due to the working till 2:30am thing) but I'll try to get to them over the weekend.  If anyone else has questions about any of my renovations just leave a note here and I'll do a big question round-up post!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 16

Today I got more new windows!

The old windows looked like this (on the left side)

They were double hung which I never had a problem with until my new windows showed up!

Don't they look so much bigger!!!   The windows crank open which I'm loving!

They will finish painting and framing it out tomorrow along with putting the bay window in place of the paned window in front. We'll actually be able to open the sides of the bay window unlike the current one which won't open!

They also hung our new ceiling fan. I don't have a good picture of the old one but here's a crappy one:

The wood didn't match, it was brassy, and just very dated.

The new one:

It's still an ugly ceiling fan but Adam insists we have one since I took out the one in the kitchen. I would much rather have a beautiful drum pendant lamp but Adam won't budge on the ceiling fan...

The kitchen got a new coat of paint today, as did my craft room. The closet is almost done!!

I also am inquiring about what it would cost to get some recessed lights in the living room. I'm being spoiled by all the light in the kitchen and now I think we need more in the living room too... fingers crossed it's affordable even though I waited till the last minute to ask!

New Sketch Templates @ Scrapbook Graphics

I know this may sound hard to believe (since I haven't had a new pack out since April!) but, I have new sketches in the store today!

These are my favorites I've done in a long long long time (longer than April even, LOL!)

I was even inspired to scrap with them and we all know how long it's been since I've scrapped!

Here's a few more sample layouts that my team created:

If you want to pick them up, you can do so right here.

You can even use coupon code jc-col30-25 to nab them for 25% off! (expires 10/10/2009 at 11:59PM EST)

 

... and what could this be all about?  All I can say is that fun and deals will abound!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 15

I got nothing...

They don't really have anything to do until the windows or countertops arrive so they were only here for a little bit today to fix up the garden window outside. It looks much better.

I think today is a good day for a new Sketch Collection @ Scrapbookgraphics to be released!  Stay tuned :)

Kitchen Renovation: Day 14

It's here! It's here! My garden window is here!!!

It looks pretty crappy from the outside, I'll admit.  I'd heard from others that they are pretty weird looking on the outside and I have to agree. But I don't care because I LOOOVE it from the inside!

Just as luck would have it, I actually stopped at Ikea today to pick up a bunch of these pots:

They have all different sizes, the ones I got ranged in price from $.99 to 2.99 and they are super cute and textured in person!

Since it's starting to get cold, we wanted to salvage any of the herbs still growing in the garden so Adam and I ran out after dinner and dug up the mint, chocolate mint, 2 different basils, and the rosemary. We planted them in the new pots and set them in their new home. It looks kind of like a jungle right now because I need to do some pruning still.

There's actually a glass shelf that can go in the garden window too but since the basil and rosemary are a little out of control right now I'm going to wait to put it in.

They also started painting the living room and some of the kitchen today

It was a little too dark to take the picture considering most of our lights are not in this room right now. It's a very light Taupe color and I love it! 

Oh, I also ordered my stools today!

They are a knock-off of these Pauchard stools ($300 a pop!) for a fraction of the price and the reviews on Overstock are glowing! I can't wait to see them in person. (By the way, I went through Cashbaq and was able to get a 5% off coupon on furniture plus an extra 5% back because I went through Cashbaq!  I love a bargain!)

I was originally looking at getting this guy from Pottery Barn

but I thought it would be just too much wood tone and I liked how the metal broke that up. Plus, the Pottery Barn one was 2 inches taller which seemed a tad too high. I picked up two of the Pauchard knockoffs for less than the price of 1 of the PB ones!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 13

No big changes today... they took the old fridge downstairs, painted all the trim, finished painting the ceiling, and prepped the walls to be painted on Monday.

The windows don't get delivered until Wednesday so I think we're in thumb-twiddling mode until then.

Meanwhile, I was home alone this weekend so I tackled a few projects for the new spaces. First off, since we have the stainless steel fridge that isn't magnetic I wanted something to be able to stick notes on that wasn't glaringly tacky. I decided that some cute cork boards hanging inside the cabinets with Command hooks was just the thing!

Supplies
Cork Tiles (4 come in a pack, they're 12x12, about $6 at Lowes)
Ribbon (mine is from Papertrey Ink)
Buttons (mine are from Papertrey Ink)
Thumbtacks
Nailheads
Super glue
Scotch Command hooks
Vodka Soda (w/limes to go with the color scheme of everything else on the table)

The cork comes with adhesive squares you are supposed to use to stick them on the wall, instead I used them to stick to tiles together to get the thickness I wanted. I added some super glue too since I heard those sticky tabs that come with the cork really aren't that good.

My cork sandwich

 

Then I went around with ribbon, more superglue, and nailheads, and trimmed out the edges to hide my sandwich.

Then I just tied a bow to use as a hanger on the inside of my cabinet.

Next I needed some cute push pins!

I stuck all the plain thumbtacks into the cork, dropped a dab of superglue on each one, then added a button.

I had more cork leftover and wanted to do something different so I went shopping in my basement until I came across this frame on the bottom of a closet that I had previously painted and stuck pictures from a calendar in.

I gave it a coat of white paint, removed the pictures and glass, stuck the cork in, and attached a ribbon hanger with super glue and nail heads.

Here are my lovely creations in their new home:

 

Gotta love the use of cabinet space here and how it keeps all your notes easily accessible yet tucked away. Plus, because I used those Command hooks, they can come down whenever I get tired of them!

My second project was to do something with the shelves from the old pantry/new storage closet.

They used to look like this:

I cleaned them and primed them

And then painted them all a Robin's Nest blue.

By the way - see that roller in the picture. I am in LOVE with it and it was super cheap at Lowes. Best roller I've ever used by far! I had both sides of the shelves painted in no time. (by the way, these are the refills I bought - they come in foam or terry cloth, the foam are awesome!)

The closet isn't totally done yet but I think the pops of blue will look so fun in the all white closet! I'll be sure to show the finished closet. Best part of this project: besides the new paint roller, it was totally free as we already had the paint and primer left over from when our bedroom was painted!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 12

Buh-bye old Fridge! See you in the basement!

Hello new fridge!

Yes, it is as it appears. We only have beer and condiments in this house...

The kitchen view looks pretty much the same as it did yesterday with the addition of some furniture pieces from the living room. I imagine most of my posts for the next week or so won't really have anything to do with the kitchen as we are just waiting on the counters at this point. They have lots of work to do in the living room though!

Speaking of the living room, this is what it looked like 2 days ago

Eww.. look at that shadowy popcorn ceiling. So dark! (Ok I'm guessing at this small size you can't actually see the popcorn but it's there)

Tonight! No more popcorn!!!! Oh it's just luxurious!  And in one day they did it! I don't envy their backs or necks right now though.

This is now a popcorn-free zone!