Sunday, October 17, 2010

Finished dresser and some food.

The dresser is FINALLY DONE!
Well, it's been done for a week now but I've been too crazy busy to get a decent picture to post!

Before:

This thing was really well built but sporting a finish straight out of the 70's. Now, I love vintage, I really do. But this thing was the oddest shade of...uh, I'm not sure what to call it? Green? Tan? Tanish-green?
Despite the scrapes and nicks here and there, whomever did the honor of refinishing forty some-odd years ago did one heck of a job! It took days of chemical stripping and sanding before I could even think about primer. Then after primer, several coats of paint, glazing and finally a clear coat!

After:

I wanted to do something different. I'm tired of being too matchy-matchy! So I decided on red to add a nice pop of color and tied in the rest of the colors by painting the knobs a blue that I already had in the room.



I also think the darker color will help in hiding all the dirty finger prints the kids will be putting on it! It is, after all, for their art supplies and homework!


Now for the food portion of the post-

We had quite a few red peppers in our co-op basket a couple weeks ago. If I didn't do something with them fast they were going to end up in the compost bin. So I went to PW and found this recipe for pasta.


It's a grown up flavor. The kids were ok with it but it wasn't their fave. The Mr. & I, on the other hand, really enjoyed it. It has a nice smokey flavor and the shaved Parmesan gives it a great kick.

On a kid-food friendly note, I made eyeball soup (tomato soup w/Parmesan balls & olives) to go with some grilled cheese cut in the shape of pumpkins.



I didn't tell them I was doing it, I just called them to dinner and heard them squeal with delight! The Halloween time of year is one of my favorites for sure!

Another kid favorite this week was this pizza casserole we threw together with the left-overs from my youngest daughters' birthday party.



We just tossed some baked ziti with a bottle of my homemade pasta sauce. Then topped it with the pizza toppings. The kids ate it up fast!

I have a confession to make. I, the person most in love with Halloween, has never attempted (until now) to make pumpkin cookies.
That's not the full confession...
I hate them. Well, I did, until now!



I have tried my fair share of pumpkin cookies in the past and have been sorely disappointed. Pumpkin w/cinnamon, pumpkin with chocolate chips, pumpkin with raisins, the list goes on.
Then I came across this recipe on one of my favorite sites Make it Do. They looked and sounded good. So I gave them a try.


Oh, my, goodness!
I made a double batch because we had family over on Saturday and I just packed the last four into the lunch boxes for tomorrow. Yes, they were that good!
You should try em!

That's all I have for now, but stick around for Halloween costumes. My living room has been temporarily transformed into a sewing sweat shop. Don't worry, only half crazy, incredibly chatty grown women will be working of their own free will. Well, sort of. There is the four year old that keeps telling us to get back to work until her costume is done! (Gotta love my bossy little niece! She's a hoot!)

11 comments:

  1. First, WOW on the dresser!

    I need to try out those pumpkin cookies. Plus, I also need one of those amazing platters for them too! It just seems to make them taste better when they are displayed beautifully!

    And I really could not bring myself to eat the "eyeball soup" - it kind of freaks me out looking at the photo of it! But the kids might love it someday!

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  2. Thanks J! I've been putting it off for so long because I knew it was going to be quite a project!
    Those cookies really were good, you should make some with all those pumpkins you got! (or cheat like me and use canned!)
    I got that cake stand for Christmas about eight years ago from my mom. It's a Martha Stewart!
    Yeah, that eyeball soup looks creepy, I don't blame you for not wanting to eat it!

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  3. Visiting from Better After.... That is one hot dresser!! Love the color.

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  4. Visiting from Better After. The dresser is amazing, what a transformation. That tone of read makes it look fresh and elegant. Love it!

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  5. Also got here from Better After. I loved you profile and look forward to more of your creativity....impressed already! Also love that you painted the knobs something other than the normal ORB or such. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  6. Beautiful dresser!!! Can you share what color you used? & the glaze??
    Just a fabulous job!!!
    (stopping by from B/A)

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  7. LOVE IT!!! Yes I agree....what color is it?

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  8. I'm here from better after, too. That dresser is fab. I can't say that I could imagine ANY potential from that before picture...but WOW! It looks great!

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  9. That's a gorgeous piece (now). Lovely.

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  10. Wow! Thanks everyone! I actually used a spray paint for the first time. And though I am feeling a little guilty about contributing to the killing of the ozone, it was the color I was looking for.
    It is Krylon Cherry Red and the handles are Krylon Ocean Breeze.
    I glazed it with Ace brand Artistic Glaze and some black paint. It only takes a little bit to go a long ways! I just brushed it over the spots I wanted to "distress" and wiped it off with an old cloth.
    Finally, I sprayed it with a Krylon clear coat!
    Of coarse, I "learned how" to do this by going to Better After too!

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  11. I'm here from Better After too. I love what you did with an old "junky" dresser. Talk about a silk purse out of a sow's ear. lol Well you know what I mean. I'm in the process of finding my creative side after having my daughter. I just turned 49 and she'll be 13 in 10 days. :)

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