Baking with Mummy: Earl Grey Lavender Scones!

I wish I could say that I had anything to do with these delicious Earl Grey & Lavender scones, but Alas! My mother was completely in charge--- !

I'm currently going through a hard-core scone addiction, the dryer and weirder the better, so when Mummy suggested she bake scones, I was like, "Maybe we can find a recipe for something obscure that tastes a little like a candle and sucks every last drop of moisture out of your mouth?" and rather than question why on earth I would want a scone to taste like that (which I really genuinely do), she was like, "Ta-Da!" and whipped up this scrumptious recipe.

From my vantage point (drinking coffee on the other side of the kitchen island) this looked like a pretty labor-intensive recipe, but she churned it out like a trooper, and the results were tremendous. Perfect for my 4:00 coffee-and-a-scone snack time. You'd never know that I'm of English descent...

Lavender Earl Grey Scones 

 Makes 10-12

• 2 heaping teaspoons Lavender Earl Grey tea (scroll down for recipe)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar (and extra for sprinkling)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter (cold and cut into cubes)
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (for brushing)

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C

Steep 1 heaping teaspoon of the Lavender Earl Grey tea in 1/4 cup of boiling water for 3 minutes. Strain and reserve the tea.

Using a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder, grind a teaspoon of Lavender Earl Grey tea to a fine powder. 

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground lavender tea powder. Add the butter and rub the flour and butter together with your fingers until you get a fine breadcrumb like texture.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add the buttermilk, vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of the brewed Lavender Earl Grey tea.

Combine the mixture very slowly and lightly until the dry mix is wet- do not knead!

Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and gather the dough together very carefully, handling it as less as possible.

Gently pat the dough to make a rectangle or square about 1 1/2 inches thick. Using a dough cutter cut the scones into circles or wedges, however you prefer. Lay them on a nonstick baking sheet.

Gather the remaining dough together lightly to cut more scones. Try to touch the dough very little for a beautiful scone texture.

Brush the top of each scone generously with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake the scones for about 12 minutes, or until very lightly browned.

Lavender Earl Grey Tea: 

- Earl Grey Tea Leaves

- Lavender flower buds (ground roughly with a pestle and mortar)

Whatever amount of Earl Grey you use, you will need 1/2 the amount of Lavender. So for every teaspoon of Earl Grey add 1/2 teaspoon of roughly ground lavender buds, or for a bigger batch add 1/2 cup of lavender to every cup of Earl Grey.

Mix the Lavender and Earl grey together and store in a sealed jar or container. You can use more or less of the lavender, its completely up to how you like it.

Either way, I recommend enjoying one of these with a cup of coffee mid-way through your afternoon. It just might give you the stamina to make it to dinner...! 

Gross Bathroom, en garde, Part Two!

I know it may have seemed like I forgot about how ugly and dirty looking my bathroom in Brooklyn is, but believe me, I haven't. It weighs on me like the myth of Sisyphus, knowing that my work there is neither done and in fact, may never be done.

The tile cleaner, which was proported to be strong enough to remove the gum from New York's sidewalks and hipsters from its subways, didn't so much as dent the mildew imbedded in our bathroom grout. Finally "Industrial Tile Cleaner By...." had met its match.

After much investigation, I have resigned myself to the cold, hard truth. There is only one more option ahead of me (if you exclude resignation, defeat, or a full-scale remodel as options.) I am going to remove all of the grout and re-grout my bathroom.

And because I'm essentially a twit, I'm going to do it using a small tool called a "Tile Saw" instead of a handy-dandy dremel bit intended to remove grout in about 5 minutes. Why? Basically because I'm cheap and I don't own a dremel saw. Your basic tile saw runs about $8.95 from Home Depot, and the one I'm looking at is supposedly "professional strength" which is pretty much an oxymoron because no professional in their right mind would use a hand saw to remove grout from a bathroom... except me.

While looking around online, I also came upon this drill bit specifically intended to remove grout, which I can supposedly use with my regular dewalt drill... If I can scare one of these up, I might give it a shot. Basically I'm just

resisting the temptation to buy a dremel saw because it's another $100.00 I'm spending not renovating my bathroom entirely, and I'm trying to keep the "throwing good money after bad" budget below $50.00.

Which means I am going to buy whatever weird, torturous tools I have to in order to avoid that purchase... 

D-I-Y Tutorial: How To Recover An Ottoman or Turn a Coffee Table into an Ottoman

“Reupholstering Your Ottoman for a Whole New Look!”

One of the great things about mastering basic sewing and re-upholstery is that you can completely reinvent a room without consulting a professional or a loan officer. When I design a room, there are certain pieces that I consider to be “permanent”—you don’t want to fork over $2,500.00 every couple of years to change your sofa—so I recommend making those “permanent pieces” in hardy, neutral materials that will last and morph as your life changes and your style evolves. That creates a stalwart base that allows you to play around with accent pieces like upholstered ottomans, throw pillows, decorative throw blankets, and the beloved “tchotchke”. And the great news is that changing pillows, throws, and recovering ottomans costs about 1/10 of the price of a new sofa.

New look  bank-breaking endeavor.

Let’s get to work!

Challenge level: EASY! 

Approximate time: 30 minutes. (What?!? It’s that easy!?!)

Tools needed:

-Old ottoman or coffee table to recover (wood top is ideal, to ensure easy stapling... Wood or metal legs would both look great for this project!)

-Appropriate length of 1”-2” thick foam, with enough extra to wrap it around the edges of the tables and secure it from below.

-Similar quantities of fabric for the ottoman (and if you’re really thinking ahead, I’d buy extra to make a couple of throw pillows so you have a nice tie-in from the ottoman to the sofa!)

-Heavy-duty staple gun w/ ¼” heavy-duty staples

-Pinking shears

Step 1: (This assumes you are starting w/ an old coffee table. If you’re recovering an upholstered ottoman, start this project @ Step #3.)

-Start by attaching the foam to coffee table by laying the foam in the correct position on the top side of the coffee table so that you have an ample amount (probably an extra 4” on each side) so that you can wrap the foam around the edge of the coffee table and attach it with your staple gun to the underside of the coffee table. Be sure you’re pulling the foam nice and tight as you place a couple of staples on each side. At this point, I like to flip the table over and place it “legs up” on the floor so I can really get in there with a staple gun and make sure I’m pulling the foam nice and taught. You should be stapling every few inches to ensure that it is fixed and will stay put.

Step 2: 

Things can get a little hairy around the corners when you’re attaching the foam, depending on the thickness of the foam that you’ve chosen. I tend to cut a skinny pie slice out of the excess, so when I’m stapling from below, I don’t end up with an area where the foam has doubled up and looks bulky. You want the edges to look uniform all the way around, so if you’ve got to cut a little out, go cautiously and snip away. Just remember—you can always cut out more—but once you’ve cut too much, it’s way harder to back pedal.

Step 3: (If you’re just joining us because you’re recovering an old upholstered ottoman, welcome! For those of you who are recovering a coffee table, at this point your foam should be uniformly attached around the entire top of your coffee table. Flip your table back over so it is “legs down” and we’ll get started on Step #3.)

Now you can lay your chosen fabric on top of the foam/cushion and get it in position. One thing to consider before you start stapling: Make sure you’ve chosen a fabric that’s dark enough or dense enough that you won’t see the color of the foam or the old fabric through it. If you are committed to a light color fabric (which could be a mistake for an ottoman if anyone is actually going to put their feet there…) I’d recommend covering the foam with a basic muslin before you attach your fabric. Any local craft or fabric store can supply you with muslin, or you could even use a thin painting drop cloth if you’re in a pinch.

Step #3 looks a lot like Step #1, except every time I said foam before, you can now insert the word “fabric”. 

-Start by attaching the foam fabric to the coffee table by laying the foam fabric in the correct position on the top side of the coffee table so that you have an ample amount (probably an extra 4” on each side) that you can wrap around the edge of the coffee table and attach it with your staple gun to the underside of the coffee table. Cut off any excess fabric with your pinking shears because it will help keep the fabric from fraying. I love a pair of sharp pinking shears! They’re a “must-have” tool in my book.

Be sure you’re pulling the foam fabric nice and tight as you place a couple of staples on each side, and double check that your fabric is on “straight” if there is any pattern or print that you’re working with. Make any adjustments that you need, and then I like to flip the table over and place it “legs up” on the floor so I can really get in there with a staple gun and make sure I’m pulling the fabric nice and taught. You should be stapling every few inches on the underside of the table or ottoman to ensure that the fabric is fixed and will stay put.

Step 4: I confess, Step #4 looks a lot like Step #2…

Things can get a little hairy around the corners when you’re attaching the fabric, depending on the thickness of the foam fabric that you’ve chosen. I tend to cut a skinny pie slice out of the excess, so when I’m stapling from below, I don’t end up with an area where the foam fabric has doubled up and looks bulky. You want the edges to look uniform all the way around, so if you’ve got to cut a little out, go cautiously and snip away, using your pinking shears to ensure that the fabric doesn’t fray down the pike. Just remember—you can always cut out more—but once you’ve cut too much, it’s way harder to back pedal.

Step 5: I’m embarrassed to say, that’s it. Can you believe it is that easy to recover your ottoman or turn your old coffee table into an upholstered ottoman? True story! And what is even better about this project is that it is so easy and so inexpensive that you can reinvent your ottoman every couple of years and it will totally transform your living room without transforming your bank account.

Spring cleaning = Major rug shake up!

I think I've been feeling a little over orange-d.

Or more specifically, I'm feeling pretty pro-yellow. I've been dating a couple of gorgeous yellow-incorporating fabrics recently (I'm using both of them in projects for clients!) and was pining for a way to use them in my apartment too.

Sadly, they really didn't make sense in my orange-linen-blue living room, so I resigned myself to a life without them. Cue: Gorgeous free Room & Board rug from a client. She went rogue on me and bought this incredible silk oriental rug, and found herself with a surplus Room & Board "Beads" rug which is a pretty grey-ish blue, with yellow and green elements woven through it.

No kidding. Free rug = No better reason to totally shake up my living room and dining room aesthetic! I started by figuring out the actual orientation of the rug-- our living room is a slightly peculiar shape, so I ended up having to lay the rug left-to-right instead of front-to-back, which was my initial instinct. This turned out to be a happy accident though, because it allowed me to lay the sisal rug in the dining room area (formerly in our bedroom) front-to-back instead of left-to-right; which looks much nicer with the dining room table, particularly when the table is extended for guests, because the table expands front-to-back, not left-to-right, because of the shape of the dining area. I'm sure all of that sounds a little confusing, but the end result was basically: 

1.) New rug is free.

2.) New rug is great. 

3.) Sisal rug fits better in dining room because of the direction of the new rug. 

4.) Dining room table and chairs look better on sisal rug because of the direction of the sisal rug. 

5.) Yay. 

Testing out fabrics and color combinations, and getting the rugs in position.
Looking good already and we've only just begun!! 

Once we figured out the rug situation, we tackled the fabric situation. I was committed to un-oranging the living room, and had high hopes about bringing in some of the beautiful surplus fabrics I had left from those professional projects. There was a lot of "What if we do this with this?" and "How about this as a pillow, this as the ottoman, this as the chair?" "Or this as an ottoman, this as the pillows, this as the chair?" Keep in mind that I've only got weird shaped remnants of these fabrics, so it wasn't exactly a "the world's your oyster" kind of day. It was more like playing interior design tetris, trying to find the right combination that worked nicely with the rug and the things that weren't changing (sofa color, Eames lounge chair upholstery, and dining chair upholstery because reupholstering those dining chairs is the STUFF OF NIGHTMARES.) 

Emily and I caught sewing. Note the consternation on my face. I can't convey to you exactly how much I hate sewing, but it is a deep and fiercesome hatred. If you look behind me, you can also see our work in progress. Two down, two more pillows to go! No tears shed yet. 

Taking our existing navy ottoman and giving it a face-lift with this gorgeous chevron fabric. Remember that once upon a time, that ottoman was a coffee table, until the day I'd had enough and decided to upholster it. To date, still one of my favorite pieces of furniture and such an easy D-I-Y project! 

Check back in this week to see how things are progressing with the living room and dining room shake up, and to catch the step-by-step tutorial of reupholstering an ottoman!

This is one helluva spring cleaning and I'm already IN LOVE with the transformation! 

Whoa! I nearly forgot the most important thing...!!!

Yikes. I nearly forgot the most important part of today's blog! Do I have a death wish?!?!

This is my mother. There are many like her, but this one is mine.  

I wanted to make a shout-out to all of the incredible mothers in my life. They are the foundation of our lives-- we see ourselves in them and see them in ourselves. They brighten our days and remind us to go to bed at night. I hope to be half the mother both of these women are. Without them, we would be nothing.

Both literally and figuratively.

Thank you guys. Love you.

This is not my mom. There are many like her, but this one is not mine.
(She's John's!)

Gross bathroom, en garde! PART ONE...

I'm not gonna lie. Our bathroom in Brooklyn leaves a lot to be desired. It's significantly improved now that we've painted the walls and the vanity; I did a fair amount of resuscitative labor on the actual vanity itself to postpone its certain collapse; and we swapped out the hardware for something a little jazzier... If you squint, it's actually a pretty nice looking bathroom these days. Particularly if you keep the shower curtain closed. 

If you open the shower curtain though, QUELLE HORREUR! 

Maybe that's a little strong, but the tile work in the shower is neither nice nor particularly clean, and I've had just about enough of it. I'm not typically a very dedicated housekeeper (shame on me...), but I have really tried in vain to get these freaking tiles clean. Even my most trusted cleaning partner, Soft Scrub's Commercial Grade Cleaner * didn't dent the dug-in mildew on the grout. Such a bummer. The tiles themselves are probably so clean from my numerous attempts at cleaning that you could eat off of them, but the grout never looks even a smidgeon cleaner.

During a recent consultation with my contractor, he recommended that I try a specific kind of ultra-powerful tile, tub, and grout cleaner--- and sent me a picture to ensure that I was buying the right one. Off I zipped to the hardware store, and the next day, tackled the project AGAIN. 

This stuff was super potent smelling, and equally potent to use, so I opened a window, rolled up my sleeves, put on my fancy yellow rubber gloves, and went to work! 

I know this is a cliff hanger, but I didn't have a chance to photograph the bathroom after I was finished cleaning, so you're going to have to check back later this week to see my results! 

*Ask anybody who knows me, I swear by this stuff. You never saw your sink/bathtub/shower/kitchen so clean until you've cleaned it with Soft Scrub's Commercial Bleach cleaner. Strong emphasis on COMMERCIAL. It's night-and-day between the commercial version and the "kid" version (aka. household cleaner.) Don't mess around folks. Get the commercial and you'll never go back. 

Delicious Dinner for Eleven!

John and I had a posse of people over for dinner on Friday night, and made a massive a spring-inspired meal for a crowd. It was reasonably easy (not "beginner", but not "advanced" either), and utterly filling without being too heavy.

Take a crack at it if you're feeling ambitious, or just have a ton of people to feed.

*Two additional notes: 
1.) We added a little "flower" of prosciutto to each plate before we added the poached egg, and I'm pretty sure it elevated the risotto from "delicious" to "off-the-hook." 
2.) Apparently Martha Stewart has a trick for cooking poached eggs in advance, so if you are making this for a ton of people, check out her advice here. 

Main Course: Spring Vegetable Risotto with Poached Eggs 

• INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups shelled fresh (or frozen, thawed) fava beans or peas (from about 2 lb. pods) tt
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 1/4 pound chanterelles or crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, halved or quartered if large
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 large leeks, whites and pale greens only, chopped t
  • 1 fennel bulb, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 cups arborio rice
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 bunch flat-leaf spinach, trimmed, leaves torn
  • 2 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups finely grated Pecorino or Parmesan (about 3 ounces) plus more for shaving
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives plus more for serving tt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
• If using fresh fava beans, cook in a large saucepan of boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain; transfer to a bowl of ice water and let cool. Peel favas and transfer to a small bowl.
• Bring a large skillet of salted water to a bare simmer over medium-low heat. Add vinegar. Crack 1 egg into a small bowl, then slide into simmering water. Repeat with 2 more eggs. Cook until whites are cooked but yolks are runny, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water. Repeat with remaining 3 eggs.
• Bring broth to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large, wide heavy pot over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to bowl with favas.
• Heat oil and remaining 1 tablespoon butter in same pot over medium heat. Add leeks, fennel, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are softened, about 4 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until evaporated, about 4 minutes.
• Add 1 cup broth. Cook, stirring often (no need to stir constantly), until broth is almost absorbed. Add remaining broth by cupfuls, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more, stirring often, until rice is tender but still firm to the bite and mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total.
• Add spinach, crème fraîche, 1 1/2 cups grated Pecorino, 1/4 cup chives, and reserved fava beans and mushrooms to risotto. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted and cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. Season risotto with salt.
• A few minutes before risotto is done, reheat poached eggs in a large skillet of simmering water, about 1 minute.
• Divide risotto among bowls and top with eggs, shaved Pecorino, chives, and pepper.

Salad Course: Spicy Kale Salad with Hazelnuts and Sriracha Dressing 

Step 1: The Base
There's a lot going on in this magnum opus of a salad from Five Leaves in Brooklyn. It's a riff on the Caesar that's gone global and put on weight in all the right places. And it's one of those rare restaurant dishes that blow you away and taste exactly the same the first time you make them at home. A big part of this is the raw Tuscan kale. Unlike the wan, watery lettuce that's currently wasting space in the produce aisle, kale is in its prime in cooler weather. Its rich mineral taste and leafy texture won't go AWOL under a serious dressing and a mess of extras. As if that's not enough, kale can lower—we're not kidding here—your risk of cancer. Grab a full bunch; strip out the tough, stringy stems; then chop the leaves into the thin ribbons you see here. Technically, that's called "a chiffonade of kale." Whether you use that term or not is up to you.

Step 2: The Sauce
Put down that bottle of premade salad dressing. A little foresight at the grocery store and five minutes of work result in a homemade dressing rich with Sriracha (Tabasco's Asian cousin), fresh citrus, and aged Gouda—plus a subtle hint of anchovy.

Spicy Anchovy Dressing
Makes about one pint
1/2 cup garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup milk
7 pieces black or salted anchovies
2 Tbsp. Sriracha
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
1/3 cup grated aged Gouda
Pinch of sugar
Black pepper
Salt
1 1/2 cups olive oil

Directions
1. Simmer the whole garlic cloves in the milk until soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Blend all ingredients except the olive oil into a fine paste, then slowly incorporate the oil.

Step 3: The Finish
You've got the greenery and the spicy kick, and now you need some hearty texture, which is where the crunch and woodsy flavor of toasted hazelnuts come into play. Spread a layer of whole nuts in a cast-iron pan and place it over low heat. This isn't the time to catch a few minutes of the game. If you can smell the nuts from the other room, it's already too late. Once they're lightly brown and fragrant, all they need is a rough chop before you pour them on—along with some grated Gouda, because why not?

The slippery slope of home improvement...

Earlier in the week, I tackled a D-I-Y project for Zillow's home blog and "renovated" my existing bathroom vanity. The project was a resounding success-- if I may say so-- and the vanity was reborn! I was so thrilled with the improvement of our bathroom, but something kept nagging at me. I just kept thinking, "It would look even better if...." and then I figured out what it was! Now that the vanity was painted the saturated grey-green color, the soft "Healing Aloe" walls just didn't pack enough punch. (The vanity color is actually a custom tint from Olympic, but it was inspired by Benjamin Moore's "Night Train" #1567.)

Because I like to cram as much into every day as humanly possible, I saw a brief window of time on Friday morning and jumped on it to get the bathroom painted. Keep in mind that it really isn't that much wall-- it took almost as much time to take down and rehang all of the mirrors as it did to actually paint the room. In fact, as I was rehanging the mirrors, I briefly thought to myself, "Whose stupid idea was it to hang all these f-#$king mirrors in here in the first place?!? This is ridiculous!" But after everything was back in place, I realized that they actually look so freaking awesome, and pop so perfectly against the now-grey-green walls, that it made me want to go out and collect a few more to fill in the gaps and short comings of the mirrors I have now!!

Now you see it. Now you don't.

Yep. We tore down the collapsed chicken coop that was 

parked in our yard upstate last weekend.

And then, like true country folk, we set that s--#$t on fire.

Talk about spring cleaning!!! 

Minor project. Major transformation.

I was asked by the folks at Zillow to write a blog post about a D-I-Y Bathroom Transformation Project. Since I happen to be the proud renter of a uniquely ugly bathroom, I was happy to oblige, and just tackled my bathroom vanity-- fists first. 

It should be mentioned that our bathroom vanity is literally decaying before our eyes, so it will likely be replaced in the not-too-distant future. That said, I'm so taken with the results of this project that I'm inclined to channel a similar look for whatever we eventually get as the replacement. In fact, if I wasn't so sure that the whole bloody thing is about to capsize, I'd probably keep it now because it looks so much better. 

Check out my blog post below... And try not to judge me for the woeful state of our bathroom vanity. It's a true eye-sore.   

“How to Repaint an Ugly Bathroom Vanity (or similar cabinet!)”

Getting stuck with an ugly bathroom vanity is a major bummer, and replacing one can be a costly and time-consuming project. The good news is that there's a happy medium between replacing it entirely and accepting the one you've got, AND it's a quick and easy fix! In this Do-It-Yourself tutorial, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of prepping, painting, and LOVING your existing bathroom vanity!

Challenge level: EASY! 

Approximate time: 2 hours, plus drying time. 

Tools needed:

Fine-Grit Sanding Block

Self-Priming Enamel Paint (The brand used for this project was Olympic's Paint-and-Primer All in One, in Semi-Gloss Enamel. Sounds like product placement, but I swear I love it! 

2 1/2" angled paint brush

Screw Driver to remove hardware and hinges

Drop cloth

Painter's tape 

Step 1:

Start by removing all of the hardware from your bathroom cabinet. Take off any pulls and knobs, and make sure you put everything into a bowl so you don't lose any of the screws while you're working. Once you've done this, remove the drawers and doors from your cabinet as well. 

Step 2: 

Rough up all surfaces of the cabinet, drawers, and doors with a fine-grit sanding block. You want to be thorough when you're doing this step to be sure that you've created a porous surface that the new paint will adhere to. **Keep in mind that you're not actually trying to take the old paint off-- just the shiny outer coat-- so imagine you're washing dishes with a sponge... That's how much pressure you'll want to apply while you're sanding with your fine-grit sanding block. 

Step 3: 

Once the cabinet, doors, and drawers have been thoroughly sanded, wipe them off with a damp paper towel to get all of the residue dust off. Also wipe up the floor around the cabinet, so when you put your painter's tape around the base of the cabinet (to keep the paint from getting on your tile) it will adhere well to the floor. Your next step? You guessed it: Putting painter's tape around the base of the cabinet, and along the sides where the cabinet meets the wall. Nothing says "Amateur Hour" quite like paint all over the place, so take the time to protect your tiles before you crack the paint open!! 

Step 4: 

You're ready to paint your cabinet now! After you've given your paint can a solid shake, crack her open! Apply one even layer on the cabinet with your paint brush, and then tackle the drawers and doors. It will likely take multiple coats of paint to get completely even coverage, so it's well worth it to apply a thinner coat and then follow up with a second once it's dry, rather than trying to heap it all on in one shot.

Step 5: 

After you've waited the recommended amount of time between coats (Olympic suggests 1 hour until dry to the touch) you can put on your second coat. Consult the paint can to see if they recommend doing another light sanding between coats. Different paints have different needs, SO PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CAN! 

Step 6: 

Once everything has completely dried, reassemble your cabinet, reinstalling the cabinet door and sliding in the drawers. Purchasing new hardware can also give a major facelift to an old cabinet, so measure your old handles and see what strikes your fancy at your local hardware store. (Another easy/obvious designer's hint: Make sure that the hardware on your bathroom cabinet matches the finish of your faucet. This simple detail will give your cabinet a nice, uniform look.) 

I'm sorry, did somebody just say, "Holy smokes"? Because that is one FINE LOOKING VANITY! I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of freaking out about the hardware I bought for the cabinet, and actually bought matching handles for the medicine cabinet not shown. They're utterly fantastic and are kind of channeling a chinoiserie aesthetic which is all the rage right now. 

Lovin' it.