Just another quick shout-out....

Hey-o! 

Just saw that the Zillow "Outdoor Trends" segment was picked up by House Beautiful, and my (brilliant) quote about native planting was too! As you might notice, I've now been elevated to "expert" status. Yep. That's me. As though I wasn't already hard enough to deal with... Now I'm an expert.

So thrilled I can finally say, "As seen in House Beautiful". 

Moving on up, people! I'd watch out-- things are gettin' pretty fancy around here. 

❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ 

Oops! Promised: Delivered.

              

Yikes! I promised to post photos of the attic yesterday and totally forgot-- however I've got a good excuse: I was working my tail off, and then I was whipping up something called a Low Country Shrimp Boil. First, let's look at where things stand in the attic and then we can talk about how to make a shrimp boil (and of course, what I changed in this recipe...)

The photo above is deceiving. At first glance, it looks like we're finished up in the attic, but then upon closer examination, you realize it's like that Batman character two-face. One half paneling, one half spray foam. Nargh! Still not finished, but getting crazy close. We're headed up again this weekend and hopefully this will be the final push. Then we just have to trim the whole thing out (to hide our cutting mistakes and soften the corners) and then-- the exciting part! Rent a paint sprayer! I'm pretty darn excited about the prospect of renting a paint sprayer, and have grand ambitions to spray paint the whole house, top to bottom. I guess we'll see how we do for time...

Okay, now on to the shrimp boil... We made this last night for a big group and it was totally awesome. Easy as pie and delicious. Partnered up with a heaping bowl of potato salad, some chilled green beans with a shallot dressing/soft boiled egg and a whole lot of rose.

Dang. We were in business! 

I think this is going to be my go-to all summer long. There's pretty much nothing bad for you in it, so you can gobble it up and still fit into a swim suit, which I consider a plus. Here's what we did: 2 pounds of extra-large shrimp-- (skipped the crab because I'm not made of money), did chicken sausage in lieu of kielbasa (because I like it better), and corn, which I cut in half to make it easier to serve. I skipped the potatoes altogether because I'd made the potato salad-- and then served it with a hearty sprinkling of Old Bay on the table. It was just completely great. 

Fresh summer fruit for dessert and we were just happy as clams. Make this now! 

Triple Good News!

1st Good News: 

We finally hunkered down and got some work done on the attic paneling project this weekend. Finally. I know. My work ethic leaves much to be desired. Check back in tomorrow and I'll post some progress photos so you can see, with your own eyes, that we really are working up there. I know it's slow going, but you WOULDN'T BELIEVE how much paneling we need to install. It's just astounding. 

 

2nd Good News: 

Three Day Weekends are the best thing ever. I'm completely jubilant that it's Memorial Day weekend and we're getting to bask in this beautiful weather for three straight days. Swoon. We've been barbecuing and I hope you have been too. Even the dog has been relaxing this weekend. 

3rd Good News: 

It's also our anniversary this weekend (6 years married! 12 years together! We're getting old!), which has added another layer of awesome to the three-day weekend element. I've got to say-- this has been a high point of anniversaries for me. I think the 6-year-anniversary doesn't get enough credit. 

I'm not sure if that says something concerning about the state of affairs over here, but there's pretty much nothing I enjoy more than some D-I-Y-ing layered with some time for yard saleing, napping, cooking, watching my kid wrestle with another kid, and still being able to squeeze in seeing Mad Max in a junky cinema in rural Pennsylvania. If you were going to whittle it down, that's pretty much the perfect weekend for me. I love mixing a whole lot of leisure with just enough productivity that I feel like I got something done. 

All in all, a total win. Check back soon and I promise that I'll post some photos of this weekend's projects to reassure you that this really is a home design blog and not just my online diary. 

I promise. 

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. 

I'm pretty much insufferable!

Hey guys. I know it's getting a little old because I haven't posted many projects recently, AND I've been spending a lot of time bragging, but I have one more star to pin on my uniform and then I'll give it a rest and get back to building my house. 

I was just quoted on the Country Living website in a Zillow "Outdoor Trend Report" and I'm just as pleased as punch.

"Low-maintenance, native plants will be highly popular this summer, especially given the water shortages on the west coast," says Zillow Digs designer Christina Salway of Eleven Two Eleven Design.

If you know what's good for ya, swing by Country Living and tweet/share/love the article, and maybe the people at Country Living will realize all of the genius they're missing out on over here...

Violent Jelly. Not a typo.

For some god-forsaken-reason, I decided to make violet jelly last night. I've never made jelly before, and as I said to John at the end of this endeavor,

"As far as I'm concerned, the only reason I'm ever canning again is in the face of certain starvation." 

Because, for real. It is so hard/annoying/has a lot of steps. Also, the recipe I followed weas clearly written by a dyslexic schizophrenic, which made it SO HARD to follow the instructions!!! (Granted, I was also kind of sleep deprived and pretty hungry, but let's just assume she's certifiable instead...)

Oh my god.

That said, there is a certain satisfaction is making your own jelly, and now I've got enough of it to wait out the apocalypse, if and when it comes. So that's good news.

Here's the recipe I followed:

You will need:

2 heaping cups of fresh violet petals (see note below)

2 C boiling wter

1/4 C well-strained, clear lemon juice

4 C sugar

3 oz liquid pectin (Certo)

NOTE: Look for fully opened flowers, not partially opened buds, for better

color and more intense flavor. The violets you want are the wild violets that grow in many parts of the world - there are many varieties, hopefully some are accessible to you. Please choose violets that have NOT been sprayed. )

Wash petals well, drain and place in heat-proof glass or nonreactive bowl. Pour boiling water over petals and let steep from 30 minutes to 24

hours. It usually takes about two hours for violets. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving the clear, purplish liquid or infusion. If not using

immediately, refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Place jars and lids on rack in pan or stockpot deep enough to cover them with about two inches of water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, keeping the jars hot until ready to fill.

To make the jelly, stir lemon juice and sugar into reserved infusion in a two-quart nonreactive or stainless steel pan. Bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Add the liquid pectin and continue to boil two minutes, skimming any foam that may rise to the surface.

Ladle quickly into jars to within about 1/8 inch from the top; clean each rim and threads of the jar as it's filled, and place flat lid and ring on each before filling the next.Place the jars in a hot-water canning bath and boil for 10 minutes (or the appropriate time for your area). After canning, carefully check to make sure the lids have all sealed. 
Sealed jars will last up to one year in a cool, dark place. Put any unsealed jelly in the refrigerator. it should keep about three weeks. Makes four or five half-pint jars. The flavor and color will vary somewhat due to growing conditions and season - that is part of the joy of working with plants, is the endless variety! The taste is delicate, green/floral.

If you've had the misfortune of making jelly before, you might feel like these directions are relatively straightforward. However, if you don't know what "a hot-water canning bath" is, essentially these directions read a little like, "Make it." and then "Cook it." And you have no idea why you've been simmering your empty jars in two inches of water, which is not what I was supposed to be doing. Maybe I'm just a bad instruction-follower. Let's assume the blame lands on me, because this lovely, earthy "Prairieland Herb" lady probably doesn't deserve my ire. 

Either way, I came away with some pretty tasty jelly, and you can bet your bonnet, if you come anywhere near my house in the next few weeks, you're leaving with a jar of jelly in hand. And yes, oddly I did just have those pretty little canning labels in my cabinet. I don't know why, but I do know that it has fueled my believe that I really should never throw anything away. 

You just never know when you're going to need decorative canning labels! 

Glidden Paint: Take pity on us!

More great news barreling down the track! I just found out that I won the Glidden Weekend Project Challenge (hosted by the lovely Stefanie over at Brooklyn Limestone) and I'm the eager recipient of a $100.00 gift certificate and a free gallon of Glidden Paint! Presumably Stefanie and the folks at Glidden saw our vast attic paneling project and figured we needed all of the help we could get! Particularly because it's going to take ONE MILLION gallons of paint to cover all of that paneling...

I'm thinking maybe I'll put the $100.00 gift certificate toward a fancy-pants paint sprayer, or I'll be up in the attic painting until Jules leaves for college. It should be noted that John has mentioned the word "divorce" a couple of times when discussing painting up there, so there are a few compelling reasons a paint sprayer is the way to go...

And maybe I can get it just in time for Father's Day... ; )

Two birds with one stone, yo! 

Houzz Shout Out!

A fun little tid-bit to toot my horn about... I was interviewed by the folks over at Houzz as a "Farmhouse Style" expert, and the segment just went up on their Houzz shopping site.

Apparently I said,

"Country style and farmhouse style are not actually the same. “When I think of country style, I think of ruffled gingham curtains and lots of rooster or cow prints,” says interior designer Christina Salway of ElevenTwoEleven Design. “Farmhouse style is a little more breezy and refined than that.”

“For me the quintessential farmhouse includes a collection of architectural details,” says interior designer Christina Salway of ElevenTwoEleven Design, who just renovated her own Catskills, New York, farmhouse. Barn-style lights are one of her farmhouse essentials.

What fun!! I couldn't agree with me more!

Whoa! Mother's Day!

Whoa guys. I was so busy yesterday celebrating with the mothers in my life that I didn't have time to post, so first, let me just say, "Whoa. You guys are great." Without all the dynamite mothers in my life, I'd be absolutely up a gum tree. I hope everyone took a minute yesterday to really acknowledge what a power house our mothers are-- they do it all: They teach us when to say "I" and when to say "me", show us what it's like to love and be loved, feed us frequently and forgive us even more often.

Love you guys. 

I swear we're working on the attic...

It's just going SOOOO UNBELIEVABLY SLOOOOOWWWWLY...

Probably because we only work on it for about 5 hours each weekend. : (

It's hard, now that the weather has finally turned warm, to motivate ourselves up into that attic to keep plugging away at the paneling. We're doing it, really we are! You probably can't tell, but we've added another 125 square feet of paneling to the walls, and we have working electricity up there now. That's not NOTHING! It's just that our work schedule has dwindled to intermittent and infrequent. I just want to garden~~~ and maybe lounge around outside a little too. I know...

INEXCUSABLE. 

Front porch getting hooped out upstate!

Things continue to liven up out on the porch upstate and I couldn't be more chuffed with myself. Keep in mind that one of the great charms of our farm house is our wrap-around porch, but oddly, I've just never gotten around to doing it justice. Honestly-- it's always been "I've got this- stick it there". "I've got one of those-- maybe on the porch?" There was never a plan, and certainly never a design. 

But all of a sudden, things have really been elevated from slap-dash to down-right stylish, and even more remarkable-- functional!

We moved the cabinet from the living room (previously the home of our television) out onto the porch, filled it with the various knick-knacks a porch is prone to having (citronella candles, garden shears, watering can, three sets of wellington boots, cast-iron boston terrier... You know, the standard stuff...) which has also decluttered the big wooden box where we store all of our outdoor cushions, which means now all of the outdoor cushions will actually fit into the big wooden box, and our wellington boots won't be misshapen when we pull them out! As my dad said,

"It was an inspired idea." 

And I'm beyond pleased with the results! Looks good, works well, photographs delightfully. That's the interior design trifecta.

                Yes, please!

From Great To Gorgeous!

Things were already looking seriously improved outside, but they've just been elevated from awesome to exceptional. If you remember from last week, my parents spray painted all of our front porch furniture, and my mom recovered the extremely sad looking sofa cushions (using with a Home Depot drop cloth), but then!

Just when you thought things couldn't look any more spruce out there-- my upholsterer in the city showed up at my office with a fantastic bolt of excess fabric-- major leftovers from some other fancy project that no one else had claimed.

And of course, he'd come to the right place to see it put to good use! : ) 

Not only did I have just the place to use the material, but I also had a perfect, coarse kilim-y striped fabric that worked perfectly with it. So my incredible mother set about making pillow covers for a zillion pillows, and my outdoor furniture looks pretty much off the hook now. And of course, because I'm a lazy bum, I seized the opportunity to have a coffee out there, almost the second I got upstate. And let me tell you, it's pretty darn nice.

Here comes summer!