May in Review: So close, yet so far..

Wait? What?  May is over?  When exactly did that happen? Can't believe this month went to fast.. I have been a busy lady and am really really close to a lot of big reveals, but I just haven't gotten around to taking photos, or writing stuff up.
Seriously, I am planning on doing it soon.. really.  Honestly.  Hey, stop chuckling!
But even without those reveals, May was really jammed packed..  My most viewed posts this month were:Turning white appliances into stainless steel:

Framing your plate glass mirror without miters:

 

Garage Door Makeover:

Part of the garage transformation, which I am soooo close to finishing I can almost taste it!

Shelves made from baskets:

Once again, this is a part of a larger project (my powder room makeover.)  I just haven't gotten around to posting it yet!

 Another half finished project (and I swear I have to finish it soon since the end of the school year is upon us) was my handprint teacher appreciation quilt which I have cut and assembled:

I also updated my horrific can lights, not a big project but one I am happy to be done with:

 And I began prepping for the Patriotic summer season with my red, white and blue beans:

 Lastly, I want to once again thank everyone who linked up in my first ever linky party (the DIY UFO Challenge):

 I am not sure I am going to host another party anytime in the near future, but it was sure fun to get my feet wet with someone other wonderful bloggers.  (I can't believe that was this past month.. it seems so long ago!)
That challenge got me motivated to finally install doors on my master bedroom, a project that has been a UFO since the day we moved in:

Whew? I did all that?!  In a month?! I wonder what June has in store!

Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Roast

I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterst and after reading all the comments both on the pin, the recipe and the original recipe, I knew I had to try it. 
Those comments weren't wrong.  This was FANTASTIC. Plus it takes next to no work since you make it the crock pot.  
This is the modified recipe:
1 (1.5 pound) boneless pork roast
2 tsps ground sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 clovs garlic, crushed   Rub roast with seasonings and place in crock pot, cook on low for 6-8 hours

Approximately 1 hour before you want to serve the roast, combine the following in a small sauce pan and heat (while stirring) until thickened:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Pull the pork apart with 2 forks and baste the glaze over it 2-3 times.  Serve remaining glaze on the side or over the top of the pork.   You can also glaze the pork roast whole, but the glaze is so delicious, I liked the increased surface area in contact with the glaze.
I served ours with mashed garlic potatoes.  It was delicious!
Even my kids ate every single piece.. so it will be a repeat recipe in this house Before:After:   Linking up to great parties listed here

Turning Baskets into Shelves

As part of my powder room makeover, I decided to add storage to my bathroom using unconventional shelves.  (You are getting a little sneak peak of my new powder room.  I have a big reveal coming up.. Make sure you come back and check it out!)
Originally I wanted to use little crates, but I wasn't able to find any locally.  So, instead I found these sisal baskets at Home Goods for less than $5:I knew I had to mount them on the wall with more than just screws, since any weight on them needed to be supported or else the screws would just pull though the basket.
I had some L brackets for securing bookshelves to the wall, and knew it would be perfect.  I used short bolts to secure the L-brackets to the baskets.  I just pushed the bolts through the sistal and secured it to the L bracket with a nut:
The head of the bolt was on the inside of the basket and was barely visible:

I used 2 brackets per basket to distribute the weight:

In order to determine where exactly I needed to mount the hardware on the wall, I marked each bracket with chalk:

I pressed the baskets against the wall where I wanted them to hang, and the location of the brackets was   marked:

Remove the bracket from the basket in order to attach it to the wall.**

Since I knew I wouldn't hit a stud when mounting the brackets, I decided to use small drywall anchors to secure the screws in the drywall.    To use them you first much punch a small hole in the drywall (I use a phillips head screwdriver):

Then drive the anchors into the hole using a hammer:

Once they are flush to the wall, you drive your screw into them and they expand slightly within the drywall which prevents the screw from pulling out. 

I used only 1 anchor per bracket.  In the other hole I used a plain screw just to keep the bracket from rotating.  

**VERY IMPORTANT TIP: When removing the brackets from the basket to mount them to the wall, DO NOT REMOVE THE BOLT!!  You want the bolt to stay inside the hole you made in the basket. Dont' take it in or out or you could damage the basket. Plus it is already aligned to the bracket you just attached to the wall.. You should be able to set the basket down on the brackets and slide the bolt through the hole without having to adjust it much.  If you remove the bolt, you will be trying to find the hole in the L bracket blind.

Reattach the basket to the bracket by setting the basket on the brackets and replacing the nut:

 

 At this point your basket shelves will probably look like this:

You need to make sure the tops of the baskets are pressed flush to the wall.  I used 2 screws for each basket and drove them though the basket and into the drywall.  In order to disguise the screw head I first painted them to match the basket color:

 

 Once the shelf has items on it, the screw will barely be visible:

 Since most of the weight is against the bottom of the basket and not away from the wall, you don't have to worry as much about these screws tearing thought the basket. 

And there you have it!  Load up your basket shelves and you are all done!

You wouldn't want to put too much weight onto them, but the baskets I chose support 10-15 pounds without any trouble.

 

Keep checking back to see how these new little shelves look in my new powder room!  It is only the tip of the iceberg! 

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In honor of Memorial Day: Red, White and Blue Beans

Since this is Memorial Day weekend, I thought it would be the perfect time to transition out all of my spring decor and bring on the red, white and blue!
I (once again) decided I would use beans in my decor, but instead of spray painting them I was able to find red (kidney), white (great northern) and "blue" (black) beans to layer in a vase:
I set up a little vignette on my side table in the dining room.  I still have plans to decorate the mantle, front door and front of the house for the 4th of July so this is just the beginning:

 

To get some height, I stacked a couple of "American" books with pretty spines:

The little star was on Clearance at JoAnn Fabrics for $3 and I put the extra red and white beans in a tall drinking glass.

It is getting me in the patriotic spirit!  Happy Memorial Day!  
Linking up to the CSI Patriotic Projects Challenge, as well as here.

Powder Room Inspiration

I did it.. I decided that I was going to tackle the powder room.  Honestly, this is probably not the project I should be working on.  I have rooms in my house that are WAAAY worse than the powder room (like the master bedroom and bath) but nobody really sees those.  The downstairs powder room is the one room that visitors use and see on a regular basis and I am dying to update it.

Here is the powder room right now:

Ironically I didn't take any pictures of it on move in day (like I did the rest of the house) because the previous owners had updated it (removed the oak vanity and put in a pedestal sink) so I thought I would be able to live with it.

I was wrong.

I hate the paint color and the fact it is a "faux texture" paint that is supposed to look like suede. It is all blotchy where ever a hole has been patched and attracts dust like a bad mamma-jamma.  Becuase of that I didn't even want to add new nail holes so I hung the artwork on the nails that were already there and so they aren't even.  Ugh.    The popcorn ceiling is gross and whoever painted it last must have been assisted by drunken monkeys because they did a TERRIBLE job. 

 But the biggest problem is that it is BOOOORING.

It does have some things going for it.  I love the style of the sink and matching toilet, plus it has a brand new travertine tiled floor.  The light fixtures are okay (at least they aren't brass) but the overall style is only "okay."

 Of course hanging out on Pinterest got me all fired up to re-do it.  And so here I am.   I thought I would share some of my favorite ideas and hopefully I will be able to incorporate some of them into the new powder room.

The first thing I am going to do is cover up the knock-down popcorn ceiling with beadboard, just like house of smiths:

 I considered box molding along the whole wall like this ( SupermomWant2B) 

 

 

but because I don't have a medicine cabinet or any under sink storage in this room I needed some of the wall space for shelving, so instead  I will only add molding to the bottom of the wall and paint it all white to match the trim:

source

For storage I am going to add some sort of shelving behind the toilet.  I really like this look (via HGTV):

If I can't find crates, I probably will just do floating shelves like Homestories A to Z:

And I adore brabornefarm's small shelf right at the top of the trim:

 I am trying to do this entire makeover for less than $100, so I have to reuse my large square framed mirror but I may paint to get a look like this (from small space style)

I want to keep the artwork and towels the same as well.  The idea here it to change the look of the room without buying much other than paint and molding.  I am not sure exactly what color I am going to go with at this point.  That will be the biggest impact changer, but I am still undecided.

I hope I can at least spruce it up a little bit.  We shall see...

Any opinions?