Making applesauce

making applesauce
Originally uploaded by screwtop

All the magazines I read this summer talked to me with a singular message: buy a patent handbag. Oh wait, those were the fashion mags. The cooking mags told me to can fruits and vegetables, in the event of nuclear winter I suppose.

So I bought a pressure canner yesterday and used up the last of the apples we picked with the Beechnuts and canned my own applesauce.

I'm not a total stranger to this concept. My mother has canned almost everything you can imagine. I usually freeze applesauce and I made my own baby food for BN-1, but canning seemed a little advanced. Once I got into it, and thoroughly read the instructions, it was pretty easy.

Quick note: if you try this yourself, make a LOT more whatever-you-plan-to-can than you think. Four pint jars were all I got out of about 10 lbs of apples.

Apartment Therapy Boston

I noticed that AT:Boston finally launched, so I went to them with a kitchen-decorating question and they posted my query here:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/good-questions/good-questions-display-in-the-high-cabinets-065105
This is very exciting!

Living Room - new curtains

Living Room - new curtains
Originally uploaded by screwtop

The end of my maternity leave is drawing near, so there is a flurry of activity as I try to get something done. Something to point out that I did not just act as a burp cloth for 12 weeks.

I am focusing on the living room now, since I spent most of my time there.

I reused the existing velvet panels from West Elm and added the damask fabric as a border. Its a 6-inch border that goes around the sides and the bottom of the fabric. I also whipped together some throw pillows with the leftover fabric. The Fabric Place is going out of business, so I panicked and bought a ton of the fabric so it would have a good home.

I ordered a new slipcover for the Most Comfortable Sofa in the World, hopefully it will arrive in the next few weeks.

Kitchen details

I feel like all the agonizing over the details has paid off, I personally love this kitchen. This photos shows my 2 favorite items- the Kohler Vinnata faucet and the 2x9 carerra tiles. We went with polished nickel finishes on the faucet, the cabinet hardware and on the lights.

The cabinets were painted a bright white to stand out from the ginger-bread varying width maple floor. The floor turned out better than we had hoped, we were able to have a majority of the boards be wider than 5 inches.
The Atlantic Black granite slab we selected was just long enough to be cut in a way that didn't require a seam, which was a nice bonus.
This kitchen will definitely provide a great place to cook, gather, and eat for years, which is good, since now we can't afford to sell it!

Kitchen. The End.

The kitchen has been completed.
The tile installer finished over the weekend and here are photos of the final kitchen.
To refresh your memory, here is Before:



During:


And... (drum roll) here is the After:


You can click on any of these photos to see a larger image.

I am now pouring over a pile of receipts and paperwork to pull together the final numbers so I can tell you how far over-budget we went in a later post.

Paint!

Aside from the tile installer blowing us off for 2 days in a row, I'm still confident we will see the completion of the kitchen before we get a senior-citizen discount at the movies.

I met with the paint consultant today because I am totally insecure in my ability to chose paint colors. Cara spent about two hours with me today and we picked a group of paints for the entire first floor.

I feel great about the color Bristle for the kitchen and didn't understand why I can't just paint all the rooms that color, but Cara helped me find some other neutrals that I liked. Cara is big on browns, and I wanted to get away from the chocolate brown existing in the Living Room. In a startling change, I picked a blue-gray for the dining room to replace the bright red. I usually love a red dining room, but I'm looking for a change. We have no money or plans to paint any other room than the kitchen, but I like to have options.

So, the painters promise to come this week and I'm not losing hope the kitchen will be completed soon.

Note: all of these colors are C2 paints, except Sag Harbor Gray which is Benjamin Moore.

In the end it was quick

After months of agonizing about tile, we decided upon 2x9 carerra marble tiles, one of which can be seen above. This will match the marble counter on the island and its neutral so there's less of a chance we will regret an hour after installation.

It was ordered on Wednesday, we drove like maniacs on Saturday to pick it up before the store closed, and the tile installer is coming today!

Coming soon.. a plethora of paint-chips when the paint consultant arrives on Tuesday. The painters are scheduled for Wednesday.

In theory, the kitchen could be completed this week!