Author: Staci

Staci blogs about travel at TheVoyageer.com.

Our Pine Shelves are Installed!

This post’s alternate title: “It’s Been A LONG Time Coming.”

Ever complete a project, step back and it seems like you can hear the angels singing?

Completed Pine Shelving

Ever since the day we moved in and realized our faux-tolix barstools wouldn’t work with the kitchen counter overhang (overhang is too short/ stools are too tall), I wanted built-ins here under the overhang. However, given that we’re simply in an apartment and not in an owned home, I thought that we wouldn’t be able to install anything permanent or semi-permanent like shelves. So we got a few IKEA units (on sale in the as-is section) to act as a stopgap solution…

bookcase_after

This looked OK– better in photos than it did in person, though. Since they were on carpet and hadn’t all been assembled identically, they kind of leaned back or forward from each other and didn’t look as neat and clean as what I had in my vision. So little by little the area underneath here was altered…

Living and Dining Area

One unit was removed to make way for our turntable… then all three units were relocated to the west wall when we got our green couch and reoriented the whole apartment.

After hanging art

Now… Ahhhh. This is so much better!! They are only ten inches deep which actually gives us five more inches of floor space in that area when compared to the EXPEDITs. Five inches may not seem like much, but it’s almost half a foot, and the space is so much more streamlined, as the photo below makes clear. The pine warms up the space in a very honest way. Somehow, yeah, “honest” seems like the word for this simple solution. Here’s a few more shots:

Pine Shelving

Pine Shelving

Completed Pine Shelving

I feel like purposefully leaving the area underneath the bottom shelf empty makes it seem light and creates the illusion of more floor space. The best part is that the project was affordable, there aren’t many screws in the wall, and the whole thing can be taken with us to our next place next fall! I will have a how-to and budget breakdown here for you Wednesday!

Yummy DIY Ice Cream!

Well, we went ahead and did it! A couple months ago, inspired by a few friends of ours, Doug and I bought an electric ice cream maker (this model). I had never thought of really making ice cream at home before, but ever since I started demonstrating this very machine at work–I realized how easy it is! Home-made ice cream is a great option for those who like to experiment. Overall, as long as you add enough heavy cream or half and half, plus lots of sugar, the sky is the limit when it comes to adding flavors and mix-ins.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Our first foray into ice cream making was a standard strawberry recipe from the booklet that came with the machine. However, I tweaked it a bit:

Instead of mashing the strawberries, I pulsed them in the food processor so that the juices were released but there were plainly still small strawberry pieces–the strawberry pieces froze wonderfully and add a sort of satisfying crunchy texture to contrast with the smoothness of the rest of the ice cream. Also, we subbed in a tablespoon of hot chocolate mix where it called for vanilla extract (since we were out of vanilla). With this particular batch, we froze it overnight, which gave it a harder consistency. I preferred that to straight out of the machine. Other varieties taste awesome straight from the machine–a little more like soft-serve.

One thing I noticed about making our own ice cream is this: it really encourages a person to eat less. I mean, pouring in two cups of heavy whipping cream really makes it hit home–this stuff is not healthy! The process reminded me of an article I read about cooking vs. purchasing processed food. The quote that came to mind was–

“Special occasion foods become every day foods when we let industry cook for us.” (One example Pollan gives is french fries or chips. They taste great when you cook them yourself, but the process is highly labour intensive(washing, peeling, cutting, pan, oil, splattering, oil, washing up etc) so left to our own devices we might eat them only every month or so as a treat, but many Americans now eat two batches of french fries a day because they have become so convenient.) … The diet that would work for everybody is: eat anything you like, just cook it yourself.

Does that make sense? Since I know exactly what is in my ice cream, I can enjoy the delicious, indulgent fruits of my labor, but the size of the scoop I serve myself will definitely be smaller than a scoop that Ben & Jerry’s would serve me!

Either way… I plan on making lots of yummy ice cream at home for the last few weeks of summer, and well into fall. Can anyone say pumpkin chai ice cream??

IKEA MOLGER in the Bathroom

Today’s post is a quick one because there isn’t a ton to say on the subject. As part one of our intentional effort to bring a bit of pine into every room, the bathroom was outfitted with an IKEA shelving unit. Inexpensive and very easy to put together, I like the modern lines mixed with the natural wood look.

bathroom shelf

Before hanging it, the brown wicker box that you can see on the top shelf simply rested on the back of the tank filled with bathroom-related items. Now those items are concealed (for the most part) in those cute green tins, also from IKEA. I can’t seem to win with the shaving cream, though. Leave it in the tub? Rust city. Put it in the cabinet? I will forget to use it. So there it sits, easily reachable from the shower, in all its glory.

bathroom shelf

Once we got the unit up on the wall, it seemed way too high (it seemed that way because it was) but I didn’t want to take it down and reposition it. Instead, I decided that what the room needed was a little 3-D artwork. Ever since the steam from a shower made a black picture frame bleed down the wall (at my parents house) I’ve always been a bit gun-shy about hanging actual artwork in the bathroom. Luckily the idea I had envisioned in my head came to fruition with a quick trip to World Market. I got this Indian hanging garland and “swooped” it nicely to fill up the negative space and add some prettiness to the area. It adds such a nice brightness and cheeriness… I love it.

Honestly, the tacky wicker basket on the back of the jon was working out just fine functionally… but it feels nice to dress up the space a bit, doesn’t it? Putting a little intentional effort into a room, even one that is the size of a glorified closet (seriously, that part of the bathroom is tiny) makes a big difference.