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Salvation Makeover: Magnetic Makeup Drawer-Shelf

I took a break from kitchen organization this weekend and actually finished a project! And it was one that I can really use, because my bathroom is out-of-control messy. It's a little better now though! ;-)

Using an old drawer that I got at the Habitat ReStore, I created a magnetic makeup shelf for corralling all my makeup and keeping it accessible to me. I wore eyeshadow that's not taupe to work today because I was able to get my hands on my other colors! Read on for the details and how to.

A couple months ago, my friend Erica (check out her blog here!) and I went to the Habitat ReStore on our lunch break, and Erica had one of her brilliant ideas: take one of their million old, mismatched drawers and make it into a shelf! I immediately fell in love with the idea and decided to take it one step further. I had seen this framed magnetic makeup board on Pinterest and wanted to incorporate that concept into my drawer-shelf. 

I scrubbed it down and removed the probably 30-year old contact paper lining the bottom. Then, using my handy-dandy birthday sander, I got to work sanding and smoothing.

I filled in the holes where the pulls had been, then re-sanded after the spackle was dry. 

I asked Big Tex to remove the little lip that hung over the bottom (now back) of the drawer. That way it would lay flush against the wall once I hung it up. 

I sprayed it with three coats of Valspar Premium Spray Paint (I think the color is called Exotic Sea). I sanded lightly between coats. Then I sprayed it with a coat of clear acrylic sealer. 

I cut out a piece of this cute fabric I got on sale at Hobby Lobby and Mod Podged it to the bottom of the drawer-shelf. Then I totally dropped the ball on my photo documentation and forgot to take pictures of the metal I put on the inside back of the shelf. It was decorative sheet metal that I got at Hobby Lobby. It was really easy to work with (I was able to trim it with scissors, but I would use tin snips if I did it again because it was hard on my hands to cut it with scissors). I hot-glued the metal onto the back of the shelf but, as usual for me, the hot glue didn't really work, so I had to rely on the screws that I used to hold the shelf on the wall to also keep my metal on (no biggie really, the screws had to be there anyway!). 

Ta-Da! My finished makeup shelf! I got a roll of trimable, adhesive magnet to put on the back of my makeup, but supplemented the adhesive with super glue because the adhesive backing on the magnet is not very strong. But now those little magnets aren't coming off my makeup and it's living happily on the shelf!

I also Mod Podged some scrapbook paper onto two little tin cans (I've become a hoarder of tin cans and it finally paid off!), and put my makeup brushes, lipsticks, etc. in them. And there's plenty of room on the inner and top shelf for my perfumes and pretty smelling lotions and sprays! 

I love my new makeup shelf! What do you think?

Happy Easter from Widgapae!

Major Kitchen Organization Overhaul

I'm kind of scattered when it comes to all of my projects. I just get so excited about the possibilities and then I don't stick to one thing. I really want to get all of the rooms in my house super organized, but I have to learn to focus. I work full time (40 miles from my house!), so my weekends are really the only days that I have a significant amount of time to devote to major projects. Therefore, I decided to pick the most used room in the house and just focus on getting it as perfect as possible. I chose a room combo actually: the kitchen/laundry room (they're basically one). These are the first rooms we walk into (from the garage) when we get home, and a lot goes on here. They have a tendency to get really messy because they're used for so many different things. 

I don't want to rush because I really want everything to be done right and I want to have time to figure the best way to do it all. Today is April 2; I'm giving myself until July 31 August 31 to completely organize and beautify these two very important rooms. Since this is my first really big undertaking, this is a total time estimate. I could take less time. Or a lot longer...

I don't have any super major changes to make in the kitchen; the paint and appliances are fine in there. The appliances in the laundry room are great, but I wouldn't mind painting the walls. It's a small area, though, so that's not a really huge undertaking. Structurally, the laundry room will require the most work because I'd really like to build a folding & ironing counter. Gonna have to get Big Tex involved in that part!


Here is a list of things I'd like to get done:

1. Take some good Before pictures!!!
2. Clean out clutter and get rid of crap we don't use.
3. Re-assign the cabinets in both rooms to make smarter and more efficient use of space (Super inspired by two of my favorite blogs: this and this).
4. Create design boards for both rooms.
5. Remove current cabinet liner and put pretty liner in the drawers.
6. Decide on and buy small organizational additions for all cabinets (e.g. baskets).
7. Build big organizational additions (shelf risers, cabinet drawers).
8. Install dream pot rack.
9. Have an electrician install a plug in the cubby above the oven so that we can put our microwave up there and get it off the counter.
10. Move items to newly assigned cabinets with appropriate organizational additions.
11. Deep clean laundry room in preparation for panelling and painting. 
12. Install beadboard panelling on laundry room walls.
13. Install molding and chair rail in laundry room.
14. Paint walls, cabinets, and trim in laundry room.
15. Build washer/dryer pedestal.
16. Build a folding & ironing counter in laundry room.
17. Install clothes hanging rack in laundry room. 
18. Change door hardware on cabinets in laundry room.
19. Make or buy matching curtains for laundry room door window, window above sink, and window in breakfast nook. 

That's the preliminary list! I know I'll add to it, but it's a good start. Wish me luck!

~Liz

What's Cookin', Good Lookin'?

Venison Lasagna

This is a report on the venison lasagna I wrote about yesterday, and it turned out SO FREAKIN GOOD that I just had to put the full recipe on here before I forgot how I did it. (Note: The sauce is based on this recipe; I made a couple changes to tailor it to my anti-pork-and-fennel taste, but the majority of the sauce recipe came from Ezra Poundcake, who cited the Hunter Angler Gardner Cook blog for its origin. The cheese filling recipe came from the Skinner Oven-Ready Lasagna Noodles box ;-))

2 pounds ground venison

1 onion, chopped finely

1 head of garlic, chopped finely

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 teaspoon of fennel seeds

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped finely

2 tablespoons of oregano

1 cup of red wine (I used Oak Vineyard Merlot)

1 6-oz. can of tomato paste

1 8-oz. can of tomato sauce

1 28-oz. can of crushed tomatoes   

4 cups of shredded mozzarella (I used 2%)

1 15-oz. container of ricotta (I used low-fat)

1 egg

1. Brown the venison in a large saute pan.

2. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the sugar, fennel seeds, oregano and basil. 

4. Add wine and tomato paste.

5. Bring the mixture to a boil. 

6. Add the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes.

7. Mix the sauce and allow to simmer for about an hour.

8. While sauce is simmering, combine ricotta cheese and egg in a small bowl; mix together well.

9. Using a ladle, scoop a ladle-full of meat sauce onto the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

10. Place 3 (UNCOOKED!) lasagna noodles evenly in the bottom of the pan; they'll only fit one way (Note: the directions emphasize that you should not let the noodles touch each other or the sides of the pan since they'll expand in the cooking process).

11. Take 2/3 cup of the ricotta mixture and spread it evenly over the 3 noodles.

12. Scoop another ladle-full of sauce on top of the ricotta mixture and spread it evenly over the whole surface.

13. Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella evenly over the whole surface. 

14. Repeat steps 10 through 13 twice. 

15. Place your last 3 lasagna noodles on top, and cover with the remaining meat sauce.

16. Sprinkle the rest of your mozzarella on top.

17. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degree F for 35 minutes.

18. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown. 

I've made a lot of lasagnas in my day, and they've all been pretty delicious. But Chris and I both agree that this is my best lasagna yet. So, thank you Hank Shaw, Rebecca Crump, Skinner, and, of course, Boney (the deer). 

Salvation Makeover - Quick Hit

Shower Caddy Under the Kitchen Sink

This shower caddy didn't fit quite right in our shower, but it's perfectly good. So I spray painted it and hung it under the kitchen sink to hold sponges and stuff.

To keep it from swinging when the door is opened and closed, I secured it with these nylon fasteners (I found them in the "Hard-To-Find" bins in the hardware section of Lowe's). 

What's Cookin', Good Lookin'?

The cereal cabinet :-/

I don't really like to cook. I don't like the mess it makes and I'd rather spend my time doing other things. Plus, I'm married to a 39-year old who has the pallet of a toddler and won't eat anything that has a "yucky" texture or even resembles a health food (but I love him!). That means squash, eggplant, most cheeses, avocado, yogurt, most fruits, and even pudding are not options for inclusion in a family meal. Chicken fried steak (blech): yes. Veggie pizza: no. But lately, Chris has been complaining about how much cereal we eat for dinner. Ok, I'll give in on this one. Our cereal cabinet looks more like an aisle at the grocery store. 

But with Chris's uber-pickiness and the fact that we both work really far away from home, I just have no desire to cook in the evenings and neither does he. And it's neither wallet nor waist friendly for us to eat out as much as we do. So I decided to spend this Saturday preparing a few meals for this week. We decided that if we made three meals, we could stretch them over the other evenings and some lunches. 

I'm really trying hard not to eat store-bought meat, but the only meat we currently have is venison, so I knew I'd have to at least buy some chicken so that we could have some variety (I'm all about the meatless meals, but Big Tex can't handle it). My obsession with Pinterest really came in handy here, because there are about a million recipes to be found there. I first did a search for "Venison" and came up with these two recipes: Venison Lasagna and Venison Guinness Stew. Monday's and Thursday's dinners, check. Then I searched "Crock Pot" and found this Orange Chicken in the Crock Pot recipe. Yum. That'll be Sunday night. The Orange Chicken is cooking as I write and it smells delicous. I put together the lasagna this morning; all it has to do is go into the oven around 5 tomorrow and it'll be ready.

I should note on the lasagna that I didn't follow the recipe exactly. The pecorino romano was really expensive, so I made the sauce as instructed in the recipe, then made the cheese filling as instructed on the box of the oven-ready lasagna noodles. I'll report back on the quality after I've tried it. 

BUT...the piece de resistance of my Saturday: homemade Nutella. Like all the other stuff I made, I found the Nutella recipe on Pinterest. It was pinned from a blog called The Eccentric Cook, so it is not my recipe. I just followed her instructions and made a little magic. 

Homemade nutella on whole grain toast. Sooooo healthy cause of all the whole grains... 

Here's the recipe (translated out of metric and with my notes and observations):

1/2 pound hazelnuts (also called filberts...who knew??)

1/2 pound chocolate (I used 3/4 of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup hot milk

Filberts (hehe) ready to be roasted

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place your hazelnuts in a pan in one layer, then roast them in the oven for 15 minutes. When they come out, dump them into a dish cloth, wrap them up for a minute, then roll them around inside the cloth to get the skins to come off. You don't have to get every bit of skin off, but try to get as much off as possible. 

Hazelnut butter in my tiny food chopper

If you have a good food processor, shut up and stop bragging. Ok, kidding....if you have a good food processor, you are lucky. Dump your filberts in there and process away until you have a nut butter (it will look like nut dust at first, but give it time). If, like me, you just have a tiny little food chopper, then grind them in batches. Be patient and don't give up. You don't want it to be grainy. You want it to look like natural peanut butter. 

Melted chocolate. Worth burning my mouth over.

Boil some water in a pan, then put your double boiler on top. Put the chocolate in and turn the heat down to medium. 

Chocolate and condensed milk: the perfect team.

When all of the chocolate is melted, dump the can of condensed milk in and mix well. 

Mix it up!

Put your hazelnut butter and your chocolate yumminess into a mixer and set on low for several minutes. You want to make sure it gets mixed well and isn't grainy. Once you feel like it's mixed well, evaluate the texture. If you like it the way it is, don't add the milk. If you'd like it a little smoother, add the milk (I did).

Refrigerate after you're done. It will thicken slightly in the refrigerator, so keep that in mind when deciding whether to add the milk. 

Then go crazy and just try to not get up in the middle of the night and sneak the jar out of the fridge, and try not to frantically dip pretzels into it, and try not to get chocolate-y goodness all over your face. Just try, that's all I'm asking.