I’ve got a smorgasbord of blog header designs to share today. These beautiful black and white headers are made up of capital letters, cursive lettering, and sweet icons.
Captain and the Gypsy Kid (style & design)
Rue Rodier (travel, design, Paris, etc.)
Stella (design, lifestyle)
Golden Swank (fashion)
Classy Girls Wear Pearls (fashion)
Well, I was only half-certain that my PhD was going to be my last degree. I was right! Earlier this week, I learned that I have been accepted into an MBA program! It’s part-time so I’ll continue on with life as “normal”, and my studies will take up “just a bit” of my free time. Ha!
Anyhoo – I’m pumped! I’m excited to learn and to push myself in a new direction. I’m also excited to buy school supplies (let’s get real, right?!). At the top of the list is some sort of backpack. I’ve been using a one-shoulder tote forever, and it’s just not cutting it anymore.
via Stylight
via LA Cool & Chic
via LoLoBu
Here are five backpacks that look to be super sleek and fashionable (any just may even hold a textbook or two!).
via Kokosina
via Amazon
I must got check out some affordable options in person one day soon!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Will you be back to school shopping?
Seeing all the rust on my air conditioner unit, I really just wanted to bite the bullet and buy a shiny new one. But thinking about my bank account, I quickly realized that I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a new unit when mine, although rusty, worked perfectly fine. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a couple of cans of spray paint (I used Rustoleum), read this article sent to me by Hogg (thanks!), and got to work.
before: I muted the colours in this photo, and it’s still disgusting
before: the rust was horrible, the muted photo only provides a glimpse into the condition of the unit (this is perhaps the ugliest photo I’ve ever shared on my blog)
during: one coat of paint
after: rust has disappeared!
after: this looks like a brand new air conditioner
Here’s what I did:
1. I cleaned and scrubbed the unit with a CLR + water mixture. I then rinsed it off*.
2. While the unit was drying, I taped plastic bags on the wall surround and around all the pipes. I also unscrewed the top grate so I could cover the fans with plastic, and I weaved plastic in between the grate and the filter/fan/unit**.
3. When the unit was dry, I sprayed two coats of Rustoleum Tremclad rust paint*** (letting the paint dry in between coats) all over the unit and the rusty metal bars that hold it up.
4. When everything was dry, I removed all the plastic, and screwed the top grate back on. Done.
The project took about 3 hours from start to finish. I could have put on a 3rd coat of paint for fun, but I was too lazy (2 coats covered very well). I feel like I have a brand new unit, and the side of my house now looks so much more attractive!
* I would recommend scrubbing with a wire brush. I didn’t have one, so it took me a bit longer to scrub and chip the old rusty bits off the unit.
** I covered the fan and the filter parts with plastic, but I’m not entirely certain this was necessary.
*** I didn’t paint the unit white (big shock, right?). Instead, I chose a colour that matched the grout in between the bricks.
Last week, Gabrielle from Eye Candy Popper invited us into her kitchen. Today, she is back and sharing her office and bathroom with us.
***
Hi! ECP, aka Eyecandypopper, here again. I hope you got a chance to visit my kitchen last time (where the healthy cooking magic happens for my blog). As I mentioned, I cared about integrating eco-conscious design into my tiny home renovations 4 years ago, so the use of natural and long lasting materials were of utmost importance. Quality over quantity! You’ve probably seen a bit of my office in the kitchen pictures already. It’s a small addition in the back, which we thought about ripping off, but my ever-so-smart sister convinced us that we would miss that little space if it wasn’t there. She was right. I transformed it into a small office and mudroom, and it works really well. 
Because I work from home (on top of blogging, I’m also a freelance copy editor and translator), I spend a lot of time in this space, and I quite enjoy all the natural light coming in from all angles. My cat enjoys taking naps on the chair behind me while I’m working. It’s small and cozy, but a great space! 
We kept the same classic design used throughout the house in the bathroom as well. I live in a charming yellow brick cottage house that was built in 1847. That’s right! 1847!!! Isn’t that amazing? We love the old charm of it, and we appreciate the solid construction of it, too. Double brick walls are amazing! Despite being old, we luckily didn’t have to modify any of the structure. The bones were good; we just had to make cosmetic renovations, which is always such a time and money-saver. We did our best to preserve as much of the old classic character as possible, but wanted to give it a contemporary twist as well. We were not able to preserve the old trim in this area of the house, so we decided to use modern trim as a crisp contrast to the old character! I love it! 
In the bathroom, we used classic elements like the white ceramic subway tiles up to shoulder height all around the bathroom, and high quality chrome faucets and accessories. We’ve added tall white cabinets to add loads of storage, and to act as a visual separation between the bathroom space and the laundry area, which is in the same room (stacked washer and dryer). It feels very European to do that, and not everyone is used to it, but I think it works perfectly in this small space, instead of having 2 cramped rooms. The high ceilings help a lot too.
Being eco-friendly and eco-conscious, all of our towels are made out of certified organic cotton, which is something important to me to support organic agriculture, every chance I get.
Again, I love objects that are double-duty and useful, so I used souvenirs brought back from various trips to decorate the space, like the 3 picture frames brought back from Capri Island (Italy), or the giraffe made in Kenya by a women cooperative (bought at the San Diego zoo on a trip with my niece many years ago), and the 2 dishes used for the soap and jewelry were brought back from Egypt. Because I make a lot of my own natural beauty products, I also like to use pretty jars and display them right on the counter instead of hiding them away in cupboards. I love the homey feel it creates.
Well, that’s it! I hope you enjoyed visiting parts of my house as much as I enjoy living in it! Drop by for a visit on my blog, I’d love to see you! ECP xo
faucets and shower set: Riobel
sink/vanity and light fixture: Rona
towel rack and paper holder: Restoration Hardware
cabinets: Home Hardware
organic towels: aqua – House & Home eco collection (discontinued), white – Anna Sova Design
marble floor tiles and subway tiles: Olympia Tiles Toronto
photos courtesy of Aya Photography & Design.Â
***
Thanks for opening up your home to us, Gabrielle.
Okay, okay. Since you already know that I love my KitchenAid stand mixer, I’ll get straight to my recent bread making experience.
Although I was a bit hesitant to make bread from scratch, I was also very curious and determined. I opened up the handy KitchenAid recipe book that came with my stand mixer, and I flipped to the page that had the “basic white bread” recipe. I prepped all of my ingredients, I followed the directions exactly, and here is a photo-heavy recap of what happened…
basic white bread recipe from KitchenAid + packets of active dry yeast
butter, salt, sugar, milk melting on the stove
4.5 cups of flour to start (I probably ended up using 5.5 cups)
mixing 2 packets of active dry yeast with warm water in a warm mixing bowl
mixing all of the ingredients: yeast, water, milk, melted butter, sugar, salt, and flour
level 2 speed for a few minutes
mixing the dough with the dough hook until the sides are clean and the dough is sticky
sides of bowl are clean and dough is sticky
see – I told you – clean bowl!
dough in a oil-lined bowl
risen dough after 1 hour in the bowl
punched dough
rolling out half of the dough
rolling up the flattened dough
into the loaf pan it goes
risen dough after 1 hour in the loaf pan
after 30 minutes in the 400° oven
the recipe made 2 loaves (one is wonky because I had to DIY a loaf-type pan)
golden bread
crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside
the best way to enjoy fresh bread – with Nutella
The bread was FANTASTIC! It was perfectly golden, had a crunchy crust, was soft on the inside, and the recipe worked! It was as time consuming as bread making is (I think it took about 10 minutes to prep, 1 hour of wait time so the bread could rise the first time, 1 hour to rise the second time, and 30 minutes to bake in the oven). I did a bunch of other things around the house during the wait & rise times, so I really didn’t feel like bread making was a whole lot of work. Oh my goodness – I could probably live on fresh bread and Nutella*. It’s too darn delicious!
Oh – and I know I’m “supposed” to eat healthy, grainy, brown bread, but sometimes I just don’t care. White and simple worked perfectly for me!
* This is not a sponsored post, but if Nutella wants to offer me with a year/lifetime supply of Nutella, I’d be grateful, and I’d make fresh bread more often!Â