Spilling the tea (towels)

As a thank you for giving him the sale of my apartment, my realtor David sent me the kindest Christmas gift today. Two embroidered tea/dish towels, one with a Hamptons theme and the other one  New York City. They're made by a company that also did a decorative pillow I keep in the craft room. So now I have a nice matched set!

The faux fire

I had a small box full of holiday decorations that I used in the apartment and I brought them to the house this week. A string of white twinkle lights and a white stocking. I put the lights over the mantle and I love the ambience of the light in the room with the other lights dimmed. Making a big fire is always such a pain, not to mention the mess. So I brought up the carved log I did a few years back that holds 7 tea lights in the top. I think this is going to be my go-to solution when I want fire but don't want to deal with the clean up!

The carved tea light log

More shades of gray

I was tired of the seafood green wall paint in my bathroom.
Sticking with the gray theme I started in the kitchen and dining room, this week's project was a paint re-do.
I love this color, it's Benjamin Moore's "Gray". I used it in the front hallway in the apartment.
I think it makes the bathroom more modern and masculine. It's like a spiffy tuxedo. I replaced the oval black mirror over the sink with the small mirror I found this past summer with my sister at a yard sale, the white trim popped more off the dark gray.

Holiday baking

It started with Thanksgiving.
It's just not complete without a pumpkin pie.
So I made my favorite recipe for the umpteenth time. It tasted especially good this time.

Once the Christmas season started I had to make gingerbread cookies. I really wanted to up the spiciness factor this year. So I googled "spiciest gingerbread cookies" and came up with this Food Network recipe that included not only black pepper but CAYENNE PEPPER as well. They had a real kick to them in the aftertaste. But I'm not sure I'd rush back to make them again. I want one with really rich Christmas spices...cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mace, etc...so the hunt is on. They turned out well tho.

I love this new cookbook I bought called "One Pot" from the editors of Martha Stewart Living. I made this great curry chicken pot pie with carrots and parsnips, I added mushrooms too. It was simply delicious.

Finally, I really had a hankering to try a fruitcake recipe. Fruitcakes always remind me of my grandmother, she always had one every year for Christmas, usually store bought, but sometimes she made one herself. This one had tons of stuff in it: dried pineapple, dried apricots, raisins, walnuts, and candied cherries, all soaked in rum! I baked it about 10 minutes too long, it was a little dark on the top edges but still very, very good. The recipe made two loaves, I'm taking one gift wrapped home to Texas. It will be a new holiday tradition for sure.

Macerating fruit in rum

"Slice up the fruitcake, we need a little Christmas now!"

Wrapped and ready for Texas

Another still racoon

I've spoken several times about my spirit animal, the racoon (yes that's the alternative spelling), because my name is an anagram for STILL RACOON.
I needed a new paperweight to go with the new gray sideboard, that's where I charge my phone. The cord always falls to the side and the rock keeps it in place. I went with the racoon theme and decided to christen the house with a new moniker: RACOON HALL.

New additions

After I got the "new" furniture from the apartment out to the house I couldn't wait to see how they'd look.
The wooden lamp looks amazing...the second will go in when I take down the Christmas tree.

The lamp that used to be in the TV room is now my desk lamp, it adds a lot more warm light to the room. The Knoll desk chair is perfect...duh!

And the Eames bentwood chair is nice as a side chair.

And I'm so glad I decided to keep the bust, it adds a nice touch of whimsy to the room wearing my old New Year's party hat.

I love the new striped rug in the living room, the old sisal's black edges had gotten too dirty and dusty, hopefully this one will hide the dirt better.

I bought two graphic gray and black rugs for the dining room to coordinate with the new gray sideboard and high shelf.

A great birthday

I've been out at the house for a while, all thru Thanksgiving, but I wanted to go into the city for a little reconnaissance. I sold the apartment (!) and part of the deal was that all the furniture went with it. But after some thought I got seller's remorse for a few pieces that I've grown fond of, namely two wooden spool lamps that I bought on Ebay years ago and my Knoll desk chair. That chair retails currently for over $1600 a piece, I wasn't about to give it away. But what to do? Then I got a brainstorm: why not substitute my sister's desk chair for the Knoll one and buy some look-a-like lamps to replace the ones I want to keep? I checked with my realtor, David. He gave it the all-clear. He said the contract states "furnished" it doesn't say with what furniture. And just to cover ourselves we agreed that the party line was that when I accepted the first offer (ultimately it went to some higher bidders) I started getting rid of stuff because that deal didn't include the furniture. So I decided I'd better replace the items with substitutes to honer the contract.
I decided to drive the new Jeep into the city with the furniture but I was worried the the buyers' realtor who lives in my building would see me making the switch out. The best time would be under cover of night...I wanted to get it over with soon, what if the buyers came to town and wanted to see the apartment? Time was of the essence. Since my birthday was coming up on a Tuesday I drove in on that Monday night before. The switch was a lot easier than I had anticipated. Two chairs, two lamps, and even the big plaster bust I found on 57th Street. I had wisely packed some bubble wrap to keep it safe. The doormen had the hotel cart ready and it all fit great. I had the lamp shades in a big plastic bag. The switch out lamps were a steal, only $40 apiece at the HomeSense store in Riverhead. I unloaded, parked the car around the corner, brought the good stuff back down, loaded up the Jeep again and parked it two blocks away in a garage. It was pricey, forty bucks a night, but it was worth it, all in all.
The next, my birthday, was cold and rainy. I took the subway downtown to have lunch with Jan at a nice little Italian place near her office. She gave me a new Stephen King book and I gave her some of my Christmas cookies.
On the way home I stopped at the Gap and bought myself a navy thermal shirt (40% off!)

and then stopped at the Good Will just for kicks. Lo and behold, I found two great hoodies, only 8 buck each.

I had a turkey dinner from the grocery store. Later that night I had made a date to see my friend Scott who lives only a few blocks away on 53rd street. By coincidence the same building as my other friend Dean! Scott had his tree up from a tree-trimming party that weekend prior...

Scott's tree

he said it had 1600 lights on it! We had fun, he showed me this new leather top he had recently gotten, ha! I didn't leave til after midnight...it was a really good day :)
The next morning I went to the bagel place and had breakfast and high-tailed it back out to the house. I stopped at the IKEA in Hicksville (I love that place) and bought tons of tea lights and some new rugs for the dining room and living room, the old ones were beat. The car was packed, the storage in the back is not as big as my old Xterra.

Once on this island

After painting the sideboard and wall shelf in the dining room a dark gray I got a scathingly brilliant idea: why not try to update the farm table I've been using in the kitchen as an island? What's always bothered me about it was that it was table height and not counter height, a little too low. So I decided to look to the internet for answers. I Googled "how to turn a farm table into a kitchen island" and, VOILA!, the perfect piece of scrap popped up. Here it is:

It's so simple and brilliant...and best of all, it looked easy to achieve. Just get a piece of wood and some roller wheels and do-it-yourself! 

That's when I decided to get worried tho...there were any number of places this could go horribly wrong, but I said, "what the hell" and jumped in with both feet.
First the wood. I went to the lumber yard and found out a real piece of wood was pricey, over 80 bucks. Ouch. I asked about MDF and it was $30 cheaper. Sold. But would it be easy to cut? Would it be so cheap that it would fall apart as I worked with it? I had the huge board cut to size and I ended up with a similar piece in size. I thought it would come in handy in case i screwed up the first piece. Then I looked for the wheels. I went to two hardware stores out here and, again, the wheels were costly, almost $25 apiece! Amazon to the rescue: I found 4 nice looking wheels for a TOTAL of $25! With my nephew's Amazon Prime account I'd get them in only two days. Done and done.
When I tried to get the existing roller wheels off the table the screws gave me a major hard time, they were ancient. I ended up smashing the base of the wheel off one and pounded in the screws. Crisis averted.
I was really worried about cutting out the pattern of the wood with my jigsaw. I drew the curve freehand and cut out a pattern out of poster board. Then I just measured off the sides from the corners and flipped the pattern so all the ends would match and be the same. It worked! The jigsawing was also easier than I thought. MDF cuts like pine, pretty smooth. There's a bit of minor wave in places but you don't notice it.
I flipped the table over and nailed the bottom shelf into place on the table legs with some long nails I got from the hardware store. Then it was simply a matter of attaching the wheels on the bottom with some wood screws and washers.
I primed and painted the base with the same gray paint I used on the sideboard, Benjamin Moore "Gray" 2121-10. That way, everything would tie in together. I'm SUPER pleased and proud of how the whole thing turned out. It's just shy of counter height...perfect. I think I'll add either a dish towel hook or a towel bar, or both. Stay tuned for that...

BEFORE

Bottom shelf and roller wheels added

Scalloped edge done with my jigsaw

AFTER

AFTER, WITH STORAGE

I decided to add a couple of utility hooks on the sides of the table, one to hold my grocery bag and the other for dishtowels.

50 shades of gray

I was so tired of my dining room. It needed some 'oomph'. But I didn't feel like doing a major overhaul. I resorted to the easiest decorating trick of all: paint!
The sideboard and wall shelf were a pale sage green...SO early 21st Century. Time for something new. I decided to paint them both a dark charcoal gray, "graphite" to borrow a color name from my Jeep!
Both pieces are heavy as HELL, so i decided to paint them in place. I taped off the wall around the shelf with butcher paper and painter's tape and laid newspaper around the sideboard on the floor and went to town.
They both look more modern and masculine, very happy with the results.

BFORE...BORING SAGE GREEN

AFTER...MODERN!

The ivy league

I love English ivy. It's clean simple greenery. And it's ability to form shapes in topiaries. I decided to pull a bunch of it from the yard and form it around some topiary forms I've had lying around. They're now all inside the dining room for the cold months. Let's see how long I can keep them alive.

Bob

I met Bob this week. He lives in one of the most beautiful houses in all of Sag Harbor. It sits on an odd little corner at Jefferson and Suffolk Streets. There's a carriage house next door and a pool. I've often walked by it on the way to the library and wondered "who lives in the stunning home?" and know I know! The inside has been totally re-thought, it's almost loft-like in it's openness, in a palette of creams, ocean blues, and sand. I didn't get to see upstairs, just the first floor and a downstairs guest room with a treadmill, but what I saw was gorgeous. I walked over from my place because it was such a beautiful night, no one was out on the streets on that cool October night.

What a dump(ster)!

I did one of my favorite things IN LIFE the other day. I ordered a dumpster from my garbage pickup service, a "4 yard" one, and threw away a TON of stuff that has been cluttering up the house, especially in the basement and yard. Old TV's, clothes, busted shutters, suitcases, clay pots, the old birdbath, that cracked big urn on the back deck, old chairs, on and on and on. It feels SO GOOD to purge. Now the basement is clean and orderly again. The deck is minimal and unfussy. It had been over 10 years since I had last done this, let's hope I don't wait another ten to do it again!

BEFORE

and AFTER

Mark

I met Mark yesterday and went to his stunning house on Sherrill Road in East Hampton. He's an interior designer and his place is my dream home. Not too big, not too small. Tastefully furnished with a cozy backyard, complex with pool and pool house. I have to admit I was a little jealous. But I'm always thankful for what I have in my little cape.