Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Thanksgiving Planning (i.e. Holy Cow - Only 1 Week Left!)

I can't believe we are halfway through November already.  Just craziness.

The hubs' parents are coming from Illinois for Thanksgiving this year, so we have exactly one week to finish up all the kitchen projects before we actually have guests over.  My sister and her two kiddos will also be joining us, so the chalkboard wall's gotta be ready.  Here's where we are and what we've still gotta get crackin' on:

1.  Paneling for the chalkboard wall - We bought the paneling and trim last night and tonight we're putting it on, and then I get to paint it tomorrow night.  We have to wait until Friday to condition the chalkboard paint (which is just taking a stick of chalk and rubbing it all over, then erasing it).

2.  Quarter round for the toekick - I got the toekick painted yesterday and the trim bought last night, so we just have to put it on now.

3.  Make a window treatment for the naked window - I decided to make one instead of buying one.  I've seen some tutorials on how to do a Roman shade, which I like the look of and seem pretty easy to make myself.  Luckily, Sherry from Young House Love posted a tutorial on how she made hers just this week.

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Cute, right?  And I know I'll never need to use it functionally, since I want to get as much natural light in that room as possible.  That and the kitchen faces the pasture, so privacy's not an issue.

4.  Build a farmhouse table - We'll file this under "Patrick's gonna tackle" projects.  Tons of people are making their own farmhouse-style tables for around $100 (check out ana-white.com for several good plans), so we're totally jumping on that wagon.  Here's the look we're going for:

Pottery Barn Solomon Dining Table

And here's another view:



This baby's on sale this week for $1,699.00.  A steal, right?  We'll be making our own out of furniture-grade poplar.  Don't worry, I'll make Patrick write a detailed tutorial so you can make one for yourself.  The Pottery Barn version is 42" wide and is adjustable in length from 76" to 122" when fully extended.  Now that's a big bad table, and I would love to have one that size, but our dining room just isn't large enough for a table that size.  Our version will be 36" wide and 66" in length, which is just enough dining seating for six people.

5.  Cut and stain wall shelves for the dining room - We're making four 30" wide shelves with brackets for the dining room so we can display my ironstone collection on the wall.  I was looking for simple black iron brackets, and I found these at Lowes:

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6.  Replace the old outlets + switches in the kitchen, mudroom and dining rooms with white ones - Small job, but needs done.

So that's it for the home improvements that have to be done this week.  Thank goodness the hubs has Friday off.

In other Thanksgiving-related news, over on Brooklyn Limestone, Stefanie posted these cute woodland animal labels / tags to use for your Thanksgiving table. 

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Just download and print 'em out on cardstock and you're good to go. 

We're not having that many people over, but these were just too cute to not use.  That got me thinking about a whole woodland animal theme for our Christmas wrapping this year.  I'm going to use these tags and draw a faux bois pattern on brown kraft paper with a silver or a white Sharpie paint pen, similar to this look:

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I'll be sure to post the process and results when I start wrapping presents - after I start buying presents!

Finally, I printed out two recipes for the Thanksgiving meal this morning, both ones that I've never tried before.

Alton Brown's Best Ever Green Bean Casserole

and

Bourbon-Sweet Potato Brulee

I know AB would never steer me wrong, and green bean casserole can't be all that hard (can you believe I've never made it?).  The sweet potato brulee recipe has a couple of bad reviews, but I think that's from people who were thinking it was going to be an actual creme brulee, just made with sweet potatoes, which it is not.  It's mashed, creamy sweet potatoes with a brulee top.  Smoq, a local barbeque place here in Cincinnati, does a version which is Just. Pure. Heaven.  Can't wait.


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