Let there be light!

We've been slacking on the blog, but definitely not on the renovations. Lots of things have been going on. A little touch up painting here and there. Scraping some ceilings (a post soon on that). Digging out the ivy that surrounds our house. Last, but certainly not least, switching out the outlets and light switches.

This is something that has scared me. For some reason, I have been afraid of electrical DIY needs because of what could happen. Well, after about 25 YouTube videos showing how to do it, it seemed pretty easy - and it was! It was fairly simple to take out the old and put in the new and what a transformation.



This is a before outlet. Very yellow and dated. Functional, but brought each room down a little.



This is an after! What a transformation, now it's clean and new!



Most rooms have 5 outlets and a switch or two, so this is going to take some sore fingers and time to get all of them switched over to the new style.

- Nathan

One week and counting...

We are one week (and counting) until Spring. Or, at least from what the calendar says. We have been cooped up inside the house for weeks and months. This hasn't been totally bad because we've had a lot of progress - more on that later.

Spring is a time of rejoice and renew. Flowers. Green grass. Shorts. Windows down.

Here's a few of our favorite things for Spring:

1 - Cookbook  |  2 - Painting  |  3 - Squirrel Feeder  |  4 - Succulent Wreath  |  5 - Mrs. Meyers Parsley

The Doors.

The Doors and no I'm not talking about the band. We are finally finished painting all of the first level doors in our home. I mean, we are talking layers and layers of primer and paint, people. I can't tell you how much of an improvement it is in person. We almost forget what it all looks like before! It's a clean and very bright look. We decided to remove the slats on the patio doors to give a more open modern look. Seriously, looking out feels like we live in a tree house! 

Before/Mid-Progress:

The gold hardware was an eyesore so when we looked up a replacement it was going to be nearly $200. We decided to try our hand at painting them with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic Spray to match the rest of our new oil rubbed bronze hardware. A can costs about $5 and we painted three coats. Success! We are so happy with the results. I am hoping over time that they won't wear easily. We are labeling and keeping this paint on hand for touchups but we could always go with replacing if they do seem like they aren't holding up. I hope Spring will make an appearance so we can test these doors out!

Side By Side:

Here is a little drawing of what our future plans are for the breakfast nook. We are so excited to move our patio furniture outside on the deck. Purchase a couple bar stools. And, we are thinking of a small table and a couple chairs in front of the doors. We are still unsure about this. We may end up liking the open feel and nix the breakfast nook idea all together. 

Staircase - That was easy -- not!

The recent, also time consuming, project other than painting all of the doors white has been the stairs. These stairs were beautiful - 1970's with baby blue shag-ish carpet. So, the Mr. and I started tearing up the carpet one night as we walked upstairs to bed. We both stopped at the top, looked at each other, and immediately went to the garage to grab some tools. We had to see what was underneath and glad we did!



After about 200 (literally, not exaggerating) staples, we found that were 200 holes in the tread and risers, which needed to be patched. All that got us through the many staples was thinking of the store, Staples, slogan - "That was easy!" Every time we pulled one out, we got to boast with, that was easy! Even though most were not.

So, out came the handy spackle and the holes were filled. Then multiple coats of primer and Benjamin Moore's Dove White. The yellow definitely needed to go and now it is fresher.



We feel like our home is built with quality and integrity, but the stairs showed a major flaw. There were numerous nails in the back of each step. Only going into the wood maybe 1/8" and then bent over. This caused some problems. First, this is a hazard. Second, the holes are horrible looking. So, Nathan thought lets use the same quarter round around the rest the rooms with hardwood floors to cover it up. After hours of pulling as many nails as possible, three 8 foot sections of quarter round, and two coats of White Dove, the steps are nearing completion!

Up next is some light refinishing and hardcore cleaning of the floors, then new railing and someday in the later future, a runner. For now, we both like the hardwood stair treads. When kids come into play, I think a runner down the stairs will be necessary.

Charred tomatoes and toast

I think the winter blues hit everyone this time of year. I know they do for me at least. I try to beat them in many ways but one of my favorite ways is cooking. A time consuming, work with your hands, create something delicious task is perfect for what I needed today. While I would much prefer to step out my back door and retrieve fresh tomatoes off the vine and fresh thyme from my herb garden, I try to enjoy those summer flavors in winter wherever I can get them. It is hard picking flavorful tomatoes in the grocery store in winter. I seem to go for on the vine, small, deeper red tomatoes. The ones I used for todays lunch are Campari tomatoes.



Charred Tomatoes and Toast
4 Campari Tomatoes-sliced
4 eggs
2 tsp fresh thyme
4 slices whole wheat bread
2 garlic cloves
olive oil
Salt & Pepper

In a cast iron skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil with one crushed clove of garlic. Make sure not to brown your garlic clove. You just want to infuse the oil. Remove the garlic after a few minutes. Brush both sides of your slices of bread with the garlic oil. Place on baking sheet and broil for a few minutes. Keep an eye on your bread, it can burn quickly.

Using the same cast iron skillet, turn the heat to medium high. Carefully place in your sliced tomatoes. They will sizzle pretty quickly. This is good. You want these babies to charr. Flip and repeat to the other side and remove the pan from heat.

In a separate nonstick skillet heat a tablespoon of oil on medium high. Cook four eggs until over-easy. Remove the bread from the oven. Use second glove of garlic and rub on toasted bread. Top the bread with your eggs and charred tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with thyme.

Breakfast foods are one of my favorites and pretty much a comfort food for me. I promise this dish doesn't disappoint…unless you don't like tomatoes and over easy eggs like my sweet husband. I nixed the tomatoes, thyme, cooked his eggs longer and added cheese on top.



This recipe was adapted from this recipe.

Spice up your life...

We decided we need to add some spice to walls. We are making good progress on the painting front, but not so much on the decorating. We can't wait for this phase, by the way. First, we need to get the entire downstairs painted, some carpet replaced, more tweaking, then we will be ready for all the decorating goodies.

In the meantime, we felt like this is OUR home, we're excited it's our first and potentially only home, so we wanted it to be more for us. Nathan and I had a romantic elopement in 2012. We got married in Tivoli, Italy. It was as magical as it sounds and the best time of our lives. We had a photographer who captured our special day and this is one of our favorite photos from that day.

For some reason, Berkley has been following us around wanting to be in all of our camera shots.

Our favorite things.

I don't know about you but I will now have the words to the beloved Julie Andrews song, My Favorite Things, in my head all evening. While, we do love brown paper packages tied up with string, we have our eyes on a few things that made our Mr and Mrs favorites-holiday edition.

1. The manly candle Our new favorite candle made it's debut in our home about a month ago. We literally cleared a shelf at B&BW to stock up on this scent. It's reminiscent of a mans cologne, which is perfect for me (Nathan), not the typical apple scents. So try putting away the vanilla cupcake candle and pull this out for the holiday season… or forever.

2. Leather Try We are getting organized over here at BHLK and this leather tray is a great spot to throw in keys, wallet and cell phone.

3. Watershed Distillery Bourbon Newest favorite bourbon. Love this local spirit. It's smooth and perfect for a cold day.

4. Bottle Opener Every guy needs a good bottle opener. Solid and will last through a lot of bottle popping.

5. Comfy socks Socks are just needed. These happen to be really good looking.



1. Cute scarf. Light enough to wear all day.

2. Letter Opener Having a hard time deciding on my favorite letter opener. These are a steal too. I think I'm leaning towards the fox. I'm going through a fox phase.

3. Perfect notecards How cute are these? I want. I need. My office won't be complete without them.

4. Cozy throw It's the best time of year to snuggle up with a cozy throw. Loving this grey knit.

5. Classic Pen I remember one year my parents buying my grandmother a really nice pen set like this one. I've wanted one ever since! I am obsessed with all things paper. It's only natural I would be obsessed with writing supplies too!