The Bar That Got Iggy

It's just so fancy now.



And I couldn't be happier to be finished with this never ending project, or more thrilled with how it turned out! I tend to talk too much, so I'm going to throw out the absolutely fab after picture, before I start the rambling wordy part of this post. Feast your eyes on this baby:

I know! Can you even believe that it's the same piece of furniture?

Last week I shared the O'verlays that I painted to match the bar. O'verlays can be used by themselves on any piece of furniture but I wanted to add a mirror, because who doesn't love a good piece of mirrored furniture? I had two mirrors cut at a local glass shop. I brought the O'verlay in with me and asked them to cut it to almost the same dimensions. The mirror was 1/8 inch smaller on each side, but I'll give you the details on that later.

I was super nervous to actually glue the mirror down, because getting things to be straight or even is not a strong point of mine. I decided to make a really big paper template to use. I just taped a bunch of sheets of paper together to make it the same size as one of the doors of the bar. I marked where the knobs go, and then measured where I wanted the mirror to go.

I held it up and used a level to make sure everything was straight, and then cut out where the mirror would be. I was left with a very thin strip of paper that I taped onto the door. I realize there is probably a lot of better ways to make sure you are attaching something straight, but I found this the easiest thing for me.

I attached the mirror using a heavy duty mirror adhesive and a caulk gun.

I then attached the O'verlay to the mirror using a clear silicone adhesive. The reflection of the back of the O'verlay shows in the mirror, which is why I had painted the back, and why it's important to use a clear adhesive.

Once the O'verlay was centered there was a slight overhang, because the mirror was cut just a drop smaller.

I used paintable white caulk to fill the gap. I know, so many (smelly) adhesives for one project. Make sure you are working in a well ventilated area and wear gloves!  Once it was dry painted it gray like the rest of the bar. This gave the bar a more seamless look as opposed to hey, I glued a bunch of things on top if and lets call it a day.

When the final paint touch ups (I did some parts of the door also which is why in the above picture the colors look a little wonky) were done it was time to put this baby back together. Oh happy day!

I am loving this corner of furniture makeovers! The bar really complements the breakfront. The time put into this piece was so worth it. I have a completely different piece of furniture for what it would cost in just shipping fees to buy something new.

Does anyone have any major summer projects on the horizon? Let me know below! I can't believe I have such a big project done, and it's not even July yet. But then again, I did kind of start this thing ten months ago.

If you want to read about this transformation from the beginning, here are the links.

A Tale of Two (ok, one) Paint Chips
This is What a Really Awesome Husband Looks Like
Airing Your Dirty...
That Terrible Middle Stage
Not Quite There Yet
Overly Smitten with O'verlays

Cookies and Crayons for Two

We're in that time between school and camp where some parents go crazy, and I get excited to have everyone home with me. Is that weird? I just like hanging with them.

After spending the majority of yesterday in bathing suits outside, we spent the last few hours of sunshine in our teeny kitchen entertaining ourselves. The first thing on our agenda was baking cookies. Baking is a great activity to do with your kids, I just don't like having the goodies around after, because then I end up eating them. I experimented with all of the different cookies in a mug recipe, but honestly, they were just gross. I then stumbled upon a recipe which makes only two cookies, and after trying it out, let me tell you, they are a real winner. The recipe is from No. 2 Pencil and it's actually by the woman who brought us the cookie in a mug.

Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then soften two tablespoons of butter until just beginning to get melty and blend with two firmly packed tablespoons of dark brown sugar, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, a pinch of kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.

Add an egg yolk, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 cup all purpose flour and mix well.

Add three heaping tablespoons of chocolate chips. Take a 30 second break as your kids try to eat all of the chocolate chips. Then mix it all up.

Form the cookies into two balls (make sure they are the same size so no one accuses the other of having the bigger one) and place on baking sheet several inches apart.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown. (I did it for 10 minutes and they were extremely soft and the kids ended up eating them with a spoon.) The original instructions say when you take them out of the oven, bang it down on the counter so the cookies deflate and get a lovely wrinkled appearance. I do it and nothing happens, but people live a little and bang those cookies anyway. 

Take half a minute to torture your kids and get a picture of them, when really all they want to be doing is eating those cookies.  

These make really big cookies, so you can probably get four out of them, and just bake them for a little shorter. I love how we had this great activity to do together, but there are no unhealthy leftovers sitting around tempting me.

When we finished our cookie activity we moved onto a little project I've wanted to do for a long time. This is something that is not new at all, but I wanted to give it a go, so we made shaped melted crayons. You know what I'm talking about, it's when you take all your old bits of crayons, and melt them together in a mold, and get a new fun crayon shape. We have a huge bag of crayons that gets dumped out every time someone is coloring. Now we have six fun flowers to keep track of instead. No complaints here.

I put out labeled plates and let Moshe and Lily sort the colors. 

We decided to mix the purple and pink crayons together, so Lily can have all her favorite colors in one place.

After you have your colors sorted you need to get all the wrappers off the crayons. After going through the plate of red crayons, I was highly annoyed it was such a pain in the you know what. I consulted la google and was told to soak the crayons to make the wrappers come off easier. Genius. I don't recommend doing this with a fresh mani.

When the wrappers are all off, chop the crayons and fill up whatever mold you are using. I used a silicone muffin pan. I think it's ruined and wouldn't use it for food anymore, so I'm donating it to the play kitchen. Keep that in mind, don't use your really good pans.

Bake at 250 degrees for around 15 minutes, or until the crayons are melted. After it's out of the oven, I put it into the freezer to help it harden. Pop out the crayons, and viola! New art supplies. I love the way the different colors show.

Anyone here doing anything fun with their kids? It seems like school has been out forever, even though it has only been a week, but I am loving it!

Mini Conversations

...Or conversations with the Minis. Because they are a pretty funny pair.

Passing me her yogurt to scape down the sides:

Lily: "You find me some more?"

***

After adding a little Anna figurine to our princess collection:

Moshe: "Can we get Elsa for Lily too?"

Me: "I can't find Elsa in the store."

Moshe: "All of the stores? What about Home Depot?" 

***

Walking by pigeons: 

Lily: "Scuse me chickens!!"