Outdoor Dining Room Part 1

I started a new project this week. It's something I've wanted to do for years, but every time I said something about it I got looks. You know what I'm talking about. The looks that say "you're crazy" or "you can't possibly be serious" or " that's a bad idea". Usually, I pay no attention to these subtle opinions, but it was so frequent that I started to think maybe it was a bad idea. But I could picture it so clearly in my mind that I threw caution to the wind and dove in. My contractor came over to see what I had in mind. After telling me he thought I was making a mistake, he gave me a bid. It was higher than I wanted it to be (of course) so I asked him if I could help work to cut down on the cost. I don't know why I thought it was okay to ask him that, but he graciously agreed and we began the demo on Monday morning. Hubby helped that day (his day off) and I couldn't have done it without him!

I should explain what I decided to do. In our garage, we had some built in cabinets and 2 walk in closets. You would think it was great to have all that storage space right? The problem was, the closets were poorly designed and wasted most of the space in them. I wanted to tear out this storage and build a dining room that opened up to the backyard. Now you are probably beginning to see why people thought I was making a mistake. I wondered if I was going to miss the storage, so I emptied out one of the closets a couple of months ago to see if I would, and I didn't! 

This is the walk in closet in the garage and the built in shelving.

view of the back of the house before demo began​

Day 1 Demo: closets torn out and back wall opened.

Day 2 Demo: ceiling removed and temporary supporting wall built in back.

Day 3: 14 foot ridge beam installed and ceiling joists removed.

Can you see how gorgeous the wood on the ceiling is? That was my first great surprise when we tore down the sheetrock. My second great surprise was the beautiful wood I have now that we removed the ceiling joists. I'm going to use it to make the table. More on that in a week or two...

old ceiling joists which will become the new table​

Day 4: electrical wiring run, supports built in vaulted ceiling

Day5: sheetrock installed and siding going up in dining room

I'll admit it--I'm exhausted!! That was much harder than I thought, but my contractor says that we're several days ahead of schedule because of my help, and that's good news to me. I'm so excited with the results so far! Everyone who has seen it loves it. Even my contractor has  grudgingly admitted he likes it.

view from the new dining room​

There's still a lot to be done. We need to finish the siding and electrical, build a railing, install the lighting and a ceiling fan, refinish the floors and paint. Week 2 will be full, but I'm looking forward to it.

I'll keep you posted...

Lynn

Mini Egg Frittatas

Here is an easy recipe for mini egg​ frittatas that you can make ahead and either keep in the refrigerator or freeze. The possibilities are endless so you can make it with the ingredients you like best. Here is the basic recipe.

  • 8 eggs​
  • 1 C milk​
  • 1 C shredded cheese​ (cheddar, monterrey jack, swiss, fontina...)
  • 1/2 C cooked breakfast meat (bacon, sausage, canadian bacon, ham...)​
  • 1 C cooked vegetables (onion, bell pepper, potatoes, spinach...)​
  • 1 TBL chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, cilantro, parsley...) 
  • salt & pepper to taste​

Start by cracking the eggs into a large mixing bowl and mix together with milk. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.​

Spray cupcake tins with non-stick spray. I use a pan that has 12 cupcake forms in it. You could also use two pans with 6 each. Start adding your cooked ingredients​ to the bottom of each form. Just add about a tablespoon each of meat and vegetables because you need to leave room for the eggs and cheese. I used sausage, spinach, bell pepper, and onion for this batch. Now pour the egg mixture over the ingredients until it's about 3/4 full. Top each with a sprinkle of cheese and fresh herbs. I used rosemary and fontina. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set and lightly browned.

You can store these in a container in the refrigerator and just reheat and eat, or wrap them tightly and freeze for later. If you've got a houseful of picky eaters, make several different varieties at the same time to please everyone.​ Super easy and something I love to have on hand for a grab and go breakfast.

Enjoy!​

Lynn​

Fall Is In The Air!

I know I'm being pretty optimistic when I say fall is in the air. It's still close to 100 where I live, but we had our first "cold front" of the year--the low was in the 60's!!! That got me thinking about fall. I don't go crazy decorating for holidays (remind me I said that when Christmas rolls around...), but I do like to make a few seasonal changes to spruce things up a bit. Really simple stuff like a new wreath on the door and different cushions outside.

It's easy to bring the seasons inside too. A quick trip to the store to buy gourds and candy corn and I'm ready to go. First, I filled a glass dome I have with gourds for a table in the den. That's all that room needs for now. A new centerpiece on the dining room table and some grapevine for the chandelier and the room feels ready for fall.

Another favorite trick is to swap out pillows on sofas and chairs. What I have learned to do over the years is to buy some really nice pillow forms in the sizes I need, then make interchangeable covers for them. It makes storage easy since you just fold the covers and put them away, and I can switch them out whenever I want a new look. I changed the floral pillows in my sunporch to these darker, more fall-like colors. In the den, I changed my blue and white summer pillows for theses rust and cream Ikat pillows. Small change but big impact!

Not a lot of effort for a lot of change, right? If this seems like too much to tackle all at once, start watching for sales on decorative items. Right now you can find all kinds of really inexpensive summer accents marked down to a fraction of their original cost. Buy them now and save them for next summer. You may not have the instant gratification, but you'll be excited when you get to take them out next year. Soon the fall accessories will be on sale and you'll still have plenty of time to get some use out of them before you have to put them away.  Be creative, but don't go overboard. A few accents here and there will be all you need to welcome in the fall. Over the next couple of months I'll be making some more changes, but easing into it feels right to me.

I'll keep you posted...

Lynn