String lantern

File under Works in Progress: The front porch. Someday we will give it color and style...

For now we've added this string lantern, found (thanks to their excellent Facebook site) at a vintage store called Find Furnish.

A new living room

The color is called conch shell, but while painting I decided the best description would be white lady's foundation, (or "pancake" as Ben likes to call it).

I even painted the ceiling (cringe). We'd had it repaired years ago and never painted over the patch. Tip: If you have to paint a ceiling, paint it before you finish the walls. It's harder to edge cleanly on the ceiling. And get ready for some serious paint spatters in the face.

I didn't remember to take any good before shots. But it was RED, my friends. We're talking a-primer-and-two-solid-coats-later kind of red. Or what I also like to call "It's 2001, y'all" red.

We're still recasting the room's details based on the new color. The two prints you see in the first photo are both maps of the city of Minneapolis. On the left: a remarkably detailed paper-cut by our friend Ochen Kaylan. On the right: an Ork neighborhood map.

We've had the yellow porcelain lamp in the basement for ages; I finally took it to our lighting store to find a shade and they gave us a finial to match. Our best Craigslist find to date is this rosewood credenza with tambour doors that we've transformed into a media cabinet.

Next up: The dining room! It's looking a little green against conch shell. Stay tuned.

Wall Art: View of the Pacific

photo 1 - color
photo 2 - old school
photo 3 - gray scale
photo 4 - vibrant
I took this photo of Elijah overlooking the Pacific ocean on our west coast trip last summer. The original photo was very blah, so I tried to bring out the sky and ocean and make the grass brighter (photos 1 and 4 show this best) but included an old school and grayscale option for comparison. I would like to print this out as wall art, perhaps on canvas or maybe framed by a natural driftwood-esque frame. Which version do you like best?

New Portico

Our house is in desperate need of a new portico and door so combining the forces of Pinterest, Photoshop and Google street view, I came up with the following. We would love to repaint the house, perhaps to a darker gray, but probably will leave it as is. Given the light gray color, I think the navy window and shutter combo looks great, especially with the pop of yellow in the window boxes. What do you think?

Tackling the basement

Before...

And after...

And the labeling. Be still my heart.

Mississippi Market Porridge

Ingredients:

15 c. wheat flakes
12 c. oatmeal
10 c. bran
6 c. cornmeal
5 c. rye flakes
4 c. millet
4 c. cracked wheat cereal
2 c. flax
Bulk ingredients can be found at most co-ops or natural food stores.
Mix together. To keep large quantities fresh, freeze until ready to use.

Cooking instructions:
1 c. salted water
1/3 c. cereal
Boil water. Slowly add cereal while stirring constantly. Cook for 10 mins. Stir occasionally. Add raisins or other fruit if desired. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 mins.

Baby roll-neck sweater