I love to bake. I don't think that's any sort of surprise to anyone. It's my main hobby. It keeps me sane and helps me relax. It's how I feel I can spread happiness in a little way to my family, friends, and coworkers. Every once in awhile, I'll have friends tell me (jokingly) I should just quit my job and start a bakery (never in a serious way, mostly because their mouths are full when they say it and they're clearly high on sugar, plus I think they realize that means they'd have to start paying for my sweets). I don't think it's something I will ever do, mostly because I don't want the joy I get from it to be ruined by business, I know there are far fancier and better bakers than me out there, and I just don't think I could handle the stress of it all. But, that doesn't stop me from dreaming about what kind of bakery I would have if I ever did do that, and had millions and millions of dollars so if it failed, I wouldn't be worse for the wear. Whenever I go to cute little towns (like Charleston and Asheville, where I've been to in the last week and a half) where there are lots of creative spaces, that's usually when I start thinking about it and what I would do.
So indulge me for a minute as I tell you of my dream bakery (I never do dream of a name though...that is far too hard to figure out....the most creative I've gotten so far is Steele's Sweets, but I still don't think I like that)
The Building:
First, it has has has to be a little old, vintage house. Two stories, with front porches on both levels. Preferably painted a mint color with a big white door (with glass window in the door that bears whatever bakery name I chose) and white trim and white shutters around all the windows (and there needs to be lots of windows because I love natural light). There needs to be a white picket fence around the front little lawn. The lawn would have a brick path leading up to the stairs/ramp (have to make it accessible!), and in the spring and summer it would be covered in in-season flowers, in the fall there would be tons of mums and pumpkins, and in the winter it would be poinsettias, little christmas trees, and evergreens everywhere. Twinkle lights would be wrapped around the porch railings all year long, because who doesn't love twinkle lights?
The Interior:
Obviously when you first walk in, it'll be an open floor plan. To the right side will be the bakery case with that days goodies, with a framed chalkboard detailing the week's specials. The register has to be one of those vintage soda shop ones (but there will be more technology advanced stuff to the side in case it fails...or people decide to pay with a credit card). The walls will be light shades of yellow, champagne, coral, violet, blue, and green. I really can't make up my mind, so maybe each area will be different but will clearly go together so it doesn't look like a paint explosion in there. Plus I would love to show local artists/photographers work on the walls (if this was in Raleigh, I would naturally be a part of First Friday). The floor will of course be dark hardwoods. I'll also have a coffee/tea/hot cider/hot chocolate/milk bar over near the register.
On the other side there will be a fireplace with a huge mantel that will be decorated with the seasons and holidays all year long. More than likely, so I don't have to deal with a real fire, I'd have a gas one, or put candles in it. Throughout the main room there will be tables of different sizes (fitting 2-6 people, but that can be moved together for big groups), all in either a deep brown or off white painted wood (basically like the dining table I have now). And of course there will be a few leather couches gathered around a big coffee table with a stack of board games nearby for people to gather and play together.
As far as the kitchen goes, I want to avoid making it look like those stale restaurant kitchens. I need it to feel homey if that's where I'm spending all my time. So as long as I have a few ovens and a few stand mixers, a big fridge and a huge island, I'd be good. I just want it to feel like a double-sized house kitchen.
Now, the upstairs. That's where the library will be with multiple couches. Who doesn't like to sit and eat delicious desserts and read a good book/magazine/newspaper with some coffee? There will be tons of twinkly lights and lamps for soft reading light when it's dark outside. And there will also be extra seating upstairs in case the downstairs is overflowing. Also upstairs, I want there to be a large room with a tiny kitchen. I'm not too into doing consistent baking classes (not my style) but if anybody wants a baking party (ie little kids birthdays, holiday parties with friends/family, bridal showers/bachelorette parties, family baking parties to make cookies for Santa, etc.) that room would be good for events!
And naturally there will be music playing all the time because I will be that baker who is dancing around her kitchen like a silly person, and there will be lots of flowers in painted mason jars everywhere.
The Food:
I'm just going to say it. I will not be doing cake and cupcakes...with the added exception of bundt cakes. Every other bakery out there does cakes, so I don't think I even really need to. Don't get me wrong, I loved doing my friends' wedding cake, but that is too much stress and hassle to do every day, and my decorating skills are just not up to par. I want to be different, so I'll focus on bars, brownies, blondies, donuts, cookies, breads, muffins, fudge, the occasional seasonal homemade gelato, etc. If I can ever figure out how to make some dang pie crusts, I'll do pies too...but for now my pies would have to have a graham cracker or cookie crust because that's just easier. Naturally, my apple butter bars will be what I'm known for. And every week, since I like to experiment with new recipes, I'll try something new and have that all week.
I love to collect mugs, so naturally all the mugs for the drinks will be mismatching (but cute). This will give me an excuse to collect more mugs because right now, I probably have too many (just kidding, I can never have too many). And the desserts will be served on vintage plates, kind of like what's on my plate wall. And at Christmas time, the plate will be festive holiday plates (duh) but also with some Hanukkah and regular ones mixed in just so I'm an all inclusive bakery.
Sigh. See why I would need millions of dollars? Sometimes it's just really fun to dream about these things though (especially with the world ending on Friday). I can picture it all in my head so clearly. Maybe I should just make my future home like this and pretend that I own a bakery in my spare time...but for now I'll just keep baking random things from my little apartment kitchen for my friends and family. :)
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Plate Wall!
For those of you who don't follow me on Pinterest, or don't hear me incessantly talk about searching for vintage plates, you might not know I've been working on creating a plate wall. Here's my Pinterest board for reference in case you have zero clue what I'm even talking about: http://pinterest.com/carolyn30/plate-wall/. As you can see, I've pinned a bunch of different types of plates (some quirky (Dr Who!!) and some very vintage) as well as ideas for placement and flow of all the plates.
There's a few reasons I love the idea of a plate wall. One, my style is very...vintage/cottage chic/earthy/bright. I feel that's a fairly accurate way to describe it. I have lots of earthy greens, off whites, dark browns, and purples throughout my apartment as well as plenty of lights that cast a soft brightness, nothing stark, but definitely not dark. A lot of my apartment really seems to be defined around my Vinyl Decal Canvas Wall Art which is definitely one of my favorite things I've made (and my most popular according to Pinterest repins). So a plate wall seemed like a great alternative decoration to just a bunch of paintings and pictures. Two, sometimes it's a fun thing to have something to collect over the years that isn't super tacky. A plate wall is something that can always grow and change over the years. You can get plates from various places you travel (which I did and will do), you can get plates with special meaning (just wait until you see what's on mine), and you can even create plates on your own (which I'm going to do very soon, so that will be a different post!).
It took me forever to turn this idea into a reality. Trying to find that first plate, that anchor plate, to start matching other plates too was proving to be very difficult. The flea market was always a bust, and same with thrift shops/Goodwill. And I wanted to at least slightly keep costs down, which has slowly become less of a priority as I find perfect plates. I haven't had time to hit up any estate sales, yard sales, and other places to track down good plates either. I wasn't too worried about it because, like I said, I knew this was going to be a lifelong project.
I have this fantastic spot in my apartment for the plate wall too.
See how there's that wall next to the door and the angled one behind my TV? Absolutely perfect for flowing up the wall and then around the corner into a curve. Right now I just have it up that side wall, but as I collect a few more plates, it'll grow over!
When I went to New York, my friend Laura and I went to Fishs Eddy, on the recommendation of my aunt and uncle, which is where we found my first two plates.
I finally had that one plate to grow around (the green one, duh), which definitely made the process easier because I could look for plates that coordinated well with it.
And then when I went with my friends Katie and Amy up to northern New York, we hit up an antique store and an awesome barn sale, and I found three more plates! (That little white one was only 25 cents!)
And then my mom found me a great North Carolina plate at some flea market (it is so much better than some of the cluttered tacky ones out there)
But the biggest win for my plate wall? My mom stalked eBay and found me this beauty:
That's right. Vintage 1946 NC State COLLEGE (that's how you know it's really vintage and not a fake) plate. It has the Belltower with Holladay Hall behind it, the first dorm, Watauga Hall, the Capital, the seal, oh it is SO PRETTY. These suckers are incredibly hard to come by, so big props to my mom for getting it for me.
So now that I had seven plates, I felt I had a good enough start to go ahead and hang them, and then grow from there. Thanks to the wonders of Pinterest, I learned about these babies: Invisible Disc Hangers. They come in all sorts of sizes, so I bought a bunch (you should really probably go with 4" but I got the 3" and after testing and letting a couple hang for a few days, I feel confident that they're in good shape).
I then used parchment paper to mark on the paper where the plates would hang and then put that paper against the wall and marked the spots for nails on the wall. Easy peasy!
I'm also planning to write on the back of each plate where I got it, when I got it, and any other information relating to those plates. I just need to find a porcelain pen, but for now I have a growing list of information for when I do find one. I think it'll be one of those fun things to tell people the stories of the plates when I'm 80 (if I can still remember everything). I can't wait to watch this grow over the years!
There's a few reasons I love the idea of a plate wall. One, my style is very...vintage/cottage chic/earthy/bright. I feel that's a fairly accurate way to describe it. I have lots of earthy greens, off whites, dark browns, and purples throughout my apartment as well as plenty of lights that cast a soft brightness, nothing stark, but definitely not dark. A lot of my apartment really seems to be defined around my Vinyl Decal Canvas Wall Art which is definitely one of my favorite things I've made (and my most popular according to Pinterest repins). So a plate wall seemed like a great alternative decoration to just a bunch of paintings and pictures. Two, sometimes it's a fun thing to have something to collect over the years that isn't super tacky. A plate wall is something that can always grow and change over the years. You can get plates from various places you travel (which I did and will do), you can get plates with special meaning (just wait until you see what's on mine), and you can even create plates on your own (which I'm going to do very soon, so that will be a different post!).
It took me forever to turn this idea into a reality. Trying to find that first plate, that anchor plate, to start matching other plates too was proving to be very difficult. The flea market was always a bust, and same with thrift shops/Goodwill. And I wanted to at least slightly keep costs down, which has slowly become less of a priority as I find perfect plates. I haven't had time to hit up any estate sales, yard sales, and other places to track down good plates either. I wasn't too worried about it because, like I said, I knew this was going to be a lifelong project.
I have this fantastic spot in my apartment for the plate wall too.
See how there's that wall next to the door and the angled one behind my TV? Absolutely perfect for flowing up the wall and then around the corner into a curve. Right now I just have it up that side wall, but as I collect a few more plates, it'll grow over!
When I went to New York, my friend Laura and I went to Fishs Eddy, on the recommendation of my aunt and uncle, which is where we found my first two plates.
I finally had that one plate to grow around (the green one, duh), which definitely made the process easier because I could look for plates that coordinated well with it.
And then when I went with my friends Katie and Amy up to northern New York, we hit up an antique store and an awesome barn sale, and I found three more plates! (That little white one was only 25 cents!)
And then my mom found me a great North Carolina plate at some flea market (it is so much better than some of the cluttered tacky ones out there)
But the biggest win for my plate wall? My mom stalked eBay and found me this beauty:
That's right. Vintage 1946 NC State COLLEGE (that's how you know it's really vintage and not a fake) plate. It has the Belltower with Holladay Hall behind it, the first dorm, Watauga Hall, the Capital, the seal, oh it is SO PRETTY. These suckers are incredibly hard to come by, so big props to my mom for getting it for me.
So now that I had seven plates, I felt I had a good enough start to go ahead and hang them, and then grow from there. Thanks to the wonders of Pinterest, I learned about these babies: Invisible Disc Hangers. They come in all sorts of sizes, so I bought a bunch (you should really probably go with 4" but I got the 3" and after testing and letting a couple hang for a few days, I feel confident that they're in good shape).
I then used parchment paper to mark on the paper where the plates would hang and then put that paper against the wall and marked the spots for nails on the wall. Easy peasy!
I'm also planning to write on the back of each plate where I got it, when I got it, and any other information relating to those plates. I just need to find a porcelain pen, but for now I have a growing list of information for when I do find one. I think it'll be one of those fun things to tell people the stories of the plates when I'm 80 (if I can still remember everything). I can't wait to watch this grow over the years!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Game Day Rag Wreath
I know, I know. I've been a terrible blogger. It's been months since I last wrote about something I baked or created or did, and I apologize because I'm sure so many of you have been lost without me (ha. right.). But today is a new day and it's time to get back into the swing of blogging! And first up is a Game Day Wreath!
I really have discovered a slight obsession with wreaths. I don't think my front door can ever be bare again! But hopefully after this wreath, I won't have to make one for awhile (unless someone else wants me to make one for them) because I have one for all seasons...including football!
I don't think it's any secret that I'm an NC State fan. Born and bred until the day I die. I also am a HUGE football fan. I really wanted to make a wreath to put up on my door on game days, and I've seen a bunch of rag wreaths on Pinterest and I loved the way they looked, so I thought that would be the perfect direction to take, even though I knew it would be quite the time commitment.
Finding the basic fabrics and wreath form were easy. I went with the 16 inch 4 layer-wire wreath form, and I got a yard each of white, red, and red gingham cotton fabrics. I wanted the wreath to have a little bit of a vintage feel (football is well over 150 years old!) which is why I went with the gingham for a pattern break. BUT I wasn't done yet with my fabric selection.
The dream was to have an NC State patterned fabric also in the mix, but unfortunately all the local fabric stores had no NC State fabric. Well, one had a fleece fabric, but that was not going to work for this project. So thus began the online search. There were a lot of terrible NC State fabrics. A lot of them had old logos I wasn't a fan of, and quite a few had a ton of black and I didn't really want a lot of black in my wreath...it's not "we're the RED and WHITE from State and we know we are the BEST!" for nothing! But then on eBay I found the best vintage fabric! It had the seal with the Bell Tower, and most importantly it had Tuffy, the strutting wolf logo that I LOVE.
I sat down and got to work. I cut each fabric into 1 inch by 9 inch strips. And I ended up with hundreds and hundreds of strips!
To resist any temptation to make the wreath uniform, since I really just wanted it to be a mish-mash, I tossed the strips together so I could just pull from the top as I tied them on!
With season one of Arrested Development on (side note: I am SO pumped for the new season next year!) I spent hours and hours tying. Literally. I got through half the first season (that's about 5 hours). I tied them in a square knot, starting on the inner ring and working my way to the outermost ring. There were eight "sections" in the ring so I went by section rather than row. I was kind of concerned the fabric would be too thin to stay up and not be all droopy, but when I tested a couple strips they worked perfectly!
When I was finally done, I had...THIS!
It's just so fun! And fluffy! And quite huge. I was no expecting it to be that big, but I guess using all that fabric really would have led to it. I also used one of the magnetic wreath holders because a typical wreath holder would 1) ruin the aesthetic and 2) put it at a spot that would cover my apartment number or peep hole...two things that are very important. You don't really see the NC State stuff on the specialty fabric until you're up close, but I think it's pretty obvious it's an NC State wreath! I can't wait to have this on my door on game days!!
I really have discovered a slight obsession with wreaths. I don't think my front door can ever be bare again! But hopefully after this wreath, I won't have to make one for awhile (unless someone else wants me to make one for them) because I have one for all seasons...including football!
 |
| Yes, I know this is a super old picture of the stadium, but it's one of my faves that I have |
Finding the basic fabrics and wreath form were easy. I went with the 16 inch 4 layer-wire wreath form, and I got a yard each of white, red, and red gingham cotton fabrics. I wanted the wreath to have a little bit of a vintage feel (football is well over 150 years old!) which is why I went with the gingham for a pattern break. BUT I wasn't done yet with my fabric selection.
The dream was to have an NC State patterned fabric also in the mix, but unfortunately all the local fabric stores had no NC State fabric. Well, one had a fleece fabric, but that was not going to work for this project. So thus began the online search. There were a lot of terrible NC State fabrics. A lot of them had old logos I wasn't a fan of, and quite a few had a ton of black and I didn't really want a lot of black in my wreath...it's not "we're the RED and WHITE from State and we know we are the BEST!" for nothing! But then on eBay I found the best vintage fabric! It had the seal with the Bell Tower, and most importantly it had Tuffy, the strutting wolf logo that I LOVE.
I got a yard of that fabric, so all-in-all I had four yards of fabric...and just to warn you if you're thinking of making one, yes, I did use just about all of it.
I sat down and got to work. I cut each fabric into 1 inch by 9 inch strips. And I ended up with hundreds and hundreds of strips!
To resist any temptation to make the wreath uniform, since I really just wanted it to be a mish-mash, I tossed the strips together so I could just pull from the top as I tied them on!
With season one of Arrested Development on (side note: I am SO pumped for the new season next year!) I spent hours and hours tying. Literally. I got through half the first season (that's about 5 hours). I tied them in a square knot, starting on the inner ring and working my way to the outermost ring. There were eight "sections" in the ring so I went by section rather than row. I was kind of concerned the fabric would be too thin to stay up and not be all droopy, but when I tested a couple strips they worked perfectly!
 |
| I know this technically isn't the inner ring, but I took the picture before I changed my method! |
It's just so fun! And fluffy! And quite huge. I was no expecting it to be that big, but I guess using all that fabric really would have led to it. I also used one of the magnetic wreath holders because a typical wreath holder would 1) ruin the aesthetic and 2) put it at a spot that would cover my apartment number or peep hole...two things that are very important. You don't really see the NC State stuff on the specialty fabric until you're up close, but I think it's pretty obvious it's an NC State wreath! I can't wait to have this on my door on game days!!
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