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Monthly Archives: February 2012

Art on the Cheap

My taste in art has really changed over the last few years. I used to be content with whatever was on display at Kirkland’s but eventually I got tired of seeing the same prints over and over, just in different frames. I think it’s the personal things that make any house a home. So today I’ll show you how to paint art you’ll love. Or at least you can take the idea and run with it. I got the idea from, Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine, that anyone can sign up for and it’s free! This particular issue had a nice tree painting that I did my own version of. They used a board cut to size, stain, painters tape and paint and cost $33 dollars plus paint. For mine I used things I had on hand and it was free!

Update: I found the directions here.

Here’s my inspiration:

I started by pulling out all of the paint samples that I currently have. This is a great place to start because paint samples are probably going to be from painting you’ve already done or colors you really like.

Isn’t it nice when a  project starts like this?

Then I did some testing. Be careful to not leave the paint thick in spots, if you do (like I did) you’ll end up with a gloppy texture under your paint when you paint it for real.

I initially thought I’d go with Martha Stewart’s Sea Glass and a sample I had color matched to Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage. That combo felt much too cold so I decided to start with Sea Glass and figure it out as I went along.

This vase (actually I’m not sure what this is, a friend of mine called it an urn) was my inspiration color. My friend, Mary, let me know it was on super-clearance at JoAnn for $12. I love it.

I used a small roller to roll the paint on. I don’t recommend a brush for this because it leaves brush strokes, which I usually like but not this time. A smooth surface is ideal.

Here’s my art arsenal. Yes, it’s a bit, um, ghetto but I couldn’t find our utility knife. Plus all the blades are dull from cutting drywall so this pocket knife worked fine. It’s a miracle that I didn’t cut myself. You should use a utility knife, it will make me feel better.

Now, it’s time for taping. I used scissors to round the tape just a little on the bottom. I didn’t want the bottom of the trees to look completely square.

Then I used the knife to take a little off the top. Carefully score the tape, not cutting too deep.

Then peel carefully.

Once you like the look it’s time for a top coat. Imagining what the painting was going to look like once it was finished was the most difficult part. Well, besides figuring out what color to paint on top. Initially I thought I’d add some white paint to the Sea Glass and have a tone on tone thing going on. Similar to one I already have in the living room.

Then I had an idea. What about a brown glaze? It would give it a little more depth and I’d either love it or hate it. I decided to risk ruining it because, well, that’s usually how I do things. It doesn’t always work but I figured it was worth it.

So I broke out my art supplies. I used burnt umber and Liquitex’s Slow Dry Blending Medium. It thins the paint out, gives it a nice gloss and slows down the drying process. I mixed the paint with a generous amount of blending medium into a cup until it had a consistency a little thicker than hot fudge ice cream topping.

Then I started brushing…and was afraid I’d ruined it.

I let that dry and did another coat. It took several hours to dry because of the blending medium. Then I really carefully peeled off the paint and this is the finished product.

I like the glazed look from the artist acrylic that I used but you could use regular latex paint like the one in the magazine and get a perfectly lovely painting. It would have been much more subtle if I’d used white. My living room is already really subtle though and in the end I wanted something much more bold. The important thing to remember is that if you use colors you love then you’ll most likely love the finished project. All-in-all this project was easy but with drying time it took two days. I really had a lot of fun with it and I’m looking forward to doing other painting projects. I’d love to see photos if any of you decide to do this project or one like it.  Just “like” The Button Casa on Facebook and you can upload photos directly to the page. Happy painting!

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Open House Tour

I worked on a project for most of the day yesterday, hoping to post about it today. But, alas, I’m literally waiting for paint to dry. I figured that while I waited, there was no reason to not write about something fun. Last week we looked at a movie house and for most of you it didn’t really float your boat. So I figured that we’d go with something historic today.

If you’re new to my blog then you probably don’t know how much I love my town. Really, I do. So, most any house I post about is going to be in Franklin or the surrounding area. There are just too many fabulous things going on around here for me to need to look anywhere else.

Before we get to the house though, I want to show you this…

Isn’t it lovely? When we moved here 5 1/2 years ago, this former house was operating as a funeral home. It’s been on the market nearly ever since and has been marketed as commercial property. I guess since they haven’t been able to sell it they’ve reverted to a residential property. It’s right next door to an open house tour I did a few years ago, which you can find by clicking here. That house was eventually purchased by this guy. I’m pretty sure about that because Amanda (my oldest daughter) used to live close by and he nearly ran over her. Really. I don’t remember if she walked out in front of him or what but she’s coming home from school Friday (yay!) and I’ll ask her then.

The house is now an 11,818 sq. ft., residence? I’ve pictured this place in my mind with the additions removed and I bet it was really beautiful. It sits on 2.5 acres in the middle of Hincheyville, Franklin’s first neighborhood. So what do you think? Would you buy a former funeral home to live in? I wouldn’t.

Now, on to the tour.

This home is also on Main Street in Franklin. It was built in 1920, is 3,811 sq. ft., and is listed for $750, ooo. If my memory serves me correctly, they put this house on the market this time last year.

Here is the living area with high ceilings and crown molding.

And the kitchen…with Viking appliances and 2 sinks. I’m trying to figure out why anyone would opt for 2 sinks but I’m sure there’s a good reason for it.

This is an upstairs study/bedroom that’s off of a bedroom according to the listing. I love old houses and their quirks.

A hall bath with beaded board and honeycomb tile. I love this.

This is the master bedroom with fireplace.

And the master bath, which has had a modern update.

An upstairs bonus room completes our tour.

I love the angles of the ceiling and the built-ins.

So, what do you think? I’m not a fan of the master bath updates but I love the hall bath and bedroom. You can see all of the pictures for this house by clicking here.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a (hopefully) finished, easy painting project…if I haven’t ruined it. I’m crossing my fingers.

Makin’ Biscuits

When I first realized that I was never going to be able to eat anything with gluten in it again I was sad. Really sad. I had a mental list ticking in my head of the things I would never be able to eat again…pizza, sub sandwiches, cake, waffle cones, biscotti, scones, muffins…you get the idea. It’s hard to believe it’s been about two years since I’ve had a waffle cone.

I love waffle cones.

I also love biscuits. I do live in the South after all.

I love biscuits with butter and honey, butter and jam, sausage gravy, just butter and if there’s another way to eat a biscuit then I probably love that too. Except red eye gravy. I’ve never tried it but it sounds disgusting.

So a few days ago I made gluten free biscuits using my favorite standby, Pamela’s.

Then I added shortening- you could also substitute the same amount of butter. I’ve tried it both ways and the ones with butter tasted buttery. Surprise!

Next I gave it a whirl in the food processor until it looked like this…

Then I added milk and gave it a whirl again. I love my food processor.

These are drop biscuits so I scooped them out and placed them on a cookie sheet that I’d sprayed with cooking spray.

Then I baked them for 14 minutes at 375, which gave me plenty of time to make some eggs to go with them.

I guess I’ll add eggs to the list of things I like to have with biscuits.

Here’s the recipe (it’s also on the back of the Pamela’s bag):

1 cup Pamela’s Mix

1/4 cup shortening (or butter)

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. milk

Then just follow the pictures.

The recipe as written makes 5-6 biscuits and since that’s  not enough for the biscuit lovers at The Button Casa, I doubled it and got 10 biscuits. They’re really quick and easy to make and are perfect for a nice weekend breakfast. Enjoy!

Open House Tour- Movie Style

I was reading The Tennessean a few days ago and tucked into the real estate section was an article about a local house used in filming the yet to be released film, Stoker, starring Nicole Kidman. I did a little digging and apparently it’s going to be a horror story, which made perfect sense when I saw the house. It also means I won’t be seeing the movie. I’ll just admire the house from a safe distance, thank you.

It’s a lovely Mediterranean style home in the Grassland area of Franklin. Grassland is a lovely little area with homes, a coffee shop, schools and churches. I may have also seen a plant nursery but I’ve only driven through there twice so I can’t be sure. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sort of place, surrounded by beautiful hills.

According to the listing on Realtracs.com, the house was built in 2007 (around the same time the housing market took a nose-dive), is 14,000 sq. ft., and is listed at 3,995,000. The article I read said that the house couldn’t even be built for that amount today. So if you have an extra 4 mil. lying around it’s quite the bargain.

Let’s take a look.

Here atop a hill sits a Mediterranean villa…in Tennessee. We don’t see a lot of Mediterranean style homes here. Brick? We’ve got that. Spanish tile roofs are rare though.

Here’s a view of the house up close…

The foyer with dramatic staircase and chandelier…

The living room has a rustic, beamed ceiling and a beautiful fireplace.

The dining room

The kitchen has a lot of dark wood and is very spacious.

I assume this is the master bedroom, the listing doesn’t say. I love the fireplace.

I was a bit disappointed that this was the only picture of the bathroom available.

Theater room…

And the back patio area…

So what say you? Is this your dream house? I wouldn’t mind living in the Grassland area because it’s beautiful but I’m dreaming of something wooden with a beautiful front porch.

There’s More Than One Way…Part 1

There’s more than one way to cook a pork roast. Weeks ago I was with a group of friends and one of them was talking about realizing the need to cook for her family regularly. And while she knew there were things in her pantry, she just didn’t know how to put them all together. Now, I don’t fancy myself June Cleaver but I can cook. It’s not gourmet, I’ve never used truffles (although I’d love to), but I figure that anything I make at home is going to taste better and be better for you than your average restaurant.

Of course I cringe when I remember when Travis and I were first married and I tried to make my Mom’s pot roast recipe. I knew what the ingredients were but I didn’t realize that it needed to cook for at least 2 hours maybe even 3. We decided to have our first guest over, one of Trav’s longtime friends, and he ate the shoe leather I was serving politely- he probably even said it was very good. Even still, I knew it was really tough and wasn’t supposed to turn out that way.

I was interested in cooking when I was a kid and picked out a recipe to make, I think it was in my Mom’s Fanny Farmer Cookbook, it was Chili con Carne and for some reason it was served over lettuce, which is what I assumed con carne meant (it isn’t). I was proud of my creation and took a bowl full to our neighbor’s house. I’ve always wondered what they thought about a kid bringing them a bowl of chili over a lettuce leaf. I doubt they even remember.

And this is the part where my parents and/or brother are thinking of the “goulash incident”. I’d just like to state for the record that it’s pretty ambitious for an 11 year old to try to make up a recipe- no matter how wretched it turned out. Also for the record, my Dad ate an entire plate full without one complaint because he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. I’ve never tried to make goulash again. Come to think of it I’m not even sure I know what goulash is. I know it isn’t cooked hamburger drenched in ketchup (we were out of tomato sauce) and lots of garlic salt served over spaghetti noodles. That’s all I remember about that. Let’s never speak of it again.

Let us, however, speak of pork roast. I never knew until I married a guy that’s half Cuban how yummy pork can be.

This is a pork loin roast that I bought in a 4 pack from Costco. I am a thrifty gal after all. It’s about 3 1/2 pounds and I rinsed it and patted it dry with a paper towel.

Next I heated a few tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat (8 on my stove top)in a cast iron dutch oven until the oil started to bubble a bit and I could see it start to smoke just a little. I’ve heard many chefs refer to it as smoke point.  Then take the roast and put it face down into the oil for about 7-8 minutes. That’s why I patted the roast dry. When you’ve got really hot oil and you’re putting the roast into it any drips you might have could make the oil pop and you don’t want to end up getting spattered with oil.

While the roast is searing I chopped 8-10 medium sized red potatoes.

Then I turned the roast over, removed the dutch oven from the heat and placed the potatoes around the roast along with some carrots. I used some that we had leftover from a Super Bowl party tray.

Then I seasoned with salt and pepper. You’d be amazed how yummy it was with just salt and pepper. If you wanted to make it a bit fancier you could use 5-6 whole, peeled garlic cloves. The garlic flavor really mellows when it’s roasted. Or maybe add some rosemary sprigs. This is a really flexible dish that you can either dress up or keep it simple.

Next put the lid on the dutch oven and place it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 2 hours. Then plate it up.

Yes, this is the matching platter to the serving bowl I bought at Target. It was on clearance to for about $8. Love, love the dark blue against the white.

The top of the roast is nice and crispy but the rest was tender enough to fall apart when I cut it. The potatoes were just starting to get a bit crisp in places that were resting against the dutch oven. Travis loved it. Chloe loved it. I loved it. Halle tolerated it. I think she ate one bite of roast and two potatoes. Oh, Daisy loved the little bite I gave her. Although she’s a dog so she eats anything.

Mmmm….

I’d love it if I could eventually remember to get all of the extraneous items out of the picture. Can anyone spot the meat thermometer? Yeah, that’s how I roll.

There you have it. A quick, easy, gluten free, what-I-had-on-hand meal to satisfy all but the pickiest Button. Enjoy!