Something Clever

House renovations. The ever-consuming house renovations. 

We live in the basement right now. The painting is nearly finished upstairs, and we are excited for the floors to get refinished. There is a never ending list of to-do’s in the next month. 

One of the tasks is finding lighting. Some lighting we’ll buy, but we’re also hoping to make a pendant chandelier for the living room. I’m super excited about that. I like making things. So currently I’m obsessed with lighting. 

Here are a few that have been inspiring me as of late:

Oh! And a digital swatch doesn’t quite do it justice, but these are the colors we painted in the living room, dining room, bedroom and hallway.

For the walls: Behr Burnished Clay

For the trim: Behr Pot of Cream

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m excited to share something I made recently at the ol’ 9-5. They’re Valentine’s Day cards that we passed out to current and prospective clients. 

It started with an illustration of a cupcake, followed by a collection of sweets, followed by a set of patterns to match.

It evolved into a set of Valentines, inspired by Japanese stationary and childhood Valentines cards.

The set includes 6 different cards, stickers and 6 pink and yellow envelopes, all wrapped up in a little belly band. 

Life lately:

The rest of the carpet has been ripped out of the bedroom. No more shag!

I spent last weekend tearing down the trim throughout the upstairs. 

We also just re-tiled the shower. New shower and new fixtures! At least we have one room that’s finished… for now.

Happy Half Birthday to me! I feel like pie. 

I visited Schoolhouse Electric this weekend, and like every other damn hipster that visits, I snapped a few with (you guessed it) the instagram app on my iPhone. 

Cory and I were looking for inspiration for the house, which is undergoing a lot of renovation. It was nice to take a break from a weekend of filing taxes and pulling out trim to grab a latte from the coffee shop in the front of the store (there’s a florist too!) and wander around looking at their beautifully designed goods.

I’d move into this store if I could. Well-built furniture, beautiful textiles, fresh flowers, and espresso… what more could a girl want?

Anyone who’s ever made beer before knows that there is a whole lot of leftovers from all the stew. Buckets and buckets of grains and hops. Well, I only just realized that I could take those leftovers and make some tasty tasty bread out of it. It’s spent grain bread, or beer bread, folks.

There are two ways of going about making a spent grain bread: drying out the grains, then grinding them into a flour; or using a smaller amount of moist grains in a simple baguette recipe. I went with the latter as I don’t have a dehydrator or a mill.

I should also note that the first one I tried to make, the one pictured above, used only whole wheat pastry flour. It was far too dense for our taste, so I ended up mixing it up a bit with some white flour. The result was a far lighter bread with a nice chewy middle and crisp crust.

Spent Grain Baguette

• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 cup spent grain
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 packet (1 tablespoon) bread yeast
• Cornmeal

Put all of the above ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer with a bread hook attachment.

Add 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water.

Turn on the mixer and let it do it’s thing until you have a nice ball of dough.

Cover the bowl with a breathable towel and leave for a few hours in a warm place until it’s risen and is flat on top. 

Preheat your oven to 425.

Flour your hands and a flat surface and shape your dough into a loaf. 

Place the dough on a pizza peel that’s been dusted with corn meal. 

Let the dough rise while the oven heats up, about 20-30 minutes.

Once it’s risen, cut a few slashes on the top, then slide the dough onto a pizza stone or cornmeal dusted cookie sheet.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is a nice golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it.