Taking a break

With the holiday weekend in sight, we decided to take a break from total remodeling/sheer exhaustion for a little garage sale trip. We are trying to source things that fit with our vision of a beach house that is modern and updated but with a 1915 arts and crafts vibe.

Well we had a very good day- found a vintage white table for $4 to use in the loft as a vanity table and a gorgeous oak wardrobe for $40 to use instead of a closet in the main floor bedroom. Both had great lines and fit in perfect. Love when that happens.

Menu of the Week- Red Curry Sloppy Joes

I know this sounds like a weird recipe but we are obsessed with curry. This summer we have made kebabs with green curry, noodles with yellow curry and now a childhood favorite with red curry!

Some of my recipes are my own creations but not this one. It is out of the current “Sunset” magazine. Which I might add just keeps getting better and better. Also had a great section on Long Beach peninsula and a road trip to redwoods in Northern California.

The red curry can be found at Safeway or Trader Joes. It is very subtle if you haven’t used it before. Not a blast of heat either. I made these last night and they were awesome!

True Salvage

Well had a big adventure yesterday- I had to drive our huge 4 wheel drive Ford truck to pickup a huge 1915 ceramic sink we found at the Restore for our beach garage. Driving along the road I saw a couple of chairs sitting on the side of the road. Of course I could not pass up free yard furniture. Especially some cool chairs that were handmade and have an arts and crafts vibe. I threw them in back of truck and proceeded to fix them up. I like the results!

Salvage Redwood Slab Table

We have come to appreciate all wood while sourcing materials for our cottage. This raw edged slab was found at a garage sale for $20. It is very rough and needed to be polished before use. I found an old metal hot water heater stand at the Restore for $8 and became inspired to make it into a table. After painting the stand black, we placed the very heavy slab on top for a perfect new side table.

Salvaged and bargain vanity for $151

We have been working on the bathroom for over a year. Tore down walls and ceiling and started to design ideas. We found a cute little cabinet at the Rebuilding Center in Portland for $15. It lacked a countertop so we built a tongue and groove top out of beautiful fir ($20) that matches the ceiling. I painted the base black and reused the hardware.

Next we found a cool sink for $30 at IKEA in the bargain room. Found a brand new faucet from Kingston Brass at Habitat for Humanity Restore for $60. The light fixture was only $6 but was really bad pink & grey granite color so spray painted black. We had the mirror for years so it was a repurpose from an estate sale ($20).

So we have installed everything and love the look. Entire cost was $151 with a little paint and elbow grease. This kind of result is why we salvage and work so hard to create a unique space.

Menu of the week- Blackberry Cobbler

One of my favorite all time chefs/cookbook authors is Sara Foster. She owns a restaurant/farm stand in South Carolina. I love Southern style BBQ and when we started doing serious BBQ and smoking a couple years ago, Sara’s recipe were our guide.

Sara’s latest cookbook “Southern Kitchen” has authentic recipes from all over the South. One that caught my eye was for a blackberry cobbler. Picked some berries and made it up in a couple of minutes. It is simply delicious – especially with vanilla ice cream.

Salvage Coffee Table

Years ago I purchased an inexpensive coffee table at Pottery Barn. Always liked the rustic wrought iron base but the cheap wood top became worn and ruined over the years.

Flash forward and we decide to remove the top and create a new coffee table out of the metal base. Steve’s true passion is for boats so when we found some salvaged wood from an old boat, we decided to try and use it for the top of the table.

All we did was cut the wood to fit, sheer off the square nails (leaving the nail heads in the wood is a cool effect) and painted shellac on with several coats to lacquer the top. The rich patina of the ancient wood gave us exactly the coffee table we were looking for.

DIY Apothecary Cabinet

One of the many challenges in an old home is storage. We are lucky our little 1200 square foot house had lots of attic and cabinet space under stairs, window seats and in kitchen. But when we took the bathroom back to the studs, all the existing cabinets had to go.

What to do for storage? We shopped vintage stores and tried IKEA for cabinets. We really wanted an apothecary type cabinet with glass door. Nothing seemed to work- either too short or too much money.

On one of our frequent visits to Restore, my phone started ringing. It is Steve and he says to come quick to the cabinet area. He doesn’t get excited very easily over stuff at Restore- that’s usually me coming up with some crazy idea. I find him standing in front of what looks like a 20 foot cabinet. I said no way. It’s too tall. Steve is 6’4″ tall so nothing seems to tall to him.

He is so enthusiastic about this cabinet, of course we buy it for $30. It isn’t 20 foot high, only 7.8′ feet which will work against a 14 foot ceiling in the bathroom. Now we just have to figure out how to get it in there. Oh and did I mention it was tangerine? This is definitely a make it work moment for Salvagebythesea.

I started by removing all the hardware and painting the cabinet with my go to favorite paint, Behr High Hide White in semi-gloss enamel formula for interior/exterior for a high moisture environment. I am replacing all the hardware to match existing handles on vanity cabinet so they will match. I also decided to paint the back wall black to coordinate with the block vanity and the subway tile. So far so good…

Shower Before and After/White Whale is truly home

We have become slightly obsessed with our bathroom remodel but it is so exciting that it is really starting to come together. We finished the ceiling and enclosed all the walls with insulation yesterday. I should have mentioned before that we have not only done all the work ourselves but many of the materials we used have been sourced from Restore for Habitat for Humanity ( light fixtures, tile, insulation, hardwood floor) as we tried to be economical and environmentally responsible by salvaging materials. Another fun aspect of salvaging materials is that no one else in the world will have a bathroom exactly like ours!

Menu of the Week- 10 minute or less pizza

Pizza is probably our favorite food. But who wants to pay $$$ for so so soggy dough and nasty fake cheese? Beside there isn’t a decent pizza place within 15 miles of our beach house. Out of desperation and starving, a couple of weeks ago I made a killer pizza in less than 10 minutes…

Some of my best recipes have come from limited ingredients at the beach. With only a few items and dinner approaching, I have to think fast and be creative. What can I make into pizza?

I had purchased a stack of Naan bread at Safeway to use with hummus. It was garlic flavor so I decided to use it as the crust. Turned out to be a delicious and easy choice.

I took bread and smeared with thin layer of tomato paste and sprinkled with dried Italian herbs. Covered with fresh mozzarella and shredded Parmesan. Placed on baking pan and put in 400 degree oven to crisp and melt cheese. In mean time I chopped some dried Italian salami, fresh basil and minced garlic to top. In 5-7 minutes “pizza” crust was done. I put on toppings and added some goat cheese. Used pizza wheel to cut and served. Seriously some of the best pizza ever- in only 10 minutes!

Note- I have started using only meat without nitrates – bacon, salami, sompressa, ham – can all be found in the deli section of Safeway and in cracker aisle at Trader Joes. Healthier and much better tasting than their chemical cousins. Besides don’t have to refrigerate and perfect for picnics.