Amazingly Simple Potato Soup

This soup is a family favorite! A lot of recipes call for flour or heavy cream to thicken potato soup, but I have found that by veggie loading and sticking to whole milk, (which I always have on hand with a toddler around), you can create a yummy thick and nutritious soup.

Cheesy Potato Soup

serves 4

40 min total

1 bag of red potatoes, skinned and cubed
16 oz of chicken broth
3 cups whole milk
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 or 2 zucchini, chopped
2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups broccoli
pepper
parsley
onion powder (or chop up 1 onion)
green onions, diced
bacon bits

Throw your potatoes, veggies, spices and chicken broth into a pot. Keep at a boil until the potatoes and veggies are tender. Take a potato masher and mash the potatoes in the pot as much as you can. Add in the milk. Heat until it reaches a boil, then bring it down to a simmer. Add in the cheese, stirring. Serve with green onions, cheese, and bacon bits sprinkled on top.

DIY Crate Bookshelf

Sometimes you just need a project. When it's functional, even better. I loved the idea of a crate shelving unit, so I endeavored to make my own. It definitely serves a purpose in my office right now, but I can see this being used in a bathroom or anywhere! 
 
The whole thing cost less than $30, as all I needed to buy was the crates and castor wheels (the rest I had from other projects). 

I used these too (wood glue not pictured! Sorry).

 

And 4 of these if you want wheels.

• I started by sanding the crates down to remove the rough edges.
• Then I applied wood glue along every board that was touching. I didn't have any clamps, but the weight of the crates, one stacked upon the other, seemed to do the trick. TIP: IMMEDIATELY clean up the glue if any drips off, because stain will not stick to dried glue!
• I nailed finishing nails on an angle to help adhere the crates together. I'm not sure if this was really necessary, but it made me feel better.

 At this point, this is what it looked like:

• Apply the stain. I used 1 coat only. Let it dry.
• Apply the white paint using a dry brush. TIP: This took a lot of work. There were definitely some oops moments, but since I was going for the really distressed beach look, I didn't mind. Sand down the spots that need more distressing.

• Apply the polycrylic coat. (I didn't want the yellowing effect of polyurethane). I did this 3 times. While I used the spray can, I bet the liter version in can would be just as nice. 
• Adhere the castor wheels. (Sorry, no picture of this. You will need screws and a drill for installing the wheels). 

And done!!

Updating Door Handles With Spray Paint

I have definitely hit that point where there are no more big, budget friendly things left to do in our home. This leaves me detail work. Itching for change, I found a brief tutorial for spraying painting door handles that I had to try, given that our home has nothing but the dated, cheap, gold builder-grade door handles (yuck!). My friends recently built a home and spent lots of money upgrading the basic gold colored handles for silver finish. I say, why bother? I can upgrade myself for cheaper!

I didn't even bother to discuss this project with the hubby (thankfully, that turned out ok). I made my way over to the hardware store to pick up a can of Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint for less than $7. Winning.

Round 1) I got home, and unable to contain myself, immediately started to remove door handles and paint. Since this paint is a primer and paint in one, I didn't bother sanding or any prep work  other than taping off some of the innards of the door handle (the blog writer mentioned you didn't have to sand, so I took her word for it). I did 2 coats. The hardest part was having the patience to let everything sit for another 24 hours (per instructions on the can), as I really, really wanted to reinstall it and admire. TIP: I had to paint everything in the garage, where it is warm and humid, being summer. 24 hours was not enough time. While the paint was dry, it was sticky to the touch at times, which means it needed more time to cure. I didn't bother reinstalling until 3-4 days later. Yeah, I know. That's a long time.  But we don't want your hard work to be mucked up.

With that said, this is not a quick, boom-you're-done project. It took me 2 weeks to complete, most of that being drying time. There were no less than 9 doors in our home (2 handles/door), plus lots of pulls and hardware for sliding doors. 

Round 2) For the next set of doors, instead of taping off parts, I used a homemade-jig with an overturned egg carton and stuck the handles into it. It worked! I was able to spray 360 degrees around the handle. I even included our front door handle, which shows some serious wear. TIP: A warning, if you paint the front door handle, make sure you are home while it is drying and preferably, you have another lock in place to secure the door. We do, which is why I felt safe enough to get away with taking it out temporarily. That and we have a big dog!

Unpainted handles with egg carton jig

First coat down, one more to go and LOTS of drying time.

At this point, I had only used 1 can of spray paint for 5 doors + hardware, so I can attest that your $7 goes a long way.  

Painted and pretty

IMPORTANT TIPS 
(read me!!!)

• If your door handles are like mine, they will have the same color screws as the handle securing them to the door. Also, there is a little piece called the strike plate that is screwed into the door frame (it's the thing the bolt scrapes past when you open and shut the door). Yep, you'll have to take those out and spray paint those too, unless you like multicolored metals.
• We have A LOT of door handles in our home, plus hardware for the pantry, etc. I would make everything the same, so this is a project you have to commit.
• I highly recommend some sort of jig. If I had a place to hang the handles for spray painting, I might have tried that too. 
• When reinstalling the handles, the screwdriver hit against the handle a bit. On my first try, this scuffed up my new paint job (granted, it wasn't as dry as it should have been). The next time I took a thin dish towel, laid it over the handle to protect it, then installed the screws. No damage, worked great.  

Ta Da! I love the result. So far, none of the doors handles have shown wear from everyday abuse. Amazing what you can do with a can of spray paint!