A Fresh Look for Kitchen Chairs

I love my kitchen.  I don't mean I love kitchens.  I do, of course but that is not what I mean to say here.  I mean I love my kitchen.  After 15 years of living in Brooklyn I have been blessed with a dream kitchen.  It is spacious enough for a dining table and over looks the building's flower garden.  All of you jealous city dwellers feel comforted by the fact that I was once in your shoes.  In most of my Brooklyn kitchens I had to lean against the wall in order to open the refrigerator door.  Thanks to a generous stroke of good luck (proceeded by a few strokes of bad luck, which is a story we will save for another day) we are able to enjoy a well lighted, well cared for and spacious kitchen.  I will say that I did the same kind of cooking in my tiny kitchens as I do in this one and never shied away from dinner guests or parties.  It is possible, it just poses different organizational challenges. 

As a textile designer this is my favorite time of year.  At work we are scoping out new trends in colors patterns and fabric construction.  Spending a day in the fabric district, shopping and learning about new fabric styles and techniques feels a lot like when my Uncle Nino gave us free reign in his pastry shop. I can't help but bring a little of what I see home.  

I like updating the look of my kitchen with a rotation of textiles.  This works well particularly since our kitchen is mostly white and neutral.  Reupholstering these chairs has been on my project list for a while.     I found this fabric at Mood Fabrics.  If you haven't heard of Mood, it is an overwhelming 3 floors of gorgeous fabrics and popular among designers and trendy design students (largely form FIT).  So for this project, let me narrow it down for you, head downstairs. For a richer look, go with a fabric that is woven vs. printed. The printed fabrics at Mood are beautiful but on furniture the woven will give a more upscale look.  I like take to take a bunch of swatches to see what works best in my home.  

I haven't reupholstered chairs before but it was surprisingly easy.  If you are thinking of recovering your own chairs you will need the following supplies:

• one pair of good quality fabric scissors
• measuring tape
• a staple gun with extra staples
• 1 and 1/2 yards of fabric for 4 chairs
• 1 fabric crayon

1. Flip over your chairs and find how the seat is attached to frame.  For these chairs there were 3 simple screws that were easy to remove and put back.  I would recommend doing one chair first before taking the seats off of the other chairs so that you are comfortable with the process before you continue.  It is easier to fix a mistake once than four times.
2. Measure how much fabric you will need to cover the seat of the chair.  Make sure you leave enough room to staple the fabric on the back.
3. Staple the fabric to the back of the chair.  Staple once on each side of the seat directly across from the last staple.  Continue stapling in this order.  When you get to the corners, create a neat fold in the fabric and then staple. Make sure all of your folds are consistent and facing the same way.
4. Reattach the seats to the frame.

Before

After

Mise En Place: Tea Towels from a Vintage Tablecloth

I had this tablecloth for years.  It had been well loved and was showing it.  A spot of wine here and big yellow stain in the corner, but I just couldn't throw it out.  It is already hard for me to throw out anything I feel like I can make use of but this had sentiment as well.  It was given to me after having been in the wedding party for my friends Ben and Erin (see Ben's awesome food blog You Fed a Baby Chili?).  I remember Erin planning her wedding and ordering a different vintage tablecloth for each table.  Afterward, she and Ben sent the tableclothes to select family and friends.  I loved this tablecloth and I loved being among the ones they gave it to.  Just look at the pop in those graphics!

In the spirit of being green I have been teaching myself to sew.  The process is slow going I must say.  I  also have to say that it is mighty silly that I work in textile design and I don't know how to sew.  So I have started with simple projects.  Some successful and some not but this was an easy success.  I turned my stained but loved cotton tablecloth into a charming set of tea towels.  No need for a pattern for this job.  I just used an older tea towel for the size, folded the cut edges over twice at 1/4 of an inch and used a straight stitch.

For good deals on vintage tablecloths, fabrics and tea towels check on ebay or etsy.

Foodie Gifts: Fudge Brownie Recipe in a Jar

This isn't the first time I gave a foodie gift in a jar.  Once when asked of what she'd like for Christmas, an aunt of mine said that she always liked "consumables."  I personally could not agree more but you could chalk that up to our small living space.  Food can make a great gift and it is inarguable a consumable.

The first year I gave gifts of tasty goodies in a jar was Christmas 2008.  Like many others, it was an economically tight year for us and I was re-evaluating our culture of consumerism.  I thought a lot about all that had been bought and wasted in our lives and our society.  I should mention also at this time Nick and I had just been married with yours truly as both bride and wedding planner.  Which means we had a ton of leftover stuff from having bought everything we needed for the wedding a'la`carte.  Things like card stock from home made invitations to silk flowers to alcohol and cocktail swizzle sticks.  Four months later we had more vodka than we reasonable could (or should) consume.  I started giving gifts of flavor infused vodka for the holidays.  Than later pickles from the vegetables from our CSA share.  I would like to think I am getting better at which kind of tasty jar is right for which kind of foodie friend.

On to the present.  After all, there are no cranberry vodkas or pickled green beans in this post.  But this year's news of my becoming an aunt has set my creative gift making gears in motion.  Making things (food or other) has always been a way in which I show affection.  So for my sister-in-law, Stacie's baby shower, I found those old party planning shoes in the back of the closet.  The ones I wore when I decided to make my own invitations, table cards and wedding favors.  The result?  Fudge Brownie mix in a jar as favors for all the guests.  I think most of us there had a fond memory of baking something sweet with a parent or grandparent.  I hoped this helped keep that tradition going.  If you don't want to make thirty they also make a nice gift for one.

Fudge Brownie Mix in a Jar

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Affix these directions to your jar:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour a 9x13inch baking pan.

2.  Empty the jar of brownie mix into a large mixing bowl,

and stir to blend. In a small mixing bowl, combine 3/4 cup

melted and cooled butter with 4 eggs, then add mixture to

brownie mix. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Spread batter

evenly into greased baking pan.

3.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven.

Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

Table Style: Scandinavian Design House

I went on a little window shopping walk in the area and found this great shop.  Scandinavian Design House is a tiny store off Bedford Avenue packed with stylish kitchenwares to add color and style to your favorite room in the house.  I just can't help sharing...

Pillows are made with Marimekko fabrics.

Check it out:

Scandinavian Design House

167 N 9th St.

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Table Style: Dressing Up Dinner

When Nick and I were planning our wedding my brother said, "Steph, you better register at a store for gifts or you will end up with three sets of kissing dolphins you can't return."  As I have never been entirely comfortable receiving gifts, telling people what they should get us felt very awkward.  On the other hand, our two room NY apartment doesn't exactly have the mantel space for kissing dolphins.  We went with my brother's advice but made our choices based on our utilitarian needs verses our decorative desires. I think by our decorative desires I mean my decorative desires.

In the past couple of years, I have thought a little more about home decor than I have in the past due to my career change from teaching art to designing.  I have recently been given the opportunity to design a line of table linens which seems to be a very appropriate form of textile design for a foodie, wouldn't you think?  I have spent a couple of days looking at store displays of table settings from high end to low, discovering an array of lavish textures, colors and elegant dishware. I find that my own taste is still utilitarian, and my tendency is not to shop for more but to use found materials and the objects I already have and love in new arrangements.

As much as I like to preach simplicity in design,  I love it when busy patterns some how just work well together.  

This is my only set of matching napkins and at the time I took this picture, this was my only set of placemats (they are turned upside down in order to coordinate better with the table).   I recently purchased a set in blue chendi ($1.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond) when I noticed how many objects and textiles I have that incorporate blue.  I don't have anything that matches the red linen napkins (can't even remember were those came from) so I filled a bowl with red apples as a center piece.

The textile used in the center is not an actual kitchen textile.  It is just a beautiful piece of fabric from my talented Aunt Lucy's sewing room.  She was teaching me how to sew purses from decorative scraps of fabric but I never had the heart to butcher this one.  It was too beautiful a piece for my sad sewing attempts.

I think food should be the table's centerpiece.  I am not a fan of straining my neck over a tree of flowers in dinner conversation.  The blue patterned fabric in the center is also from my aunt's sewing room.

I don't think you have to shell out a ton of bucks for a fresh look.  Which is good, because I don't have a lot of bucks myself.  I am a believer in buying only what you love and everything wil fall into place beautifully, whether it matches or not.