Tag Archives: Stacey Millett Photography

Vintage Bar Cart Love

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A few months ago, I went on a month-long search via craigslist, etsy, ebay, thrift store, antique store (and probably more) to find a vintage bar cart. I found the above cart through House Candy LA. My husband and I hopped in the truck and headed to L.A. to meet Tina, a sweet woman with a great passion for collecting and refurbishing vintage furniture. One of my favorite things about her shop is that the items are either professionally refurbished and chic or they are left alone for your imagination. As you can tell from the picture above our cart was a blank canvas. We got it home and painted it white and then went on a search for wallpaper to line the shelves. The search for wallpaper was a fail, but I decided to use the leftover paper from this project. The paper is less expensive and much easier to remove and switch up when the mood strikes.

Yesterday, I upcycled a tarnished tray by turning it gold, finished both shelves by laying on some designer paper (I used double-sided tape to stick it on), stood back and felt accomplished and done with our project.

We are so happy with our bar cart! It is a vibrant, fun piece for our home and it just screams …

My wish list for our new bar: A handsome decanter (the wood stopper can be monogrammed), Limoncello from Sorrento, Italy (one of my favorite places on the planet), a glamorous cocktail book (this book has stunning photos) a mesh glass soda siphon, stunning peacock inspired coasters, beautiful glass tumblers from my favorite store, and a quirky gold bottle opener.

Items in order by clock time:

12. Limoncello from Villa Massa  1. Vintage Cocktails via Anthropologie  4. Mesh Glass Soda Siphon via William- Sonoma 5. Johnathan Adler Peacock Coasters 7. Antho Glass Tumblers 7. Muse Bottle Opener 10. Glass Bottle with wood stop

 

Cupcake & Cocktail | Chocolate Vodka

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Recently, I was reading a book on the origins of different foods and the story of chocolate was probably one of the most fascinating. Chocolate originates back 4000 years ago, and comes from Cacao trees. Cacao was valued as currency by the Aztecs, and for centuries was only consumed by the incredibly wealthy. The incredible stories of the Aztecs, drinking the cacao’s unsweetened liquid, known as chocolatl, in gold goblets, and throwing away the goblets after one use. Now, thousands of years later, I can walk into my neighborhood store and buy a bar of chocolate for a couple of bucks. What an incredible world! I love how food has so many stories, and many stories still to be told.

Today, we post a chocolate vodka cupcake and a chocolate vodka cocktail. I’ll admit this chocolate vodka thing was new to me, if you remember from this post I am still a rookie to the chocolate thing. I knew that I did not want to run out and buy a chocolate flavored liqueur, as my palette is not a big fan of artificial flavors (only Sour Patch kids, but that’s another story), so I decided to create a homemade mixture. It was easy and yummy and best thing about it is I was able to pick out my favorite brand of chocolate bar. Happy Friday to you and cheers to creating your own food stories with your friends and family this weekend.

 

Chocolate Vodka Cupcakes

Need:

  • 1 1/8 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  • 3/4 cup vodka (Have you tried Cupcake Vineyards Vodka?)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
How:
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg. Slowly alternate adding the dry ingredients with adding the vodka, until it’s all combined. Spoon into prepared cupcake tins, filling 3/4 high.
Vodka Frosting
Need:
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1/4 cup vodka
  • 4 oz cream cheese
How:
In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add the vodka. Slowly add the powdered sugar until well combined.

Chocolate Vodka Liqueur

NEED:

HOW:

Chop chocolate into small pieces. Create a double boiler situation. I used a medium sauce pan and a medium pot (having a handle comes in handy) Fill the sauce pan with water, surrounding pot. Bring to a low-medium heat, slowly melting the chocolate. When the chocolate is almost smooth, slowly add in the vodka. Do NOT bring to a boil. This will evaporate the alcohol. When you have a nice consistency (smooth) you are ready to strain your vodka into a bottle. I used a mason jar because that is the kinda of girl I am. The longer your distill the mixture in your fridge the better it will get.

 

3 Important tips
* Temper your vodka. If you keep your vodka in the freezer like me, let the desire amount of vodka sit out and get to room temp.
* Do not get water in your chocolate when melting. This will ruin the process.
* Be careful when pouring and stirring your vodka around the burner.

D.I.Y | Home Decor: Rolling Garment Rack

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After the dust settled from our September wedding and October honeymoon, my husband and I soon started searching for a new home. It had to have 5 essentials: location (walking distance to the beach), yard (enough room for a small garden and outdoor living space), garage (a.k.a man space), office (extremely, important as we both work a lot from home) and character (i.e. hardwood floors, fireplace, cute kitchen, and just a cozy, lovely home).

Right after Thanksgiving we fell head over heels for a spanish bungalow. It was perfect, except it had a small bedroom closet. Soon, I found myself playing a real life game of tetris with the closet space. Luckily, I played a lot of tetris and I won a slew of early rounds. But, as time lead on, the closet created a problem. My vintage frocks and sublime silky dresses were looking pitiful cramped in the closet. I was starting to have those moments, the moments when you are needing to head out the door but you can’t find that white button down shirt that you insist on wearing and then you end up becoming even more late because you find yourself half-looking for said white shirt and half-organizing closet (again).

A solution had to happen and a garment rack was a must. The one and only time I owned a garment rack was a brief moment in my interesting career path. Someday, I will blog about this. I worked as a stylist. Shocking?! I know. My third and last job was a bit random. It was Snoop Dog. I told you it has been an interesting career path. But I digress, I did not feel like buying another plain metal rack and then the light bulb turned on, I had seen a D.I.Y rolling garment rack on my favorite blog Design Sponge. I must put a caution note when referring to Design Sponge, it is very easy to get lost in a wonderland of before and afters, home tours and D.I.Y projects. Tread lightly, my friends.

After an awesome Friday hike with my husband, we went to Lowe’s and found ourselves in an uncommon aisle, the plumbing aisle. We were searching for plumber’s pipe, elbows and flanges. We found all the materials needed, including our paint color, apple red (although, it turned out to be more of a coral than apple)

As we began the project, we discovered that we purchased a few wrong parts. We will just speed past this part. The cliff notes version. Four trips later to Lowe’s we had gathered all that we needed, then we began drilling, screwing, painting and BAM! The project was complete. Rather, easy too. Just make sure you buy the right plumber elbows.

Sunday night, we brought in the garment rack from the garage. After kindly asking my husband to leave the bedroom I began to style the rack (I have a HGTV personality inside of me, and I like to surprise people with big reveals, don’t we all?) I screamed like a 12-year-old when I was done “It looks like a boutique store”! I was a tad pleased with it and even more pleased to see a few of my favorite dresses not shoved in the closet. Bonus: It freed up a lot of space on his side of closet.

I will now give another high-five (virtually) to my awesome husband, who is becoming rather handy. Next home, we will add a 6th essential: closet space. However, this garment rack will be staying around for a long time.

The garment rack adapted from Design Sponge:

Materials:

  • two 48″ long,  1/2″ thick galvanized plumbers pipe (pieces for the height), one 30″ long,  1/2″ thick galvanized plumbers pipe (piece for the width)
  • two flanges (circular floor fittings)
  • two 90 degree elbows- make sure they fit your 1/2″ pipe and be sure to match the threading (think male to female)
  • satin finish house paint
  • paintbrush
  • wood 1 to 2″ thick by 12″ deep 34″ long  (make sure it is at least four inches longer than your plumber’s pipe width)
  • four rolling wheels (also called casters, these are available at hardware stores)
  • eight  1 1/2 to 2 1/2″ bolts (depending on the thickness of your wood) with corresponding washers and nuts
  • sixteen 1/2″ screws
  • drill

Instructions:

Sand your wood (if it is cut wood), flip your piece of wood over so the bottom is facing up and measure 1/2″ in from each corner, this is where your wheels (casters) will go. Use your drill and the sixteen 1/2″ screws to secure your wheels, then flip your wood over.

Remove all the stickers from your plumber’s pipe and clean the pipe with soap and water. Screw your pieces together to form the “u” shape of your rack. Hand tighten each piece as much as you can. Screw on the floor flanges last.

Place the constructed rack onto the wood base to properly center the piping. Mark, with a pen or pencil, the 8 holes where you will secure the flanges to the wood base. Remove the rack and drill pilot holes big enough to fit the bolts where you marked the wood. Now, you can secure your rack onto the wood with the blots, washers and nuts. Your rack is now complete.

Paint at least 3 coats, allow drying time between each layer. Allow it to completely dry for 24 hours before using the rack.