Finished Hutch and Winds of Change

Here are the finished pictures of my freshly stocked hutch cabinet.

I realized I am lacking in the pitcher area. I have a glass one on the middle shelf, but I have my eye on an antique ironstone one that I can get on sale this weekend. Since it will be my birthday, I just may treat myself.

I saw an antique hutch in a book once that had a mirrored back on the first shelf and under cabinet lighting. I loved the look, but I cannot modify this piece of furniture by gluing mirrors to it. So, I did the next best thing and put mirror tiles in the plate rail on the back of the middle shelf.

Now everything is within arms reach. : )

Now on to the winds of change. They are blowing through our bathroom.

Here is what it looks like now.

Our house is old and it's small. It's tiny. It's wee. As is our bathroom. We have one small closet in the hallway facing the door to the bathroom. It is supposed to serve as our linen closet. Since we remodeled this bathroom the last time, I have come to miss the storage a vanity and sink provides. All toiletries are in the cupboard over the toilet and in the linen closet. I was so stuck on having this period sink in my house that I didn't even think about the storage space I was giving up. I would love, Love, LOve, LOVe, LOVE having my linens in the closet again. They are currently in a cupboard in my dresser. It doesn't really have enough space or air flow for linens.

Anyhoo, we purchased a vanity/sink combo and we will be putting it in the bathroom soon. I'm so excited for the space. More on that when we have some progress to show. I want to put in a new toilet and tile the floor. That will have to wait til summer so the girls can take a bath in the pool and we won't have to get ready for school. I have never done tile before but our friend Bob said he would show me how and help out. I am excited for the tile too. If I do well enough, maybe I'll be able to do the tub area as well.

Today I made a corned beef for dinner. Since we are missing Irish dancing, we are eating Irish instead. 

I put peppercorns, garlic, bay leaf and cinnamon sticks in the coffee filter and tie it with butcher's twine. Put it in the braising pot and cover it with water. You're supposed to cook it for 4 hours, but I don't think it will take that long.

Once it's done, I make a glaze with brown sugar, dry mustard, ground ginger and ground cloves.

 I put it all over the meat then put it under the broiler to melt the glaze. Yum! It's so good.

Even though it was early, we enjoyed our St Patrick's meal now.

Hope you get a chance to make a corned beef this season. It makes me feel like spring is in the air. Could also be that we are in a thaw of sorts and I'm so excited. I can't wait to get out and walk again.

Thankful for the beautiful sun today! I've missed you!!

I'll be back in a couple of days, have to work tomorrow and Thursday. Have a great week!