Pallet for Home

I kind of can't believe it, but last night was our very LAST date night at Orange Blossom. Oh, we'll be there Sunday with the family for closing day, but yesterday was the end of an era for us. You see, almost every Friday night, for years, we've gone to Orange Blossom. It's where we go to feed our tummies and our foodie brains. Check out last night's Asparagus Salad! The pictures came out perfectly, and it tasted even better than it looked! Once that sorbet melts down and mixes all over everything...look out! This is...no joke...one of the very best salads I've ever had.
We also had the soup last night, it was Clam Chowder. Guess what? I don't eat clam chowder.... BUT I gobbled this up! It was explained to me that this is traditional clam chowder and what most people serve is New England style, the white kind. This was wonderful!
So, I know I've blogged the Smoked Pork Chop with Spicy Apple Butter before, but it is literally my favorite special. I can't even describe how juicy and tender this is. They smoke these giant suckers and then slice them and finish them on the grill.
Swirling each bite around in the pool of spicy apple butter that it's sitting on is just the icing on the cake!
Believe it or not, for once I didn't get dessert! I know I'll make up for THAT on Sunday! I'm just going to pretend calories don't count this weekend. It's like storing nuts for winter, except in this case, spring will never come...so I'm gonna eat up now while I can!

I have this big open space on the wall in my kitchen, above the sliding door, that has been driving me crazy. I hate open wall space. I made a quick sign today and it was surprisingly easy!I had this cupboard door in my garage from a long-ago ReStore purchase. I gave it a couple of coats of Valspar's Crystal Aqua that I had on hand.

After that dried, I measured how big I wanted my letters, and cut it with my Silhouette out of vinyl. I used the Pottery Barn font, which I downloaded for free.
I removed the letters, since I was going to use the negative space as a stencil. Next, I used transfer tape to ensure it wouldn't get all tangled when I applied my stencil to the board. A tape measure is your friend when it comes to spacing.
I stenciled it with black paint. After that dried, I lightly sanded the whole sign to distress the letters, and edges of the board. Last, I LIGHTLY wiped on and off some antiquing glaze to age it a bit.
I WANTED it to look this way. ;)
Hopefully you can see the distressing in these outdoor pictures. I almost wanted to see through the black letters a bit.

It's now happily hung in it's new home above the sliding glass door in the kitchen.

 Lovely Soap scum on the chrome.  SO nice.

How do I fix this you ask?

It's simple.

Equal parts of Regular White Vinegar, heated up in the microwave until about boiling - 2 minutes; and Blue Dawn diswashing liquid.

That's it.

Put the hot vinegar and dawn in a spray bottle, shake slightly and go to town.

I did 3/4 cups of each and had enough to liberally do my glass shower, including the marble walls and floor.

Note: The vinegar smell is really strong.  Turn on the bathroom fans and open the windows if you are highly sensitive to smell.  My kids asked what that smell was and I told them it's the smell of clean showers!

 When I first tried it, I was worried that the blue Dawn would stain the white marble and fiberglass.  Nope!  So awesome!

Now let it sit for  a few hours.  Longer if you have really bad scum.  Then get a regular kitchen sponge, and a bucket of water and wipe down the walls.  It does take a lot of water since you're using Dawn and it gets all bubbly.
 Here's some after shots.

 It beautifully took all the soap scum off the fixtures too.  My bathroom seriously looks brand new.
I didn't want to use the shower this morning because I didn't want to mess it up.  Nope.  I'm clean and so is my shower.  BONUS!

I was so excited I decided to try a few other things.

Here's what I tried and the verdict:

Marble and Glass showers: Awesome.  Definitely do again and again.

Fiberglass tub/shower: Awesome. Do again and again.

Toilet bowl: It worked well and I was very happy with the results. I will do it again.

Bathroom Counters/Sinks/Fixtures: I was happy with the results.  They definitely look brand new, but it takes a lot of water to clean up the dawn, not scrubbing mind you, but wiping away all the bubbles.  My 4 year old asked if I was making bubble pies in the sinks.  I had to use paper towels to finish up the job.  I may do this again, but it's much easier just to spray everything with 409.  I will probably use the vinegar/dawn on occation but not regularly.

Stainless Steel Kitchen sink: It's clean but doesn't look brand new. I'm on the fence about using it again.

Glasstop Stove: Again it's clean, but it was a lot of wiping, rinsing, and wiping to get all the soap gone.  I probably won't use it again.

I don't know how this will work for Tile showers since I don't have any.  I'd love to hear how it works if you have tile.

I also won't use it on my floors.  Too much water for clean up.  My kids would love sliding around on soapy floors but I definitely won't love cleaning up all the soapy water.  Maybe if I had a drain in the center of the kitchen I might consider it.  But since that would be weird and I don't want to put one it... there you go.

Honestly I've never been excited about cleaning showers until now.
Weird I know but hey... I have clean bathrooms.
Do you? ;)