Albion Manor Scones

love scones. I have never eaten a scone I didn't love, and I've eaten lots.
But this scone recipe is by far my favorite. The resulting bit of heaven is light, delicately tangy, and takes to butter, cream, or jam as though they were made for one another (and indeed, they are!). Of course, it doesn't hurt that the B&B that developed this recipe (Albion Manor), shares my name. There is an obvious bias because of that, but still, -believe me! these are excellent scones.
Here is the recipe, which I originally found on this website, quite by accident. I took the liberty of re-writing it, because I found the original version to be less than straightforward.
Enjoy!

Albion Manor Scones

3 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chilled butter

1 cup butter milk (I use ¾ cup milk + ¼ cup lemon juice)
1 egg

Beat together milk and egg.

Mix the dry things together. Add butter and rub in with your fingers (as you would when making pie crust).

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. If the dough is way too sticky, mix in a bit more flour. Carefully- the dough will be a bit sticky, but you should be able to get it out of the bowl. You can't add more liquid and you musn't overwork the dough. Sprinkle a bit of flour onto a surface and press out the dough. Don’t work it too much. Use your cooker cutter, any shape, or a glass with straight sides, dipping it into flour between each use and put the scones on a baking tray. Brush with a beaten egg.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 – 16 minutes (should be cooked through and golden brown in colour).

You may add whatever you want to add to the scones: pecans, currents, cranberries, ginger, lemon or orange zest, etc. A fun addition is to dip sugar cubes into orange juice and press them into the top just before putting them in the oven.

Neglect

I am properly ashamed at my lack of blog updating. I have been busy decorating/painting/working, but haven't blogged a bit about it! I've also neglected to take pictures of the "befores" of these projects! I will though, post the completed projects soon... most of them aren't quite finished yet.

If Only In My Dreams

Above is a picture of a fun chest my dad and I refinished. I love it, want to keep it in my living room, but have to admit, it is dwarfed by the huge bay window it resides in front of. I have visions of a built-in window seat dancing through my head. Something like this:

Yummy! and the best thing? there are instructions for building it right here.

Bath Remodel -Update

Today Mr. Chrisman and I went shopping with Mr. Chrisman Sr. (aka Dad, aka contractor-remodeling-our-bathroom), to pick up supplies for the Master Bath remodel (heretofore known as the M. Bath). A few posts previous I presented a mood board for the M. Bath, which due to some good advice from Dad Chrisman has changed a little.

Another reason for the change was an issue we had with the tile -the type we previously decided upon wouldn't work as well as believed. It turned out to be in our benefit though, when we went shopping for different kinds and found very good deals on porcelain tile for the floor and tud surround (with matching quarter round for trimming), and beautiful marble for the vanity top. Both were on clearance and we snatched them up.

Another thing that has changed is the shower curtain. We've been using a very nice striped shower curtain (on previous post's mood board) in our M. Bath. Due to a very fortunate clearance find at Bed, Bath and Beyond, we will be able to hang a lovely white and extra long (so we can follow these wonderful blogger's example) shower curtain in our renovated bathroom.
Here is the revised mood board for those of you who are as nosy as I am.

To Porch or Not to Porch.

In this neck of the woods, Summers can be quite warm. Thus, having a zero shade, west facing backyard was perhaps, an oversight of our home's builders. In order to enjoy our yard (something Mr. Chrisman and I were both eager to do after living in a condo with no yard), we improvised a little.Our shady, semi-private front yard is 90% landscaped, with just a patch of concrete in front of the living room window.
When we purchased our house, we thought that the little porch, with it's rancher style fence, was adorable. However, after purchasing two wooden chairs to enjoy on our little porch, we quickly realized how small it really was. The cute fence prevented comfortable sitting and stretching out of legs.
So what to do? tear down the fence, naturally! it came down quite easily, and resulted in a more welcoming house-front, and a bit more space.
We weren't quite done though. The next step was to tear out a big ungainly bush that hid the porch in a menacing way. Menacing because it was infested with spiders.


After adding a few flower pots and using a bit of creativity with some candle holders, we had a great place to sip our hot tea in the morning, or chillax with a glass of wine at night.

The entire porch redo cost $119 from start to finish, and here's the price breakdown:

Chairs, $80, Yard Furniture Liquidator
Flower Pots, $17, Ikea and Walmart
Plants, FREE! clippings from my Mr. Chrisman's mom
Candle lanterns, $5, Target
Wire and hooks (to hang lanterns), $5, hardware store
Paint to revamp light fixture, $3.50, Home Depot
Side table, $5 for 3, at neighbor's garage sale
Paint for side table (originally black and roughed up), $3.50, Home Depot

Dining and Mudroom upgrades!

I'm a big believer in gradual decorating...building a room over time often results in a much better rounded look, and avoids the "I bought my room on Tuesday" look.

However, I have to admit to impatience in building our home's decor! so, I am always thrilled to update our furniture, art, or really anything else in our house.

So, here's my latest update, with a before and after photos.
First, the dining room (shelves inspired by the beautiful dining room belonging to Katie Bower at All Bower Power) before...
...and after:
And our mudroom/reading nook. Here's the before:


And the after:


Now, my favorite part of this change is that it was so cheap! the chair, usually $129 at Ikea, was free! I found it on the side of the road, the lovely natural color was hidden -and protected- by a blue slipcover.
I had the lamp already, but didn't like the dark bronze finish. So I purchase a can of Rustoleum paint in Metallic Aluminum for $3.44 at Home Depot and gave it a good shellacking.
The flower art on the dining room wall was 2 for $20 at a furniture consignment store, and the small mirror was free -a gift from my parents.
The shelves were on clearance at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $5 and $10 -they'd been opened and one was missing some hardware.
Everything else was purchased at Ikea.

So, still a lot I'd like to do, but I am enjoying even these small improvements as I can make them.

Bathroom Renovation

As much as I love my new home, I am excited to continually renovate bits and pieces of it until it is truly our nest -full of touches that reflect our personality and taste.
So, naturally, I am thrilled to be renovating the Master Bathroom.
Here's the current status:
And here's the mood board for the renovation:

The lighter colored tile is intended for the floor and wall behind the tub, while the darker tile will be the new top for the vanity. We will detail around the tub with a stripe of the darker, contrasting tile -and vice versa on the vanity.
Check back soon for during and after photos!