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How nice! Lancaster News Online has featured our powder room in their Home & Garden section today, in an article themed — Powder Rooms That Pop!

Reporter Rebecca Logan saw pictures I had posted right here on Facebook, and reached out about adding our powder room to her article.

You can read our section of the article in the first picture below. The others pictures I have added here to fill in this post.

Michelle picked out the orange koi wallpaper, and we did some repainting and cleaning, and then I changed out all of the old chrome fixtures with oil rubbed bronze for a more antique look.

The koi mirror and the Japanese print were left here when we bought the house, and were part of the inspiration for the new look.

The 3 other powder rooms in the article were done by an interior designer, so we’re pleased as punch that ours was on the same level!

Thank you to LNP for enjoying our little powder room redesign!

With @michelle_unnata

#powderroom #lnp #koi #koiwallpaper #wallpaper #lancaster #lancasterpa

Ooooh! Ahhhh! It’s hard to tell just how close we were sitting to the base of the fireworks! They were literally exploding straight over our heads! And, as a result, we were being being rained down upon with chunks of cardboard fireworks shells and little blackened ash cinders. And we could really feel the ground something as each fireworks show was launched off the ground.

Benefits of a small town. We were able to walk up there a half an hour before the fireworks, and be sitting right in front with nobody in front of us. 

With @michelle_unnata

First of three raised planter boxes filled. Now just add water and wait! @michelle_unnata #lancaster #raisedbedgarden #tropicalflowers #garden #backyardgarden

Pendant lamp study. #pendantlights #pendantlamp #bedroomlights #customlighting #lampshade #hue #philipshuelights

Couple of night scenes around Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

#lancaster #pennsylvania #restaurant #nightphotgraphy #chestnuthill #cabalar #cocinamexicana

Pendant project completed. I was wanting to hang some pendant lamps over our long kitchen/dining table, but I couldn’t find anything that I loved. So I ended up purchasing a whole bunch of separate parts, to put together something unique and bespoke for our kitchen. 

I ended up choosing this really cool cloth covered herringbone pattern retro electrical wire, along with these flexible mesh wire pendant lamp shades. Lightbulbs are exposed filament Edison style LED bulbs. The three port canopy base on the ceiling came via a manufacturer I found on Etsy, and was shipped all the way from Ukraine. We replaced the light switch with a dimmer, so we can have a whole range of mood food lighting now! 

Michelle and I are on a tear, picking up the pace of house projects. We have the hope of getting through our current wish list by mid June, which will be the second anniversary of our moving into this home here in Lancaster. The icing on the cake of all of the projects will be the new color scheme and wallpaper we’ve chosen for the master bedroom. Stay tuned for that project coming up soon. 

With @michelle_unnata #pendantlamp #pendant #kitchenlighting #customlights #pendantlamps

Taming the chaos. We’ve replaced some open dirt space in the backyard with a Zen-like rock garden. With @michelle_unnata. Ommmm! #rockgarden #zengarden #crushedmarble #peaceful #lancasterpa

Originally formed by a collapsed volcanic caldera 30 million years ago, Smith Rock was layered with more lava a half million years ago. The original volcanic eruptions left a half mile thick layer of ash, which later hardened into this rock known as Tuff. 

This ultra stable stone makes for a great rock climbing, and this area is known to be origination of sport rock climbing.

Much of central Oregon is volcanic in origin, most of the major mountains being dormant volcanoes, and the rest of the landscape formed by hundreds of millions of years of volcanism. 

These volcanic areas of the Earth are my most favorite places. It’s as if the center of the planet is making itself visible still today. 

With @michelle_unnata

#smithrock #oregon #rockclimbing #volcano #basalt #hiking #dayhike #volcanictuff

A few best of pictures from our trip to Seattle, Washington and Sisters, Oregon. Hiking along the Metolius river, visiting the space needle in Seattle, and harvesting fresh oysters on the Olympic Peninsula. With @michelle_unnata @don.zur @angeladortignac @andreymarkov1312 @olikaelkina

#sistersoregon #seattle #spaceneedletower #metoliusriver #oysters #

Mid Century Modern Family. Our living/sitting room is coming together. Come on over for a chat!

With @michelle_unnata

#midcenturymodern #midcentury #midcenturystyle #livingroom #sittingroom #salon #parlour #bookshelves #countrycomfort

Just made this farmhouse style bookshelf for our kitchen. I cut all the wood to size, stained and finished with three coats of polyurethane, drilled all the holes, and then assembled it like a homemade IKEA piece! It will be the new home for our cookbook collection.

With @michelle_unnata

#farmhousestyle #bookshelves #farmhousebookshelf #cookbooks #kitchenshelves #craftstyle

Lancaster Linguine.

When you want Veselka so much, you make it from scratch!!! Michelle Dortignac and I dug into our Veselka cookbook tonight, and made their famous Potato Latkes and Beet Horseradish Salad.

Wowsers! So yummy!!! This was very very close to the real thing. The secret ingredient in the Latkes (********) makes all the difference. 😉

Let’s call this an early Hanukkah gift to ourselves. Interesting fact, Hanukkah falls on almost exactly the same day as Christmas this year.

Happy holidays to everyone !!!

With @michelle_unnata

#veselka #veselkanyc #potatolatkes #beethorseradish #homemade #potatopancakes #lancaster #lancasterpa

This Old Kitchen in Lancaster: Zucchini “Crab” Cakes with Lion’s Mane Mushrooms.

One of the nice discoveries we’ve made here in Lancaster, is the Lion’s Mane mushroom. Rather than being spongy, these mushrooms tear apart kind of like crab meat does. And when you cook them into the zucchini cakes, they retain a chewiness evocative of crab meat. Salt pepper and Old Bay seasoning gives it the traditional flavor.

Yummers. Come on over and we’ll make more!

With @michelle_unnata

#zucchinicrabcakes #zucchini #lionsmanemushroom #homecooking #friedfood #lancaster #pennsylvania

Huge thunderstorm with tornado warnings underneath, floating just north of Lancaster this evening. #thunderstorm #tornado #lancaster #pennsylvania

Michelle‘s sister Angela recommended using a spaghetti colander to view the eclipse! Works a charm. Bon appétit! With @michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga

#solareclipse #colander #lancaster #eclipse #watcheclipse

We’ve painted the yoga room a metallic gold color, and it’s simply sparkling now!

Just have to redo the baseboard trim with a fresh coat of white, and then Michelle will hand paint some gold leafed trim to be added around the bottom edge as well.

We will probably repaint the radiator, but that color is yet to be decided.

The work continues though; I’m working on the office next. Photos of that will be coming soon.

Come on over for the Lancaster Experience!

@michelle_unnata @unnatayoga @unnataaerialyoga
#unnatayoga #unnata #aerialyoga #golden #metallicgold #goldpaint #yogastudio #yogaroom #lancaster #lancasterpa

Matzoh Ball Soup. These balls are floaters, not sinkers. (Look that up.) Light and soft, with a hint of garlic powder, onion powder, and white pepper. The broth is made with no-chicken chicken stock, carrots, celery, chopped parsley, and some no-chicken chicken meat.

In all our years of being married and dating, I’ve apparently never made matzoh ball soup for Michelle — so this was her first taste of it! And I think it’s a winner for her!

This particular soup is not vegan, because it has eggs in the matzoh balls. Next time we’ll try making it with some egg replacement, so it will be 100% vegan.

!!!טָעִים מְאוֹד

@michelle_unnata

#matzohballsoup #matzohballs #homemade #soup #lancaster #pennsylvania

This Old House in Lancaster: Powder room makeover.

With the big projects slowing down, we just completed kind of a small big one! We repainted and put up wallpaper in the powder room, replaced the lamp and added vintage style oil rubbed bronze sink fittings and accessories.

The bathroom was painted orange when we moved in, so we wanted to go with that color scheme, but with a refreshed vibe. The painting and the mirror were also already in the bathroom so we kept those.

This was only my second wallpapering job, and even though kind of small, required some precision and care attention. Michelle picked out the Koi fish pattern. After months of planning, we’re pretty happy with the way it turned out!

Still a few more details to take care of, but it’s 95% done now and we’re done for the day for sure. With @michelle_unnata

#lancaster #lancasterpa #powderroommakeover #koifish #wallpaper #oilrubbedbronze

Foggy Lancaster evening. Foggy, but not freezing!!! Tonight we tried the new Korean restaurant in our neighborhood — and were surprised with the extra thick fog for the walk home. @michelle_unnata
#foggynight #fog #lancaster #pennsylvania #chestnuthill #lemonstreet

We were supposed to go to the Blue Lagoon thermal spa, but there’s been a high level of seismic activity in that area this week, so we had to switch to Plan B. 

And… Plan B was the Hvammsvik Hot Springs, located in a fjord an hour north of Reykjavík. Sorry Blue Lagoon, but this hot spring is way better.

Located at the edge of a huge fjord, this hot spring features seven separate hot pools, going right down to the sea. And the view is amazing, overlooking the fjord to the other side and down to the end — surrounded by mountains, it’s majestic. And, there’s a bar located at one end of the Hot Spring where you can order ice cold beers right from the hot water.

For Michelle, this was the end of a three week trip, where she lead a full teacher training, and did about six master classes in three different cities. Great work honey!

@michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga #hvammsvikhotsprings #iceland #reykjavik #omsetrid #

Window Fashions. #finland #helsinki #marimekko #fashion #windowshopping

Do I love Helsinki? Hell yes!

@unnataaerialyoga @michelle_unnata
#finland #helsinki #marimekko #smokedfish #reindeer #tram #cobblestone #scandinavia

This Old House in Lancaster: Nine-foot Pseudo Built-in Bookcases. 

I had this idea to put two tall narrow bookcases on either side of the chimney bump out in the living room, to create somewhat of a built-in look.

The final result was these two 9 foot tall, narrow white bookcases. I made them without a backing panel, to allow the orange color of the walls to shine through. 

The bookcases are made from nice birch plywood, with a poplar hardwood face frame. I used pocket hole joinery to connect everything together, so all the junctions are hidden.

Then, finished with two coats of primer, and two coats of Benjamin Moore “Advance” alkyd paint in white semi gloss. The alkyd paint acts more like an oil paint with a long dry time and hard final finish, but with the ease of soap and water clean up. 

This particular paint takes 14 to 30 days to fully harden and cure, so we will probably wait to put to load them up until then. In the meantime, I will bracket them to the cement/brick wall to keep them from tipping over.

Now, we will have some place to put all of our books, which will complete our unpacking of everything from this move. We officially moved in on June 17, so it’s been 3 1/2 months now, and we’ve achieved a lot here in that time. But getting the last boxes off the living room floor will be the finishing touch.

Can’t wait to have you all over for a visit! 

@michelle_unnata #lancasterliving #wallunit #shelves #bookshelves #builtins #livingroom #diy #semigloss

Michelle Dortignac and I love Ethiopian food. We’ve even learned to make a few of our favorite recipes. One of the key ingredients in Ethiopian cooking is a spiced ghee called Niter Kibbeh.

As you may know, ghee is clarified butter; heated and then the milk solids skimmed off leaving just the pure butter fat. Niter Kibbeh is made by further simmering the ghee with a blend of spices to infuse their additional flavor into the butter fat.

Our recipe for Niter Kibbeh adds minced garlic, grated ginger, chopped onion, turmeric, black pepper, cardamom, fenugreek, cumin, kalonji (nigella), cinnamon, and clove. 

The ghee is simmered with these ingredients for about 30 minutes and then strained through a sieve or cheesecloth, resulting in a golden spiced butter fat that is smooth, rich, aromatic, and divinely delicious.

We are having a new friend from here in Lancaster for dinner tonight, and we will be making Misir Wat, a spiced red lentil stew, and Atakilt Wat, a cabbage, potato and carrot dish. 

We have not yet mastered the making of Injera bread, the flat pancake with which you eat this cuisine. So we will be ordering some from a local Ethiopian restaurant for today.

That’s what’s cooking in Kenny and Michelle’s kitchen, on this Ophelia induced rainy day!

#niterkibbeh #ethiopianfood #misirwat #homecooking #cinnamon #cloves #cumin #nigella #fenugreek #onion #ginger #garlic

Current mood in the yoga studio and clubhouse loft.

Michelle is away in St. Cloud, Minnesota leading a teacher training, so I’m just chilling with the colored lights and groovin’ music.
@unnataaerialyoga @michelle_unnata #unnatayoga #aerialyogastudio #unnatayoga #lancasteryoga #lancasterpa

Up close and personal in the garden this morning. With @michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga

#floral #macro #macroflower #pattern #color #nature #garden

First hang on the new rig! We just completed the installation of Michelle‘s new aerial yoga rig here at our new home!

This is what all of this renovation has been about; to make a fabulous aerial yoga space inside of this old house. 

We’ve been planning this for quite some time, in fact our whole search for a home here in Lancaster was predicated on finding a place where we could make some thing like this happen. 

Next project will be redoing the floors; here in the yoga room as well as the bedroom and office on this level. Starting immediately, we will be taking out the carpeting, and then having the floor either refinished or replaced with some nice engineered vinyl laminate planks. And then all the rooms need to be painted.

Huge thank you to Scott Fisher and Bill Auld for insights and guidance on the rigging. Also big thank you to Rich Morse at Renovation Lancaster for the ceiling removal, and installation of the radiant barrier and attic fan.

@michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga

#aerialyoga #unnataaerialyoga #lancasterpa #homeyogastudio #exposedbeams #homedesign #uniquehomes #uniquedesign #homegym #yogaathome

The Joists of Life.
@michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga #grainisgood #woodgrain #exposedbeams #pine #douglasfir

Yoga room vertical expansion project, end of day one. Original nails from 1897! @michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga #yogaroom #remodel #renovation #expansion #lancaster #pennsylvania

Adding some height to the yoga room in our new house! We are having the ceiling removed above the yoga room, opening up into half of the attic. This will give enough room for us to build a pipe truss above the joists, for Michelle to rig off of for aerial yoga classes.

The other half of the attic will become a loft/clubhouse overlooking the yoga room below.

@unnataaerialyoga @michelle_unnata
#demoday #demolition #renovation #remodeling #lancaster #lancasterpa #rowhouse #woodenjoists #upgrade #homeremodel #yogastudio

Holy crap! Michelle and I have already found our new home here in Lancaster! We are now in contract for this absolutely cute house in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Lancaster!

More details and pix to come, but here are a few teaser shots for now. I’ll post more in the comments below.

We are beyond exhausted from this process, but very excited to make our new home here. Cannot wait to have everyone over — we’ll have plenty of extra room for guests.
.
@michelle_unnata #lancaster #pennsylvania #newcity #newhome

Some savory eye candy from El Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid. With @michelle_unnata @unnataaerialyoga #tapas #spain #madrid #mercadodesanmiguel #iberico