waterCOLOUR in My House

Just popping in to say that I've framed the watercolour I purchased a while back via GALLERYWALL by Sarah from Flourish Design + Style. Bright colour, great shape and energy, $10! I so so so LOVE it. Give my tired counters and that ugly gap between counter and ugly squared backsplash a little egde :)

Sarah was even kind enough to feature my little watercolour setup on her blog. HERE.

PS. I'm still here. Just not really on the blog. But I"m MAJORLY on Pinterest, if you want to join me HERE!

Happy Friday

May your weekend be restful.

We will be finishing hardwood in the master walk-in closet + demolitioning the floor in the LAST bathroom to get redone. Wish me luck and patience and strength.

PS. Thank you for your comments on the kitchen layout. I'll be doing another post that should explain the constraints within which I had to design the kitchen. I'm not going to pretend that this is my dream kitchen. But it is what's more or less possible without a major overhaul of the whole house.

Source: HERE

Lets Talk New Kitchen

Since we've come back from vacation I've been trying to figure out if there's anything I seriously want to change about the layout of our main floor. Mainly because we would like to approximate $$$ for the kitchen reno. The necessary amount will help us determine how soon (or not soon) the kitchen will happen (or not happen).

I yo yo'ed between removing our woodburning fireplace to not touching anything. Below is the kitchen layout if we keep things as is.

As you can see there are a few not so nice things happening here:
1. The not built in fridge. It looks like it is blocking the room and I don't like it
2. Two doorways: from family room + dining room
3. You can't tell, but I would only have room for a 24" cabinet for my sink.
4. No symmetry = yuck!
5. And the worst thing - (you can't tell) but there is a THIRD doorway in that upper right corner. Hallway to family room.

My current plan (yes current, because things can change around here a million times still):
1. close the doorway between kitchen and dining room
2. create a new doorway to the dining room in the hallway
3. relocate the doorways between family room and the kitchen

See the angled wall?? That's the fireplace!! Ha ha

Anyway, my new plan will give me the kitchen below. Tah-dah!!! (keep in mind that the wall with the table has a huge bay window with space for a chair).

 

 

Pros of this plan:
1. a larger kitchen
2. symmetry or at the very least - balance (that's what it feels like to me)
3. more counter and more storage
4. built in fridge
5. better view of the family room (and the future TV spot)
6. doorways between family room and the kitchen remains the same size
7. keeps hubby happy as I'm not touching the fireplace
8. room for a larger sink!

Cons of this plan:
1. more expensive than using the current layout
2. there is an intake air vent on the second floor right above where I want the new entrance into the dining room to be. It might not be possible (or very expensive) to cut a doorway there

3. access to the dining room through the family room/hallway. I specifically put this one last, as I believe this will be the least of my worries

So, is this new layout worth the money?? And feel free to scrutinize current family room layout :)

Liebster

On  Monday, the lovely Maggie from Okay, now what? presented me with the Liebster Blog Award. Thank you Maggie!

It was the pick-me-up I needed to keep blogging. Some days I wonder if blogging is really truly worth my time (am I allowed to say that??). Because with a kid and renos and LIFE, and without the blog being a "job", some days you wonder if maybe this hobby is worth the time and effort (have we all been here before?).

And every time I come back because this little blog here is my diary. Read or not. I'm doing this for me. Because ultimately I want to share. Because now when I have a dilemma I know I have people out there in the big bad world who would care enough to put in their 2 cents, to give advice, to share a tiny portion of their day with me.

And for that I"m so wholeheartedly grateful and undescribably humbled.

Anyway, back to the award! :) It is given to blogs that deserve more followers! And I"m nominating 5 of them. So go ahead, visit, comment, follow them. They will make your day better.

Fishly News. Guilia is amazing. Trully amazing. Always there with a beautiful picture, a throughtful comment and a fresh take on things.

 House Pretty (Up). Amelia is writing about the simple pleasures of renovating a home, of building a young family. A story of newlywed love and everyday things.

Calmly Chaotic. You will love Ashley from the first post you read. Mother of adorable twin girls, she writes about babies, family, and her love of all things etsy. Did I mention the TWIN GIRLS??? :) She's my hero.

Closet Rivalry. This is the newest undertaking by Kim of DesiretoInspire and her little sister Jen. They post outfits, they post their loves and lusts and must haves.  

Hush! I don't even know how to begin to describe this blog. It is my guilty pleasure. Hush writes about little town living from a big-town-girl point of view. Everything from parenting, to relationships, to conflicts and victories. I love her honest, well articulated posts. They are always always always a food for thought.

ok, one extra. The Saturated Palette. Just go here. And read for hours. And cry, laugh, FEEL her world. It will make you a better person. For real.

I hope you will enjoy these blogs as much as I do. Happy blogging.

What She Eats - MiniMeals

I have recently started following a little blog called: With Two Cats. Lauren came up with a wonderful idea to do a little link-up of photos of real and everyday kids meals = MiniMeals. To inspire other moms and share recipes.

I think that's a GREAT idea :) I'm always looking for new recipes!!!

Lauren picked Wednesday as the MiniMeals day. I'm going to do my best to submit something every Wednesday. However, I was so inspired by this idea that I took pictures of Baby C's dinner tonight. And to be completely honest, and in true blogger fashion, I did a before and after. Because we all know that what gets put in front of kids does not equate to what actually gets eaten :)

and so...

BEFORE:

vegetable soup (potato, cauliflower, carrot; garnished with green onion and coriander) + fish medallion with baked bell peppers & green beans

AFTER:

baked veggies are always a huge hit in our house, the soup - not so much. Although she did finish off more than half the broth (which is all I was aiming for anyway).

I hope you guys will link up with this great series and we will all get a few new recipes out of it!

PS. If anyone's interested in how and why we feed our kid the way we do, I'm always happy to share.

Buying Appliances - The snowball effect

Friday evening I came home from work to DIRTY dishes in my dish washer. We knew that both the dish washer and the fridge were on their last leg. It was a matter of time before either one of them gave up and died on us. I thought it would be the fridge. Oh, well.

And so we went dishwasher shopping. Instead of getting just the dishwasher, we also got a fridge, a yummy range and a sexy range hood. Thankfully I've been planning this kitchen for at least a year now :) so I was all prepared to make my choices.

DISHWASHER
We use ours every single day. So we were willing to spend extra money here for quality, durability and a peace of mind. It is due to be delivered on Tuesday and I CANNOT WAIT!

FRIDGE
Bottom freezer fridge. Single door (don't like french door fridges). Bottom freezer is not a pullout basket, but a door that hides very convenient drawers. We had a similar style fridge in our old home (THIS one) and really loved it. The fridge is counter depth (or whatever that means) = lower capacity than your average fridge. Which is a-ok for our lifestyle and cooking habits.

RANGE HOOD

Crappy picture for a really well made, simple and elegant piece.

RANGE
And the cherry on top was the range. So much thought went into this choice... we debated gas/electric. We debated white/stainless steel. We talked about getting separate cooktop/wall oven. Talk talk talk. It seemed like such a monumental choice!

I really wanted to have NO GAP between the range and the counter. I seem to always drop and spill things and cannot even imagine what lives between our stove and the base cabinets. So this was a must. However, I really LOVE the classic look of a gas range.

THIS range was a marriage of my two musts. And I love it.

Did you notice that both the dishwasher and the fridge are white. And the range is stainless steel. There's a reason for that. The white of the dishwasher/fridge is very similar to the high gloss white of the Ikea doors we want to get. I'm hoping that these two pieces will just blend in with cabinetry. Because God knows, there's no way I'm cleaning little finger prints off stainless steel appliances.

The range, on the other hand, (1) doesn't come in white; (2) looks more like a gas range in stainless steel; (3) will be THE focal point among all that white; (4) if you notice, the range door is actually glass, not stainless steel = less finger print marks.

PS. I'm also super stocked that the stainless steel detail on the dish washer door makes me think of the door knobs I wanted to get for the kitchen :) yay!

No reno progress this weekend. Just massive spending that makes me not sleep so well at night. At least I love it all, so that makes the spending somewhat easier.

What did YOU do this weekend?

Happy Friday

Thank you for your input on my last post. I'm working on putting together a post with more of my thoughts on the kitchen/fireplace conundrum.

In other news, it's FRIDAY! Hope your weekend is restful and full of the things you love.

Source: I want to say pinterest, but can't be sure. sorry sorry sorry

Help: Would YOU Get Rid of a Wood-burning Fireplace?

oh, this fireplace is so so pretty. I could just kiss it. Majority of my time in the last couple weeks has been spent thinking about the main floor layout of our home.

You know I have a fireplace that I hate with a passion, right?? It is the first thing you see when you walk in the house (not a bad thing), but it is on an angle in a disproportionate room. Of course I could just plump furniture in there, but I'm looking for practical solutions that will work for us and not just a decorated room. So I've been mulling over different ways to use the family room square footage in a more user friendly and practical way.

One of my thoughts included getting rid of the (wood burning) fireplace completely. Opening up the kitchen to the family room, switching fridge and stove positions (current kitchen floor plan), putting an island in the middle. I could:

Plan A
use the new space as kitchen/dining room.
use the old dining room as an extension of the living room.
put in an electric fireplace in the living room

Pros:
huge table that will seat 16 ppl easily. Something we definitely would benefit from
huge work space for crafts, homework/office
Cons:
ex-to-the-pensive, mucho dineno, etc.
the TV and the fireplace will end up in one space, hello new dilemma
if Baby C is watching TV while I'm making dinner, I won't be able to easily keep my eye on her. boo :(

Plan B
use the new space as kitchen/family room complete with sectional + TV
get a larger table for current dining room and put it across dinning room + living room to host large parties

Pros: will be able to see Baby C
Cons: she'll be watching more TV

Plan C
leave everything alone
ignore the fireplace, put TV in the family room
get a larger table for the current dining room

Pros: $$ for travel, or savings, or furniture, or not go into debt for renos(all good things)
Cons: the f'ing fireplace will drive me crazy every day

So, lovely readers, please help help help.

Would you give up a wood burning fireplace? Will this lower the value of my home?? Would you prefer a more open floor plan?? Would you rather reno or travel? Is there something else I should be considering??

What would YOU do? Have you had to deal with a dilemma like this?? What was the deciding factor?

Source: HERE

PS. We've decided to stay in this house for the long haul, that is why these more involved renos are even being considered! :)

Guest What...

I'm still alive. Honestly. Just getting my act together. I'm finally on pinterest and it is taking a bit too much of my time!!! :) Follow me HERE.

Escaping

Yesterday I happily clicked "PAY" to purchase this print from GALLERYWALL by Sarah Swanson Designs. I already follow Sarah's blog: flourish design + style, and found out about her prints from there. I really love the colour and all the angles. The print radiates energy!

In other news, sorry for being away for a bit. Things around here have been ... uneventful and eventful at the same time. Me? I've been checking out to the triple threat of: TV, carbs and doodling floor plans. Lets just say that I"m hibernating. I might come out on the other side a butterfly, but for now I'm in a cocoon, away from everything and everyone. In my little bubble.

So I apologize if I'm not here for a little while longer. Sometimes you just need a break. I feel like subconsciously I'm working on a decision and once I've reached it all the energy in the world will fill me and I'll be back to juggling things. For now I'll just keep to my tea, crafts with the little one and carbs.

Have a lovely weekend. Take a break from the rat race. Don't cook, don't do laundry, don't clean. Just BE for a while. It's nice!