An Update...Backsplash is in!

While Robin and I relaxed in Scottsdale and explored the Grand Canyon last week, our backsplash was finally installed! We had a delay when the tile that I chose (after numerous trips to check out tile) was on backorder. We decided to wait it out and I'm so glad! It turned out exactly as I hoped.

After a lot of back and forth, we ultimately decided on Contempo White Marble from Daltile laid in a subway pattern with grout to match the white in the tile. With a plain white subway tile, it's common to choose a slight grey-toned grout to bring out the subway pattern but with the marble, we had veining that allows the subway pattern to be noticeable. We didn't want to pull more grey out of the tile, so we stuck with white.

Getting the backsplash installed also helped us finally select a paint color. I had previously narrowed it down to 4 different Benjamin Moore whites. This was harder than it sounds: they have over 150 different whites! Once we were able to hold it up to the backsplash, countertop, wall color, and existing trim color, the right white for us was obvious.



We are going to have our cabinets painted Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Still to do:

- Choose and install new switchplates.

- Install molding on upper cabinets and trim that was removed to install countertops.

- Paint the cabinets!

- Install pulls and knobs (still have to finalize these and order)

- Install pendants above the island (will be done in the fall because Houston attics are just too hot right now)

Etsy: Sifting and Searching...

I've ordered quite a few things from Etsy in the past. I love finding all of the great things offered there, many for amazing prices.

A few of my favorite past purchases:

(That's a camera strap)

(A pouch to hold my iPod Touch and earbuds in my purse)

Sifting through Etsy, though, can be a huge pain, especially when you are just looking to window shop. Enter the Taste Test. Basically, you click on 9 pictures of things that you like and it pops up with a gigantic list of suggestions for you to browse. Try it here. I recommend not thinking about it too hard. If you like the picture, click it. I end up with the most diverse things that way.

 Here are the results of my most recent Taste Test and a few of my very favorite things in the results. Now the problem is trying to restrain myself!

Give the Taste Test a try! Any favorites on Etsy that I should check out?

It's been a while...

Well, it's been almost 2 months since I've updated this thing. The kitchen remodel was put on hold for a while because the backsplash tile I chose was out of stock and took for.e.ver. to come back in. I opted to just wait it out. I had a terrible time choosing backsplash tile and didn't want to repeat it, plus, why not wait for what I really wanted? Our kitchen is fully functional so we've been fine. Love, love, loving the under- and over-cabinet lighting!

Of course, since I've had extra time to ruminate over choices, our cabinet color choice is now Cloud White, a slightly-warmer-yet-still-not-cream white from Benjamin Moore rather than the somewhat-too-stark Simply White. I've also found new pendants for the kitchen. We'll be going with these gorgeous pendants:

Photo courtesy of www.laylagrayce.com, an online store with ridiculously gorgeous things

I really wanted something that a) did not have a clear glass shade because the pendants are right above the sink and b) had some interest to them. I am also slightly obsessed with capiz and love how they tie into the marble backsplash tile.

I know Robin is ready to be done with the remodel, mostly because the longer it drags out, the more that gets added to the to-do list. We've also decided to have the painters go ahead and paint the Master Bathroom while they are here because parts of it are too hard for me to reach. Because of that, we also had to go ahead and get new bathroom lights for our bathroom. Nothing terribly exciting, just some nicely priced lights from Lowe's that coordinate with our faucets and other fixtures:

I know, sort of a dull update but there ya' have it.



The Patio Furniture is HERE!

Well, after a call to Target, our patio furniture finally arrived on Tuesday. I had to hurry and put it all together before Robin came home because a friend was coming over to work on his car and the furniture arrived on a pallete. Um, wow. Didn't think that one through!

Yeah, we have the most random stuff all over the garage. I have given up completely. I don't even know what the majority of it is so there isn't much I can do with it.

Thankfully, it was super easy to put everything together. Robin and I moved everything to the backyard. This isn't the final arrangement but it will do until we have everything.

Max says hi!

I didn't care for the pillows that came with the set so I picked up some other pillows. I really like the Trellis pattern in Navy so I grabbed them and love them! Now I just need to put together the other side table, find a little table to put between the chairs, find a (cheap) outdoor rug, and find a cute planter for the plant on the coffee table. We also need to drag the plants that have been wintering in the house outside.

What do you think? Any recommendations on outdoor rugs? Anything you have in your outdoor living space that we should add?

The Brookwood Community

Yesterday, my mom, Robin, and I went to Brookwood Community for the day.

If you have never been to The Brookwood Community, you are definitely missing out! The Brookwood Community is off of I-10, past Katy, in Brookwood, TX. Here is what they have to say about themselves:

"Through the Grace of God, The Brookwood Community provides an educational environment that creates meaningful jobs, builds a sense of belonging, and demands dignity and respect for adults with special needs."

The Brookwood Community provides a place for adults with special needs to live as a community. The community members have many different jobs in which they can be trained, such as creating handicrafts, gardening/horticulture, and cooking.

The whole setting at the visitors center is beautiful. We had a fantastic lunch at the cafe (the food will blow you away...really fantastic!) then browsed the gift shop (which is gigantic, the picture at the top only shows part of it) and the gardens/nursery. My mom picked up a purse and a few bracelets while I grabbed 2 jars of jam (meyer lemon pear marmalade and papaya orange habanero jam) and this cool glazed concrete/ceramic ball:

We also picked up 2 houseplants, a clover plant and this really cool variegated plant:



I just stuck these plants near the window for light, though I do kind of like the clover right there. Now I just need to find a pot for it!

We also picked up a great plant that made us instantly think of Robin's mom but we'll be holding on to it until Mother's Day.

All of the plants there are obviously well-tended and the prices are very competitive. I can only hope that my black thumb doesn't kill them!

If you have a free day and are looking for something fun to do, head down to Brookwood for a great afternoon!

Countertops, Check!

Almost a week ago, our new countertops were installed!!!
We chose Black Pearl granite for our countertops. We like that it's black but not just flat black. It's almost a bit dark grey. Grey Pearl was a frontrunner but seemed TOO grey...this one is perfect!

The bad news is that when my dad went to remove the backsplash, he discovered that the builder had installed it directly to the drywall in such a way that required him to cut out the drywall to remove the backsplash. So, we have had open walls in the kitchen! It actually worked out okay because we decided to add lower and upper cabinet lighting so the open walls made hardwiring the lights much simpler.

Without further ado, here it is!

Please excuse the mess you can see around the edges. We are still living in a construction zone and to top it off, we just had a new kitchen table and chairs delivered. The dining room is the current staging area and I decided to purge rather than just shove everything back in the cabinets so it's still covered in kitchen items.

A better view of the granite color and a peak of the backsplash tile:

At my dad's recommendation, we had the corners of the bar area cut at a 45 degree angle. I'm normally pretty good at envisioning things but I wasn't sure. We decided to go with it. Afterall, he's seen way more of these things than I have. Robin and I agree that we are really glad we went with his recommendation. It helps distinguish the bar top a bit and makes it easier to walk around. I would had to be running into a corner all of the time.

I think this might be Robin's favorite thing in the kitchen: our new sink and faucet!



What do you think? Any recommendations for me?

Thanks for stopping by!

Robin's Room

When we moved into our house, I told Robin that I would compromise with him on home decor. You see, Robin really likes more modern decor and I...don't. Our decor is definitely a mix of traditional and transitional, nothing like the light wood, clean lines, and metal that Robin would choose if things were left up to him.

In an effort to mesh our two styles, I told him that if he'd let me have the rest of the house, he could have 3 rooms. He happily agreed.

His 3 rooms? His office, the garage, and outside.

As you can tell, I chose to interpret the word "room" very loosely!

He was actually pretty happy with this arrangement and so we've spent a fair amount of time getting his "rooms" fixed up for him.

Last year, we added a beautiful red cedar pergola to our backyard. My dad, a contractor, built the entire thing by himself. I knew it would turn out well...my dad has great taste and he's a perfectionist. It turned out even better than we hoped and has added so much to our backyard.

The pergola was a perfect option for us because our back porck is right outside of the only window in our living room. I didn't want to completely block all light but the angle of our house means that we can now sit in shade in the afternoon. Perfect!

Robin is also a big fan of bamboo. We drove to someplace he found online in south Houston that sells a lot of bamboo and he selected some clumping bamboo for the backyard. We now have 4 different clumps of bamboo against our fence around the yard. To my surprise, it actually looks really nice! Our backyard is very small and we didn't want to eat up too much yard space, so the bamboo gives us a lot of green for the buck. You can see the bamboo here before he planted it (and right before we hired Chemlawn...our grass looks great now. Bye bye weeds!).

We also recently added an Oklahoma Redbud tree. I went to college at the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!) and there are gorgeous redbud trees all over Norman. It is just about to bloom. Can't wait to see it!

Anyway, we've been searching for new patio furniture in earnest since the pergola was finished. We had just doubled the budget in despair of ever finding something we both liked and that met our needs when we found this set at Target.com. A sale, free shipping, and the AAA 10% discount made it a no-brainer and it is on its way. Hopefully, we will be lounging on our new patio furniture next week.

Robin insisted on an ottoman for the chair and I insisted on a neutral color and something that would be comfortable for lounging. This set made both of us happy and the great reviews and amazing price sealed the deal!

Image via www.target.com

Sorry about the mini-image. Apparently, Target does not want you to know about it's patio furniture!

We picked up a loveseat, 2 chairs, an ottoman, a coffee table, and an end table. We may add an outdoor rug but haven't decided yet.

Also on the to-do list for the backyard this year:

• plants for along the back of the house
• brick the area beneath the faucet/hose
• add some planeters and hanging plants to the pergola

I can't wait for the reveal!

In other news, the kitchen renovation begins TOMORROW!

(Yay for not even being able to feel guilty about not cooking.)

The Plan

Friends at work look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about the upcoming changes for our kitchen. I'm still a little shocked that my husband is going for it!

Our to-do list for the kitchen:

- Paint the cabinets white. I haven't selected a color yet (I need to get on that!). White is HARD to choose!

- Granite countertops installed. I selected Black Pearl granite. Robin got stuck in a meeting at work so my dad and I selected the countertop granite (don't worry, Robin and I had narrowed it down to a few already). I chose an eased edge.

Image courtesy of www.glamourflooring.com

- Undermount sink. Our new sink is much deeper than our old, shallow sink.

Image courtesy of Home Depot

- New faucet. After MUCH research, we selected the Delta Leland faucet. We really wanted a 1-hole faucet with a pull-out spray but didn't want to a) spend a fortune and b) deal with a spray that wouldn't retract fully, which seems to be an issue after a few months for many faucets of this design. The Delta Leland features Magnatite Docking, which is just Delta's fancy way to say that there is a magnet where the spray connects with the faucet neck to keep it in place. The spray can toggle between 2 different spray types and the handle is integrated into the faucet. I can't wait to start using it! We got it for a great price from http://www.faucetdirect.com/.

Image courtesy of Faucet Direct

- New Backsplash. I actually like our old backsplash but the way our countertops were installed means that the current backsplash will be damaged when removing the countertops. Undaunted, I forged ahead into the world of tile (hehe!). After much deliberations (have you SEEN how much tile is out there!?!), I chose a gorgeous (and shockingly affordable) Contempo White Marble Subway tile from Dal Tile.

Image courtesy www.fastfloors.com

- Under- and over-cabinet lighting. We'll be using Xenon lighting.

- 2 3/8" crown molding at the top of the cabinets.

- Knobs and Pulls! Both are from the Revitalize Collection by Amerock. We're going with satin nickel to match our faucet and doorknobs. All of our lighting is Oil Rubbed Bronze; however, I feel like it is too much of a contrast with white cabinets, so things you pull will be satin nickel and things the give off light are Oil Rubbed Bronze.

Images courtesy http://www.pullsdirect.com/

- New pendants above the bar area on the sink side of the island. I think we are going to do 3 pendants but I will make the final decision after everything else is complete.

Image courtesy www.csnlighting.com

- Speaking of the bar area, we will be extended the current bar by 6 inches on the side that faces the living room so that it's actually useable space. Currently, the 12 inches of depth don't really allow for anything to be placed on the bar for serving.

Phew! As you can see, there are many changes in store for our kitchen.

What do you think? Any hints or tips?

The Kitchen...now

Well, at the moment, the kitchen is a bit of a mess. Nothing terrible (thank you, Robin, for doing the dishes) but every vase I own is currently sitting on the counter (that will soon be leaving us!).

On Tuesday, my dad will show up to begin prepping our kitchen for the first phase of the remodel. To be honest, when Robin FINALLY agreed to do something about our kitchen, I was thinking of just a small shot of botox. It has turned into a full-on face lift. Oops!

Here is what our kitchen looks like right now:









Functionally, there is nothing really too wrong with our kitchen. Sure, a deeper sink and a faucet with higher clearance would be nice, but it is fully functional with plenty of cabinet space. Still, it doesn't "fit" with the rest of our house and the oak cabinets looked outdated even when they were put in. Stay tuned for the to-do list with plenty of pictures!

Welcome!

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. My husband, Robin, and I live with our 2 furchildren, Max & Lola, in a home we closed on right before our wedding 5 years ago. Since then, it has gone through many, many different incarnations before we finally settled on a style that works for both of us and the way we live in our house. Throughout our 20s, our tastes have changed and evolved, and our house seems to always be a work in progress, hence the blog title. Currently, we are about to begin a kitchen remodel. Thanks to my dad, our fantastic contractor, our kitchen will undergo transformation beginning this Tuesday. We're excited to begin!