Beautiful Life

Islands

I've started designing our kitchen island.  Here is some of my inspiration.

(Photo: Jo Rabaut for Atlanta Magazine's 2010 Kitchen of the Year)

(Photo: House Beautiful)

 (Photo Wm. F. Holland Architects - Piedmont Residence)

(Photo: Hendel Homes, Wayzata, MN)

(Photo: Amy D Morris for 2010 Atlanta Magazine Kitchen of the Year)

Kitchen Inspiration

I chose our kitchen design (the most important room in our home) last night!

I thought a lot about how we live.  I want a warm home where friends and family can be with me while I cook. I want my children to sit and tell me about their adventures while I make them after school snacks. The point of this space is for serving family and friends.  I wanted something open and inviting.

I posted my chicken scratch kitchen scheme  for you to see.  This is true scratching folks.

 

 

We have a separate dining room for our formal meals, which helped me decide on the open concept kitchen/family room area.

Here are a few inspiration photos for how I would like our kitchen/living area to look.  Our cabinetry will be some warm variation of white/cream. 

This kitchen is perfection to me. I especially LOVE this vent hood.  I hope I can get one similar. And I definitely want a backsplash of white subway tile.  

Isn't this the coolest paper towel rack - not sure this is in the budget but I love it. (photo: House Beautiful)

And this cutting board above the trash is genius! (photo: House Beautiful)

I love this lantern for above the island (currently on sale at Pottery Barn).

 

And I plan to head over to my favorite shop, The Sisters Garden, for an authentic harvest table (photo: Pottery Barn).

Finally, I like this casual family room and would love for ours to look like this.

While I still need to decide the details from countertops to appliance packages, I am so excited to have a direction and a floor plan.

PS If any of you have any good advice on soapstone vs quartz vs granite countertops, I would LOVE to hear it.

Reset Day

 

Yesterday was "'reset" day at my house.  That meant I had a lot to get done including laundry, house cleaning, car washing and vacuuming, grocery marketing, and I even made three Ina Garten recipes!  For dinner last night we had her Company Pot Roast with Roasted Brussel Sprouts.  My mom brought over the last of her garden for us the other day so we had sweet corn and tons of tomatoes.  I served the sweet corn as starch for last nights meal.  With the tomatoes, I made Ina's Roasted Tomato Basil Soup. My tummy was very happy (and so was my husbands:)  I highly recommend all three of these recipes!!!

There is something so comforting about homemade food made with homegrown veggies.

Fall Wish List

I have my eye on a few things this fall.  I haven't decided whether I will spluge and get anything or not. We are in the process buiding a house after all.  And I should keep my pennies for that.  But it's fun to look.

1.  Hunter Original Tall High Gloss Boots in Black

2.  They sell socks to go inside the boots.  VERY CUTE!

3.  Clarisonic Mia - I have heard great things about the Mia giving skin a facial at home.  My dry skin could use a facial right now.

4.  Pategonia Classic Fleece Jacket - this would be perfect with a pair of cute dark wash jeans and a casual top. 

5.  Le Cruset Dutch Oven in Dune.  Greg got me one of these 5 years ago and I LOVE IT! I only need one but mine is worn down so it will soon be time for a replacement.  

6.  J Crew Cafe Capri in Wool - I am rather boring with pant color so I would probably choose tan, black or navy.  But the model looks lovely in yellow.

 

Happy Monday Friends!!

BSF

This morning I want to take a break from house stuff on the blog and talk about something much more important.  For all of you out there looking to deepen your faith, meet new friends and learn the Bible, I want to be sure you've heard of BSF - Bible Study Fellowship.  

I started it this year as a way to learn the Bible in depth, one scripture at a time, by myself.  I've done so many great studies but  I never feel like I remember to apply it to my life after the study is over.  BSF studies only one book of the Bible each year (from September thru May) so you really get to digest the entire book verse by verse over 9 months which helps you remember what you learn. This year we are studying Acts.

The time committment is about 20 minutes, 6 days a week to work on the lesson at home and then 2 hours, 1 day a week to meet in your small group and then hear a bible teacher speak.  

They have a fabulous children's program with leaders who teach your children (birth and up) a lesson that correlates to the lesson the adults study.  And everything is FREE!  

There are classes worldwide  (both daytime and evening).  It's a great way to get connected and meet new women (I just transferred my membership from Columbus to here and met friends right away). Each city study has a different number of women studying.  Columbus had over 750 women every Thursday morning. My new city has 120 women every Thursday morning.  But we all study the same exact thing each week.  So if you are traveling and miss your group, you can visit another group and get the same lesson.  

The women are of many different ages (from 90 years old to 19 years old)  and different backgrounds/beliefs (Cathoics, Jews, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc).  But we all have one thing in common and that is our belief in the Bible. This is a fabulous study.  

House Planning

(Drew Home - Southern Living)

We are in the planning phase for our new home right now.  This process is so much fun and yet so scary because I am committing to something on paper without having seen it. 

We knew when we started looking at house plans that we would be confined by our climate but I did not realize just how much.  I love Southern homes but I don't live in a Southern climate. 

The original plan chosen was this one

I love this plan but after visiting our lumber supplier, I realized that the use of wood on the exterior is not an option for us.  The porch spindles need to be a composite material which I think looks plasticy and wood spindles equal insane maintenance.  So now, with the help of an architect and our contractor, we are making a hybrid plan.  

There are many similarities between the first plan exterior and the new exterior. But there are some noticable differences.  We will be going with a front elevation that looks more like this.

(Gaye Drew's Home - Featured in Southern Living)

I like the look of the white Hardy Plank siding, which works well in our climate.  I also love the front porch.  There are no spindles to worry about, just columns.  As long as the columns are done correctly and scaled appropriately, we should have a lovely finished product.  I also really like the stone accent around the foundation which you can see more closely in the first photo of the post.  The best part is that this is actually not stone but an Owens Corning product made of stone and fashioned to work for wet and cold climates.    

The front door is another issue. I really wanted a traditional wood door like this.

Again, our lumber men broke my heart explained that wood doors warp and they lose their beauty quickly around here. So now I'm looking at something more like this.

This is a wood door with alumnium clad protection on the front. I am also researching fiberglass doors to see how those look.  

In the midst of everything I am still a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a keeper of our home, etc.  It has been busy around here.

Love to you all.

Getting Settled

We are here and settling in.  I am so thankful.  Last Friday, I packed the kids and the dog in the car at 3am and drove the 10 hours to our new state.  My husband drove the cat in his car the next day.  The trip was long but my babies slept for the first 4 hours which made the day go very quickly.  And everyone behaved, which made it a fun experience.

When we got here, my inlaws were waiting.  They had their home all prepared for us.  We spent the weekend with them.  They are the most amazing parents.  We feel very blessed. We had a great weekend. 

Monday morning we got up and headed to our rental.  The moving truck arrived and unloaded everything for us.

Since then, we have been BUSY!  I have been unpacking, putting things in storage, doing laundry, attending Bible Study Fellowship, having dinner with friends/family, making phone calls, meeting with our architect, getting ERH settled in her new school (which she loves), tending to Pete who is battling a cold, grocery shopping, cleaning, visiting the lot our home will be built on, having my Mom over, laying exhausted on the couch, etc. It has been wild.  But I am so thankful.  This is home and I know we are supposed to be here.

My goal for the next few days is to finish unpacking, write thank you notes and get really settled.  After we accomplish that, I want to get back into blogging. I also hope to get out and meet some new people. 

To all my Ohio friends, I miss you and I think of you and pray for you daily.  To all my friends here, I am so excited to be near you.  I can not wait to see all of you.  To my blog friends, I am so sorry my posts have been sporadic. I will return to normal postings soon:)

Much Love,

M