a little closer...!

On the other side of this plastic, Steve is sanding and priming all the sheetrock in the great room !!! Soon it will look like a real space!
You're also getting a glimpse of our cabinets in all their glory!! This is looking from the mud room into the kitchen, then ultimately, into the dining room. I call this set of drawers "The Six Pack", used to tell Steve (who has no earthy idea where I've put things away, then rearranged...and rearranged again until it makes the most sense where the spatulas and foil wrap should live) how to locate items in our humongous new kitchen :) Isn't it so cute?!

cooking in our kitchen!

Thanks to Steve's mom and her repertoire of recipes, we enjoyed a new cheesedip....which we made in OUR NEW KITCHEN! It's so exciting to be able to use appliances and have a countertop, and working drawers, and a perfect space for everthing...I could go on!

mmm...fresh produce! (ok, so the backsplash isn't tiled yet, but everything else is pretty much done :)

What I've been up to...

...the past few weeks. This 4 foot by 5 foot painting that I call "Night Lights" is for some college friends that asked me to do a painting for their house they've recently remodeled (and they've done a great job with their improvements! Definitely motivating for Steve and I!) We delivered it to their house (thanks for the van mom and dad!) where I saw all of the wonderful sewing projects she's decorated with and I'm itching to get my New Home machine out from under the dust cover (which is in fact covered with dust) and put it to use again!
Part of me has been waiting for our remodel to be finished before I continued with crafting simply because our space is in such disarray that it seems exhausting to move everything around...just to move everything around again later. However, I'm getting past that and past all the mess that was holding me back earlier. Piles of pantry items, boxes from new appliances and stacks of paint cans are "no longer going to hold me back" I proclaim! :)

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, I'm so ready for our kitchen to be usable again! We have our appliances in place and most of the trim work done around the windows and cabinets....but I can't start the wonderful task of putting kitchen things up until the walls are sanded: the messiest thing so far.

Happy 4th and happy kitchen!

We had a very happy 4th of July! It had everything that makes it great: summer heat, a short power outage,
hanging out with the whole family, games, and of course...


homemade ice cream!!! (once the power came back on)

Here are a few snipits of our happy kitchen!

We LOVE the farmhouse sink from Ikea! Unfortunately, the corner broke off during install! (sniff sniff) But our amazing contractors are replacing it soon and we're very thankful!

The appliances and plumbing are yet to be done, but after that, there are 'little' things for us to finish up like: tiling the backsplash and laying hardwood floors ourselves, then I'll post some more finished photos!!! If you can't wait that long, then come on over and see it in person! :) We love showing it off if you don't mind walking through our maze of furniture, boxes, ladders (and dirt...dirt of all kinds that reappear immediately after I sweep and vacuum. It's inevitable. I give up.)

a teaser!

As we 'speak', the painters are on the other side of this plastic giving the kitchen base cabinets their shade of aqua!!! (technically, 'scuba green' from Benjamin Moore) Isn't it exciting!!!!!!!! I love how this glow is so tempting!!! Can't wait to show other reveal photos later this week!!!!

When it rains it pours

Our new kitchen cabinets came the other day!!!!
The one day in weeks that it's rained!!!
They were soaking wet and I almost lost it when the guys tilted the cabinets over to let the gallons of water pour out of them...! But everything worked out ok. Only a couple had to be refaced and the others dried out nicely, thank you Lord!

Steve and I had lots of sheetrock finishing to do before the cabinets could go up, and we have to let everyone know out there who might be hanging sheetrock soon that there is a lighter weight material out there!!! It's called Ultralight and it's literally almost half the weight of normal drywall. Who knew!? But it sure made it easier for Steve! (Really, all I did was hand him tools...) But I am really getting good at mudding! (If you're seeing this photo and think "...she's not really doing a good job mudding.." please let me know! )

The beadboard is up on the ceilings and we're so excited about how it's looking! The 'grid-looking' trim pieces will cover all the seams later...probably going to let the contractors do that as well seeing how miserable it was for them to hang the 4x8 panels over their heads. Thanks guys!! You are the best!!

A corner cabinet will be added soon. (also why I was lazy and didn't mud all the way up the wall...shhh)

last supper

kalamata olives, tomatoes and fresh basil pasta (made me think of you Brandy and our Tuesday night dinners!)

So this was one of our 'last suppers' before we (Steve) tore out our entire kitchen last weekend! And when I say "tore out" I am refering to the new rule of the house: 'don't leave the bedroom unless you're wearing shoes' (because there are wood chips and splinters, insulation cotton balls, nails and screws of many sorts, shards of broken tile all over the place...) kind of tore out! HOORAY! we say!
He and dad worked so hard the last few weeks and it's almost ready for our new cabinets and ceiling!!! We're very worn out to say the least, and excited about a new kitchen! Now...who wants to volunteer to help us tile the backsplash and lay hardwood floors...? huh? any takers? :)

Welcome Summer!

I got inspired to make something after hanging out with my friend Lauren who is a 'craft making machine' right now! Well, after pricing new front doors, the reality was....I'll just paint the one we have! Man! those new doors are expensive, so a fresh coat of charcoal paint perks up the front entry and looks updated. (much better than the white steel door with a few brush strokes of off white paint here and there...I guess the homeowners couldn't tell they were using a totally different color paint for touch ups on the door!)

My painted canvas pineapple! I sewed a front and back together, leaving an opening at the bottom, painted the pineapple and 'welcome', spray sealed it, stuffed it with newspaper (we're getting free-be daily papers delivered, as a marketing tactic I assume, and we're putting them to good use in crafts and as drop cloths! Thanks Democrat Gazzette!) and sewed up the bottom! = 2 hours! Hazzah!



My birthday came again this year! The homemade strawberry jam and bread were a divine way to wake up each morning of my birthday week! Thanks Werles!!!



We went to Dallas for the holiday weekend and really enjoyed seeing Steve's family, shopping, eating out (Abuelo's and Razoo's you are so tasty!) and the beautiful Courtyard Marriot!


See...beautiful courtyard! The lobby/cafe area was gorgeous too! A much needed getaway from a house that isn't as put together :)

We have visitors!

Melissa and Daisy are visiting us this week! Yeah! We love them!

Here is Daisy before going to the groomer for her annual 'Summer Shave' and here is the after!

 We're sure she's more comfortable in the heat this way...but is she comfortable with herself? We think so. Doesn't she look hilarious!!! I can't help to giggle at her during the day, but I love her just the same! Kisses puppers!!!!

ART in COOKING: inspiration for a painting? perhaps! I love the perfect circles of extra virgin olive oil and how they swam around each other like you would find in a 'live modern art exhibit' in MOMA!

ART in PAINT MIXING: this is always fascinating to me when I mix paint colors together! AMAZING!