Language Barrier Monday

Back again with another fun difference in language between the UK and the US! While this one isn't quite as difficult to figure out, I do find it a fun change to the US word.

Language Barrier Monday

Having just returned from England for Christmas, I am armed with a whole lot of new posts for our Language Barrier Monday series. Get ready!

A Finished Kitchen

In all honesty, I have yet to take some professional quality photos of the finished kitchen, but here is a little sneak peek anyway...

 

More to come soon once the little details are all finished.

Steamboat Springs Adventures

Late last week, with a long weekend looming I was feeling a bit desperate to get out of dodge. With all of the kitchen renovations and other daily stresses of life, I decided to surprise Chris with a night away somewhere. There were all of our favorite places to consider, but in the end I decided to take us somewhere new. We love a good explore of a new town so I knew Chris would love the choice just as much as I did.  

We set off early Saturday morning, coffee in hand, for a three hour journey to Steamboat Springs. We only spent one night there, but I have already declared it my new favorite place in Colorado. It is a STUNNING place.

#StapKitchenReno - Update #5

Phew! What a busy few weeks it's been around here! Apologies for going dark around here, but we had a pretty big party to prepare for so it has been all eyes on the prize with this kitchen!

It's actually starting to be a functional space, which couldn't have happened fast enough!  Our party went off without a hitch and made us realize even more what a great entertaining space we have created!

We still have some small details left to do, like texture the ceiling from our drywall repair, and build small custom wine storage... as well as one or two bigger details, like getting rid of that archway over the entrance to the kitchen and the big back splash tiling job... but at least we have a usable kitchen again at long last!

Here's how our list is looking at the moment... (look at all of those items crossed off!!)

• Remove partition wall between dining room and kitchen
• Dismantle existing kitchen cabinets & island  
• Remove dishwasher, range and microwave (and sell!)
• Remove tile flooring in dining room 
• Remove and/or reroute electrical from partition wall   (we still have some electrical to finish up, as well as some lighting design to decide on.)
• Assemble new kitchen cabinets 
• Have wood floors extended and refinished (hired out) 
• Repair drywall on ceiling and wall from wall removal
• Install new cabinets, hardware, drawers and doors  
• Have new countertops installed  
• Install new sink & cooktop
• Install hood over new cooktop 
• Tile wall above sink & cooktop 
• Put toe kicks, moulding, and other finishing touches on the space 
• Demo archway on dining room entrance, and replace with beautiful custom moulding!

Now, you'll have to excuse me while I go stare at my kitchen...

Kitchen Evolution

Last summer during a particularly creative spell, I found myself daydreaming about expanding our kitchen. I had no idea that one year later we would be doing just that.  

While the overall design has evolved, the concept remains the same: knock out a wall, move the formal dining room to the front room and make an enormous kitchen.  It has been just a few short weeks (7, to be exact) and our kitchen is coming along quite nicely.  

Just for fun, here is a little look at it before, after a cabinet paint job, and a few progress photos of our current renovation.  Enjoy!

#StapKitchenReno - Update #4

Well, it certainly took longer than I thought it would, but we officially have a kitchen island! I will save you the story of all the roadblocks we encountered while trying to place that island, and just tell you that we did it. :) You have no idea how proud we are of that beauty!

We are still without a sink, cooktop and oven but are starting to see real progress which helps keep us motivated for the time being.  We are hoping by late next week that we have a working kitchen again, which is - of course - dependent on the electrician coming through for us.Who knew electricians were so popular?!

Here's how our list is looking at the moment...

• Remove partition wall between dining room and kitchen
• Dismantle existing kitchen cabinets & island  
• Remove dishwasher, range and microwave (and sell!)
• Remove tile flooring in dining room 
• Remove and/or reroute electrical from partition wall (hired out) 
• Assemble new kitchen cabinets 
• Have wood floors extended and refinished (hired out) 
• Repair drywall on ceiling and wall from wall removal (after the electrical + inspection)
• Install new cabinets, hardware, drawers and doors  (the island is done, hoping to get the rest done in the next few days!)
• Have new countertops installed (hired out) - measuring this week, hopefully install next week!
• Install new sink & cooktop (once countertops are in)
• Install hood over new cooktop (once countertops are in)
• Tile wall above sink & cooktop (this one will be delayed until we live with the space a bit and decide which type and color of tile to go with here.)
• Put toe kicks, moulding, and other finishing touches on the space 

It is all starting to come together now, which is a huge relief!  When you convince your husband that demolishing a wall is a good idea, and you have measured and designed the kitchen without seeing the space opened up first, you cross your fingers and hope it all turns out okay!  I am happy to say that we are both very pleased with how it is turning out so far!

#StapKitchenReno - Update #3

Thought I would pop in and share a bit more progress that has been made on the kitchen.  What a transformation having these new floors in and having the existing ones refinished.  We love how the finish turned out!

A New 30-Day Challenge - Salad Style

One really interesting thing I have learned through all of my joint and inflammation issues (among so many interesting things!!) is to gear my diet to include a lot more alkaline foods and drinks. Apparently the sweet spot is to get 80% alkaline and 20% acidic.  This isn't just for those suffering from inflammation or joint pain, it's actually fascinating to learn all of the things that this type of diet can help with.  If you are interested, I highly suggest doing some research of your own, as I am certainly not an expert!

I have made so many changes with my diet over the past 4 or 5 years (removing meat, dairy, gluten,  & soda, reducing processed foods and sugar, increasing fresh, whole foods) but I have been feeling like I need to make more effort on this front. Switching up my diet to include more alkaline foods is likely to make a big difference in my health overall, including the dreaded inflammation I have suffered from for the past 3 years.  

Now, I love a good salad. Give me a big bed of spinach, kale, lettuce and I will happily pile it high with fresh chopped vegetables (sans dressing).  I am not, however, good at doing this regularly which is strange given how much I love it.  It just hasn't become a habit to include a salad into my daily diet for one reason or another.  Not to mention that it usually involves chopping whatever vegetables happen to be in the fridge and throwing them on top of greens.  Not a whole lot of planning involved.

So I am going to do a little salad challenge (similar to my bikram yoga challenge) to jump start what I hope will result in us incorporating salads several times a week, if not daily.  So I have been trolling through Pinterest to find some new salad recipes just to mix things up and keep it interesting.

Here are some that top my list...

Southwestern Chopped Salad - courtesy of The Garden Grazer

#StapKitchenReno - Update #2

Well, it might not mean checking several items off the list, but we (Chris) did knock a pretty big one off the list!  We said adios to the partition wall between the kitchen and dining room and it is amazing how much bigger the space feels now!  It is also a lot brighter now that the big dining room window is a part of the new kitchen space.  Since the kitchen is on the East side of the house, any additional natural light come the afternoon is much appreciated!