4th of July festivities

Uncle and Aunt C came in to spend the 4th with us.  Yeah!!  My Nana and aunt also came up from down South.  Double bonus!!

We celebrated Mei Mei's birthday.  Again :)  She didn't mind in the least (once she got over being shy around Uncle and Aunt C)!

We hit the local Independence Day carnival.  In Uncle's words..."This place hasn't changed.  At all.  The rides are even in the exact same location as when I was growing up!"  Ahhh, nostalgia!

We ate.  And ate.  Oh yeah, and ate some more.

We celebrated the freedom that we have been so graciously given (and quite honestly, too often take for granted) and we celebrated being around those that we love.

It was a good great holiday!!

 

Kitchen re-do part II

A few days ago I shared part I in our kitchen re-do

Before shots

After he had painted the walls and cabinets, changed out the lighting and switched out the breakfast bar with a bowling alley (seriously!) it was time to hit the counters and the sink/backsplash.

As I had explained earlier, this little project had begun before the holidays and we had gotten our referral for Mei Mei but we were still waiting on travel dates.  Those finally came in January with a travel date of February.  That being said, the kitchen was put on hold while we got down to the serious business of bringing home our little one!  Seriously exciting stuff!!

Once we arrived home and life settled down into a more normal routine, J picked up where he had left off. He sold me on using some retro boomerang laminate for the counters and then the Saturday before Easter, he put in a new sink and faucet.

 

The finishing touch was to just put up the backsplash behind the sink and voila......

our new kitchen!

I love how bright and cheery it is.  What a change, don't ya think?!

***And in all honesty and full disclosure, the kitchen is never this tidy...but who wants to see a bunch of junk cluttering up the counters?!  Just keepin' it real ;)

Mei Mei's birthday

Someone turns 3 today!  Miss Mei Mei!!

We had the family over yesterday for a little party--the big request?  Elmo cupcakes.  Done!

I don't think she got the whole idea that it was her birthday, but she was thrilled to have everyone there, none-the-less.  She definitely got into the gifts though.  That didn't take long--ha!

Highlights of the evening?  Mei Mei putting her Tonka trucks into her new purse and drilling with all her jewelry on.  Love it!

Happy birthday sweet girl!  You are our precious Mei Mei and we can't get enough of you!!  Big hugs to you on your special day.

Summer's here...must be time for strawberries!

With summer here, it is time to hit the U-pick farms.  Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries...they're all delicious, and each year, I try to make sure we go pick while we can!

LaLa came with us this time, so she and Mei Mei worked together to fill a bucket.

The Noodle and I each had our own buckets.  I have to say, she has gotten pretty good at picking berries. She knows the routine--work first and then eat (a few berries and then at the custard place down the road). We had to make sure Mei Mei learned the ropes as well--she did :)

The best reward for (literally) backbreaking work?  A cool, sweet treat.  Not to mention sticky fingers and mouths from the juice.

Summer memories!

Kitchen re-do Part I

If you've spent a little while around here, you know that 3 summers ago we bought the house I grew up in from my parents.  They moved into a condo and we jumped back into home renovation.  You can read about the mudroom renovation here, the powder room here, and the addition here.

Next up was the kitchen.

You can tell in the before that some things were pretty dated.  The wall color was a warm terracotta color but the counters and cabinets had been there for.ever.  The conversations with  my folks about moving in had been going on for a number of years and so they didn't really want to make major decisions and purchases (like counters or cabinets) when they knew we'd be moving in eventually changing things up. Everyone just made it work.

This is the view standing in one doorway, coming up from the entry.  It is a pretty standard kitchen--not too big, but definitely workable.  What is nice is that at the far end, under the window, is a breakfast bar.  We eat quite a few meals here.

This is the view standing from the living room looking in.  We did need to get some new appliances (a few that were planned and a few that were surprises.......).  You can see the dining room off to the left.

Those little swaths of gray-blue on the walls?  A peek of what was to come.

 Here's the view from the dining room with the entry on the left and the living room on the right.

When we J started working on the kitchen it was just before the holidays.  We had gotten the referral for Mei Mei but had no idea when we'd be traveling.  All that being said, we wanted to do as much as we could but without dropping a lot of coinage.  Simplest way?  Paint!

The walls got covered in Quietude by Sherwin Williams  which is also what we used in the treehouse (cannot believe I have not done a post/reveal about that!), the powder bathroom, mudroom and entry.  The cabinets got painted white and instantly the room felt brighter and more updated.  He also added some stainless behind the stove and we got a new hood.

At one time there had been some water damage from a leak over the breakfast bar so that needed to be addressed and some wall patching done.  J also changed up the lights which helped to brighten things up since the only natural light comes from the window which looks out onto our screened in porch.

Speaking of the breakfast bar.  How to re-do it?  When J's folks had built their house, his dad had bought a bowling alley off of e-bay to use as workbenches.  Yes, J's ability to "re-use" comes naturally!  I would have never thought to use it, but he had some left over and it was the right size (at the right price) so we decided to go for it.

I love it!  It took 3 men to lug that heavy, cumbersome plank in, but once it dropped into place (and stayed there) it totally changed the feel of the kitchen.  It is maple, suuuuper thick and nice and glossy.

 

In the next post I'll reveal the finished room with the new tile backsplash and the countertops.