five things Friday: weekend in the kitchen edition

Are you sick of hearing about my updated kitchen yet? It was such a big project and took over our lives for long enough that I feel entitled to getting lots of blog material out of it. Plus, the novelty hasn't worn off yet - I just love walking in there and seeing all the light, bright cabinets and shiny new tiles all over again. I also always feel a little more enthusiastic about cooking when I've had a break from it, and after those nights of takeout and pitas with hummus, it's nice to be back in the kitchen.

So I thought we'd end kitchen week with five nice things you can do in the kitchen this weekend - I'll be doing at least a couple of them:

image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

1. Bake and decorate Christmas cookies: my family recipe for cutout cookies is a must-make every holiday season, and I'm prepping some to have a little cookie decorating gathering this weekend. (The photo is how I decorated last year.)

2. Make a big pot of chili: I actually did this last weekend as the first meal in our finished kitchen, but I'm going to do another one - it seems like the perfect dish to go with a cozy day of putting up the Christmas tree and cookie decorating with friends. (The delicious recipe I use is basically this, but starting with chopped up bacon instead of oil...)

3. Organize your spice rack: when it came time to put everything back into the kitchen cupboards, I wanted things to be nicely organized, befitting how good everything else looks... I got a few new drawer organizers but now am thinking it's time to move on to  the spice rack - and I think this organization from Smitten Kitchen is lovely.

4. Hang up some artwork: framing something new is an easy refresher no matter what your kitchen's like. I have my eye on a few things from Etsy like this fun utensils print, but you can also do an instant update with some free printables like these retro kitchen themed ones, a monogram, or even a fun chalkboard holiday print.

5. Clean out the fridge: because it has to be done sometime, and why not clear everything out before filling it with holiday goodies, right? Some tips and cleaning checklists from Real Simple and Martha Stewart might be handy.

Have a happy weekend and beginning of December!

pin to present: painted cabinets

Reminder: next week is the holiday pin-to-present reader feature. Send me a photo of your Pinterest-inspired holiday decor, party outfits, yummy treats, or giftwrap along with a link to the original source and we can inspire each other's holiday prep! 

Most of the kitchen inspirations that catch my eye on Pinterest have nice bright white cabinets, though they always felt like only a dream for a future house with the icky honey oak cabinets I had going on here - until we decided that if we really were going to make some kitchen updates, then we should do them now while we still have a couple of years in this house to enjoy them. And then I started pinning DIY cabinet redos...

inspiration photo and tips: Young House Love | my paint choice: picket fence from the Martha Stewart line

The most helpful cabinet painting resource I found was of course Young House Love. They have tons of helpful posts after DIYing their kitchen redo, and their recap of cabinet painting describes and links to all the materials, procedures, techniques, and tricks you need to know. I did some additional research before starting because I wanted to make sure we were doing everything right - so I also referred to tips from This Old House, Evolution of Style, and Behr.

A few comments on my process:

• Materials: after reading various tutorials and tips, I went with Krud Kutter gloss-off to degloss, Killz primer, and Behr semi-gloss paint.
• Prep work: important! Do your research, and do all those prep steps. And remember to factor this in to the timeframe for your project - because it took almost as long as the painting to do all the prep.
• Procedure: the whole process took almost two weeks and went something like this: (1) remove doors/drawers and use painter's tape to number them along with their corresponding opening and hardware  (2) sand frames and both sides (since my cabinets weren't very glossy, I did only a light sanding by hand), (3) wipe on deglosser, (4) prime frames and door backs with two coats, (5) wait a day then lightly sand and do two paint coats, a couple of hours apart, (6) let dry for two days, (7) flip doors and prime fronts, (8) wait a day then lightly sand and give the fronts two coats of paint, (9) let dry a couple of days more, then reinstall doors.
• Maintaining sanity: almost impossible. It's going to take many days to complete this, the rest of your house is going to turn into a disaster zone while you spend all your free time prepping and painting, and your back will be sore. But look at my before and after photos - it's worth it.

kitchen: sources/details

Thank you all for such nice comments on yesterday's kitchen reveal! We're pleased with it, but it's even better to hear that other people think it looks great too, because it was a lot of work not only to do the projects but also to pick out all the materials in the first place. I started pinning inspirations and researching materials months before we got contractor estimates (Angie's list all the way!), but having never done this before it was hard to make what felt like such big decisions on everything.

Now that it's done, here are some detail shots along with all the sources and some comments about the materials and accessories I ended up choosing (and repurposing in a few cases). It gets wordy, so read if you want kitchen tips; scroll if you want pretty pictures.

Tile: all of the inspiration photos I bookmarked had subway tile backsplashes, so that was a no-brainer. We just went with the Lowe's version for about 21 cents per tile.

Flooring: since we have two doorways with the original wood flooring leading into the kitchen, I wanted to avoid a wood look that might clash and decided on something slate colored. Eventually I discovered these vinyl tiles at a flooring center - they're warmer and softer (i.e. when you drop dishes) than actual tiles, and while the price per square foot was comparable, we ended up saving money because it was installed directly over the old tile (not the original plan; long story, the main points of which are (1) the existing tile was installed to withstand the end times and (2) we discovered that someone put that gross tile over the original hardwoods - gah!).

Counters: when choosing a material for the counter tops, I thought partly about value and about preference - granite seems to be default, but I don't love it, and I don't think the resale value is quite there in our neighborhood. So I thought the butcher block alternative would bring a nice warmth and look good with the style and age of the rest of the house, plus it was really a bargain from Ikea. One of my favorite things about it is how the contractor was able to extend the counter the weird curved shelves on one side of the kitchen - it adds about an extra foot of counter space, plus it makes things look more finished.

Sink: the previous stainless steel sink we had was showing a bit of wear with scratches and burn marks, so I thought if everything else was going to be shiny and new, we might as well pick up a new one since it was fairly inexpensive from Lowe's. Faucets are shockingly expensive though, so we just reused that - though the contractor replaced the icky sprayer nozzle, which makes a big difference.

Dishwasher: the old one was going to need replacing at some point, so this was obviously the time to do it. As a bonus, since we got replacements of the stove and microwave for Christmas last year, we now have all matching appliances.

Knobs/handles: with the cabinet refresh cabinets, I definitely wanted to do some new hardware too - I was thinking a cup pull on the drawers, and the not-quite-standard hole spacing on our drawers helped narrow down my selections greatly. I found these online with a coupon and then selected a coordinating knob from the same company.

Curtain fabric: the faux roman shade is a DIY from a while ago. I still love this chipper print fabric, so I definitely wanted to re-use the shade, so I picked the accent color scheme from there.

Rug: temptations to get all new accent pieces and accessories are great when you're looking at an overhauled kitchen, and I gave in on the rug, brought home on post-Thanksgiving sale from Crate & Barrel. I put it down just for a trial in the photos, but I think it's a keeper - I've always loved these striped rugs, and the gold color is kind of fun.

Paint: we used Behr paint from Home Depot in a semi-gloss since we've seen it rated very well by Consumer Reports in the past; I chose picket fence (cabinets) and sharkey gray (walls) from the Martha Stewart line and had them color matched to the paint.

 

Oven mitt: sometimes the Vera Bradley store likes to send me $20 off coupons, so I picked up a new pot holder set in coordinating colors for a steal.

Canisters: these are just inexpensive jars from Hobby Lobby that were in my craft center - I thought they would be nice for display on the corner shelf, so now they're repurposed to hold Ginger's treats and Peter's candy.

Art: most of the art around the house was made by some family member or family connection of mine (they're a creative bunch), and practically everything was matted and framed by my grandma. This is one of her pieces.

Fruit bowl: and another little something new I couldn't resist at Crate & Barrel - it's perfect on the counter or the side shelves.

Soap: this was our kitchen soap before the renovation, and now it looks even more perfect in here. I already can't resist Method soaps' cute packaging and nice scents, so when the Orla Kiely designed ones showed up at Target, a couple patterns came home with me.

kitchen: reveal!

After months of designing and planning, weeks of work by our contractor, hours and hours of painting, and many complications stemming from having an old house and improperly installed tiles, the kitchen is finally done! We finished a bit beyond the scheduled date (lesson #1 of kitchen remodeling: everything takes longer than you think), but as we came in a bit under budget, I really can't complain.

Let's start with a little refresher on how it looked before:

And here it is now! I didn't love it before, but it was a functional kitchen, and I had tried to improve it with accessories. But now in comparison, I can't believe how seriously ugly those tiles and cabinet colors were... What a difference - lighter, brighter, more modern, and we're thrilled with how it turned out.

We started with wanting to replace our kitchen floor because I hated cleaning those grout lines and we had some cracked tiles - and that quickly led to changing pretty much everything: floor, backsplash, counter, cabinet color, light fixture, and even dishwasher. And every one of those made such a difference in how it looks.

The cabinet and wall painting were our DIY portions of the project, and while they took many hours and weren't always my idea of a good time, I'm so happy we did them. Other than that, I'm sooooo happy we didn't try to DIY anything else. Our contractor did a great job problem solving all the issues that came up (lesson #2 of kitchen remodeling: things get much worse before they get better) and made it look just as I had envisioned.

Coming up tomorrow: details and sources...

weekend: Thanksgiving fun

How was your Thanksgiving? We're back from celebrating with family in Michigan - grateful that Peter had the whole weekend off this year, so we were able to make the trip. I'm lucky to be able to get almost everyone I love all at once on Thanksgiving day - immediate family, both sets of grandparents, parents-in-law, and a whole bunch more relatives - and it's always a great gathering.

There was more family fun, but this is what I got photos of: we started Thanksgiving with a turkey trot (aka Pilgrim's Prance) organized by my uncle on a nice (but kind of brutal) wooded trail through sand dunes. Over the weekend, I also got to hang out with my mom and sister a bunch, and Saturday night we had a festive family dinner - our new-ish tradition whenever we're all in the same place is to have a reunion of our Costa Rica vacation with a make-your-own chalupa dinner.

cousin Jake was the first 5k finisher, followed by Peter | post-run family shoe pile | happy to have finished (sandy hills make for a super tough 10k!) | pre-meal chatter | Thanksgiving feast | our crew is big enough we hold dinner at the neighborhood clubhouse

mom & sister pedicures | festive toes during dinner prep | range of reds | chalupa dinner | my dad's Mexican chocolate cupcake dessert creation | post-dinner Ginger snuggles

We ended the weekend back at our house, hosting Peter's sister and visiting parents for our first dinner prepared in the new and improved (and finally finished) kitchen. And now for the rest of the week, it's kitchen week around this blog! The big reveal comes tomorrow...

five things Friday: count your blessings edition

Happy Thanksgiving! After a lovely day with my family, I'm feeling thankful for all the many and abundant blessings in my life, like my husband, family, friends, health, job, home... and I could go on and on. I'm grateful for all of you out there reading too - you make this such a fun hobby.

Thanksgiving is a day to count your blessings, both great and small - and what better way to remember, appreciate, and enjoy the wonderful things in life than with some beautifully rendered quotes from writers who put gratitude so eloquently.

1. e.e. cummings designed by my grandma | 2. Ralph Waldo Emerson designed by Oh My Deer | 3. John Muir designed by Lit Prints | 4. Doxology designed by Raw Art Letterpress | 5. Louis Armstrong designed by The Wheatfield

One of my favorite poems is e.e. cummings' "i Thank You God" - very appropriate for this holiday, of course. I have this print from my grandma hanging in our dining room, and any of these others would be a great companion for it. (Christmas list!)

presently pinning: holiday inspiration (+ reader feature)

Around my house, Christmas stuff doesn't start until after Thanksgiving. But that doesn't mean I couldn't gather a little Pinspiration beforehand. I have tons of lovely ideas saved up, but there are only so many decorations one can do in one house... I've picked out my decor projects (inspired by the Land of Nod catalog, from which I wanted one of every holiday decoration - I'm going to recreate this wreath and these garlands).

Since I had to narrow down all of my ideas to just a couple, I thought it would be fun to see what everyone else decides on, with another reader feature. Send me your Pinterest-inspired holiday decorations, party outfits, yummy treats, gift wrap, etc. and on December 6 I'll showcase yours!

But for now, let's not get ahead of ourselves - enjoy your Thanksgiving, however you spend it. We get to see the whole family this year, and I can't wait.

ornament garland from BHG | ornament bouquet from Real Simple 

pom pom giftwrap from Bugs and Fishes | newspaper giftwrap with initial tags from Allora Handmade

colorful garland tree from Down to the Woods | scalloped felt trees from Land of Nod | crepe paper ruffle tree garland from A Field Journal

cookies & cream bark from Bakers Royale | peppermint chocolate chip cookies from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

temporary (thankfully)

While we're all on the subject of being thankful this week: recently I've been feeling the kind of thankfulness and appreciation for things that comes from not having them. After several weeks of washing dishes in the bathroom and having the contents of our pantry stored on top of the piano, it'll be a long time before I take for granted the basics of a working kitchen... Though it's a bit behind schedule and there have been several headaches along the way, the contractor should be finished (fingers crossed, knocking on wood, whatever it takes) by Thanksgiving. Wahoo!

I kind of wish I were on one of those HGTV shows on which I got to go away for the install and just come back for the big reveal - instead, the closer I see us getting to the finish, the harder it is to be patient for everything to be done. And to put up with drying dishes in the bathtub any longer. (Not to mention that when the contractor is done, there will be finishing touches that we need to do ourselves - put everything back in the cabinets, paint the trim, etc.)

But I can have a big blog reveal! Stay tuned for it next week - and in the meantime, here's a little sneak peek of the difference a month can make.

weekend: the final countdown

We've hit another very exciting milestone in residency: the last of the Saturday call shifts. Last year at Thanksgiving was the start of Peter's solo calls as a 2nd year resident - and ever since then, we've been looking forward to this Thanksgiving, when the call schedule greatly improves for him as a 3rd year. Being done with Saturday call was the big light at the end of the tunnel, and now we're there! He's now down to approximately 1 weekend call shift per month and no more of those 28+ hour Saturday ones after this weekend's. (Those poor current 2nd years now get the brunt of things in the call schedule, including Thanksgiving & Christmas, both of which Peter worked last year. Yay for us this year!)

To be honest, the more I've settled in to living in Cincinnati, the less I've minded the Saturdays. The days don't feel quite as long when I've got things to do and friends to see. But of course it's much nicer for me to have him around and much nicer for him to not have to work so much, so we're excited.

While Peter was gone all day and night on his last Saturday, I had lots to do around the house, including painting the kitchen walls (we're getting there on the remodel...), running, dog walking, laundry and other cleaning - and then after all of that I rewarded myself with the evening's entertainment: a little trip to wander around the mall followed by a big ol' glass of wine and watching the most recent BBC version of Emma.

five things Friday: dog treats edition

Today Ginger and I are excited to be guests on the Floyd's friends series on Total Basset Case... Sarah is a fellow Cincinnati blogger, and I've enjoyed getting to know her over the last few months. Floyd the basset hound is the star of the show on her blog - the stories and photos of him are hilarious - and on Fridays they feature a blogger dog friend. So hop over to read about a day in the life of Ginger, and in honor of the occasion, here we have five little treats that any pup - and puppy mama - would love to have:

1. on the go bowl | 2. dog placemat (Ginger's getting one of these to protect our new kitchen floors when they're done!) | 3. rope collar | 4. coral print dog bed | 5. sweater cape (okay, so I don't know if any dogs love these, but I can't get over them - adorable)

We had a little photo shoot for the guest post - a couple of leftovers (and an outtake) ... of my pup and me. We're looking forward to some sunny walks this weekend - hope you and all your furry friends have a great one!

pin to present: new/old

I've noticed that while my pin to present series has gotten me to actually do more of the things on my Pinterest boards, I seem to generally do the most recently pinned things. I guess because they're fresher in my mind? In any case, this is one of my latest pinned outfit inspirations, from within the last week, and I got on it right away. It was a win-win-win, because besides being both cute and warm, it prompted new use of mostly old things in my wardrobe.

inspiration: My Style Pill repinned from Shea | jacket: thrifted (similar); sweater: F21; shirt: JCrew; jeans: Loft; flats: Old Navy

For $17.50, this polka dotted sweater was pretty much irresistible when I spotted it a few weeks ago, and I've been wearing it a lot. It got even better though when I spotted this outfit on Pinterest that happens to pair the same sweater with several items already in my closet... The red jacket was a staple in my wardrobe last winter, but I hadn't been quite as excited about it yet this season until I gave it a new style with this inspiration. Same with the gingham. And I loved it - both items are feeling rejuvenated for sure.

Shared with Copycat Friday on Frills for Thrills and Friday's Fancies on Long Distance Loving

how do I love thee: VA rotation

At the beginning of October Peter started a three-month rotation at the VA hospital. While it's not always his favorite place to work in terms of some of the setup and staff, it's pretty much always my favorite for one big reason: the schedule. Much of their time is spent in clinic, rather than the operating room, and they don't always have patients to round on, so that means having much closer to regular person office hours.* Yay. My love of the schedule is summed up by all of these perks:

1. earlier dinners: more clinic days and fewer patients staying in the hospital means arriving home at more normal people dinner time, which makes me happy (and less hungry). And sometimes Peter even does the cooking, like his special pasta dish.

2. lazy Friday mornings: usually Fridays have only afternoon clinic, so if there aren't any patients to round on in the morning, it means sleeping later (maybe even 7am!) and eating breakfast together. Like on this day when I sat on the counter while Peter made us pancakes.

3. actual holidays: residency schedules generally don't respect regular people days off, like the weekend or holidays, but at the VA, there aren't scheduled clinics/surgeries on federal holidays... And this three-month block is the best for those - Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas (I mean, I don't even get those first two off!). We pretty much always celebrate a bonus day off with breakfast out.

4. help around the house: less time spent at work equals more time at the house; this timing worked out perfectly for the kitchen cabinet painting, thank goodness, since Peter was around enough to help me with half of this ginormous project (and was very good about offering to do so after my little "I hate painting" meltdown early on).

5. a walking companion: more time at home also equals more joining Ginger and me for walks (plus he even scoops the poop... now that's true love).


*lest you think that he's getting off too easy, there are still enough weekend call shifts and VA home call duties (read: occasional pager in the middle of the night - the worst part of the VA, in my opinion...) and required lectures/reading/courses that add up to still working a plenty long work week. But there's most definitely more free time and sleep than regular residency work weeks, so we'll take it.

reading lately

Three book club selections per month and a vacation week have led to a fair bit of reading around here lately. A few books that I've recently enjoyed, in no particular order:

The Art of Racing in the Rain
I adored this story narrated by Enzo the dog. His voice embodies so many of the things you'd think would be going on in a dog's head, from his unending loyalty and unconditional love for his family, to his excitement over peanut butter crackers, to his frustration over not having thumbs. Overall, it's a kind of sad story about Denny, who loses his wife to cancer, fights a custody battle with his in-laws, and chases his always a little out of reach dream to be a race car driver, but it definitely has its happy moments too. Enzo's narration is what brings the story to life, making it entertaining and at times very funny, and making you feel, through Enzo, sympathy and tenderness and love for Denny and his family. Note: this one's very likable but a tear-inducer.

The Night Circus
This was on my to read list for a long time, so my anticipation may have caused it to be a little bit of a let-down... It took me a little while to get into since it flips back and forth in time so much, and I often felt a bit lost about what was going on in the background (though that was probably intentional on the part of the author, since the characters were all a bit in the dark too), but overall I did enjoy this story of dueling magicians and their romance in a fantastical night-time circus and got a bit lost (the good kind) in all the magical descriptions of the circus' many wonders.

The Beginner's Goodbye
I seem to be having a trend lately of enjoying novels about people who have recently been widowed (see also An Available Man). Sounds so depressing to say, but these aren't depressing books, I promise. This one was a quick read, quiet but enjoyable, and I got very wrapped up in Anne Tyler's fictional world. So glad I happened upon this in the library while I was picking up something else - a reminder that I enjoy pretty much everything Anne Tyler writes.

The Age of Miracles
This was one of my favorite recent reads - it's a coming-of-age story of an 11-year-old girl, set on the backdrop of scientists' recent discovery that the earth's rotation has begun to slow. This leads to much longer days and nights, which leads to all kinds of environmental issues (crops don't grow, temperatures become extremely cold or hot, gravity is no longer quite right), not to mention societal issues (how do you run businesses and schools when the sun comes up only every 48 hours?). I loved the main character, and it's a fascinating premise that really makes you think about how humans adapt and how life (and middle school broken friendships, crushes, embarrassments, and homework assignments) just goes on amidst a changing environment, and about cause & effect in relationships and actions. It's a fast read and quite engaging, makes you think but is not overly complicated; it stuck with me for days and made for a great book club discussion book.

The Good Earth
A recent "classics" pick for one of my book clubs, which I had never read before, and I'm glad I now have. The overarching themes - humans' connection to the earth, the potential destructiveness of wealth and the desire for more, the gap in understanding among generations - obviously make it a classic; these themes are all still so relevant, even if my life is vastly different from a poor Chinese farmer in the early 20th century (and let's add that I count myself quite lucky that I'm a woman in modern times, rather than a sturdy farm wife who gave birth to babies alone in her room and then went back to work in the fields an hour later. I wouldn't have made it). The writing is quite straightforward, which fits the subject and the characters well, but I did feel like the author hit me over the head with the themes kind of obviously at times, which made it drag a little. Definitely worth a read though.

gone to Carolina (and back)

With Peter's second vacation week of the year, we decided to pack up the car and the dog and head to the Charleston, South Carolina, area - and I think now we'll start choosing all our vacation spots based on songs I like. We sang John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" as we drove around Colorado in August, and last week I queued up James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind" as we hit North Carolina on our drive. I think I'm going to start singing a little ditty about "Paris in the Springtime" and see where that gets me... In the meantime, the Carolinas are quite lovely in the fall.

We rented a great little apartment in Folly Beach and spent the week going out for breakfast, strolling on the beach with the dog, reading, playing tennis, wandering Charleston and Folly Beach looking at pretty houses, and going to bed early (except election night). Basically, we vacation like an old couple. And it was great.

We loved Folly Beach - during the summer I imagine it's pretty crowded, but this time of year it was nice and quiet (with fairly cheap rental rates), and it's very convenient to get to Charleston. The beach was great for running, and there were lots of fun places to eat too.

Folly Beach fishing pier | on the pier near sunset | one of the restaurants in town | lots of great beach houses to ogle | lots of great beach walking to do | wandering Rainbow Row in Charleston | more Charleston loveliness

And as with most of our travels, we spent a fair bit of time trying out the food offerings... We of course had to eat some seafood while we were there (got that covered with fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, fish/shrimp tacos), along with some low country cooking. Our great dinner at Husk in Charleston was a highlight - lots of interesting, fresh presentations of southern food (all ingredients are sourced below the Mason-Dixon line). It was in a beautiful old house, and their bar next door was so cool, in an old exposed brick building with lots of inventive cocktails.

appetizer of slow smoked TN pork ribs and arugula salad with roasted beets & bourbon pears | Husk's bar next door, a cozy 1890's exposed brick building | Husk's main dining room, a house built in 1893 | low country shrimp boil | Folly Beach breakfast spot #1 (visited x2) | Folly Beach breakfast spot #2