Dreaming

Man life has been SO busy the past few days!! It was hectic to begin with being a holiday week, but we just purchased a beater truck for Josh to drive to work in and fix up. Well, doing what beater trucks do best it broke down on Tuesday. *rolls eyes* Since I'm the one not working right now (thank you Summer Vacation) I get to be the gopher with the privilege of driving EVERYWHERE to fix things. Don't get me wrong- I love doing what I can to see friends/help people/plan events, but the selfish side of me cannot deny that there are things that I was hoping to do on my summer vacation that I'm not going to be able to afford or get to do because I have a problem with the word no.

Busyness and over-committment to the side, I can still dream. I love my house and look forward to it being a place where my children look around and feel safe and comfortable; where company loves to drop in for a cup of coffee or tea and a chat; where I can put my feet up at the end of a long day, take a deep breath, and relax; where Josh and I can continue doing one of our favorite things together- cooking!

I LOVE our kitchen. It was one of the big selling points to me when we bought this house because of the tall ceiling, beautiful laminate flooring, tons of cabinets, and wide open space- not to mention what I secretly wanted most when we were looking at houses- a window above the sink overlooking the yard. I love being able to watch Josh play with Scooby in the backyard. I love being able to see trees and the sky and birds, and one day our children playing in the yard. Insert a sweet, dreamy melody here. There's only one problem I have with our kitchen: the color of the cabinets.

It's not that they are awful- they really aren't. But when the previous owners installed the laminate flooring they did not take into consideration the tone of the wood in the laminate with the tone in the cabinets.

Case in point:

If you look at the floor vs the cabinets at the top of the photo you can see the orange tone in the cabinets is nothing like the red mahogany tone in the floor.

This probably would not bother most people... but I'm not most people. It bothers me. Not so much that I haven't lived with it for a year, but I have a dream for this kitchen!

These photos from my Pinterest board "Mi Casa" are the inspiration:

Source

Source

And this is a poorly Photoshopped image of the beginnings of my plan:

I CANNOT WAIT! Oh man. My kitchen has so much incredible potential and I cannot wait to see the result! My plans ultimately include:

-Paint the cabinets white (Sherry and John at Young House Love have an awesome tutorial!)
-Install molding up top (and in the whole house, really)
-Install molding on top of the cabinets
-Replace the formica counter tops with butcher block (any recommendations?)
-Update our appliances to stainless steel (this one will definitely be a slow and steady wins the race deal)
-Purchase this baker's rack from Target for storage and to showcase our cookware
-Purchase this island for more workspace (I'm still undecided on an island... decisions, decisions)
-Possibly replace some or all of the top cabinet doors with fiberglass or real glass. (thoughts, anyone?)

This will take a while, but I can't neglect the fact that I am so blessed to have a home of my own to work on. I'm so excited!

I hope everyone here in America had a wonderful July 4th! I got to spend the day with Josh and one of my college roommates stopped in to hang out for a bit en route to see her family. She helped me make an apple pie that I took to the in laws where we dined and feasted and enjoyed some great fireworks!

The pie was a hit!

Photo from my Instagram. Loving the July Photo a Day Challenge!

All I used for this pie was refrigerated pie crusts (the red Pillsbury box with two of them) and two cans of no sugar added apple pie filling. My friend helped me pat the first crust into the bottom of the pie dish (hubby bought it for me because it matches our cookware. sweetie!). To make the adorable stars on top I used a cookie cutter on the other crust and layered them on top of the pie filling. I then baked the pie in the oven on 425 F for 25 minutes, placed tin foil around the crust to keep it from getting too brown and baked it another 20 minutes. Super easy and delish!

Until next time,