When Winter Comes

You can't have too much light! One of the only things I don't love about Seattle is the darkness. Winter is ramping up here and the darkness is closing in. For those of you unfamiliar with the Northern latitudes this means that in the dead of winter the sun rises at 7:55 am and sets at 4:21 pm giving us all of 8 hours of daylight. I know others have it worse but sheesh!

End rant.

The point is, we can use all of the light we can get. This one, in particular, is all about the kitchen (though I'm still pretty smitten with our new Dining room light). With the new layout the end of the kitchen by the door wasn't getting enough light. It's been something we have been planning on fixing for a while now (like since this July 9th post) and we finally got it done.

Here's our little nook with it's brand new light.

Amazon still offers it for a mere $43.29, such a steal! It compliments the light over the sink as well as the track lighting we put in perfectly. All, in all, I'm a happy camper.

In other kitchen news. We finally started installing the rest of our molding in the kitchen.

 It still needs a few touch ups and some caulk but we are rounding the bend on the last few minute details. I'll tell you all about our process and plans when we get it finished. Until then!

Cheers!

Dining Room Bling

I love my little chandelier but I have always dreamed of something more. Something like this in fact.

via

Every time I'm out and about I always swing by my local ReStore hoping to get lucky. I've seen a few but they are always sold by the time I get to them. Not this time. I jumped on that baby and now she is mine.

What do you think?

It was really heavy so we thought we'd let it hang for a while with some pillows underneath just in case it fell. 

Norman thought we were making the floor particularly comfortable just for him. In the end we abandoned the pillows and trusted that we used the right hardware. So far thing thing is staying up.

Here are some close up shots.

I love the pineapples.  Apparently they are a symbol of hospitality so you should all feel very welcome looking at my dining room. 

It adds such a nice presence to the room. I also got the chance to finally get a picture of our dining room rug.

$40 at Goodwill. Don't you just love that place? It is in really good shape and the colors are just right for the house. 

My mind is whirling on all of the seating options that might work better though so this room still needs some loving before it is complete.

Anyone else stumble upon something wonderful? I just learned we have HomeGoods in our state so Daniel might have cause to be afraid.

Cheers!

Watermelon, Mint & Feta Salad AKA Summer in a Bowl

I may or may not be addicted to Trader Joes. Not going to lie, I am probably in there at least four times a week and many of the employees know me by name. Come on, you know if you had a Tj's within walking distance you'd be there all the time too. Any-hoo. The last two days (hey, I told you I had a problem) they have been sampling watermelon salad and I just had to share it with you. This is definitely becoming one of my staple recipes.

It is super easy. Gather your ingredients.

Chop and toss.

I pretty much eyeballed it. I would guess it would be 1/3 cup feta, 1 tbs rice wine (or white balsamic) vinegar, one small watermelon, and 2 tbs chopped mint. Delicious and not that bad for you. I used fat free feta which made one serving (this made 2) cost me 1 pt+ (for you weight watchers folks out there).

This lovely thing showed up today too.

Sadly it won't be installed until the weekend but I am giddy just thinking about it (picture me dancing around the kitchen singing "it's finally happening!") 

Anyone else have an easy and low fat summer salad they love? My goal weight is about 15lb away and I am excited about getting there.

Cheers!

Linking up to:
Frugal Friday

Face Lift

Remember how I told you last week I'd have all sorts of progress to show you? Yeah, nothing happened. But this week is different! First up I've got a serious face lift to reveal. Ready? You know you are!

For those of you who have been following along patiently with this little kitchen reno you will probably recall that many things had to happen to get the kitchen where it is right now (walls had to be taken down, moved, drywalled, beams torn out, and old lighting removed to say the least). All of that fuss left our kitchen ceiling looking a little shabby. I give you exhibit A

Here it is from another angle with details.

Here's what we've got now.

About a billion times better right? What's that? Why yes we did replace that fugly 90's track lighting! Isn't she a beaut?

We have been sitting on this light since we first started the kitchen. It is from Home Depot by Hampton Bay. We got ours in bronze to go with the other light fixtures.

Speaking of other lights, we also updated the light over the sink. I know, you're thinking, didn't they already do that? We did, but there were some issues. The main issue was that with the dining room in direct line of sight to the kitchen sink, anyone sitting down was blinded by the light (never a good thing). So a quick trip to the ReStore and $9.00 later we have this lovely little shade.

Pretty isn't it.

Even better is that it goes perfectly with the light we are going to be putting by the back door.

Via Amazon

Amazon pulls through again with this pretty $43.53 dollar number. A steal right? Seeing as that similar ones were going for upwards of $90 at the ReStore I think we got a good deal. That should be here next week and soon our lighting will be complete! 

I'm still plugging away a painting cabinets. Slowly but surely my friends. I did attempt to install my new drawer hardware to show you but the screws they included weren't long enough to attach. **sigh** hopefully next week. I need to call and see what can be done.

Many little things left to work on, but the tiling and the flooring are the last big things.  Daniel and I made a pact, if he finishes removing the ceiling bits in the bedroom then I will finish tearing up the floor. If you've ever worked with a Dremel then you know I got the better end of that deal. More to reveal tomorrow but I thought I'd give you the big update today. 

Cheers!

Linking up to:
Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party

A New Light

Our cabinet building did not go as planed this weekend. What happened? Let's just say I got Hangry.

via 

We did get one little kitchen project done. Say goodbye to that hideous boob light above the sink.

Before

After

I found this great pendant at our ReStore. It was too brassy to match with the other lights in the kitchen so it got a quick coat of ORB and we hung her up. I know, still no styled shelves. I'm waiting for paint before revealing the final look. More to come!

Cheers!