These adorable mice in our kitchen

Just a few more days before Christmas, and here I am still baking in our kitchen. I'm not complaining, really. After all, it's one of my happy places. I just wish I have someone who does all the washing for me while I bake. You know those cooking shows in TV where celebrity chefs cook stuff and the kitchen remains spotlessly clean? I want that hahaha. A girl can dream, right?

These cute little mice are this year's new addition to my Christmas goodies. These ones don't require baking. Gather some Kisses, maraschino cherries, and some red and green round candies and assemble them. Voila!

I'm planning to serve this on new year's eve right beside the cheese tray.

Last week, almost everyday after work, I made some French macarons. I did 4 batches with Swiss meringue buttercream fillings and added the following flavours: pistachio, coconut-pineapple, strawberry, and chocolate with walnuts and sea salt.

I'm taking my sweet time working in the kitchen this season. I didn't have to worry about the decorations as I started way early, second weekend of November, believe it or not. I spent three days putting them up, taking them down, putting them up again. I didn't want my decors to look overly done so I did a lot of "editing" hahaha.

Here's a 25-cent tour of my heavily edited Christmas decorations btw -

Main hallway

This is MDH's fave corner when he does serious thinking :)

Corner of MDH's office/study

Traditional red and green on the display in our kitchen cabs. The Christmas balls on the windows are new additions this year.

From the kitchen overlooking the Christmas tree in our living room. I've used burlap instead of the standard wired ribbon around the tree. All LED lights, of course.

My fave kitchen in the whole wide world -

Scheming

... for yet another project.



Now that we have the furniture pieces for the family room in place and the old sofa and loveseat have been moved and set-up in the loft, I am now ready to put some colours in the three rooms - kitchen, family room, and loft. I know, I know I've been playing "safe" with our colours in the home. And I am not to do any different in these 3 rooms as the colours will be mostly on the fabrics for the cushions and drapes and accent wall. The big pieces are still neutral a.k.a. beige-brown-white-grey-blah. But I think once these pops of colours will be used, it will not be as blah anymore. Let's see.

Updates on some of our latest renos:

• Shelves in our walk-in closet have been installed and I am loving it. I told MDH it feels like I'm shopping for clothes whenever I choose what to wear in the morning :). There are still a few items that we need to finish up like putting the baseboards back, putting up the mirror and wall hooks for my blings, and adding 2 shelves and racks. But overall it's close to being a finished labour-of-love reno ;).

• I found the perfect fireplace for our bedroom and will order it soon. In 2 weeks, we'll re-paint our bedroom with BM Stonington Grey (same paint colour that we used in our walk-in). 

• We've managed to amp-up a bit the coziness in the loft.  Just a tad bit. We removed the work table and the desktop computer as they aren't used since MDH, MDK, and I have each our own workspaces. The study for MDH, the guest-room-slash-mini-recording-studio for MDK, and the chef's desk for moi. The sofa and loveseat that used to be in the family room are now in the loft. MDH says it's a perfect spot for napping so we now call it "the napping station." He's even thinking of replacing the sofa with a sofa-bed. I said "NO" so that's the end of that discussion hahaha.

So how about you my darlings? Any new schemes?

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Ready for the holidays

"Every house where love abides

and friendship is a guest is surely home, 

and home, sweet home; 

for there the heart can rest."

~ Henry Van Dyke

I can't wait for Christmas to come. As a matter of fact, this year's Christmas decors in our home have been put up a day after Halloween. 

I've decided to use red and green as the main colours for the kitchen and the family room. We've also put up four Christmas lanterns (only 3 are shown in the pic below). We got these from Ikea, believe it or not :). And dirt cheap too as we bought them during Boxing Day.

Christmas cooking/baking has also started. Last week, I managed to whip up a few batches of French macarons and brought some to the office. I will be making a few batches this week. Not just macarons but some of our usual Christmas goodies.

MDH and I will be off from work between Christmas and New Year. Big yay to that! Well, not quite "off work" for MDH as he will be working from home. But at least, he can work in his pajamas.

Over 10 days of no set time to sleep and wake-up, possibly pig-out, lotsa cuddles in front of the TV, movie marathon, video chats with family members from afar, and on and on. I can't wait!

The Hub of our home

The kitchen is the hub of our home. It is where most of the family activities inside the home take place, where we entertain close friends and family members. It is where most of the action takes place.

We've equipped our kitchen with 2 ovens, 3 if you count the microwave oven :). Gone are the problems we had of trying to schedule which ones to cook first because there was only one oven to cook in. This Christmas, while the turkey will be cooking, I can take my merry time whipping up my dessert 'cause I can have my oven anytime.

And speaking of ovens, I was so happy the holes below the wall ovens were finally replaced with 2 sets of drawers. After 5 months, the ugly holes are gone. Phew! One item being crossed out in the to-do list.

It goes without saying that we don't want anyone going hungry or thirsty. Not in our kitchen. Most importantly, household members can pretty much take comfort in the fact that they are free to be themselves, learn things, make mistakes, and have fun. Well, it’s pretty much how we run the entire household.

The kitchen is probably the part of the home that we’ve put most of the things that we really want. I wanted a white kitchen, MDH was kind enough to consent to this.

I think overall, a white kitchen will never go dated. And it looks divine whatever fruit you put on the island. The colours pop, don't you think?

And yes, this time we have a bigger island compared to the previous home. It's 4 ft by 5.5 ft. I wanted a different wood colour for the island but decided to go with white (chalk white, to be specific) as our furniture pieces are dark. And so is the floor.

Overall, I like the contrast.






I picked most of the fixtures - Moen faucets, Kindred sinks. The faucets were all installed by MDH. No leaks so far. Yay to that!

And in case you  want to know, the countertops are Kashmir White granite and the backsplash is honed Carrara marble in mosaic rectangular strips.

My Corner

Here's another one of my fave corners in the new home.

Chef I am not. But because I am the luckiest gal in our household, I get to call the chef's desk "my corner."

Taken at night. That's my favourite lens beside my computer. I make sure it's accessible when I'm in the kitchen.

When we considered renovating the kitchen in our previous home, I made a list of things I'd want to have in our kitchen. Other than having a bigger island/breakfast counter, I wanted a chef's desk. Unfortunately, the real estate of the previous home wouldn't allow a desk. I had to use the dining room as my work area which was a bit inconvenient and not a pretty sight whenever we passed by the room. So when we decided to look for a new house, I made a mental note to include it in my nice-to-haves.

So here it is in the new home, located close to the breakfast nook, and quite accessible when you're in the kitchen.

This is where I do some fun work amidst the wafting smell of garlic, onions, baked bread, cookies and cakes. And if it's a better day, I also get to listen to DH playing the piano and sing his favourite worship songs while I tap my keyboard. Yes, today is another better day.
This is mostly my work area. And hopefully where I will work on the projects I'm planning to do in the very near future. I have finally decided to challenge myself a bit more on my photography.

Sep 15, 2010 @ 23:51

Home building is mostly compromises

… with the first and foremost goal of making your household members happy. And possibly getting the things you want. ;)

When DH and I started looking at buying another house, we looked at several options, considered a thousand and one scenarios, and started enumerating the things we’d want to have in our new home. I wanted a bigger lot, DH wanted a serviced lot, DK wanted the new home to be close to his school and friends. It took us months, over a year even, to scour for something that will meet all major criteria we have. Thankfully, we found this little corner in Kanata Lakes which ‘somehow’ meets everyone’s “must”. There were compromises done but the very thing that struck me was what DH said:

The new home should bring us all closer as a family, will allow us to share our blessings with family and friends, and improve our quality of life.

But making compromises does not end as soon as you pick your corner. It’s just the beginning. And it’s all good because really, it gives you the chance to show your loved ones how far you’d go (and let go of the things you want sometimes) to make them happy.

My side of the counter. Mirror will be replaced. Paint wall will be replaced as well to match the tiles.

I mentioned the grief we had of not having at least one working sink in our second floor bathrooms last week. It was quite inconvenient to have to go to the washroom/powder room downstairs to do simple things like washing our hands and brushing our teeth. Well, finally the most-awaited sinks came in last Friday. I would have wanted everything installed in all the bathrooms ASAP. But DH and DK’s toys “arrived*” last Saturday. So what’s it going to be – let them play with their new toys or install at least 2 of the sinks? Well, we had both in the weekend. DH a.k.a. my Handyman installed the sink in DK’s bathroom first and the one of the two in the master ensuite. Our countertop looks funny with the big hole on the other end (where the other sink will go in) but I’m okay with it. I think it’s the most beautiful countertop I’ve seen. As for the guest bathroom, well, it just has to wait for now.

As soon as DH finished installing the 2 sinks, he started to open his long overdue Christmas-slash-birthday-slash-Father’s day gifts. They were setup just in time before the world cup finals started. DK was kind enough to lend us his TV since we still do not have the TV for the family room.

Christmas-slash-birthday-slash-Father's day gifts

I was happy looking at them nestled in the couch in front of the TV, waiting for one of their respective teams to win. They both rooted for different teams. And I say “waited” because DK fell asleep shortly before Spain scored :(.

Blind no more

You know how sometimes too much light can blind you? Well it’s not the case here but I can’t think of a subtitle. teehee. I just wanted to say, the roller blinds for the family room and kitchen windows were installed last week. We now have nice natural lighting in both rooms that can be controlled. Not as glaring sans roller blinds.

Our nook in the kitchen

We got them from one of the Benjamin Moore stores. It’s their new house brand and the price is quite reasonable. It’s almost half the price of the leading brands. In terms of quality and materials, it’s comparable to the leading brands. The only disadvantage is that you do not have as many choices of colours and options. In our case, I instantly liked this specific colour and material (slate grey) of the house brand and couldn’t go past it. So it all worked out.

Roller up close

* They actually had to do a short trip to the US to pick them up from one of the UPS stores there. The toy company does not ship to Canada.

Sneak Peek of Our Kitchen

... and a quick update of our move.

1. I realized moving is not as easy as it used to.
2. Our dear friends came over, brought some food, and helped assemble most of our furnitures to ensure that we'd have comfy beds to sleep on on our first night in the new home. We are so lucky to have very helpful, loving, and caring friends.
3. The kitchen was the first area in the main floor that became functional.



That's MDH's gadget - a dual fuel, convection oven

4. The only fully functional washroom in the house at the moment is the powder room. The other 3 bathrooms do not have the countertop sinks installed. Blame it on A* S*. The vessel sinks that I want for the bathrooms are back ordered. At first they promised they will be available on June 14th, then June 28th, and then mid-August. Boohoo. We're looking at another alternative which is a bit pricier but I don't care anymore. I just want sinks in our bathrooms. I am so darn tired having to go downstairs to wash my hands, brush my teeth, etc etc. Not fun.
5. I am loving our kitchen.
6. DH is quite admirable. He will have his French Language Test tomorrow and in spite of all the ruckus in the new house, he still tries to prep for his test. Whatta guy! As a reward, I made sure that his office was ready ASAP.
7. Other parts of the house that are already a-okay - living room, dining room, DH's office, laundry, powder room.

And because the title says Sneak Peek ... blah... blah... blah...., here are some pics -

Love this faucet from Moen. It has a pullout too.

Our island. You can see part of the dining room from the kitchen

Bar sink on the island. We find this very useful.

I will post some decent pics of the kitchen later. At the moment, there are still some work to be done like putting up the valance lights, changing some of the cabinet doors to glass, and so on and so forth. The list is endless. But I don't mind.

Backsplash: Honed Carrara Marble in mosaic rectangular strips
Countertops: Kashmir White Granite
Cabinetry: Chalk White; Shaker
Kitchen and Bar Faucets: Moen
Kitchen and Bar Sinks: Kindred
Pendant lights (all light fixtures in kitchen including chandelier for the nook table): Kichler

I have my cake and eat it too

Today has been quite productive. We've had most of our appliances hooked up. And while DH and the installer did the work in the kitchen, I made myself useful by trying to finish the drapes for our living and dining rooms.

I've decided to put sage green in our living room and dining room. The shade is very similar to the shade of my plate and cup below, only lighter. I hope it will look nice with the orange/terra cotta accent colour I'm planning to use in the dining room.

It makes me sooo excited thinking that the next time I will make the dessert above, I will be doing it in our new kitchen, in my new wall oven :).

I say "my ..." because DH and I have each our own oven :). DH's will solely be for meats and anything that's neither cake, bread, nor pastry. It still has to be installed btw. He got the dual fuel convection range, with 6 burners - perfect for a guy who loves to cook for us.

And oh, I was pleasantly surprised to see the huge available space below the oven. We are planning to put another drawer for pots and pans in it.

Tonight I'll go to bed with a big smile on my face because our kitchen in the new house is starting to look like errr.. kitchen. And today btw felt like Christmas morning, unpacking each of the appliances from their respective boxes. Now if only packing our stuff to get ready for the big move in 2 weeks feels as exciting, I'd probably be done packing by now hahaha.

A special thank you to our architect friend, Rads, who has been quite generous with his time, support, and guidance. He is our go-to guy whenever we are unsure of things. I'll talk about our friend in one of my upcoming posts.

Granite

Grateful and relieved that we (more like I actually :)) found the right granite for our kitchen. I originally went with the cream/brown colours. Unfortunately, or I should say fortunately, the right shade was not available. When I saw the cabinets in the kitchen and how they look, I did not hesitate to change my colour choice. It's gotta be white. And white is what we'll get.

At first, DH was a bit hesitant because of the red garnets he saw in the tiny sample that we originally looked at. But as soon as we saw the bigger slab in the shop, he was fine with it. They aren't red. More like burgundy and the splotches are not that many. The overall colour is still white with some hints of gray and yellow undertone which I think is perfect with the wall colour of the main floor. Check this out -



I think it will be just perfect. Whatchathunk?

And this, btw, is what I'm reminded of when I saw the granite -

Sun kissed

Sunkist oranges are my favorites. Sweet and seedless. And this is how I like them served - cut crosswise, in wedges. And even better if I can have them in our white kitchen 'cause this is the kind of orange I want to use as accent colour to the yellow wall and dominantly white cabinets in our kitchen :) I think pale yellow and orange look home-y together.

And speaking of kitchen, it is starting to look like... well... kitchen. And I love that even at 7:45 in the evening, it is still bright! Very bright. I love how the sun seems to never leave.

DH and I must have stayed there over an hour measuring unfinished cabinets and spaces, having pretend conversations with our pretend grandkids hahaha. Oh it was fun! Too bad DK wasn't with us. I can imagine the three of us cooking countless meals and sharing endless stories in this kitchen. Can't wait.

Painted House

Yay! The house has been painted. I've been stressing out wondering how my color choice would look like in the new house. Overall, I'm liking it. The paint colour is called "Antique Linen" by ICI. I would have wanted Benjamin Moore paints but the builder does not use Benjamin Moore. For sure, I'll use BM for the accent colours in the house.



They're almost done the brick work outside. This week maybe.

Five more weeks to go!

When life hands you a lemon...

... have some calamari with it.



Okay, here's the truth -

Figuratively, no lemons have been handed over.
Literally, I have a bagful in my kitchen.
Generally, life is good.




Yes, life is good.

House Updates:

Most of the baseboards and trims are already in place. And yay! We are loving the details they put in in every spot. The baseboard by the way is over 5 inches high which is waaay better than what we have in our present home.

All the doors have been installed.

And looks like painting is about to start.

And so here's how the kitchen looks like now -



And a portion of the nook (and loft) viewed from the family room -



And here is my other fave part of the house, the LOFT -



DK calls it "lobby" in the second floor and he even suggested we put seats in the area so it becomes a lounge area. I told him we plan to put bookshelves in the loft and his workspace. He said he does not want to work in an open workspace. So I guess the den will be DK's work area and DH's will be the spot in the loft :). We'll see how it goes.

The Colour of Nature

When in doubt on what colours to use, just gaze at nature. It always has the perfect colour palette. Don't you think so?

The pic below very well represents the overall colour scheme of our kitchen in the new home.

The horses paw and prance and neigh,
Fillies and colts like kittens play,
And dance and toss their rippled manes
Shining and soft as silken skeins...
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Mar 23, 2010 @ 10:37