House Goals #2

Building a home.

We haven't even met with a builder yet and I'm still just having fun with tearing out pictures or finding ones online of houses.  It's fun to say yay or nay with hubby and really discuss what we prefer over what we really don't love.

I haven't written anything about our dream home since this post here. 

I think we're still leading towards a side loading garage, but this looks cool too!

I'm still really researching kitchens.  I'm fairly certain I don't want two islands, but rather one really large one.  I don't know if I need 2 sinks.  I don't like exposed beams or the hanging light fixtures; and while I want a wine fridge, I think I'll store the rest of the wine in a temperature controlled area of the basement.  I do however, love the light counter tops and the cupboards.

My favorite spot in our current home is our back deck. It's seriously like a little sanctuary.  We can't see the parking lot because of all the trees, and it's pretty quiet since school is out of session.

One of our favorite things is to go to the land and walk around where things will be built.  It's so important to decide which way we want to face; the sunset is gorgeous here!

It's so funny because one day we are totally chill and love just dreaming and the next we are both like, "UGH! Why are we not living here yet!?"

{as I type this, Joe is currently out there working on the trails again.}

I absolutely love these huge windows. I want as much light to filter into the livingroom (and the kitchen!) as possible.  We also want high ceilings.  This furniture isn't really our style (the color) but I love how crisp all of it is and how there's an accent.

I need to look a little more into this contraption!  Is one of these a warming oven? A microwave? Holy smokes!  This back counter/stove top is essentially what we'll have though, so that's cool!

This is the idea of how open we would like it.  Like I said though, we don't want to do the double islands...and the side eating area will be one large table (no formal dining room).  I don't like all the different colors going on back there in the kitchen either, or the lights.  BUT the open layout is spot on!

Patio and a pool in the back...or would we go with a wrap around deck and a pool?

This will be the biggest project we will work on together and I am so excited.  

Home Talk Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!!

I hope you're having a beautiful day.  I wanted to share some things home-related on the blog, so I figured I would just lump them all together in one post!! I know it's not easy keeping up with the cooking, the cleaning, the organizing, plus doing everything else that we have to do in a day with littles.  I have found a few tricks or routines that may actually work!

What I struggle with most at this stage, is being able to complete a task.  I will start several things, but sometimes (most times) I get side tracked with changing diapers and trying to keep the kids both occupied so that I can clean, I feel like I'm running on a hamster wheel.

I will say that starting to use "Snap Chat" @mrsdellefave really does make me feel good about my day!! I literally look through my story and realize, holy cow, I do a lot and even though the floors may not be clean at 9pm, they were at 11am!

Really though, I know that it's a season and soon the kids will not be here making messes all day while I try to entertain them and clean up.  So here are a few successes I had last week:

Brisket: 
I loved being able to throw it in the dutch oven, place it in the oven and let it cook for a few hours.

I steamed some carrots and then tossed them into some melted butter, honey, sage, & lemon.

I can't go wrong with my bread; everyone loves it!

The kids liked everything, but Brooke really only likes raw veggies. She "couldn't like the carrots" they were "yucky".

I like cleaning on Thursdays. I don't know why I prefer that day, but I do.  I also like grocery shopping on a Tuesday.  I think this is because Mon/Weds are late nights and that leaves more room for the kids and I to go and do something fun since Daddy works.

He pulls everything out of all the cupboards.  Thursday he discovered parchment paper.

I run my dishwasher 1-2 times a day.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the dishes, bottles and cups seem to multiply.  I need to get some more paper plates for Summer to help cut down on this haha.  I really don't enjoy dishes, but I do find it best if I prop my iPhone up and watch Youtube or TV on it.

I was really having an issue with my produce. We eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, and they were just falling out of my bowls. I decided to use a big platter to hold everything and it works much better!

Decor:

I had this bowl that my mom gave me awhile ago for a birthday present. I finally found something to put in it! I grabbed these for $8 at T.J. Max

When I'm feeling overwhelmed, I know that the first place to start is my room.  If I can clear the clothes, clutter and make the bed, life feels so much easier and more put together!

I ended with a quick steam mopping session. I go back and forth whether I like an old fashion mop or the steam mop, but I really love that there's no harsh chemicals.

Another simple dinner winner- Pasta with turkey meatballs.  Everyone loves it and I served it with some organic frozen veggies.  For my plate I gave myself 1/2 cup of pasta and filled the rest with veggies.

Want to know a secret?  Today is day #4 with no coffee. I know. I'm just as shocked. I ran out of creamer and decided that would be the day.  I don't miss the flavor or the feeling I was getting after drinking it (reflux) and I have replaced it with a matcha latte.  It's green tea powder and I heat up some vanilla soy milk---use my immersion blender and voila. Gives me a boost of energy and no yuck feeling!  Starbucks makes them and they're super tasty; I'm still perfecting mine.

Recipe here

How Jen Does it is really inspiring me to get my cleaning in order!! Check out her latest video.

My favorite thing?  This.  It was so hot out yesterday, I gave them two bowls of water and a few measuring cups.  They instantly soaked each other and ran around squealing.  I love that I have the deck to lock them in, and I can get some kitchen work done [since it's never ending!] I'm very excited to enjoy the nicer weather!

Any home tips you could share?

#housegoals

I have decided to really utilize this space here to dream.  And I am dreaming big folks!! I thought it would be cool to share with you some ideas we have floating around for our dream home.

As most of you know, we purchased 20 acres of land in a more rural area and we cannot wait to be country livin'.  I am super excited to build a home and of course I am a little overwhelmed with all of the decisions we will have to make.

We have already started looking at tile and fixtures, plus layouts.

I figured instead of a big old bulky binder, plus with mostly everything available on the internet, I'd use my blog weekly to showcase some of our findings!

This Sunday we are going to the Home and Garden show (without the kids!) so we can really look around and get a feel for what we would like to see in our home.

Our goal is to build a barn by October; we would love to have a big old fashion barn birthday party for Joe!

We would love to be in our home by Summer of 2017, but we really don't want to stress so it if takes longer, we are totally fine with that too.


How exciting!

OK, onto our ideas:


We fell in love with this home.  It was truly love at first sight.  It would need to be scaled down a bit as we don't want too big of a house (kids won't live with us forever!) and I don't want too much footage to clean haha!

What I love about this house is the stone/brick detail and the arched windows, wrap around porch and the columns.  Another must have is the side entry garage.  I am loving the look of the garage "being part of the house" and not looking like a garage! Isn't it fun?

Friday we stopped into the tile store---which wasn't the best option with two energetic tots, but we got to look at some flooring we are very interested in!

I had no idea that they made tile that actually looks like wood!  We would like our kitchen done in something like this.  I'm just not sure if we'd go with a more brown or gray.

For the master bath, we agreed that we loved the light, fresh look of this:

You can even get it all done up like this...not sure I would want that, but cool option!

Living room inspiration:

I mean---look at that flooring!

Totally didn't crop the photos, sorry!  But again, with the kitchen, I am torn with the dark cupboards or the light...hmmm?!

We love both looks!! 

Any advice for building? Flooring? Appliances? I'm all ears!! I love to hear other opinions and ideas.  This is such a new and fun experience for us and I just want to make the most of it!