Texas Home Kitchen Tour

WELCOME TO OUR TEXAS HOME!

Today is all about starting the home tour of our new Texas house and we're starting in the kitchen!

We've now been in our new home for about 3 months.  The family has settled into our new surrounding fairly well, but I'm still working on getting many of the rooms situated the way we I want-  welcoming, little to no clutter, functional, and maybe, just maybe, even a little pretty.

While we've moved many times over the past 15 years of our marriage, this house definitely has more   upscaled finishing touches and that's a bit intimidating for me.  I'm not big on decorating or paying attention to such details.  This has been a new {and good} challenge for me!

You may be wondering why I'm revealing the kitchen first, huh?  Almost every time we move, the first room to get put in place is our kitchen.  Why?

• If the kitchen is unpacked and functional, the family is able to get to a new 'normal' more quickly.  
• Quick, fresh, nutritious meals are available no matter what time or what's going on.  
• Having the kitchen done first is also a great way to save money during an already very expensive time.

And I really don't want to live with this mess for very long.

The kitchen is also the room that the least amount of decorating - which keeps the pressure off of me for a little longer.  

Let's start the tour!  

I love looking at floor plans, so that's where were going to start this tour.

Overall, the space is a really great size and has a good working flow.  Having more space has allowed us to have more than just one or two people in the kitchen at a time - something my kids are loving.

My dream kitchen is all white cabinets and stainless steel appliances that don't get smudges.  My husband likes dark cabinets.  Did you notice the color of the cabinets in our kitchen? Hmmmm....

Maybe next time I'll get what I want.

The wood is beautiful, though, and we have a HUGE amount of cabinet and drawer space.  Always a bonus!

The wall that has the most amount of cabinet space also has our ovens and microwave.  Before we purchased the house, the builder had only one oven installed.  Fortunately, the builder was willing to work with us and installed a double oven before closing.  The microwave is a few inches higher, but still works for us.  Even the builder was surprised at how nice it looked when finished.

As I said -  lots of cabinet space and that also means lots of counter space.

The cooktop has been another nice change for us.  We love having the gas range to cook on again.  It's been several years and several houses ago since we've been able to have one and I didn't realize how much difference there really is.  The older kids are enjoying it, too.

Did you notice the pot filler on the back wall?  Yep.  Already spoiled.

There's also a large walk-in pantry which has been an amazing addition for our large family! We get a lot of groceries and it's nice to have one space that contains it all.

Here's a panoramic picture of the corner. (A little wonky, but you get the idea.)

Opposite from the cooktop is the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and pull-out trash bin.  All situated nice and close to make clean up easy.  Of course, the highly important coffee maker is right there were we can fill it easily with the filtered fridge water to have our morning cups of coffee.

I'm still getting used to the sink.  I know, I know...... but farm sinks are all the rage, right?  Well, they are also, deeper than what I'm used to, which means I'm hunched over a lot when having to wash dishes.  It also doesn't seem to drain the water out as cleanly, so I'm having to push all the nasty debris down the drain with my hands more often than not.  And did you see what the finish is?  I'm not saying I hate it, but I really don't think I'll be requesting one in our next house.  

The last thing in the kitchen I want to share with you is our ceiling.  What's so special about a ceiling?  You'd be surprised!

There really was a lot of detail put into this house!

Thanks so much for joining me on this tour!  It actually ended up being longer than I thought, but I enjoyed being able to share it will all of you.  Kitchen sink aside {joking}, we really are enjoying our new kitchen.  

I'll be sharing more rooms and areas with you as we get them done.

Cheers, 

Have You Heard the News?!

Things have been mighty crazy around here the past couple of months. Wanna know why......?

Our family is headed to Texas at the end of the year!!

It's a crazy, bittersweet feeling for us.  We have absolutely LOVED our time here in Saint Louis (even with all the medical stuff we had to deal with).  Great friends have been made, fun has been had, and wonderful memories abound.

Right now is just another point in our lives for change - and that's okay.

This all started about two months ago.  Kevin has been doing a lot of flying back and forth trying to hand over his current position and learning what is expected of him in the new.  I've been busy getting junk treasure cleared out of the basement, excess trash thrown away, and readying our house to put up for sale.

Thankfully, all the hard work has paid off and our home sold in 3 days!  Such a blessing!

Now we are moving quickly to get our new home lined up and ready for us to settle in just before Christmas.  We've looked at a lot (okay, that should be highly emphasized) of homes online.  Soon we will be able to see them in person and hopefully find one that will work well for our family.  A lower mortgage payment would be nice, too.

I won't lie - this will be one of the hardest moves for us.  Being in one place for seven years allowed us to grow some roots and make some really deep connections with friends.  The kids being older is also a huge factor, too.  Change is harder when you are 12 and 10 years old as oppose to 5 and 3.  They will adjust, though.  And, thankfully, there is FaceTime, texting and Facebook available to keep connected.

So...... that just a bit about sums it up.

I'll let you know how things go!