How To Give Your Room An "UP-DO"

Hope you all had a nice weekend. All was good here. We did lots of playing outside and hanging with friends. With all the renovation planning, discussion & shopping for the basement, my head is swirling with ideas for the other rooms in my house. Decorating…it’s my jam. Creating beautiful spaces makes my tummy feel all warm inside. After the basement is done, the next big plan is to revamp the main floor and build another addition. But…that’s not for another little while, like 5 years or so while. Feels.So.Far.Away.

However, I’m a big believer in making changes for the present. You might not have the budget right now to gut an entire room, but you can give your space something I’m calling an “up-do”. Not a “re-do”, not a “make-over”, but small steps. When you go to the salon for an “up-do”, you keep your hair, you just pretty it up a bit. Same thing with a room “up-do”.  You give the basics a lift. You’ll love the changes, your wallet will thank you and your room will look fab.

I’ve been feeling like my kitchen has needed a little “up-do”.  You’ll remember, when we moved in 5 years ago, our kitchen looked like this (sorry for the grainy photo- it was the photo on the house listing sheet).

Isn’t that fish wallpaper and green trim beauty?! What were they thinking!  So we did strip the wallpaper, laid new hardwood, painted out all the cabinets, changed the hardware and replaced the countertop. It’s fresh, light and airy. No more fish.

First plan on the “up-do” was to start with the Spring clean.  Is it just our house, or why is there random crumbs always in the cutlery drawer? It’s a mystery to me. It’s not like we put dirty cutlery in there? It’s right out of the dishwasher! I dunno.  In any event, it was time for the kitchen to get some deep clean love. Do you use vinegar to clean? The good ‘ole fashion works and it’s chemical free.

So after the good scrub, the kitchen was smelling good and fresh.  Sure it was clean, but it was time for the “up-do”. We love to entertain, and of course, the party always ends up in the kitchen so we needed a few extra places for folks to sit and chat while we were cooking or just hanging in the kitchen.  I picked up these stools to do just that.

 

I like how the modern feel of the chrome meets the traditional beadboard on the wall.

We then added my fav new piece. The faucet. 

I’m in love. Not only has the Delta Touch 2O Kitchen Faucet made our lives in the kitchen easier, but it’s gorg. When we get home from the office, the kids are starving, my baby girl is always on my hip, I’m trying to cook dinner, someone always has grimy hands, Mr. Fix-It is usually trying to make lunch for the next day and the kitchen looks like a bomb hit it. This faucet allows you to be hands free. Amazing! No for real, I can touch this beauty anywhere with my forearm when my hands are covered in raw chicken and it turns on. The water flow starts and stops on a dime anywhere you touch it.

It’s my new hero in the kitchen and taken my cleaning and cooking game to the next level.  And, the best part is that the quality is amazing and it looks like a jewel in the kitchen.  You can read about all the deets here if you want to know more.

Last step to the “up-do” was to re-asses what was needed on the counter. If you don’t have much counter space, why clutter it up with stuff that you don’t have to have on there?!  Or, if you don’t use something every day then you need to love the look of it to stay on the counter. For example, the mixer. Love that beauty. I don’t use it everyday but I love it…so it stays.

“Goby” our fish stays too :)

Some pretty accents, a few fresh flowers and voila…kitchen UP-DO complete!

And now, my reward for all this kitchen “up-do” hard work. Fresh water and orange slices! Maybe something else with a little extra kick to add in there after dinner ;)

 

Have you recently done an “up-do” to a room in your house? 

What did you do to pretty-it-up?

Keep It Beautiful.

 

Although this post has been generously sponsored by Delta Faucet, the opinions and language are my own, and in no way do they reflect Delta Faucet.



Wednesday Yummies: Fruit & Veggie Wash

Hi guys,

So, have you seen that "fruit and veggie wash" in the grocery store? It's usually in the produce section, hanging around in a random basket. I've always wondered what was in it and wondered why would people buy something that likely had chemicals in it (although don't quote me on that because I've never read the ingredients, but still...can't there be an easier/free option) to wash my fruits and veggies in?

So last Saturday, I told you we were going to go apple picking on the weekend? Well, we did, on Sunday. Of course, the kids loved it and picked every apple they could get their hands on. Total cuteness. Anyone need apples? Please, come over and have some! Notice the grass? Our 3 year old decided that the ones on the ground had to come home too.

So as my kiddies have been eating them, I was washing them as we went, until I thought of that random "fruit and veg wash" in the grocery store. I scoured Google and found out how to make your own. ENTER IN....a FOOD DIY! I swear, it's easy peasy!

Here's what you do:

 

- Fill your sink 1/3 to half way with luke warm water.

- Add 1 cup of white vinegar

- Mix it up

- Let your fruit & veggies get happy (for about 10-15 minutes)

- Drain and give the fruit and veggies a good rinse. I promise your fruit won't smell like vinegar.

- Drain the sink and let your fruit dry (I let it hang out on a clean dish cloth on the counter for awhile)

That's it. Easy eh?

Please come over for an apple! Some of these will definitely be in our Thanksgiving apple pie. Yes!

Keep it Beautiful.

To Taste? or To Pitch?

Happy Monday everyone!

Hope you had a nice weekend. Last week was pretty busy with transitioning into work and getting the kids organized to school and daycare in the mornings. Which means I didn't get to start any of our projects in the house, however...we'll get there. We also had to put our cat down. It was really sad. She was 10 years old and not very well. Isn't she cute? We'll miss her...so long Joie.

Sooo, we needed a little R&R! We hopped on the train with friends of ours and took the kids to Montreal. We had a fabulous weekend...a great way to end a busy week!

Let's talk food...

Maybe its because I'm making my big guy's lunch along with mine for the office, that lately I'm obsessing over food and healthy food for our fam. One thing that I'm always wondering about is how long my food is fresh for? Can I stretch it a few extra days after the expiry dates? When do you taste? When do you pitch?

I came across this great website Still Tasty: Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide It allows you to type in a product or search by category and then tells you the shelf life in the fridge, on the shelf or in the freezer. It also provides tips on how to best store your food. Did you know...there are some foods on your shelf that could outlast you? Yup, their shelf life is super long!! Ie: honey, rice, sugar, liqour (yum!), salt and apparently maple syrup lasts forever in the frezer.

Food safety is gaining alot of attention these days. It is important to keep your family safe and healthy.

Here are a few tidbits of info that were news to me, thought I would share:

Should you store bread on the counter or in the fridge?

Answer: The counter is definitely the better place for your bread. Bread stored in the refrigerator will dry out and become stale much faster than bread stored at room temperature. For longer-term storage, you should freeze bread.

Soft-crusted, pre-sliced breads will keep fresh for up to a week at room temperature; be sure to keep the original packaging tightly closed after each use. Soft-crusted, unsliced breads will keep well for four to five days on the counter, while hard-crusted breads will keep fresh for a day or two.

All of these breads freeze well and will maintain their quality for at least three months once frozen.

Do I have to store ketchup and mustard in the fridge once they’re opened?

As a kid, I remember our ketchup being in the cupboard, but now I always keep it in the fridge. Hmmm....

Answer: Technically speaking, you don’t have to store opened bottles of ketchup and mustard in the refrigerator.

But it’s a good idea all the same, since you’ll get a lot more mileage out of them if you do, as condiment manufacturers like French's point out.

Due to their high acid content, both mustard and ketchup will keep fine for about a month in the pantry. But after that, their flavor, appearance and texture will begin to break down and deteriorate much more quickly at normal room temperatures than in the cooler 40° F storage conditions of the refrigerator.

An opened bottle of ketchup should stay at peak quality for about 6 months in the fridge; mustard for at least a year. And both will remain safe to consume for much longer than that, as long as they've been continuously refrigerated.

I’ve got some yogurt in the fridge and I just discovered that the sell-by date was a week ago. Is it still safe to eat?

Answer: Most likely it is. Yogurt that has been properly stored will generally remain safe for at least 7 to 10 days after the "sell-by" date on the package.

As the food safety specialists at Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension point out, this assumes that the temperature of your refrigerator remains at or below 40° Fahrenheit at all times. Bear in mind, too, that the longer you keep yogurt, the stronger its taste will become.

Still Tasty is a cool site. Check it out if you have a minute. Ever wondered if you can freeze cheese? Or if everything is unsafe to refreeze after its thawed? Still Tasty will answer your questions.

Have a good Monday everyone.

Keep it Beautiful.

Plastic Bag Love

Do you have a zillion plastic grocery bags hanging around? Shoved under the sink? I know I do. I try to remember to take my canvas bags to the grocery store but often I either forget them in the house or in the trunk of the car. By the time I get into the grocery store I usually decide that paying 5 cents for a bag is easier than carting the kids back out to the car to to get them.

The plastic bags are also great for cleaning out the cat litter and for Mr. Fix-it to take his lunch to work in. However, sometimes I open up the cupboard under the sink and out falls the giant ball of plastic bags in one large lump.

I came across this great blog called A lil bird told me with an idea on how to keep your bags organized and tidy in one little spot and really, I promise it takes only a few minutes after you have put away your groceries.

These are instructions from A lil bird told me. This blog shares lots of tips and tricks in making our busy lives a little easier. Check them out :)

First, flatten your bag, then fold it in half twice. Next, start folding it in a triangular pattern, until you reach the end of your bag.





Here are my bags ready to go under the sink.





You may not do this everytime you do a grocery run but when the pile of bags starts to grow, you may decide its time to organize. It keeps them organized under the sink and its easy to do while waiting for the kettle to boil or your toast to pop.

Fresh.Fabulous.Sophisticated.

Keep it Beautiful.