i’ve never liked the kitchen in our sweet little house. it’s small and everything was always poorly placed. this is where we were last summer. well, after some serious tweaking on our part, i think we have cheaply re-designed the space without actually doing any renovations! we returned the large country-style cabinet to dear hubby’s folks. although it was practical for storage, the size and dark colour of the piece was overwhelming in our kitchen and removing it brightened the space so much.

[ old walls were a hideous dark blue/green and have been painted white since & old fridge replaced. ]

[ i took these pictures amidst dinner prep, hence the pots and stuff every where! ]

dear hubby put up some simple open shelves for items that are pretty, and things we use often. (that’s the corner the old heavy cabinet used to occupy.) obviously i need to do some finalizing and arranging, and put pictures up and so forth, but hopefully you can recognize the difference from before to present.
we also went to IKEA and purchased a big island that fits perfectly under our big window. it’s so amazing and brings me joy every day.


now, the terrible pine cabinets, which i loathe, aren’t as bad somehow.

Now the kitchen has been basically done we have been thinking about tackling the bathroom! I’m not saying it looks bad but some renovation can be good, especially in a bathroom, sealants can get worn away, glass can become loose and cabinets can have a few scrapes and cracks in them, (curtesy of the children!) so it is bound to eventually happen. We have been looking at tile designs and colour schemes as well as seamless shower doors to give it a crisp look without the hassel of bulky white sealant all around. It’s a dream but an attainable one at that! Afterwards, who knows what we’ll tackle next, but the work never stops!


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we have a four-legged house guest. he has a silly tail and a ridiculous face.
HORATIO!

the kids are over joyed and today we went to the pet store and bought some stinky liver treats for him. i’m not sure who was happier, bear dishing out the goods or horatio gobbling them up! he has great difficulty on our unusually sized stairs and at night dear hubby carries the beast up for bed. horatio fell down the stairs once and it was pretty heartbreaking. his proportions are so distorted and disturbing, which make it difficult for him to move with any agility. he also struggles on our hard wood and linoleum floors, so we’ve placed a contemporary rug accordingly creating a path from the front of the house to the back. he slips if they’re not there and kinda panics! poor guy! Speaking of rugs, I’ve actually been looking at getting some new ones from a website like Topteppiche. Ours are looking very tatty at the minute and I think it’s definitely time for an upgrade! Since we had the kitchen done, they don’t really match the new decor so I’m currently looking for a couple of new rugs similar to the ones we already have. I’m actually really enjoying doing all of this furniture shopping. It’s so fun!