Back in February 2020 when things were still pretty normal, we started our big kitchen renovation. We completely gutted it and rebuilt the entire thing. By we I mean our contractor. My sister helped me design it (she is an amazing Interior designer if you are local and needing assistance) and I could not be more pleased with how it all turned out. Fast forward to the beginning of April when we were in quarantine, we had a little bit of a set back and didn’t end up finishing the kitchen until about mid-April. Just in time, if you ask me. I don’t think we could have imagined everything that has happened since then. I am so thankful we had a kitchen for most of the stay at home order because it was a struggle the first couple of weeks.

Now we are completely moved back into the kitchen and have it all set up how we want it, so I finally took some photos and will share all the details with you. So firstly, I knew I wanted a white kitchen so that I could change decor often and it present a perfect clean background. I struggled for a while between gold and black fixtures, but I ultimately decided on black because it is more timeless as gold is more of a trendy thing right now. I am in love with how it turned out and I think our light fixtures are my favorite part of the whole kitchen…well, and the island.

Speaking of the island, I basically asked the contractor how big we could go and that’s what we did. We settled on 10 feet and I love having all of that counter space. I also love that the kids can eat at the bar now because it is so easy to clean up. It has been a game changer for us. We added some cabinets under the counter (the barstools are hiding them) for some bonus storage.

The next thing I knew we wanted was a hidden coffee bar (seen on the right side of this photo). We put in sliding cabinet doors on both ends of the kitchen so that we can close them and hide our appliances or leave them open while using them without the doors getting in the way. It has been a wonderful feature and makes the room look so much cleaner having everything hidden.

Here are the (affiliate links and info that I get asked about the most:

Flooring: Hickory stained LVP

Countertops: Quartz

Chandelier

Kitchen Table and bench: Ryan made them for us years ago.

Kitchen Chairs

Bar stools

Pendants over the bar

Curtains

Door knobs

Ninja Coffee Maker

Faucet

Farmhouse sink

Cabinet pulls

Backsplash

It is officially my favorite time of year! Football has started, PSLs are back and pumpkins are everywhere! I have already started decorating for my favorite season (see IG stories today) but I am so excited to add to it and grab a few of these pieces and PUMPKINS! I went through a couple of my favorite retailers for home decor and linked some really affordable options if you are on a tight budget like I am! I also hit up Hobby Lobby which I can not link to, so check stories for the goodies I grabbed so that you can check your store for the same things if interested. Here are my favorite and affordable fall decor options:

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Affordable Fall Decor:

You guys know how much I love Minted’s holiday cards, and art. I have several pieces in our home and love to add to our collection from time to time. I have started (slowly) working on organizing and decorating our office, so it felt right to add a new print in there. Ryan has also need some stationary for work, so I knew exactly who to go to! It all got me thinking that they have really great graduation gifts – from stationary to gorgeous prints that would be perfect for a college dorm room or new home.

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FeedDogsPurina #CollectiveBias

In the last 3 and a half years, we have had 3 babies and moved twice. That is a lot of change for a person, but can you imagine for a dog? And not just any dog, but our small, anxious maltipoo – bless her heart. Pippa has had a really tough time. I remember as a puppy she was very anxious. She is only four pounds, so she is really tiny and maybe some of her anxieties come from her size, but after a lot of reading about this breed I found that they seem to be very anxious dogs. Moving with kids is really hard. You have to deal with them acting out for a little while (like after any major event) and go through an adjustment period with them, but what is really hard to forget as a parent is that you also have a dog going through these same changes and adjustments.

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Our weekend was once again, filled with rainy days. We are all getting the cabin fever over here. We have also been sick since Thursday and are still trying to get over whatever we’ve had. I’m hoping it is just a bad cold virus and not the flu. Little Sophie has been just pitiful. She had a fever four days in a row and just laid around on me all weekend. She is normally so bubbly that it made me really sad to see her like that. I am praying we are all on the upswing of this now.

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This weekend was such a blast! We had my family’s annual Christmas party, made some yummy enchiladas (recipe coming later this week) looked at Christmas lights, did a little Christmas shopping and enjoyed some much needed family time at home. We are still in the process of unboxing all of our stuff and I am somewhere between needing a break and wanting to give everything else away. If we have made it 3 weeks without it, surly it can go, right?

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I realized over Thanksgiving that things have been so crazy and I haven’t even mentioned we are completely in our new home! We have absolutely loved it so far! We have great neighbors who have kids a few years older than Hamp and Sophie, but a couple of houses down, there are kids their age. All of the kids play great outside together and my kids have loved being right next to our neighborhood playground. It is so convenient and has been really wonderful. We are still unpacking and honestly, probably will be for a while, but the downstairs is pretty much put together now and we are so looking forward to hosting people in our house again! That is probably the thing we have missed most over this last year.

Sophie’s Shoes c/o // Hampton’s Shoes c/o // Rug: Target

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Our first outing, like mosts peoples, was to the doctor. Hampton and Sophie both had checkups scheduled for today, so we were able to bring Weston for his newborn appointment as well. 3 babies + 3 checkups + 3 shots + no sleep = a lot of fun, let me tell you! When Sophie is tired, she tends to get really hyper and delirious. She was screaming and running all around the waiting room. Hampton was testing me big time, and Weston was okay. He cried a little bit, but for the most part, he did great! Ryan and I struggled because we have only been sleeping about 2 hours a night since coming home from the hospital. Mr. Weston has his days and nights mixed up, but we are working on changing that. We treated the kids to Chick fil A afterwards which made us all feel a little better.

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #QuiltedHoliday #CollectiveBias

We are moving into our new house over the next couple of weeks. Because I just had our sweet baby boy, we are taking it a little slow and doing a little at a time. One thing I have been looking forward to the most is being able to decorate our own home for the holidays. I missed it so much last year and I have been counting down the days until I could get my hands on this one. Our new home is very light and airy which is much more my style and I am thrilled to finally begin the process of decorating. I figured if we were going to move our Christmas boxes and decorations in, I might as well get started instead of dragging it right back out in a couple of weeks. See? It’s completely logical to decorate early.

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The second morning in a row that I have been able to enjoy some fall weather! I am loving this! My little Sophie girl started throwing up yesterday afternoon, so today we are on the mend and praying so hard that none of us catch whatever it is that she and my parents have. I’m diffusing all the oils and drinking all the coffee so I can keep up with all the laundry. I had to wash her sheets multiple times yesterday and am seriously considering buying another cheap one today so that we have more sets when these things happen. For now, here are some of my fall-inspired Friday favorites!

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