Spotswood House

I’m already looking forward to our next remodel (my poor husband), our guest bathroom. I love the look of mid-century modern (I will make it to Palm Springs one day) but I still gravitate towards traditional. Our master bath remodel is very traditional or maybe classic is a better word, I don’t know. So, when it comes to the guest bathroom we will take more risks and add more color.

I don’t know what it is about us and small bathrooms but we have inherited another one.  The sink, toilet, and shower are all on top of each other so we are going to make tiny tweaks to see if it makes a difference (replace 30 inch vanity with a 28 inch vanity). Here are some designs I’m leaning towards.

Originally for the floor tile I wanted cement tiles but after reading about the maintenance I decided to go a different route. I am so in love with geometric shapes and patterns so this tile really hits the mark for me.

We are keeping our tub, just getting it reglazed. For the shower wall tiles we are going to attempt the very difficult herringbone pattern. I am envisioning lots of cussing and many, many tile cuts but, maybe we’ll surprise ourselves. We are going with either a green or aqua blue elongated subway tile.

Ahhhh, I’m so excited about our next project even though we aren’t done with our current project yet. I really need to start an Instagram account. I could spend all day online looking at home remodel projects.

Let me give you a travel update. Our flight to France was cancelled. Now I’m trying to get my money refunded instead of a travel voucher and here is why. I’m going to let you in on a secret…and I’m so hesitant to tell you because I get the most amazing travel deals this way. I never share with you the cost of my trip but here goes. I paid almost $2000 for our flight to France, flying into Paris and departing from Nice, super stupid. I started researching flight deal sites and came across Scott’s Cheap Flights. Ok, this site is AMAZING!!! I booked our flights to Buenos Aires, Argentina for about $1100 total. Um, that is ridiculous! When you sign-up (I paid $50 for a premium annual subscription) you provide your preferred airport and they send you International deals as they come available. The downside is you can’t put in specific destinations or timeframes, just sit back and wait for deals to any International destination to populate, no continental United States options. I saw a flight deal to Hawaii for less than $350. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to book due to my husband’s lack of adequate leave but that is a really, really good price. I highly recommend Scott’s Cheap Flights (I wasn’t paid an endorsement fee. Ha, not enough people even read my blog) if you are interested in discounted International travel…oh, and the deals they send are on major airlines. I have status with American Airlines and was able to get my Argentina and Belize trip through American. So there you go, a major secret revealed. Does anyone else subscribe to a travel deal website?

Are you looking for ways to keep entertained during  the COVID-19 quarantine? I hosted a virtual game night with my work team last week and O-M-G it was so much fun! We played Quiplash. It kinda reminds me of Cards Against Humanity but you provide the “inappropriate” answer. I purchased the game through Jackbox Games for $5 or $6…totally worth it! The way it works is you get asked random questions and have free reign on the answers. NOTE, the more inappropriate the answer the better. Some of the questions you get asked are, “What is the name of a disease you don’t want to catch?” “What is a bad name for a new beer brand?” You get the point. If anyone wants to play, hit me up. You are guaranteed to laugh your ass off.

Ok, that is enough secrets. Stay safe.

We are about 65-70% done with our bathroom remodel, woo hoo! Floors are in; grouted and sealed. Shower wall tile is almost done. The main things left to do are finish wall tile and grout, lay shower basin tile and grout, tile niches and around window, install vanity and faucets, install shower head and hardware, and paint. Hmmm, maybe not 65-70% done. Man, it sounds like we have so much left to do, UGH!

One of the biggest decisions of the bathroom – the paint color. I wanted a soft, greige color and settled on Silver Feather (Behr). It’s so neutral and classic.

Here is our bathroom closet, nice and framed in. I know, not an exciting photo but we’ll get to the tiling momentarily.

I was really worried about our vanity being available for pick-up due to the coronavirus so we decided to get it before everything shut down. Turns out, it is an essential business or they think they are an essential business, whatever. This little beast was a bitch to get into our condo. Thanks to our very nice neighbors, they helped us lug it up 3 flights of stairs. But, OMG, it is gorg!!! That’s real marble folks, extra heavy!! Ignore the cheap hardware, we upgraded it with brushed bronze. Apologies for not being able to capture the full vanity, it is crammed into our guest room.

We chose marble for the floors (seeing a pattern) and they turned out really, really, really good! The underlayment was a bit of a chore. When we bought the condo the bathroom floor tiles had cracks in them so we had to put a Schluter Ditra membrane down. You all know what that is right?? It’s a membrane that goes down before you add tile on top. It allows the floor movement underneath the tile so it does not crack. We’ll see if it works….

We were a little worried once we grouted because the grout left a wet rim around the tile (see below). Luckily it dried.

Unfortunately, we immediately covered the floors to focus on the shower tile install and I was only able to capture the finished product in the toilet room. The lighting is terrible, and on a side note, all of these photos are taken with a regular ol’ iPhone. I’m not trying to make money off this blog and it shows, lol.

Laying floor tile goes down like a dream, the shower tiles, not so much. It just takes so much tile and takes fo-ever. And, you never get perfectly straight walls but I digress. It is looking really pretty though. We chose a pale blue subway tile. Look how straight the subway tile lines are. I will admit I got put on punishment for getting the tiles misaligned and haven’t been allowed to tile since (or was it all part of my master plan).

Thanks for coming along on our bathroom model. I’m off to do more work, or watch Adam do more work 🙂 Hopefully, we can get the bathroom mostly done this weekend. Fingers crossed, I’ll keep you posted.

I hesitate to even do a post in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic because I want to be sensitive to other people and their situations and I don’t want to come off as out-of-touch but I do want to share my thoughts and experiences. As with all of you, Adam and I’s life has been turned completely upside-down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Fortunately, both Adam and I have the luxury of working from home and have guaranteed paychecks (for now). I have been working from home since Wednesday, March 18, 2020. By nature I am a homebody so the self quarantine isn’t really bothering me. I do miss human interaction but I really miss eating out. Every Friday night is date night for Adam and I and that usually involves stuffing our faces at a local establishment. We ordered take-out but it wasn’t the same.

I realize how lucky we are to be able to stay home while other people are on the front line fighting this virus. My company, the U.S. Postal Service, is considered an essential service and there are many employees who can’t stay home, the mail has to be delivered! I hope they stay safe and don’t contract the virus. So far, 4 people in my building of over 1000 people have the virus. I am hunkered down at home and don’t appear to have any symptoms, although the allergies here kill me!

To occupy my “spare” time, I have been watching a lot of movies (only one movie per day, I have to maintain my schedule). Here is a rundown: Jumanji, Jumanji 2, Knives Out, Bombshell, Gemini Man, King Arthur (Guy Ritchie version), Collateral, and Valentine’s Day. I actually really liked the Jumaji movies with The Rock and Kevin Hart, just light fun. I also liked Bombshell, it was terrifying and so sad because even though it was lossely based on fact I don’t doubt any of that happened. I also threw in a Taylor Swift documentary for good measure. And, I finally finished The Man in the High Castle series on Amazon. Don’t get me started on that one. They took an amazing series, ran it into the ground, resurrected it, only to end it permanently.

A couple bright spots: Our drywall guy is coming tomorrow. Once our walls are mudded-in we can start tiling. That will be our sole focus this weekend – Lindsey Taylor, Tiling Machine. Very lucky that our bathroom remodel coincides with a full lockdown. I’m not trying to be funny, I’m happy we’ll have something to do to keep us busy and it will bring us a lot of satisfaction in the end. And now for an update on my milestone birthday year – notice I pivoted from day to year. I will most likely be celebrating my birth “day” quarantined so I’m kinda sad about that. I haven’t cancelled our trip to France yet. I have two months to figure it out and I have the option to change the flight with no penalty. We have a trip planned for Buenos Aires later in the year and I just booked a trip to Belize. Traveling brings me so much joy as well as the planning part of a trip. I will spend countless hours working on my trip planning projects.

What are you doing to cope with the COVID-19 Pandemic? Any tips on how to stay sane?

THANK YOU to those on the front line, working to fight the pandemic and to the essential businesses, please stay safe. Thank you for your service to our country. I hope this passes soon.

We are now in the middle of our master bathroom remodel.  Or, I should say we are in the beginning stages. Here are BEFORE pictures. Spoiler alert, it has the worst layout. Another spoiler alert, we aren’t completely re-configuring the room, just minor tweaks.

So, that’s our builder basic bathroom beauty! Did you notice the size of the “walk-in” shower…more like “scrunch-in” shower. It is pretty much not functional.

Here is the current layout of the bathroom. We have a garden tub and tiny walk-in shower. Not my idea of a great time!

In the new layout the garden tub is outta here, replaced with a purtty walk-in shower. Where the munchkin shower used to be will be turned into a closet. You can never have enough storage, ya’ll.

Here are photos of our current situation.

The “in progress” photos just aren’t as much fun as the “finished product” photos.

The plumbers are coming tomorrow to move the shower lines and drain and then it will be on like parmesan. We have already purchased the floor tile and it is a really pretty creamy marble. Here it is laid out in a sample pattern.

We popped over to Baltimore this weekend. I don’t know why people hate on Baltimore, I definitely think it is “Charm City.” They have great food, great architectural design stores, and funky neighborhoods. If they built a high speed rail from Baltimore to DC I would totally live in Baltimore.

We hit the jackpot at our first stop, an antique closet door for our bathroom. I LOVE IT! It was exactly what I was looking for.

Adam found this hardware for the door on Ebay. We just need to clean up the green paint and it will be beautiful.

Now for an update on my favorite past-time, travel!!!!! Or, thinking about travel, dreaming about destinations, plotting out possible trips…you get the idea. I think I mentioned before that this is a milestone birthday year for me. To celebrate, I want to take 4 international trips in 2020. So far I booked a trip to France – starting in Paris and ending up in Nice. Then, I booked a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m still trying to decide on the other two locations, wherever the flight deal takes me. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus is threatening my Paris trip but I’m going to hold off canceling as long as I can. I really want to take that trip!

Well, what started with a new rug turned into a new dining room. Here’s what I started with (you may remember from the last post).

I really liked the polka dot rug but it was just a pinch too small so I returned it. I finally pulled the trigger and bought a rug from Wayfair (see below).

This rug is really cool, like an abstract painting. But, the curtains don’t match the rug. Luckily, I have two houses with tons of furniture and accessories (there’s some sarcasm there). I took the velvet curtains down and moved them to Spotswood and took the curtains from there and brought them to Stonegate. I spend lots of time arranging and rearranging things…

But, after all is said and done I’m really happy with how the dining room turned out.

It’s driving me crazy how the bar cart isn’t centered underneath Priscilla (the portrait). I’ll figure out what to do soon to fix that. I really like how the room has a bit of a modern feel to it, different than my usual taste. I swear, I have so much fun decorating my house!!

I think I have cured my rug purchasing phobia and I am now eyeing new rugs for our hallway.  Polar opposites, right?! I always chose neutral rugs in the past but I’m really feeling patterned rugs right now.

Ronnie Hand-Tufted Ivory Area Rug – Wayfair

Novogratz by Momeni Jem Terri Hand Woven Flatweave Rug – Overstock

We are still waiting to get started on our bathroom remodel. Our HOA meeting is this week and fingers crossed our renovation plan is approved. During one of our weekends of waiting we made a quick trip to Philadelphia. The highlight of the trip for me was Bud & Marilyn’s, a restaurant of course. The food was so good…CHEESE CURDS!!!!! The design though… amazing, decorated like a mid-century Midwestern rec room.

We have been to Philadelphia before but we never visited Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were both signed. So, we had to check that off the list.

I’ll be back soon with more updates. In the meantime, I’m on the search for our next international vacation.

My current life consists of spending an inordinate amount of time rug shopping. I mean lots and lots of time!!!! The problem is I’m online rug shopping and I don’t like online shopping (for most things). I need to see it, touch it, and be able to easily return it if I don’t like it. I don’t want to drive all around DC searching for a rug either because – TRAFFIC. So, here I am, still searching for my forever rug.

I visited Home Goods yesterday and bought a rug, actually THE RUG I was eyeing online and I found it in-person. Problem solved right? Hahahaha, no. I knew the rug would not fit. I have to have at least a 5×8 rug and this was 5 x 7’6…yes, that makes a difference. I bought it anyway just in case they can’t do math but they can and I will be returning it, LOL. I just wanted to see if I was headed in the right direction and I’m not. I need something a little more subdued. So, here is my rug.

So, obviously I don’t have the dining room staged so please excuse the mess. Notice the blue outline on the floor, that’s the dimensions of the rug I’m looking for. I really like this polka dot rug but I think it’s a little extra. I need something not so in-your-face.

So, back to the drawing board. I was in West Elm the other day and found this rug that might work (below).

Ok, this is a perfect example of how what you see online looks nothing like real life. Here is the photo of the rug above online (below). It looks gray but the rug in-person looks navy, what the hell?! See why I don’t trust buying something online? Maybe you are wondering why I don’t just buy the West Elm rug. So, I’m being really cheap. I don’t want to pay for shipping. I mean, we have a local West Elm, why do I have to pay shipping??

When I first started my search process, these were the rugs I was attracted to. Then, I noticed if I didn’t check carefully, they weren’t really 5 x8, they were 5×7’6. That was really frustrating. Just as I was adding the rugs below I noticed the rug on the bottom in the middle is not actually 5×8 so it is out of contention now.

Carbon Loft McCoy Black and White Handmade Geometric Wool Area Rug, Overstock

Ashton Hand-Tufted Black/White Area Rug, Wayfair

Bourgeois Abstract Tufted Navy/Beige Area Rug, Wayfair

Interlock Charcoal , Home Depot

Mohawk Midtown Shodo Sand by Under The Canopy, Home Depot

Then, I almost bought this rug ( yes, I have a thing for dots) but after reading the reviews, the rug is brown, not black. I wasn’t sure if that would look right.

Then, I started gravitating toward these (below) and I think I am on the right path now. No closer to making a purchase but getting closer.  

MARLED INDIGO WOVEN COTTON RUG, Dash and Albert

Thurston Handmade Geometric White/ Dark Gray, Overstock

This seemed like a long time coming but the kitchen in our condo is finally done! Hip-hip-horray!!!! Here is a before and two afters:

The before picture doesn’t look that bad, right? Well, don’t let it fool you, it was a disaster. Cabinets so tiny, they are practically useless and the cabinets themselves felt like they had a cheap, plastic coating on them. And whoever thought is was a good idea to put a desk in an already microscopic kitchen?? The biggest changes we made were…well everything! Even though our kitchen is small, it lives large. We have even more space than we did in our Yorktown house.

Lets start from the beginning. Here are photos of the kitchen prior to the remodel.

We completely demo-ed the kitchen.

One of the biggest changes we made was opening up the side wall (unfortunately we couldn’t take it out completely unless we added a beam and that just didn’t make much sense). It was a minor change but ended up making such a difference.

Below: All of the pergo flooring is out and real hardwood is in!

Then it was time to put the cabinets together. There were so many cabinets!!

Installation time:

We originally bought a wine rack to go over our refrigerator but when we put it up it clearly didn’t fit. That was only the start of our problems. Here are the cabinets installed with the massive gap between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. Note: if your ceilings are taller than the standard 8 feet, 42 inch cabinets will not go to the ceiling.

Adam didn’t think the gap was that bad but I couldn’t stand it! As we debated what to do we moved forward with the countertops (below). The stone company kept pushing me towards marble looking countertops but I wanted the kitchen to have a bit of a modern edge and I was adamant about getting the light, speckled color. It’s so pretty and sparkles at the right angle. I am very happy with our selection!

Next up, backsplash install.

I am ecstatic with how the backsplash came out! We bought this tile on clearance and I have no idea why it didn’t sell out. It is such a cool, modern shape and that color…green, gray, blue. Is there a better color on the planet??!

So, back to our unresolved kitchen quagmire…the cabinet gap. We decided to build a soffit (props to Adam’s handiness) and cover the gap between the cabinets and the ceiling. Here is phase one: soffit painted and installed.

Phase two: molding

Phase three: crown molding

I bought this really cool removable wallpaper and we installed it in the pantry. Holy F, that was an experience. Why is wallpaper back in favor?? It is so hard to install!

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for, the fully installed kitchen.

As you can see from the photos above I got pull-out drawers, a silverware organizer, a lazy susan, and a pull-out trash can. I highly recommend those extra features in a kitchen or if you decide to remodel your kitchen definitely add those features.

Another change we made was removing the microwave from above the stove and purchasing a drop-in range. Both of those changes were life changing. Having all of that extra space above your range, instead of a massive microwave that just collects grease and dirt, is totally worth it. We are going to move the microwave to the pantry.  The drop-in range was a little bit of a vanity purchase but once we had it installed, it made such a difference. It just completely streamlines the look of the space and we really like having all of the knobs and controls on the front of the range.

There is one thing left to purchase for my kitchen, a rug. I have been eyeing this rug from Ruggable – a line of washable rugs. Has anybody purchased a Ruggable?

With the kitchen down, we are aggressively planning for our remodel of the bathroom. We bought our vanity today and I will purchase the faucets and shower accessories next. Stay tuned for more updates.

Adam and I just got back from visiting his family in Knoxville, Tennessee for Christmas. To make the trip feel more like a vacation, we made a few pit stops on our drive back home. We stopped at Devils Backbone Brewery for Adam and Luray Caverns for me. If you haven’t been to Luray (the caverns that is) I highly, highly recommend it. They were AMAZING…I mean A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

From Wikipedia: Luray Caverns was discovered on August 13, 1878 by five local men, including Andrew J. Campbell (a local tinsmith), his 13-year-old nephew Quint, and local photographer Benton Stebbins. Their attention had been attracted by a protruding limestone outcrop and by a nearby sinkhole noted to have cool air issuing from it. Seeking a cavern, the men started to dig and, about four hours later, a hole was created for the smallest men (Andrew and Quint) to squeeze through, slide down a rope and explore by candlelight. The first column they saw was named the Washington Column, in honor of the first United States President.

Sam Buracker of Luray owned the land on which the cavern entrance was found. Because of uncollected debts, a court-ordered auction of all his land was held on September 14, 1878. Andrew Campbell, William Campbell, and Benton Stebbins purchased the cave tract, but kept their discovery secret until after the sale. Because the true value of the property was not realized until after the purchase, legal wrangling ensued for the next two years with attempts to prove fraud and decide rightful ownership. In April 1881, the Supreme Court of Virginia nullified the purchase by the cave discoverers.

I thought the history of Luray Caverns was fascinating, especially how the discoverers  completely missed out on their great find. The caverns are now owned by the Graves family (who apparently can’t stop fighting over their $20 million fortune). Enough about the background of the caverns, look at these pictures!!!!

So cool, right???? In case you were wondering, our kitchen is still not finished. You will definitely know when it is!!!! In the meantime, I have moved on to the master bathroom. We spent over an hour at Floor and Decor trying to match up tiles for our bathroom and I am so excited of what we ended up with. It is going to look fabulous!

Here’s how our process works…

We pull out the different tiles and patterns we like and try to form a cohesive mix of materials. This is what we ended up with; the master bath floor will be 8×12 marble tiles, the shower floor will be marble looking (but really porcelain to keep the price down) hexagon tiles, the shower walls will be a very pale blue subway tile, and finally we will add a marble accent stripe to the shower tiles (bottom left in the photo below).

My vision for the master bath is classic and luxurious. When I move on to the other bathroom, that will be my fun project. I already found the floor tile I want. Isn’t this the best (below)? I mean, I am in love with this…obsessed, fatal attraction, restraining order crazy about this.

Speaking of obsessed…you know I collect female portraits. Well, my Christmas surprise was a new portrait to add to my collection and I only had to drive 2 miles to get it. Without further ado, let me introduce you to Lorraine. Isn’t she pretty? Look at her steely gaze. Wonder what she is thinking?

Finally, I want to share with you some of my new purchases for the condo. I have been searching for rugs constantly, all day every day. It’s really hard to pick out a rug online and then hope it lives up to the pictures in person. I haven’t found anyplace locally with a good rug selection.

Originally, I bought this rug for the kitchen (umm, what was I thinking? It is wool and has alot of light colors in it). It is now living in my hallway and I love it.

Here’s another online purchase I made. This was my Christmas present to myself, oh yeah! I am finally going to give in and allow a TV in my bedroom but the TV stand had to look fabulous and oh, boy does it! I have been eyeing this table for awhile. It had tons and tons of 5-star reviews so I went all in and I am really happy with this purchase.

My new favorite home furnishings site is homary.com. I bought two lights from them, a pendant light and a wall sconce and they are both perfect.

So, the pendant light I bought is actually a West Elm light but somehow this website (homary) was selling it too for more than half off what West Elm was charging. It is so cool. Here is the light (below left) that was in the condo when we bought it (nothing wrong with it, just builder basic looking).

Here is my new West Elm light (below right). The actual pictures I took turned out terrible but this photo is a perfect representation.

I’m having so much fun remodeling and decorating our condo. Hoping to share more updates soon. One more update; in my last post I mentioned I was thinking about booking a trip to Turkey. Well, change of plans, we’re going to France. More details later. Au revoir!

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in London and had a blast. I have to start with the hotel we stayed at, Redchurch Townhouse. I loved it!! When we travel abroad I like to stay in boutique hotels. I booked this hotel based on a few photos and that’s it. Come to find out, we were staying in the artsy part of London – Shoreditch. It was awesome. We walked to dinner and bars every night and ate amazing food!

This cheeky photo greeted us when we got off of the elevator.

I am obsessed with our hotel room. It is exactly how I would’ve decorated a room. Look at that chandelier!

Lighting is kinda my jam and that clear wall sconce is to die for.

Herringbone wood floors in our room, are you kidding me!!? And…terrazzo floors in the elevator. Are you serious?!!

A full bar in the room..ummm okkkkkkk!!!

How fun is this, a retro inspired radio? Jazz music was waiting on us when entered the hotel room.

And, finally the bathroom. I LOVE! Look at the warm wood cabinet with gorgeous marble countertops.

So, now that I have totally gone on a design geek-out I guess we can turn our attention to the main star, London.

First stop in London, the Tower Bridge. Yes, the same Tower Bridge where the terrorist attack happened; and yes, the same day. We toured the tower and visited the hydraulic room.

We went to an amazing bar the first night. I am so hesitant to order a cocktail because 9 times out of 10 I don’t like what I end up with but finally, a cocktail that tasted delicious. In case you were wondering, I ordered “The Littlest Hobo” (very apropos) which consists of Tanqueray gin, passionfruit, lemon, and Hawkes cider. It tasted like candy, so good!!

I was always hesitant to visit London because I heard the food was so bad but we enjoyed everything we had. Of course we avoided traditional British pub food. Our first night we ate at an asian fusion restaurant – Yuu Kitchen. It was sooooo delicious! Here are the chicken wings, gyoza, and the best cauliflower I have ever had in my life!!! Words cannot describe.

As I mentioned, our hotel was in the artsy part of town. Lots of street art and they have a really neat mall made entirely out of shipping containers, but my favorite part was the tinsel walkway, so fabulous.

The second day in London we went to Windsor Castle. I really, really wanted to go to Buckingham Palace but they aren’t open to the public in November, whaaaaa. But, Windsor Castle was beautiful. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures inside but you can outside! The photo below of me standing next to a small, red door is actually a London Post Office box. Of course I had to get a pic with one of those. We rode a high speed train for the first time on our way back to London. One of the employees told me this train goes really slow (110 mph) compared to other trains in Europe (over 200 mph). Hey, based on what we have in the states this was pretty impressive.

The second night for dinner we went to a steak place, Flat Iron. They have a disclaimer on their menu to not steal the cool cups the drinks come in and the knives, lol. You know we had to get a picture.

The third day in London we did a “Secret London”tour.

This is the smallest police station in the world as far as they know. It is no longer used as a police station though.

This street is supposedly one of the inspirations for Harry Potter. It was a cute, little alleyway.

An artist who was concerned when cameras were posted throughout London,  decided to critique “Big Brother” by putting plaster noses throughout London in random places.

This gas light is one of the few remaining in London which was actually lit by human gas/waste back in the day. Ewww

We toured the National Gallery, Portrait Gallery, and my favorite the Tower of London. This is where the Queen’s jewels are stored. You can’t take pictures but her crown has a 100 carat diamond in it, spectacular! There were multiple crowns and scepters, so stunning. Additionally, they have medieval towers, circa 1060.

The last day in London we went to see a show, The Lion King. The costumes were amazing, a visual astonishment. The story is ok, I mean, it is based off of a Disney movie.

The last night in London we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant, Gloria. It was the one place I wanted to eat while we were in London and OMG I think I might have had the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life!!! And the restaurant was so cute!

Overall, I liked London and definitely want to go back again. There is so much we still haven’t seen. I don’t think Adam was as crazy about London – it was like any other big city except the buildings are older and the people talk different. I guess it wasn’t exotic enough The one thing I really disliked about London was the smoking. Everybody smoked and I guess I am spoiled living in DC, for a large city not that many people smoke.

I’m thinking about booking a trip to Turkey for our next adventure. Hey, I gotta have something to look forward to.

I’ll leave you with some selfies – this is mainly for the parents.

Sooooooooooooooo, I’m living through a renovation right now. Don’t ask me how I feel about that!!! But,  floors are 99.8% done. Now, we are focused on the kitchen. I thought we had everything planned out but we have run into a design dilemma. So, here is the deal-ee-o.

Our kitchen has 9 foot ceilings. We bought 42 inch cabinets. In a normal height kitchen 42 inches goes all the way to the ceiling; with a 9 foot tall ceiling, not so much. Now, we have about an 8 inch gap between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. Here’s a couple photos of what I am talking about.

I’m so frustrated we didn’t properly plan for the 9 foot ceilings but this is a great lesson for future remodels. How do we resolve this huge, horrific problem (yes, I’m being over the top but I can’t stand the gap)?? Two options stand out as a resolution. We can rip all of the upper cabinets out and buy two sets of cabinets (two short ones) to stack on top of each other to get the cabinets to go to the ceiling. See photo options below.

Second option is to build a soffit and frame with fancy crown molding. See photos below.

Which option would you choose? Due to costs we are going to build the soffit and add nice crown molding to address the gap. I think the end product will look nice but it is another project we weren’t anticipating and it puts us further behind schedule, UGH.

Hopefully, my next post will be a finished kitchen. On a side note, one of my favorite things about moving besides the short commute and not having to rake leaves this fall is the decorating I’m getting to do. I am redoing the dining room and both bedrooms. I’m so excited!! Bye until next time.