Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Cozy Sounds
I always feel like summer has us rushing and everything seems so busy. I look forward to fall and falling back into our normal routine of dance classes, playdates, soccer and now pre-kindergarten and being able to spend more time outside. For us, fall is relaxing, enjoyable, calm and so very cozy. I can’t help but get excited at the end of every August to begin pulling out our fall decor and filling the air with sweet fall aromas and sounds.
The last week or so I’ve been listening to a few different autumn like playlists on AppleMusic and took all my current favorite songs and compiled them into a delightful playlist perfect for the next couple months and gives us all the cozy feels. I love listening to this throughout the day, but especially mid-morning with my second cup of coffee with a drop of thieves while I fold laundry. Oh the mom life!
Mike is kinda obsessed with Ed Sheeran’s albums and I can’t help but get lost in Christina Perri’s voice and lyrics. Her voice is so soothing and the best addition to our fall playlist. Together we have a special place in our hearts for Make You Feel My Love because it’s our wedding song, but I absolutely love Adele’s version and had to add it. And I can’t forget to mention Ben Rector, if you’re not familiar with him, do it now. I promise, this playlist will be on repeat!
The last week or so I’ve been listening to a few different autumn like playlists on AppleMusic and took all my current favorite songs and compiled them into a delightful playlist perfect for the next couple months and gives us all the cozy feels. I love listening to this throughout the day, but especially mid-morning with my second cup of coffee with a drop of thieves while I fold laundry. Oh the mom life!
Mike is kinda obsessed with Ed Sheeran’s albums and I can’t help but get lost in Christina Perri’s voice and lyrics. Her voice is so soothing and the best addition to our fall playlist. Together we have a special place in our hearts for Make You Feel My Love because it’s our wedding song, but I absolutely love Adele’s version and had to add it. And I can’t forget to mention Ben Rector, if you’re not familiar with him, do it now. I promise, this playlist will be on repeat!
Friday, August 25, 2017
Getting Cozy // Fall Diffuser Blends
To make our home even more cozy and the perfect accompaniment to the dreary days filled with rolling thunder and end of summer showers, I’ve been working on my favorite fall diffuser blends using my essential oils. I was always a die-hard candle lover, but since switching to essential oils I absolutely love mixing and matching the different oils to make the perfect scent combinations. They’re great for uplifting and creating whatever moods are wanted for the day. The kids get excited as well and Kensi loves helping come up with different oil combinations.
I hope you get the chance to try some of these blends yourself and if you’re interested in finding out more information regarding essential oils and how you can begin to use them in your home just email me or click on my essential oils tab at the top of the page.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
New Floors
I promise we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth! We’ve just been laying the new floors and we still have a few finishing touches to do, but all the flooring has been laid and that part is done! Going into this project we thought it was our biggest project to date, but we forgot about when we installed our entire sprinkler system and repainting the cabinets were much more challenging. Bottom line, I guess is installing the floors wasn’t difficult, it was pretty dang easy.
When we began this project we laid three rows of planks starting in our playroom which has the furthest left corner of the house. This starting point made the most sense because we were able to lay the planks through the kitchen, then into the dining room all while working our way down the playroom walls and into our entryway, which then leads to our living room that flows into the dining room. It sounds confusing, but it was the best way for the flow of the floors and it only left us with a small section in the dining room of working backwards. Mike and I had a little bit of pushing to do when it finally came time to meet our floors together in the middle. Everything lined up for the most part, but the slightest mis-measurement can make a big difference. We were able to snap everything together and it’s all cohesive, but there is a slight squeak near where we met. I think it makes it more authentic.
A lot of our friends and family were surprised how quickly we finished the project. We did most of the work after the kids went to bed so we had limited interruptions and stayed up late, 8pm - 2:30am for two nights. After those few nights working into the wee hours of the morning we spent a couple hours working the next couple days. All in all, after totaling up our hours worked, it took us approximately 4 days and like I said at the beginning of this post we still have the finishing touches (base boards + quarter round) to install this weekend.
Once we finished all the flooring the kids went crazy with excitement, mainly because we could put all the furniture back where it belonged. We’ve spent the last few days teaching them how to skate across the floors with socks, race cars down the hall and their most exciting discovery so far is that their puzzles lay flat on the floor! Oh those little things that we didn’t even think about. However, with all the excitement and fun with the toys, the kids have slipped constantly. When we chose our floor we specifcally went with something that had more texture for this reason. The furniture keeps slipping and as we hoped to wait a little while before purchasing rugs, it needs to happen now. I’m also realizing Olivia can’t walk in her footed pajamas and I’m cutting all the feet off and adding ribbing in it’s place. Oh, and Stella thinks we’re torturing her as she skids across the floor every time she comes downstairs. So there’s been a little adjustment going on with all of us, but overall we would take this project on again in a heartbeat. It feels like we live in a completely different house! We absolutely love the transformation and feel like the house is becoming more and more of a reflection of us!
Mike and I began prepping our floors a few days prior to laying the first planks down. Prepping the floors entailed taking up the carpet (section by section so we still had livable space for the kids) and removing the tack boards. We were most disgusted with how much dirt and sand we found between the carpet and the padding. It was very obvious the contractors who built our home didn’t do a very good job cleaning the floors prior installing any of it. Along with the dirt, we found multiple nails, screws, rocks, washers and razor blades underneath the carpeting. We are so glad we removed all of it!
The kids enjoyed helping us. Kensi and Finn took turns vacuuming and they loved helping us with the tools and picking out the next plank.
When we began this project we laid three rows of planks starting in our playroom which has the furthest left corner of the house. This starting point made the most sense because we were able to lay the planks through the kitchen, then into the dining room all while working our way down the playroom walls and into our entryway, which then leads to our living room that flows into the dining room. It sounds confusing, but it was the best way for the flow of the floors and it only left us with a small section in the dining room of working backwards. Mike and I had a little bit of pushing to do when it finally came time to meet our floors together in the middle. Everything lined up for the most part, but the slightest mis-measurement can make a big difference. We were able to snap everything together and it’s all cohesive, but there is a slight squeak near where we met. I think it makes it more authentic.
We ended up laying the floating floor over our vinyl flooring. The thickness was so minimal we didn’t think it was worth the extra time and energy to take it up.
Now, we could have avoided having to flow our floors into each room, but we chose to install our flooring without any transitions. Mike was adamant about not having them as he wanted all the floors to flow into each other. Apparently, this is the harder way to do install, but I didn’t know that and the process of cutting each board to go around all our nooks, crannies and notches wasn’t bad at all. It just took patience and a little more time. Measuring twice and hopefully only cutting once, or maybe twice.
The most difficult space for installation was the kitchen. This room took the most time and gave us the biggest headache because we had to move all the appliances out, measure the corners, cut all the planks, install the planks, add pads under each appliance and then move them all back into place. Trying to prep meals was a little difficult this day which left us ordering pizza instead 😉.
Trying to work while the kids were up was no joke, hard. One of us was constantly trying to keep them entertained when they grew bored of movies and playing on their own.
We ended up laying the floating floor over our vinyl flooring. The thickness was so minimal we didn’t think it was worth the extra time and energy to take it up.
A lot of our friends and family were surprised how quickly we finished the project. We did most of the work after the kids went to bed so we had limited interruptions and stayed up late, 8pm - 2:30am for two nights. After those few nights working into the wee hours of the morning we spent a couple hours working the next couple days. All in all, after totaling up our hours worked, it took us approximately 4 days and like I said at the beginning of this post we still have the finishing touches (base boards + quarter round) to install this weekend.
For anyone considering installing new flooring we highly suggest making sure you have the right tools and go into the project with a lot of patience. One of our friends saw we had started and asked her neighbor who use to install flooring for a living if we could borrow his tools, he very graciously obliged. Mike and I were so excited to have all the fixings, but for the most part we used two tools (large tapping block + weighted mallet) that we thankfully didn’t have to purchase ourselves. We did end up purchasing a flooring kit that included a small tapping block and spacers for the wall. About half way through our install we came across a large scab in our concrete that our builder tried to fix, but half of it was over filled and the other half was too low. Our plank wasn’t laying flat so we bought an angle grinder to grind down the concrete. We did learn a quick lesson afterwards as our entire kitchen was filled with a concrete dust....spritz the concrete area down with water before grinding; it helps eliminate the absurds amounts of dust!
We chose not use transitions between each doorway or room opening, but instead notched each board around the framing and door jambs and slid them underneath. This gives the whole house a cleaner and more cohesive design.
//SOURCES + TOOLS//
Ryobi Angle Grinder (used to grind down the concrete)
Jig Saw
Weighted Mallet
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Choosing Floors
We’re deep into the process of flooring and have been for several weeks. Choosing a floor is much more difficult than we had ever anticipated. There are so many choices, it can be overwhelming. I’m breaking down our process and sharing what questions we asked and what we learned through our experience. Bear with me, this may be long-winded.
Types of Flooring
Since our home is built on a concrete slab we’ll share the flooring options we researched and considered for our home. There are more options out there such as hardwood and tile, but for the sake of our budget and type of home we have, we chose to stay within the following products.
Engineered Wood: Instead of being made with solid planks of wood, engineered wood is made of three layers of wood (plywood and wood) while the top layer is a hardwood veneer. Engineered wood is very stable and can withstand high heat and moisture. It can scratch and dent, however because it is made of real wood, this product can be refinished, but the number of times it can be refinished is limited. This is also a great choice if wanting to sell your home since it can add value and may help a home sell quicker. There are a few things to consider, engineered wood is not the most environmentally friendly and has toxins in the stains and topcoats. Since it is also engineered, it does contain adhesives in the product. Lastly, if a portion of the flooring becomes damaged it can be difficult to repair. $-$$$
Laminate: This product is made of five layers of different materials such as plywood or MDF core. However the top layer is merely a print to resemble the look of a natural surface such as wood, but the texture can vary. Laminate has a bottom water proof layer making it a great choice for almost any home or room. It is resistant to mold + bacteria and is also very durable to scratches, scuffs and even light. Since this is a man-made material it can be created using compounds that derive from formaldehyde, which can cause health concerns especially when using a low quality material. It’s suggested to use a premium laminate and to look for products that have a minimum 20 year base warranty. $-$$$
Luxury Vinyl: This product is becoming more and more popular and people are choosing this product over wood and laminate because it’s water, stain, scuff and scratch resistant. Perfect for basements, bathrooms or homes that can easily flood. This product has no wood elements whatsoever, but made from PVC. Although this product is extremely durable, there are characteristics to consider. Such as the VOC emissions. Several companies have reduced the amount of PVC used to make the vinyl planks, however low end products can contain high amounts and it is something to consider since long term exposure may cause health concerns over a long period of time. This product also may have a marginal effect on resale value for a home. $-$$
Types of Flooring
Since our home is built on a concrete slab we’ll share the flooring options we researched and considered for our home. There are more options out there such as hardwood and tile, but for the sake of our budget and type of home we have, we chose to stay within the following products.
Engineered Wood: Instead of being made with solid planks of wood, engineered wood is made of three layers of wood (plywood and wood) while the top layer is a hardwood veneer. Engineered wood is very stable and can withstand high heat and moisture. It can scratch and dent, however because it is made of real wood, this product can be refinished, but the number of times it can be refinished is limited. This is also a great choice if wanting to sell your home since it can add value and may help a home sell quicker. There are a few things to consider, engineered wood is not the most environmentally friendly and has toxins in the stains and topcoats. Since it is also engineered, it does contain adhesives in the product. Lastly, if a portion of the flooring becomes damaged it can be difficult to repair. $-$$$
Laminate: This product is made of five layers of different materials such as plywood or MDF core. However the top layer is merely a print to resemble the look of a natural surface such as wood, but the texture can vary. Laminate has a bottom water proof layer making it a great choice for almost any home or room. It is resistant to mold + bacteria and is also very durable to scratches, scuffs and even light. Since this is a man-made material it can be created using compounds that derive from formaldehyde, which can cause health concerns especially when using a low quality material. It’s suggested to use a premium laminate and to look for products that have a minimum 20 year base warranty. $-$$$
Luxury Vinyl: This product is becoming more and more popular and people are choosing this product over wood and laminate because it’s water, stain, scuff and scratch resistant. Perfect for basements, bathrooms or homes that can easily flood. This product has no wood elements whatsoever, but made from PVC. Although this product is extremely durable, there are characteristics to consider. Such as the VOC emissions. Several companies have reduced the amount of PVC used to make the vinyl planks, however low end products can contain high amounts and it is something to consider since long term exposure may cause health concerns over a long period of time. This product also may have a marginal effect on resale value for a home. $-$$
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