House Archives - a Happy Healthy Home

The Kitchen: Before & After

Tiara — Thu, 25 May 2017 00:05:00 +0000

In 2015, only four months after Emerson was born, we decided to take on our biggest renovation to date! The kitchen and living room! It was a full remodel consisting of removing a 24ft wall, moving doors, extending walls, and everything else that goes with a kitchen remodel. It ended up taking longer than expected with back orders, etc. but in the end we couldn’t be happier!

Let’s just dive right in!

BEFORE

Here’s what the kitchen looked like when we purchased the house in 2010! The house had a ton of potential.

Here’s a few before snapshots. After moving in we painted the cabinets, walls, updated the hardware and added a ceiling fan. Sorry about the mess. We realized we needed to snap a few before photos after we started clearing everything out. Plus, baby fog…

We had two pretty decent spaces to work with, but they were both dark and ugly. The massive wall we decided to take down! Best decision ever.

The other side of the wall.

Progress!

AFTER

Removing the wall really lighten up the space. We moved the door from the mudroom to kitchen to allow for the refrigerator and pantry. While I love the idea of an all white kitchen we added warmth with light gray lower cabinets and a marble subway tile backsplash. Extending the backsplash to the ceiling gives the kitchen a nice visual and add texture. Not wanting any transitions in the flooring we used Hickory hardwood floors throughout the kitchen, living room, entry and hallway. Oh, the barn door! While it’s currently unfinished I’m in love.

Since it was a load-bearing wall we had to include a post. Not ideal, but the wall is still gone.

The island is 7×4 feet and includes drawers/storage cabinets and a seating area. I love all the drawers!

The cabinet boxes are ikea and the doors are semi-handmade. The doors came unfinished at the time so we had them painted. Since installing our cabinets you can now purchase pre-painted doors from semi-handmade. Pro Tip: Have your cabinet maker/installer frame out the boxes instead of using the Ikea legs. While it might cost a tad more money upfront, in the long run they will be sturdier.

The countertops are a Carrera quartz and have very light veins. The lower cabinets are SW Rare Gray and uppers are white

We bought our house in 2010 and tackled the kitchen in 2015! Looking back at the before I don’t know how I lived so long with the dated kitchen!

SOURCE LIST

Hardwood Floors: Hardwood Bargains HAND SCRAPED NATURAL HICKORY
Backsplash: Floor & Decor Bianco Carrara Honed Marble Tile
Cabinets: Semi-Handmade doors DIY Shaker & Ikea boxes
Pulls: Lowe’s Satin Nickel Bar Cabinet Pull
Faucet: KOHLER Pull-down
Sink: BLANCO 441310 PERFORMA
Barstools: Target Trenton Saddle Seat Barstool
Kitchen Table: the Hubby made it 6 years ago!
Parson Chairs: Ikea HENRIKSDAL chair with a white cover. These are also 6 years old. I would buy them again!
Refrigerator: Whirlpool 25.2-cu ft French Door Refrigerator (we already had this fridge. I wouldn’t buy it again. I wish we had a counter depth fridge it would look much nicer in the space.
Oven/stove: Frigidaire Gallery 4.5-cu ft Slide-in Convection Gas Range (it does the job + looks nice)
Dishwasher: GE 48-Decibel Built-In Dishwasher (LOVE – so quite worth the $$)
Microwave: GE 1.6-cu ft Over-The-Range Microwave (it does the job + looks nice)
Coffee Maker: OXO ON BARISTA BRAIN 9 CUP COFFEE MAKER
Lighting: LED Recessed Lighting
Barn door: Knotty Alder Interior Barn Door Slab with Sliding Door Hardware Kit

The post The Kitchen: Before & After appeared first on a Happy Healthy Home.

How to Maintain Clean Floors over the Holidays

Tiara — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 11:59:00 +0000

Here’s the thing I have wood floors throughout the house and I live in the mountains. You might think it’s a pain to keep them clean, but it really isn’t. Not when you have a few tricks up your sleeve! (psst… there’s a giveaway at the end)

Over Thanksgiving we had six adults staying at our barely 1,500 square foot home. Yikes!

No shoes and Bona wet and dry cloths kept our wood floors nice and clean. While wine and fresh mountain air kept us all sane.

No shoes are key when you live in the mountains. It helps keep the dirt and snow out. No one wants soggy socks. When you have dogs it can be a little harder. Pro tip: Keep a Bona Microfiber Floor Mop near by to quickly wipe up wet paw prints.

Bona has a number of products that make Holiday cleanup extremely easy. Two products

Two products I’m currently using and loving include…

Bona Disposable Dusting Cloths provide a quick fix clean, featuring a 3D design that utilizes thousands of fluffy fibers to effectively lock away dust, dirt and pet hair. Cleans 1.8X faster than the leading sweeping cloths due to a larger surface area.

This is ideal when you have hardwood floors throughout the house.

For a quick fix clean, Bona Hardwood Floor Wet Cleaning Pads feature a multi-layered design infused with Bona’s effective cleaning formula. The pads utlize locking strips for convenient attachment and removal for superior quick and easy cleaning.

Using Bona Hardwood Floor Wet Cleaning Pads and Bona Disposable Dusting Cloths allows for more time with family and friends not only during the holidays, but year round! Over Thanksgiving we spent our extra time cutting down a Christmas Tree!

Enter HERE to win $100 worth of Bona products, to get started on your own holiday cleaning – and a $150 SpaFinder gift card, to help you enjoy your “simple moments”!

Giveaway Terms & Conditions:
The contest runs until December 20, 2016 at 11:59 PM PST. The winner will be notified directly by Facebook messenger on or before December 27, 2016. Entrants must be residents of the US and 18+ only. Winner will be randomly selected from entries via the Rafflecopter widget.

The post How to Maintain Clean Floors over the Holidays appeared first on a Happy Healthy Home.

Kitchen Confessions // Moving Forward

Tiara — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:33:00 +0000

Originally I planned a different post today, but figured it was time to take a break from food. Plus, we received some GREAT news yesterday. Our building permit for the kitchen remodel was approved and six weeks earlier than we expected. Let’s start from the beginning.

When we purchased our house in August 2010 we always planned to remodel the kitchen one day. Seriously though, take a look at what we walked into.

To paint a better picture. To the left of the island are more cabinets, the refrigerator and a wall dividing the living room and kitchen. Behind the camera is a equally large space otherwise known as the dining room.

We immediately added a dishwasher and eventually painted the walls and cabinets. For the last two years our kitchen has looked a little like this. It’s not ideal, but it works.

Here’s a view of the other side of the kitchen. Yes, there are two massive sliding doors looking at our neighbors fence. I now have sheer currents hanging, which helps.

Fast forward to December 2013, we started working with a architect construction company to design a new space. After the holidays we really started working on a functional space and after a few months settled on removing the entire wall between the kitchen and living room. Due to a 1959 roof structure and 2014 snow codes we had to incorporate one support post. Not ideal, but it’s better than a wall.

After going back and forth with our contractor and structural engineer we finally applied for a building permit.

Lesson learned: Sometimes to get things done you have to follow up daily. Originally we were ready to submit for a permit early august, but our contractor wasn’t in a rush because he didn’t have time to actually do the project. After numerous calls and emails this was finally communicated with us and a month later the permit application was submitted and the contractor informed us he would no longer be finishing the project. Big Bummer and huge wench in our plans especially with a baby on the way. Well we’re sucking up our frustration with the company and moving forward. Guns blazing.

So here we are, October 1 with a plan, a permit, and a few appliances — but no contractor. Where do we go from here? We have most of the materials picked out, but just need to order them. But before anything is ordered we’re on a mission to hire a new contractor! We have a list of five potential contractors and hope to have three bids by next week. Fingers Crossed!

Stay tuned the Meyer Haus is getting a kitchen face lift!

Since I can’t part without a little kitchen inspiration here’s what we’re going for.

P.S. If you’re a brand or contractor looking to partner I’m all ears

White shaker cabinets + hand-scrape wood flooring.

via

Different color for the island. I can’t decide between navy, gray or a dark wood. Thoughts?

via

Drawers for lowers.

via

The post Kitchen Confessions // Moving Forward appeared first on a Happy Healthy Home.

Master Bedroom

Tiara — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:42:00 +0000

There was a lot of blood sweat and tears thrown into this house and the master bedroom was just one of the rooms that received a full face lift. So, what did we do? Well painted then painted some more. Replaced the carpet & bedroom door. Rebuilt the inside of closet. The sliding door was reset as it was sitting a few inches higher than it should sit. During this process we discovered some crazy wiring which was then moved to a “safe” place in the wall. And of course added a few personal touches. Enjoy!

Walls: Koala Bear by Behr Paint

Trim: Swiss Coffee from Kelly Moore Paint

After

Dresser

The post Master Bedroom appeared first on a Happy Healthy Home.

Enter at your own risk

Tiara — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:42:00 +0000

I bought a house and started ripping things out and then decided it was a good idea to move into the construction zone.

It’s like summer camp everyday at my house. I have one working shower, one working toilet and one working sink. Here’s the kicker, they’re all in different rooms, HA! Plus, my awesome plumber just quit!

Upside- I can shower! and the bedrooms are finished minus the door knobs and decor.

The post Enter at your own risk appeared first on a Happy Healthy Home.

My House

Tiara — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:34:00 +0000

For those of you who have yet to visit me in Tahoe I thought I would publish a few pictures so you could at least see where I live! It has a real cabin feel to it.

Shot of the front of the house.

Dinning room

Living room (orange chair and couch are now gone)

Kitchen

The post My House appeared first on a Happy Healthy Home.