Tuesday Things.
1. HOW IS IT SO DARK OUT!!! I know, we do this every year. But gosh. It is SO dark by 5pm. How do we live our lives in the evening?!
2. Half and half chocolate chip cookies. Oh my gosh.
3. Going to do a big holiday Trader Joe’s run this week and can’t even wait. What’s your must have?
4. We’ve been in the constant cycle of sickness since school started. With a family of five, it’s like it cycles through everyone just in time to start the cycle again. I don’t remember this happening when I was a kid.
5. These quirky food pairings! Um, of course I can do #6.
6. TV things!! Oh how I loved the end of Lessons in Chemistry. Also, Black Cake is so, so good!
7. I need some ideas on how to “warm” up my new kitchen and house. I still haven’t bought anything new, so I’m open to all suggestions! I want it to feel cozy and lived in.
8. Christmas movie style icons. I love it.
11 Comments on “Tuesday Things.”
Post a picture of your kitchen so we can have better ideas to help you out.
Have you watched the show JULIA on HBO Max? (Not the movie by that name, there’s a series) it is delightful in every possible way. Season 2 is airing now.
Sorry to hear you’re all getting sick so frequently! The reason you don’t remember it happening when you were a kid is because we didn’t eat nearly the amount of sugar back then. Not to mention industrial seed oils, modern grains, dyes, soy lecithin, carageenan and a host of other garbage that we’re all eating on the regular now…it wreaks havoc on our gut.
A small lamp wherever you can place one will warm/cozy up a space really well! I have a tiny lamp on the counter in my newly remodeled kitchen and it makes me
so happy! Enjoy your Trader Joes trip, I always go in February around my birthday for a special treat (its 45 mins away) . :)
Have you hung up any art or photos? I think nothing on the walls definitely makes a house seem “new”. Just use what you have, you can always move things around later. But I promise it will feel so much more personal :)
I love to put magnets on the refrigerator to make a kitchen feel more lived in. And my family has been getting sick so frequently this year! I don’t know what it is, but I feel like we can’t catch a break.
TJ’s: Salted Caramel baking chips. i cannot say how much everyone loved these mixed into standard chocolate chip cookies (i used about 1/3 caramel chips to 2/3 chocolate chips) .
I’m so sorry you’re family is cycling through every single germ. I feel like it wasn’t as common when we were young, but I know my kid seemed to cycle through everything and share with me until she got to older grade school years (she’s in college now) So for at least the last 15-20 years it’s been a thing
Hope you post a full photo of kitchen.. just because it looks gorgeous and I can’t wait to see how you’re decorating it.
Framed art, even a framed print of favorite family recipes (etsy has lots of sellers who will illustrate them too). I like warm wood accents,e.g. a nice wood block or wood salt and pepper grinders on the counter. Fresh flowers. Colorful runner rugs. And even if you like clean countertops, you might leave out a few things, e.g. a nice (pottery or wood) container for storing coffee beans or tea bags.
I love the dark chocolate covered peppermint joejoe’s! They are so good.
Try rugs, large for the big rooms and smaller runners elsewhere. Also pillows and house plants, which I know are both hard with young kids (pillows always end up on the floor, and my 3 year old still tries to eat the plants!!). Lamps and mood lighting may help. Others already mentioned art on the walls.
Your new home, especially the pantry, looks SO gorgeous from what you’ve shown–congratulations!
From what I can tell, your have a lot of light wood and pale colors. I have a very typical new build, with light gray walls and floors and had this same problem needing to warm it up. I found adding walnut wood and other mid-toned warm wood accents helped in every room. In the kitchen specifically, I always have fun decorative dish towels hanging from the oven handle. If you didn’t buy new island stools, that could be fun way to add some color and warmth there. A fun decorative sign goes a long way, too–I have a nice long one I bought on etsy that I just lean on the counter, resting against the backsplash. Also a big fan of a bowl, vase, or tray of knick knacks in the center of a big island. Anything vintage-y also counteracts the super modern, fresh feel of a new home. Texture helps a lot as well–runners and rugs everywhere, throw blankets in non-kitchen spaces.
Finally, to be perhaps too literal, lightbulb temperature also makes a big difference–maybe try out a different color to see if it helps. (I love that sweet spot between a daylight white and a super warm white. Happy decorating!