This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.

So much has happened since I last shared pictures of the kitchen! I’m happy to say we’re about half way finished with this space. The big news this week is that our Home Depot appliances will be delivered! Before that, our excitement revolved around new Corian countertops being installed with a PINK undermount sink (that’s right!) and a butcher block island top from Lumber Liquidators.

You know things are looking up when you can make coffee at home, but not only that— your pink coffee creamer carton matches your sink!

While I really enjoyed the industrial coiled-pull-down style of our last sink’s faucet, I decided to get something more sleek and easy to clean. (The last faucet was perennially dusty and difficult to clean around the coils.) The faucet I chose for our new kitchen is elegant, but design-wise it’s understated and lets the pink sink take center stage. I can’t wait to see this area with the tiled backsplash in place! We chose this wide 3×12 subway tile that we’ll lay in a modern stack-bond pattern with off-white grout. We’ll lay that after the appliances are installed and after I’ve built the box around our hood vent. (More on that later!)

Just a reminder of what this space used to be! The first thing we did when we moved in was to take down cabinets and rearrange them to better suit our needs for the space. The cabinets we aren’t using in the kitchen anymore are being repurposed in the garage and basement. The style is not my choice for cabinetry, but I wanted to use what we had if at all possible, and I didn’t feel like the lower cabinets were cramping my style too badly. So they stayed!

As you can see in the floor plans below, we gave the eat-in-kitchen more space to serve as our main dining area, as well as removed all of the large cabinetry on the entry wall. Then we drywalled in a pantry where the butler’s cabinet use to be. (It used to have a wet bar inside!) I will be building a wall of shelving to act as an open pantry system for prettier things (like dry goods in jars as well as serving bowls and pitchers), but that will be the last of the details I finish in this space.

This is how the space looks now. We’ll lay maple engineered hardwood flooring for starters, but with the addition of doors, trim, appliances, lighting, and finishing details like shelving and tile, this space will look pretty close to my original renderings! 

Above is the wall where the open shelving system will go. The verticals of the shelves will anchor into each stud in the wall, and then I’ll instal horizontal shelves that will go above the doorway too, to completely surround the entry to the kitchen. I think it will be quite cozy and the perfect way to balance out all of the white in this space!

I spoke last time about my thought process behind selecting appliances for the kitchen. I’m fortunate to be working with The Home Depot on appliances for the space, and true to Mandi form, I began my hunt by searching online. I knew I wanted a slide-in range and a counter depth refrigerator. I was able to narrow the search parameters to view only those models, and selected these two models based on looks and reviews. My favorite part about shopping online (besides the fact that I can do it at midnight) is being able to confidently make decisions based on the experiences of those who have gone before me. :) After deciding on the two appliances that mattered most to me (fridge and range), I selected a dishwasher to match. Thankfully the one that matches is also well reviewed, or I may have selected a different model. But from what I’ve seen and experienced, KitchenAid is a great brand I can trust.

Before I placed my order, I did go into a Home Depot store to check out the appliances in person. I was able to see the dishwasher and counter-depth refrigerator I chose, but they didn’t have the commercial range in store for me to check out. But obviously it’s a dream range that I’ll be happy to have in our kitchen! I had been worried about the stainless steel handles on the fridge I liked (not trying to clean smudges all day long), but in store I was happy to see that the handles are etched and not prone to smudging!

Here are the appliances I chose:

• KitchenAid counter depth french door refrigerator in white
• KitchenAid 36″ commercial range and convection oven
• KitchenAid top control dishwasher in white

All Home Depot appliance orders over $396 come with free shipping, and I was able to select my delivery date online, along with appliance installation and hauling-away of our old appliances. After weeks of deliberating, everything was ordered within 5 minutes. So excited for their delivery this week!

I also decided to upholster the tops of my counter stools with this vintage fabric which reminded me of my parents’ bad velvety sofa from the ’70s. Stool cushions are the perfect little spot for a nostalgic pop of funk like this, and will add a soft touch to a mostly white room. I love that they’re the first thing you’ll see when you want into the room!

Thanks for following along with me on the journey! My next kitchen update will hopefully include a finished backsplash and my gorgeous new lighting. Wish me luck!

I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in the promotional program for appliances. As a part of the program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

Before we knew we’d buy a new home and renovate the first floor this Summer, I had big plans to get out and explore the corners of Ohio with my kiddos. Phil and I love to dream of traveling to far-off places, flying to the west coast, seeing historic coastal cities down south, or booking a trip abroad. Our recent trip to San Francisco was truly a bucket-list experience for us Ohio folks, but the reality of it is, we can so easily miss the fun things our own region has to offer!

We live in Northeast Ohio, an hour south of Cleveland— what they like to call the “north coast” of the U.S. We sort of feel disassociated from cities on the opposite corner of Ohio, like Cincinnati and Dayton, which have never seemed like destination cities to me, but are so close, we really need to visit them more often and uncover the treasures that are surely waiting for us to discover them! But we’ve been so busy working on the house, we could only spare one day this past weekend to do something fun as a family, which made a day trip up to Cleveland’s Lake Eerie the perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday! 

Sometimes you really need to take a long vacation away from it all, but other times, exploring your own state is just what you need to feel refreshed and in love with your home. So last weekend, we installed Juniper’s brand new Evenflo Stratos carseat, loaded the Evenflo Sibby stroller, and drove an hour up north to play on the beach and enjoy a bit of Cleveland.

Lake Erie in the summertime is such a joy, because it really does feel like you’re at the ocean. The water sprawls endlessly across the horizon, the sun shines brightly above it, and the Cleveland skyline is easily seen in the distance. A couple of hours at the beach is plenty for a Sunday afternoon with little ones, and as the summer sun dried our wet hair and lulled Juniper to sleep, we loaded up up the kids again to find a parking spot in our favorite Cleveland neighborhood, Ohio City.

When Juniper was an infant, we could just pop her Evenflo Sibby infant carseat out of the base, and snap it into to the Sibby stroller, without missing a beat or disturbing her sleep. It’s a super convenient travel system for not interrupting naptimes at moments like this. But now that she’s getting older, we had installed her new convertable carseat and had to remove her from the carseat and transfer her to the stroller. She just chilled in the reclined stroller until she remembered we were getting ice cream. Then she was wide awake!

Ohio City is the kind of neighborhood full of beautiful, historic homes, owned by folks who obviously care about their homes and their community. Schools, churches, playgrounds, restaurants, boutiques, markets, and bars all happily coexist and are bustling with people on the weekends. It’s easy to walk around and pop into a few boutiques and restaurants and enjoy city life, without actually being in downtown Cleveland. And all of this is within minutes of the beach.

We like bringing the Evenflo Sibby stroller along with us on days like this, because Lucy can ride on the platform on the back when she’s tired of walking, but we don’t have to haul a double stroller in and out of shops and restaurants throughout the day. Strollers can be such a hassle in restaurants, but this one is compact, but still easy to push, and comfortable for Juniper to relax in.

The kiddos’ favorite place to visit in Ohio City is Mitchell’s Homemade Ice Cream shop, which is a local chain who makes there ice cream right here in Cleveland. In fact, the kitchen is surrounded by glass walls so you can watch the ice cream being made while you’re enjoying eating it. Or, you can pick a window seat and watch the people walking down West 25th street. Lucy and Juniper like coloring pictures at the kids’ seats while waiting for the train to make its way back around the perimeter of the shop, carrying pints of ice cream as it chugs along.

Mitchell’s Ohio City location is in a charming old theater (converted into an ice cream factory) and situated in the midst of one of the best area for shopping and eating in West Cleveland. Just down the road is the Westside Market, another must-stop place for us when in the neighborhood, and a string of shops and restaurants. On Lorain Avenue, driving west, you’ll find several great vintage furniture and clothing shops that alone make the drive to Cleveland worth the trip! So much to see and do.

Cleveland makes the perfect destination for a day trip, but if we didn’t live so close, I could easily fill up an entire long weekend with activities, and it wouldn’t be enough time! I always tell people how great Northeast Ohio is, but I’m not sure they believe me. The problem is, many people from the area seem to get pleasure from complaining about Northeast Ohio, but they don’t make the effort to get out and see more of the treasures the region has to offer. And I’m sure it’s like that all over the world!

We’ve all felt, from time to time, that it would be so nice to live somewhere else. But with that kind of attitude, it’s too easy to miss out on seeing and doing all of the special things your home has to offer! Feel like there’s nothing in your hometown? Then drive an hour or two in any direction and try something new! It can be the perfect refresher you need to see your home in a new light.

Do you ever go exploring new places close to your home? If I traveled through your state, what are some lesser known places we should visit?

Thank you to Evenflo for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest & completely my own.

When we packed up most of our clothes to prepare to sell our little house, I choose a few wardrobe staples I knew I wouldn’t mind wearing every day. I’m so glad I guessed correctly, because let me tell ya, I’m actually really enjoying wearing the same few things every day, and I haven’t grown bored or felt drab— not even a little! Maybe this capsule wardrobe thing can be a new lifestyle for me? In any case, it’s definitely working for me now.

If you ever run into me when I’m out and about, most likely I’ll be wearing a linen shift dress from Linenfox on Etsy. Maybe it’ll be white, or maybe it will be black. But that’s about all I’ve been wearing out of the house these days! Not even ashamed.

Part of the reason for my limited wardrobe (now that we’re beginning to unpack our clothes) is the extra padding I’ve added to my frame during the past few months of home upheavel. I’ll be the first to admit I stress eat, and eating healthy for me is such a mental battle when I literally don’t have a kitchen to cook in. Not to mention the lack of any extra free time to keep up my exercise habits during this renovation. I don’t have to worry too much about a little extra cushion on my bod when my summer wardrobe is so forgiving! But is the opposite of what you might think of when you’re thinking about summer staples, but ah well! This is my life, I might as well feel good about what I wear every day. In the fall I’ll get back to my old habits. I keep promising myself that. And for now— there are these comfortable shift dresses!

In addition to these super easy to wear linen shift dresses, I purchased a black cami and white sleeveless blouse from Linenfox. This post isn’t sponsored or anything (though it does contain affiliate links), I just really wanted to share how comfortable and cute these dresses are! I’ve been so satisfied to slip one on over a slip and get on with my day. So easy, literally breezy, and quite chic.

Also— quick shout out to my new A Beautiful Mess for Kelly Moore camera bag! As a former photographer turned blogger, this bag is a dream come true. My old camera bag was so ugly, but I used it because it had padded sections for my lenses and camera body, and a padded strap for my shoulders. But this bag is much prettier and still includes all the features I need. Lately it’s been my main tote when I leave the house, and I’ve been stashing camera lenses in the compartments alongside diapers and toys! Love it.

O U T F I T   D E T A I L S :

dresses: Linenfox on Etsy
shoes: Via Spiga
hat: ASOS
bag: A Beautiful Mess for Kelly Moore