More home updates

January 21, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ jen ~ 1 Comment

Since the first home update pictures, we finally had our kitchen and bathroom cabinets refaced. This means the cabinet boxes are the same, but we got new doors, drawers and hardware. This is a much cheaper option than replacing the cabinets and we were able to keep the existing countertops and backsplashes. We love how they turned out, especially that the drawers roll smoothly, we have roller drawers in the kitchen and they are soft closing drawers. The new cabinets and drawers definitely make us feel like we traveled from 1980 to the present day.

We also (thanks to the stimulus) put artificial grass in the backyard! The yard had some nice landscaping with rocks, lots of bushes and trees which now are very tall and mature. The turf company guided us to remove some of the very overgrown bushes to open up the yard more and we are so happy with their work and the new space we have! The backyard has areas that are always shaded which made it difficult to revive the grass and dead patches. Our new yard feels so much more open and fresh!

The Art of Decluttering

January 18, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ jen ~ Leave a comment

One of the most impactful books I’ve read is ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing‘ which is a best selling book by Marie Kondo. Her philosophy is only keeping what brings you joy and she walks you through steps on how to simplify and declutter your life and living space.

This book was kind of perfect for me because I hate clutter, but usually have little areas around the house that seem constantly cluttered. I love the feeling of de-cluttering and getting rid of things that are broken, I don’t use, don’t wear or that have served their purpose, but at the same time I like keeping things like souvenirs that remind me of my childhood or places we’ve visited. I reread parts of her book when we were preparing to move and we donated at least 20 large bags. I couldn’t believe how much we accumulated in just the 4 years we lived in our previous rental.

Some of her key points that helped us declutter were:

-Only keep the items that bring you joy. Don’t just look at things in a closet, pick them up and see how they make you feel.

-Donate items that have served their purpose, think about how someone may be looking for that item or it may be very useful for someone whereas it’s just been sitting in your house.

We were very motivated to declutter because we didn’t want to have to pack and move things we didn’t really need. When we moved to our current house, it was much easier to unpack and everything had a place, there was no room for a junk drawer, room, closet or bookshelf. It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

What’s your favorite way to clean the house?

March 29, 2017 ~ jen ~ Leave a comment

Like most women and especially fellow moms who don’t work outside the home, I would love a spotless home 24/7. With 2 kids and a dog, things can get messy if we don’t keep up the effort to keep the house relatively clean. A few years ago, I read a tip I really liked: keep your house in a condition as if guests were coming in 10 minutes. How much could you tidy up in 10 minutes? If you think someone is going to be coming into your house, it’s easier to try and tidy things up, wipe down surfaces, and keep clutter to a minimum. While real life happens and it’s always more important to spend time with my kids versus clean, I’ve tried to stick to this advice. It’s helped us get in the habit of putting things in their place and cleaning as we go rather than letting things pile up and try and clean a lot later. This doesn’t mean that our house is clutter free but the mentality definitely helps.

My favorite chore is definitely vacuuming! It’s relaxing and nice to see instant results of a clean floor. We’ve never had a fancy vacuum but even a regular one has been sufficient. We recently upgraded our dust buster hand vacuum from one we had since we got married 10 years ago and it’s so nice with increased technology ha, ha. We got this Shark model that’s advertised especially for pet owners ($35).

shark hand vacuum for pets Our Texas home and current home we’re renting have all wooden and tiled floors and I’ve had my eye on robotic vacuums (like a knock off Roomba) – which would hopefully keep the floor cleaner in addition to vacuuming the area rugs we have. That being said, I guess my least favorite chore is sweeping. I feel like you always miss some debris. If we stay in Chino Hills for a while and are able to buy a home, I think we’d choose wood/laminate floors with some carpet in the bedrooms.

top cleaning tip

*our favorite dog products for cleaner home here

Chino Hills house pictures

January 30, 2017January 27, 2017 ~ jen ~ 4 Comments

So far we’ve really loved Chino Hills! We’ve been here for one month already. The main things we look for when we move cities is 1) quality of school district 2) affordability 3)accessibility (distance to important things like a gym, church, library, freeway, etc) 4) crime levels. Since we’d never heard of or been to Chino Hills before submitting our lease application we did a ton of online research. One of the sites we found very valuable is Area Vibes (thanks, Nashes!)

Chino Hills is hilly (obviously ha), has top rated schools, lots of vegetation, close to shopping, restaurants, gym, church, parks, etc. It isn’t super close to downtown (depending on traffic it can take a long time) but luckily we don’t have to drive into the city and Dave can work from the units he manages or from their downtown office. The house has a lot of natural light and lots of built in cabinets in the kitchen, like so much there are empty cupboards!

The only things we haven’t liked so far are behind the backyard is a road that isn’t super busy but still has traffic. Our other homes have been on cul de sacs and super quiet. Our current home is on a cul de sac but it’s a long cul de sac and we’re not on the end part. The other thing I dislike is the color of the main part of the house – it’s yellow!!! You can’t really tell from these pictures but I feel like the color makes the room feel dated and grungy. The master bed and bathroom are cornflower blue which I’m not a huge fan of but the hallway, stairwell and other bedrooms are white (which is my first choice). Overall though we are happy especially since we signed the lease without seeing it.

Before & After home pictures

August 1, 2016July 31, 2016 ~ jen ~ 2 Comments

Home in progress – and it probably will be for a while! But I wanted to show family and friends an update of our little labor of love here in Austin:

Fiesta Friday: Things to celebrate

June 10, 2016 ~ jen ~ Leave a comment

Happy Friday and weekend! We made it!
Hosting a tea party? Check out this scone recipe.

I’ve been reading about how to epoxy a garage floor (exciting, I know!) Anyone have experience doing this – any tips?

My current favorite recipe for roasted butter garlic carrots! Disclosure: all the recipes I use and post here are simple ones that basically anyone can make, with 2 little kids I don’t have much time to cook 🙂

and a little motivation:

quote

Fiesta Friday: things to celebrate

June 3, 2016July 16, 2016 ~ jen ~ Leave a comment

The easiest vegetable dip!

I kind of like this Dalmatian tunic but not sure how it would look on me – thumbs up or down?

I got a pair of Lululemon capris 7 years ago and they’re still in awesome condition! I don’t usually like to spend a ton on exercise clothes, but they fit amazing and great quality.

Me and my family (and dog) are still in the moving process from Utah to Austin, TX. I didn’t even realize it was Friday, life has been a whirlwind! One of the best parts is being able to decorate a new home in a few weeks! Here’s some current inspiration: