Kitchen Accessories

Hi Everyone, I'm still around and really miss blogging! I finally got a new laptop, just need internet at home, which should be installed at the apartment this weekend. But I will say blogging from Starbucks can be fun, after all I'm a Gold Card Starbucks member - lol. Hello cheap re-fills and free syrups, lol. Anyways we hope to have internet connection at home, which will make blogger much easier because I have so much to share! And you all know I'm a talker, lol. I've been doing a lot of thinking about of kitchen layout and style, I can't wait to share more ideas when its a little more settled. 

So for the time being I've been focusing on my kitchen wants, as in all the pretty & practical stuff that makes up a kitchen (accessories). I've decided this time around, I want my kitchen to be organized, pretty and me (and the fam bam) because after all the kitchen is the heart of the home. I've been collecting ideas for my kitchen and here are few accessories I'm so looking forward to enjoying in my kitchen, I've already checked off a couple of wants :)

Cooking & Baking: My number one must have kitchen accessories is more like a star of the kitchen! I'm in love with the Kitchen Aide Artisan Mixer with a glass bowel. I recently replaced the the original one I bought a few weeks before the fire and never got a chance to blog about it. I'm so happy to have one again just in time for the holidays :) I love large glass jars, they are perfect for dry goods: cereal, flour and sugar etc. I planing on buying a few again for my kitchen. I also love how versatile they are, I used one for Avery's birthday party to hold salad. A super large cutting board will also be a must, I plan to use those plastic cutting board on-top of pretty wood one for easy cleanup. I love all the spice jars at Cost Plus, they have a great selection and this time around, I'm might go with the aqua lid spice jars. I also used those for party favors for Avery's birthday party, I filled them with sprinkles. I've been wanting a dutch oven, pretty since forever, I plan on buying the one above from World Market this weekend, thanks to a 25% off coupon I have! 

Sources: Crate & Barrel, World Market & Target

Dinnerware, Linens & Art: I love the clean look of white dinnerware, recently I've seen some pretty sets at Target, and Macy's, I can't wait to add a set to my new kitchen. To mix in some whimsy with all my white dinnerware, I plan on getting a few sets of salad plates from West Elm, the owl ones have me at hello. I adore cake stands, I recently bought the above cupcake stands a few days ago at Macy's on clearance, its great finding good deals. Fun colorful dish towels are also a must, to be honest I just buy a couple for looks and use plain white ones I can bleach :) I'm also looking forward to hanging artwork on my kitchen walls, I love the Etsy seller Anek, her colorful prints make me smile, I want one of her prints in my kitchen and a large one for my dining room. 

Sources: Esty, World Market, Crate & Barrel, West Elm & Macy's 

Now that I've share some of my Kitchen Accessories musts, what is on your must list for your own kitchen? What are your go to shops for Kitchen Accessories?

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

This is one of those topics, I never thought I'd be writing about. But here it goes. I wanted to share some progress of our house. As I mentioned before after the fire at our home, our home was tested positive for asbestos. An Abatement company was called into to remove the Asbestos, you can read more about the process here. After the removal of our fire damaged & Abestoes damaged belongings were removed they began the removal process of tearing down the drywall and insulation. It wasn't pretty. If you've ever seen a house being torn apart and seeing insulation and debris everywhere then you know how awful it looks. So it even though it sucks sharing these pictures, it's also our journey on getting our house re-built. My husband reminds me, its good to see progress happening at our home, it means we are closer to moving back in. 

This is our living room during the demo process of removing drywall and insulation. The Abatement company covered our flooring with plastic sheeting.

Hasani took this picture while standing in the dining room, the opening is the doorway between the living room and dining / kitchen area. On the left side of the picture you can see into Tabari's room. 

The area your looking at now is my kitchen. Everything was removed, no more cabinets, appliances nothing. The board on the right side of the picture is our kitchen window, boarding up after the fire. 

Here's our home now in its current state. This picture was taking while Hasani was standing in our garage. Its crazy to see no walls in our home. All the black spots you see, is from the fire damage, there's also water and smoke damage. Even with our home gutted the fire smell is still there. During the construction phase of our home being re-built of entire roof will come off and replaced. Our garage will be a complete tear down and be rebuilt from the ground up. 

Our melted water heater. 

View our the outside of the garage. Our property has been secured by a fence and we have great neighbors who watch our house for us! That's a blessing. I know the picture below is not pretty. 

OK, now we a heading back inside, all the debris has been removed. This is the view looking into the kitchen and dining room area. Once the construction phase begins in our home, the all the flooring in the house will be ripped out. In the dining room / kitchen you can see all the ripples in flooring from water damage from the water being pumped into our house. 

Here's our bedroom. Just down to the studs, the brown backing you see behind the wood it our houses siding. All the siding will be replaced. 

Crossing fingers I'll be back soon with more updates on our home!! I will for sure have to blog about something pretty to balance out this post. Thanks for all your support and words of encouragement!