Houston Eats & Drinks

February 3, 2016Leave a comment

With the weather just too perfect for words here in Houston, we spent quite a bit of time outdoors & with friends this weekend! Barley was utterly wiped by the end of it. Some places to check out if it’s as good this weekend (or I guess you could just sit inside):

Johnny’s Gold Brick

Feels very old school mod, from the cocktails to the furniture. The Mexicali Sour was so fresh and tasty, but the drink specials change regularly! From the people at Treadsack, AKA all the great and trendy restaurants in Houston.

Via Houston Eater

Eight Row Flint

In a converted gas station, this patio is a dream. Apparently people agree because it was pretty packed. And the frozen margaritas are divine. I’ve been converted from an “on the rocks” girl- exception made only for this place. Check it out, and make sure to get some tortilla chips, because they are perfection. No wonder I like it, it’s the same people behind Coltivare!

: via Culture Map

Cafe Brussels

With an amazing selection of Belgian beers (my personal favorites) and all the Belgian delicacies you can imagine, this place was delicious. The mussels come out in a big hot pot (YUM) and I had to follow it up with Belgian waffles because I’m into clichés. Of course, the Belgian Frites were great too. But beware- service is SLOW.

via Houston Press

And my favorite restaurant this weekend… our own home. REALLY loving our kitchen. And the people who fill it. And the food that’s made in it. And I promise I’ll post more on the remodel soon…. in the mean time, this Thai Chicken braised in Coconut Milk was just great, even if the pictures weren’t as pretty!

In love with: Cement tiles

August 3, 2015August 3, 20155 Comments

I’ve been looking at cement tiles for months and months. I desperately wanted them for the bathroom addition, but to my great despair, they don’t quite fit into the renovation budget. I even went so far as to consider buying them in bulk to get a better price and selling off the rest! Even though they aren’t a possibility, I can’t stop ogling them. These are some of my favs:

This Walker Zanger tile is what I would use as the kitchen backsplash in a budget-free world. It was $75 a sqft. Insanity.

And I wanted something like this for the bathroom floor.

Or this 🙂

Love this blue from Villa Lagoon.

And this from Granada Tile.

It just looks SO good in action.

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Sigh. Maybe in the next house??

The Plan

June 2, 20151 Comment

Dan and I have been meeting with contractors!! We have one more meeting on Thursday and then hope to move forward. We’re planning on gutting the kitchen and moving a couple of walls to make it more open/functional/have matching cabinet doors. We’d (mostly me) also really love to be able to have more than 1 one person comfortably cooking at a time. Dan says it’s totally fine for 2! I strongly disagree. And you know how at parties everyone wants to be in the kitchen? Still true in ours. At a whopping 2 feet wide, which may be generous.

We’re also planning on making our garage a bedroom/bathroom/laundry room. Mostly just an all purpose room that will result in us having a 2nd bathroom and a washer/dryer that isn’t in the garage. Since I do *almost* all the laundry, I’d really love for it to be air conditioned and to not have my clean clothes fall onto a filthy garage floor. Plus, our only existing bathroom has a shower, but no tub. It’s worked out just fine for the 2 of us, but we are trying to get ahead of the game and make sure there’s a tub to bathe our future children, because I hear they outgrow the sink pretty quickly 🙂 [Side note to family- the children time line has not changed]. Dan will then have an long term project of building a detached garage so we don’t lose the storage space. Or maybe we will use it to actually park our cars? Doubtful, but hey! I can put in on a goals list.

So that’s our grand plan! Meeting with contractors has been intimidating. Even more intimidating- the thought of having to pick out every. single. thing. that will go into the spaces. I know what I like, but question how everything will go together and I’m worried I’ll second guess all my choices. Choices that will be PERMANENTLY affixed to the house. Scary. Oh and since we are using Ikea cabinets to save money- planning all of that. That’s a whole big thing and the kitchen planning website is already driving me crazy.

Still, I’m insanely excited to the make the house even more our own and to have a real life kitchen to fill with all of my Pinterest dreams. Will keep you updated as the project moves along!! Hoping I don’t drive Dan too crazy throughout the process.

I’ve Got the Blues

March 19, 2015Leave a comment

I have/want blue and white everything. It’s verging on the edge of extreme. Dishes? Blue & white? Bathroom? Blue and white. Bedding? Blue and white. Heck, our house is blue too. And pretty much everything we registered for for the wedding was as well. Dan feels like he’s swimming in it 😀 Luckily he’s been fairly obliging. I mean… I could definitely be a huge pink fan. There are some really beautiful salon style rooms that look gorgeous and have the prettiest pink walls. So in reality, I think he should be pretty satisfied that I adore blue.

So of course, when we get the chance to renovate the kitchen, I am wanting blue and white cabinets. I’ve been keeping a look book ready.