The Empty Nest :: The Renovated Kitchen and Dining Room Are My Happy Place

renovated kitchen & dining room

A renovated kitchen and dining room adventure ~

I receive a large number of emails asking about our “fixer upper” and questions regarding the entire adventure. Everyone loves HGTV these days don’t they? Every season there is a new city where couples are fixing up old homes and creating amazing living spaces. I can’t get enough. How about you?

Our “updated Spanish” designed kitchen and dining room are my happy place. They are bright and cheery, quaint and efficient. We don’t have a lot of extra room for “stuff”, therefore, we do not purchase multiple sets of dishes and glasses like we had prior to downsizing. Just the basics. Downsizing feels good. Everything has a place and if we want to buy something new, we need to get rid of something in order to make room.

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Our Super Fun Trip to Magnolia Market in Waco

trip to Magnolia Market
The sun was shining and the visitors were happy!

 

Our trip to Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas ~

trip to Magnolia Market
We had a great time in the small town of Waco

 

trip to Magnolia Market
The famous silos!

 

Magnolia Market is a dreamy home design “theme park” suited for everyone! This unique destination is a bit of a cultural phenomenon drawing visitors from all over the world. I was prepared to enjoy myself, but pleasantly surprised to absolutely love every detail of this one of a kind spot!

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Home Renovation Update – Almost finished!

empty nest home renovation
No more construction fence! A brand new replica of the original leaded glass front window has been installed. Dumpsters should be gone soon. The design of the super cool driveway is a bit unique in that it is cut in a large brick pattern. The color of the concrete is called “Fawn” and was designed to be much the same color as the old concrete on the sidewalks. We wanted the house to be updated, but still blend in nicely with all of the other old homes on the street.There is still a lot to do on the outside, but we are thrilled with the results so far.

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The Pasadena Empty Nest Fixer Upper Update!

 

kitchen remodel
The refrigerator and freezer panels are waiting for the appliances to arrive. Next up: The hardwood floor to be finished and hardware for the cabinets. There is paper covering the new floors for now.

Another update for the empty nest fixer upper…

More progress, more decisions, more changes, rinse, repeat. It does seem that the little house in Pasadena has made some significant progress, but with that progress came a couple of setbacks.

Every time we are cruising along at a healthy pace, something happens that slows it all down just a bit. The tile that I had originally picked for the front of the fireplace arrived and I was taken aback at what I had chosen. There was nothing about it that I liked. The architect urged me to choose something more traditional, more “old Pasadena” and we made the choice together. I now see that the colors were wrong, it seemed old fashioned, but I made this decision in the middle of the last few (horrific) months of my dad’s life. I made a mistake.

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Empty Nest: New Update for the Fixer Upper Renovation

fixer upper renovation

The outside stucco color is a vanilla malt, the doors are a fabulous color of persimmon, and the trim is a chocolate-brown.

More news on the fixer upper renovation!

Oh boy, there is a lot to talk about. I started reviewing older posts from as far back as September. My video makes it fun to see the old house and I was so optimistic that we would be completed in seven months but the reality is more like nine months. What is a couple of months when we have a lifetime of enjoyment ahead of us!

My original video:

If you receive this post via email, click HERE to see the video.

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The Empty Nest Home Renovation is Delayed… a little

Original Backyard home renovation
The original backyard – There was a super odd looking (and useless) planter in the middle of the pool deck. All of the back of the house has changed with new windows and doors and the second story addition.

The Empty Nest home renovation is…DELAYED, but just by a little.

I know many of your heads are nodding and you are silently saying “I told you so”, but we do have a slight delay of our home renovation. We cannot blame it on El Niño, we cannot blame it on the contractor, we cannot even blame it on me.

building the wall home renovation
Without the planter in the middle of this small yard, it will add more usable space. The new wall being built will add privacy along that side of the yard.

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