Tag: Home
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The perfect cup of coffee
About a month after the initial pandemic shutdown started back in March, I slowly came to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t be doing any work in coffee shops in the near future. Along with thousands of other coffee lovers, I began searching the internet for tips on crafting that perfect cup of coffee…
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Clutter-free kitchen counters!
One of our goals with the new kitchen was to keep our countertops free of JUNK and general kitchen clutter. Our kitchen is small and mighty, and our counterspace is extremely limited. We were constantly moving things around to free up a clear space for food prep, and the clutter is just mentally stressful. So…
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New Kitchen: the final touches, a coffee bar, and before / after photos!
There are a few other major changes that we made to the kitchen to tie it all together: new appliances, new lighting, a backsplash, and a coffee bar. We chose stainless steel appliances and we’re THRILLED to finally have a dishwasher that doesn’t sound like a motorcycle gang is idling in our kitchen. We picked…
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Farewell to our 90s Kitchen
This year we finally decided to update our kitchen! Our house was built in the 1930s and the kitchen was likely renovated at some point in the 90s (I found a pocket calendar from 1993 stuck behind the countertops – my clue for a timeline guess). We are sure that the kitchen was pretty bitchin’…
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Golden Louise is finally here!
Our sweet Golden Louise arrived a little over a week ago today after 41 weeks of waiting, and we have once again fallen head over heels for a beloved daughter. The beauty of this post is that it doesn’t have to be long and explanatory like our post about Penelope’s arrival (although I can’t resist…
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DIY Kitchen Nook with reclaimed lumber – Part #2 / The Table
I have so many childhood memories of my home in Punta Arenas, Chile. One prominent memory is spending a ridiculous amount of time lying down on the kitchen’s peninsula in our home – for some reason I didn’t like to use chairs or sofas. It was huge table (at least young me thought so) made…
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(Some) Home Improvement 2019
Lest you think Javi has spent even one day this entire year without SOME kind of project in our house, let me bring you up to speed on all of the ways our house has transformed since January! The first big project was building all of those beautiful cabinets that cover our open shelving in…
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We swapped our carpet for vinyl planks and EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL.
When we moved into our house last year we tore out carpet, painted, redid the stairs, replaced 18 windows, and added a fence and started a garden. Everything ground to a halt when Penny arrived. Besides a new baby, what really stopped us was the fact that all of the rooms we now want to…
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Pile Composting: How and Why
Composting is great for the garden and beneficial for the environment in general as we reduce the amount of trash going to landfills. Composting can be done on different scales; from huge industrial operations to small home-based systems. In this series of posts I want to share the 4 ways I compost. I already discussed…
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Salute the Staycation
Have you ever had that feeling that you need a vacation from your vacation? That longing for your own kitchen that has everything exactly where it should be, that need for the comfort of your own bed? I’m usually willing to endure the vacation hangover in exchange for breaking our regular routine, seeing some new places…
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Penelope’s Grand Entrance
Penelope is only a few weeks old and she’s already done things we’ve never done in our 30+ years of life… MRIs, EEGs, blood panels, a spinal tap, an echocardiogram, urine exams, innumerable tests that I’ve never heard of and would like to never hear about again. Here’s the story. September 26 was the best…
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We Have a Garden!
Back in Nashville, Javier spent an immense amount of time and effort building up our garden from summer 2011 after we moved in right up until fall 2015 when we moved away. Every year he’d add a raised bed and fence it all in again with chicken wire. He’d come home from work or class…
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Good Neighbors and Tasty Crepes
I just have to drop a line and brag on my neighborhood for a quick second. I *love* our new street. Living near good, friendly people makes a big difference for me when it comes to feeling like I live in a house vs. a home (shoutout to our Nashville neighbors Kari and Colin –…
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What we didn’t DIY
Back in May when I first started posting about our projects for the new home, I mentioned three tasks that we either couldn’t or didn’t want to DIY. These were three top-of-the-list items that had to be taken care of before September when Penelope arrives, and I’m happy to report that they have been checked…
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Refinishing the Stairs Part 1
We figured the wood stairs would be in worse shape than any of the bedroom floors because they endure the most traffic, but we weren’t prepared for the amount of tedious work it would take to whip them into shape. I’ll add: the jury is still out on what kind of shape they’ll be in…
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Back to the Bedroom Refinishing…
Utter contentment is chilling on the couch in between two big cuddly dogs listening to “An Elegant Affair” playlist on Spotify (Javier’s choice) while Javi waters orchids. Javier and I had our Birth Class Part 2 tonight and I got *extra* worked up about the insane amount of newborn first-time-mom stress that I’m about to…
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Finished Gradient Dresser for Penelope’s Nursery
Back in my previous life as a Sociology graduate student at Vanderbilt I was a big fan of a blog called Young House Love. My friend Ashley and I were completely awed by all of the projects this young couple completed, and their blogging style was pure fun to read. When I finished my coursework and delved into…
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New digs in Louisville!
It’s safe to say it’s been the craziest roller coaster of a year ever for me and Javier. In January we found out we were pregnant, in February we listed our Nashville house and in March finalized that sale, in April we put an offer on a new house in Louisville and listed our current Louisville house for…
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Goodbye Sweet East Nashville Home
Gather ’round and let me tell you a tale of house hunting in East Nashville in 2011. Back then, the only houses in our very very tight budget were in East Nashville. Our superb realtor Marcie Nash showed us houses all over town, but saved the best one for last: the house that eventually became our sweet first home in South…
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More Odds & Some Ends
Beyond the wood floors, we’ve been adding other small details here and there to the house that have certainly made it a warmer, more inviting space. My favorite additions are the gorgeous curtains my mom sewed for our living room and kitchen windows. Our local Hancock’s Fabric Store is going out of business, but before…
Los Rodriguez Life 