Irish Potatoes!

   Top o' the mornin' to ya!  Too much?  Okay...Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I personally don't do much celebrating for St. Pat's, other than wearing a green shirt to avoid being pinched by rude people.  I am fairly certain that being a generic white mutt, I probably have some Irish in me somewhere, but it's never been a *thing* in my family to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  There is, however, one thing that my great-grandfather, and therefore my grandparents, insisted on.  You must plant your potatoes on St. Patrick's Day.  Lesson #2 learned.

Me and my Daddy-o

   So this morning, we headed out to the farm to get some potatoes in the ground before it starts raining tonight.  It's Spring Break here, so my mom and sis are out of school this week and my dad took vacation to hang out with us.  Somehow I talked them into coming with me to plant potatoes.  (C'mon guys, it'll be fun...)

   The seed potatoes had been cut and drying for a day or two, so they were ready to go in the ground. Dad did the hard part of raking up the soil into a little mound for me.  That way you don't have to dig so far to get your potatoes when they're ready.  

  My sister and I went behind him making holes and popping spuds in the earth.  After that, we covered them up and smoothed over the top of the mounds, and gave them a little drink.

   The potatoes were much quicker to plant than the onions.  Partially because there were much fewer of them, and partially because I had help.  We ended up with two rows of potatoes, and Grandpa says each plant will likely yield 8 or so small potatoes.  Not bad!

Two finished rows of potatoes!

My Seester and I

   It was fun to get in the dirt with my dad and sister.  Even though I finally live close, I never get to see them as much as I want.  Grandpa didn't get too involved today.  He showed me what to do, but then he went to fix a fence with a couple of youngin's.  I think they were looking to make a buck, and he needed some help, so he put them to work!  The farm was hoppin' today!  Abby Kate played in the house with my mom and grandma again today.  We had planned for her to stay down in the garden with us, but it ended up being much colder and windier than I thought.  She was perfectly happy to have tea parties and read books inside!

Arugula babies!

   I did get surprised by this bit of green on this St. Patrick's Day.  My arugula seeds have sprouted already!  Not even a whole week in the dirt and they're already popping up!  When they're a tiny bit bigger I'll transfer them to some big feed tubs out in the garden.  They're pretty cold-hardy, so they'll do fine.  Very exciting!

   I'm not sure what comes next in the garden.  I think I'm in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, waiting until the frost danger is over, and waiting for my little seeds to grow.  I'm looking forward to getting them in the ground and seeing what grows!  What's growing in your garden?

Spring Has Sprung!

   I am officially declaring the end of winter!  (Hear me, Mother Nature?  No funny business.)  The past week has been gorgeous, even the rainy day seemed to promise changes and new life.  Sigh.  I love it.  I love the end of the bleak grey cold.  I love the end of darkness.  I love the end of a stuffy stale house.  I love the end of trying to come up with ways to entertain my toddler indoors...(only partially kidding about that last one).

   My new undertaking this season is a garden.  Not just a few bedding plants in the front yard--I'm talking grow your own food, mud up to your knees, need a tractor to till it up garden.  No, we did not move to the country, although that is my heart's desire.  My grandparents, however, already live out of town a ways, and have had a massive (half an acre?) garden that has fed the family, neighbors, church members, and anyone else who needed produce for the past fifteen years.  After last year, Grandpa declared that he was done gardening, said it was too hard on his knees and he just wasn't feeling up to it anymore--well, maybe a couple of tomato plants because, you know, the ones you get at the store aren't fit to eat.... He kindly offered his well-tended garden to me, said he'd plow it up if I wanted to plant anything.

Our blank canvas!  Love that red dirt!

   I have a not-so-secret desire to be Ma Ingalls and a dream of having a little land with a clothesline and chickens and a garden, so I jumped at the chance to learn from the master and see if I kill outdoor plants as quickly as I kill indoor ones. So Grandpa got out the tractor and tilled up the earth, and I bought some seeds.  He informed me that the first thing to go in the ground was onions, but we'd be planting sets and sprouts, not seeds.  Lesson #1 learned.  When it quit snowing and the ground dried out last week, we set to work.

Grandpa gettin' work done

   Grandpa had said he'd pick up the onions to plant when he was at the store next.  It never occurred to me that he never asked how many I wanted to plant.  When I got to the greenhouse where they were being stored, I saw this:

Baby onions!

   That, my friends, combined with the sets he had for me, is THOUSANDS of onions.  Did I mention that green onions are grandpa's favorite thing out of the garden?  Apparently they are.  So we got to work, poking holes and planting tiny little wisps of onions.  It wasn't too hard, and I enjoyed spending the time in the red dirt that I missed so much when we lived out of state.  The weather couldn't have been better, and it was a rare chance to spend some one-on-one time with Grandpa.

Putting in the elbow grease!

   I was tired at the end of the day, but it was so satisfying to look back at the work we had accomplished.  I'm sure I'm romanticizing things, but I kept thinking about all of the generations of pioneers who had come before me, who had worked this red dirt and survived by the sweat of their own brows and the strength of their own hands.  It felt right to be learning something so ingrained in the state I grew up in, sort of reverent for everyone who made it what it is.  But like I said, ask me in September how I feel about gardening and I may have changed my tune...

Look closely--can you see my babies out there?

  I also started some seeds for some other things I'd like to try growing this year.  I'm considering this my experimental garden year, learning how things grow and what does and doesn't like the weather and soil here.  I started carrots, spinach and arugula, green beans, zucchini, and corn.  I have seeds for a few other things, but it's a bit early for them, and I plan to buy young plants for tomatoes and strawberries when the frost danger passes.

Seed babies growing in the greenhouse!

   I snapped a few pictures while I was there because everything felt so alive.  Spring was whispering everywhere, from the bluebird that visited the garden to the blooms on the fruit trees.  Every time I took a picture I thanked God for making all things new!

Our colorful visitor

   Before we left, Abby Kate, who had been napping and playing with my grandma, convinced Grandpa that she needed a ride in the Mule.  It's one of her favorite things to do at their house, and there isn't much that she can't convince Grandpa of, so they loaded up and went for a ride.  I love that they get to know each other, and that she loves them the way I do.  I hope she keeps these sweet memories forever!

Waving at Mama!

   I'll attempt to keep things updated as to what my kill count is--I'm not sure these poor plants know what they're getting into!  In the meantime, I have several flowerbeds full of weeds that are mocking me... Time to get a little more dirt under my nails!

Abby Kate's Stuff

   Hey y'all!  I almost forgot that I never finished giving you the tour of the new house.  I hit most of the major renovations, but we do have rooms that didn't get/need much work.  Our house has the master bedroom separate from the other bedrooms, which I didn't think I wanted at first.  "She's so little!  She'll be scared!  What if she needs me?!" But the more I thought about it, reason won out.  "She's asleep. You have a monitor. It's just a few more steps than in the apartment." Plus, good luck finding a house with the bedrooms all together.  Apparently that isn't "in" anymore. 

   Since our Peanut is an only Peanut, she gets the luxury of pretty much taking up an entire wing of the house.  There are two bedrooms and a bathroom on that side of the house.  One bedroom is bigger, with a bigger window, and is completely behind the fence with a view of the back yard.  The other bedroom is smaller, with a smaller window, is in front of the fence, and has a view of the side of the neighbors' house.  I debated for a long time which one should be her bedroom, but eventually decided to make the smaller room hers for sleeping, and use the larger one for the playroom.  

   With the smaller window, I can keep her room darker, which seems to be a big factor in her quality (and quantity) of sleep.  She is only in her bedroom for sleeping and diaper changes, so space isn't really a problem.  It's been wonderful to have a great sunny window in her play room, and the elbow room for a newly-two-year-old to play and be silly.  I also thought that if we decide to have another baby some day, we can leave the crib set up in the smaller room, and Abby Kate can move into the bigger room with her "big girl" furniture.  Less work is totally okay with me.  So here's a look at her rooms:

View from the door, a window and the "Storybook chair"

   

   We didn't make or buy anything new for her bedroom in this house.  Everything was from her original nursery, we just tweaked it a little.  The curtains were made for a larger window, but since I like to "hang 'em high and wide" anyway, they worked fine in here.  The flowers were original, as were all the textiles and decorations.

 

Diaper station! (and a look at how small this room really is)

   Here's where you may notice a change, if you have been reading since I posted photos of her original nursery. We previously used two sets of these cubbies side by side, using the other for storage.  Welp, no room for that in this room, so the other set went in the attic and we consolidated a bit.

Sweet little bed!

    One reason we were able to get rid of one set of cubbies is that she has her own closet now!  In our apartment, we had to use the closet in the nursery for storage. This chest of drawers was wedged into it (it was a HUGE closet) and used to hold other stuff that now has real homes.  Abby Kate's new closet is small, but my dad was able to add another hanging bar to make it more useful, and the chest got to come out of hiding.  It's a sweet little nursery, and I still love the soft but not nauseatingly girly colors and florals.  On to the playroom!

Tea party, anyone?

We wanted the playroom to be completely kid friendly, a bright, fun place for her to play and explore things.  This table and chairs was mine and my Seester's when we were kids.  I think my parents were overjoyed to get it out of their attic.  The dishes and play food were ours too (except the cups--those came from WalMart).  It's so fun to see Abby Kate enjoying the things that I loved as a kid too!

Reading room!

   I took the door off of the closet in this bedroom (it's in the attic) and turned it into a little "reading nook" like some I had seen on Pinterest.  I store some things up on the closet shelf that I don't really want Abby Kate to play with without me, and things I'm saving for later, so the little curtain keeps those things out of sight and out of (her) mind.

Rainbow chair!

   Chris's parents called us one day and said that they had found this little chair while out shopping, and wanted to know if we wanted them to pick it up for us.  They send us a photo and when I saw that it was covered in the EXACT same fabric we had already used in this room, we said YES YES YES YES!!!  Thank you, HomeGoods and Nana and Papa!!!  It's the perfect size for my silly girl and for this spot!  My mom had already crocheted her a sweet little afghan to go in her "nook" and if I ever can't find her, she's always snuggled up in here with a book.

Rain gutter book shelves

   

   This was another idea I had seen on Pinterest and my mom had seen in classrooms.  Easiest project ever.  We bought white vinyl rain guttering, cut it to the correct length, and screwed it to the wall.  The end.  They don't hold all of her books, so I rotate them in and out when I help her clean up now and then.

   We inherited these great Ikea bookcases from Chris's mom, who retired from teaching this year.  She asked if I thought we could use them, and after seeing them, I jumped on the chance.  The finish color is similar to the other things in here, and they're a great height for Abby Kate.  They're beastly heavy, but luckily she added casters to them, so they're really mobile.  We love the adjustable shelves too!

   Here's yet another Pinterest project.  This is the theme of my house, apparently.  I saw a similar piece of art on Pinterest that I just loved, but was discontinued, so I attempted to recreate it.  It was the "inspiration" for the whole playroom.  It's not perfect, but it's cute and works great in here. (On that note, anybody know how to get pencil lines off of canvas?  I've tried three kinds of erasers with no luck.)

   Here you can see the other side of the room.  The door is just out of the frame to the right, on the adjacent wall.  The storage thing came from Target, as did the clock.  I took the clock apart and painted the numbers myself.  Don't worry, the playroom is NEVER this neat if my child is awake and home.  I think she was at Grandma's house the day I took photos.  I love that she has a place to keep her things so they aren't strewn all over the house, and I love that it's a space that is completely hers.  She can touch everything in here, she can do what she wants (within reason) in here, she can be loud and be silly, or hide in the closet, and it's okay.  It's a luxury that I am grateful for every single day.  

   As I said, these rooms didn't get much renovation.  New carpet, and a coat of paint.  It's hard to tell, but both rooms are painted a very pale blue-grey (Night Frost by Olympic) with off-white trim (Off White by Olympic).  It's the same color as we used in the master bathroom.  I also painted one side of the fan blades in here each in a different rainbow color.  I didn't get a picture of that, but it's pretty cute.  And if we change the decor in here, they're white on the other side and I know how to flip them over.  

   This concludes today's portion of The 717 Home Tour.  I hope you enjoyed a peek into the spots that my daughter holds dear.  She loves knowing where her things are, and I am overjoyed that we were able to find a house that allows her to have this kind of space.  Are kid spaces on your radar yet?  Where do your kids keep their stuff?  Why do tiny people have so much stuff anyway? (Oh, because they have grandparents....)

Starting from Scratch

   I have been following an interesting fashion blog for a while now called The Vivienne Files. The author, Janice, is a proponent of small but highly functional and lovely wardrobes, often designed around an inspiration piece such as a favorite scarf, painting, or favorite flower.  She puts together stylish but hardworking capsule wardrobes for travel too.
 
   One of Janice's latest endeavors has been a blog series that she calls "Starting from Scratch," which is a step-by-step process of how to logically and systematically create the most useful and attractive wardrobe for yourself, hypothetically starting from nothing.  Perhaps you have entered a new season of life (entering or leaving the work force, transitioning from youth to maturity, etc) or perhaps you are dressing a new body (weight gain or loss, post partum, etc), or whatever your reason is for desiring new clothing options.

   I have read her "Starting from Scratch" series, and it was very interesting for me.  I don't need a new wardrobe at the moment, but I am currently on a journey to better health, which presumably means I will need new (smaller!) clothing eventually.  I like the idea of planning what kinds of items are most useful for you, given your typical activities, and creating a sort of "shopping list" to work from to keep you from wasting money on things that won't match anything else or that won't fit into your lifestyle.  So I'm going to hypothetically design my ideal wardrobe for my current life, and when the time comes that I need to replace some articles of clothing, I can do it knowing that my investments will be sound.

   Janice recommends starting by choosing which colors you will work from when building your wardrobe.  She likes to work from a "wheel" of five colors: two neutrals, some form of white/ivory/cream, and two accent colors.  This is where I think I will diverge from her plan just a bit.  (Nothing like doing your own thing on step one, right?) I think that a five color wheel is a fine place to start if it suits you, but I like just a bit more variety.  Also, I'm building this imaginary wardrobe based on what I currently have and love.  I don't want to truly start from nothing because I can't afford to get rid of everything and buy new.  Here's the color wheel I came up with based on my needs:

   I chose black and grey for my neutrals because 1) I already have several items in these colors that I like and 2) this is my fall/winter wardrobe, and I think these colors will be most useful for the events/weather I anticipate that time of year.  I think my wheel could best be described as "Black, Grey, and Brights."  These bold colors look best on me with my coloring (although I'm contemplating a change of hair color...), and I wanted some of these colors specifically.  I MUST have orange in my closet during football season (and all year, really), I knew I would want some red for the holidays, and I have some pieces in the other colors that I love in pink, blue, and green that just look good on me.  Vanity is a strong motivator.

   This may turn out a lot like my Project 333 fall wardrobe, and that's okay.  I still have many of the same pieces in my closet from that time, and like I said, I don't want to buy anything I don't have to.  I don't think I'll be as strict on the "rules" for building this new wardrobe as Janice suggests, but I think to get the most enjoyment out of my clothes (and really, other than covering nakedness, isn't that what it's all about?), I will want a bit more variety than she suggests.  So I may add a bit of camel, or a yellow necklace, and I KNOW I'll throw in some leopard print, which I consider a neutral.  Maybe I should have chosen it as my second neutral, instead of grey!

   Feel free to build your own wardrobe with us, be it fantasy or more attainable.  I'll share mine when I get it all built, for anyone who is interested in a black and bright closet for a stay-at-home mom.  What wardrobe pieces will never leave your closet?  Do you have things that you never wear but refuse to part with?

In the Library (with a candlestick?)

   Today we continue our tour with a room that gets a surprising (to me) amount of use from a relatively small space: the library!  I think it sounds cozier to call it "the library" than "the office"--don't you?  This room is immediately to your left when you walk in my front door.  The wood/laminate floors from the living room were thankfully continued into this room, so the only real changes we did were to paint and change out the light fixture.  Take a look!

   

   I love the double doors leading into the library.  Unfortunately, they are closed most of the time to keep curious little hands out of places they shouldn't be. This also appears to be the only photo where you can catch a glimpse of the light fixture.  There was a ceiling fan with a light kit in here, but the ceilings aren't all that tall and my husband didn't want a flat top, so I spray painted it and moved it to the master bedroom. In its place, we hung a flush mounted drum shade fixture with a pretty quatrefoil-type  pattern on it.  

   
   Here is the computer setup (I know you've all been dying to know where I blog) and Chris's book case.  These bookcases are sentimental to me because my grandfather built them for me when I was in grad school.  (He said he wasn't going to move the pieces of crap that I had again, and would build me something sturdy enough to hold my many many textbooks.) They have been moved umpteen times, and are still kicking!  Chris stained them a little darker when we rearranged our old apartment to make room for Abby Kate. 

   The other set of double doors open to a closet, so technically this is a four bedroom house.  I'm not sure who would want to have the bedroom that is squarely in the middle of the "public" area of the house, but to each his own.  

   The white built-ins house more books, magazines, and photos (in the white boxes, labeled with my beloved label-maker).  I think it really adds to the "library" ambiance I was hoping for in here.  We added the chair a month or two after moving in.  We discovered that we tend to gravitate to this room in the evenings after Abby Kate is in bed because it keeps the house a little quieter, and it's been great to have somewhere for the non-computering person to sit and read or hang out.

   This angle shows you my bookcase and the one tiny window in the room.  I don't mind the lack of windows so much since I don't spend a lot of daytime hours in here.  It would probably get really hot in here with more, since this is a south facing room. 

   The rug clearly isn't the "prescribed" size for a room this size, but we ran into a few challenges with that.  The entryway is on an angle, so anything much larger stuck out the door, and anything larger made an infuriating speed bump for the computer chair.  So I like to think that the small rug sort of "designates" the library area from the computer area.  ....Right....

   And now, for my favorite part of this room...my craft closet!  My dad helped me design and implement a way to add more storage in here without changing too much of the existing closet, just in case we decide to sell and the next owner isn't a crafter.  

   We added some pegboard to one side, making my sewing supplies easy to access, and shelving to the other side to hold scrapbook paper (organized by color, of course), yard, momentos, and sewing trims.  I decided to paint the shelf backs and pegboard a nice aqua (my happy color).  

   The desk was assembled mostly from things I already had.  I previously used these white organizers in the office in our apartments, but they have been stored away since we had Abby Kate.  The plywood on top was already stained since we used it as a desk top in several places.  We added the "scooters" on the bottom, applied a little silicone adhesive, and bam!  A desk!  

   It holds my scrapbooking supplies, so everything is right at my fingertips.  There isn't a light in the closet, so I just roll my desk out to work and roll it back in when I'm finished.  I can stop mid-project and just tuck it all away if I need to tidy up suddenly!  Usually I pull it out and turn it 90 degrees, so the closet is to my left when I'm working.  My paper is easy to reach and I can watch Netflix on the computer while I work.  Does life get better?

   We have loved having this "grownup playroom" to keep our things safe from little hands, and to have a place where we can be creative, or read, or watch Netflix, or just visit in the evenings.  It's a cozy little spot that I didn't know how much I would enjoy.  

   What's your favorite room in your house?  Are you a crafter?  Netflixaholic?  

Master Bed and Bath

     Apparently you all are more interested in kitchens than in living rooms.  I had triple the number of hits on my blog when I posted the kitchen photos than with the living room ones.  That's okay.  I get it.  It's cool.  Kitchen makeovers are a lot more interesting than just putting some furniture in the living room.
   
     Hopefully today won't be another disappointment for you: it's master suite day!  We didn't do much in the master bedroom.  New paint, new carpet, and swapped out the dinky little fan that was in there for a bigger one that was in the office.  We did Phase 1 of our bathroom renovation.  I'll explain as we go, but most of what we did was cosmetic for now.  We're planning and saving for a larger scale renovation, maybe in a year or two, but we wanted to freshen up what we are currently living with.  So...here are the photos!

Master bedroom, before

Master bedroom, after. We painted and replaced the carpet, but neither looks much different in photos.  It does in real life.

     Like I said, we didn't do much in here.  Just added our stuff.  I did purchase that metal decorative thingy that's over the bed new because the ceilings are so high in here that my old decoration looked dumpy.  On top of our armoire is a photo from our wedding and the candle we lit during the ceremony.  Awwww....

Tub area, before

Shower area, before (with spider light fixture)

Throne room, before

     Again, sorry for the terrible photos.  Still no photoshop on the computer.  Someday I'll come back and fix it.  Maybe.  Anyway, the bathroom before: ick.  Leopard print wallpaper to the rather high ceiling, two toned tile, spider lights.  ::Shudder::  I like leopard print probably more than the next girl, but I have to draw the line somewhere.  Here's the pretty new bathroom:

Master bathroom, after. No more spider light!

Tub area, after

Throne room, after

     We nixed the beige paint in favor of an airy pale blue (Night Frost, by Olympic), I put a coat of darker stain on the cabinets and added some hardware (none in here originally either).  My dad framed out the mirror in here and added that nice chunky trim at the top to act as a base for the new light fixtures.  My sis spend I don't know how long peeling off wallpaper, then we added the beadboard (you knew you couldn't get away from it, right?) and shelves around the tub and in the "throne room," and laid new tile around the toilet to more closely match the rest of the bathroom.  That's Phase 1...

     For Phase 2, sometime in the future, we plan to put in a new vanity (the current one is pretty stained and beat up), a new soaker tub (the current one has a hole in it and is rather shallow), and redo the shower.  The current shower is a one-piece slide in unit, which isn't terrible.  It's in good shape and easy to keep clean.  However, Chris can see over the top of it, and has to contort himself to bend low enough to wash his hair.  Apparently the previous owners had this problem too because the drywall above the shower insert is badly damaged from being wet.  We would like to tile the shower up to the wall partition (you can see it a few pics up) to prevent that kind of damage in the future.  And we'll likely add more beadboard because I have a sickness.

     It's been wonderful to have this much space to get ready in, and to have the toilet segregated.  I don't know about you, but we're still door-closed kind of folks, even five years into our marriage, and it's always been a carefully choreographed dance of getting ready in the mornings and for bed so we can both maintain the mystery.  Brushing your teeth beside someone is one thing, flushing is another.  :\

     What about you?  Door open or closed?  Any partial renovations at your house?  Plans for an upcoming redo?

Living Room Reveal!

     Many thanks to the handful of you who follow my blog.  I mostly use this as a creative outlet and motivation to clean my house and dress my kid up adorably, but I do appreciate when you check out my thoughts, follow the blog, or comment.  Feel free to let me know what you think about this stuff!  The house is "finished" in that the major items are in place, but it's more of a minimal acceptable baseline sort of finished.  It doesn't feel right quite yet.  That will take time, yes, but it may also take some ideas from folks like you!  

   

     Another day, another room revealed!  Today we're headed to the living room.  We do have a small entryway, but truly the living room is what you see when you walk in the front door.  As always, let's remember where we started:

The old view from the front door

The new view from the front door!

   We didn't do a ton in this room, and it was the last to be finished because it made great work space for all of our other projects.  The trim got a coat of paint because it was in pretty rough shape, and the walls were painted as well--no more gold walls!  I like how the new wall color cools down the wood tones in the floor and grabs some of the greys in the fireplace bricks.  The paint color is the same as the kitchen, which I thought was going to be a grey-leaning taupe, but turned out to be a warmish grey.  Good thing I like it anyway!  

   We did replace the ceiling fan in here too.  The original one was a little spacy/modern for my taste.  The floors were already in when we bought the house.  They're a nice laminate and were in good condition.  I would have chosen something a little darker and/or less orange, but once the new wall color went up and we got our furniture in, they're fine.  

Gallery wall

   Chris's dad was able to add an electrical outlet to the paneling over the fireplace so we could mount our TV up there.  I didn't want to have to figure out where else to put it when the fireplace seemed like the obvious choice.  It's not my first choice for interior design purposes, but it sure is handy!  The DVD player is resting on the TV mounting bracket, tucked in behind the TV.  No cords showing!  We don't have cable, so we didn't have to hide a cable box, but we did order a Chromecast that we LOVE!

   This side of the room is a little more bare bones right now.  The entry area is small, as I said, so I have hesitated to hang much on the walls there because I don't want them getting bumped or broken, or taking up valuable shoulder space.  And I just haven't figured out what I like sitting on the white dresser, so the Scentsy pot currently lives alone.  I pictured it as a spot to make adorable little seasonal vignettes, but I haven't quite mastered that yet.

     This aqua hutch was rescued from the trash pile at our last apartment and refurbed into it's current state.  I'll have to do a post on that some time.  We used it in our dining room previously, as sort of a china hutch, but our dining room here didn't lend itself quite the same, so it ended up in the living room.  I actually really like it on this wall, and I needed somewhere strong to put my scrapbooks.  The bottom used to house my scrapbooking supplies, but now it holds games and off-season throw pillows!

     So that's our living area!  We spend a lot of time here during the day.  The kitchen is very open into the living room, especially if you're standing at the sink, which I really enjoy.  Some day I'd like to add some more seating for when we have guests, but it's fine for now.  That isn't very high on my priority list at the moment!