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SOLD!

We sold it. The house that made us homeowners for the first time.

We love this home. It served us well during the five years we lived there. It’s hard to walk away from it, but when it’s right, it’s right, and I hope it’s right for the next family that will live there.

Enjoy a few before and afters.

BEFORE – EXTERIOR

AFTER – EXTERIOR: We painted the shutters and front door black and did a little landscaping.

BEFORE – LIVING ROOM

AFTER – LIVING ROOM: Paint, floors, decor.

BEFORE – KITCHEN

AFTER – KITCHEN: Paint, floors, decor, cabinets, countertops, light fixtures, removed soffits. Night and day difference!

BEFORE – KITCHEN

AFTER – KITCHEN: I loved this room. My fave in the whole house!

BEFORE – KITCHEN

AFTER – KITCHEN: The whole kitchen renovation started with the refrigerator. We couldn’t fit a new fridge in that little space between the wall and cabinets, so we just ripped it out and started from scratch!

BEFORE – DINING ROOM

AFTER – DINING ROOM: Paint, floors, decor, light fixture. Loved this space so much.

BEFORE – LAUNDRY/MUD ROOM

AFTER – LAUNDRY/MUD ROOM: Paint, mudroom built-ins. Such a great, functional space for our family.

BEFORE – PRIMARY BEDROOM

AFTER – PRIMARY BEDROOM: Paint, carpet, decor. Such a cozy room!

BEFORE – PRIMARY BATHROOM

AFTER – PRIMARY BATHROOM: Paint, decor. We didn’t do much to the bathrooms, but they were on our long-term list!

BEFORE – HALL CLOSET

AFTER – HALL CLOSET: Piano nook.

BEFORE – EZRA’S ROOM

AFTER – EZRA’S ROOM: Paint, carpet, decor. This was such a good room for him. Lots of room to play! We also installed a nice closet system to make it functional for him.

BEFORE – HALL BATH

AFTER – HALL BATH: Paint, decor. That yellow paint was so nasty. I was so glad to see it go!

BEFORE – HENRY’S ROOM

AFTER – HENRY’S ROOM: Paint, carpet, decor. I could kick myself for not fixing that curtain rod before pictures. It was always sliding around!

*Not pictured: half bath. I don’t have any afters of that room!

We’ve been out of this house for about a month, so looking back through these pictures has me feeling all sorts of ways. The joy of accidentally finding this home 5 years ago, the excitement of making small changes over time, the pride in ripping out the kitchen and building it back with our own hands, the stress of putting all the last details into place for listing, but mostly the gratitude for how this house served our family. It was perfect. And while we are missing it something fierce, we are looking forward to our next house! We have quite a few plans falling into place right now! I’ll be back to share them soon!

Here are a few more pictures because I just can’t get enough.

Paint Colors:
• SW 7008 Alabaster: bathrooms, laundry room/mudroom,
• SW 0068 Copen Blue: Henry’s room
• SW 0055 Light French Gray: kitchen, living room, hallway
• SW 7673 Pewter Cast: primary bedroom
• SW 6218 Tradewind: Ezra’s room
• SW 6258 Tricorn Black: front door, shutters

Also, if you have any questions about our process of updating this home, please leave a comment!

Best Ever Grilled Hamburgers

It’s in the name. Let’s get to it.

Best Ever Grilled Hamburgers

So good, you won't ever need another burger recipe.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Refrigerator Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Servings 3 burgers

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup barbeque sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup pineapple juice (reserved)

Instructions

Mix ground beef, barbeque sauce, pepper, and a splash of pineapple juice in large bowl
Patty out meat into 1/3 lb patties onto a rimmed baking sheet (I line mine with aluminum foil for easy clean-up)
Splash a bit of pineapple juice over each patty to act as a marinade (TRUST ME)
Refrigerate 1-2 hours until ready to grill

Notes

Make a small indention on each patty with your thumb so they cook evenly.

We have found that cold hamburgers grill up better than room temperature, so keep your meat in the refrigerator until ready to grill!

This recipe is for 1 lb of meat, which makes 3 burgers for our family. Adjust the recipe based on how many pounds of meat you are cooking.

A note about these burgers: after making the patties but before splashing on the pineapple juice, press your thumb gently into each patty to create a small indention. This helps the burger retain shape after grilling. And for what it’s worth, I weigh out the meat before I patty it out. I use about 5.3 oz of meat per patty.

And the pineapple juice marinade is KEY to this recipe.

WARNING: I’m going to insert a pic here of raw hamburger meat, but I have to show you the pineapple juice on the patties.

See how the juice just sits there? It’s the perfect marinade for juicy burgers with a hint of sweet.

Cody does all the grilling around here. I asked him about grilling instructions and he said that he and the grill are one. He knows the grill. The grill knows him. He can feel in his spirit when the burgers are cooked. He says to follow your heart.

He also said about cooking for about 5 minutes on each side over direct heat should do the trick.

More specifically, he said that it’s very important to not move the burgers during the first 5 minutes. The same goes for after you flip them. Keeping them still during the first parts of cooking creates almost a seal to keep the juices in. Also, don’t press down on the patty with the spatula. It squeezes all the good juices out!

We use a gas grill, so specifics may vary for different gas grills, charcoal grills, indoor ranges, or any other cooking apparatuses you may be using.

Also, we don’t toast the buns. Untoasted buns remain soft and complement the juiciness of the burger. I dunno. Do what you want. But don’t toast the buns.

These burgers are a favorite around here and a staple throughout grilling season. I like to throw on a few dill pickle chips and a little ketchup. Delish!

Book Organization that Kids Can Maintain

This is not staged, and unfortunately, it looks better in this pic than it does most days. This eyesore of a bookshelf sits right behind our living room sofa. You see it immediately as you walk in the front door, coming down the hallway, sitting in the dining room…there’s no place to escape from it. Honestly, it’s the best location in the house for Ezra to get to his books whenever he wants, and I’m all for encouraging as much reading as possible. But I was so weary of it looking like a mess ALL. THE. TIME.

I knew that in order for it to get organized and stay that way, I had to come up with a system that was simple, easy for him to maintain, and most importantly, free using what I had in the house. #covid19quarantine

Here’s what I came up with: colors! Imma genius, right?

Colors = categories, and here are the categories I used:

• Royal Blue: Storybooks (These are collections of stories and we have several of them.)
• Orange: Comic books/graphic novels
• Navy Blue: Beginner children’s books
• Pink: Books in a series
• Light Blue: Dr. Seuss books
• Purple: Magazines
• Yellow: Educational books/textbooks
• Green: Bibles and bible story books
• Maroon: Chapter books (I suspect this category will grow the fastest at this point in Ezra’s reading level and interests)

These are loose qualifiers and arguments could be made for certain books to belong to different categories, but I chose what would work best with our collection of books and I sorted them in just a few minutes, so I was making quick decisions.

To marry the colors and categories to tangible organization, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut vinyl rectangles about 2″ x 1/2″. I created a Silhouette file that would cut an entire 12″x12″ sheet of vinyl into 138 rectangles. Notice that I left one long strip at the bottom. I’ll get to that in a sec.

[I’m including this Silhouette Studio file for free if you are interested in using it!]

I peeled off the rectangles and stuck them on the spines of the books toward the bottom. Then took the long piece of uncut vinyl at the bottom, trimmed with scissors to the length I needed, and stuck in on the shelf right beneath the coordinating books. That way, it’s easy to see at a glance where each color is and where the books need to go.

If I didn’t have a vinyl cutting machine, I would use small pieces of construction paper or washi tape on the spine and cover it with clear packing tape.

Sometimes, with kids, you have to make things easy and straightforward so that it sticks! And that’s okay! And for me, it’s all about empowering Ezra to take care of his belongings on his own. And it keeps me from nagging.

So here’s the final product:

SO. MUCH. BETTER. I much prefer this look. And when it gets untidy, it will be easy for Ezra to tidy up quickly. Bonus: as Henry grows, it will be an easy system for him to learn!

It’s not perfect, but it works great for us! Overall, this project only took a couple of hours from start to finish and will be easy to keep updated as more books come into the house. It will also keep library books easy to distinguish from home books.

And since I’m feeling extra, I made a TikTok of the process. If you’re in to that sort of thing, enjoy 🙂

@willowwhiteletters
Organizing my 8-year-old’s books ##quarantine ##keepingbusy ##stayhomestaystrong ##organize ##books ##kidsbooks ##adhd
♬ Paris (In the Style of The Chainsmokers) [Karaoke Version] – Instrumental King