PANTRY NEW HOUSE TEASER

 Time for another room (space? area?).  Here is a biggie and where we upgraded and changed the most...other than the kitchen, ha.

This is the original floor plan and it came with this pantry.  Notice they mention the 'freezer space'...that's what we mentioned last time in the laundry room tour, we moved the freezer into the laundry room to gain that space in the pantry.  Because this pantry was way too small for what we have dreamed of, that wasn't the only way we were able to gain space...

There was also this space in the garage, probably for storage or a workbench or something.

But when we saw it, we thought "hmm...what if we took that and made it part of the pantry?"  It was on the other side of the same wall so, after some back and forth with architect drawings (we mentioned that we stretched this end of the house to have a bigger kitchen) they helped us make the pantry longer than on the original plan.

We ended up with this:

8' wide by 16' long!

128 square feet of glorious pantry space!

The hallway is the path from the kitchen (on the left) to the garage (on the right).  The pocket door at the top is for the laundry room and we will have a matching pocket door to go into the pantry.

There was a window at the end when it was garage area that we did away with because a) more wall space in the pantry and b) always best not to have light and potentially additional heat and/or cold coming into where your food items are kept.

But wait, there's more, ha!

Next, we decided "how do we maximize the space in here?"  We opted for floor to ceiling shelving along each side.  Then, at the end, where the window would have been, what do we do there?  Do we decide to go with floor to ceiling shelves along that wall too?  Nope, we decided to go full on butler's pantry!  Well, that's what the builder is calling it, ha.  We are having kitchen cabinets put all along the back wall with a countertop.

We are having the same countertop as the bathrooms, the soapstone black and the same style gray cabinets.

As for electrical, there are three recessed lights down the middle so it will be easy to see everything we have and as we always say, you can never have too many outlets.  One on each end of the counter and then one on each side at normal outlet height (midway into the pantry) in case we needed to plug in something else. 

There will be floating shelves above the counter that will look much like the above.  This space at the end will give us some additional prep space.  He wants to put all of his mixing bowls up there and then use the counter below as a place for his mixer without having to keep it out on the kitchen counter.

The built-in shelves are normally powder-coated wire or a simpler wood style, but we wanted something with a cleaner and more built-in look.  So, we are having them built like the above.  These are shelves from a different model that were upgraded, and we liked this look.  

We said to make ours look like that and then we made the bottom two a little tall for larger things.  We thought about going higher but figured the top could also be used for larger items or lighter weight bulk items, for example, a dozen rolls of paper towels or baskets to store things in, etc.

And if you want to imagine what it will look like finished, here are a couple of pics that are almost identical to what we'll get. In fact this first one was actually our inspiration for a few years before we got to this point and it's kind of funny how it's going to come out pretty close to what we dreamed of.

Pantry image via Pinterest

This was the first photo we ever saw online that made us wish for something like this...and now, here we are, about to have one almost exactly like it!

Here's another we found that is pretty close:

Pantry image via Pinterest

I added the "floating shelves" to the photo above, just so we could see what it looks like.  Ours will have cabinet doors on the lower section instead of open like this one but otherwise, almost the same as we'll get.

Like the two photos above, as you walk into the pantry, the shelves will stretch all the way to the back where they will end (with a panel) at the counter.

When you walk in, the shelves start a bit further down and so we will use the empty wall spots on each side for the red, metal, pegboard panels that we salvaged from the kitchen at the farm.

They can be placed in single sections in a line, and this will give 2nd Man even more space for hanging tools and things that he needs quick access too.

For the flooring, we opted to match the laundry room (and guest bathroom) tile as above.  Who needs a boring pantry when you can add some pizazz!

This truly is a dream pantry for us. You know we're foodies so we want to stock it with lots of food and supplies with fewer trips into town for stuff. Then, once we have our garden/orchard producing, I can start canning and will have space for that. Win/win.

Next time...the kitchen island, yes that will need a post all its own, ha. 

DRY BRINED AND OVEN ROASTED TURKEY 2024

Since we started doing this, we don't do it any other way.  It's the most amazing turkey every single time.  After the picture yesterday, several of you emailed to ask how we got it so perfect looking.

This year we used olive oil.  We have this new dispenser device that we LOVE.  It pours or sprays in a mist, no aerosol can needed.  Then we have some seasonings that 2nd Man puts together (it's a work in progress, who knows, we might sell it at some point) a blend of salt and seasonings that we call our farmhouse blend.

We rub the turkey (fresh, not frozen) all over (and under the skin) with olive oil.  It's a heart healthy oil as opposed to butter or duck fat which we have used in the past.  Then we do the same with the seasonings.  You can use any that you like of course, it's all about taste.

Here is a series of progress pictures.  We put it in the fridge just like this.

Day one...

Day two...

Day three...

The skin has almost melded to the meat and has become translucent.  We bring it to room temperature.

Then we just put in the oven at 425 degrees, bottom rack, and roast for one hour.  This was a 13.5 lb turkey.

It comes out amazingly well and it only takes one hour and it's done!

We said next year when we're living in the new house, we might do two at the same time (oops, did I give something away?) Golden, juicy, crispy skin, and just delicious.  Two days later, it was still moist and juicy when we reheated it.  It's crazy good and super easy!

Speaking of new house, tomorrow, the pantry!

GOOD THANKSGIVING FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal...

Roast turkey (though olive oil only this year, no butter or duck fat)...

Balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts with turkey bacon...

2nd Man made his stuffing, cubed bread, apples, Italian sausage, onions, celery, chicken broth, seasonings etc, all low sodium of course...

I wouldn't want to give up homemade yeast rolls, so 2nd Man made some.  SO good...

We had to have our canned cranberry sauce, hey it's comfort food (and wonderful with the leftovers).  We used our special can shaped dish we got last year...

And of course, we had a homemade pumpkin pie (with fat free whipped cream).

Hobart was sitting on another of his favorite spots, the arm of the couch, I was blogging and called his name and he turned around for a quick picture.  Then he seemed to lose interest and turned back around, annoyed.  Because...

#notspoiled

 

FOUNDATION SOIL SAMPLES NEW HOUSE UPDATE

 So more things are happening.

Went out yesterday and saw this:

This one was near the back corner of the old house.  At first, we thought animal damage...

But then this one was on the opposite corner of the house footprint.  Wild hogs?  Armadillos?

Then we noticed the spirals of dried clay soil, so it looked like an auger.  We got an email from the builder and they had sent out the soil sampling people.  It was for the foundation design.

This is what they do.  They take the footprint that the new house will sit within and take samples on opposite corners.  They take this data back and analyze it to help design and engineer a strong foundation that will sit on that site with (hopefully) the least amount of settling in the future.

Then we found out that it's already been designed and  is ready to go!

THANKSGIVING DAY 2024

Here we are, Thanksgiving Day has arrived!

The weather here is appropriately cold today because a front came through and it's chilly.  Somehow, that seems appropriate!

We're watching the Houston Thanksgiving Day parade on TV as 2nd Man and I are prepping things in the kitchen.  Turkey, dressing, and a couple of sides.

Today we celebrate our families and friends and everything we have to be thankful for.  This time, I'm especially thankful for another year of good health, here's to many more! 

Thanks to all of you for coming along on our journey year after year.  We both realized today that next year, we will be having our first Thanksgiving in our NEW HOUSE.  We can't even wrap our heads around that but it's coming!

Have a wonderful day, food pics coming in the next few posts!

LAND CLEARING NEW HOME UPDATE

No new home update today, I didn't get all the pictures together and with this being a short week, too much going on and not as many people visiting the blog so we don't want anyone to miss anything.

Today will still be a home update of sorts, the land clearing (at least part one).

Trucks and equipment all over for almost two whole days and they worked their butts off.

We didn't want a burn pile, so they brought their heavy-duty woodchipper.  That thing was insane!  It could chew up almost anything that went in there.

Here are some before and after photos:

This is the area where our old mesquite tree is, the one we call Barnabas (that diagonal branch in the middle is where he's at).  We wanted all this cleared out because it will be too close to the new house (specifically the garage) and just looks like a mess, ha.  Of course we wanted to keep the old tree.  The rest was all brush, vines and mostly trees called "Hackberry".  They are considered junk or trash trees and have a tendency to fall in strong winds.  With a brand-new house next to that area, no thank you.  

So, above is the before...

...and here it is after!

If you look in the first photo, you can see the branch on the old tree that goes down diagonally, to get a frame of reference for how much was cleared.  Quite a difference!  

Here is another angle of more clearing in that area. 

Above is before...

...and this is after!  WOW!  So much more space now and it's just less "stressful" to look at, ha. 

Barnabas (named because it looks like something from a gothic story) now stands alone!

This was before they finished and cleaned up.  I had to go ahead and leave as they were staying until dark and I needed to get back to town to beat the traffic.  They also worked on the other side of the property near the power lines to clean that up and get some trees and branches away from those lines.  I left before they finished that part, so I don't have the 'after' photos but we'll post those as a part two after I get some new photos this coming weekend.

Hope your Thanksgiving plans are coming along!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

It's been a great weekend so far.  Land clearing yesterday they got a lot done, we'll have a post coming up on that.  Today it's errand running and of course, good food and Hobart!

The other night we had some salmon over Mexican style brown rice with corn and jalapeño (and a salad to start).  It was very good.

After we ate, I was sitting the couch and Hobart curled up next to me.  Then he stretched and spread out.  And stretched out some more.  And I was forced into the corner so I didn't disturb his sleep.  Because...

#notspoiled

LAND CLEARING DAY

Well, yesterday was the start and today is the finish.  We are having the area around Barnabus (the old, giant mesquite tree) cleared.  It is also having a large branch cut off that is too close to the future house.  I drove out at lunch to see the progress, holy cow it's amazing. 

It's going to look SO different, probably a bit of a shock at first but will give us a whole new area to enjoy.

We're taking lot of before pics of course.  Today they finish up and after that area is cleared, we get to do what he calls "you point/we cut".  That will let them clean up areas that have gotten out of control and we can have them neat and tidy. 

While they are doing it, I'm going to just be in the barn and shed maybe organizing a bit (as I can, there is a lot of stuff from the house in there).  The best thing is the current temperature out there is 49!!!

Lots of pictures coming soon!

Hope your weekend is off to an equally good start!

SEPTIC PLANS ARE IN NEW HOUSE UPDATE

One of the other things they have to do is design the new septic system that will go with our house.

We got the plans via email the other day, printed them out and looked at them compared to the property.  That wooden stake in the above photo is where the "tank area" will go (see further down).

This shows where the house will be in relation to the septic tank system (next image).  The blue circles are the radius of where the water from the spray heads will reach.

They told us it was safe to plant trees and bushes in the area but not a garden, ha.  Of course, our garden will be elsewhere, so no issue there.

We will have three tanks.  A 500-gallon pre-treatment tank, a 500-gallon aerobic treatment and a 750-gallon pump tank (where the pop-up sprinkler heads will spray water when full).

We also learned that the pop-up sprinkler heads are purple, that's required by law to make it know that it is non-potable water.  Of course, I'm worried about mowing over them, so I might have to plan some sort of decorative planting area around them.  We'll see!

This is from the PDF that they sent to help us understand how all of this will work.  To be honest, we're still a little confused about it all, but 2nd Family at the front has the same type of set up.  She said it has worked great and no issues with the spray heads.  Except when there is a freeze, then there is a great Winter ice show, ha.

LAUNDRY ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

In case you missed it, click on the previous post from yesterday for pics on the house demolition! 

Here is the utility room.  Or laundry room?  We still say laundry room, but builders seem to call it utility.  Not sure what they are calling them these days.

I was mostly involved in the layout of the this room.  First of all, it's not huge, and the way the floor plan is laid out, we didn't have a lot of room for changes as far as size.  It measures 8' x 8'6" with a 9' ceiling and that will give us a decent sized room.  There will be a center recessed light and we added an exhaust fan.

There is a hallway (above) that runs from the kitchen/dining area to the garage.  In the original plan, there was what they call a "drop zone" near the garage door.  Some sort of built in cabinet/table as a spot to put stuff as you come in. Then there was a door to a small pantry and a door to the laundry room.  We felt that was a lot of doors opening/closing/swinging back and forth and getting in the way of each other.

So, the first change we made was pocket doors.

They will look like the picture above.  One for the pantry and one for the laundry room.  Sure, they are more expensive (isn't everything, sigh), but it just seems that not having doors swinging in and out and in the way, just having an open space between the hall and the rooms made more sense. The door to the garage is still there, because, well, it's a garage, ha.  Both pocket doors will be black, solid core, and 36" wide 8' tall to match the style and color of the regular door to the garage.  We also made sure the pocket doors were centered in each space and across from each other for that symmetric look (this plan doesn't reflect that yet).

We also decided to put a drain in the middle of the floor.  That's something not a lot of people think about but in the event the washer sprung a leak, it will drain into the floor and not into the other rooms.  It'll look much like this, only more in the middle of the room.

Speaking of the floor...

...the flooring in here will be the same tile as in the guest bath.  It should look very pretty.  We were going to go with a generic all one-color tile, but just because it's a utility room doesn't mean it has to look utilitarian!

The last change was bigger.  In the original plan, there was a 'freezer space' in the pantry.  Food storage is very important to us, so we wanted to keep space for a separate freezer but we wanted our pantry to be all pantry without eating up space with a freezer.  We decided to have them move the freezer space from the pantry and into the laundry room.

This necessitated the last change. With a standard side-by-side washer/dryer, the freezer spot would have been on the opposite wall...it would have been crowded.

At our apartment for years now, we've had a nice (supplied by the apartment) stack washer/dryer.  In fact, here is a photo of ours now. We love a stack unit and realized that if we do that here, we can put the freezer next to it and, as we've already measured, still have a little space for a cabinet in between.  

We also had the freezer and stack unit moved from the side wall to the back wall.  That way, when you slide open the door, it's a straight shot to the back, not only more convenient but probably more aesthetically pleasing when you look at it in the space.

Like this!  It'll look pretty close to this on the back wall as you slide open the pocket door (different colors of course).  Pretty cool huh?  We think it'll be nice.

We wished there had been room for a sink in here and there would have been were it not for moving the freezer, but again, an extra freezer was more important.  Hey, we will still have our sink in the garage as you saw in the post on the garage tour.  It's only a few steps away from the laundry room.  In the end, we still get the stand-alone freezer and the utility sink, just not in the same space, ha.

So that's it.  Y'all have seen every room planned in the house except for the kitchen and the pantry.  Big plans there, next week, pantry tour!

THE HOUSE IS GONE

 We'll have another post soon with lots of pics before and after from various angles (including some unique shots!) but since many of you have asked how it went, we're keeping this first post quick and to the point, ha.

It's the end of an era for the little farmhouse.  It had a great run, but it was time to make our future dreams come true...

Here it is right after we bought it...

Here it is Wednesday morning...

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Instead of being sad, we're thinking of what will grow from this spot.  Just like planting a seed and waiting for a beautiful flower to bloom, we'll be waiting for our new home to rise up from this very spot. 

The future awaits!