S'mores basket | Small Firepit | Loveseat | Weber grill | Grill-top Pizza Oven
A few weeks ago, like the day after the deck was done, we had grilled pizza and s'mores with some friends out back and it was a dream. Chris made the best pizza dough ever--with a good chewy bite to it--and we made it in our new grill-top pizza oven. That thing is incredible! All of our s'mores were made with Reese's and I'm still dreaming about them. The full story (and recipe for that dough!) is over on Crate & Barrel's blog. You can check it out here.
Other fun things this week!
-We've decided to turn the 5th bedroom downstairs, that is currently a trampoline room (feel free to roll your eyes with me) into a dedicated office. I still love working at my little desk in the reading room so much, and I'm sure I still will casually throughout the day. However, we're rolling out something big in the next month that may require me having more room than a 20" desk. Also, it would be nice for me to be able to go somewhere and shut the door to take a call or work when the girls are with their nanny for two hours a day (nanny? she's my niece). Obviously this deserves it's own post, and that's coming. But man, I can't wait to start putting ideas together. A lot of function has to go in there. We're thinking a standing desk and maybe wallpaper, too. ;)
-Besides home offices, exterior living spaces have my attention these days. My favorite blogger backyards? Sarah's little patio and deck prove you don't need anything large to be big on style. Brittany finally revealed her finished backyard and it's bonkers. And a yard I'm watching transform? Molly's. (she has the prettiest instagram feed!)
-We're planning on making next week kitchen week where we can finally share all the before and afters of the Pittsburgh kitchen we just wrapped up, the cost breakdown, the renovation reality of it all, and the reveal to the family. But until then, take the above as the tiniest sneak peek I took with my phone. The portrait painting we hung in the Pittsburgh kitchen is now available in 3 print sizes right here!
-Can you tell the difference between m&m's and skittles (I thought I could.)
-Rugs are up to 50% off at West Elm this weekend! This Geo Jute Rug is such a fresh take on the natural fibered rug at an unbeatable price. It's in my shopping cart! And this one would be so dreamy in a bedroom
-I caught up on The Bachelorette this week and when Chad bit into that sweet potato?! Haha! Did you hear he bought the domain names of other contestants and had them re-direct to his? He is winning all the awards for best villain of all time. 19 hilarious tweets about him worth reading if you're into that. Tell me you're into that! #milkisdelicious
-One of our amazing readers emailed me a coloring page of our kitchen that she made for our girls and it made me smile so big! How cool is this?! Thank you, Sarah! (And ps. I'm gonna color the cabinets green just for fun.)
-Lastly, the host of our podcast, Preston Pugmire and his cutest wife and my best friend, Corine, welcomed their baby girl this week. She is the tiniest bundle of sweetness I've ever seen--just over 5 lbs--and I am officially baby hungry. All of our love and congratulations to them.
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Aaahh, that pizza oven BBQ accessory! I had no idea that existed... thank you :)
aww thank you julia! i've been obsessing over your blog lately too (your kitchen posts are so so helpful!)
I'm so jealous of your new outdoor space. It looks like so much fun! On a side note, I'm curious where the trampoline will go?
Trampoline is now in the side yard. :)
Pizza ovens are so hot right now!! I have one on order from my husband from http://www.uuni.net. He was looking for years to build one in our backyard and then I stumbled on that one. Looking forward to munching on a homemade pie in a few weeks. :)
Love love love the back deck. Can't wait to see more on the project and on the kitchen reno.
That painting is just so gorgeous! Also, your podcasts is making me look forward to Mondays!
X's & O's forever!
Love your C&B fire pit and am considering buying one for my hubby for his bday. Have you had any problems using it on your composite decking? How do you think it would do on a wood deck?
On many blogs I kind of glaze over the link-based posts but I love yours! You find good stuff and have enough meat to make me look forward to them.
7/7 - I spotted the m&m! Totally adding it to my resume now.
agh! You're so good! I only got 5/7
7/7 -- but 14 years as a newspaper photographer may have helped. I got it from shapes and shadows....
So excited to see what you do with an office; you guys are the BEST at marrying form and honest function! Is Faye still too little to move downstairs? Her room is prime real estate for a dedicated office (since there's no full bath on the main level for her) right?
Ha, you may have just opened Pandora's box. The only full bath on the main level is in our room, but the trouble is the only bathroom with a bath is in our room, too! So, we hope to renovate the girls' bathroom downstairs this year to add a tub which has to be done before we renovate ours because our girls love their baths. The other part of your question--we think Faye is at a good age to move downstairs and share a room with Greta, which is their one true wish. She still naps every day in her crib, so I am hesitant to do anything! But I know that switcheroo is coming eventually. The plan was always to turn Faye's room into an office, but the truth is we'd still love one more baby. And Faye's nursery is prime location for a subsequent baby nursery. So, it doesn't really make sense for us to make it an office now only to switch it back, you know? We only recently came to the conclusion to make the downstairs bedroom an office. What did I tell you? Pandora's box! Hahaha.
Can't wait to see the Pittsburgh kitchen! You always post so many great details about projects - I really appreciate it. From your to-do list to reality, you keep it real. BTW...I LOVE your deck. We recently built one off the second story of our home (where our kitchen resides) and it is like adding another room to our house. Three thoughts....first...love that pizza thingie - can't wait to read your blog post. Second, wondering if you might incorporate a circular fire table that is gas fed in your conversation area. I don't want to see you guys getting burn marks on your pretty new Trex deck. You can use it as a table and also it's a lot more kid-friendly...plus you can turn it on and off on a whim. We thought about propane fed one with a tank but in the end went with the built in as we have a gas line anyway. Our kids and their friends spend hours making scores (they are 12) and we don't have to worry about starting fires and stuff. Third, I'd love to hear more about the lighting in, on and around the deck. Nighttime pics? Oops, one more thing - will you have planters on the deck and have you thought of drip irrigation - especially on those trees in the window wells? You guys are so handy you can install it yourselves I am sure. Thanks agin for a great blog!
We're going to do a full fireplace out here. You can check out this post from earlier this week to see a visual.
Just listened to your podcast on mood boards! Great show. I use olioboard.com for my mood boards since I dont have photoshop or illustrator. It is totally free and works awesome and you can upload your own photos, take products from websites, or they have a bunch of stock items.
Great recommendation!