I thought it might be nice to break up my travel posts with more current daily life happenings. Going through thousands of vacation photos can seem like a mind numbing vortex and it's feeling a bit overwhelming to try and play catch up. So let's just jump back and forth, shall we?

Have I mentioned that we have a rescue pup named Liberty? She's a Bochi - half Boston Terrier, half Chihuahua. She's the result of a botched breeding attempt by the Boston Terriers owner. They couldn't sell the puppies as pure bred Bostons and had plans to take her and her sister to the pound. My husband drove 3 hours to rescue both. Hence the name Liberty - freedom from the shelter! Her sister, Henrietta lives with our daughter and now they have play dates.

Transitional spaces between rooms can be tricky to furnish. Often times the furniture needs to serve dual purpose and have the ability to suit the aesthetics of both connecting rooms. I have such a space between our kitchen and dining area and found this French Display Cabinet from Kathy Kuo Home fit perfectly. I love that it will allow me a space to serve drinks, desserts, or appetizers during parties and also have fun with seasonal vignettes and decor.

One of the design elements I incorporated into building our home was the use of salvaged wood. The warmth and character it can give new construction was the main reason I chose the material. By using it sparingly in several rooms I was able to achieve the clean modern farmhouse aesthetic I was going for. It unified the home design by creating a cohesive element throughout the spaces.

For the master bathroom my vision was to have simple lines and an overall light & airy atmosphere. I designed a floating vanity made with salvaged scaffolding planks and marble counters to fit inside a recessed wall. You can see a before photo of the area in this post. Because salvaged wood can vary extensively, we had to go through each and every board in order to find enough that would work seamlessly together. This was especially important since your eye is drawn down the entire line of the vanity when you walk into the room.

Adding a coffee station to the kitchen was a given, being that The Man is Italian and pretty much bleeds espresso. He can drink coffee unlike anyone I've ever met. I don't know how he does it.

We positioned it next to the refrigerator and walk-in pantry and it's turned out to be a good location, with quick easy access to the half & half and skim milk. For the recessed shelf, I decided to use marble in lieu of maple like the cabinets, and had a 2" mitered edge added to match all the counters. With the other open shelves in the kitchen being salvaged wood, I think the unexpected mix of the marble shelf is a nice compliment to the space. The drawers and two large pull-out trays below provide plenty of storage for assorted coffees, teas and other accoutrements.

So, let's talk about the fridge, shall we? I've wanted a glass door refrigerator for years. I've spent countless hours searching online for every possible one I could find. They've been bookmarked, pinned, saved to my Evernote and Dropbox files...you name it, I've searched and saved the options. Anytime I've been on a shoot where the homeowner had one, I would ask numerous questions about whether they liked it, why they chose the one they did, and the most often asked one regarding the "tidyness" factor of having a glass front door. So I'll show you what I love about the Sub Zero Pro 48 we chose and share my research with you at the end of the post.

Originally, we called this the party pantry, as I intended to use it to store all our glasses, large serving pieces, and such for parties. But as my niece and I started unpacking, we decided it should just be the dish pantry. Seems more fitting since it houses most of our everyday items, including quite a bit of our entertaining essentials. I believe I have 60 or 70 dinner plates stacked up and ready to be used at a moments notice.