Iowa Winter Fun & Life in 2021

Hello 2021!

Iowa started off the new year with nearly a foot of snow. Exciting for those who like to play in the snow, but also challenging for those who remove the snow. Our household experienced both sides of this dilemma.

I am grateful we took some time to slow down and recharge over the holidays, we certainly needed that. If I could just have one week every quarter to sit at the beach and refill my cup, I think I could go on at this intense pace of life indefinitely! Not too much to ask, right? Ha!

In all seriousness, we are using the beginning of this year to organize our business to the highest level. I am a big advocate for efficiency, and gathering receipts for taxes has shown this is an area that is lacking (does anyone else have a large plastic tub full of paper to sort through?).

We have a couple large projects that will begin once the ground is un-frozen, until then its clean and purge time at home. Each year I feel the need to really minimalize my house around January/February. Maybe it stems from trying to get every last piece of glitter left over from Christmas, or just that I’m over the clutter of the holidays. Either way, it’s time for it to all leave my house and as a bonus I am reminded of what my kitchen counters look like. I consider it my yearly surprise. Here are a few photos!

Also, we will be selling our house soon to move to the farm, so I guess the clean and purge is currently serving two purposes! We don’t quite have our house plans finalized yet at the farm, and thus no start date, but there is not much that can be done right now in the frozen tundra of Iowa in January.

Speaking of that, it is supposed to snow again tonight so I had better tidy up some things outside. I hope this post finds you safe and healthy!

Talk soon!
-Rachael

The Joys of Investment Properties - 2020 Edition

Slight sarcasm in the title, if you couldn’t tell.

In all seriousness, investment properties are really not that much of a hassle, but we only have a select few as we manage all of them ourselves. Ordinarily, these properties don’t require any more or less maintenance than a personal home.

But, as we all know 2020 is not an ordinary year.

Last month there was a car accident that happened at an apartment building that we own in a neighboring town, and a car ended up crashing into the building. No one was hurt in the car or inside the apartment, which was obviously the first priority. There was, however, significant damage to the interior of the building.

Structural people immediately checked the building, and it was determined to not be a hazard (tenants could remain in the residence).

The interior damage was to the kitchen of the affected apartment, and as you can see below it was a total loss.

So after some cleanup, the exterior wall and window were replaced and sealed up.

The remainder of the project consisted of replacing appliances, flooring, drywall, paint, cabinets and countertops. It was definitely an unplanned event that required quite a bit of shuffling schedules and etc, but luckily we are (fairly) organized and could make the necessary changes. It was definitely a learning experience, but things happen!

I will leave you with some photos of the new kitchen, which definitely brings a fresh look to the apartment. I hope we can all make it off this rollercoaster ride known as 2020, but until then we just have to press on.

Bonus: no more microwave on the counter!

Cheers to new kitchens!

-Rachael

Kitchen Christmas Refresh

It’s that time of year, the most WONDERFUL time of the year! I know some people wait to decorate for Christmas, but I like to get it over with early and enjoy it for a couple of months. Last year I felt like everything got a little too cluttered/cramped around here so I am trying to keep it simple this go around.

I really am feeling the green/white color scheme this year, so you will mostly see that style from me. I started in the kitchen, because that seemed the easiest!

I picked this dough bowl up extremely cheap on a local Facebook site, and it has been sitting in my kitchen ever since. This season I added some faux greens and an amazing candle from my friends over at Antique Candle Co. (I am not an affiliate, I just really like their stuff!). This candle scent is ‘Tree Farm’ which works perfect for giving that real tree smell to a home.

Now on to the sink area, and I struggled with what to put in the ‘window’. Originally, I wanted a wreath, but opted for the copper bells for the sake of simplicity.

It just wouldn’t be the Christmas season without home baked goodies in the company of friends and family. Both of us have close friends we consider family, thus our annual celebration ‘friendsmas’.

Lastly, a simple wreath over the range hood ties it all together! Here are a few additional photos that I took…

Dough bowl close up!

Hopefully my early decorating has provided some inspiration for your own home, feel free to tag me in your photos so I can take a peek! For now I am back to managing the fort, it’s Friday night and that means (most) tasks can wait until the weekend!

Cheers!

-Rachael

Hanging Cast Iron Cookware

Hi friends!

Today I have a quick post for all the cast iron cookware lovers out there. We love using this cookware at our home but find it impossible to have enough room to store all of the heavy/bulky pieces. My husband has wanted to hang up a pot rack over the island for years, but I didn’t want all the heavy cookware to block the view of the rest of the living area. Finally, during one of the 800 snow days this month, we came to an agreement on how to hang and store our cast iron pots and pans.

Our pantry was the obvious location, due to it’s proximity to the stove and vast amount of unused space. We also needed the pans out of reach of our 1 year old, so hanging them on the wall seemed to be the best choice. Adam found a barn wood 2x4 in the garage and fastened it to the wall in the pantry, and then added the gas pipe and fittings. For those of you that don’t happen to have a ton of gas pipe sitting around in your garage, you can buy them from any hardware store. We used 1/2in size, but you could use larger if desired. The only downside to working with gas pipe (besides the grease) is all the adhesive and stickers that have to be removed. If you follow us on Instagram, you saw my struggles with this the other night on stories.

Here is a close up photo of the gas pipe hardware. I had some old shower curtain hooks from a previous residence that I used to hang up the pots and pans, but I’m sure you could find something more aesthetically pleasing on Amazon. In the future I plan to hang up another identical rack below this one, and use it for hang baskets for potatoes and veggies from the garden (to get them off of the kitchen counters).

Here is the view from outside our pantry.

While this was a quick and easy project, it really has been a game changer for kitchen storage. For those of you who use cast iron cookware, you know its bulky and some sizes can be hard to fit in drawers and cabinets. This storage solution took five skillets and one large stock pot out of our cupboards, freeing up space for further organization.

I hope this post brought some inspiration to your own kitchen organization! Thanks for stopping by the blog today!