White Kitchen with Brick Backsplash

Remember when our dream home was under construction and it was difficult to imagine how our white kitchen with brick backsplash was going to turn out?

With high, mirrored cabinets, was it going to look ridiculous? You can bet I had more than a couple sleepless nights worrying that is was.

We have now been happily enjoying our home sweet home in the New Mexico mountains for almost 3 years. The best part?

The kitchen!

White Kitchen with Brick Backsplash

I've had a reader email to ask about our wood ceiling and thought my other blog readers might enjoy having the same information. Here you go:

Q. What kind of wood is the ceiling in your house? It is beautiful. We are looking at rough-cut pine for a cabin that we are renovating. Debating on if we need to stain or seal it.

A. Our ceiling is actually just the everyday pine tongue and groove boards they sell at Lowes and Home Depot. The reason ours looks different is that we had them installed upside down so that the rough side shows instead of the smooth side, which created more variation when stained. Oh, and the stain we used is from Sherwin Williams. It's called Hawthorne. More than 3 years into our new home, we are still happy about how the ceiling turned out. I wish I could say the same for our floors!

Sexy Nerd built the chandeliers (3 total, including the adjoining living room) with hammered copper to match our hammered copper apron sink.

Our pantry bat is from one of my favorite online shops, Uncommon Goods.

I'm a firm believer that the secret to inviting interior design lies in the details. These silver deer cabinet knobs have made me enjoy our white kitchen all the more.

When we designed our custom home, we made sure to include a spot for Ocho. Remember when Sexy Nerd accidentally broke off one of his legs? Whoops!

I have a growing collection of orchids, all rescued from the clearance section of the grocery store. This fellow moved with us from our old house and blooms for months at a time. Not bad for $0.99.

The cabinets are not a warm white or a cool white or a white with any sort of tint whatsoever - just a pure, 0000 white.

The wreath over our stove was a $20 clearance find at Home Goods. Score!

Sexy Nerd installed the under cabinet lighting himself and built the wood island. He's so handy. I think I will keep him around.

I'll tire of doing dishes long before I tire of the view outside our kitchen window. That said, dishes are less of a chore with a dishwasher on each side of the apron sink.

Our plan has always been to continue the red brick backsplash all the way up the vaulted ceiling. It's scary to install brick up there though! Maybe one day.

Our oven has a secret. It's a Samsung Flex Duo, which can simultaneously bake at two different temperatures thanks to a removable divider. It squeezes dual ovens into a small footprint. We also love, love, love the induction cooktop (not to be confused with an electric cooktop) because it's so easy to clean.

Cake Mix Pancakes with No Eggs

When making Cake Mix pancakes , the scrumptious possibilities are endless. Red Velvet cake mix pancakes. Chocolate cake mix pancakes. Butter Pecan cake mix pancakes. Funfetti cake mix pancakes. (Yes, Funfetti cake mix pancakes!) With this 2-ingredient recipe, you can turn your favorite cake mix into your favorite pancakes. Pancake making at its finest. Cake Mix Pancakes with No Eggs Personally, I think my funny napkin is the icing on the (pan)cake. It's Sunday morning and you're planning to do all the things today - scrub those grody baseboards, polish your quartz countertop that was supposed to be low maintenance but actually isn't at all, sort through the disaster that is the freezer. While on your superhuman kick, you think I'm going to make my family pancakes for breakfast. Not just any pancakes - the best pancakes ever. I may even serve them as breakfast in bed! You pull out your favorite pancakes pan. Yeah, you're awesome sauce. But oh...

Chemical Peel Before & After

This article has been updated! My new chemical peel post, which includes pricing, Jessner peel before and after photos, product recommendations, and a helpful timeline for scheduling your treatments, is at the bottom. My original Jessner peel post (one of the most popular on my site of all time) is at the beginning. Original Chemical Peel Article Considering a chemical peel? I recently underwent my first Jessner peel and thought I'd share my results, post a Jessner peel review, and answer some frequently asked chemical peel questions. (I'm guessing that "Does a chemical peel hurt?" is a biggie!) I'd been planning to order an over-the-counter peel when we were in Iceland , but my computer led me a different direction. I decided to do this on a whim after Groupon greeted me one morning with a great $40 chemical peel deal. Now, I can read your mind. You just gasped in horror and thought You trusted your face to a discount chemical peel?! You're won...

10 Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks

You're in for a treat. Today I'm sharing my best canned cinnamon roll hacks and improvements for turning store-bought cinnamon rolls, like the Pillsbury Grands ones or even the store brand, into something special. Dry cinnamon rolls? No thank you. They need to be OOEY and GOOEY. That's just Cinnamon Roll 101. All of these ideas keep Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls soft, company-worthy, and delicious. These are also great for taking homemade cinnamon rolls up a notch, but what a pain that is. With these better-than-homemade canned cinnamon roll hacks, you'll never bother to bake them from scratch again. Test out some of these ideas tomorrow. Won't it be nice to dig into a mouthwatering cinnamon roll for breakfast? You can't get a better start to your day than that. 10 Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks No Eggs Needed! Actually, make that 11 easy ways to improve store-bought cinnamon rolls: you can top them with homemade coffee whipped cream . Yum! Nope, make that...

How to Move a Mattress

My site is popular for reviewing memory foam mattresses. With today's bed-in-a-box options lasting much longer than the traditional 7 years of a spring mattress, there's a good chance you'll eventually need to move one. But how? This is how to move a mattress without damaging it - even by yourself! When we were faced with the challenge of moving our beloved Amerisleep AS3 to our new home, it seemed like my readers would enjoy the details. This handy tip should work for any memory foam bed, including Casper, Leesa, and Nectar. I'm happy to report there is an extremely simple way to do it. Apartment and dorm dwellers rejoice! How to Move a Mattress At first, I wasn't sure how to move our king-size mattress down a flight of stairs. It's a problem we've dreaded solving ever since we made the decision to build a new house. The answer? It was right in the back of our truck. Ratchet straps . This solution could also serve as a 'How To' for returning ...

Dental Memes

As the manager of two successful dental offices, my favorite memes are ones I can share with my dentistry dream team. Happy Team = Living the Dream! You don't have to work in dentistry to enjoy these. After all, everyone is a dental patient. You have visited the dentist within at least the year...right? (No guilt if you haven't! I've scheduled patients who haven't seen a dentist since the 1970s. Dentists, dental assistants, dental hygienists, and dental administrators have seen it all. We love this field because we love helping our patients. It's never too late to get back on track!) Funny Memes for Dentists Reminder: National Dentist's Appreciation Day is March 6th! Funny Memes for Dental Hygienists Reminder: National Dental Hygienist Appreciation Week is always the 2nd week of April! Funny Memes for Dental Assistants Reminder: National Dental Assistant Appreciation Week is always the 2nd week of March! Funny Memes for Dental Office Administrators Reminder: Ad...

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See it? Waaay at the back of the photo? I like how the window seat extends past the window all the way to the wall. How about you? If that's not your style, how about one of these lovely window seats? I'll seat you, my pretty, and your little dog too. How perfect would this be in a home office? I'd swap out that wimpy rug with a larger one.

Reuzel: Grooming Tonic Industry Review

I'm looking out for you, my bloggy friends. At my last haircut, the hairdresser shared his favorite hair product of all time, REUZEL (which I'd never heard of), with me and I had enough sense to get the details to share with you. He didn't even have a bottle of it to sell me. It was a genuine, honest review. Also, are they still called hairdressers? Is this the equivalent of calling your flight attendant a stewardess? Stylist? Barber? Reuzel Grooming Tonic Review You know those men who have the softest, most perfect hair and it seems so unfair because most men don't even care about their hair? (Or so they say.) I think this is their secret. While you're here, be sure to read my funny haircut story . Geez, I'm awkward. The fact that I was brave enough to ask to take this photo at the salon is proof I love my blog readers. Never heard of it? That's probably because Reuzel Grooming Tonic is marketed toward men. From reading their endless 5-star reviews, men ...

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3 Minute Toaster/Convection Oven Smores

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Kitty Deschanel

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