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Our Primary Bathroom Remodel
Lessons learned from our first renovation project with a designer This year we embarked on our first experience using a professional contractor to complete a major home renovation project. We completed a remodel of our primary bathroom, which included reconfiguring the space and overhauling nearly all of the old finishes. Our primary bathroom before When we initially moved into our house, our primary bathroom was underwhelming but it did have some features we appreciated. Our bathroom included a separate water (toilet) closet, dual sinks, a standalone tub, and lots of light courtesy of a window and skylight. The shower and finishes were our biggest areas of complaint. The shower was…
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Our Sideboard Makeover
Our house has a weird front room that we decided to turn into a dining room in the first few months of living here. We figured the space would work for family gatherings like Thanksgiving or Christmas since the table in the kitchen area is too small to accommodate a large group. Shortly after purchasing a dining table we started looking for a sideboard to get the space ready for hosting Christmas. I found a piece at Home Goods that I didn’t hate, and the price was less than some other comparable sideboards I had seen online. It was a good place holder until I could find something that fit…
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Small Changes, Big Impact
I recently shared a post on Instagram about a change we made to the kitchen this past weekend. Long story short, I had been holding off on swapping out our outdated sink faucet because I wanted to wait until we did a large-scale kitchen remodel. I accidentally broke the faucet handle, which forced us to get a new one. Holy smokes, it was such an amazing change that I instantly regretted not doing it sooner! I have a tendency to want to do everything at once and make grand-sweeping changes in our house, rather than updating in small increments. I’m slowly starting to realize that my mentality needs to shift…
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Dog Products Worth Trying
In honor of National Dog Day, we’ve rounded up 10 tried-and-true dog products that we love…and actually use with our dog. We have a 3-year-old Sheepadoodle named Bodhi (named after Bodhizafa beer from Georgetown Brewing, which, by the way, is a delicious beer that you should definitely check out). Bodhi is very particular. Like any doodle, he is way too smart for his own good, and he knows what he likes and doesn’t like. Over the last 3 years we’ve tried a lot of different products with him, and now have a go-to list that I recommend for other dog owners (especially doodle owners!). Bodhi loves the outdoors, whether he’s…
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My Top 8 Recipe Books
Over here at Rainier House, we are giant foodies. Every weekend, and even some weeknights, we try out a new recipe or go “fancy.” Fancy just means that we use some higher-end ingredients or try items you might see in a gastropub or fine dining restaurant. We love to experiment with different types of cuisine and cocktail recipes. Years ago, I was relying heavily on recipes from Pinterest. I loved the ease of searching for recipes based on an ingredient and stumbling across new ideas. While I still use Pinterest often, I recently dove back into old school recipe books. There’s something about holding a physical book, flipping through the…
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Dog Products Worth Trying
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Our Fireplace Remodel
Last summer my husband and I decided it was time to replace our carpets with new flooring. While discussing the project, we knew we’d have to address the slate hearth that was in place. Since we were moving from carpet to laminate hardwood, we decided to remove the hearth altogether and redesign the fireplace in the process. I had always disliked the slate tile and thought our fireplace wall was, well… boring. In starting to design the space, I took into consideration that the fireplace wall is angled, and it was a focal point of our living room. The current scale was all wrong. We briefly considered replacing the gas…
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A Weekend in Walla Walla Wine Country
My husband and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary this past weekend. We knew that we wanted to get out of town and wanted to go somewhere within driving distance. While discussing options, Walla Walla quickly became a contender. I’m originally from Northern California and always loved trips to Napa and Sonoma, so I’m a fan of anything wine country. Since moving to Washington 13 years ago, Walla Walla has always been on my list of places to visit. Ultimately, we decided to book 2 nights and 1.5 days. There are approximately 120 wineries in Walla Walla, so our trip honed in on a handful of wineries. In all…
