small kitchen update, big return!

When we moved to LA, this target rug was all of the rage. It's still at target here actually - and I still really like it - but for us, it had lived a long life.

It worked really well in LA, and then we brought it to Chicago, and it worked really well here too. 

I liked that it hid a lot of the kids junk, but lately it was getting just dirtier and dirtier.

I kept joking that I got shamed by our local carpet cleaners, because when I asked for a quote to get it professionally cleaned, he told me it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one. Ha!

So, finally I did, and since Target had served us so well the first time, I decided to go back for more. If you haven't been on Target shopping for rugs lately - they have this really cool feature that you can preview the rug in your room....I loved it. I will say, in real life, the rug is much lighter, but I still really love it. The rug I bought is the Ava rug by Threshold, and I can't seem to find it online currently...

On their app: 

real life:

This rug looks and feels much richer than our older one, and is soft enough on our wood floor to not need a rug mat - which the other one needed.

I love the way the colors work with our living room and overall I'm really happy with the upgrade.

minor upgrade, major benefit

a few weeks ago...I showed you how our kitchen had progressed (here). We had the back splash installed, and just like with all house projects, it made the cabinet hardware just beg to get switched out.

 

A reader (thanks Rita!) actually suggested to check on Amazon for pulls, and wouldn't you know it, each pull was about 25% cheaper than almost the exact same one at Home Depot. 

I ordered these since they matched the screw length on our cabinets (3")

I was able to switch out all of the pulls in one afternoon, and while it doesn't seem like the biggest update in the world, it is SO much better than what we were working with. And for a $100 upgrade, it pulled our entire kitchen together. 

 

It also really made me consider the fact that all of our gold, "fancy" handles on our doors need to get switched up too. I think bronze, round knobs will really make a big difference, so that's a project I'd like to complete by the end of the year.

One thing at a time!