Farmhouse Kitchen

This past week my husband and I met with a good friend who is helping us with our floor plan. We are getting closer to having a final draft, but there are a few kinks that we are working out and one of those is the Kitchen.

I love to cook and entertain, so I want to make sure we get this room perfect. In order to get an idea of whether or not our current floor plan works, we headed to IKEA to get a better understanding of what I want in a Kitchen and the trip was extremely helpful.

The moment my husband and I saw it we both knew it was perfect. We loved everything about it: the color, the cabinets, the island, the cook top and the lighting. I've always known that I wanted gray cabinetry with white subway tile and stainless steel appliances and this Kitchen has it all. 

I took several pictures that day, but unfortunately they didn't turn out very well do to lighting. I was able to find some similar pictures on IKEA's website.  

Image from IKEA.com

Image from IKEA.COM

In the demo Kitchen at the store they used different lighting over the island and I liked this other option much better. So much that we went ahead and picked two of these lamps up.

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Another thing that I loved about this kitchen is how well it will go with some European fabric I bought several years back after seeing Sarah Richardson use it in her farmhouse. 

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Isn't it gorgeous? Now if only we were ready to start building. 

As we get the floor plan finalized I'll make sure and post it here, so stay tuned. 

  

Our New Baby Goats

The day after Christmas we received a wonderful surprise our goat Coco had a set of twin girls. It was an extremely cold and rainy day and we were lucky because we had just moved Coco into the barn that morning. We were so thankful because the babies were born in a nice warm area and out of the elements. 

Our girls couldn't have been more excited with the sweet babies. Coco is a kiko goat and the father is a boer goat.  We plan on entering the new goats this year in the county fair, but for now we will just enjoy watching them grow.

We named the goats Clarice and Hollly. Aren't they adorable?

Clarice and Grace

Holly and Sophia

Sophia's wether goat Kermit is a very proud uncle. Coco and her babies were kept separate from the rest of the heard during their birth, but Kermit manged to sneak in with us shortly after the babies were born. Kermit is seriously the sweetest animal ever!

Kermit

Needless to say, we are loving these sweet little ones and we can't wait to watch them continue to grow. This is one of our favorite parts of the Farm. 

Future Farmhouse Update

It's been a while since I shared any updates on our soon to be Farmhouse. The floor plan has changed once again, but this time will be the last major change. Fingers crossed. Right now the rough sketch is with a good friend and he is putting it into a program that will give us a 3D rendering, so we can get a better idea then just a flat drawing. After that we will wait for the weather to warm up a bit and then we will spray paint the floor plan on the actual house site. 

In the meantime, I've been going crazy on Pinterest. I have turned my original Farmhouse Inspiration board into individual boards, so I can really narrow my focus to the individual rooms and how I want each of them to feel. Here is a quick peak of some of the main living spaces. 

The main point of entry to the house will be through our Mudroom. I've been in love with this mudroom ever since I saw it years ago on HGTV's Sarah's House. I know this is going to make me sound like a total weirdo, but I already have the drapery fabric and will be picking up the rug in a few weeks. To view her whole Farmhouse click here.

Sarah's Farmhouse also is the inspiration for my kitchen. I love the neutral color scheme and the touch of yellow. It's so cheerful. 

Here is the inspiration for the Dining Room. I love the substantial size of the table, the mis-matched chairs the fun light fixture. Here is a link to view this picture and others by Lia Griffith.

 One of the things that I look forward to the most in having this new home is the ability to entertain. The kitchen and dining room will both me major gathering places for our family.

In the coming weeks I'll share the inspiration photos for the other rooms. Stay tuned. 

The Farm

My family and I are anxious to start our journey out to my husbands family farm. The beauty of the country prairie is simple, but inviting. The absence of excess noise is comforting  and the ability to see the clear night sky is breathtaking. All of these things are why my heart longs to move out into the country. 

I grew up living in town all my life and there was a time that I wouldn't have even entertained the thought of living out side the city limits. Now as I raise two young girls, I am seeing the importance of having our own personal space. 

My husband and I have been together almost 16 years now and I remember falling in love with the farm the first time I saw it. Over the years we briefly would discuss the idea of building a house out in the country, but always dismissed the dream, because we felt it was too big. But over time, God has showed us that this truly is where we are suppose to be. So, we have picked a location...

This barn currently sets on land that will eventually be part of our home. Off to the south side of this barn is our family's garden. I have loved watching my husband and his family take on this group project over the years and the harvests that have gone with it.

The farm is also home to some fruit trees including: Apples, Wild Plums, Peaches and my favorite Cherries.

There are just so many wonderful aspects to the country that I could go on and on. I have learned to love this place and most of all the family that has built it. I can't wait until "Our Chapter" there starts to unfold. 

Here is a wonderful quote from Harriett Tubman that I recently came across on Pinterest and I think it's fitting for Our Dream. 

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I am a Dreamer...

Life Made Lovely Blog Redesign

I am so excited, I can hardly stand it...Heather at Life Made Lovely is going to start redesigning my blog on Tuesday. I have loved her work for quite a while and she has done some beautiful designs on several of my favorite blogs: The House of Belonging, Between You and Me and just recently Lolly Jane. 

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I wanted to share some of the inspiration behind the redesign, so as to document the process. First off, the name of this blog refers to the state I reside, Kansas. The Meadowlark is our state bird and Prairie refers the land here in Kansas. My state is widely known for the beautiful wheat that we grow here and that is the color palette I am after. 

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I love handwritten fonts, they are artwork in and of themselves. I really gravitate to this one that I found on Pinterest. 

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I started this blog as a way to document our family's journey out to my husband's family farm. We have been dreaming of this for several years and we are getting closer to making it a reality. We have identified the land where we plan to build and this spring we will place post to show where the house will set. We have been looking at several different options of homes and are getting closer to making that very important decision. For us the Farmhouse will be the home we continue to raise our girls in, as well as the home we grow old in and eventually pass it along to our daughters. 

Our Farm

I can't wait to see what Heather comes up with, but I already know it will be beautiful. Stop back soon to see the new design.