Monthly Archives: March 2010

Our kitchen faucet.

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To be honest, we haven’t finished our kitchen yet. We are still working from a somewhat undone kitchen, with no plugs, since our back splash needs to be done. However, we do have a gorgeous new faucet for our amazing under-mount sink! I never knew I could love a sink so much.

Anyway, back to our new kitchen faucet. Delta was kind enough to provide us with the Lewiston kitchen faucet for our project. This model was actually one of two that we had been thinking of buying. We knew we wanted a pull out, like what we had before, and we knew that we wanted brushed nickle finish.

I really had hoped to show you a photo in our kitchen, and I will when we figure out and finish our back splash, but here is a photo from the Delta site just so you can see what it looks like. Since our sink was new, we were able to go with a one hole style, though this faucet can be used on sinks with up to 4 holes. I love the way it looks with just the faucet and no plate, it really opens up the sink area! We also love that it has a soap dispenser as part of the set.

My handy husband really loved the ease of install. The faucet had great instructions, and they made it so easy to install I think I could have done it myself! Luckily my husband was the one to install it since he had the most experience, but the faucet would be great for other DIYers who have a bit of knowledge about plumbing.

As for the looks, I couldn’t be more happy. It’s a very nice, simple style, but without being so simple that it looks style-less. We both love that it pulls out so there isn’t a separate sprayer, making it sleek and compact. We also like that the hot cold is one handle instead of two. This comes in very handy when my hands are messy from cooking and I need a way to easily turn the water on and off.

Thanks to MS&L on behalf of Delta for sending us the faucet for review. I think it’s safe to say you have created Delta customers for life, we really like it that much! I can’t wait to see how good it will look when our kitchen is actually done, it already looks great (and right now it’s backdrop is primed drywall)!

The Power of Half

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I was lucky enough to get a copy of a great book called The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back. It’s one of those little books that packs a big punch! The story is about a family who decided to do something most would consider pretty radical, just to see if they could help others! It is both fun to read and inspiring.

It all started when 14-year old Hannah Salwen, idealistic but troubled by a growing sense of injustice in the world, had a eureka moment when a homeless man in her neighborhood was juxtaposed against a glistening Mercedes coupe. “You know, Dad,” she said, pointing, “If that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal.”

This glaring disparity led the Salwen family of four, caught up like so many other Americans in this age of consumption and waste, to follow Hannah’s urge to do something, to finally just do something. And so they embarked on an incredible journey together from which there would be no turning back. They decided to sell their Atlanta mansion, downsize to a house half its size, and give half of their profits to a worthy charity. At first it was an outlandish scheme. “What, are you crazy? No way!” Then it was a challenge. “We are TOTALLY doing this.” Each week they met over dinner to discuss their plan. It would transport them across the globe and well out of their comfort zone. Along the way they would inspire so many others wrestling with the same questions: Do I give enough? How much is enough? How can I make an impact in the world? In the end the Salwens’ journey would bring them closer as a family, as they discovered, together, that half could be so much more.

The story drew me in right away, maybe because Hannah and I have a lot of similarities (especially the “starchatarian” diet, and a love of volleyball), but mostly because I was so interested to see what the family would learn. Could they sell their home? Would they have a hard time downsizing? Or would they enjoy it more, living more with the things they really use and love? How would they be treated by those around them? And what about all the money?! They were going to donate quiet a huge chunk of change, I couldn’t wait to see what could be done with so much money.

The book also presents a lot great information about the nature of charitable giving. What they learned reinforced what I had felt all along, that money isn’t the answer (even though it’s needed). People really need to be taught and empowered to help themselves. Until that happens, there isn’t real change. The family had been working with Habitat for Humanity, an organization that espouses these ideals, and when it came to their large project, they wanted to help those in Africa, so they picked another organization that sounds amazing called the Hunger Project. They were even able to travel with them to Ghana to see the work that the project does.

The Salwen family has a website you can visit called The Power of Half. I also love that $1 of each copy of the book will be donated to Rebuilding Together, serving America’s low-income home-owners and provides critical repairs at no charge to those with the greatest need. It’s easy to forget that we have a lot of people and big needs here in our own country too, so I am happy to see that the family is trying to help here as well as in Africa.

If you are looking for a fun, uplifting read to inspire you be sure to check out The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back.

Two months later, and still no back splash.

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I realized today that it has been almost 2 months since we got our awesome new counter tops installed. We still don’t have a decision on our back splash, and so it basically still looks like this in our kitchen today:

Kitchen in progress!

We thought we had decided, and even bought the tiles and supplies to do it. However, we just couldn’t get ourselves to get it done. Finally we asked the important question, were we avoiding it because we just weren’t that excited with the subway tiles we picked out? Yes indeed. I know subway tiles are very popular, and they were the only tiles that seemed to work even a little bit with our cabinet, counter, and paint. However, it was going to look basically like it does in the photo. Lots and lots of white. Add in the fact that neither of us are that in love with subway tiles, and you can see why we haven’t been able to commit to doing it.

So what to do now? We have looked and looked at other tile choices with no luck. We can’t install a back splash out of the counter material since that happens before the counter goes on (a little late). We have considered taking the Venetian plaster on our walls all the way down to the counter, but that poses waterproofing questions. So, as of right now, we have awesome counters, easy to clean and fun to look at… and a still unfinished kitchen.