{new touch faucet from Delta Faucet}

Today I have the third and final post in my Inspired Living series with Delta Faucet.  Over the weekend, Chris and I installed the new Touch2O faucet that Delta sent over to us- and if it was already clear... when I say "we" installed it what I mean is Chris did all the work and I "supervised."  Faucets are actually surprisingly easy to put in- especially this one since it doesn't need any plumbers caulk.

While the before and after photos might some not seem that drastic, our daily interaction with the sink is significantly improved.  I cannot even explain to you how nice it is to simply touch anywhere on the faucet and have it turn on.  When we are prepping for dinner parties at our place we always make sure the kitchen looks somewhat presentable by the time guests arrive, but in the time leading up to the party it gets pretty messy.  Having the ability to turn on the faucet by tapping the side with my arm or the back of my hand when my hands are dirty from cooking is pretty amazing.  I am also pretty in love with the dramatic profile of the new faucet in comparison to our previous one- I feel like it elevates the look of the entire kitchen!

Click here to check out the initial post where we selected our faucet design and right here is my dream kitchen inspiration.

Delta Touch2O Technology for your kitchen and bathroom is precisely in tune with your every touch. Take the quiz to learn which faucet style best describes you at deltafaucet.com

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Delta via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Delta.

{dream kitchen inspiration with Delta Faucet}

Today I'm back with part two of the Inspired Living with Delta Faucet series- check out part one right here where I revealed the new faucet I chose for our kitchen from Delta's new Touch2O line!  In this part of the series, I'm discussing my dream kitchen inspiration.  I have always been drawn to kitchens that are almost a blank slate with a very neutral color scheme of black and white.  I'm particularly in love with crisp white subway tiles used with dark grout- especially the massive wall of them at my favorite restaurant.  Ideally, I would mix the clean lines of the white subway tile with contrasting black cupboards/cabinets, luxe carrera marble countertops and a natural wood island.  

In our current kitchen, we don't have my ideal color scheme since we have very dark granite countertops mixed with orange-y wood cabinets that almost match our wood flooring too closely. Since we live in a rental and I'm not about to go painting cabinets and putting in new countertops, I try to achieve a look similar to my dream inspiration by keeping our counters free of clutter and trying to only use white or steel appliances/accessories.  

You can check out all my dream kitchen inspiration as well as get the sources for the images you see above in my Inspired Living Pinterest board right here. 

Be sure to check back next month when I show my new Delta Faucet installed in our kitchen along with some other fun upgrades! 

Delta Touch2O Technology for your kitchen and bathroom is precisely in tune with your every touch. Take the quiz to learn which faucet style best describes you at deltafaucet.com

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Delta via Glam Media.  The opinions 

expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or 

positions of Delta.

{inspired living with Delta- part one}

Today I am really excited to share part one of a three-part post series sponsored by Delta Faucet! Delta has generously offered to help me upgrade my kitchen with a brand new faucet from their Touch2O line.  This is particularly exciting for us since we are renters and little improvements such a new paint or a shiny new faucet can make all the difference in making our place feel personalized while not making severe permanent changes to our place.

The kitchen in our Chicago place is pretty great as far as rental kitchens go since it was recently renovated a few years ago with all new appliances, granite countertops (not my fave countertop choice, but still better than some gross tile!) and new cabinetry.  After hearing from neighbors in our building about units that have our same layout, we also found out that our owners tore down a big wall that would completely separate the kitchen area from the dining/living.  In that wall's place they put in a huge island with room for seating which is is so perfect for us since we entertain so much.

The photos above show where the sink and faucet situation is currently- it's not bad, but it could be so much better!!

I used the design tools on Delta's site to help steer me in the right direction for our faucet choice.  After taking the style quiz, the results (above) were that our home and kitchen is a "party place" - big surprise there!! Haha.  I debated between two faucet choices forever and ultimately ended up selecting the Cassidy design (below) since I like its classic style and a high profile to allow for more room to deal with our oversized cutting boards, drink dispensers and serving pieces in the sink.  The coolest part about the line of Touch2O faucets is that they all use similar technology to touch screen phones and allow you turn them on by simply touching them- you can even use the side of your arm which is perfect for when your hands are messy or have been handling raw meat.

Make sure to check back in a couple weeks for part two of this series where I will show some my inspiration for our kitchen improvements including a fun pinterest board!

Delta Touch2O Technology for your kitchen and bathroom is precisely in tune with your every touch. Take the quiz to learn which faucet style best describes you at www.deltafaucet.com

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Delta via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Delta.

{chicago dining room}

After moving into our new place at the beginning of August, we were able to get most of our rooms set up to our liking and painted within a couple weeks.  The only room that is 99% done is the dining room which is more of a dining "area" since our living room/kitchen/dining room are basically one large space.  I say 99% complete because is any room ever 100% complete?  I feel like I am always tweaking furniture arrangements or adding small decor elements over time, but since our dining area probably won't drastically change any time soon I thought it would be nice to share some photos of it while we work on fully completing the other areas of our new Chicago place...

 {the only new furniture we purchased for our dining room is this pair of bar stools from Ikea.  The kitchen island we had in the loft would not fit in our current layout so we put it in storage back home until we find ourselves with a bigger kitchen layout in the future.}

{Even though we had to give up our beloved island, our new place has this great built in island with an overhang for bar seating convenient to the dining area} 

{So far we have found it useful for setting up appetizers when entertaining in the same way we used to use the previous island.}

{the swan art that used to be in our bedroom seemed to be the perfect size to live on the large blank wall behind our dining table and of course we bought along our bubble chandelier which Chris expertly hard-wired this time around}

{our favorite table and comfy dining chair set up hasn't changed from our last place except that the Pottery Barn rug which we used to use under this table is now being used in our living room.  I am still trying to decide if this space really would benefit from a rug or not.}

 {dinner party set up with the hot pink napkins I picked up in Mexico on our honeymoon}

{my favorite way to have salt & pepper on the table for guests- something about a little spoon feels a million times more chic than an old school shaker or pepper grinder}

{muji's new favorite lookout spot through the large windows alongside the dining table}

{a little recent shopping}

 This season I made a little list of things I want to buy so that I can stay focused and not get distracted by sparkly little things to decorate our house or more party dresses which I don't need.  This year I am on the hunt for a new pair of flat brown boots in a soft cognac leather, jewel tone silk blouses and long sleeve dresses I can wear to work.  Did I buy any of these things recently when I did a little shopping?  Nope.  So clearly the making a list and staying focused thing isn't working out so great this season. But I did pick up some fun things to share with you...

Vintage cocktail glasses I picked up last weekend at the Rose Bowl Flea market for a few bucks a piece. I plan to use these to spice up the Friday Cocktail posts!

 Studded and jeweled peep toe d'orsay pumps by Sam Edelman.  I have been eyeing these for a long time; they are super high, a great neutral color and a little edgy, but girly at the same time.  I scored these ones on ebay last week and they finally arrived.  I can't wait for a reason to wear them!

While I will pretty much buy any fashion or interior design related book there is, Chris and I tend to be pretty conservative about buying cookbooks despite how much we cook.  My main criteria is that there absolutely needs to be gorgeous imagery in the book.  We spontaneously ordered these two books from Amazon and they definitely do not disappoint in the imagery department.  The one on the left is "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adria and it outlines 31 four course meals to make for family get togethers.  It even multiplies the servings for 2, 6, 20 or 75 people (when am I going to need to multiply a recipe for 75?!?!). The book on the right is "Bite by Bite" by Peter Callahan which includes 100 recipes for "stylish little plates" for parties.  I think this book was actually written specifically for me and my love of regular food in mini form. 

 

I am sure this isn't the last time you will see these two books on the blog- they will definitely be used for recipes in the near future!

{raspberry ricotta scones}

I have always loved the sweeter side of breakfast like french toast or fruit & yogurt, but my favorite thing is a really good fresh baked scone.  Smitten Kitchen posted this recipe for Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta scones last week and I immediately went out to pick up the ingredients.  These were incredibly  quick to prepare (about 10 minutes to make up the dough) and the result was sweet and moist even though the recipe uses whole wheat flour. 

{specialty bottle order}

Last night we got a package with our recent order from Specialty Bottle. We placed a large order from this company two years ago which included the spice containers you can see here and after two months of being in the loft, we were ready for another order. One of the best things about Specialty bottle is that everything is relatively cheap and there are no minimum order quantities so you can get a variety of plastic or glass bottles for just about anything you can think of. 

 {corked round & square glass bottles}

The corked bottles will be used for infused olive oils such a simple red pepper olive oil in the large squared size and more specialty recipes like rosemary olive oil for the smaller rounded bottle.  I also saw a really cute tutorial using the small square cork bottles for an agave nectar gift/favor. The tutorial (here) comes with a download for a nice customizable printable label using the same paper I used.

{image via ruffed}

 {8.5 oz swing top bottles}

These small swing top bottles are the part of the order I was most excited to receive since they will used to make more flavored home-made simple syrups. Already on my to-do list is lavender, rose and lemon-thyme. 

{small eye dropper bottles}

These little eye dropper bottles are going to be used to hold our first ever attempt at home-made bitters. Chris wants to try out a recipe he saw for jalapeno bitters and I want to try my hand at grapefruit bitters.

I promise to share all these homemade syrup, oil, and bitter recipes once we make them!