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Cooking During A Kitchen Remodel

You’ve planned all the fabulous meals you’ll make when your kitchen remodel is finished. Your recipe folder is filled with ideas for gorgeous roasts, nourishing sides, crusty bread and heavenly cakes. It’s going to be the chef’s kitchen you’ve always wanted. First though, the daunting part, you need to feed the family for a couple of weeks without an oven or stove.

Keep breakfast and lunch simple. Cereal, overnight oats, toast (avocado, banana and cinnamon) and fruit are yummy morning meals. Lunch might rely on sandwiches, maybe made a little more special with a side of hummus and veggies or some soup.

Dinner can still be delicious and satisfying. It just takes a little extra planning.

In mild months, many families make good use of their outdoor grills. For cool weather kitchen remodels – or when it rains – the slow cooker is a cook’s best friend.

A wonderful friend, Janet Arden, who completed a Normandy remodel years ago and writes a thoughtful blog called Ivy & Ironstone. Alongside book recommendations and decorating inspiration, Janet offers ideas for simple but decadent suppers.

For October, she recommends Healthier Slow Cooker Tortellini Vegetable Soup from the blog Half Baked Harvest. Janet substitutes spinach for kale, which is a non-starter for her and adds a drizzle of heavy cream.

This is just the sort of recipe to bookmark before your kitchen remodel. It’s full of vegetables, feels special and you can “set it and forget it” with a slow cooker. It can also be made in an Instant Pot for those who like speed in cooking or on the stovetop, for times during your kitchen remodel when that’s an option. Best of all, the leftovers can be lunch the next day.

Do you collect recipes? If you’ve been thinking of a kitchen remodel, why not chat with a Normandy designer about the possibilities? We also invite you to join one of our upcoming virtual webinars to learn more. You can also visit the Normandy Remodeling photo galleries for inspiration or follow us on Facebook and Instagram for daily doses of remodeling projects.

The Power of The Powder Room

powder room with black wallsNo matter how small the square footage, powder rooms hold incredible potential for exciting details and joyful expressions of personal style. The powder room is a great opportunity to do something fun and different. It doesn’t have to relate to the rest of the house, so why not indulge?

Think of the powder room as a jewel box. This is a place where bold wall colors like high-gloss navy or black can really shine or provide a dramatic background for a dazzling light fixture.

Decide where you want to make a big statement and what can be more subtle. It can be tempting to do statement wallpaper with a tile floor and bold lighting. Pick which element should have the most impact and work around it. Let it really sing.

From a practical standpoint, the powder room is a smart spot to use finishes and materials you love that might be too delicate for higher traffic areas. Powder rooms are fantastic places to use natural stone or to do a cool mosaic. You might worry about these artful touches if they were subject to lots of wear and tear, but the pop in and out nature of the powder room is a chance to treat yourself.

Powder room, tall ble cabinetry, gold light pendant and brass fixturesMost families don’t give their powder rooms much thought until they’re remodeling a nearby room. Anytime you’re refinishing the floor it makes sense to think about freshening up the powder room. Keep the powder room complementary, but not to try for an exact match to the rest of the house.

As an example, we recently worked with a family on a kitchen remodel and powder room refresh. Rather than match the cabinetry and finishes, we designed the powder room to feel connected but not the same. You can break free from your home’s style. Choose the really fun wallpaper you love but that would overwhelm a larger room. Try a super cool tile floor. Go for the bold color.

Our best tip to help narrow down the choices is simple; Don’t do something you think you’ll grow tired of too quickly. Need more help deciding what to do with your powder room and kitchen or other room in the house? Set up a time to talk with one our designers. Want more inspiration? Visit the Normandy Remodeling photo galleries. You’re always welcome to attend one of our upcoming webinars and follow along with us on Facebook and Instagram.
Basement powder room with bold wallpaperGray stained powder room cabinets with extra storageDrop in sink with dark stone top and white cabinet in a powder room powder room with blue backsplash tile

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