Dana Burland

Ok, this is a show stopper! Our home construction kitchen work is complete, and you gotta see it. Our kitchen was lovely before--bright and open. So open I trialed a kitchen island with a mobile kitchen cart and loved that extra working space. The kitchen is in the middle of the house, a busy thoroughfare for living room and bedroom access. Our goal was to make it easier to move across the house, gain more working counter-space and add informal seating. In this project we flipped the peninsula to be a freestanding island, which opened a second walk way and allowed us to add bar seating. WOW. I am SO thrilled with how this changes our day-to-day kitchen use and overall living! When we bought the house I had dreams of baking cookies with the boys in this kitchen. Now we can functionally do that across from each other. Befores & Afters A moment for this island though: Food prep across the island has already happened. Little boy zoomies down the long open space from front playroom to b...

It's been a long season of home construction for us (in case you missed it: Part  1 ,  2 ,  3 , &  4 ). Thankfully we're near the finish line. Ready for its blog debut is our revamped primary bedroom. This was a modest room before, with one reach-in closet we shared and a tiny half bath attached. Our goal was to make this space more functional for two adults. In this construction project we gained a second closet and a shower in the bathroom. I can't tell you how happy I am to have a bed back on its frame in a completed space! It''s been a long summer of musical beds, finding spots to sleep out of dust and still near the boys. Before During After It's not a large room, so tough to photograph. The wall the second window once was on is now part of our expanded bathroom. That window was relocated to the back wall. I'm glad we got to reuse that and keep the nice light we're used to in here.  We gained a second closet, with a little bump out of space to s...

We celebrated a late Rosh Hashana dinner last night, with matzo ball soup and homemade challah (braided by 4 year old A!) and fine maybe pork tenderloin because that was the easiest to feed a crowd. Also present on the table: the shofar. Four-year-old A & 7-year-old C couldn’t resist trying to get a good honk from that horn. I sat by lightly stressed matzo ball backwash create a clog. When I grew up it was the older men that passed the shofar around the table, each hoping to show off with a good deep sound. One Rosh Hashana, I must have C’s age, I asked the men if I could try. My dad’s cousin Andy—a towering 6’5”, almost needing custom shoes for large feet, gentle sweet giant of a man—was the family shofar master. Among all the men at the table, my dad, grandpa, his brother Uncle Hy, Uncle Manny, and my dad’s cousins Andy & Mark—Andy always had great command over the shofar. It's not easy to sound. Your lips need to be pursed JUST right. You need a strong and steady ai...