Basement Bar & Kitchen (My home - My pride)

With May long weekend we unofficially start Canadian summer and collectively look forward to the long days and pretty warm nights that the season brings. While we are ready to soak ourselves in the spirit of summer, our walk-out basement is also slowly shaping up to keep us entertained with the clan of visitors we are expecting this year.  

Taking time and creative opportunity to make the most of what we loved, we built our basement and extended our living space. Even though this space is a work in progress, I am finally sharing a little update on the progress that we have made in our basement bar. There are still several things I need to do here and it's definitely far from being done, but baby steps, right?

The idea of a drink in here may lure you in, but it's the little details that will make you linger for long and explore...come on in.  

When the plans started brewing for finishing our basement, us, being the social butterflies, I knew that we needed a versatile space. A space that can tick off all the boxes of necessary luxuries in our basement including a wet stylish bar to inspire and inform whether you are in for a quick drink or a big overhaul party. While I can blob on and on about it, I am better off letting the pictures below tell you more stories about it. 

The place is more like a kitchen galley meets bar which can take care of many party essentials and social gatherings we host. Having all the conveniences of a kitchen down in our basement makes my lifestyle much easier.

I take the freedom to alter the place as per the need of the occasions. With drinks and games on the counter, the place is a man cave for my husband to call his own and with mimosa bar and sparkling wines out there, the place is ready to host my girl's night. When all the drinks are out of sight, the same good flat surface is perfect for me to lay our starters and plug in the food warmers for all social gatherings.  

Our daughter's latest paintings of three different beers add the needed punch of color in an otherwise all white quartz backsplash. A large fridge makes social hosting a breeze since I can do all my prep where the party will be, instead of running up and down stairs for food and drink. A small sink here makes my cleanup simple and fast. Moreover, the built-in-microwave helps me achieve the clean and stylish look while making the life easier to warm up the food before party starts. I also took care to include an in-built garbage and recycle bin in the small area. The floating shelves and glass cabinets are perfect opportunity to display my curated treasures.

With a walk-out basement and big windows we never have a problem with adequate light but I feel lighting can do wonders to help define the overall decorating scheme. With me wanting some mood lighting, we over boarded the lighting scenes in the kitchen and also installed lights under the cabinets.   

Here is a bigger picture to pique your curiosity. Combination of all white quarts and accents of rustic wood feels ethereal. Barn wood wall...yes, finally it got ticked off my wish list.  100+ years old original barn wood adds the rustic touch I wanted on the wall. The wood wall is extended further in our living space as well where we lounge and settle down for movie nights on our projector. With an open concept basement, I also wanted to bring a mellow and inviting feeling in the space, hence ditching the dark color, we decided to bring in the soft color and beautifully distressed structure of the gray lamination as flooring. Here is a detailed post on that mask wall in the background

Considering the functionality of our family and taking care of the essentiality of social gatherings, we took complete freedom to decorate another space in our home. Now the bar here is not just a place to fix yourself a drink, but we make the very best of the moment with music playing on auto loop loudly. The word 'excited' might not even remotely come to describe what I am feeling about the fun episodes that are about to follow in this stocked up bar :). 

Until we meet again, will see you around on my social media, toodles! 

A look at where I cook! (Kitchen Tour)

A pinch of patience... a dash of kindness...a spoonful of laughter and a heap of love will be found in the heart of my home - My Kitchen. Loads of people will concur with the above quote regarding their own kitchen. Yes, after virtual tour of my Living Room, I am letting you taste the place where I cook  and entertain our friends. 

When we relocated to this new home almost 2 years back, we wanted to make it impeccable by all means. Be it our laundry room or powder room, or Pooja room, we looked into each and every detail and to actualize our desire we decided to go with the upgraded kitchen. Many details are there to deal with if you dig deeper before creating any design or space. Many thoughts were exchanged and many discussions were fought over before creating this space in our home.

I will not take the credit of the place just by myself as Aj, my husband, equally contributed his time, his thoughts and executed them by being there while getting it shaped up. So, here you are with me to OUR striking kitchen.

Open and spacious area is convenient for entertaining as we both are friend lovers. The work triangle is necessary in the kitchen for easy and efficient use of the space hence we tend to complete the perfect kitchen triangle (the sink, the stove and the refrigerator).

The wish list called for a small breakfast bar with three settings. Thus, we ended having two level island for meals and also for serving guests during our parties. 2 side closets on the island are perfect to ease down our breakfast necessities in the mornings.

The kitchen design is functional as it is beautiful. Great deal of counter space is necessary in our cooking and that was our priority.

Plenty of storage through out the space keeps everything organized and easy to find so that I never have to run down in the basement.

Crown moulding and mosaic marble back splash are complimenting the custom cabinets exactly the way I wanted. Deep storage pots and pan drawers can hold even my biggest pan with ease.

 



We integrated a corbel as a hood, Aj could not win that steel hood deal with me ;) now it serves as a stunning and simple focal point in the kitchen. I share the kitchen with our dining cum breakfast area. The area is divided with the island in between. Ample of sunlight brightens my space every day as my backyard is backing into ravine and it is breath taking in all seasons. If you are a lover of mother nature, just like us, you can steal a glance of all seasons in my backyard here. 

 

 

 

I always envisioned a window by the sink in my dream kitchen but we could not feasibly make it happen now I do not regret it much as I love doing dishes looking at snow, rain or sun. It's place where any one would volunteer for doing the dishes.

 



The glass doors were on my must list to execute. The new discovery is two ovens in one. As with most of us, the oven is the place for all our ugly and awkward stuff. These 2 ovens are perfect for me, basically it is the same size oven but with 2 doors. One keeps all the unnecessary baking stuff and the top one is used most of the time and I do not have to now give a second thought before turning that oven on.

Our custom cabinets added up many unique options for us such as hidden roll out spice cabinets on each side of the cook top, hidden pull out trash bin and recycle bin.  We also managed for a very own drawer for our bakery items. Also having lazy susan in one corner and a triangular pull out in the other corner make ease of excess in the corners of the kitchen which is basically unused space. On the other side also, the bar tools are easily tucked down in the island for more room. 

  

Not to forget the tilt out tray below the lip of the counter top which is often wasted area. The motion sense faucet and in built soap dispenser are very constructive pieces of my kitchen. 

And finally a proud kitchen owner...:)

In the long run, the value and quality we consider will win over the price we spend on our kitchen. When my dear friends ask me, do you ever cook in this kitchen, in answer to that they get a stumped look because I have been cooking up a storm every single day, being a neat freak, I can not help it and I have to clean it!

Promise to be back with another corner for you, so make sure you are connected on facebook and blog for those decor fundas and recipes, until we meet again, toodles!