2nd and Strand

I had a brave mother moment and drove the 10 hours from Santa Monica to a little town nestled at the base of mountains called Mapleton, Utah where my parents live. And I did that alone with my 4 and 2 year old boys. Although I was worried about it, my boys have done this drive many times so I knew what to expect and thought I might as well try it. Luckily for me, they were by far the best behaved than they've ever been on a road trip, so everything worked out awesome. Unfortunately, we just missed seeing Andrea on her month long trip to Utah though!

I will be staying at my parents house for two weeks. You may remember a post I did about my parents awesome playroom here (where my boys are currently occupying themselves as I type), but I thought I'd share another feature of this home that I love. 

Below is a picture of cabinets in my parents kitchen. But do you see a little light shining through the bottom of the middle cabinet?... 

I love a pleasant unexpected surprise, don't you? Behind the hidden door is the pantry. They can keep the door closed and you wouldn't think anything was there, or you can hook a hinge to keep it open if you need to keep going in and out. It also has an automatic light so it turns on when you go in, and turns off after a couple minutes of no one being in there.

Here's a view of the inside of the pantry (sorry for the yellow lighting...). The upper and lower cabinets on the left side are all closed storage, and the storage on the right side is all open, with drawers that slide out on the bottom section. You can also see that around the corner there is another fridge and freezer.

Isn't that fun? I love the unusual, unexpected aspect of it. Do you have any little surprises like this in your home? Or have you seen any fun ideas online that you love? I'd love to hear about it!

-Megan