The Big Reveal!

See, even the inside of the pendants are orange! Orange just makes me smile.The counters are Quartzite with a 2.5” mitered edge which gives it a substantial feel. If you’re going to sell your first born for counters, you want all the bang you can get!

The remodel is done and we are thrilled! We took a dark, cluttered kitchen and added light and order to the chaos. I like it so much, that I have actually cooked in it a few times. In the end we stayed pretty close to the original plan. We had to change out the encaustic tile since it was unavailable which caused me to waiver a bit on the cabinet color but I am happy I stuck to my guns. I had considered going with an off-black color for the lower cabinets to match the fireplace but I wanted to strike out and go with a bit of color. I let the house be my guide when deciding on color. I went to my favorite items in my house, the dear head over the fireplace (shown in the previous post) a large picture of a pear up close that is orange with a blue/teal background, an old metal sign with bits of teal. My powder room with tealish wallpaper and big orange polka dots and an orange ceiling. So it came down to orange or teal. Orange was just NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, so teal it was. I was fussing over the shade and not coming up with anything that was just right until I went into the Benjamin Moore store and saw their paint sample stand for the small line called Williamsburg. The color jumped right out at me and I knew that was the shade. In the photos, the lower cabinets look blue but they are really a dark teal called Everade, does anyone know how to pronounce it? or what that means? Drumroll please…Here are the pics…

There used to be cabinets here but we painted and moved those to the pantry. These shelves are made of white oak and stained a greige to match the new dining room table. More about that later. The two questions I get asked the most is, did you have all of those dishes? Yes. I had everything except for the black and brass vases. The second question is, do you actually use those dishes? Yes. I am practical and everything gets used on a regular basis. We ended up going with a stacked pattern to keep with the clean linear lines. I would have preferred smaller grout lines but this size allowed us to use full tiles and not have 1 row of 3/4 tile.

This sink and faucet are my favorites! The sink is a Kohler it has a 3 or 4” divider splitting the sink into thirds. Perfect for washing large pots and pans or cleaning small amounts of veggies. The faucet is by Cal Faucet in uncoated brass, also known as a live finish.

This is the before and after of the pantry. You can see that before we just had wire shelving that in the real world does not stay neat and tidy like it does in magazines. The glass cabinets are the ones that were in the kitchen prior to the remodel, now painted white. In the pantry we went with a herringbone tile to give a little visual interest to what is nearly an all white pantry. On the other side we had floor to ceiling cabinets built, I wanted a space large enough to fit brooms and the Dyson, and a place for the microwave. Underneath we added a beverage cooler to free up some space in the refrigerator.

We had some warping of the wood in the pantry due to one very sloppy dog, so we replaced the wood with encaustic tile which I am obsessed with!

I was able to negotiate a better price from the fabricator which led to the purchase of a new dining room table. You know…”while were at it…”

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So there you have it, all done and being put to good use.

Here is the before…

Go With The Flow

This has been an interesting time to be doing a remodel. We tried to order as much in advance as possible; lighting, hardware, sink, faucet were all sitting in the garage before the contractor swung a hammer. But the tile…with new tariffs in place getting items from other countries was difficult. We went through 4 to 5 tile choices from several different countries before we found one we could get without holding up the process too long. The floor tile was the biggest challenge, the cabinet color was chosen based on the “deer head” over the mantle and the floor tile chosen to match the cabinet color. When we found out that the floor tile would not be shipped from Mexico for 3-6 months, another choice had to be made. The tile did not exactly match the cabinet color and we toyed with the idea of changing the cabinets to a more blue shade of turquoise. In the end, the original color of the cabinets was just too beautiful to change (Benjamin Moores, Everarde Blue) Since the cabinets would not be butting up to the tile directly, the slight shift in shade is not noticeable.

In the end it all worked out for the best and I am crazy excited about the results. The big reveal is coming soon. I was planning to wait for professional pics but that could take too long and I am not big on patience.

Living Through a Remodel

Our contractor is so patient, he even let DD get in on a little of the painting action.

UUGGGHHHHH!!! Am I right? We are 2 weeks into our kitchen remodel and the chaos and mess are frightening. I’ve put clients through this before but never have I been through this major of an upheaval. AND, as upheavals go…this is not so bad. We are not changing the footprint of the kitchen or replacing any of our appliances, so in reality, it’s fairly minor. I’ve done my best to minimize the disruption so here are a few tips I’ve learned.

1. Do a kitchen remodel in the warm months, it’s 30 degrees outside and I wish we could use the BBQ. Instead, we are on a first-name basis with the pizza delivery guy, who is very impressed with the progress we are making in the kitchen.

2. Make sure all of your items are delivered before the contractors start. I’ve had 2 unforeseen delays due to the new tariffs, both of them tile and both I was told were in stock before we began. I do have everything else hanging out in the garage and did prior to anyone getting started. By having everything your possession you eliminate any hold-ups that are out of your control and 2. there is no second-guessing yourself. The tile I chose for the pantry floor is on backorder for at least 3 months, possibly more. So I ordered a second tile that I “thought” was the same shade. When it arrived it was bluer than the sample so I stopped the painters, see above, while I ran around trying to check shades against the counters which were in transit from the stone warehouse and the fabricators.

3. Get Organized! For me, this meant clearing out a large space in the storage room for all of the items that rarely get used anyway and certainly were not going to be used while the house is torn up. Our dining room then became the pantry and I tried to keep things in a similar order as the cabinets.

4. If you can, set up a micro-kitchen. We have a wet bar so that has become our little kitchen for the time being. Before we began, I removed all of the items that would not be necessary and stocked it with all of the necessities.

5. Make a coffee station. I commandeered our bar cart, removed all of the drinks paraphernalia and set up the coffee machine, mugs, and canisters for coffee and sugar. This has been a real plus, we have both enjoyed having this designated area.

The demo on the countertops starts Saturday and the new counters will be installed Tuesday. yesterday I was able to see the slabs for the first time since they were honed. I think for the first time in my life, I know what if feels like to swoon.

Remodeling is a pain, but the more planning you do the more you can minimize the aggravation and ALWAYS keep in mind the beautiful end results.