Floors #kitchenrenovation

Well the floors are officially D-O-N-E!  We still technically aren't allowed to walk on them till Saturday morning but the flooring guys are done and I'm so happy with how they came out!

We went back and forth on flooring and one thing we knew wanted was wide planked floors...like as wide as we possibly could get.  But everything we saw in Home Depot, Lowes or Lumber Liquidators maxed out at 5".  Then one of the general contractors who came to  give us a quote mentioned a place down the cape called Stonewood that sold reclaimed wide plank pine floors.  I think I stopped listening at the word reclaimed.  You all know my love of old things so my mind was made up...we were getting these floors..somehow, some way.  So Jim and I made the trek down the Cape one Saturday and we both fell in love (ok well maybe I did but Jim would just say they a'ight...they look the same as the floors at Lumber Liquidators.  Men!)

We ended up getting a combination of 4.5" and 8" wide reclaimed pine floors.  These boards were planed out of old wood from a mill down south called Martha Mills.  It's pretty cool thinking our new-to-us floors have such a story to tell.  I love all the knot holes, the nail holes, and all the little imperfections in them.  I think they fit in nicely with the character of our old house.

We used Varathane's Early American stain on the floors.  A nice brown hue that will darken with age.  The numerous coats of poly certainly make it shiny.

Can't wait for our new back door to come in....if only Home Depot can get it's act together.

It was hard to get good pictures since I was hanging over the threshold trying to get some pictures without stepping on the floors.

 We're hoping to get some progress done in the pantry or maybe the open shelves in the kitchen...who knows where the weekend will take us, I meeeeeeeean where it will take Jim! 

Let's talk...teppan yaki grills

This is what I like to refer to as Jim's dream.  Anyone who knows Jim, knows he loves him a good Japanese steakhouse.  When we first started daydreaming and planning our kitchen, Jim stated he would love a teppan yaki grill.  I thought the idea sounded awesome and who am I to squash a man's dreams like that?? 

Once the kitchen planning and appliance research got underway, we realized just how expensive the grills were and the chances of us getting that fancy grill was put on the back burner (get it???  burner???  no?  ok...moving on.).  But the stars aligned, the skies parted and we found a Gaggenau teppan yaki grill on a floor model sale at Kam Appliances.  My man was meant to get that grill after all! 

For Jim's birthday I surprised him with a fancy spatula to use just for the grill, just like the chefs use at a Japanese steak house. 

And Jen, Jim's sister, got him some fun paper chef hats (for catching all those shrimp he's going to be tossing in the air) and commercial salt and pepper shakers. 

You gotta have the legit accessories if you're going to talk the talk of a Japanese steak house chef.

So far we've used it to make an authentic Japanese steakhouse meal and it was better than going to one.  I made it to cook eggs and that was good but the eggs stuck a little and the clean up was a pain.  I can't wait to try out some pancakes on it soon.  Supposedly you can even boil water on it....not sure if we'll be trying that out anytime soon though.  When it's not in use we are thinking of putting a cutting board over so we don't waste any counter space. 

The floors are being stained this week so we have had zero access to the kitchen or basement so no work has been getting done.  Hopefully this weekend, Jim will be able to work on something kitchen and/or pantry related.  I'll be shopping for baht mitzvah dresses for my niece Sophie...the sacrifices I must make ;)

Random post...getting caught up.

Long time, no see!!!  Sorry for the absence....Mama Staunton, Jim and I were working like dogs last week trying to get the house ready for Easter entertaining.   Man am I sore!  I'm not used to daily physical activity since my normal routine is being stuck behind a computer for 8+ hours a day.  But Easter went great and it feels good to be amongst the normal people again with a nice, clean house!  Well at least for a couple days as our house will get messy again this week due to the sanding and staining of the floors. 

We have been taking our new appliances for a test run to make sure everything runs the way it should.  Or it could be just Jim's excuse to try out the tappen yaki grill.  Below Jim is practicing his onion flipping skills.  This only took about 10 tries to get the money shot but not bad.

And the penny tile was installed and to say I'm in love is an understatement!!!!!!!!!  I just love the way it shines when the light catches it!!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!  I think it goes with the granite and the wall color. 

And the tiled back splash against the range wall.

A close up from the side.

Ahhhh I'm so happy with it!

And the wall looking into Lady Land.  Just wait till we have the open shelves up.  Then the walls hopefully won't look so empty.

And we stopped the tile right where the peninsula ends.  The tile guy did such a nice job.  I stare at it constantly. 

And here are 4 out of the 6 kiddos for our annual Easter egg hunt right before we let them run wild.  Aren't they so cute???

There goes Jake in his brand new teal jeans.

Avery and Evan going crazy scooping up all the eggs they can get. 

And there's AJ and Jake on the hunt.

And afterwards!  Man did those kids clean up or what??? 

Overall entertaining in the new kitchen was great!!!  There's so much more room to move around in and no more fighting for oven space.  It was awesome and looking around on Easter really made my heart swell with gratitude for all that we have. 

Floors are getting stained this week so back to no kitchen for a full week.  More updates to come!



Day 21 #kitchenrenovation

The final push!  The plumber came yesterday to hook up the appliances and last night we christened our kitchen by making our first meal in it (well not entirely true....on Sunday we used our convection oven to cook english muffin pizzas since that was hooked up and working).  Minor detail!  I sat at the peninsula sipping some wine while Jim cooked us dinner.  It was great!  I still look around at the kitchen and can't believe we actually pulled the trigger and got it done. 

Our sink and disposal are hooked up and working so we can FINALLY say good bye to washing dishes in the upstairs bathroom.  That really was the worst part of the whole living through a kitchen renovation.  So it's SO nice to have a working faucet, sink and disposal back!  And isn't that faucet a piece of art?!?!  I am so so so happy with it.  It's not nearly as tall as we feared it would be and gives the countriness of the farmhouse sink a slight edge with the industrial looking faucet.  And it's fun using the hand sprayer and the pot filler.  Never a bad thing to have options.  And the farmhouse sink?!?!  It's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  It's so big I think I could give Jim a sponge bath in it!  It's seriously great.

 I couldn't for the life of me get a good picture of the refrigerator with it's blinged out grill finally installed.  Poor lighting last night.  But at least you can get an idea of what it looks like since all the previous pictures had that silly gap above it.   

And the rest of the bead board beneath the pass through was installed.  Sadly, there are no room for corbels underneath :(  I guess I'll learn to manage without them....some how.

I think the bead board in both "windows" ties them nicely together and makes them look like they were always like that.

 And because we're cheap skates we decided to paint ourselves.  We painted the old kitchen ourselves which wasn't that bad but this new gal???  What a beast!  I'm the resident cutter inner and Jim's the roller.  Well there is A LOT of trim in the new kitchen!  Bad for me, great for Jim!  But Jim was a gentlemen and helped a girl out...whata guy!!!

But we are done!  And we're so happy with our choice of color...Wedgewood Grey by Benjamin Moore.  It has hints of blue, grey and green depending on what light you look at it in.  Gives this neutral kitchen some life.

We painted the trim the same colors as the walls and I'm so glad we went with this idea because I think the trim blends in with wall as opposed to popping out and becoming the main attraction which is what I did not want.

It makes the grey in the cabinets really pronounced now.  You may be thinking man are they lazy or what?!  They didn't even paint all the way to the counter tops!  We're not that lazy!  The back splash tile will cover this so we didn't want to waste time or paint by painting all the way down to the counter tops.

Painting near the chimney was a beast of a job but I don't think we did half bad if I do say so myself!

And the pendants still pop against the color.

You will notice we didn't paint up towards the ceiling in the old hallway.  We plan on adding the same crown moulding that Mike put up in the kitchen in this area.  We still have the trim and the bead board to paint but we're taking our time on it and painting when we have free time. Oh and that black paint on the door is actually magnetic paint.  Since our fridge can't hold magnets due to it being stainless steel whats a girl to do when she wants to hang something up?  Well I had read up on this magnetic paint and wanted to try it out, so this was the perfect opportunity.  It's just a primer so we plan on painting over it with white latex paint (as long as you put latex paint over it, you can use any color).  I'll let you know if it really works.

And finally the extenders for the laundry nook faucet were changed from brass to shiny chrome. Ahhhh much better!

                         

And here are my men working it in the new kitchen.  Aren't they so cute??? 

                                  

Our first meal made from the new kitchen....pork milanese with a side of roasted asparagus and pan fried potatoes.  Oh yum!  Not too bad for a 10:30 PM dinner.

                            

I think we're gunna love this new kitchen of ours.  Back splash tile gets installed today!  DAHHH!  The anticipation of it all!

Let's talk...bar stools

Bar stools are a necessary thing if your kitchen has a peninsula or island.  I never really paid much attention to them because we never had a kitchen that warranted them.  We always had an eat in kitchen that had room for a table and chairs.  When I started researching bar stools, I couldn't believe my eyes at the prices of them at places like Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Overstock and even Target.  When in doubt and can't find something I can afford and like, reupholstering is always my answer.  So I went on the hunt looking for super cheap bar stools that I could reupholster.  After months of searching, I stumbled up faux leather bar stools for a steal from Joss & Main.  I quickly purchased them and so began my hunt for fabric.  I knew I wanted an indoor/outdoor fabric for easy clean up and I knew I wanted them piped in a fun color.  I was able to find the indoor/outdoor fabric online in a fun teal geometric print and the pink corduroy fabric for the piping I found at a local fabric store for a song.


Below is the BEFORE picture of the bar stool. (sorry bad blogger and forgot to take a picture with my camera so you get a picture straight from the website)

                                                                                            And now for the big AFTER reveal!

You've come a looooooooong way my friend!  I just LOOOOOVE them.  They came out better than I pictured in my head.  The pink piping adds that unexpected pop of fun color.  And they will tie in the colors of the roman shade that will be going up shortly on the window looking out to the back yard.

And here are all four of them at the peninsula just waiting for a good time to be had.

I may or may not paint the legs.  It will depend on how the they look once the floors are stained a nice medium barn wood brown.  But for now I have a serious case of permagrin whenever I catch a glimpse of them.

Big things happened this weekend in terms of paint.  Come back tomorrow to see what was going on in Casa Horne!

Day 20 #kitchenrenovation

The granite is in!  The granite is in!!!!  And we couldn't be happier!!!!!!!!!   It makes it feel like a real honest to goodness kitchen!!!  Did I mention I love it??? 

Oh and yes, the oven door is back on and it is ready to be used.  Ahhh doesn't the granite make it look so finished?  You may notice that the trim needs to be put back on the pass through.  The granite installers had to take it off in order to put the granite in on that side.  You can see it extends through the pass through and into Lady Land slightly.  That feature is going to come in handy come grilling weather (well that is whenever mother nature decides to stop tormenting us with all this snow!!!!!)

 

And the peninsula.  You may also notice the tappen yaki grill has been installed.  Well it's in place but not hooked up yet. 

  

 

Close up of the overhang, which is about a 12" overhang.  We went with a really simple straight edge profile.  Clean and classic and no up charge for a fancy cut.  Bonus!

 

 

And the "hutch" area.  Ahhhh I love it so!  So glad we decided to put a piece of granite on top of the apothecary drawers.  I think it makes that area look like a separate piece of furniture but yet it's not.

 

Close up of the apothecary drawers.

 

The range area.  We now actually have a place to put a spatula instead of our old range that was hanging all by it's lonesome with no counters on either side of it.

 

The installers did a great job of getting super close to the chimney.

And the sink area.  I love how the counter goes over the sink making for easy squeezey clean up.  Just brush the crumbs off the counter and right into the sink.

 

Our experience with the granite had it's ups and downs but overall we are so happy with it.  My friend recommended going to see the slab in person and having them draw the outline of the space right on the slab and I am so thankful for that suggestion.  We were able to capture the part of the stone we loved the most, which was the grey veining.  I highly recommend doing this if you have the opportunity. 

 

By Monday we should have a usable kitchen!  So crazy to think how far we've come in such a short amount of time.

Let's talk...back splash tile

Man did we have a hard time with this.  Or I should say I had a hard time with this.  I knew what I wanted but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted.  Jim put it perfectly..."you want a tile that does not exist!".  But I wasn't giving up hope.  I knew I wanted a solid color throughout, shiny and unique.  That doesn't seem hard to find right?  HA!  Think again my friends. 

We went to many-a tile shops on our weekend 'burbs trips.  I was in complete sticker shock!  I couldn't believe my eyes with the prices per square feet these places were asking!  It was insane!  So add to the prices and not being able to find what we were looking = many a depressing trips.  But we kept pressing on.  I had read about a place called The Tile Shop that offered affordable but great looking tile.  As luck would have it, they just opened up two shops in Massachusetts, one being less than 20 minutes from us.  It was fate I tell you! 

The shop itself is awesome.  Tons of displays of actual kitchens and bathroom which was helpful since you could visualize what the tile would look like installed and they really cater to DIYers, which you know I love.

So what did we end up getting? What was the tile that was like a chupacabra or sasquatch?? We went with the penny round tile in moss (it reads green for some reason on the computer screen but is more of a greyish blue in person).

We will be using an unsanded dove grey grout (also from The Tile Shop).

And to cap off the top of the penny rounds to give it a finished look, we will be using a 3/8" pencil marble tile (also from The Tile Shop).

We decided to forgo the traditional 4" granite back splash in favor of using the back splash tile 6" up from the counters.  Buuuut of course we didn't count on the electrical outlets getting in the way....details schmetails!  Sooo it was either go above or below the electrical outlets.  We went for below.  How'd we figured that out?  By the really complicated method of holding up the tile against the wall to see how it looked both ways.  The tile is getting installed Tuesday.  So check  back next week for how this will all look once installed.