The kitchen comes together

The granite is completely installed and we got an amazing deal on it!  

There was a tiny bit of miscommunication (in that I don't think we actually told the granite guy we changed our minds...) and we ended up with the Black Galaxy instead of the Absolute Black.  So there are tiny little gold flecks.  But I think they look brown and will tie into the cabinets really well once we antique them.

Here is the kitchen from a distance.  The island is New Venetian Gold (there's a great vein running though it that you can barely see from here)

Here is a close up of the sink.  It's a granite composite (we were offered a free sink, but it would have been stainless steel, and free is good, but all my fixtures are Oil Rubbed Bronze, so we thought the grey/black look of the granite would work best.  OK, Brad didn't actually care, but I did!).  We bought one from Home Depot, but when we gave it to the granite guys, they noticed that it had a funny back lip that slanted.  Which was a design feature to hold an in-sink cutting board, but would have looked strange.  So we took it back, and bought this one from Lowe's (And it was about $80 cheaper, which was great!)

This is the small side wall by the refrigerator cabinet.  I still LOVE the microwave cabinet!  These are a great solution if you don't want to do the mircohood vent or have it sitting on your counter.  We originally wanted to have a really cool roll-top cabinet that sat on the counter where we could hide the microwave and other small appliances, but when we decided on the corner pantry, that idea fell to the wayside (because it would have been in the corner - and now there's no corner).

And the last wall we got completed (at around 5 pm on Sunday) is the stove wall.  Instead of dropping a bunch of extra cash on a stove cabinet that is deeper and adding decorative spacers with legs (that whole set up would have cost $600!!!), we pulled the cabinet out from the wall 4 inches and wrapped the sides in bead board.  Before we stain it, I might add two small round "feet" under the edge to really make the stove area pop and look like a piece of furniture.  The added a rounded edge around the stove area, which is the feature that I really wanted!  So, we have a very high-end looking kitchen, but at a fraction of the cost.  

Total cost on cabinets= $5,500

Total cost on granite= $3,500

So, it began...

We started on the mountain of trim!  Sadly, Lumber Liquidators has let us down, and our wood is not in at the expected time.  AND because of some "regulations" at National Home Center, our tile is not in yet either.  *Sigh*  So, we had to address the trim - despite extreme resistance on my part! We painted all of our trim with Semi-gloss, Antique white (right off the shelf) from Lowe's.*

This is the set-up in the garage:

And after several hours, three coats each, we have:

At 16 foot long each, and about 25 of them, we have about 400 linear feet of base board.  I really hope that's enough!  Next, we tackle the fluted molding I just had to have, as well as the rosettes and base caps.

*While at Lowe's picking up our bathroom vanity cabinets, I got to have this conversation:

Guy: So, you guys are in here a lot.

Me: Yeah, we're building a house.

Guy: I used to see you guys in here, like, every day.

Me: Well, it takes a lot of planning.

Guy: I haven't seen you lately, so I figured you finished.

Me: Nope, really just now getting started.

Guy: Alright, well, guess I'll see you tomorrow then.

And then I REFUSED to go back later that night when Brad suggested we pick up some painting supplies. (Which meant that we ended up going three times on Saturday!) We go there so often, I duck or turn my head so the carpet guy wont see me.  He seems to be the only one who finds our frequent visits funny.  And the nice lady in the shelving department followed us back there (without us asking) because she knew what we needed.

Saddest part?  I can tell you all their names. But I wont.

In the very near future...

I'm going to have to address this very large pile of trim.

It will need several coats of antique white paint and cutting.  Of course, that's after we drag it into the garage! (And THAT depends on when the garage door gets installed.)

All the doors (and the windows in the master and great room) will have fluted trim (that's the ones with all the cute lines) topped with rosettes at the top and base caps at the bottom.  The windows [might eventually] have a very difficult stacked top trim consisting of a base cap (or something like that) then MDF then crown molding.

There is so much going on right now, that I hardly have time to eve write about it!  This past weekend we finished up hanging the kitchen cabinets.  Technically, we kind of finished last weekend, but there was some 'scope creep' (a little industry lingo meaning that someone changed the original project by adding on – and yes, that someone was me) and it took a little longer but looks awesome!

First, I might have suggested that the microwave cabinet be pushed out with two 2x4's so that in addition to being taller, it would also be larger (which would help the crown molding fall on the side, rather than hit the door).  BUT, if we are going to have the sides stick out, they should probably be wrapped in bead board (like the stove cabinet).  

AND, we might have bought the wrong size bead board, causing us to go BACK to Lowe's again.  BUT, I told them (husband and his brother) that it was OK, because they could get it when they get the bead board for the refrigerator cabinet that needed to be built.  

THEN I realized that the guys from Casa Blanca Granite and Marble said they would install the granite sometime early this week, and well, if the granite is being installed, shouldn't we have the corbels and bead board on the island before?  So, we stopped the door painting and went to Home Depot to buy that.  And again, it looks awesome. 

When we bought our cabinets, we could have bought matching boards to wrap around the back, but they were $70/ each and we would need 4.  Instead, we bought two sheets of bead board (@ $35 each) and ordered the matching stain with the cabinets.  That will occur sometime in the near future.

The kitchen is well on its way and I couldn't be more excited.  We bought a sink with a single bowl that is pretty huge!  It's black composite granite.  And despite a previous post about the granite, we changed our minds on colors (surprise!) and opted for a beautiful piece of "New Venetian Gold" for the island and "Absolute Black" for the back counter. (Which rocks because I can go back to the really cool crackle pendant lights over the island!)

Color, color, everywhere

We got the entire 2,800 square feet painted last weekend.  And it only took 25 gallons of primer (tinted lighter than the ceiling color), 20 gallons of Cincinnatian Hotel Hannaford (all ceilings and some walls), 15 gallons of Lyndhurst Stone (walls in great room and master area), and 1 gallon of Aqua Smoke (spare bath - I couldn't stand to have the entire house neutral).  

We went to Lowe's to get all of our paint (had a 10% off coupon) but, they can't tint the 5 gallon buckets of primer, so we called Sherwin William – and they could.  So, at 6:03 p.m. we waltzed in and bought a LOT of paint.  So all my color selects are from Lowe's and they matched them for us as SW.  They were super nice, considering they closed at 6!  I would highly recommend you get your paint from there.  They keep your color purchases on file for six years, in case you ever need it.  And, they sell these super cool quarts of paint for about $5, so you can test the color without ending up with a whole gallon of it (or you can just use the quart for a small project and get an awesome color!)

This is a bad photo of Brad painting the spare bath, we bought slate tile to go with it.

Brad rocked an 18 inch wide lambs wool roller on an extendable pole.  He was able to get maximum coverage with that.  It will cost a little bit extra (pole= $20, bucket =$35, lambs wool roller = $20, 18 inch roller head $20) to set it all up, but it's totally worth it.  I got a smaller roller but had a nice handle so no blisters!

The inside of the arches are the ceiling color to give it a little pop.

Brad took the ceilings and the walls.  My job was to trim the ceiling and walls where they meet.  For the primer (which was a slightly lighter color than the wall) I climbed up and down the ladder, and moved it.  I ended up with major bruises on my elbows!  After that, I tried out this Sureline paint edger.  Usually, I am not a fan, but this one rocked! (maybe I just really didn't want to go up and down the ladder again!)  The difference on this one was that you can pull back the guard while you dip it in the paint, thus minimizing the potential to get it on the wheels and on the ceiling.  I was surprised at how well it worked on our ten-foot ceilings. 

Even though it is a darker color, the open floor plan and all the windows make it feel light!

We did have a little help from a friend who stopped by Saturday afternoon (thanks Scotty!) which made it possible for me to have a girls night out!

Stone!

I've been pretty busy lately so I thought I would just drop in with a quick update!  They started on the stacked stone Monday.  Rain Tuesday prevented any work, but today is beautiful [but windy] so it could get finished -those guys work fast!

You can see that the trim is just about finished (actually from this pic, it looks done) and it makes the roof look even more brown.  I love it!

There is debate about the front door - yes, still.  I want the St. Charles *sigh* and the cost-conscious person in this relationship wants a cheaper one.  I don't think the cheaper one would look bad, I mean, it's still a solid teak door... just... Oh well, I've won most of battles, so I'm not upset by this if I let him have his door.

Be on the look-out for updates on paint – we finished the entire house in one weekend thankyouverymuch! and will finish the kitchen cabinets this weekend, so that one will follow too!