Tile and Storage...

You're probably sick of seeing progress shots... Not much I can help you with there!

We went completely overboard with trim on the vent beam. I'm crazy about it! Can there really be too much trim?? I say NO!

Here's how the beam looks tonight. Puttied and primed waiting to be caulked, spackeled and painted! Like I said before the inside of the panels will be a flat white and the trim will be a semi gloss white. Overkill again? Maybe! Worth it? Totally!

The underbelly of the beast! Look how good the post looks! With our little trim piece waiting to be stained.

The process of grouting. I won't lie I kind of had a pit in my stomach when we started grouting. I still wasn't sure about the white grout. I was scared it would show all of our mistakes, and errors in the tile sheets themselves.

Drew taught me you apply the grout, which should be a toothpaste consistency, in 45 degree angle swipes. Good to know.

I. LOVE. IT!!!!

The mistakes are so minor, and the grout actually minimized their appearance! And I think the white grout really highlight the pretty individual tiles. Whereas I think a matching tan grout would have made it look like a giant blob. No detail.

Those lines look pretty straight if you ask me.

Anyway... The whole process of remodeling the kitchen was to give us more space. That we accomplished. Now the trick is with more space, how to maximize our space to get the most storage. To really utilize all of our work.

I need need need these corner cabinet pull and slide cabinet shelves. The pull out and twist. And the far corner can slide to the opening. Only problem is the only place I can find them is Europe. Where they really know how to use small spaces.

Another idea I found was stair storage. Used all the time in Europe. Genius!

This is what we are putting in one of out cupboards. I hate seeing a trash can and it's nice to know the pooches can't get into the trash.

This is what we are doing with our sink legs. I'm so excited! A hidden spice rack! I love finding different ideas for storage. So many creative things to do!

Trim

We are trimming the kitchen out. Oh my goodness it is looking beautiful.

Here is our window and crown moulding. Drew did a fabulous job!

Here is our vent we hid with wood crown moulding and trim. I love the detail on it. We want to put quarter round on the inside of all the squares. We will paint the beam white with the base a flat or semi gloss and the trim with a higher sheen. To really make it all pop.

Here is the bottom post all trimmed out and ready to go.

Drew has spent a lot of time on adding little details to our kitchen. And I think it will really pay off. Here is some trim he routed from a strip of wood. While the rest of the post will be white we are going to stain this routed trim piece.

I am going to go ahead and take credit for this idea. I hate cut tile. I swear it never turns out straight. So we just tiled right up to the ceiling and put the crown moulding right on top. And it is a perfectly straight line. Drew was just extra careful in making sure the nails were shot in the 1/8 gap between tiles. Perfection!

Here is my dry run for grout colors. Drew bought some 'bright white 'non sanded' grout and here's how it looks. I love it, but I might have to try a less stark contrast. To hide the discrepancies in the tile. And that's where we are today.

Paint!

I'm stuck.... Paint has me stumped! We had the paint all picked out and then we found the tile. And the paint is just not working.

The green and creme were the colors we wanted to work. They just ended up looking like a country ranch. I hated it.

Then we sampled some silver sage. Blah, looks awful. So we tried the green from our room.

Which is the one on the left. I think I love it!

This is the first time I have been completely stumped for paint color. Hmm...

The tile has all been laid. Countertop to ceiling. And in some places floor to ceiling. We stayed up until 3 o'clock this morning to finish. Worth it? Absolutely!

Drew trimmed out the window. And it looks fabulous. We did a little bit wider window sill so I can put a flower vase or something up in the window.

Drew started working on the trim for the "beam". It's actually our vent. But we decided to trim it out to so we could add more headroom and add a little more detail to the room. Because the 1X1 glass floor to ceiling tile wasn't enough I guess. We still need to add the shaker panel trim to the beam and the wainscot boards to the post.

We also took out the awful tube lighting, and added recessed lighting. We will miss the gentle hum of the lights, but the ceiling seems much taller with the tube lights gone.

And the pooches are bored out of their minds! Poor dogs!

But how cute are they? Answer... Very!

Kitchen Update!

It's all coming together! And I am beyond thrilled with how it's turning out!

The glass mosaic tile turned out to be a lot easier then I had anticipated. I have seen some botched mosaic tile jobs and I thought it was crazy complicated. But with Drew laying the tile an me following behind with spacers just to fix the crooked tiles. The lines are looking incredible. So straight I am thinking about using white grout instead of beige. Hmm...

Our countertops are in and I love them. I love how much countertop space we have! Hooray!

I can't wait to grout the tile, and caulk the countertop to get crisp lines everywhere.

The middle two cabinets were our only hanging storage space. So Drew built the boxes for two more cupboards and we'll (he'll) build the doors. We are thinking about doing glass doors. And he's building cabinets for above the fridge! STORAGE!!

By taking apart the cupboards and rearranging them we were able to add another 15 inch cupboard and room for a dishwasher.

Then we took this newel post and cut it in half and made these awesome legs for our apron front sink. Love them.

Those aren't the doors that will be under the sink. Drew's going to build doors for there as well. Busy boy! And that is the status of our kitchen!

Proceed With Caution...

I have learned an important lesson this week. My words are powerful... A simple thought took my kitchen from this...

But with the concrete re-poured, and appliances about to be moved in, and everything about to be put back together. And then, not realizing how seriously a passing comment would be, about the placement of the sink and the stupid utility box... My kitchen turned into this...

Completely gutted! What was I thinking! Drew is still trying to convince me how much better it will be now. I think he lies!

And the rest of my house looks like this. Ahhh! I am promised it will be back together Saturday... My sanity depends on that statement!

Ps. Check out some of the treasures we have unearthed during the remodel! True Harry Homeowner Craftsmenship! Can you see this totally unnecessary U-turn in the plumbing? On the right hand side of the piped the could connect together immediately. Instead the jut out to the left back up the wall, down and around again. Awesome!

Sorry this is a horrible picture, but I had to take a picture before it was hauled to the dump. This 2X4 was holding up the dryer vent in the living room. And as you can see a foot of it was charred from the heat of the dryer! Just waiting to ignite and burn tue house down. Yikes!

Kitchen "Progress"...

Drew has taken on some big side projects, our house has been put on pause. This weekend the plumbing all got wrapped up.

Here's where we were, when last we met...

And here is today... Sometimes I have to remind myself that we have actually taken steps forward, and not backward. You can see from above where my confusion comes from. We have slowly been gathering the finish details for the kitchen and bath. For the kitchen we found another amazing deal on an apron front stainless steel sink.

I cannot wait to get it installed.

Then this weekend we found these gorgeous glass mosaic tiles for $2 a sq/ft. at Home Depot!

They look gorgeous next to our paint swatches! The trick is again to find a grout that doesn't make the glass tile lose it's luster. Sometimes you see glass tile that is so pretty, but as soon as the grout is added the tile looks dull. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Now onto the search for a faucet.

I love these industrial pull faucets. I always have. They are very "loud" faucets. They demand a lot of your attention when looking at a room. And I don't know if I want that to be the focus. But with our sink we bought that is thirty inches wide, and nine inches deep it would be perfect to reach all the corners of the sink and spray off dishes etc. A sprayer is a must for me. We don't have one on our sink right now, and it makes dishwashing take twice as long. Which leads me to the next faucet I love, but just don't think is very practical.

I think wall mount sinks are gorgeous, but the sprayer that they have is a major eye sore. The hose just hangs in the sink. And I don't think I can get over that.

So here is my "in-betweener" Pretty like the wall mount, but has a sprayer. I just worry about the satin nickel next to the stainless steel. Hmm... Decisions.