Now that they are installed and we’ve been using them for a while, let’s talk about the brass faucet and stainless steel sink I selected, why I selected them, and how those decisions are panning out so far. Let’s start with the sink.  I decided to go with stainless steel because it is a forgiving surface that’s easy to keep clean.  I’ve had white enamel and ceramic sinks and, in both cases, they showed scratches, and stains, and needed to be babied.  I don’t mind babying things in our house, but a kitchen sink is a bit annoying to treat with kid gloves because it’s supposed to be a workhorse.  I love the look of a white sink, though, so that’s what I went with in our MN house when we updated our counters.  I had fleeting thoughts of getting a white sink again, but I decided to go with

If you’ve ever been through a kitchen renovation, you know that the day the counters are installed is a big day!  Last Wednesday around lunchtime, a truck pulled up carrying our counters.  I was called out to compare the sample and to make sure they were the right counters.  There was a very slight variation in the undertones, but it was hard to tell if it was just the particular sections we were comparing.  Either way, they were the counters I ordered and any variations were just a part of ordering quartz. The good news is I love them.  They look perfect with the cabinets and everything else and I am over the moon.  After all of the angst over the counters, which was the hardest part of the entire renovation to nail down, we arrived at a happy ending. There is a beautiful, subtle veining running throughout as well

Things are really moving along with the kitchen now!  Once the counters were installed, it was off to the races on getting the details finished.  So, we’re a little behind in real-time with my blog posts, but I want to make sure I take the time to share each piece of the renovation.  It doesn’t sound like a glamorous topic worthy of its own blog post, but I want to share about the basement door.  When you see how pretty it is, you might agree it’s worthy of the feature. So, let me remind you what the basement door looked like pre-renovation… Oh man, it’s hard to believe that was our kitchen.  It’s changed so much!  Except for the exterior doors, all of the doors in our house are hollow-core slab doors.  I am thankful that the exterior doors are solid wood, paneled, and traditional in style.  They are perfect. 

When you’re reading this, just imagine my voice a little higher-pitched than usual because I am just bubbling with excitement.  The base cabinets have been installed and the measurements for the counters happened this morning.  Ahhhh!  There are still a couple of construction elements left to tackle, like installing the larger window, but the kitchen is being put together piece by piece.  And this is when I’m also letting out a massive sigh of relief because the elements that are in place so far look amazing. There are always moments for me during projects (and this is my biggest renovation project ever) when I doubt my choices.  Did I pick the right flooring, cabinets, counters, and appliances?  Will the hardware look good?  Is the lighting in the right place?  Is the layout going to feel good or did I overlook simple mistakes and impede function or look off?  I can’t

The new oak floors in the kitchen were stained and finished last week, which is an exhilarating step in the renovation.  I had dreams of moving a few simple pieces of furniture in to feel a bit more settled, but there will be one more coat of finish applied once the base cabinets are installed, so I’ll just have to practice more patience!  While the crew (and as an aside, when I’m talking about “the crew”, it’s the contractor, Nathan, and his right-hand-woman, Brianna, and some subcontractors coming in for specialty jobs) worked on applying the stain, I was hearing comments and questions from where I was working in the studio.  “Does it look redder to you?  What do you think…?”  Of course, this made me peek my head into the kitchen to see what was “looking redder.” These floors are the exact same species and the exact same stain

When it came time to select flooring for our kitchen, there really wasn’t much of a question of what my choice would be.  I knew, without even looking at other options, that I wanted hardwood floors.  But, I didn’t want to discount all of the other options available, so I did a bit of browsing for ideas that might tempt me away from my gut instinct.  I considered slate in an irregular pattern to coordinate with the foyer, but I felt like that would be a lot of slate in such a large room.  It might overwhelm the space.  I had a fleeting thought about brick, but again, I thought it might be a bit too much and I questioned how well it would flow with the rest of the house. In the end, wood was still the clear winner.  It’s what I’ve always loved in kitchens and it’s what