Kay Nimitz Smith -- Writer, Mom, Goddess in Training: July 2014

Kitchen Remodel: Backsplash

The backsplash has turned out even better than we had planned!!

If you remember, here are the previews I posted of the backsplash I designed:

Here are the installation pictures:

Laying it all out before cutting

The rug on the wall

Planning the cuts for the 1x1 squares

The rug, complete, before grout

The rest of the backsplash complete before grout

Under the window

Here is the final product. Wowza!!

Here are the materials we used:
(Update needed)

Oil Rubbed Bronze Faucet

Instant Hot Water Heater & Oil Rubbed Bronze Faucet

Stainless Steel Sink

Rug: (from the outside in)

Outside trim (picture frame): Questech Oil Rubbed Bronze Rope Ogee 3x12

Creamy colored inner row: Salerno Nubi Bianche 3x10

Westminster Copper rope 1x12

Emperador Light Marble 4x4

Questech Oil Rubbed Bronze 4x4

Westminster Copper 4x4 picture frame

Westminster Copper 2x2 scudo

Backsplash (other than rug):

Emperador Light Marble 6x6

Questech Oil Rubbed Bronze rope 1x12

Westminster Copper 2x2 scudo

Questech Oil Rubbed Bronze 2x2

Bronze 1x1

Outlet covers:

Oil Rubbed Bronze from Lowe's

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House Renovations: Carpet Upstairs

I don't have any "after" shots yet, but here are some "during" shots of the carpet install upstairs:

The stairs were SO gross. The carpets that were removed were 23 some odd years old, and the padding beneath the carpet had rotted out almost completely. The new carpet has a super thick fluffy underpad, and I can't tell you how awesome it is to squish our feet in the super uber nice and fantastic new carpet.

I'll post photos of the "after" shots as soon as the upstairs hallway is finished.

But for now, here's what we used...

We chose the Bliss Perceive Amherst Gray carpet. Here's a link to the website, and a picture of what the carpet looks like up close. It's SUPER soft and VERY squishy on the feetsies!!

http://www.blissflooring.com/bliss/carpet/collection/Perceive/Amherst-Gray/Woven-Polypropylene-1200.aspx

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Kitchen Remodel: Counters

We bought the bookends of two big granite slabs from Brazil.

I LOVE the red part of the granite, and used it as much as I could.

Here are some pix to show you the progress.

The slabs we bought were called a "bookmatched set." I called them bookends. They are two pieces of granite, cut one right after the other, but are polished on opposite sides. The purpose of these bookends is to enable you to have virtually seamless seems. The fabricators can match up the seams beautifully if you have large pieces that need to be seemed together.

If you don't NEED to have bookends, do NOT pay the extra premium for them!! We had NO idea they would cost us an extra $1000!!! We were told to buy them and we did, only to find out we didn't need the bookmatched set, because our one seem couldn't be matched up exactly given the size and shape of our kitchen. Fortunately, having the bookends worked out well for us, because we were able to use all of the red parts of the granite on all my favorite places, and my kitchen turned out even better than we had hoped for. But yowza, what a price jump!!

The granite slab fabrication company was a bit old school. They templated the counters using balsa wood, and then taped the templates onto the granite slabs. The teeny square in the corner is for our powder room which is adjacent to our kitchen. We'll use the leftover pieces for the upstairs bathrooms later this month.