Tag Archives: Granite

Alas, the day has come!

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This Renolista is the proud owner of new granite countertops!  Much to my surprise the installation crew showed up to my house a whole 10 minutes before my scheduled installation time… something that never happens!  They were presented with the finished product from last weekend:

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It took about 6 hours to complete the leveling of the cabinets… and only resulted in one neighbor asking about the noise.  HandyDad FTW!  He was paid handsomely in margaritas… something the renolista enjoyed one too many of as well… I digress!

Drum roll please!!!!

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Ah yes, working from home has never made me feel more accomplished!  You may notice I’m still lacking in floors… walls… and a backsplash but that is on the way!  You might also notice that the countertops don’t come all the way up to the window either, and there’s a reason for that!  We decided to create a differentiation in height from the countertops and build a bit of a lip.  We will then tile it with the same subway tile that I will be using for my backsplash.  At this point I’m thinking this is the direction I will be going for the backsplash:

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Thoughts?  I’m planning a tight set and thought the darker grout would be a modern twist on an old standby.

However, before the excitement of the tile begins we will still need to install my new sink, faucet, garbage disposal and air gap!  Never in my life did I think that I would be excited about a sink.  I also got a special delivery as the installers were here:

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Those would be my hardwood floors!  Between floors and countertops there is just too much excitement for one day!  I’m hoping to have the floors installed next week…  Fingers crossed!  Now that I have both the countertops and the flooring in the house I think the colors are going to work SO well with one another!  I’m planning on installing the sink etc. tomorrow to give the epoxy under the granite time to set.  I’ll post pictures once it’s done! 🙂

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Quartz vs granite

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I wanted quartz. In fact I really really REALLY wanted quartz.  What I didn’t want was the price.  The Silestone I picked out was an astonishing $80 per square foot and I just couldn’t justify the price. Even with 32 square feet of countertop space that added up to be way more than this Renolista wanted to spend.  I started out not wanting granite because it was expected.  EVERYONE has granite countertops.  It wasn’t something that would help my house stand out when I decide to move on to my next project, but in the end the price won me over and I decided on some very nice granite countertops.  After spending a few weeks researching and gathering samples I found a screaming deal on some prefab granite slabs at the Home Depot.  The color was great and matched my new flooring perfectly!  The countertops ended up being $35 per square foot PLUS and extra 10% off.  This included installation and tax, and with the help of a Home Depot gift card I ended up spending less than $1100 for both the countertops and sink!  I promptly made my way to the Home Depot to order them which meant only one thing… more demo.

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You can see my laptop there… Blurred Lines and Strawberry Bubblegum made this demo process much more fun… now only if JT could actually HELP me, I’d be in heaven!  I digress.  This is the end product:

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This is how my kitchen looks at this exact second.  I joke that I’m going for a rustic log cabin look, but in fact it’s miserable.  This Renolista has OCD which doesn’t allow her to enjoy the dust on every meal cooked, or the lack of space to even prep a meal.  If these countertops don’t get installed soon I am not sure how I will live!  If only I knew about these things when I started the remodel… it’s the “joy” of reno, right?

I have gone ahead and picked out not only the granite, but also the sink and faucet to accompany the installation:

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All are very budget conscious but really pack the style.  The one thing I am not willing to compromise on is style for cost.  I need both.  This isn’t always easy, but so far patience and alot of shopping has sent me in the right direction!  The sink can be found at the Home Depot and is a granite composite at the bargain price of $149.  For the faucet it was really difficult to find something that caught my interest until I stumbled upon this beauty from Ikea and a great deal at only $99!  The countertop company should be out next week to template the kitchen for fabrication so I am anxiously awaiting the phone call like a kid on Christmas!  I can’t wait to have an actual kitchen again!!