Tag Archives: Kitchen

While I’m away, the tile guy came to play!

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You read that correctly!  This girl is finally the owner of a kitchen with backsplash!!!  While in the South picking up some Southern hospitality, Matt the amazing tile guy was hard at work putting in the last of the big installations in the kitchen!  It’s amazing how great it looks, and how much it now looks like an actual kitchen!!  Not only was the tile installed but HandyDad also installed the over the range microwave!  It’s all starting to come together… 🙂

The finished product
Finished product
close up of the AMAZING tile job
HandyDad and my microwave… where it belongs!
Installation day!
Installation day!

You may notice a few things… namely the GIANT power strip oddly hanging from the cabinet above the microwave!  In 1972 when they installed double ovens they didn’t have much of a need for an additional outlet for over the range microwaves!  A few month back HandyDad and I pulled the line for the power but have yet to connect it to the box.  In the meantime it’s installed and working, albeit in a crude, unattractive way.  That should be fixed ASAP!

In addition there aren’t any outlet covers or many receptacles installed.  While researching  options I noticed that there are a few companies that make not only stainless steel covers but also stainless finish receptacles, so I think I will head in that direction!

In other exciting news, I am taking delivery of my Restoration Hardware light fixtures and my new blinds tomorrow!!  I’m hoping to have those up this weekend which will bring my to-do list to just a few finishing touches!  This Renolista can barely contain her excitement!!!!

 

 

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Sometimes it’s the little things

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As the title suggests, sometimes it’s the little things that aren’t so obvious that can make a large impact. Recently I’ve made quite a few big changes to my kitchen however this is one is more for me than anything else! This weekend’s project with HandyDad and HandyBro included changing the cable hookups in my living room, master bedroom, and the kitchen. This allowed me to change around the furniture in the living room and bedroom to better the flow, but the one I’m MOST excited about is the kitchen! You see, I’ve ALWAYS wanted a tv in my kitchen. My mom has had one for as long as I can remember and it has always made my hours and hours of cooking pass by in an instant! I vowed the minute I bought a house I would give myself the same luxury. And this weekend it was mission accomplished!! On a recent trip to Best buy I found an open box flat screen tv coupled with a $40 reward zone certificate compliments of all my new appliances, and a $50 gift card for a dent on the side of the range the naked eye will never see, and I was able to walk away with a new tv for under $50. Clearly this Renolista likes a good deal, and this wasn’t one I could pass up! I spent 4.5 hours in the kitchen this past Sunday and was able to have my trusty Bravo on keeping me company the entire time! So. Exciting.

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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! 🙂

Can you ever have too many outlets?

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The common sense answer to that is no, absolutely not.  Which is why I spent my Sunday tinkering around the kitchen taking my 4 outlet kitchen to 10!

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And at the end of the day this kitchen became the epitome of rustic chic!

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It took about 5 hours to change the wiring around due to the poor craftsmanship of previous contractors.  Why people don’t do it right the first time I will never know!  Next up is something I am very excited about!!!  I managed to pick up an open box 22 inch flat screen TV for $50 at Best Buy after gift cards and discounts which means I will have a TV in my kitchen to keep me company!  I’ve ALWAYS wanted  a TV but never had a space where I could make that happen.  So the next thing I need to do is to pull the cable for my new kitchen TV through the attic before we put up the new drywall, but I’m hoping to have it cool down a bit for that to happen.  100 degree plus an attic is far from the business!

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!!