Progress...Countertops, Drywall & Hardwood Floors

It's been a few weeks. Progress seemed to slow a bit as the drywall took seemingly forever to install and the painter got behind with other jobs. But things picked up last week and now we have hardwood floors and walls in the new playroom and countertops in the kitchen (except on the island, but that will come this week). We're entering the last month of the project and it's fun to finally see things coming together and looking more like a livable space!

After much debate, I decided to use Carrara marble countertops in the kitchen. They get such a bad wrap and I must say that I myself was skeptical at first. Marble is quite porous and known to easily stain and chip. But, I'm a fairly neat person and not one to go to bed with a messy kitchen, so I felt up to the "challenge" of marble countertops. And they're just so beautiful! I couldn't get excited about granite and quartz wasn't in the budget. Marble has the clean, crisp look I was after and I'm okay with the patina that I know it will incur over the years. We decided to go with honed marble because it makes etching less noticeable and offers a more casual look than the polished version. Hopefully once we start living in this kitchen and have day after day of orange juice, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and glasses of red wine, I will still love the countertops as much as I do today...fingers cross & I'll keep you posted. 

And our playroom finally has walls...

And we have hardwood floors on the main level, on the stairs, and the upstairs hall. This was probably the most fun change to see yet.

Tile was installed this weekend and interior painting begins tomorrow. I'm out of town with the boys, so I'll be anxiously awaiting update pictures from Ryan as he goes by to check out the progress...

Progress...Cabinets

Cabinets are in; here's the progression:

When we bought the house, we were hoping to re-surface the existing cabinets (getting new doors and hardware) to save some money (I had total sticker-shock over the cost of new cabinets!). But we were surprised to find out that the cost savings between resurfacing and buying new cabinets was nominal. And since cabinets are such an important feature in a remodeled kitchen, we didn't want to skimp and be hindered in our new layout by what was already there.

Our contractor found a great, reasonably-priced cabinet line for us from a company right out of western North Carolina. We went with a classic, white shaker-style to go with the soon-to-be-installed white subway tile backsplash and Carrara marble countertops. I really wanted a clean, white kitchen and plan to incorporate lots of color with fabrics, art, and accessories. I'm a strong believer in keeping the fixed elements of a home pretty neutral so that you (and future homeowners) don't get sick of them.

The perimeter countertops are being installed today, so stay tuned next week for pictures...happy weekend, everybody!

Progress...Doors

I have new-found appreciation and love for doors. Weird, I know. But the right door can make such a difference, of which I was reminded last week when new doors were installed at the house. (yay!)

With little to no natural light in the downstairs laundry and play rooms, we decided to replace the solid exterior doors with 15-light doors. It already makes a huge difference in terms of opening up the space.

Laundry door- old

 Laundry door- new

Playroom door-old

 Playroom door- new

And in the kitchen, we replaced the door and window with a french door, to allow for more light, better positioning of the cabinets, and easier flow out to the deck (which is currently the size of a postage stamp, but that's a post/project for another time...) and backyard. 

 Kitchen door/window- old

Kitchen french door- new