Kitchen Countertop
Today I took a piece of cabinet and the kitchen backsplash tile out shopping for the countertop for the kitchen. Over the weekend I sent a link to two websites of the local prefab countertop places so she could look at quartz counters. She is not familiar with quartz and all the colors and styles it comes in. She thought they were just white countertops.
Oh Boy, her choice was awful!! I had to reply back as nicely as possible that she doesn’t want zebra stripe countertops, they really only work in a very contemporary kitchen and, besides, they end up looking pretty hideous.
Luckily I was able to carve out a specific time that she could be available at her phone to look at pictures while I stood out in the yard. In the end, I suggested a beautiful muted creamy/grey honed quartz that looks better with the tile and cabinets
Photos loaded - countertop and the cute tile we are going to use for the kitchen backsplash
I don’t think the vanity photo made it onto your Flickr group. Whenever you have a chance to add it, it would be fun to see your excellent $420 deal!
All the photos of the walls, the pipes, the leaks, the out-of-plumb walls, the unit requiring a 25-foot ladder, the messes – headache after headache! That you manage to, well, manage all of these issues is impressive. From the peanut gallery, it seems overwhelming.
Your combination of an excellent eye and understanding of spaces, function, light, plus your competence at the nuts-and-bolts parts of the project is remarkable. It seems like the homeowners you’re working with on both projects get that and appreciate it. I hope the supply chain issues don’t throw any major wrenches into either plan.
Cannot believe I forgot to load the cute vanity!! It arrived within a week, in good condition and actually made with good solid wood. White countertop, probably an acrylic. Only thing I don’t like is that it is a 4” wide 3 holes. I had to decide between a single hole faucet and have to put that cheesy silver plate underneath it that covers the holes, or a 3 hole faucet. Decided on the 3 hole faucet.
We are starting flooring today. The floors are way out of level so we may have to grind and pour a lot of self leveling cement. One of the reasons carpet is less expensive to install is because you can lay it down on any wonky floor. The thick under pad and the carpet cover up a lot of issues. With tile floors you can sometimes level the floor by using the thinset mortar. But solid flooring requires a level floor, no bumps. So you have to pay labor to prep all the floors and stairs, and the self leveling thin cement is very expensive at about $25/bag.
I laid out a lot of floor samples for owner when she visited a couple of weeks ago. We are putting laminate in the Studio. She gravitated towards the stripey grey floor ( I just probably should not have even brought any!). I warned her it will look like a chopped up zebra, especially because the pieces are only 4 ft long. It will look very choppy. I showed her some pictures to illustrate.
After we get some floor laid, then it’s time for paint samples for the wall. Usually I want to paint walls before floor goes in, but because of a lot of colors and textures in this one small space I decided I need to see everything together before selecting wall color. We will just have to add a little bit of cost to cover everything up when painting the walls
We had found something at Floor Decor and then found they didn’t have trim pieces. And weren’t going to get them. Ugh. Hope that doesn’t happen to you!
We had to start over and ended up at Lowes (if you wait long enough they’ll bring in something new you like). Then the Lowes install guys (at my house after a wrong delivery and much delay) said they couldn’t do it because the floor wasn’t level but we could hire someone else to do it–basically it would’ve taken them too long and they didn’t want to fool with it (thanks for nothing–you don’t know how mad I was–or maybe you do). But it did work out–the guy we hired did an absolutely meticulous job and actually saved us money on trim pieces. So while his labor cost was higher overall the job cost was lower (and SO perfect!) (He has since done some plumbing, electrical, concrete work and other projects for us).
I had same problem at Floor and Decor. It was a brand new store and the floor help knew Nothing about Anything. I kept pointing to the website which showed the trim pieces and stair nose. Finally a Manager came after 20 minutes of these people wandering around the store looking for trim pieces. They have laminate flooring but they have a wall full of trim made by some other vendor. I rummaged through it all and found a decent match. But turns out there is no stair nose. I could order some but it takes 8 weeks. That’s not why I go to Floor and Decor! I go so I can see the flooring first hand, grab some samples and then load up from stock. I gave them a piece of my mind.
So I had to drive to several other stores and find some laminate stair nose that was a close enough match. Sometimes it’s OK if the nose is a slightly different color so the eye sees it going up or down the stairs.
Regarding floor installation, it’s always the responsibility of the floor guys to prep the floor and do the self leveling cement stuff. I’ve never seen otherwise. We chose to do it ourself because my flooring guy is swamped so we will lay the floor and he’s coming on Friday to do the stairs, which is the hard part.
Yes I have my own crew but use subcontractors for large whole house drywall, countertops, roofing, tile install and flooring installs or refinishes
I think in my case the Lowe’s guys simply didn’t want to do it even if the floor had been even (they said it was too much difference that Lowe’s wouldn’t allow–no idea) One area was octagonal (plus leads to stairs at another angle–awkward to lay linear boards) and I don’t think they knew how to tackle it to make it look good (I think one did but knew it was not going to be quick). Better to back out than screw it up.
Lowe’s wanted to put quarter round to cover gaps which I didn’t want but hard for me (who didn’t know much) to argue with. Plus it would be a different color than our baseboard. The guy we hired took his time and removed baseboards to really make a nice installation (very much a perfectionist–we were lucky!).
We had great luck with Floor and Decor for our kitchen and bathroom tiles. Our kitchen designer sent us to an uber expensive shop but our contractor told us to go look at Floor and Decor. We found the same tiles at a fraction of the price and the contractor was able to use his discount on top of that. We didn’t use them for our hardwood floors though because with a 100+ year old house we needed guys who really knew what they were doing (per the contractor). There wasn’t a level floor in the house, nor a straight wall. Lots of “disguising”
Yes, Floor and Decor is THE PLACE TO GO for tile. I prefer to look, touch, feel and take back into the house many samples of tile (which are easily returned for refund). You cannot do that with the fancy tile stores. And then, when you decide what you want, it’s in stock and ready to go. No waiting 3-4 weeks for some tile to show up after you saw a teensy little sample in the showroom.
Another advantage of buying tile from one of the places with stock is when I need 2 more pieces in an emergency (happens at least 50% of the time) or I have a box or 2 left over. Go right back into the local store and get more and/or return for refund. Special tile stores do not allow returns (big restocking fee) and you are waiting another XXX days to get those emergency pieces.
It’s looking quite lovely already! Bath tile and vanity are fantastic. Are the windows in the main house going to have to be sanded and painted as well?
Right now I am asking her to make a decision whether she wants to keep the single pane wood windows in main house that require a lot of maintenance, or change out all the windows to dual pane vinyl or fiberglass but same style everywhere. It’s not a good climate for single pane but the windows are lovely, just need a lot of work!
We have been power washing most of the roof and house and now the dang patio door in Studio won’t close because the wood (almost all paint has peeled off). This is going to be a messy issue if the door doesn’t go back down. We will have to take out the big door and plane a bit off the bottom and prime it or something.
We are moving along and I think that we are going to hit our target completion date! That will be a first
Flooring getting installed, stairs and floor will be done today. Countertops got installed yesterday and they were installed really nice with a lot of special cuts required. The two levels of countertop came together really nicely. Next is selecting the right cabinet handles.
