We’re knee-deep in installing the new hardwood floors, which look amazing so far, by the way. So, we’ll keep the brief. For the Shabby Apple giveaway, we asked your favorite fall drink. I’m obsessed with Starbuck’s Caramel Apple Cider. Seriously, love it, without whipped cream.
Jenn, the winner of one beautiful necklace, loves pear cider. I’ve never tried that, but it sounds interesting.
Hopefully we’ll be back later this afternoon with a floor post.
Yesterday was Ben’s birthday. His gift? No more kitchen tile. Pretty awesome of me, right? Actually, it was his idea. I was going to take him out to dinner; he insisted on removing the floor. Before the floor could come out, we had to tear out the cabinets. Yeah, our kitchen is no longer usable.
Ben unhooked the sink plumbing and faucet. Vincent helped.
Buh bye, backsplash! You and your swollen middle will not be missed.
After unscrewing the cabinets, Ben started hauling everything out. His dad wants the cabinets for his shop.
To keep the kitchen as usable as possible, we rotated the stove to the other side and put an old cabinet next to it. We’ve down graded from a full kitchen suite to a kitchenette.
Then the real demo work began. The tiles came up rather easily, but the cement board did not. And we have to tear the floor down to the subfloor.
Ben pulled up part of the plywood floor to see how difficult it would be. Turns out, one of the boards below had a small hole.
Then, Ben went back to tearing up the floor. What a mess. But it has to get worse before it can get better.
To tear out the tile, Ben used a pick axe. Pick axe plus muscle equals mega damage. In the best way possible, too.
Here’s what everything looked like after four hours. Tile anilihated. Mission accomplished.
And, things are looking up. Literally. Here’s what the ceiling looks like with three coats of mud.
Obviously I took these pictures before the demo began. Sanding still to come.
Do I get the best birthday giving award? I thought so. Now we have another long day of demo and work.
Wanna know where we got everything for our most recent gallery wall? Good, because we’re ready to spill the beans. Let’s start from the top and work our way over.
I made the Love print inspired by a tattoo I saw on Pinterest. Below that is a super special original watercolor painting of our house by Patricia of PVE Design. She was gracious enough to trade artwork with me. I’ll share what I made for her soon, too. Then, we have the plaster feet in shadow boxes. The little heart on the left is actually Ben and my fingerprints, again inspired by Pinterest.
See that house? That is what our humble rancher looked like just after being built. We’re the second people to own this house. The original owners left some old pictures for us. Below that is a picture of Ben and his dad on our wedding day. The pointing finger came from Hobby Lobby; originally 10 bucks, but 50% off.
The large picture in the middle is a print of a painting of my home town. Ben’s grandma gave it to us. Ben and all of his brothers are in the black and white photo. The bird is a painting I made. You can buy a print in our Etsy shop. A B monogram which also came from Hobby Lobby. Under the monogram, the paintings the boys made Ben for Father’s day.
But what’s that by the pointing finger? Penny art. I saw a penny key chain on Pinterest and decided to adapt it to make framed art. I simply found pennies for the years Ben, myself, Vincent and Everett were born and when we met and got married. Using Photoshop, I typed each event and the date. For example: Ben, October 24. Yep, happy 29th birthday to my handsome and handy hubby. Several layers of double-sided tape hold everything in place. The tree print is actually a card that came with this print from Eloise Renouf. I still have to find the right frame for the Passing Showers print.
I added the I Carry Your Heart cut out to the group. Above that is a painting I made based on a Home Goods painting I saw on my last trip. My sister painted the rainbow piece. To the right is a print from Love Life. I made the fingerprint art inspired by Lori Danielle’s beautiful work.
And rounding out the bottom is a painting I made based on Jen’s streak paintings. I saw the Successful Marriage quote and thought it would be a perfect reminder to love the one you’re with. The floral card was part of our guest book at our wedding.
We still have more art to add, but we’re really happy with it so far.
Now we’re off to celebrate Ben’s birthday. What are you up to this Monday?
We’ve been making changes to the blog recently. Hopefully you think for the better. In addition to favorite posts, better search options, and a new look, we’ve added a discounts section. A place where our past giveaway partners can offer up discounts to you.
So do a little shopping. Maybe get a few people checked off your holiday list. And, we’re also offering a 10% discount now through January 1 using the code OHA2011 at checkout. Buy customized art for a special someone in your life. And, this weekend only, we’re offering 20% off with the code OHA1020. Act fast, by Monday, the deal is done.
Have a great Saturday, everyone!
I think I was a little ambiguous in yesterday’s countertop discussion. Allow me to clarify for you. Here’s our list of requirements:
Originally, we thought we’d end up with the same marble as our dining table. You see, we know the horror stories of marble in an eating area. Before we bought the slab for our table, we tested it out. That’s right, we brought a small chunk home, poured red wine and grape juice on it, letting it sit overnight. When we wiped the liquid off, the marble still looked perfect. It passed our requirements with flying colors. And it was pretty and a natural stone. Because it was a mis-order, the granite company wouldn’t get any more in after selling out.
So, we moved on to granite. Mostly because marble and granite are similar. And granite has been very popular over the past 10 or 15 years. Two problems, though. The biggest one, we haven’t seen anything in stock that we would love enough to put in our kitchen. Secondly, the pricing. This really isn’t as much of a reason, but we don’t want to pay a few thousand dollars for something that we know off the bat we’re not in love with. At least the look of. And let’s face it. If we don’t love the look of it, we’re still not going to consider it, despite all practicality. Especially when we have other options.
Based strictly on looks, we quickly eliminated man-made countertops like Corian, Silestone, Cambria, etc. This means concrete is off the countertop table, too. Metal seems too industrial for our home. Don’t get us wrong, each of these looks great in the right setting, just not our setting. Which is why we’re going with wood.
When Ben tossed the wood counter idea out on Monday, I resisted. Then he gave me more info, like the price and size of the slabs. Now I’m listening. He said it looks similar to the Brazilian Cherry in my office, which I love.
But, I was concerned how the grey cabinet paint color would look against the wood tone. So, I went to the shop and they kindly cut me a sample to clean up and see what we think. Happily, we love the colors together.
So, let’s talk specifically about the wood we’re interested in. A local shop is getting two slabs, each three feet wide, eleven feet long, and two inches thick. That’s one big tree; 66 square feet to be exact. If you recall, we need about 34 square feet for the countertops, plus another 10 or so feet for the bar top. (Our wall is 10 feet long and we’re thinking the bar will be one foot deep). 44 square feet total, so we should have 22 square feet extra.
They’re charging $18 per board foot, but this is twice as thick as a board foot, so it’s twice the price. Or $36 per square foot. Which happens to be 44 dollars per square foot cheaper than Absolute Black granite. The 22 square feet of extra wood material also explains why the wood is only $244 cheaper than granite. But, in the granite math, I didn’t include the ten square feet of material needed for the bar top. Add another $800 and granite is nearly $1050 more than the wood. And we’d have a seam, or several, somewhere. We’ll also have enough wood left over to finish up some other projects, like adding new table tops to our living room end tables.
But back to the wood. Ben can cut one foot off each slab to make cabinet depth counters. And they’ll be in one solid piece, no seams. That’s a plus. And, Ben should be able to use the remaining pieces, i.e. the 1 foot wide by 11 foot long slab, as a single piece bar top.
All that to say, the wood should be in town on Thursday. Barring any oddities, we’re going with wood counters. And here is what the wood counters will look like when paired with the shiny marble tile back splash (that we have yet to purchase), the hardwood flooring, the cabinets, and stainless steel accents and appliances.
We’re super excited and can’t wait to see everything on Thursday. Now that we’ve made a firm decision, what do you think? (Be kind, please)
Oh, and last night, Ben mudded the sheet rock joints.
Two or so more coats to go, then sanding. After that, we can rip out the cabinets and flooring to get started on installing the new stuff. Yay!
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