Progress

My designer friend, Nan, who helps keep me tethered, visited my FR project with me.  I let her walk in the door, and managed to keep my mouth shut while she 'took it in.'  All manner of apologies, regrets, reproaches etc were piling up to tumble out of my mouth.  I swallowed them with discomfort.

Nan has this wonderful quality of always finding the best in any design derailment.  Her manner is like saying, "Yes, the train car jumped the tracks, but look.  How lovely!  This glass is still intact."  And then with great grace, she will clean it all up.

In other words, she never makes me feel like a dumb ass. If that is not the epitome of grace, I don't know what is.

While I was second guessing my Muslin walls and Linen White trim, she said, "This is so sophisticated and elegant.  I love it."  Now, if she didn't like it, she would tell me.  But she would tell me in the manner of the train car derailment.  I would never know that I didn't something really terrible, because she would find something positive.

Now to the kitchen.  "The floors and the counter top and the floor are fine.  I do wish you had laid the floors on a diagonal."  I nod and say, "Me too, but I didn't plan for it and didn't have enough tile when I realized that would have been preferred.  You don't find the floor and the countertop a problem?"

She shakes her head vigorously.  "No, it is fine.  The problem is your backsplash."  I pull out my fix which is a lovely stone that I found at Lowe's.  I'm feeling a bit contrite about being a little snobbish about my tile choices--previously rebuffing choices at the big box stores.  My tile man said it is the same stuff you get at the specialty stores--just cheaper and likely a close out--so get it while it is there.  I'm now on save #2 where I have found EXACTLY the design fit in terms of material and color for two of my projects.  While quartz, I will seal it with Dupont Bullet Proof so that it will be easy to clean.

Desert Quartz Random Mosaics Item # 354396 @ Lowes
The counter top in this kitchen is Wilsonart Antique Roca

The lovely, muted tones of the quartz perfectly pick up the rust, brown, gold tones of the counter top.  I don't have any money in my budget to change out the counter which I thought I would have to do.  The floor is similar to the counter top (as mentioned in an earlier lament).

The quartz back splash will provide a perfect unifying element between the cabinets, the nickel hardware, the stainless appliances and the floor.  To say that I'm relieved is an understatement.  I have been consumed with putting this together the right way.

Here's a picture from my SR project:

Slate floor, cherry cabinet, glass/slate backsplash
The cabinets still need to be cleaned, and I did not prep the picture at all, but merely snapped it capturing the full current state of disarray of the project--including Mark going out the far door into the garage. Dishwasher was hooked up and the stove moved partially into place.  The framing and the electrical inspection will be conducted this week for the garage. We will then be ready for the insulation and the drywall, and then finally the painting.

The interior requires shoe molding needs to be purchased and installed, and a few more lights hung.  We will then be finished except for exterior 'stuff' landscaping refresh.  Though a seemingly 'short list' of 'stuff' it all takes time.

The selling real estate agent lives two doors down.  She was adamant insistent that I should change out the hardware on the cabinets. "You've gone through all the trouble to renovate everything else!"  Well, my response was simply that for someone interested in the house, I was quite sure that the cabinet hardware is not going to keep them from buying it."  She didn't disagree, but she did keep at it.

The hardware is hammered copper in the old style (this is a 1968 kitchen). Yes, it is old style, but I'm not trying to make this kitchen something that it is not. I'm shooting for a 'modernized' English Country look with the natural slate floor and keeping the traditional, raised panel solid cherry cabinets (with their antiquated copper hardware!).  I put in a french door fridge and an induction stove.

"If I change the hardware, I will have to refinish the cabinets, and I'm not willing to do that in terms of time and expense," I offered up after listening to another launch of objections over my intransigence over changing the hardware.

"You could paint the cabinets," she added.  I replied, "If I'm going to paint them, I might as well refinish them." In my opinion, solid cherry cabinets are a wonderful feature to this kitchen--a feature that she did not highlight in the listing (more later).  I'm not going to paint solid cherry, for the simple reason is that I'm quite certain that should I do so, I will go to a very specific hell for that. Truthfully, I'm beginning to believer that there is a Dante-esque sphere of hells made just for these types of sins.  I can imagine a hell for painting cherry cabinets or walnut mantles--so let's just say a hell for painting extraordinarily beautiful wood.  There is no hell for painting trim work--because it is a common wood.  But, if you paint walnut or beautiful wide oak trim, I'm confident there is a hell for that. There may be a hell for painting brick....that one I might be willing to spend some time in.

With regard to the current contemplation, the kitchen hardware and cabinets,  I'm simply going to clean and let them present themselves as they are. This kitchen is quite beautiful and functional without fussing about the hardware. My designer thinks it looks fine (which I did not offer as a 'nanny nanny boo-boo'), and I think that it looks fine. The realtor did not quite give up.  "I guess we just have different tastes," she said firmly and with a bit of disgust.  I replied, "Yes, we do, and prospective buyers are going to have different tastes as well.  I'm not trying to please everyone, I'm just trying to optimize my budget dollars."  She is a very successful real estate agent, and I'm not discounting her opinion, but at some point you really have to make a choice on how much you plan to do.

Ready to move on, I thanked her for her feedback and led her to the next room, "Come look at this fireplace, and tell me what you think." This is the same fireplace that had a gas leak from the gas logs, and that my plumber exclaimed with surprise, "It's a wonder this house has not blown up!"  She helpfully offered that when she showed this house, the fireplace was a problem because it was not an attractive focal point.


See those doors in the above picture taken upon buying the house? They were hiding the gas leak.  Once the dessicated floors above (same as was in the kitchen) were pulled up (to include the subfloor), I still smelled odor. I looked at the doors, opened them and immediately knew that we had a gas leak.  We shut the gas off at the supply.  Geez....I'm glad I don't smoke and do not let folks smoke inside.

So, I'm spending seat time to consider if there is a hell for painting brick, as well as consider what type of mantel etc to put up.







So much for processing.....

Today, my real estate agent and I visited my FR and SR project.  I will sum it up this way

My SR project's color harmony among various finishes sang like a fine Wagnerian opera.  By sharp contrast, my FR color harmony among various finishes sounded like an armpit farting of "Dixie".

Yes....it was truly that bad....well, perhaps a wee bit of hyperbole. 

What went wrong?  Well, simply put the floor and the countertop do not match in tonality.  The counter has a goldish quality and one has a nutmeg quality.  Now the tile that I've use has a nutmeg and a gold color scheme.  I used what I thought matched.  I guess it was the other one! The difference is so minor you cannot see it when they are together.  Rather...you see it when they are apart. 

Apart from the tonality issue with the counter / floor, I have the more global problem or the neutral wall color simply washing out the walls against the cabinets, against the countertops and the floor. 

Laura had a bold, brilliant idea:  why not paint the kitchen walls something quite bold and dark?.  There isn't much 'wall' in the kitchen, so there would be not an overpowering of existing finishes.  Rather a dark wall would give contrast to the floor and a nice foil for the cabinets.

In this redirect, I'm left with having to change two other key and expensive elements:  the existing backsplash (which is blah white tile on a diagonal with gold insets) and the countertop (in that gold hue).  But, if I have to throw $1500 at this project to get it to a state where I don't have to feel self-conscious about my choices, or worse, scaring away prospective buyers, I can do that.  My hour meter is now running--as this project requires my time to get across the finish line. (Of course I knew that would happen!).

I think that I've found a lovely stacked stone that would harmonize well with the cabinets and the floor.  I'll get my designer to help me tomorrow to ensure that I'm not going from bad to worse.  For the countertops, I'm going to use a concrete overlay (Skimstone) of the existing.  I think that will work just fine--but the color choice is going to be a little dicey.  I may use Spreadstone, and experiment with normal paint tinting to see what that yields.  As it is a latex paint, I ought to be able to get a gallon tinted and get something close to the hue that I'm looking for.

More later.....I should snap some pics too.

Paint Color Angst

My FR project has been relatively easy, an OPW project--OTHER PEOPLE WORKING.  I don't do roofs, heat pumps or carpet--all of which this house needed.  I didn't do painting on this project--at least not yet.  I see the painter forgot about the bi-folds in the garage that go to the laundry in the kitchen. That forgetfulness will require my breaking out my brush.

The horrible 'dowel knobs' (wooden dowel cut in 1 inch increments) damaged the face of every surface attached to-as rough wood surface and smooth paint do not play well together.  So changing the knobs required repairing, and repairing mean repainting.....

Ugh.

I chose a porcelain tile floor, and it was laid.  It matches the countertop, however I'm now not sure if that is a good or bad thing.  With the floor in the yellow cast of the cabinets looked awful.  My paint choice was Benjamin Moore Stonehouse.  After a day of painting by the painter, I visited the job.  The color just did not work at all.  There was a 'rose-ish' cast to the pain in the dim lighting in the kitchen that just looked awful.  Redirect.

In my redirect, I found myself flailing about.  I spied a can of the Linen White trim and slathered it on the apron of the sink cabinet.  "That will do," I said with lukewarm conviction. So I ordered Linen White in Cabinet Coat (Benjamin Moore), which is a great product for cabinets (as the name suggests!).

So "That will do" was transformed (by OPW) to "It is done."  The kitchen has a white tile backsplash, so I'm not thrilled with contrast of the Linen against the White.  Linen is actually a much better color with the counter tops and the floor than the white. 

The original aqua paint in the dining room and the kitchen (the only two rooms I was prepared to paint) were painted Benjamin Moore Muslin with Linen White trim.  I liked the look so much, I elected to paint the entire downstairs as well as the two bathrooms in this color.  I'm glad that I expanded the painting scope, because the living area (which has a cutaway view to the kitchen through the shared wall, had some green cum another color--I couldn't tell if they were trying out new paints or what.  All that was vanquished, including the large holes over the windows for window treatments.

Now that the painting is completed, I'm left with that "Did I make the right choice?" feeling (ANGST!).  I'm missing Winter Wheat and Cream Fleece, which are colors that resonate more with me.  There is a coolness in the Muslin which is likely why I'm feeling left in the cold.

I really dislike feeling ambivalent about this choice.  It is still a great neutral scheme that will appeal to prospective buyers.  I am reminded of the aphorism (which is from Voltaire),  "The best is the enemy of the good."  What I have is quite good, though in my mind's eye, it is not the best.  I'm reminded of the simple fact that color is to the eye as wine is to the tongue:  It possesses a relative, not absolute, quality.  Color changes relative to existing light and other colors.  Similarly, wine  tastes differently when sipped singly v. when paired with other foods.

Having said all of that, I'm either relatively satisfied or dissatisfied!

With this FR project, this is a house in a neighborhood that looks similar to many of the other houses in the neighborhood--planned community ilk to put it bluntly.  Unlike my SR and FD projects which were homes that were unique with many quality features, this FR project does not share that. It is a nice, but not special house.  I should take comfort in that the lack of specialness means that my time commitment has been minimal. Ultimately, the goal on this project is to provide a merchantable product with a minimum amount of time and expense.  Unlike the other projects, this house was in good shape except for normal replacement requirements (roof, HVAC, flooring).  Given the type of house it is, spending more timing making it special would truly be a waste of time and energy.

Now that I've written and thus processed my angst, I'm satisfied, in an absolute sort of way.


Conclusion

Conclusion:  I am happy to report that my FD project is under contract.  It's a long road from contract to closing--something that I've never contemplated as I've never bought a house to live in for myself (as we built ours).   The house...soon to be a home...will be inspected today and undergo appraisal and other tire kicks.

The selling agent reported to my agent that he had been showing this couple various houses for over eight months.  (And they had just gotten married a couple of weeks before). Within 30 seconds of walking in the front door, they concluded that this was the home that they were looking for--a place to stay for the next 30 years (one of the husband's requirements) and raise a family.  In terms of quality of home, neighborhood and the lot, it fits the bill of nurturing a family for a good while, without any worries over maintenance.  And the interior and systems are new--so trouble free enjoyment is guaranteed.

So long as all goes well, we will CONCLUDE this project.  I do my happy dance (hopping, twirling and clapping hands), only at closing.  Nevertheless, it is a real treat to not have any 'to do's' on this project. 

This is the second project in my growing portfolio of renovations.  Like people, each home is different.  It is very exciting to explore that personality, and plan a renovation that really makes it shine.