The Great Kitchen Makeover is officially underway!
Flooring: our first design decision. We knew we wanted to do wood in the family room, but weren't sure if we wanted wood or tile in the kitchen. In the end, we decided to carry the hardwoods we already have in the front of the house through the rest of the rooms - I love the continuity it has created. It was quite a bit cheaper than tiling (I was surprised!), it will hide the sloped floors without having to adjust them much, and, I think, lends a softness to a space otherwise filled with hard surfaces like stainless steel and stone.
*I wanted to note here that if you live in the South, have a crawl space, and haven't had it sealed off or at least have a moisture barrier down there then wood floors could be problematic! High moisture (humidity!) levels under the house can buckle the wood and cause bubbling. This happened to our neighbors with their brand new wood floors and it was tragic. Our crawl space is waterproofed but we're going to get a fan/dehumidifier down there to keep things dry and circulating on humid days just to be safe.
We had the wood installed in the kitchen and family room over the last couple of weeks and I wasn't near ready for how much plastic wrap they were putting on my cabinets and sink! Can I admit to you that I didn't even realize the dishwasher was going to be moved out until after it happened? It felt a little like camping... but with a fridge and no creepy crawlies in the shower. 😄 My parents were kind enough to host us for a few days while the floors were finished up. I cannot imagine how much trickier this would have been if we were cooped up in a hotel instead of being able to enjoy my parents beautiful home, gardens, swings, toys, my Mom's yummy cooking... THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!
Laundry room, back entry and pantry are all being leveled and tiled this week! I was beyond excited to see that dirty, yellowed linoleum from 1985 ripped up and carried out! We chose a matte glazed ceramic tile that resembles marble and it's looking really really pretty going down. Choosing grout was so stressful! The color card did't match the grout mock-up in the store and I kept wondering which one was the actual color? I went with a light gray which will hopefully be easier to keep clean than white (the worst).
Countertop update! We visited our first slab yard (very fun) and learned the difference between granite, marble, quartz and quartzite. The designer we worked with recommended steering clear of marble (my first choice) with a house full of kids (not to mention a love for cooking) and recommended going with lower maintenance quartz instead. I liked our designer and really loved all the options she showed us, but the quote for our project came back a lot higher than we were expecting. We looked at the selections at Lowe's but I didn't fall in love with anything we saw.
We were put in touch with a general contractor that is able to source the same quartz we saw in person at the slab yard and his quote came back thousands of dollars cheaper! The breakfast bar and backsplash were removed this afternoon and if everything goes as planned we will have countertops in by the end of next week!
The slab on the left is what we're using: MSI Calacatta Verona
You can see the sample of it on the right - I can't imagine trying to choose an entire counter off a swatch that size. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to see the whole slab! The paint swatch is similar to the cabinet color I picked out.
A bunch of people warned me about doing any kind of renovation with small children, but I have to say the girls have been so amazing with everything. They nap through the noise, they smile and wave at the workers, they stay out of the work mess... I'm just so proud of them! The gorgeous weather has helped too, of course! 💛
Well that's my little kitchen & family room update! I'll share pictures of the finished back entry & laundry room tile when they get it wrapped up this weekend!
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