Giveaway and Countertops

I’ve learned so much from reading The Granite Gurus blog, and they are sponsoring another really cool giveaway.

As we’ve remodeled and redecorated the house, we’ve chosen different types of finishes for countertops.  My all-time favorite is still the Silestone in the kitchen.  (Some pics of the big project are here, here and here).



I love the look and feel of the product.  It was very comparable in price to granite, and I just love how durable it is.  The only maintenance involved is cleaning, and it still looks brand new.  The majority of people that come to the house think it’s granite, which is exactly the look we were going for.  That’s good, too.

Also in the kitchen is an entertainment Center/Bar, we had done at the same time. 



The two smaller side countertops are Black Galaxy granite, and the higher middle countertop is wood.

This is one of my favorite pieces in the house.  I love that it is a bar, but not too “bar looking”.  In some of the older homes in our neighborhood there are bars in the Living Room…most of them wind up with that ‘70s vibe of polyester, ABBA, shag carpet and swingers…that’s not what we wanted.   I hope we pulled it off.

In the Master Bath, we went with a mixture, too.  (see some of the BEFORES here and here)



Crema Marfil Marble on the Sink Countertops and Baltic Brown on the Vanity-turned-Morning-Kitchen countertop.



I think the marble is beautiful, but I don’t love the etching of the surface.  Even liquid hand soap left on overnight will etch the surface.  And while I recognize that is the natural process, it’s not my favorite. 
Which I do find interesting, because I enjoy the gradual “distressing” of a hardwood floor….?

The last countertop we’ve redone is the Family Room Bar.



We went with Granite down here, and it is beautiful.  We had considered Vetrazzo Alehouse Amber, but at the end of the day, the price was right on the Granite.  We use this space a lot: especially the kids.  There’s a microwave tucked under the counter and a stove right around the corner of that arched doorway; it works really well when they need to “fend for themselves” for lunch or dinner.  As such, the space does get a fair amount of abuse.  It’s holding up great, but just doesn’t seem to have quite the same original “Shine” as the Silestone has maintained. 

All that being said, in a heartbeat, I would do the Silestone in the kitchen and the Granite in the Bar the exact same way over again.  Now, the marble in the Master Bath…?  It IS beautiful, and if I was redoing AGAIN, I am not 100% sure I’d go with it again, but, I’m not 100% sure I wouldn’t either.  So, there ya go!

Linked to Remodelaholic's Anon.

My most favorite...about the bar

We redid the Family Room Bar this Winter/Spring.  Here are the Before and Afters and pictures of the "wine cellar" and oven HERE.

We are using this space much more than we imagined. We've even used the oven a ton. Here are some of my favorite things about it right now. 

First, the glass tile we chose as the back splash.  Can you see how it catches the light.  It's really lovely. I also love these corbels.  They were reclaimed from my Mother-in-Law's house when she pulled them out of a bathroom.  They sat in her flower shed for several years and were headed for the dumpster. They were dirty and had spider sacks on them.  We cleaned them up and held on to them for the perfect project.  Here, they simply got a new paint job and then were installed.

Now, one might argue that this is Ryan's favorite part. We built this for wine storage and to display different whiskeys and bourbons. ( I still don't know the difference between the two.)  It turned out just as we designed it. Below this is a cabinet and wine chiller.  This area is functional and attractive.

This is inside the bar area. It's the tiled area between the counter top and the bar bump-up.  We knew we wanted to tile it and had these really cool hand-made art tiles from Cuba. (Another hand-me-down from my MIL.)  She had these in a garage sale, but I snagged them.  I'd been looking for some neat way to use them and when we started this tile job--inspiration hit.  We used the black pencil liner tile on the bottom to eliminate the need to cut the glass tiles lengthwise, and it provides a neat accent.  And the 1x1 brown tiles are Emprador Dark Marble leftover from our kitchen and hearth room fireplace remodels. The addition of those tiles was a last minute decision as I was waiting for Ryan to cut some glass tiles for me with the saw.

I like this so much because it's such a neat surprise.  You won't ever see it unless you come behind the counter and look for it.

It's turned out to be such a great and useable space. I'm REALLLY glad we redid this one!  

If you didn't already, don't forget to check out the Before and Afters and pictures of the "wine cellar" and oven HERE.

Linked to Remodelaholic Friday.

Extensions and Breaking Down Walls

Since Ryan is finishing an Office downstairs (YAY!), we decided to also extend the hall on the other side of the basement. Someday down the road there will be a bedroom off that hall. It made sense to get it completed now since we were cutting into the wall for the office. After the hall extension and the office are done, any future dirty, dusty, drywalling projects will be behind closed doors.

Plus, Ryan really wanted a place for his Dartboard.

This is looking down the hall into the unfinished area, which will one day be a Bedroom to the Left and remain Unfinished for the Workshop to the Right.

This is where Ryan started the framing of the Hall Extension. He hasn't torn down the original door yet.



This is inside the Unfinished area where the Workshop is and where the Bedroom will be someday. These are the studs that are forming the end of the hall pictured above. The door closest to you is the door that was on the Right and will be the door to the workshop - opposite, will be the door to the future bedroom, and is the door that was on the Left. When we get around to finishing the space, we will build a wall to separate the two areas.



And here is the new extended hall.

* The first door on your left is new. Ryan cut the doorway and finished the unused area underneath the staircase for new CLAIMED storage.
* The next door to your left will someday go to the Bedroom.
* The first door on your right, where Sonic the Cat is, goes to the bathroom.
* And the Second door on your left goes to the workshop.
* The dartboard will hang proudly at the end of this hall.



Seeing these kinds of projects blows my mind. It makes me realize that you can really do ANYTHING when it comes to redoing and remodeling. We aren't limited by the walls that are around us.

And check this out.

In those first few pictures, where you can see the exterior wall all covered in plastic and insulation. I stood with my back against that wall and took this picture into the Family Room.



In this picture, I am standing in the EXACT same spot, facing the backside of the end of the new hall! CRAZY!

Linked to Met Monday.

The Family Room Bar and the "Wine Cellar"

My FANTASTIC s-i-l, Renee at Modus Operandi Designs and the Southernly Challenged featured our Family Room Bar Remodel on her blog.

Yay! How fun is that?

It made me really want to share the unfinished space we were able to claim from Cluttered Storage to "Wine Room"/Full Kitchen.

I also must add that much of what we have redone in the house is inspired by Renee and her design aesthetic, which is impeccable. She provides much-needed input, but also helps us feel that, ultimately, we have the freedom to choose what WE like (within reason (hah!) and budget (boo!)).

Before we redid the bar, the far wall stopped and there was a small, unfinished space behind it. After we had decided to use the space for more bar, we had the option to tear out the wall completely or do a pass through. Doing the pass through was cheaper, easier, and I think, much cooler.



This is the "wine room" side. We have decorative wine storage, stemware storage, cabinetry and an open shelf for Ryan's fancy whiskys. We tiled the back with a stacked stone and it was AMAZINGLY easy to do.


And this is the side with the range. I like that it's tucked around the corner so you can't see it unless you go looking for it, plus, the entire bar is small enough that it's still super functional. The kids have already put it to good use making frozen pizzas, cookies and Bagel Bites. We used the same glass tile behind the oven that we used for the bar-proper, but installed it vertically instead of horizontally.

We chose a different door style in these cabinets than for the rest of the cabinets, and chose to paint them very-slightly-distressed black. I was a bit concerned about it being too dark in the little room, but it's not a problem. And Ryan installed a decorative undermount light that shines on the stacked stone on the wine side...looks really cool at night.

I like that it's "hidden"-but not hidden and still very accessible. I also think by Ryan doing that arch in the opening made a huge difference in the overall look. That was one of those things that took us awhile to figure out. First, that we WERE going to do it and then second, HOW we were going to do it.

Renee, I can't wait for you all to test it out!

Family Room Entertainment Center

Our basement has a finished family room, and we chose to have a built-in Entertainment center done for the TV wall. And called again upon Cambridge Cabinetry here in Lee's Summit.

When we got the house there was a BIG hole built into the wall for a television and two of those built in component things - one on each side of the TV. We closed up the TV hole and one of the component holes, and it looked like this. (The only before picture I have is Christmas Day with the kids playing on the Wii.)

We decided to do away with the component hole all together and put the components inside the Entertainment center. We got another IR repeater, and of course I get to use it all with my Harmony Remote!

Family Room Remodel - BAR

When we moved in, there was a bar in the basement. It had fairly inexpensive cabinetry and had been sloppily stained: streak marks, runs, etc. This was it.
It had a sink and a dishwasher, but no place for a fridge. Who puts a DISHWASHER in a bar and no fridge? The hook up for the fridge was around the corner, down the hall, through a door, to the right about 5 feet, in an unfinished part of the basement.



SERIOUSLY.



This was our temporary solution.



We talked about trying to remove some of the cabinets and put a fridge in and then paint the remaining cabinets. It would save money, plus there wasn't really a lot we wanted to change about the layout.



THEN, we realized that we could access more unfinished basement to make the bar a full kitchen, but still give it the bar feel.



When facing the sink, the wall to the right had an unfinished storage area behind it. The area was attached to the workshop, and we used it to store stuff that we did not need.


Ryan got the bright idea to cut a hole in the wall and expand our bar into the unfinished area: thus, we got a spot for the stove and a cool "wine cellar". The bar AFTER: We got new cabinetry from our cabinet guys along the back wall and in the "new" room. And they were able to reuse the bar portion (the part painted black). They unattached it from the wall and took it back to their shop to replace the doors and paint it.


We got a new fridge, sink, faucet, stove and wine fridge, but kept the dishwasher. #1 it works. #2 it's paid for and #3, what I am hoping is that we use it so much in the next year that it BREAKS, and then I can somehow justify replacing it with a stainless steel drawer dishwasher.