Ideas for our kitchen remodel that is way, way, way in the future!

When we moved into the house, we knew we would eventually remodel the kitchen. We just weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do, so instead of waiting until we do remodel to decide on the style, we are talking about it now. Before the kitchen remodel though, we have to get the garage renovated into an office/family room, laundry/utility room, and a master suite. Sounds expensive, doesn't it? That is why the kitchen remodel is way in the future!

We may get started on the dining area earlier though. Our current dining table is very beat-up. We paid a lot of money for it but it isn't standing up well to 5 kids.

The table has a veneer on it which is so scratched up and flaking that it looks distressed!

The seats are not real leather, so of course, it is peeling off.

So yesterday, Josh and I were looking at dining tables. Some of the ones we liked were a little off-the-wall.

First up is an industrial crank table that Josh found. Definitely looks steampunk!

Second one is from Restoration Hardware. I could get addicted to this place if I'm not careful, which is a bad thing since it is an expensive place. This is a reclaimed wood table with a metal top. I see easy to clean!

There was a third one that Josh found but I can't remember where. That one was a reclaimed wood top with metal triangular legs. He probably can find it again for me.

I think our ideal dining table would be something like the industrial crank table without the crank. I just see little fingers getting stuck in the crank part.

Then there is the lighting for above the table.

I seem to have a love for blown-glass...  And aren't those the coolest light bulbs?

These are pretty too but they are discontinued!  And I don't think I really want wine bottle lights...

I think it is safe to say that our style seems to be industrial modern. This is kind of strange because I never thought I'd like anything like that!

For the kitchen counter tops along the wall, we are thinking of going with stainless steel counter tops with an integrated stainless steel sink. We want to put in a kitchen island and are considering a blue/white granite for that. That might not go with the stainless steel though, so we could end up with a quartz kitchen island and stainless steel counter tops. We will see.

We don't plan on getting rid of our kitchen cabinets. We love them too much! We will just refinish and stain them. The cabinets are real wood so it doesn't make sense to change from those to inferior MDF or particle board. New real wood cabinets would be around $3,000!

Sanding, plumbing, and skim coating

This past Saturday was another all-day workday in the bathroom. I was hoping we'd be able to get the mirrors and medicine cabinet up on Saturday but by about 10 AM, I realized that wasn't going to happen. Josh had a more realistic goal - getting the plumbing for the sinks and faucets done!

We had the kids out in the living room playing while Josh and I worked in the bathroom. He worked on the plumbing while I sanded down the walls and put primer on them. We had a bet going: I thought it would take him 5 trips to the hardware store to get the plumbing done. He said it would take him 2 or 3 trips.  He won! I think he fixed the minor leak in one of the pipes yesterday so I am not sure why the bin is there under the pipes. Maybe it is insurance in case one of them does start leaking. I definitely have to replace the cork liner I had there.

Josh also was able to put a skim coating on the a few of the bathroom walls. He will have to explain skim coating in a post but my understanding is that it is a thin coat of joint compound layered on the wall to smooth it out and cover imperfections. After some sanding, the walls will be ready to paint.

Josh's plumbing setup in the cabinet. We are losing the equivalent of 3 drawers in the vanity but 2 sinks is more important!

A close-up of the sink and faucet. We got to use one of them for the first time yesterday! No more brushing our teeth in the kitchen!

I can't wait to see what it looks like once we have everything done.

What's left for the vanity: painting the walls above the vanity, installing the mirrors and medicine cabinet, putting up the backsplash and pendant lights, setting up the middle storage cabinet, and putting the drawers back into the vanity.

Cork flooring, magic mirrors, and light bulbs

We are pretty sure we will be going with a cork flooring in the bathroom. We have to wait about two months before Josh can install it though. He needs to work his way around the bathroom first. The vanity area should be done in two weeks. Then, the bathtub needs to be refinished, the surround tiled and the new faucet and handles installed. Next is the shower enclosure which will be a lot of work since Josh is planning on removing the entire front wall and replacing it with a shower door, which was my request. It also needs to be tiled, and the showerhead and handles replaced. It will be so nice to have a more open shower instead of the cave it is now.

Josh found a local flooring store that is about two minutes away from our house, which is really nice. We already visited the store and brought home a sample book. Today I will be returning it and probably ordering a cork flooring that wasn't even in that sample book.

Mediterra Cork - This is the brand of cork flooring we will be using. Josh specifically likes the homogeneous patterns.

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I had the hardest time finding mirrors for the bathroom. Since this is an older home, a lot of the measurements are not standard. The medicine cabinet needed to be 14" wide and 24" high, which is nonstandard, which means not a lot of options. I also wanted a mirrored interior instead of the plastic (yes, I was being picky) The only place I was able to find a medicine cabinet exactly that size with the mirrored interior was Restoration Hardware. It was a little bit more expensive but it was on sale for $80 off plus it has the mirrored interior I was looking for. The medicine cabinet was delivered two days ago but it will be at least a week before Josh can install it. I did like the frameless medicine cabinet at Restoration Hardware more but the dimensions were just a half-inch off.

I also made the mistake of looking at their wall mirrors. And ended up buying two of those also. Ideally, we were looking for 15" by 24" wall mirrors for above the vanity, but those don't really exist. Once Josh hung the white cabinet on the wall I was able to measure how much space we have between the white cabinet and the side walls. An 18"x 24" would fit perfectly. I was originally going to go with two IKEA mirrors that were almost 20" in width (and a lot cheaper at $10 each) but the Classic Wall mirror at Restoration Hardware was so pretty that I fell in love with it. I was also able to get it in Satin Nickel, which matches all the rest of the hardware in our bathroom. The mirrors were $60 off regular price.

I ended up paying about $630 including shipping and taxes for the wall mirrors and the medicine cabinet. When I told Josh how much they were, he said that they must be magic mirrors. That is what happens when you don't use standard sizes though! It costs more.

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Once we had the counter in, we were able to see what it looked like with the current lighting. It seemed off-white in the light. I didn't like it that it was matching the floor in color. When Josh and his dad put up the ceiling above the vanity, they had to take down the pendant lights. So I got to see what the counter looked like in just the light from the LED ceiling light. It is funny how  light can change the color of a room. In the light from just the LED ceiling light, the counter looked whiter. So yesterday, when we were at Home Depot returning some things, we picked up some LED light bulbs for the pendant lights in "daylight." Hopefully, this will give us the white color we want in the counter. The pendant lights had LED bulbs in "warm white." The ceiling light is also "warm white," but I think it is far enough away that it doesn't affect the color of the counter. It is also diffused while the pendant lights are direct lighting.

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Countertop Install and the next step

Yesterday, we finally got our vanity top installed. It was very difficult for Josh to find someone to fabricate and install it for us. I believe this may be because it was such a small job (10 sq. ft.) Even when we did find someone, it was still a lot of trouble. Originally, it was supposed to be installed on Friday around 11:30 AM. So Josh took half the day off from work, and I made sure we were done with school by that time so I could get the kids out of the house. The guy never showed. In the end, Josh had to call HIM to find out if he was even coming. So Josh took half the day off for mostly nothing, though he was able to get the vanity and wall cabinet completely sanded and prepped for staining. The guy told Josh he would be here first thing Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came around. We were in limbo most of the day and had a birthday party at 4 PM to get to. Josh and Corran were able to sand most of the primed walls and Josh was able to stain the vanity and wall cabinet. The guy didn't show up until 3 PM. I don't think that is first thing Saturday morning. In the end, the vanity top was installed by 6:45 PM, but Josh ended up missing most of his nephew's birthday party. 

Cost of countertop install: $300, which was already pretty low so I didn't push Josh to get a discount for all the delay.  I don't think we'll be using them again though.

Total cost of vanity: about $1300, includes vanity top, stain for the vanity, cabinet/drawer pulls, two vessel sinks, two faucets, and two pop-up drains.

The mosaic tile for the backsplash, the large white tile going around the bathtub, and the quartz counter. I am not sure yet about how the mosaic tile goes with the counter.

Overall, I am happy with how the counter turned out. It is a little bit more off-white that I thought it would be but it's probably because of how white the sinks are. I like the way the quartz counter looks a little bit like a sparkly riverbed.

The vanity area probably won't be totally done for another two weeks.

This week's next step: Plumbing for the two sinks and the faucets. We will be losing either two or four drawers in the vanity to the plumbing but I am hoping Josh can rig it somehow so we don't lose four.