It may be surprising to hear, but the drama (and, therefore, the stress level) is relatively low where our home renovation project is concerned (follow this link to read earlier posts!). Don’t get me wrong – things are moving along at a breakneck pace at this point. But, at this moment, just about everything seems to be going according to plan. And schedule. Remember my mantra…Christmas or Bust….
A major milestone is the delivery of our kitchen and mudroom cabinetry. After all, these two rooms were a big reason we undertook this project in the first place! I can’t believe they are going to be here on October 31st! That’s one week from today – and yes, it’s also Halloween. Hopefully the only scary things I see that day will be on my doorstep and not being unloaded from the big truck.
The cabinetry is currently being finished at Jewett Farms in NH, and I don’t have any current pictures, but I do have some of my island from a little over a week ago. I am so excited about all the functionality we’ve built into it – and how great the sink is looking!
The dishwasher will go to the left of the sink, and the trash pullout is to the right. To the right of that is a built-in paper towel dispenser and storage drawer.
With the main sink being on the island, I really didn’t want to have a big roll of paper towels gunking up the countertop. In my delusional and decidedly not neat-freaky world, a clean island equals a clean kitchen.
Around the corner is another feature that will help us keep things off the counter and out of sight.
Fruit and veggie drawers! I will be getting some plastic, washable liners for these.
Keep in mind, the island (and the hood – which I haven’t seen built and am DYING to!) will be a dark wood stain, as shown in the below scheme I posted on Instagram over the weekend.
I want it to look like a piece of furniture, which is also why I chose this ‘fancier’ hardware for the island (and simpler, but still beautiful for the perimeter cabinetry). It is from Water Street Brass and I LOVE it. The white swatch is the quartz, which has marble-like veining so subtle it barely shows in the sample I have.
Floor tile is starting to arrive, and will be installed this week and next. The mudroom will be done first so it is ready for the cabinetry install.
I ordered it last week and I swear it was on site two days later. TileBar is crazy fast! Only bummer – I had intended to do a ‘cobblestone’ pattern with 18×18 and 18×36 sizes, but the latter is out of stock until at least the first week of December. Rather than reselecting tile, I am making do with 18×18, and probably just going with a diamond layout. I love the tile too much, and my whole scheme is built around it. The show must go on!
Painting crews have been working non-stop for what seems like weeks to strip the trim on our 121-year-old house. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but I hope it will be worth it in the end and look crisp and fresh, not lumpy and layered :). Yesterday, they started priming – what you see is tinted primer, not paint…not an exact representation of color. But the above picture gives you some idea of the new color I chose.
There was one minor ‘gotcha’ I didn’t know about, which is that the replacement windows the prior homeowner had installed (on top in the above picture) are vinyl clad on the outside. Which means they’re bright white, and not really paintable. The new windows (on the bottom) are wood, and are paintable. But we obviously want them to all look the same. I had specced an off-white, but am thinking to move to White Dove, which will be close enough to the bright white vinyl so as not to contrast, but will ever-so-slightly warm up what is, in my opinion a too-bright white on our existing trim. We were going to test it today, but it looks like the rain is going to throw a wrench into that plan.
Stay tuned for the exciting deliveries next week! The installation process will be lengthy – probably 2-3 weeks. But folks…we are actually getting close. The end is in sight! At least for the interior. There is still quite a bit more to do – rebuilding the front porch this spring, getting going with my studio above the garage (still waiting on a hearing for a special permit), and all of the landscape design, which may be implemented over time. But none of this impacts Christmas dinner, which it’s looking more and more likely can and will be served here to my large extended family!