Please show me your backsplash...

[missy]

OK here you go @kipari and @mrs-b and anyone else who likes good food and good chocolates..some yummy healthy food to counterbalance the previous food. Enjoy!








OK OK I know it is not as appealing as those chocolates but how about a bite of salad and a bite of chocolate. Nice balance.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

Thanks missy!!!LOVE salad.

(It does, however, remind of my midwife who suggested I nibble on a bit of raw fennel when I told her I have chocolate cravings.
I just looked at her. She replied, I know, I know who am I kidding... totally not the same, but I have to say this )

 

[Austina]

You can have the chocolates, I don’t like them, give me the salad please

 

[missy]

You can have the chocolates, I don’t like them, give me the salad please

OK this is just for you dear Austina.







Fresh and delicious.

 

[Austina]

Yum

 

[BlingDreams]

@rocks and @missy - Thanks for the thoughts on the pebble. We had no idea it could be an issue so we did some reading and now we're second-guessing our plans. Stay tuned for new options (probably after our appointment on Saturday). Right now I'm thinking something like this instead, but in the right color shade:

 

[Austina]

That looks really nice @ILikeShiny. I know you’re not thinking second owner, but it’s a good neutral choice.

 

[missy]

@rocks and @missy - Thanks for the thoughts on the pebble. We had no idea it could be an issue so we did some reading and now we're second-guessing our plans. Stay tuned for new options (probably after our appointment on Saturday). Right now I'm thinking something like this instead, but in the right color shade:

Ooh this is lovely @ILikeShiny!

 

[missy]

So the new stools I ordered from overstock cam and Greg put them together this morning. I think it will do nicely for now. Bright and white and comfortable and simple. I wanted interim stools till I get to really shop but I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s minimalist in style which is exactly my taste and the seat is curved which helps comfort. The quality is good.




HRH approves. Hahaha.

 

[missy]

And not to be outdone our brooklyn kitchen got jealous of all the attention we were giving to the beach kitchen haha and demanded attention. And so our Dacor range broke 2weeks ago and our repair guy came and diagnosed the issue but then researched it and found that the parts are not being made anymore so we needed a whole new range. I can’t remember what I shared here or not but suffice to say we had a challenging few days as the new one didn’t fit. Yup. Lol. Anyway happy ending. Granite cutter came yesterday and voila. It fits. This range is a bit more industrial looking than our Dacor but it’s more powerful and my dh loves it so I’m glad about that. Not as pretty as the old one but it’s fine and I think it looks good anyway. But definitely more industrial looking.

Didn’t fit oh no



Something is just off with this picture haha.

Granite cutters arrived to save the day



Cut some granite and we are back in business.

Just took some new pics to share here.




It fits woohoo.
So relieved it’s finally in and now fits. Whew.

Anyone have anything new to share?

 

[ksinger]

@rocks and @missy - Thanks for the thoughts on the pebble. We had no idea it could be an issue so we did some reading and now we're second-guessing our plans. Stay tuned for new options (probably after our appointment on Saturday). Right now I'm thinking something like this instead, but in the right color shade:

Just popping in to weigh in: I can say from experience that tumbled travertine is great for a shower floor. We have it in a very small 5/8" size, and it is very grippy for the feet and I find it reasonably easy to clean. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you get it.

 

[BlingDreams]

Sooooooo exhausted.

Spent SIX hours at the design gallery today.

Walked away with a $70,000 estimate for our desired upgrades, over half of which was for flooring!! Um, no :roll

I'm off to have some steak and a bottle of wine, not necessarily in that order.

I'll report more tomorrow, complete with photos. It was actually a VERY productive day, and we amazingly chose ALL of our required options, but it exhausting nonetheless.

 

[ZestfullyBling]

Missy: love your new stove, so happy "it fits" now. Nice kitchen!
ILikeShiny: i agree, renovations are tiring. You don't realize how much mental and emotional energy it takes to shift through and choose everything. Good luck to u!!

 

[ZestfullyBling]

Just bought a house. Here's my backsplash.


@missy i'd like to borrow your perfectly white classic contemporary stools. I have the perfect spot for them. Lol. Darn those salads look delish. I could taste the photos. Lol!!!

 

[ZestfullyBling]

This was the backsplash in our previous home.
Granite. Low maintenance but no contast kinda mundane. The cabinets provided some contrast though.

 

[missy]

Thank you @ZestfullyBling. Hoping the white stools will fit right in with our "new" beach kitchen. Love your backsplash.
Congratulations on your home purchase! How exciting. Please if you feel like it share more photos of your new kitchen. Would love to see them.

 

[ZestfullyBling]

@missy thanks, I luv our new home!! ...or do love nachos more

 

[missy]

@missy thanks, I luv our new home!! ...or do love nachos more

Oh very pretty Zestfully and oh so yummy too.

 

[BlingDreams]

Soooooooo, about our day yesterday...!

All in all it really WAS a very rewarding and productive day. We whipped through that whole process faster than anyone ever had; apparently people who buy our model of home typically need three sessions to come to their decisions and we did it all in one (yay us!). I can't imagine doing three 6-hour sessions of looking at options and agonizing over choices . We did do some pre-work with a couple of short visits to the design gallery, but we still had to decide on a lot of things we hadn't even considered or discussed.

Thankfully SO and I have very similar tastes and he loves my style of decorating so he was happy to leave it up to me to direct the appointment and decisions. That being said, it was important to me that he was involved because every now and then in the past he'd surprise me with a suggestion that I never would have thought of and I actually liked. Things went incredibly smooth between us the whole time and everyone was amazed at our compatibility.

On to the showroom!

The first thing we decided to tackle was flooring. No problem - we were on the same page with what we wanted based on prior visits and looking online. Except, when we pulled out the sample again we just didn't love it. So, back to the drawing board. Out come oodles of wood samples and one by one we work through them. When we'd narrowed it down to two samples we then pulled out the samples of kitchen cabinets I knew I wanted and put them by them. Still couldn't decide. So off we go to the stacked stone choices (we have a huge fireplace wall) and put them by the one I liked best and we still couldn't decide. In the end, SO said he liked his choice as a 9/10 and mine as an 8/10, so he'd be okay with either one. Awesome - we went with mine . When we told our sales agent her comment was something like "Great! That's actually my favorite choice out of all of them but I didn't want to influence you." Sweet!

It's a hickory scraped wood laminate with beveled edges. Fits perfectly with our rustic but elegant decorating style and will hold up to our dogs abuse



Flooring with the kitchen/island cabinets, marble countertop, and backsplash choices (I chose the subway/brick style instead of arabesque thanks to your input!)



And the stacked stone that will be used for our two-story fireplace wall


Next up was the guest bathrooms and powder room. We knew we didn't want just the standard stuff or something plain; we wanted to put the same kind of effort and thought in to those bathrooms as we did our bathroom. The only thought I had going in to it was that I wanted to stick with the same basic color scheme we used with everything else so far and to use the same selections for every bathroom; I didn't want to try and personalize them... too complicated! This actually took a long time to get it all to come together. I knew we'd use black cabinets but everything else was a mystery and we went through lots of different iterations. First I decided on the countertop and chose a speckled marble. Next up was the flooring. I knew I wanted something light in color to brighten the small area but also elegant. I decided on a 12x18" travertine tile with gray marbleizing. The shower tile was The Hardest to decide on!!! I swear we pulled over two dozen choices. Too dark, too light, too plain, too busy. Ugh. Suddenly the idea of a light gray subway tile struck my mind and when I pulled it out, BINGO! It went great together! Last item was the listello choice. Again, over a dozen choices and agonizing over them. I LOVE listellos and the personality they can add in a bathroom. However I couldn't get that "yes!" feeling to happen. And it was only when we removed the choices from the top of the tile that I actually got that feeling. Who knew that less would be more?? So no listellos in our bathrooms, but I still think it will look very classy and elegant nonetheless.





(to be continued...)

 

[BlingDreams]

Off we go to our master bathroom choices. We knew the tile we wanted for the shower walls, shower ceiling, and tub front/top/ and top of shelf steps (the birch wood tile), so that's where we started. We pulled that out and then started trying all kinds of combinations. We took your advice and began exploring other flooring options for the shower; we ended up deciding on a 2x2" medium gray tumbled stone. HOWEVER, I figured out a way to still get SO his pebble stones . We're going to put them on the top of his shower step (it's a 7-foot deep shower so the shower spray on the step should be minimal); we're also going to use them as the decorative aspect of the bathtub by putting them on the back wall of the niche and on the front of the shelf steps. For cabinets we went with a more rustic style door (still black though) and square door pulls, and I kept the flooring a simple off-white with some "earthy feeling" characteristics. Lastly, for the countertop I wanted something with a little pizazz but not so much that it would overpower everything else (because there's already a lot going on!). I chose a white quartz with with some almost clear, translucent flecks in it. So, here it is all together!





Lastly, the final big choices were the laundry/mud rooms and the carpet for our bedroom and the guest bedrooms. I wanted to use the same choices for the laundry and mud rooms (again, why make it complicated); I also didn't want to spend a lot of money because it's utilitarian and will just get abuse (case in point: our mud room has a hose hook-up which we'll be using to wash the dogs ). Both of them will have sinks (a large one in the mudroom and a small one in the laundry room) and we added raised cabinets too. Cabinets will be white, the countertops will be a white marbled laminate, and the flooring will be a multi-colored 12x12 stone-look vinyl.



Lastly, here's the carpet choices alongside the wood. We chose a really nice, thick carpet for our room that carries some beautiful shades of cream/ivory depending on how the light hits it. For the guest/kid's rooms we chose a fun speckled shag carpet that will feel soft underfoot yet still hide dirt



Soooo... that's about it for now. We still have some fixtures and things to choose, but for the most part I think we're pretty much done with the big stuff. Such a relief!

 

[missy]

Love all your choices @ILikeShiny and wow on getting everything accomplished in one session. That's because you and your dh came prepared and did your homework and were on the same page. Cannot wait to see this unfold and it's gonna be beautiful.

 

[Arcadian]

@ILikeShiny all great choices! IMO you get something out of it and still be on trend, plus, this look will age well. The shower is...the shower...lol I think it will also age well but you're getting what you want out of it. What type of fixtures are you going with?

 

[DAF]

NOW, I'm having this

Missy: Your kitchen looks fantastic! Actually, everyone's kitchen's look great. We're still plugging along on ours. Part of our upper cabinets are installed, the lowers are staged. Island hood installed this past weekend. Hard to decide on drawer hardware. Haven't decided on backsplash tile yet. This weekend we go pick out countertops.

 

[BlingDreams]

@ILikeShiny all great choices! IMO you get something out of it and still be on trend, plus, this look will age well. The shower is...the shower...lol I think it will also age well but you're getting what you want out of it. What type of fixtures are you going with?

Yep! We know that our huge rustic-styled bathroom will not be to everyone's liking, but since it'll blend with the theme of the house we're hoping that whoever falls in love with our home in the future will also fall in love with the bathroom . If not, it's just a quick tile change to make it how they want it!

We're using oil rubbed bronze fixtures throughout the house, even on the iron stair spindles. Can't wait to see how it all looks together!!

 

[missy]

Missy: Your kitchen looks fantastic! Actually, everyone's kitchen's look great. We're still plugging along on ours. Part of our upper cabinets are installed, the lowers are staged. Island hood installed this past weekend. Hard to decide on drawer hardware. Haven't decided on backsplash tile yet. This weekend we go pick out countertops.

Oh so exciting. What material countertops are you getting?

Yep! We know that our huge rustic-styled bathroom will not be to everyone's liking, but since it'll blend with the theme of the house we're hoping that whoever falls in love with our home in the future will also fall in love with the bathroom . If not, it's just a quick tile change to make it how they want it!

We're using oil rubbed bronze fixtures throughout the house, even on the iron stair spindles. Can't wait to see how it all looks together!!

Haha you had me at huge. I love your bathroom. Anyway you choose what you love and the rest falls into place. This is your palace, your castle. If/when there are new owners, as you write, they will choose what they love. Can’t wait to see it all come together. It’s gonna be fabulous.

 

[DAF]

Right now it's looking like River White Granite is the top choice. White background, grey veining, and garnet dots here and there. Have to go with all my samples of backsplash tile to see what gels.

 

[missy]

Right now it's looking like River White Granite is the top choice. White background, grey veining, and garnet dots here and there. Have to go with all my samples of backsplash tile to see what gels.

Ooh Good luck. I looked at everything with white in it including white river granite. It is very pretty but I couldn’t find slabs that I wanted for the kitchen. I’m very particular with veining but most people love veining. I wish I could come along I love granite/marble shopping. Haha you’d think I’d have gotten my fill but no. Good luck and fingers crossed for you you find just the right slabs.

 

[DAF]

Ooh Good luck. I looked at everything with white in it including white river granite. It is very pretty but I couldn’t find slabs that I wanted for the kitchen. I’m very particular with veining but most people love veining. I wish I could come along I love granite/marble shopping. Haha you’d think I’d have gotten my fill but no. Good luck and fingers crossed for you you find just the right slabs.

I could just walk around all day and look at granite. I find it absolutely amazing that our planet made this stuff. I also have two granite yards within 15 miles of my house. I think you live in NYC. So just jump on an NJ Transit train and head to Hamilton.

 

[Tekate]

Oh Yeah.. pebble is a pain to clean and I don't like it on my feet.. we bought this house 3 years ago and I'm redoing the kitchen right now so I can't afford the master bath too, but in 2 years maybe. I know the pebble is cool looking but I would get something else.

@missy. I hear you. In NYC people think nothing of tearing apart a beautiful renovated apartment (that they paid top dollar for). I'm with you....do what makes you happy....as long as it isn't extreme.

@ILikeShiny. The pebble tile...love it, but impossible to clean. I'd think twice...

 

[missy]

I could just walk around all day and look at granite. I find it absolutely amazing that our planet made this stuff. I also have two granite yards within 15 miles of my house. I think you live in NYC. So just jump on an NJ Transit train and head to Hamilton.

Thank you and I am tempted! Love the stone quarries. In the past 2 years we must have visited easily over a dozen quarries. Some more than once haha.

This is one of the River white Slabs I saw online but couldn't find enough slabs like this IRL for our kitchen. TDF. Reminds me of a swirling river and I really liked that and the white was prominent. IRL most of the River Granite we saw was much less white and more cream and brown which were colors I wanted to avoid for our kitchen reno.
Isn't this gorgeous granite?


Enjoy your search and cannot wait to see your choice. It's going to be beautiful.