Alehouse Amber Counter Top

IMG_3312, a photo by BaubCat on Flickr.

Today the counter top fabricator came to make the template for our recycled glass counter tops. Later in the day we drove up to his shop to inspect the two slabs that will be used.
I love these Vetrazzo counter tops even more now that I've seen the full slabs. The small sample pieces or online photos just don't do it justice. Certain pieces of the glass chips have so much sparkle & add such depth. I can't wait for them to be installed in a few weeks...so glad I splurged on my eco friendly counters.

Alehouse Amber by Vetrazzo

Installing Kitchen Cabinets

Installing Upper Cabinets, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

Those beautiful Bamboo cabinets are finally getting installed. At first it was a bit of a shock seeing the large open room & my new floor getting covered over by the cabinet carcasses. Made the room start feeling crowded. But after enough of them got placed, the design started to come together and I'm getting psyched. Can't wait till the doors & handles get put on.
The installation videos make it seem like a quick easy job, but to do a quality job, it takes a lot of leveling, shimming and interconnecting of the cabinets. It didn't go quite as quick as even my contractor expected, probably because he's as much of a perfectionist as I am...and of course his helpers are us amateurs & he's always taking time explaining every step to us. So far it's looking great!

Finished Floor Installed

Finished Floor Pattern, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

We finally got my floor design installed (my mid century modern inspired pattern). The marmoleum click was relatively easy to install, a typical floating floor. The most difficult part was accounting for the expansion gap at all the different trim locations. It took a bit of thinking to accomodate those gaps & still keep the design lined up with the entries & cabinets before we started. You can find a few more photos on my flickr photostream.

Choosing Paint Colors

Why is it that every color on a paint chip looks so pretty but when you put it on the wall it sometimes makes you want to puke. I had such a hard time choosing the paint color for the kitchen.

The ceiling paint gave me a bit of trouble…I found the perfect paint color swatch, but the sample paint didn’t come out matching it, so I ended up going back for a sample of the next darker shade & mixed the two together. That came close to what I wanted, so it worked out fine.

For the walls I wanted green to match the glass bottle chips in the recycled glass counter top. We’re also putting in glass backsplash tiles that are a very pale shade of green, somewhere in the sage range. My first pick was from a paint card that had a green matching the bottles. I just picked one of the lighter shades on the strip. I painted it on a scrap piece of drywall (since the walls weren’t done yet). It ended up looking just like that green drywall they sell and I hated it. So next I went for something with more blue in it, an aqua shade, painted that one on the wall & it was way too bright. I then collected 2 more greens in olive & sage hues. I liked the sage, but my husband said it was too close to the tile color with no contrast. He suggested I find something in between the last two. So then I found the ‘Lemongrass’ swatch. It’s one of Martha Stewart’s colors. Hubby was happy with it, so the walls are finally painted. I love the color, but I’m still unsure how the glass backsplash will look against it. Time will tell. Just glad the room is finally painted.