The Tile Is In! Kitchen Update.

It took two days to complete the job. Photo above shows the cuts for the accent tiles.

Accent tiles in and Jobe is working on the perimeter, measuring, cutting and setting; that took a long time to complete.  He and his cousin Mark, really did a nice job.  They installed a total of 246 sq ft of 6.5 x 6.5 inch tile.  It took approximately 900 tiles for this area. I still have 18 boxes (30 per) of tile left over.  I may do our master bedroom (Mexican Patio) patio with the rest.  Of course I need to keep some for repairs that may come up over the years.

All grouted and sealed, this was done last Monday.  I absolutely love my new floor, and the way the kitchen is coming together.

I also had new quarter-round trim put along the base of the cabinets and new baseboards around the walls.

Pippy on the rug, back in her favorite spot by the glass door. She spent a lot of time under the bed the last few weeks; not wanting to make an appearance with all the noise, people and power tools.

Close up of one of the accent tiles.

Here are a few more ideas I am thinking about.  I like the idea of open shelves along the one wall that my china hutch is now on, but I also like the cabinet with all the drawers. It wood be nice to have something similar.  I have always liked the European style kitchens that have furniture included with the cabinets. Also the lack of overhead cabinets appeals to me.  I do have some overhead cabinets in my kitchen, but only on the one wall.

This calls for a flea market, estate sale and antique mall excursion!

This photo shows a couple of window treatments I like.  Also look at the cool pot rack made out of copper pipes and fittings.  I have the empty wall above the (green) cabinet and the dishwasher area that a rack like this would look and work great in.

Now we wait for the granite countertop. I still don't have a confirmed install date. Hopefully sometime later this week, I was told 10-14 business days and that would put us at Thursday.

Cookie Crumble back in her favorite chair.  Cookie can not tolerate any visitors to her house and spent the time under the bed with Pippy. The only time they spend together is when they are frightened or if strangers are in the house, that includes friends of mine!  After all these years they are still not the best of friends.  Cookie, even though she is half the size of Pippy, dominates her and is the Matriarch of the two.

Kitchen Floor Tile Installation Day!!

Floor Tiles

It's finally here, the day the tile goes down on the kitchen floor!

Accent Tiles

I moved the 48 boxes from the garage to the front entrance yesterday afternoon. These tile boxes have been stored for 4 to 5 years waiting for me to finally decide on what to do with the kitchen.  I am an optimist and never give up on my dreams.  I knew one day I would have this tile in my kitchen, bath, entry, hall and laundry room.  I think when this is all in I will have accomplished the look I was hoping for.

We cleared out the kitchen last night, moving the china hutch, dining table, rolling island, stove and refrigerator.  

The stove and kitchen table moved to the living room.

Refrigerator moved into the entrance so I could keep it plugged in, the island was moved into the dining room with the microwave oven and the hutch is sitting in the hall.  Looks like we will be dining out for a couple of days. 

The crew of two arrived around 9:00 AM and got started right away.  You can see here where he is joining the new tile to the existing tile in the entrance and hall. The accent tiles are shown here in the entrance.  He will use the remaining 24 accent tiles around the perimeter of the kitchen.

This photo shows a better color of the cabinets in the natural light. The others seem to make them a darker green, but they are this light, sage green color. I love the color!!

It won't be long now! The tile will be completed by the weekend. By the end of the month I should have the granite counter top in and my kitchen ready for some serious cooking!

New Windows! Granite Slab, Kitchen Update

Finally something to post about.

We decided to have new windows and glass doors installed before finishing up the kitchen.  The old ones were original to this house that was built in 1975, aluminum and heavy with lots of drafty areas.  One of the glass doors sounded like scraping metal to metal when you opened it; I won't miss that sound at all.  The first thing I thought about after I used the new door was how quiet they were. My neighbor's dog always heard when I opened the door and would come running down the bank to the fence, looking/waiting for her treat. I don't think I will need to buy as many milk bone for her now, you can barely hear it open.

The install was this last Friday, a big job, 11 windows and 2 glass doors.  Getting ready was not all that bad, I just removed all the drapery and blinds from the windows and doors and moved some furniture.  Moving all my potted plants from around the patios and entrance was the most work!

Windows Delivered

The two tall ones are for our two front windows.  Those were 10 feet wide!

Front window and side window, so weird seeing all the windows in the house out. But the views were great!  I kept expecting birds to fly through the house.  This is one of the installers giving me the high 5.  Not one window broke and they did a fantastic job of cleaning up afterwords.  We had a crew of 5 men.  It took them about 5-6 hours for the entire job. 

Front window before

and After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Inside Kitchen being installed

Patio Door off Kitchen, before

and After

Entrance (dining room window) Before

After (dining room window)

Mexican Patio Before

Mexican Patio After

another view of Mexican Patio

Kitchen window after installation

Kitchen Sliding Glass Door from inside.

 I love the way they look now and hopefully this will save some money on the heating and air conditioning bills. Last month the electric (we have an all electric house) was a whopping $408.00!

On to the kitchen update:

Saturday we found a granite slab that we liked for the kitchen counter.  Here is a photo of that, it is called Cafe Creme, we bought it at Arizona Tile in San Diego.
 

Cafe Creme Granite

This granite is quarried from bedrock in India. It has a lot of tan and brown tones with some garnets, and a bit of gray too. This was our third trip to Arizona Tile, we looked at a few other slab yards but they all were too high priced.  My guess is that Arizona Tile has such a huge slab yard that they have more room to negotiate.  Choosing the granite took me more time than the cabinet color.  Oh, this also has just a slight hint of sage green to it.  I love it and can't wait until I get this on the cabinets.  I still have to have the base cabinet that I moved, secured to the wall and leveled. Then I can have our fabricator out to take measurements, make the template and cut into this beautiful slab!!