Floors, paint, countertops and hardware: a major transformation took place!

    Whoa, what a two weeks we had! Immediately following the last post about how the cabinets were getting installed, we had my niece and nephew stay with us for "Cousin Camp" week. My kids and two of my sister-in-law's kids of similar ages go to Creative Arts Camp at LifePoint Church and the cousins stay with us through the week because they live an hour away and it makes the week just that much more special. The cousins had seen the old kitchen ripped out, but they got a taste of what it was like to live out of the kitchen-dining room-living room all-in-one basement for a week. I think they were more ready than usual to go back home by the end of the week! (And I was ready to be done with so many dishes!)

   During Cousin Camp week, the hardwood floors were going in. Starting at the interior kitchen wall, the floor expanded toward the back of the house, then toward the front of the house until it reached the front of the center hall, though not for the last 4 feet of the front of the house because that's where some appliances had been sitting and were getting in the way. The great room was done next, and as of this writing, the office/laundry room and front of the house still need to be finished, but that is on the books for this week. The kids got a kick out of coming home and seeing how much had changed from day to day.

The new wood floors! Most are still covered in
cardboard though, so they weren't harmed during
painting or any of the other work going on.

   Last week, post-Cousin Camp, I came down with a long illness, so I spent most of the week in bed. The flooring was put on hold because the painters were available, and since the painting was holding up the electrician, this became the priority. (It was also MUCH quieter than flooring going in, and my pounding head was grateful!) The decision to hire painters was a bit of a tough one. I completely respect that house painting is a true skill, but I would also give myself a B to B+ as a painter. But considering every single wall had received some level of spackle, and I wanted all of the trim and doors to be switched from the almond color to a pure white, I knew it would take me a few months of weekends to get all that painting done, with many days of kids telling me they are bored and want to do something or go somewhere and I would have had to either disappoint them or be disappointed in my progress. So, when we were recommended a reliable painting company and were told that they could do the job--the entire first floor--in 3 days, we went for it. 

   The crew of 3 men worked from 8 a.m. to 4-5 p.m. for three days, then one guy came by himself on the 4th day just to do the last few little things before he and the rest of the company all took their vacations the next week. The amount of work they got done each day was amazing, and the quality is impeccable. We have these brand new floors that I was agonizing about getting paint on them, but through the week I only saw one big drip, which was removed the next day before I brought it up to them. The new quarter-round trim installed at the edge of the molding and the wood floor needed to be painted, and those lines are so crisp--there is no way I could have achieved that! I am so relieved that it is done!

   So, the colors. The Alabaster looks just as good as I wanted it to. The Upwards in the great room, however, is taking some getting used to. Picking my colors in a rush, I saw this color on the 2- by 3-inch card, associated the color with a pleasant memory, and approved it. But once it started going up on the walls--bordered by the super white new ceiling and the pale gray of existing paint, the color looked a lot bolder than it had on that little card. "It's totally baby boy nursery," Josh said. The new paint kind of glowed against the old paint. 

First glimpse at the new Upwards color

   But then we noticed the tone really changed with the different angles of light and different exposures throughout the day. In direct sun, it looked gray with a hint of blue.

Direct sun in the afternoon

   On the north facing wall in the afternoon, it looked sort of purply gray. 

Same time of day as above, but doesn't that look crazily different?

   On the west wall, it looks kind of baby blue. It's not what we expected, but I must say overall it is very pleasing (Rye disagrees). It does seem to be more of a bedroom color than a great room color, but we're not changing it now! Plus that room doesn't have any lights in it right now, so we'll get a new side of it with the 3000K LED lightbulbs very soon! Plus furniture and wall hangings and all the other things that make a room feel cozy rather than looking like an empty, colored box. 

Alabaster in the kitchen, Upward finished beyond

   The third major thing that happened last week is that the countertops went in! As I wrote in the post about picking out the slab, Josh and I like a bold piece of granite, and when we finally found this one, my heart was aflutter. We had even used painters tape at the warehouse to determine what part of the slab would look best on the island and where the sink should go, but when the slab got to the fabricators' warehouse, the tape had been removed. The week that the company was coming to measure our cabinets and develop the template for the countertop pieces, I emailed the customer service rep our photo of the taped out layout, and she said that was very helpful and she would go with it! So here is what that picture looked like and the template photo imposed on the slab that we got back from her before the stone was cut:

   It was very close to what Josh and I had designed, so I approved it with no further suggestions or hesitations. Then on Thursday of this week--in the early parts of the Tropical Storm Debby rain--the installers arrived with the countertop pieces loaded on the back of a pickup truck(!). They did a few last minute measurements, then the two men brought the pieces in, one by one: first the little cabinet behind the sink, then the piece to the left of the oven, then the piece to the right of the oven, and finally the island. I don't know how much that 39- by 122-inch slab weighed, but it was painful to watch just two of them pick it up off the wheelie cart and lay it on the island cabinets. I could tell Josh wanted to jump in and help, but it's one of those situations where the professionals know what they're doing and you have to trust it in their hands. They slid the slab a little to the back, then measured the edge. They slid it a little to the right and measured again--bingo! Next came the undermount affixing of the workstation sink, then the drilling through for the main faucet and our RO faucet. (We are sooooo looking forward to getting our water filtration system back up and running!) Josh and I inspected the granite and it seems great, no chips or cracks or fault lines. 

   On Friday night the kids and I had our first meal at the island:

Upon seeing the installed countertops for the first
time, Knox said, "do we get to live here?" Josh ate
with us the next night but I forgot to get a picture.

   I am just as in love with this granite as I was when I first saw it. I was extremely tempted to start moving all our kitchen supplies and food upstairs and into the drawers and cabinets, but considering we only have one working outlet and no running water yet, I held off. Those two things will be taken care of this week and then I'll get my chance to do the big move/organization (even if the floors and trim aren't done in all the rooms yet, haha). 

   One last thing, the knobs and pulls got installed on Friday, and I'm loving them too. This is "champagne bronze," and it's reading almost coppery right now without the overhead lights, but we love copper too, so I think it is beautiful and really compliments the softness of the wood stain. 

"Champagne bronze wishes and caviar dreams"

   In another week, I think the cardboard boxes will be removed, the official lights will be installed, and the kitchen will be totally in use. The last thing hanging out there is to pick the tile to go over the blank wall above the oven and get the shelves that will sit on that wall made. Since that might take another few weeks, I'll post one more time once we move back in and then again when it's totally done. Dishwasher and oven, get ready, I've missed you!