New Kitchen and Bathroom Schemes!

Update: The photos below now include images of the materials themselves, in addition to the computer renderings. We've finalized our selections and are very relieved to be done with the decision-making process. More to come soon!

Timothy and I spent Saturday afternoon in the Design Center, rethinking our kitchen. Our designer had created two great schemes, as we showed you below, but we couldn't come to an agreement regarding which kitchen we wanted. Rather than one of us compromise, we completely redesigned the kitchen and now have a scheme both of us really like:





We've kept the black cabinets from Option 1 but swapped out a much brighter Silestone countertop, Tea Leaf. It's mostly tans with splashes of green. For the backsplash, we'd like to use green mosaic glass tile, with hints of turquoise to tie in with the fabric on my couch and chair.

We're all but convinced that we should do the tile ourselves. The cost to have the builder upgrade the countertop is far cheaper than we could do it after the fact, in part because a fairly nice counter was included and also because little labor is involved in the installation. Upgrading the tile, which has labor-intensive installation, is far from reasonably priced. Another advantage is that we could do all glass tile, rather than the tile listello band offered by the builder. (I'm sure they would offer more than just the band, but if the price is already steep... !) But, I've been warned by a reputable source (my mother) that glass tile is a do-it-yourselfer's nightmare since the tile is translucent.

After redesigning the kitchen, we got carried away with countertops! In picking the new counter for the kitchen, we found another we love but that wouldn't go with anything we own. It's similar to the Tea Leaf, but rather than flecks of green, it has large pieces of bright cobalt blue! So, why not put it in the master bathroom?





Here, the cost of the countertop is at least competitive with doing it later, despite only an inexpensive faux-marble counter coming standard. We are also considering not having the builder tile the tub skirt, but instead doing blue mosaic glass tile there as well!

These are by far our most exciting choices. Flooring throughout the house will be standard level carpet and tile in beige and more beige. We would love to have hardwood or bamboo flooring, but again the cost to have the builder do labor-intensive installation is exorbitant. So, we'll let the carpet wear out and then replace it later. We've also done some wiring upgrades - for ceiling fans upstairs and on the front porch, and for Timothy's amazing technology-free living room. (Well, not technology free, but also not DVD player et al front and center!) We're going to get rounded corners on the sheetrock since they look so much nicer. And then there are a few frivolous upgrades, like a really great front door, but we've surprisingly managed to stay within a reasonable budget!

Our final Design Center appointment is this evening! Hopefully you love our kitchen and bathroom ideas - or you might want to tell us now before it's too late!!