Wash All Your Troubles Away

When the appliances in the kitchen were installed, it was time to install our washer and dryer. We moved our Whirlpool Duet front loaders, which we love, from our old house. So, as this story unfolds keep in mind these units were loaded on a truck, driven over 1700 miles and stored in a facility for 6 months before being installed in our old laundry room configuration.

When demolition began on this project, these units were placed in the garage and covered with tarps. The garage is less than 25 feet from where they were installed and running perfectly.

Construction took much longer than expected, or promised, for that matter. We were without a washer or dryer for a month already when Thanksgiving rolled around. Mercifully, my cousin and his wife offered use of their washer and dryer while we were up at their place for Thanksgiving. So, I did two loads there, which at least got us the important items. Other people probably would have gone to a laundromat. I've never used a public washer and dryer in my life and I wasn't about to now.

So, I couldn't have been more excited when our old favorite washer and dryer were installed in the new laundry room. The room is small, so I wasn't standing in there, but my husband says he saw them test both units and they worked.

I think the truck was still in the driveway when I started doing laundry. Load of wash worked great and then I put it in the dryer. Yep, seemed to work. But, when I went back in to unload, the clothes were still damp. I tried to set it again and the whole thing was dead. In a complete panic, we are calling back the electrician, who couldn't come back for a day or two. Mind you, it is freezing outside, so I am finding all sorts of places to air dry this load of laundry. Thankfully, I didn't start this project with bedspreads. All the electrical checked out, which means we now have to get our dryer repaired. Remember how we started this story? How could this thing be dead after all it had lived through? I was told the garage must have been too damp and the circuit board got ruined from that. Well, the washer has circuit boards. It still worked.

Long story even longer. We got a company to come out and look at the dryer and they determined it needed a new board. So, one was ordered and a few days later installed. The dryer only half worked. So, we called them again and they said it needed the other board replaced (thank God there are only two in the whole thing), but they didn't see why we would spend the money when it did turn on and run. Really? I've got a fancy dryer with all these settings and I'm going to settle for "incinerate" and have to time it myself so the clothes don't burn? Enter new company to finish this job. Second board was ordered and several days later installed. We had our washer and dryer back fully functional, finally.

The good news is that we love the laundry room. Here are some of the finishing steps:

We chose this dark amber glass tile and capped it with an ochre color travertine pencil. This is prior to grouting and you can see that we pulled up the trim piece under the window to make the tile installation easier. We put it back in when grout was dry with construction adhesive.

I'm probably the only person on the planet that would tile behind the washer and dryer, or paint for that matter. But, it just looks better.

Close up on the glass tiles before grout.

The room really turned out great and we are very proud of it. We painted it the same color as our entry hall. Here is the final reveal:

View from the doorway looking in.

Do you wonder what that black hole in the ceiling is? A laundry chute! It occurred to me, apparently months after my husband mentioned already according to him, that the master closet was above and adjacent to the laundry room with attic above the laundry room. It looked like it would work. This was another item that the contractor just couldn't get their head around, so we did ourselves. We considered options to build the chute, which would be very short and have an angle, and we decided on duct work. We had our heating and air guy put it in. Then we ordered a cabinet door that matched our bathroom cabinets and fit the space.

We put the basket for the dry cleaning right below. Either throw it down the chute or into the basket--easy.

We also included a few other features in our laundry room. One is a folding table. It isn't too big, but it does the job. The way we made this work in a small space was to make it the lid to the laundry sorting bags.

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And I needed space for drying items that cannot go in the dryer. We had these in our old laundry room and loved them because they stored flat against the wall.

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We put the shelf in to give more storage and that allowed me to put baskets up there for the hand laundry items. Keeps it neat and clean and leaves all the workspace open and ready to use.

Next post will be about the great flood. Stay tuned.

Christmas Is Coming Too!

My mother used to say this to me every time she called for me and I'd say "I'm coming." It was our little call and response ritual. "Christmas is coming too!" was yelled down the hall back at me. Well we were calling for our appliances to be installed so we did not have to eat at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. And, it was getting perilously close to Christmas Day. But, just in the nick of time, I guess the St. Nick of time, our appliances were delivered with a few days to spare.

Now, I was still annoyed that our ceiling and walls were still not yet smooth enough for priming, but at least I could cook a meal for the first time in months.

New range. Pancakes would be one of the first dishes I would prepare using that griddle. The griddle makes it so easy to get them cooked quickly.

From left to right: ice machine, microwave, oven, warming drawer, and refrigerator. Notice how the cabinet is missing over the refrigerator. It was too tall, so the bottom was lower than the top of the refrigerator. New one had to be ordered.

Countertop for island was also installed. Note dishwasher to the right of the sink. Not really worth taking a photo of, but that is what they look like before the cabinet door panel is installed. And, turns out, that would take months as the first one ordered was a different color than the rest of the doors and had to be reordered.

So, not fancy, but we had pan-seared chicken for our first meal cooked in our new, partially complete, kitchen. That is our favorite kitchen gadget I'm using, the Thermapen. It is an instant read thermometer. Indispensable. And, you'll note the chicken is ready to take out of the pan at 138 degrees. Tent with foil and it will carryover cook over the next 5 minutes to the perfect 140 degrees.

That wire hanging down is for the under cabinet lights. There was a problem with the quantity ordered on the panels that go underneath the cabinets. I do not like the look of the underside of cabinets that are semi-custom, so I always specify thin panels be installed under to give a completely finished look. We had to wait for the additional quantity to come in and it didn't come in right the first time, so an even longer wait.

Even though I had taken time off to do the painting in the kitchen, it was not to be. We were into January and the ceiling and walls were still not smooth enough. So, I ended up doing it on nights and weekends. And we really didn't take any photos. I thought we had enough pictures of me painting. Plus, we were annoyed. You just don't want to capture that for posterity.

We worked on a few elements over the time I was priming and painting the trim work and the walls. One was the backsplash tile selection. We waited until the cabinets and countertops were in place to begin this process. Here is a look at some of our choices:

In our old house, we had a tumble marble backsplash and we liked it. So, we considered it for this kitchen. But, it just didn't feel "new" enough and our new kitchen had just a little more modern style. So, old Tuscan just didn't fit.

One element we knew we wanted right from the start was something flashy for the bar area, which is to the left of the microwave/oven combo unit. And I knew it had to be the "sticks" tile design in that space. We tried above sample, but it was just too busy and too much veining in it against the very veined countertop it would be above.

Then, we went to Artistic Tile. Funny, I hadn't heard of it until I was sitting next to their marketing director at a fundraiser dinner. So, we went there as part of our research. We saw this pattern above and knew it would be perfect. Plus, you could select the tiles used in the pattern from a palette of over 100 different colors and glazing techniques. They had me at "pick your own colors". The small squares were something we considered for use behind the range around the pot filler.

We brought home several samples of tiles and put this palette together to make the sticks design.

This close-up makes it easier to see the color and texture. We mixed watercolor crackle finish tiles with pearlescent and metallic tiles. This is my favorite part of any project. If I could just do this part, specify all the design details, and then leave and come back to find it all finished to my standards, I'd be happy. But, that is impossible, so I have to endure the parts I dislike as well.

I also selected a lighter shade of the green color in a subway pattern for the rest of the backsplash on the other side of the kitchen. I've seen many kitchens where they do the dramatic sticks all the way around and I think it looks way too busy, plus it diminishes the impact of the sticks. Alan wasn't sure about all that ceramic tile. He was concerned it would look too much like a bathroom. So, we went back to Artistic Tile and looked for other options. Here was the selection of choices:

The one on the far right was my original selection, but in the subway shape. You can see the paint swatches I was considering for the walls next to this tile sample. I really didn't like any of the other choices, and neither did Alan, so he took a leap of faith and left this decision to me. Next post I'll show the designs we considered using this tile and the dramatic impact the design had on price.

Another feature we finished up while waiting for some the replacement cabinets to come in was the interior lights on the glass front cabinets.

We picked glass doors with some drama and copper caming.

You'll note I had the walls primed and painted some color samples here and there on the walls so I could see what my choice looked like against both types of cabinets in the room. Also, that allowed me to view the sample swatches throughout the day in different light conditions.

We like our glass cabinets to be illuminated. It really adds drama to the room at night. Alan is quite the artist with lighting. This is where our teamwork really pays off. I know what looks good, but don't know how to do it. He knows both. So, he did some research since there are always new products and found these very cool LED light strips. You can see below they are about the width of Scotch tape. These can be found at ElementalLED.

Tiny, flexible strips of LED lights can be cut to length at marked locations every 4 inches.

They fit perfectly in between the inside of the cabinet and the front of the shelves. They come in different temperatures of color, so you can even select the type of "white" you want. We went with "warm" white.

You cannot see them even when you open the cabinet door and they provide a continuous even light throughout the cabinet. The only other way to get close to this light distribution would be to install glass shelves so the lights at the top would punch through the glass. With these strips, we could use the wood shelves. Plus it makes cool little sparkles on all of your glasses.

Pretty cool! Note, still no crown moulding on the cabinets. Ugh!

Then, we also ordered some furniture. We were tired of the formality of the dining room for every meal and started a bad habit of eating in the family room in front of the TV.

We put in a contemporary table and chairs to seat four and to make it fit put the table against the wall. This leaves plenty of room to walk in between the bar seats and the table seats to get to the sliding glass door. We also chose a contemporary barrel shade light fixture for this table. At some point I am going to reupholster the chairs, but I still haven't found the right fabric, or someone to do the work.

The bar chairs are situated where the glass bar will go. I'll show that long process on another post. It was one of the last elements to get completed in this kitchen.

This is the view towards the pantry. Most of the trim work is painted at this point and the ceiling is done as well. Walls are primed, but I still hadn't finalized the paint color selection when the furniture was put in place. And, still no crown moulding on the cabinets. That issue went on for months.

The winter dragged along throughout these steps. We had our first snowfall the day after Christmas and didn't see the grass again until April. Getting the contractor to come in and do things to get this finished up was like pulling teeth. We did as much as we could ourselves to keep the project moving, but in some cases we really had to have licensed electricians or plumbers to do some of the installation.

Next post I'll chronicle the finishing of the laundry room and the dryer issues we had. Then of course you don't want to miss the story about the flood caused by the new kitchen faucet installation. Good times!

Cabinets Installed

The kitchen really began to look like it would one day again be a functioning kitchen when the cabinets started to go in. First, our garage was filled with boxes.

Little did I know that it would be months before even one car could be put back in here. And winter was on its way.

Then, some of the boxes were moved inside.

Once installation got started, it went pretty quickly.

On the bar wall, there were problems with the fit of the cabinets. The original solution was to rip down my door casings. I was not open to this. Those door casings were in place when the kitchen was measured. So the small cabinet you see to the left of the large one with three openings was ordered in a narrower size. That solved the problem. Unless you have a top notch contractor, never accept their solutions. There is always a better one. We also didn't know at the time that the cabinet above the refrigerator, far right, was too tall. We noticed that when they tried to install the refrigerator. Another replacement had to be ordered.

Pantry cabinets. Doorway goes into dining room.

Sink wall. Sliding glass door is to the right.

Range wall.

Once the base cabinets were all in place, the perimeter countertops could be installed. You'll note all the light is coming from work lights. Why at least some of the can lights could not have been installed remains a mystery to me. The countertop fabricator had to work virtually in the dark since he needed to do our install after the sun went down.

Plastic is on the cabinets because they were still trying to get the ceiling smooth. While I protested this obvious illogical order of tasks, I was told "this is how we always do it". Likely my most hated phrase in the English language.

The cabinet crown molding was partially installed and it was completely wrong. Yes, I ordered it, but I didn't have a good reference for scale. The fact that I wanted something simpler than what the contractor normally does didn't go over either. We argued about this for months. We finally agreed on replacement at cost and I was eventually able to get a full sample kit to select the very best option the manufacturer offered.
I continue to be frustrated by the inability of an amateur designer to get access to the manufacturer materials for designers or distributors. Just because someone does something for a living doesn't mean they are any good at it.

We really love the large copper farmhouse sink. Turns out it is a bear to keep clean, however. And we do use it constantly, so it is not just for show. We did get it for a very good price at Van Dykes Restorers.

We put a prep sink in the peninsula. We just love this. While not in yet, there is a glass high bar planned for the back of the peninsula. So, I can be prepping dinner and guests can be seated right in front of me.

This is where the high bar will go. It will stop to the left edge of the cabinet door on the far right. This cabinet actually works, while the others are just door panels. It made sense to me to put this cabinet facing this way for the grill tools since the sliding glass door leading out to the deck with the grill is right there.

We opted for the chimney style hood. It has to be vented outside and this was another curious "change order". Apparently the contractor had no clue how to vent outside. The hood specified had to be vented. So, our solution (which was how to vent it) was "extra". Had it been more than they quoted I would have fought back, but it was cheaper to just get it done. By this time I seriously wanted these folks out of my house.

Notice the ceiling is still not finished. But the ceiling crown is in place. That was another price compromise. Apparently, "finish trim to match" was vague enough for debate. The trim work throughout the house was in place and this crown would be "to match". Why else would I not have gone to the ceiling with the cabinets? Because I specifically wanted the crown I selected for the entire house to continue into the kitchen. Only part of it had cabinets, so using cabinet crown in the whole room would not have looked like I wanted. Plus, I can't reach the top cabinets as it is. The others to go to the ceiling would have been expensive and inaccessible.

We are big fans of disposals. Even in the little cabinet under the prep sink you can fit a 3/4 horse disposal. We like the ones with the cap that acts as the switch. Seems safer and you don't need to find the space for a wall switch.

Meanwhile the laundry room cabinets were also put in place. Here again they must have used that defective tape measure from China. We had to have the cabinets moved further to the left and the garage stop trim at the bottom of the baseboard removed to fit the washer and dryer, which was existing in the old space when measurements were taken. Now I'm gritting my teeth every time these guys are in my house.

The metal rack will hold 4 cloth laundry bags. We purchased it and had the short wall placed to just fit. On top of that will be a countertop that lifts up on a hinge. So, we get a folding table plus full access to the laundry bags.

At this point in the project we are closing in on Christmas, the original deadline. Doesn't look like we will make it, does it? Check out the next post and see what happens.