Kitchen Files: Floor Beneath Our Feet

There's been some changes taking place in the kitchen as of late. Some small, small that make a huge difference, and some that are so monumental they're life changing. (Seriously I'm not exaggerating.) When you've lived without a proper kitchen for as long as we did any updates you do are touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread. It still makes me giddy to turn the lights on in there! Our final assessment was set for last Thursday so we were working our tail feathers off (we much rather would've been shakin' them) to get the kitchen floor in before then (as well as a few other smaller things). We finally got everything finished at about 1:30am Wednesday night (or Thursday morning if you will), and fell into bed without showering, and barely getting changed. Then before I even closed my eyes, it seemed like the alarm was going off, and we had to get up to finish tidying and a bunch of other things we were too tired to do the night before. Before we were able to get out of bed our social worker called to cancel the appointment because she was sick. I was annoyed for all of 30 seconds, because it meant we got to go back to sleep, and we honestly probably weren't ready for her to come anyway haha.

Anywho, we're glad she didn't cancel until the morning of, because we needed the meeting looming over our head to finish up the floor...

Tada! It looks great! We love it, when we first started we weren't sure if we really liked it, but the more that went down, the more we liked it. Which is a good thing, because this floor was a biotch to put down. It. Took. For. Ever! You had to flash the floor, and flash the tiles, then wait about a half hour for them to set before sticking them down. And the floor dried quicker, so it was a while before a good rhythm was figured out.

A gratuitous detail shot. And no, I couldn't have dusted the floor before hand, because I already have about 6 times. There's a lot of glue on the edges of the tiles (which is most of what you see here) that we're going to have to thumb off before we poly-seal it. (which is probably going to take a week because it's such a tedious job) Jason wasn't the neatest of gluers, but he put in a ton of hours on the new floor, so I can't complain.

Another update we did, that doesn't really change the look of the room much, but makes it a whole lot more functional came in the form of counters.

They still kind of look like ply-wood, but if you look closer, they're really...

Peel and stick tiles from the dollar store! Because we are having to post-pone our lovely quartz counter install due to a pesky leaky roof, I had to improvise. I wanted something wipeable, because I was tired of sweeping the counters. Yeah, sweeping, and we don't have a little hand held one, gotta get the ancient bristle broom up in there. Pain. In. The. Neck. (literally) So while this little counter update may not change the look of the room, it's umpteen times more functional, because no I can actually wipe up spills. Hoorrah!

So, like the dining room, it's still a ways a way from being finished, but it's much closer. Next step is some base and case and hole patching as well as some paint touch-ups. Plus organize and unpack all our kitchen stuff we still have downstairs.

Kitchen Files: Top That!

We have had many a long discussion regarding the kitchen, and it's gone through a lot of changes since it's conception phase, but it's about to go through it's biggest, and arguably most dramatic. 
   COUNTERTOPS! Holla! We were initially going to do concrete, because we could save a bunch of money and do it ourselves. But I'd always wanted to do a quartz, because well, it's better. So I took the plunge, and went and got some samples. Progressive Counters is the exclusive carrier of Cambria quartz in our area, so I paid them a visit.  The guy (Paul) I talked with was super helpful, and knowledgeable, and gave me some free samples.

 I put this up on Instagram & Facebook, and it was split pretty much right down the middle with what people think we should do. They're showing more yellowy/brown in this pic, here's more accurate representations:

The black is called "Flint Black" from their Classic collection. I like it, it's got nice depth to it, there's some clear glass looking specks that let you see down into deeper layers. It's also a bit reflective, which adds some cool dimension.

But then there's the "Whitney"  from the Jewel collection which I like better. Even Jason said he liked it better - but then changed his mind when I said I liked it the best too haha. Silly boy. It also has the cool glass like pockets that let you see into deeper layers, and some sparkle to it, which almost makes it look like it glistens. It's not so white that it would seem sterile with the white counters and tile, because it has so much grey in it, it's has much more "aggregate" than the black.

What's good about quartz you may ask? Well, it's super durable and hard, it's not going to scratch, or dent like some other types of counter. It's considerably less porous that concrete (or marble) which is fantastic because it means it won't stain - Paul told me I could even spill red wine on it and leave it overnight with no ill effects - I'm not really sure what he was insinuating with that. You never have to seal it with anything, once it's installed you're good to go...concrete on the other hand we'd have to seal at least once a year (but is recommended twice a year). Two of the biggest winning features in our minds (that help make us feel better about the cost) Cambria comes with a Lifetime Warranty, and progressive does everything for us. They come in and take pictures, and precises measurements, and they make the templates, and they make it and cut it. Then they lug it back here and install it and make sure everything looks great, and is seamed properly. While we have no issue taking on a project like making our own countertops, the piece of mind knowing that professionals will be handling things, and if we ever have any issues we have someone to call is wining out right now. Plus we realize that we kind of suck and getting things done haha, and we'd probably still be counterless this time next year if we did it ourselves.
   So we're about 90% sure we'll be going with the Cambria quartz. And while the samples are nice, they didn't really help too much, because the debate is still raging hard about which colour. I should be able to pick up larger samples when I go in to meet for the price quote.
  Hooray for the prospect of counters!