Selecting The Perfect Counter Top

Over the last several weeks, as some of you know, we have been remodeling several areas in our home. The current project is our kitchen. This is always the most exciting room to redesign. It is usually the heart of the home and the place that people congregate in their daily lives as well as when entertaining. A great kitchen will sell an otherwise average house in a heartbeat. Whenever people think of a newly remodeled kitchen one word pops into their minds almost immediately. Granite. Everyone seems to want it! We thought we wanted it too until I started actually looking at it.

I think what people really mean when they say they want granite is that they do not want little six inch tiles with grout or a laminate surface. They are looking for a stone surface for its beauty, durability and it value in terms of resale. However, as we have found, sometimes in working with what is already in the kitchen, granite is not the best choice.

Our home is several decades old and has random plank oak flooring with wooden pegs. It is a beautiful floor and in excellent condition after many decades of being carpeted. We had it refinished a few year ago and love it.

I am still looking for the perfect area rug in our dining room!

Because it is in the adjoining rooms of our kitchen, we selected a stone tile pattern for our kitchen and had it installed in our kitchen, entryway, laundry room, pantry and small bath at the same time. We really like this floor and did not want to replace the entire run of it during our kitchen renovation as that would be quite costly and it is practically new.

When purchasing a granite counter top you usually go to the showroom and choose a color and pattern that you like and then hope for the best. Since granite in not a man made surface you will never get one that looks exactly like the one in the showroom. There are always naturally occurring variations in the pieces. Granite is very beautiful and I love it, but it was not for our kitchen and here is why.

Usually granite is sold in 8 foot slabs. I spent quite a bit of time in the granite store selecting what I thought would be a good choice for our kitchen. Then you wait a few days while they actually truck in your pieces. Once you sign off the pieces indicting that this is what you want, you will soon have a beautiful new counter top. It sounds simple enough, but not really. Twice we went down to see the granite they brought in for us and it did not look anything like the sample in the showroom. We needed three slabs and each was as different as you can imagine from the other two. (Note: If you are keeping your flooring or cabinets, you need to take a sample of them with you when shopping for a counter top.)

This is what I learned from this unsettling experience:

• If you have a patterned floor, think twice about granite as your choice. Our particular floor is really beautiful but varied in both color and texture and pattern. The problem~ that is exactly like those same characteristics in a slab of granite. There were pieces of granite we looked at that would have looked like we had run the same material on both the counter and the floor! They were much too similar and there was not enough contrast. Granite seems to work beautifully with wood flooring but not always so well with geometrics or color variations in patterned flooring.

• If you have a counter run of more than 8 feet like we do, you may run into matching problems. We have a 19 foot run of counter which would have looked like a plaid shirt with mismatched stripes if we had selected the granite we liked in the showroom.
  
• You can have a beautiful stone counter tops other than granite that looks great with patterned flooring. Patterns mix best when the scale of the patterns is quite different. Since we have a rather large, random, pattern on the floor featuring both copper and silvery metallic tones, I have selected a much smaller, predictable pattern for the counter top. The pattern is in black which will compliment the black appliances. The color will compliment the warmer tones in the flooring.
  

I ended up selecting a Silestone counter top which was more expensive than granite but was right for our home. The color is kind of a brick and not represented well in this photo. We do have a brick hearth and black cast iron fireplace in the room as well so lots of patterns going on and the counter top needed to be subdued and still compliment the colors in the existing elements of the room. Silestone does have a lovely shine like granite as opposed to a Corian mat surface.

There are at least four companies that make a fabricated stone counter top like Silestone that is amazing. It is virtually maintenance free. No annual sealing or anything like that. I learned that they are all made by the same manufacturer on one machine and distributed to the various retailers. They are made of crushed quartz~ which is essentially granite with a man made pattern for more continuity. When that pit in my stomach went away I knew it was right for us. Whew!

Even though I have worked with several clients selecting countertops for their kitchen renovations, I realized that every one of them had a wood floor and that made granite selection pretty easy.

So when you are making a purchase of several thousand dollars, be informed, select carefully and realize you will be living with it for a long time. If you plan to sell your home, think stylish, updated and somewhat neutral. Remember to think about what is already in the room and coordinate accordingly. Go more to the neutral side and jazz it up with paint and accessories. Something classic will appeal to the largest number of potential buyers and you will tire of it less frequently over time. Happy hunting and think beyond granite sometimes! I'll have some photos of our finished project in a few weeks.

Easter Craftiness

Just kidding! Actually I don't have too many Easter decorations to begin with and I have very little out this year. But something really weird happened ...a tiny wave of craftiness hit me. I am not into crafts and I rarely like anything I make in that department but... I did decide to create...or I should say, embellish a couple of things I picked up for a song this year.

I found this little critter cage for $5.99 at TJ Maxx...it was empty. I thought it was cute so decided to add some lime green moss, a little peep I had and a few eggs. That is about the extent of my craftiness...impressive, huh?

Yesterday I went to this very cool shop with some business associates. You are all gonna want my job when I tell you that we met to go shopping (for the businesses of course) and then we toured a home one of the ladies had just beautifully staged and then found ourselves having lunch. It was a rough day at work but I managed! While shopping I found this cute bird cage for $19.99. It was empty so since I had some moss left and a cute little nest and some eggs I did this. Wouldn't "The Nester" just be green with envy?

I told you I am not much of a crafter, but I can put things together and this was fun, fast, and finished in a flash! My kind of craftiness. The eggs below are some that I have made and or purchased over the years. I love the little chicken wire basket that holds them.

Wouldn't it be fun if you could save eggs your kids decorate when they are little that aren't hand blown and so fragile? Wouldn't it be neater if your little kids could even hold and decorate a blown out egg without cracking it?

Once while decorating eggs with my friend, Lee, I discovered that you can have kids decorate eggs you can keep. Did you know that you can hard boil and decorate eggs that will last forever a long long time? If they don't have any cracks they will be just fine for years to come. I always thought they would start smelling rotten, but nope. All that happens is that the egg inside dehydrates and shrinks and they are like a little rattle over time. Think plastic egg with a small chocolate egg in it. The first few years I would leave them out but hidden for a few months to make sure they were not rotten before storing them away. I have never had a problem and neither has Lee and she still has some that her mother painted for her when she was a little girl. Try it, it is eggciting.

The eggs that you see with the patterns on them are done with hard boiled eggs and spring tissue papers. You just tear some pieces dip them in liquid starch (or maybe Modge Podge) and press them on the egg and dry. Our daughter, Jen, taught me this little trick ten years ago when we were in Scotland she made them for Piper's first Easter. I fell in love with them but they were the blown eggs so would not transport easily. Finally I just made some of my own. Again, my kinda thing. They really are pretty cute for the effort that goes into them.

Well, I hate to put all my eggs in one basket but this is probably the only crafting post you will ever see from this chick!

Happy Easter!
I gotta go feed my carrot!

After Dark

After Dark by Pino

Several years ago I was on the local real estate tour of homes and came across a home that had this beautiful painting in it. It must have been at least a 36 x 48 inch giclee on canvas and it was amazingly beautiful. The depth and texture and the colors of this painting are so romantic and lovely. I have loved Pino's art ever since.

There is something so feminine and gorgeous about this painting and it reminds me of our sweet daughters, an elegant dining experience and an abundant life, not in a monetary sense, but just in life itself.


I keep this picture in our antique kitchen cabinet and really need to find a new place for it somewhere in our house as I am changing the color scheme and style of our kitchen and it just won't work in this room too much longer. It will be a challenge but never fear~I will figure it out because I love this painting! What artists do you enjoy? I love the impressionists and I would love to be tagging around with our daughter, Laura and her husband, Robert this weekend in Paris! Hopefully they will get to Musee d'Orsay in their adventures.

How do you incorporate things that don't quite go with your decor but that you just love and want to keep near to you, your heart and soul? Being eclectic in style is a good thing~it allows for a more interesting look and it truly lets your personality shine forth ~ but it can be tricky. What works for you?

Faye's Vintage Cottage

This is a cottage with million dollar views from every window. This view is out the kitchen window. The house in on a large piece of wooded property with a creek running through the backyard. It is a paradise for sure.

It is such a blessing to love the work you do. This little cottage is the epitome of why I love decorating living spaces so much. The cottage was actually built by my husband's grandfather over half century ago. For years his uncle owned the house next to the cottage and we would visit often.

When it was time for Uncle Bob to sell, a sweet young family bought it. They happened to be members of our church and so over the years, Jim and I have gotten to know them very well and love them a lot. The cottage has served many purposes over time, but now it is at it's best~a guest house and hideaway for Faye when no one is visiting. Last week she and I shopped and worked on the house to make it oh, so welcoming and fun. She did a post on the renovation and you can see it here. Double click on Faye's photos to see the details.

Somehow we both missed getting photos of the dining area in the kitchen. There is a round table with a white and navy tablecloth and a pretty blue and white floral centerpiece and four black chairs. They sit right in front of a bank of window with a patio view. Here a a few photos of room Faye has already shown you from different angles.

She has concealed her treadmill with a
lovely screen just to the right of the couch.

I love the little niche here in the bedroom!


This vantage point with a few more details added in.

Close up of the dresser top. Double click for close up.
The antique comb in the foreground and the sparkly purse
were a few of our finds.
The cobalt blue accessories are perfect in here.

This is a very restful room. The 2 million dollar house we decorated for sale last summer does not even come close to comparing to the coziness and charm of this little cottage. Thank you, Faye, for a wonderfully memorable experience and fun day together! Faye's husband, John, came home right as we were finishing and accused us of totally girlifying the cottage and turning it into a chick pad. Yup, we did it all right! Guilty as charged!

As we were finishing up I couldn't help wishing Jim's Grampa could see it today. The cottage has come full circle! Faye is a very lucky lady and I have to admit, I felt a little green with envy for such a lovely hideaway of her very own ~and right next door to her big house. What would you do with a great space like this one?

Inspiration Pieces

This art work and these accessories are things I am using as inspiration to renovate our laundry room. The painting is nearly completed and tomorrow the new counter top is going in. Next week we will get our new windows and door and then we will be finishing the adjoining bath. We have new louver doors to enclose our pantry and need to paint our cabinets with a fresh coat of high gloss white and add the new hardware and then the room will be finished. We have lived in our house for 30 years and it is so much fun to see these changes coming around again. Next comes the entry way and then the kitchen and then the bathroom. It is going to be a crazy but productive year. What project are you working on to improve your living spaces?

Picture Hanging Tips

Excellent!

Hang your wall art so that you do not have to tilt your head back to view it when seated. No matter how high the ceiling, the pictures should be placed at a comfortable viewing level while sitting. The number one mistake is to hang them too high. The only place they should be hung higher is in the hallway because you walk through it. And the rule is no stair stepping pictures except on the stairs. Hanging two pictures horizontally or vertically is much better. If you are hanging pictures in a vertical arrangement put the heaviest or darkest picture on the bottom.

Passionate About Houses

One of my favorites!

Houses really warm my heart and make me happy. I think they say so much about the people that live inside. I love big ones and little ones, the old and the new, the modest and the extravagant! I think just about any home can be beautiful with a little tender loving care and some creativity. It makes me sad to see wonderful houses neglected or abused. Homes are like fingerprints, no two are alike and each one identifies a very unique place on the planet. A house that is loved is a happy place to live and grow and be. If I could tour homes every single day it would probably not be enough to make me tire of it. My heart always skips a little beat when I get the opportunity to step over the threshold of a beautiful home.

What I love equally as much is the everything that goes inside a house to make it a beautiful, interesting and comfortable family home. I enjoy looking at the books on the book shelves and learning so much about the family that lives there through their choices in books, movies, art work, music. I love seeing their collections, their color choices, the dishes they use, the accessories, the linens, the yard and gardens. I love to see the furniture and their style and how they put it all together. You can learn so much about a person from their home for it's truly a window to their soul.

I love to see a home that is in process. It is nice to see it evolve as the life's experiences contribute new things. To me a house is just as fluid as life itself. I enjoy watching a home be tranformed by remodeling, upgrading and updating. I love looking at a room or a home or its furnishings and wondering what memories it holds from days gone by and what its future holds. When looking at the yard and neighborhood I wonder about the happy times of children playing and making friends that last by sharing time and proximity to one another.

I love the way a home can feel when you walk in and it makes you feel welcome and invited in to visit. I am grateful for this passion I have about houses and for the opportunities I have to help people enjoy their own personal spaces more. For me this is just an extension of being a homemaker and nest builder and adding quality to every day of life. I love families and the potential I see in their homes to increase the enjoyment of living life together. Our homes are an extension of who we really are and so much more than a shelter from the elements. I believe with all my heart that the storms of life are much more manageable when we have a wonderful place to call home. And, it is not about things, it is about creating a wonderful, healthy environment for those we love the most in this life.