Kitchen tile and pendant lighting

Yesterday's dilemma  had  me thinking about the last two items that need to be decided on and purchased. The back splash tile and over-the-sink pendant light.


I have my eye on the Beveled Moroccan tile from here that I was trying to win this contest.  Here is that tile again:

A few issues with that; I feel the contest wasn't entirely fair, it was very confusing, and they haven't even announced a winner yet (was said to be announced a week ago). 


There is a code for about 10% off on the site... even with that though, including shipping, my tile would cost over $700...  I just can't do that now with the floor and granite being more than budgeted. 


I recently read a post here on Chris and Damon's kitchen remodel and check out their cute backsplash at $7 a square foot:

$7?! I immediately looked back to Overstock.com, where they mentioned they purchased their tile. 

With shipping, these would be less than $300!!  I love the beveled look of the pricier tile, but the picture of Chris and Damon's kitchen looks fantastic! That being said, I think I'll purchase these instead (I can almost hear my husband sighing in relief right now).


As for the pendant light, I am stumped. I love this from Pottery Barn ($219)

But will probably get this guy $87

Even $87 seems steep though. I'll keep ya posted!


Tweet

Cabinet hardware dilemma

This is so minor, but I am too darn picky!  I am having the hardest time picking out hardware for the new cabinets. There has been a lot of scrapping and prying at doors and drawers to get them open (we have the soft close mechanisms on all of them) its been quite frustrating.


Ok, with the upper cabinets being so tall, we opted to have drawer pulls for all of the cabinets vs. knobs. Here are some images of what I am thinking:

All Pinterest

I am sticking with the oil rubbed bronze to match the light pendants and found these beauties:

Restoration Hardware

But the problem is this:

So the hunt is on and I found a few options I really like from Kitchen Cabinet Hardware. These Charlotte Pulls which would calculate to a cool $201.69, that's over a hundred dollars savings and look nearly identical to its Restoration Hardware pals!

And these Hopewell Bar Pulls that are similar to the inspirational images above which would calculate to $247.14

 What do you all think? the Hopewell Bar Pulls come a little longer, which would give the cabinets a little sleeker of a look, the Charlotte Pulls a bit more of a vintage look... decisions decisions.


Tweet

Kitchen Update 5

Well this post isn't as much of an update as it is more of a "look at all this other stuff I've done" post.


I surprised my sister by coming home for her 21st Birthday and got matching tattoos:

Hubs went on a business trip to Shanghai:

via China Your Way

I rode the MS 150 Ride for Multiple Sclerosis:

And our friends tied the knot:

So, here is what we've done since May 24 ... Put the flooring in:
 Silly brother photo-bomb included:

The floor looks SO nice I can't get enough of it. But we still have a bit to go: finish priming/painting the ceiling, get the living room carpet re stretched and threshold installed, new air-intake vents installed, put up crown molding and kick boards, find a light for over the sink,  install the electrical, bead board and corbels for the granite in the center island. And not to mention the rest of those adulty things like the laundry since the 24th needs to be done, my house is a disaster, I need to get the upstairs bathroom back in working order, the lawn and gardens finally got about half worked on, but I threw my back out doing it. Oi.


But this weekend we finally ordered our black granite from the fabulous guys at All American Granite in Burnsville! They will be out to measure on July 2nd, install date is set for July 6th. Cannot wait!


Tweet

Vote for me!

Hi Friends, so the store that sells the tile I am going to get for my kitchen back splash had a contest for the best Pinterest board using the Arabesque tile! I was picked to be a finalist along with the other 7 contestants to be voted for on Facebook. Here is my board. All you have to do is "Like" the link.  Check out my Pinterest picks here.

Here is the post with the moodboard.

And a picture of the tile again :)

Tweet

Kitchen Update 4

Ceilings, Lights, Cabinets, Oh my! hehe

First we put up plastic, then screwed in the drywall.We hired someone to do the mud, sand, and texture.

They finished mudding and the knock-down texturing on Saturday. The ceiling still needs to be primed and painted, oh darn (I love painting), but I went ahead and painted around all of the fixtures so I could put up some of my lights Wednesday night.

Sunday we removed the two layers of linoleum flooring, this must have been stapled down by a maniac, I think there were staples every inch... it was tedious to say the least

Monday, cabinets went up!! This took just Monday and Tuesday night. Thanks to the help of some amazing friends we were able to hang them ourselves.

Next up, island pendants that I bought from LampGoods on Etsy. I love love them!

And here is what it looks like today, look at those lights!

Here are a few shots of the island pendant lights, they have the Edison bulbs in them. They look amazing, but I couldn't get a good shot of the effect they have on the room. And I finally got the chance to put most of my furniture back and vacuum! So nice to have a semi-functioning living room again.

Have I mentioned that I love these lights?!

What we have left to do: 

• Flooring, rip out the rest of the carpet and nail down Walnut engineered hardwood. (on order, we expect to get it in on Friday)
• Lighting: Pick up new ALANG fixture for entryway at Ikea, Find a pendant for over the sink, and the hallway
• Order Granite, we need to pick a color still (Yikes!) and get the company to measure it out.
• Hook up stove and microwave
• Find a new Fridge (we might wait a while on this one)
• Put up island beadboard
• Install Kitchen sink and faucet
• Paint ceiling
• Install crown moulding

Tweet