Modern, rustic and slightly industrial kitchen reno update

January 13, 2016 By

After a loooonnnnggg Christmas break, I’m back.  Hope you all had a great holiday with family and friends.  We finally got winter here and let me tell you, I didn’t miss it.  But, now onto more fun updates.

So there’s been lots of progress with my modern, rustic and slightly industrial kitchen reno.  Cabinetry fronts finished….check, hardware added…check, appliances installed and working…check, sink and faucet done…..check.

A little sneak peek at the cabinetry that was installed just before Christmas (obviously before the hardware was added).  I’m absolutely loving the blue/grey cabinetry, it is such a refreshing change from the overwhelming presence of honeyed wood in the house. Please excuse the dust on these as I was so excited to take a pic and share that I didn’t even wait to dust them off.

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Together with the grey/black island, it’s pure GORGEOUS!

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What are we still working on?  Well, the backsplash and therefore the rest of the electrical outlets, lighting and live edge shelving are still in line.  Trying to figure out how to install floating 100 lb+ maple wood shelves onto a tiled backsplash wall has been quite the learning experience.  In the end we got lots of advice from our contractor, our cabinet maker, a steel company, fellow designers and our local welder.  We, actually my  hubby did most of the legwork on this problem, hey…I just come up with the ideas, the implementation…well that’s a whole other issue.

So they came up with a custom made steel bracket that has three rods that will fit into the corresponding holes that will be bored into the wood shelf.  These brackets will be lag bolted into the wood logs that form the frame of our log home, and the shelves will then slide onto the rods. Presto……magic!  Apparently we will be able to park a car on the shelves 🙂

So since we couldn’t finish the tiling until the brackets are totally completed and installed, my hubby just tiled the areas where he could.  We are really hoping to have both the brackets installed this weekend and that the tiling can continue.  I will then resume the sanding of the shelves….which is a joy, let me tell you. Then a coat of a clear finish and we will be ready to get them up there and start using them.

We also have some trim work that needs to be completed. I’m going to be trying to match 24 year old wood stain, so that the new trim is not too noticeable against the original pieces…wish me luck!

The electrician was also hoping to have this large lantern installed over the island and all the switches and outlets finished this week as well.  I can’t wait to see it actually hanging in the space!

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That will just leave the articulating sconces and of course, the shelves, to be installed on the backsplash wall after all the grouted is done. So exciting!  I am seriously dreaming (no, not kidding) about styling those live edge wood shelves.

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I’ll leave you with one more pic that I shared on my Instagram account recently.

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****Some design inspiration coming up, I’ll finally be sharing some pictures from my recent trip to Miami for #ModenusTalksMiami and #DesignMiami in my next post.

Lisa

Filed Under: COLOUR, Cottage, design professional, Haven, inspiration, Kitchen, renovation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Modern meets rustic and tangles with industrial’ kitchen reno update

December 10, 2015 By

Well, if that title isn’t a mouth full, I don’t know what is.  Obviously, trying to come up with catchy titles isn’t my strong suit…so modern/rustic/industrial kitchen it is.

It’s been awhile since I posted any updates on this ongoing reno, but not to fear things have been moving along, slowly…but still moving forward.

When I last left you, I had posted about the finishing touches and we were patiently waiting for the new cabinetry boxes to be done.  Well, they were finished up fairly quickly and installed.  Which meant lots, lots and I mean lots, of boxes filled with various kitchen paraphernalia, most of which will not be making their way back into the new kitchen.

Once the cabinet boxes were installed, the counter fabricators came in to template the kitchen and about two weeks ago the new counters were installed.

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Swoon……(excuse the reflection in the photo, my bad…)

The Caesarstone quartz looks exactly as I had expected it to look, warm, calm and natural. The perfect compliment to the busy, stone island wall.  The stone, black island cabinets, hardwood floor and the quartz make me very, very happy.

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And speaking of counters, I had originally wrestled with the thought of putting butcher block (which I had in my previous cottage kitchen and loved) on the lowered cabinet area (under the windows) to break up the quartz and to also make this area look even more like a piece of furniture.  Well, I had decided to keep things simple and just go with quartz everywhere. But when my fabricator came to measure, we discovered that we would be short with two slabs and we would need to order a third to complete all the counters. Well, I felt that it was a big neon sign that I should go back to my original thought about the butcher block and it would also keep our budget in order.

So, off I went to Ikea and I picked up the Hammarp countertop in Oak, the best match with the oak flooring and the golden oak stained pine.

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I also received this stunningly gorgeous runner from West elm that I had ordered a few weeks ago and placed it up against the blue/grey cabinets. Isn’t it charming?

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And for my November birthday, I asked hubby for some new everyday dishes. The current ones at the cottage are a hodge podge of my first set of dishes, my Mom’s old dishes, my sister-in-law’s, mother-in-law’s old dishes (I knowwww) and the previous owner’s dishes.  I mean…really…..it was time to move them all out to their new homes and get some fresh new ones.  I knew I wanted white, organic, matte and durable.  It took quite some time to find and commit, but I’m thrilled with my new dishes.  I think they will be so pretty sitting up there on the wood shelves.

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And speaking of the wood shelves, when I was in Miami last week for Modenus Talks Miami (stay tuned for a future post), we spent some time at DesignMiami.  And when I saw this vintage 1950’s credenza in all its live edge loveliness, I knew this was exactly the look I wanted for the shelves.  So, I will be sanding my little heart out to get the rough maple slabs, currently in my garage, to get to this look.  But it will be well worth it, don’t you think?

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That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in the previous posts on the kitchen, here’s the links.

Appliances, lighting and faucets, oh my!

Changes, compromises and cabinets

Industrial farmhouse kitchen reno update

Rustic/industrial/farmhouse kitchen makeover

 

Lisa

 

Filed Under: COLOUR, Cottage, decor, Haven, inspiration, Kitchen, natural, renovation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Appliances, lighting, and faucets, oh my!

November 16, 2015 By

The most fun part of any reno, well to me anyways, is the finishing touches.  Early on in the renovation planning stage, I sourced and decided on the appliances, lighting fixtures, faucet and sink so that they could be ordered and already be delivered when they were needed.  I didn’t want any problems with waiting for items to be in stock or shipped.

For appliances, I had a wish list, an induction cooktop, downdraft fan, a microwave/convention oven, wall oven, a warming drawer (since we entertain a lot at the cottage and in the winter, it’s always nice to have warmed plates), a wine fridge and a new dishwasher (which quickly became a panelled dishwasher). I decided on Bosch, for everything but the wine fridge, because their appliances hit every mark and I love their sleek look.

Early on, I had seen this Brizo Artesso faucet and I had to have it.  The cool industrial yet rustic vibe was perfect for my vision of the kitchen. Brizo agreed and I’m the happy recipient of it, in a beautiful oil rubbed bronze finish.

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For the sink, I was very torn between a large single, double or a sink and a half. I went back and forth relentlessly.  A large single sink is great, lots of room to do those large pans and soak just about anything, but I really wanted a place to stash my dirty or drying dishes (I hate on-counter drying racks, which I’ve  had and continue to have, and I resent it a little every day).  A double sink would give me that extra space to hide dishes but each sink was a little on the small size, given that I had to stay within a 31″ total width, so I compromised with a sink and a half.  I settled on a Franke sink as it gave me the contemporary edge that I wanted, had the size I needed and had slightly rounded corners to make clean up a breeze.

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Onto my lighting choices – I’ve had a hate on for the existing white track lighting, as there is typically only one or two of the lights working at any one time and let’s face it they are just fugly.  We added the Pottery Barn pendants when we first bought the cottage and they have certainly helped but I desperately need more light than they can give. (see before pics here).

An open rectangular lantern fixture with plenty of lights would be the perfect fit for the long island. I also wanted one without glass, to keep glass cleaning down. The Hinkley Fulton open lantern is perfect with it’s black iron exterior frame and it’s soft bronze interior finish which ties in with the oil rubbed bronze faucet.  To mount this, we will have to have the electrical boxes (where the track lights are now) capped and then somehow hidden (I’ve given this job to our fabulous carpenter and electrician).

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To coordinate with it, Restoration Hardware’s  20th Century Library sconces with their iron finish and touch of brass (to pick up on the warm bronze tones) were an easy choice.  Three of them will line up on the far wall between the windows to light the counters and open shelves there.

prod2460589_av1I also had my heart set on a pendant light over the sink and wanted something that was light and bright but with some dark metal.  Hinkley hit it again with this Clancy fixture, in a warm bronze finish.  Again, some creative carpentry will have to be done to hide the wiring…oh the joys of a log home.

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**Disclaimer, Brizo provided me with the faucet of my choice, in exchange for my honest opinion of it, here on my blog.

Lisa

Filed Under: Cottage, decor, design professional, Haven, inspiration, Kitchen, lighting, renovation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Changes, compromises and cabinets

November 9, 2015 By

Well, as I mentioned last week, we are plowing ahead with our cottage kitchen makeover.  Here’s how it’s looking these days.

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Part of keeping on budget, was the plan to reuse the solid cherry fronts of the cabinetry by painting them out. But sadly, after talking to two separate painting companies, it was a no go.  The cabinet fronts have a stained finish and don’t look too bad from a distance for 23 years old. But up close, well that was a different story, where they have been well handled, the finish is sticky and you can actually scrape it off with a fingernail.  Also, there was a constant white dust that accumulates on both the fronts and backs of the doors.  I would wipe them clean and two weeks later it was all back again.  Both painting companies didn’t feel comfortable trying to remove the finish and guaranteeing a new painted finish on them. Both tried various methods of sanding and paint finishes but they ended up a mess.

So the only option was to go for entirely new cabinet fronts, a shame really but I can’t say I was completely surprised, as I had wondered if the badly deteriorating finish was going to be a problem.

So onwards and upwards.

Earlier this week I met with the carpenter and he was looking skeptically at the drawer interior hardware and how the drawers sagged downwards when they were opened.  So, the next decision was made, to replace all the lower boxes, so that I could have new stronger drawer hardware and soft close drawers. Deep breath…..

Oh yes, and since we are going with new cabinet fronts, I may as well change the stainless steel fronted dishwasher I originally order with a panel ready one. I’ve always wanted one and what’s a few more dollars….sigh…..

Well, with my budget feeling very pinched, I went to Homesense to check out their stools and lucked in with getting two of these lovelies.  Then the next day, I went across town to see if I could score another one and lucky, lucky me, they had one.  Minus a few screws in the seat but that meant I got it at a steal and it’s an easy fix.

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So since that was a great way to save some bucks, I decided to keep going. Instead of having the live edge shelves custom made we decided to take them on ourselves.  After a couple of visits to WoodSource in Manotick, I chose two live edge maple slabs (here’s one close up).

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They will need to be cut to size and then lightly sanded and then I’ll give them a few coats of polyurethane to protect them.

Yay, for some budget saving this week.  We are waiting on the electrician to start some re-wiring this week, hopefully…fingers crossed.  Once that’s done, we will replace the drywall and then we will be waiting  for the cabinet boxes to be installed.

Lisa

 

Filed Under: Cottage, design professional, DIY, Haven, inspiration, Kitchen, renovation Tagged With: , , , , ,

Rustic/industrial/farmhouse kitchen makeover

September 16, 2015 By

I am super excited to say that we are going ahead with our rustic/industrial/farmhouse cottage kitchen update this fall…wow that was a mouthful. I’ve been such a busy bee getting all the items chosen, sourced and ordered that I haven’t even had any time to blog!

It’s so exciting! I’ve been dreaming of redoing this kitchen ever since I saw it.  This is how it looked when we originally purchased the home. (This is the realtor photo)

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And how the kitchen looks now:

DSC_0194So you can see that I painted the side panel in blackboard paint (which I love and I’m leaving as is). I added the hanging pendants, due entirely to my hubby’s cleverness.  The white knobs were exchanged for the black square knobs and cup handles.  And the wood shutters were removed from the windows, they banged into the cupboards and generally, just drove me crazy.

Now, we will be doing a much bigger change to the kitchen, but it is still not a total gut.  We are leaving the footprint the same, since it’s a log home, any floor plan or lighting changes are a challenge.  I’m okay with the layout, so I’m just doing some fine tuning.  But, can I tell you how happy I am to be finally rid of those white track lights, they are definitely on their way out! More on the layout and all the details in another post.

But I will leave you with the kitchen’s mood board.  As you can see it has a rustic/industrial/farm house aesthetic together with some blue, of course!

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Stay tuned for progress reports!

Lisa

Filed Under: Cottage, decor, design professional, Haven, Kitchen Tagged With: , , , , , , ,