Kitchen Projects

Last Sunday my parents unexpectedly watched Lillian for the day.  What a treat! Instead of slothing around like we usually do, I wanted to get some kitchen remodeling projects wrapped up.  Our Japanese guest Kayoko arrived to stay with us Thursday and that motivated me to get a lot of things done last week!

After a delicious, inexpensive, large portioned lunch at Lavash Cafe, Alex and I measured, measured, measured, then cut and installed the toe kicks.  I can't believe we waited so long for this little finish job.  It was pretty quick and makes the cabinets look much more complete.

Then I was inspired to cover the gaping hole above the stove.  I tested whether a piece of cork would fit.  With a little modification (cutting off the 'tongue' on one side) it did!  Alex pulled out the finish nailer and fastened it into place.

That only leaves two projects: countertops and trim.  Alex has the Concrete Countertops Made Simple book out of the library again and I overheard him telling Kayoko that he will build them this summer.  I'll believe it when I see it.  ;)

Cork flooring!

After a slow start due to last night's celebrating, Len and Alex began installing Expanko floating cork flooring. They struggled through the first third until they eventually decided to brace against a different wall. Then things moved more quickly and the whole room is now corked!

We each left marks in the room, our own 2009 time capsule of sort as pictured below.

Help Us with Kitchen Wall Color

Demolition starts on the kitchen tomorrow.  The general plan (I hope) is that we tear out and repair walls tomorrow, mud and sand the next day, then paint on the 28th before laying cork floor. The problem is that I don't know what color to paint.

The floors are amber hued cork.  Cabinets are light stained oak.  Countertops can be any virutally any color we want because the concrete and inclusions have limitless possibilities.  We were generally thinking terrazzo style light beige with amber or green or purple glass inclusions.  Appliances will be stainless steel.

So, what color walls make sense?  Initially I thought warm yellow orange.  I picked up some paint chips.  Putting them up to the cork, I just don't like any now.  I'm not opposed to bold - I LOVE color and think that with everything being warmish brown tones the kitchen will not be colorful enough.

Of course, walls can always be repainted.  I'm just hoping to get it right on the first try because before the floor and cabinets go in the paint job will be much easier than cutting in around everything after.

Any suggestions?

Flooring is Cork!

On Monday night, we received our quote for purchasing sheet linoleum and installation.  It was 50% higher than we expected and plans wound up with seams running in front of both the sink and the stove.  :( After stewing about what to do for a few days, we visited Greenovate, a local green building materials company.  They had a variety of flooring on display, including cork.  Alex fell in love with this pattern:

We went back to Greenovate today after doing some more research.  This cork is engineered with a click and lock system that would be very easy to install ourselves.  It is durable, soft, anti-static, and that lovely merle pattern will hide dirt and scuffs well.  At a little over $8/sq foot it is equally expensive as the linoleum flooring would be.  Ultimately we decided that cork flooring was more interesting and beautiful than linoleum, and self-install allows us more flexibility when we actually begin to do the work of renovating the kitchen.  So, we placed an order!

In short, the new kitchen is coming very soon!  Cabinets will arrive this Tuesday or Wednesday, and the cork flooring is expected to be in late next week.

We celebrated by eating ice cream at the best local (and national, in my opinion) creamery, Jeni's.