Dispatches from a Construction Zone

North Facing View

South Facing View

Mr. Monkey took these pictures after the sheet rock was placed up this Monday.  It's starting to look more like a home and slightly less like a construction zone. Yay! Dry walling is on the docket for today. The concrete floors are poured next week. We're still considering what color to stain the concrete floors. Do we go lighter or darker? Do we go for gray, brown, or beige? We'll keep you all posted.
Thanks for the comments about the kitchen faucet on Facebook and here. I think you all made excellent points and it's clear the swan neck faucet won! I think it will indeed be beautiful against the tile. Thanks for your input!

Kitchen Faucet Choices

What do you guys think? These are the 2 finalist for Kitchen Sink faucet. Both have the same pause feature and the same spray pull out  directly from the primary neck as opposed to a separate spray pull out.  Don't be thrown off by one having a plate and the other one not having one. This is a simple item to change. Also both faucets have 360 degree rotation possibility. Both are from Kohler and similarly priced. And both are available in a finish that would match our appliances. Last but not least the one on the left is called the Elate and the one on the left is call the Simplice. Basically the decision comes down to which shape and look do you think will fit the best in our kitchen. Feel free to offer your words of wisdom or just flat out opinions in the comments section. Just think . . . in less than a month we'll have our stunning after pictures up and we'll be able to invite those of you in town over for a glass of wine! Can't wait! Thanks for checking in! 

Parallam Wood Beam: Load Bearing Modern Feature

 

before - south facing view

before-north facing view

 

before - north facing view

In progress - with beam and skylight, north facing view (Mr. Monkey too)

In progress - south facing view 

In progress - south facing view

As a part of the kitchen redesign we removed the breakfast bar. Before we removed the bar however we had it checked and it was in fact load bearing soooo that means we were gonna have to get something in there to support the weight of the building. We decided on a parallam wood beam that we would leave it exposed. Here's what we have so far. I really love the texture and color play its got goin on. I think once we have the rest of the wood features with the cabinets (a mix of walnut, apply ply, and maple) it's gonna look sweet. In these pics you can also see the skylights shedding some light on the situation.

Backsplash Tile

Progress is steady here and decisions are being made every day. Friday we finally decided on the tile for the backsplash. We chose these 10x20 tiles that are all white but have a nice geometric relief. The tiles are a white porcelain. We looked at a lot of tile at 4 different stores not including internet shopping. I had really wanted a mosaic tile but most of it is glass and costs over $20 a sq foot.    In the end we just weren't finding the colors we were looking for in our price range. I'm really happy with the large shape and modern pattern. The pattern we will stack and so we'll have nice vertical lines adding the feeling of height to the wall.  We're really pleased with the look and the price! I think it's going to be modern, clean, and classy!