Kitchen Faucet: Kohler Simplice & Tile

Thanks to those of you who offered your opinions on FB Networked Blogs and here in the comments section and in person about kitchen faucets. It was nice to hear what people's reactions might be. In the end we chose the Kohler Simplice and so far we're really happy with it. It's a bit splashy but we're learning to manage. What I love about it is that the head pulls down and out very easily and there are three buttons on the back that allow you to have a single stream, shower spray, and a final button allows you to momentarily stop the flow altogether. The hose has a great range which is real nice and essential because we opted for only one sink but it is one big sink! Oh and that button next to the faucet is the garbage disposal button. Love it! It keeps the backsplash clean of outlets and switches. Below are some close ups of the tile so that you can get a better sense of the design. I'm so glad I found the tile and I'm so glad that Mr. Schmitz was able to access his architect discount! It seriously saved me from the dilemma of glass mosaic tile that was terribly expensive and impossible to find something that I liked for a even slightly reasonable price. This tile is your basic Italian ceramic. What's nice about it is it's 3-d textured-ness and its large size. Larger size means less grout means less kitchen goop stuck in kitchen places means less cleaning of goop! Yay again! Next up I gotta share some close up pix of the island top. It is gor-or-geous! Seriously a show-stopper!

Green Kitchen Feature Item: Built in Compost Bin

This is the first weekend that Mr. Monkey and I have been able to cook and live in our new kitchen (pictures coming soon). We've just spent the whole weekend moving kitchen items in from the garage to the house, sorting for keepers and tossers (to Goodwill of course), and washing, and then finding each item a home. One of my favorite features of our new kitchen is the built in compost bin. As you can see it's just a catering pan. But it's placement in the top drawer makes it so that we can bump the drawer with our hip and the drawer opens, we just lift off the lid and wipe all food scraps from the cutting board or the stainless steel counter top directly into the compost bin. Lid goes back on and you bump the drawer closed with your hip again. As an added little niceity Jonathan Plummer  whittled a wee walnut handle for our compost bin to match the gorgeous island top. A nice touch indeed. Now we're composting and no one can tell because our compost bin isn't sitting out on the counter. We're covert composters! If you're wanting to see more recent pics of the kitchen check the twitter feed. I'll try to get some bigger non-phone pictures up here this week. Thanks for reading everyone! I appreciate the feedback over twitter and in person. We're nearing the end of this kitchen remodel and now we're left with a few choices remaining like bar stool selection and wall and window trims. Stay tuned!

Dispatches from a Construction Zone: Part 3

Bunchberry Woodworking Cabinet in the shop, push to open door and silent close drawers.

Now we're getting somewhere. I'm a bit tired so I won't be writing a ton but I wanted to share the latest views of the kitchen with you all. Things are moving fast and furious now and I'm no longer "Fear and Loathing" in Remodel-ville. The floors turned out better than we hoped through some major rough spots with Boles Construction, who we would never hire again (future review on Yelp?) and now we welcome the dynamic duo: Mr. Plummer and Mr. Schmitz for the dramatic custom cabinet install. Here are some shots of the early stages. Oh and appliances got delivered today!!!! 

Monday evening, floors not quite done.

Wednesday evening, Bunchberry Woodworking install Day 1.

Thursday, Bunchberry Woodworking install Day 2.

Thursday evening, south facing view.

Thursday night, north facing view

Sunny Times in Santa Barbara Beach House

We spent New Year's with many of our favorite monkey's from college times and from current Eugene times in Santa Barbara, CA. Art Monkey down Tucson-way found us this sweet sea-side crib. I'm not sure how to describe this Montecito Beach House. It could be described as California Beach Retro. It had a touch of modern and maybe a little too much shell art. I think the home owners forgot that a little shell art goes a long way! We had a blast playing in all the various rooms of this luxury (for us) rental. These pictures were taken after a week of playing with two toddling twins and gaggle of Camp WU Bearcats plus a few dinner and hot tub guests. Cheers to California dreamin'.

Formal Living Room

Lanai

Formal Dining room looking towards bar and kitchen.

Evidence: A little shell art goes a long way.

View of hot tub and ocean for 2nd story sun deck.

View from the corner of our room of Ocean.

Mountain View from sun deck.

Dispatches from a Construction Zone: Part 2

 It's Saturday and Mr. Monkey and I were supposed to be up at a mountain cabin soaking in some hot springs but instead we're home babysitting the flooring process. The above picture is the floor with no treatment. The below pictures show part of the process ending with how the floors looked this morning. Not exactly what we're going for. The major problem is that Mr. Monkey and architect extraordinaire, David Schmitz, AIA of Engage Architecture, met with the contractor and explicitly stated the floors should be smooth in texture, uniform in finish, and level. So far we've only kinda reached the level part. To the credit of the work crew they did return this morning on a Saturday to make it work. I got to sit in on the color mixing process so I could approve the color - a much darker blue grey than what is in the pictures below. We're going for smooth texture, shiny finish, dark blue under layer with dark charcoal gray top layer. Mr. Monkey is at the house now while the crew places another layer on top of this one. They sanded this morning and they'll add a new layer today - hoping for the smoother, darker finish. Fingers crossed that this it the final layer and that Monday they'll be able to stain with the charcoal water-based stain and then add the shiny sealer - two layers of it. At the beginning of last week I was saying, "At the end of this week the floors will be done - yee haw!" Now that time has come and gone and now I'm saying, "By the end of THIS week the floors will be done and maybe even Bunchberry Woodworking will be able to start installation at the end of this week.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!  

After the floors were sanded they placed a self-leveler and another material to evenly cover the concrete pad.

This is what we woke up to this morning. Uneven finish, uneven color, level was okay, wrong color.

Here's a close up of some of the texture issues. Imagine walking on this with bare feet. Ickers!

The dining room.

North-facing view.

Kitchen Plans: Engage Architecture

Engage Architecture, David Schmitz, AIA

Things are moving along slowly but surely over here in the construction zone. We've had a delay of several weeks due to the floors. Let's just say that we planned for this to be a 6 week adventure but had planned for an extra couple of weeks - so we were thinking 2 months. We're at the 2 month benchmark and we have a solid two weeks remaining. Mr. Monkey and I have gotten quite cozy in the our 2 room living situation. I actually don't mind it. The big problem is the dirt and the dust. That really gets to me and my lungs and my time. I don't really love cleaning to begin with and having to clean every day before you can relax in your 12 by 12 room is a bummer. But then . . . I look at the above picture and I sigh a deep sigh of "it's totally worth it." And it is. David Schmitz, AIA of Engage Architecture has done a great job being a hands on architect offering lots of support throughout the construction process. The plans have changed slightly - adding pendant lights above the bar - substituting walnut cabinet fronts in place of the turquoise - single door dish washer as opposed to the double drawer thing. We've also decided to hold off on the built in shelving in the corner until we're completely done with the kitchen and our bank accounts have recovered. In the meantime I'll just look at this image and think of all the great hanging out and entertaining that will take place.

Custom Modern Platform Bed: Bunchberry Woodworking

Friends, I don't know what it is but I am one sleepy girl. Was it the super worm moon? The time change for daylight savings time? Or Rib Fest at King Estate? I'm not sure why I've been so tired but I do know that I have been very much appreciating my modern custom platform bed made by Mr. Jonathan Plummer at Bunchberry Woodworking. Jonathan entertained my musings and allowed me to make some drawings and then we talked specs. I showed him the pictures below too which were my inspiration pieces. Jonathan picked up the wood, Western Walnut, locally. He has his Bunchberry Woodworking shop here in the Friendly Street Neighborhood around the corner from our house. So the bed is following along with our effort to keep it local. Also the bed was more affordable than buying a crazy expensive wood frame from New York and having it shipped! You might think that custom furniture is out of your price range but if you know a local artisan it's worth asking for a bid. The top picture is pretty close to the final outcome. I was able to pick up a vintage Saarinen-style side table from Oak Street Vintage that looks like this and completes the look. With the storage (4 drawers) under the bed Mr. Monkey and I are doing a much better of job of keeping the room clean too. Things are a bit cramped right now with the kitchen remodel but heading into our bedroom and seeing the beautiful bed I rest comfortably each knowing I had design the bed and our wonderful neighbor, friend, and artist made it with his own hands and with local Walnut. When furniture shopping it doesn't get much better than that.

Now we've even got Mr. Bunchberry Woodworking creating our custom kitchen cabinets! Check out the twitter (@eugmodernmonkey) feed for some previews.

Suite New York, Doze Bed

Hudson Storage Bed, Room & Board