Kitchen Faucet

I was cleaning up my photo account and found this video I took for someone who wanted to see the Kohler Karbon in action.    I thought I'd post it here in case anyone else is considering it.

I love the faucet - the look is perfect for my kitchen and overall, it's great functionally.  I don't miss not having a separate sprayer at all, and I love the fact that I can fill pots, vases, pitchers, etc. on the countertop and "fix" the faucet into whatever position I need.  On the con side, while it moves easily, it's not effortless/ballet-like as the Kohler videos would have you think.  Also, I'm often turning the joystick with a wet hand, so inevitably, water drips down on the escutcheon.   While it wipes off easily, water spots are quite noticeable because it's such a shiny and large escutcheon. 

...and then there was light.

My island light finally arrived, six months after I ordered it. It's the same light I had used in my kitchen on 24th, but I was surprised to see that they had changed the design. The metal arms are broader, and the glass sconces are heavy and not as delicate as before. I still like it, though. I think it fits the modern/clean feel of the kitchen while adding a bit of whimsy. The arms can be bent so that you can shape the light however you like. Right now it's still fairly compact, but I'll eventually play with it a bit more and pull some of the ribbons out to give it more of an unstructured look.

The kitchen as you can see is almost (finally!) done. The only thing left to do is to replace a few doors. One door is warped, and the cabinet doors above the double oven are too dark. Kiva had Merit make replacements, but the replacement doors were still not the right shade. Hopefully third time's the charm!

Getting a little closer to "home"

Ten weeks later, my shutters finally arrived. They were worth the wait - they look so much better than the blinds we installed in our master bedroom and the nursery. They're also more functional since they let in more light when open and are easier to clean. To save money we only did shutters on the ground floor (family room, library, and dining room) and in the two bedrooms in the front of the house on the second floor (i.e., windows that affect curb appeal). The remaining two bedrooms in the back of the house we opted for the less expensive wood blinds.

The shutters make a huge difference in the look of the house. The temporary paper blinds, as their name would suggest, gave the house such an unfinished, transient look. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of our back ordered items.

A few pics:

Reese's Room

Dining RoomLibrary

Getting there...

With tons of help from my sister, we're somewhat unpacked. I still have stacks of boxes to sort through, but they have been moved into the guest room so that the main living areas are clear. We're really enjoying the new house, and J and I both have commented on how it immediately felt like "home".

I've put off taking pictures for the blog since there are punchlist items to be done and I'm still in the process of hanging up my artwork. I've put a few pieces up, and it's really nice to move from the unpacking phase to decorating. Now the fun really begins! We had a ton of things in storage, and most of our belongings still work for the decor of this house. I did have a new couch made for the living room, but luckily we still like most of our furniture (side whine: I ordered the couch Nov. 2 and it's not going to be done until the end of the month!) I want to eventually replace our dining room table for something bigger since it only seats 6 and is a little small for the scale of the room. This purchase will have to wait since we want (and need!) to put the kibosh on unnecessary spending.

Anyhoo, I digress. Hopefully I'll get my act together and get the paintings off the floor and will take "After" pictures soon!

Kitchen

My kitchen is still in progress - it's been a huge cluster with the oven unit and it basically needs to be redone. The crown moulding is not installed, the doors need to be replaced because the stain is too dark, the cover that surrounds the double oven needs to be replaced (for the THIRD time), and the door on one of the ovens needs to be replaced.

In addition, the flooring people installed shoe moulding all around my toe kicks when I specifically told the builder not to, so when it was removed, there was damage to the floors and the toe kicks. Some of the toe kicks are being replaced and the flooring will be patched. My builder has already agreed to pay the $1100 bill if we need Kiva to install new trim if the patching doesn't work, but I think it'll look fine.

And of course, my really cool light fixture that goes over the island is on back order. Story of my life.

Anyhoo, enough whining. My designer asked me to take some in progress pictures for her portfolio, so I took the following pics. Even with the things that are unfinished/wrong, I LOVE the kitchen. It is, if I do say so myself, gorgeous and exactly what I had in mind. Moreover, it's completely functional. I have more storage than I know what to do with, and it's been great to eat with my family (including my sisters/parents when they've come over) at the island. I've even cooked a few times, LOL. Granted, I've just done spaghetti (twice), but I got to use my cool pot filler. I'm sitting at the island right now, actually. The kitchen opens up into the family room, and I can be with the family and watch tv while working in the kitchen.

Thanks, Rachele!

Double click on image for larger view:

Kitchen - February 9, 2009

Priceless email that made me smile

I sent my builder an email checking on status of the house this morning; I told him I had packers coming in this week and the movers coming in on Friday and wanted to see if we were still "on". His response:

"As of today I think we look fine for moving in on Friday. My only concern is still the power meter, but I was assured by Centerpoint that it would be in today, which means is should be in before Wednesday. Everything is ready to start up and the appliances will be in tomorrow, so given that we get power you will be fine. Glad you’re getting packers this time, I was wondering how you were going to do that. Not that I don’t think you could, I know you could still kick my a**, but I those boxes get heavy...."

Things that make you go, "hmmmm...."

They put the first coat of paint on the walls, and I noticed they painted around the paint samples. I told the painters it was okay to paint over the samples. They said, "oh, no, we have to sand it all down to make it smooth first." Hmmm, you'd think they'd do that before painting the first coat...

Ah, well, as long as it gets done.

*note: the first picture is the nursery. We ended up using a different color than the sample we put up, hence the color difference.