...and that's why I love the Heights

Many of our friends and family think we're insane to spend what we do to live inside the Loop, specifically the Heights. For one, we like the diversity that the children will be exposed to living in the city. I mean, where else are they going to see million dollar homes, crack houses, and farm life all within the same block?

Neighborhood "Guinea Gang" seen wandering on our construction site

Kids' Bath

I had decided to go with the Kohler Pinstripe suite for the children's bathroom (a Jack-n-Jill configuration), but I recently took another look at Kohler's redesigned Margaux line.

I have to say, it's a much sexier faucet, and I would personally use it in my own bathroom over the Pinstripe. So... once again I'm tempted to change my mind, and now's the time to do it. I'm going with a retro look in the children's bath, with white subway tiles on the walls, black/white hex tiles on the floors, and marble countertops. The Pinstripe suite is a perfect fit for this look, but the Margaux suite is so... pretty. There's not a huge difference looking at them online, but when I compared them side by side in the showroom, I much prefer the look of the Margaux look even though it's not as traditional. I am doing traditional with a modern twist on the rest of the house, so I design-wise I could get away with it. I also like the higher neck on the Margaux faucet. The other compelling factor on the Margaux line is 1/3rd the cost of the Pinstripe. Really, at the end of the day, it's the kids' bath, so do I really need to spend the extra money on the Pinstripe line? I think I'm talking myself into the Margaux, aren't I?

Pinstripe Faucet


Margaux Faucet



Pinstripe Shower/Bath

Margaux Shower/Bath

I hate the City of Houston

The City of Houston has really stringent building codes, and while I suppose that's a good thing to prevent shoddy building, it's a real pain when I want to incorporate certain designs or elements in our plans. It's made worse by the fact that many of the inspectors will err on the side of red-tagging you if there's any doubt in their mind (due to their lack of knowledge or familiarity with the product you're trying to use).

My latest gripe is that I had wanted to use horizontal cedar slats in lieu of traditional vertical balusters on the front and back porch, again drawing inspiration from the Gamble House. Since this could be potentially used as a ladder by a child, the City won't allow it unless I clad the railings in Plexiglas or other material. Besides being an additional cost, it would be ugly and completely contrary to the Arts&Crafts "one with nature" look we want with the exterior. Grrr.

Kodiak - I guess it was just meant to be...

I decided on the Amarillo Gold granite, but I was concerned because the slabs I had on hold were the last two slabs in the lot (i.e., no room for mistakes by the fabricators). I called Arizona Tile to see if Amarillo Gold is easy to source, and I was quite pleased to hear they had gotten a brand new lot. I scheduled an appointment for today, eager to select my new slabs.

When I arrived, I was amazed at how different the new lot of Amarillo Gold was from the previous lot; it looked like a completely different granite. It was much too dark, and there was quite a bit of orange. I actually like the orange/rust areas, but it's not the right look for this kitchen (and not to much that I could hear Rachele in my head saying that the granite looked "pee-stained", lol).

All was not lost, however. Coincidentally, they had pulled three slabs of Kodiak right next to the Amarillo Gold for another client. I mentioned to the salesperson helping me that I really liked those slabs, and they looked better than the Kodiak slabs I had on hold. He said the client was a no-show, so I was welcome to them. They're actually slabs from the same lot as mine, but they have a little less peach in them. My previous slabs were slabs 1 & 2, and the new slabs were 4, 5, and 6. I selected 4 & 6 as the ones I wanted hold. You generally want to pick adjacent slabs as they're mirrors of each other and theoretically are the closest match within a lot. However, slabs 4 & 6 were the lightest of the three slabs. You can't tell from the picture below, but you can tell a difference in person. The salesperson confirmed this, so I wasn't just being my crazy/OCD self. He said for these particular slabs and for my installation, it wouldn't be problematic for me to skip a slab in a series.

I feel pretty good about my selection. I think they match beautifully with the tile, and it gives me some peace of mind knowing that there are 14 slabs left in the same lot in case there's a problem during fabrication. One more decision down!

New samples of Amarillo Gold - see how different they are from the last lot I saw?

New slabs of Kodiak (click on picture for larger view)
Slab #6 (I chose #4 and #6)

Closeup with tile

Lights!

I've been looking for a special chandelier for our foyer, which opens to the second story. Chandeliers in the size we need are shockingly expensive (I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but it still amazes me how much lights can cost. They just *shouldn't* cost that much, LOL). We were hoping to find something we liked that was in the $2K range. I also wanted to find a contemporary light, so that further narrowed our options.

After going to several lighting stores and poring through catalogs, I think I've found our light - it's the Crescendo Light by Tech Lighting. I haven't actually seen it in person, but from the pictures and description, I think it's the one: The Tech Lighting Crescendo Chandelier captivates with its melodic symphony of light, balance, and soaring form. The Crescendo Chandelier features suspended, free-floating arms, each tipped on both ends with low-voltage light sources and paper shades.

I like that while the scale is large (we're looking at the 4'x8' size), it still has a light/airy feeling. I also love the fact that the arms are free floating so it has a sculptural, mobile quality to it.

For the kitchen island, I'm using the Ribbon Light made by PLC. It's the same island light I used in 24th, and I loved that light. I was sorry to leave it, so I'm glad I'm able to use it again.

There's one last "feature" light that I need to decide on - the dining room lights. The remaining lights in the house will be ceiling fans, recessed lighting, and vanity lighting. While I want those to be nice, those aren't lights anyone is going to focus on. At one light shop, we saw a great display of LBL Bling Pendants hung at various lengths on a spiral monorail. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because it really looked spectacular.

I'm also considering the Veneto Grande Chandelier, also by LBL Lighting,with the Amber glass bowl. I'd get it in the Satin Chrome finish to match the rest of the fixtures, but I like the warmth of the glass bowl which would go better with our dining room furniture (currently an Asian-style table and chairs and an antique Chinese armoire used as a hutch).

So, after I purchase these lights, I'll have about 63 cents left for the rest of the house, sigh...

Kitchen Faucets

Jim and I went to look at kitchen appliances and the remaining fixtures for our kitchen. For once, Jim picked out something that even *I* thought was too much to spend - the Waterstone Towson Gantry faucet, which runs about $1350 for the satin finish. They make a contemporary version that I prefer, but Jim likes the Towson version for its "Dr. Seussness". I think it's too much over budget, but Jim wants to still consider it. Folks, the world has turned upside down!

When we got home, I showed him a faucet I had seen online a few months ago, the Kohler Karbon Articulating Faucet. It has the modern lines we're looking for, and it's about the price I had planned on. My only concern is that I like having a pull-out sprayer, but it looks like the articulating joints allow me to get similar functionality to a pull-out sprayer. I'm going to see if I can find a store that has it on display so we can try it out. The videos on this page provide good demonstrations of it in use, particularly the 6th video down (Karbon Faucet 02:24).

I also need to find a pot filler. The one I've seen online that I like best is the Danze Melrose, and it's actually also the cheapest one out there (see?! the world HAS turned upside-down!) The only thing I don't like is that the stainless steel on Danze faucets is weird. It's not really metal, just metal-like. It's hard to describe - but it's the typical finish of the Moen, etc. fixtures you can get at Home Depot. I'm trying to decide if I can live with that since it is on the back wall. I love the style, and I haven't found any other pot filler style I like that wasn't $700+, definitely more than I want to spend on a pot filler.

Granite, Plan B (or C)

After contacting over a dozen granite suppliers in Houston, I located two that carried Mombasa. Of the two, only one, Stone Pavilion, carries it in 2cm slabs (which is what I prefer to use). Unfortunately, the slabs they have are really dark and are more brown than green, and they don't anticipate getting any more lots of Mombasa this year. They still look nice, but not what I had in mind since I'd found the "perfect" slabs while in Portland. Rachele also voiced concern that they were too dark since I have very little natural light coming into my kitchen.

I went to the second supplier, Arizona Tile, to look at their 3cm slabs. Their Mombasa was much more like the Portland slabs, reading more green than brown and also lighter. Unfortunately, it would cost us $2000 more to use the 3cm vs. the 2cm. Since the 2cm Mombasa was already slightly over budget, we decided to look at alternatives. Yes, I actually got Jim to go with me, even though his opinion doesn't matter ;-)

We separated since I tend to linger, and he returned after five minutes to inform me that he had found a granite I might want to use. He showed them to me, and surprisingly, I did like it. I told him I wanted to look some more before making a decision, however. I walked to another area where sold slabs had been pulled and found a slab I loved. "This is it!" I called over to him, "I like this one a lot more!" He came over, looked at the lot number, and rolled his eyes. Yes, it was the same granite he had shown me - Kodiak. All I can say is that the lighting must have been different in the Sold area...

I made an appointment to come back to select the specific slabs of Kodiak we wanted to use. We were pretty excited because while it was not "Portland Mombasa" (which will be forever elevated in my mind as the gold standard), I liked it well enough for our kitchen. As an additional benefit, it's a less exotic granite and would be $2500 less than using even just the 2cm Mombasa.

So that was this past weekend - cut to today:

I returned to Arizona Tile, and they had pulled slabs waiting for me. This particular lot had a deep, dark vein running through the middle of the slabs, and while I was mulling this over, the salesperson mentioned that I might like Amarillo Gold. They had two slabs left, and she had those slabs pulled for me.

So, after holding up my cabinet door and tile samples up to both granites, I still can't decide. Both the granites work really well with my tile/cabinets, so I couldn't use those as the deciding factor. They're holding both granites for me for now. Some thoughts:

Kodiak:

• More peach tones, which I initially would not think to use but it adds warmth and some of the glass tiles have a peachy/rose tone to them.


• Lighter than the Amarillo Gold, which is a plus since there's virtually no natural lighting in my kitchen and the cabinets and floors will be dark.


• Overall "warmer" feeling than the Amarillo.


• Con: There's a dark vein that goes through every slab in the lot. It doesn't bother me too much, and perhaps can be avoided when they fabricate. The peach tones, I suppose, could be a con.
  

Amarillo Gold:

• Appealing color overall - more "neutral". I actually prefer this color, but while not cold, it's not as warm as Kodiak.


• Con: The slabs have a lot of black running through them, so they're overall darker than the Kodiak. This may be an issue in my dark kitchen, but the island will be predominately cream Silestone material which may balance it out.


• Con: The Amarillo Gold is one level up from Kodiak and therefore more expensive. I'm not sure how much (waiting for bid), but it's still going to be less than the 2cm Mombasa.

Some pics:

• Kodiak


• Amarillo Gold


• Side-by-Side Comparison