Kitchen in a box...

...or lots of boxes as the case may be. A truck full of boxes arrived at the house today - my kitchen cabinets! Woohoo! They start installation tomorrow, and I cannot wait to see how they look.
I was pretty surprised to see the number of boxes that arrived (I couldn't get a shot from a good angle, but there are boxes stacked behind the two tall boxes in front all the way back to the windows.)
For some reason I'm a bit nervous, as if it's one of my work projects about to kick off. Hopefully it'll come together without any major issues, and if something does go wrong, at least I'll be on the client end and not in the hot seat.

Art Wall

I saw some pictures of Taylor & Wood's Frames Wallapaper a while back and had it in my mind that I wanted to use it for an art wall for Reese (at the time Sprinkle was not in the picture). Now that we're building, I've been toying around with different ways to incorporate it into the design - from wallpapering the kids play room (which will also double as an office/guest room) to wallpapering large wood panels to mount on their bedroom walls.

I finally decided to wallpaper the coffee bar wall (which will inevitably become the juice box bar) in between the two girls' rooms. The left wall will be Reese's art wall and the left, Sprinkle's (adjacent walls to their bedrooms, naturally). We'll probably just have pictures of Sprinkle on her side until she's old enough to create her own art.

I think it will be a nice whimsical (and personal) balance to the contemporary feel of the house. I can't wait to see it filled with little scribbles!

Kitchen Essentials

I just ordered two Stokke Tripp Trapp highchairs for the kitchen island. You know, because I NEED them. And when I think about it, they're reasonably priced since they individually cost less than 9 sq. ft. of backsplash tile ;-)

Weathered the storm...

We made it through the storm - thanks for everyone's prayers and good wishes. Our extended families in the Houston area are fine as well. We were fortunate enough to have power and water restored about 24 hours after they went out.

On Sunday, Jim rode his bike through our neighborhood and to where we're building. The damage to Houston is amazing - I've never seen anything like it in my 33 years of living in the area. It's nothing compared to the areas that were actually in the storm surge, but still surprising to see.

What's more amazing is that we had very little damage to our three properties in the Heights. Our house has some water damage where the standing seam roof had not been installed, but nothing major. I was fully prepared to find major damage since we have several mature trees right next to the house. We were very lucky, indeed.

Some pictures Jim took during his bike ride:

Hurricane Ike

me: Can Kiva deliver the kitchen cabinets on Friday, Sept. 19th?

builder: If the house is okay after the storm than it should be fine, but who knows what's going to happen.


Niiiiice...

Now that we have walls....

We met with our builder this past weekend to review the built-in configurations since they're starting trimwork (which includes moulding, built-ins, and cabinetry). Steven had some good suggestions, and I think everything will turn out well. I'm particularly excited about the built-ins in Weezie's room - a long window seat with floor-t0-ceiling shelving/cabinets flanking the windows. I had originally wanted the bench seats to have lift-tops for storage, but Steven recommended that we just have open cubbies underneath for baskets. The baskets are easier to access, and as Steven astutely pointed out, "if you do lift-tops, at some point one of your children will be inside the bench and the other one sitting on top of it."

We also discussed the interior stairs, which are made of steel (they're unpainted right now and have temporary treads, so pretty ugly). I want to do horizontal balusters which the building codes make difficult. As a workaround, we're going to clad them in Plexiglas to pass inspection and then remove them from the stairs once we're in the house. Depending on how good (or crappy) they look, we may keep them on the upper hallway because I have no doubt I WILL have kids trying to climb those. If we don't keep the Plexiglas on the upper stairs, we'll likely use mesh screens as some of our friends did in their house.

I had described to Steven how I wanted the rails to look, but I was lucky to happen across some stairs that looked exactly like I want at a local store, High Fashion Home. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when you're doing custom building. Oh, I did ask... and apparently commercial building codes are more lenient than residential codes as far as the baluster orientation. Doesn't make sense to me they would be more lenient, but a lot of the building codes don't make sense to me...

Upper Hallway at High Fashion Home

Stairs at High Fashion Home

Master Bath

I'm going for a calming, Zen/spa feel in the master bath and am working on finalizing the details. I have the fixtures, cabinets, and flooring selected, but I still have to decide on the countertops. We're using 18x18 travertine on the floor (same travertine we used on 22nd Street, see image below), and I'm looking for a countertop that complements that as well as the cabinetry I've chose (Merit Whistler Cabinets in Carriage Black).

I was thinking about limestone, but when I went to look at the limestone slabs, two other options caught my eye: Crema Marfil marble and Bianco Romano granite. I like the Crema Marfil because it has the same look as limestone but is more polished; it definitely goes with the travertine while acting as a counterpoint to the dark wood cabinets. On the other hand, the Bianco Romano granite has some really interesting grey veining which I think adds some interest. Normally I'm not a big fan of granite in bathrooms (I use them in our spec homes because buyers tend to get excited over granite, but in my personal home I prefer not to use it.) This particular slab seems to fit for this installation, though. Interestingly, Bianco Romano is usually very grey, but they had a random unusual lot that is more creamy in color. The one downside is that it's $425 more expensive than the marble. The old Vy would have said, "what the heck, it's just $425 in the grand scheme of things," but I've said that so many times in picking out appliances, lights, and bath fixtures that I'm starting to feel the need to compromise. We only plan to be in this house for five years, so I don't feel as compelled to spend the extra money if I don't HAVE to (i.e., it'll keep me up at night if I don't use the "perfect xyz".)

They're holding a slab of the Bianco Romano for 30 days, and Crema Marfil can be found anytime, so I have some time to decide...

Kohler Chord Wading Pool Sink with Purist Lavatory Faucet

Merit Cabinets in Carriage Black

Travertine that will be used for flooring (image from 22nd St. project)

Crema Marfil Marble (I'll select a slab that leans more yellow/cream rather than rose)

Bianco Romano Granite (Slab is more cream colored in person)