Kitchen Tones

So since we last talked about the kitchen, I have:

- bought kitchen lights
- returned kitchen lights
- ordered new kitchen lights
- which I will probably exchange on pickup for different kitchen lights
- ordered a fridge
- cancelled a fridge
- picked a new fridge, but haven't ordered it
- gone from oiling my floorboards, to not oiling my floorboards
- changed the colour of my caesarstone



Hey, and that's only the kitchen.

Ok, so this is what's happening as of today:

Kitchen with Caesarstone NOUGAT countertops
White vinyl wrap cupboards with silver drawerpulls.  Same as my bathroom.
Platinum Micro Laminex peeking through from the laundry-slash-pantry
Beige Royal on the walls - totes boring I suppose, but we like it, and it's the colour I did in my other, finished rooms.

Appliances you can see are stainless steel.
Splashbacks are as-yet undetermined.
My overhead/overbench pendants are black, which I am considering changing to silver.  A bit of an unknown until they arrive/some cabinetry goes in and I make the sparky dangle them from the ceiling for my amusement. 

Now the underside of the island where you sit on your stools kicking the bench.  I want a contrast colour there .. which I will pickup in the splashback.  I'm thinking stainless steel ?  The sample above is something called DUROPAL, which sounds a bit like a laxative, but is more like a laminate.

But the thing is, I don't think I want a s/steel splashback.  I could tint glass I suppose, but I actually think I prefer the texture of tile over a flat smooth surface.  I went to the tile place the other day, but I hadn't looked at the below-island laminates them, so it was an aimless browse at best.  I'm pretty sure they had some tinted glass tiles that would work

As always, opinions and anecdotes appreciated! ...

Kitchen Decisions

This week has been a big buying week.

I kinda liked the adrenaline of running around spending 'pretend' money
( aka: money we have to pay back to the bank, hello credit ) and making pretty-much snap decisions on applicances etc.  AB doesn't get a buying rush, so I think the word for his experience would be: draining.

Ok, in the kitchen - fridge, stove, dishwasher, check, check, check.

I deviated onto lighting when I was supposed to be thinking sinks .. so still gotta go there
( and my lights are out of stock until May, so I may have to make-do with something lesser-loved.  Poo )


Over at the house, they've been bricking in an old external door and making a new one in my laundry/pantry.  Swish.  It's set to become my favourite room.


I was over at Caesarstone yesterday looking at slabs of rock to lock in my final decision. 
It turns out some of my shortlist were way too busy when viewed large, so I surprised myself
by going meek & subtle. 

Ice Snow it is.

However, there WAS a fab slab called Free Spirit which was *adorable* .. but discontinued
due to beige chumps like myself not having any imagination or the guts to use it.  Pshaw. 

I thought it was actually quite subtle, and if it was still available, i'd be getting it for sure. 
I was assured I would not be able to even find an offcut anywhere in the country,
let alone 3+ metres of it. 

Pshaw I say again.

Lookee:





It has two of my fave stones in it: amber & amethyst.

I have a beautiful art deco amethyst ashtray that belonged to AB's grandma that picks up the prettiest light.  I pinched it from the table of stuff no-one wanted that was going to the Salvos. 

Maybe amethyst isn't for everyone then.


Ok, so White Snow.  All good.  Looks pretty in slab form, won't pick fights with Uncle Barry or offend the Tupperware host.  Wears pearls, crosses her legs, doesn't swear.  Done.

Next problem: The laundry that runs ( doorless ) off the kitchen .. with the 5m bench on one side,
and the pantry shelving on the other.

We can't afford the luxe in there, so it has to be Laminex.


I found a chip that matches the Ice Snow .. but it just wasn't sitting well with me .. not only was the tone slightly off and cooler .. it just seemed .. like it was pretending to be something it wasn't? 
With stone, you have that depth.. whereas the laminex was a printed stone pattern.  Flat as a tack. 

It bothered me. 
Would I get over it, or would it always make me wince?






So ( I think ) i've decided not to match it.  I've picked out a plain light linen speckle that isn't pretending to be anything else .. it's just a beige-y heshian-y shade that's quite nice. 

It's called Platinum Micro.






BUT, will it look weird to have another colour peeking through in the laundry? 
Unless I pick up this shade in a splashback later on to tie it in? 
Possible .. i'm not up to splashbacks yet - neither colour or subtrate. 
( I think they quoted me on glass though, which would be nice.. )

I could also pop it in under my island, where the kids will be kicking it on the barstools?





The black box above is supposed to represent the open doorway that will be there .. where you will plainly see the laundry benchtops

OR: Should I go with the fake-stone-look laminex that kinda-matches the Caesar?

Or something else?

What would you do?

Caesarstone and Various Ramblings

Today i'm armed with the Caesarstone book.





I'm amused that it's the same book I was given in 2008 when we did our bathroom renovation ( below ).

Wook at my baybee!
Isn't he gorgeous?
He turns 5 tomorrow ♥





Anyway, enough of the motherly schmo .. back to the reno..
( See what I did there? )


In 2008 I chose Ginger. 
This year, we're going more subtle .. which is hard because I naturally gravitate to high contrasty things.  I can *admire* your white-on-white-on-white decor at YOUR house ( or your white-on-white-on-white with a smidge of pale cream ), and I often do .. but for myself ...

Look, i've lived for years in imperfect homes and have learned to make do and improvise.  One of the BEST things i've enjoyed about imperfect homes is that you can't ruin them, and you can play with them.  It's like an old favourite shirt versus that $2k designer gown you bought.  Whereas a splash of paint on your shirt is fine and kinda blends in with the grass stains and the cake mix .. that designer gown is tres tres precious, so there's no jumping on that sofa, kids.

In old homes, you can paint your bathroom blue one day, or paint your back door emerald green.  It's a temporary lift, and colour is fun.  I loved my emerald green door, and the blue bathroom sure rocked the khaki that preceded it. 

I must find a pics somewhere ( pre-digi days, on filum peoples, filum! ). 


Last night I found a hot raspberry laminex chip and told the kids we should use it in the kitchen.



But alas, I have to be a bit more grown-up when i'm spending oodles of money. 
I have to be more classic, more enduring, more .. beige.

And that's ok too, becuase I quite like a beige/white/black palette ( which is what i'm doing ).
It allows me to pick up colour in accessories and not be shut into something i'll regret in two years time.  I can still be whack in my greenhouse and play with my colour pots out there, and bring in new stuff as I fancy. 

After all these years, I still love a red sofa, and my jeweltones are back in vogue too.


So these are the colours i'm thinking for our kitchen island.  It's a "waterfall" island which means the pretty extends and falls down the sides, like the pic below from Caesarstone in NIMBUS.





NIMBUS is one of the colours I am considering, but I haven't seen any in slab form yet.. just in little tile chips.  I'm going to take a look tomorrow.  Am unsure about the big chips vis teeny tiny little chips thing over a big area .. it's something you can't glean from a chip.

Colours i'm considering:




As you can see, there's a decision to be made re: warm vs cool as well.  I'm hoping some nice chunky slabs will sort that one out.  ATM i'm thinking either Nimbus or Nougat .. we'll see .. we'll see..

What next?
Plumbing is in and the sparkies were there yesterday. 
We need to buy an extraction fan for the stove STAT to the cabinetmaker can build his framing to fit perfectly.

Tomorrow I will be buying the rangehood and checking our lighting.  Schweet!


xx
Lea