Kitchen Reno | The Lay of the Land

17 May

Ah, the kitchen reno. It’s a love/hate relationship. At this point, I would say we are 10% into the process, which is enough to feel very daunted and enough to feel rather poor by the oncoming onslaught of bills about to come your way ;) You think you budget in every detail, and then…

In order to get a good idea of the lay of the land with cabinetry and counters, we have been shopping around quite a bit. First stop was Lowes. Mainly, because I saw this kitchen via Young House Love (actually a reader re-design from Design Me Gilla) and knew that I had to at least price these babies out and see how the cards stacked to determine if they were within our price range. We are going for all white cabinets with a shaker style door frame. I really like the detail on the front of the ones below, and the full overlay door. Love the poster, too!

Diamond Jamestown Cabinets

Diamond Jamestown Cabinets

When we first started browsing at Lowe’s the first time, the Jamestown cabinet through Diamond estimated a total cost of $3,400 for a 10 x 10 kitchen. Since ours is closer to 9×10, and we are pretty limited on the space that we can put the cabinets in due to door ways and window frames, we thought that we would budget in an extra grand and call it a day. Yeah …. I guess we should have added a few extra k’s. Oye. After the Lowes promo, our kitchen was right at $6,200. For just the cabinets.

Lowes Cabinetry Cost

Lowes Cabinetry

I gotta say – this has been a part of the kitchen reno I’ve found rather perplexing. We didn’t add all that many bells or whistles, so it’s kind of a head scratcher to see the price bump up that much. I think the biggest distinction is that the cost estimates given are only for basic cabinetry, and do not include any ad ons or odd sizes. When we were looking through the line items, the biggest bump was the paint! Just over an extra thousand for the white paint cover. Seriously.

Another bump was the crown molding. Just under $1,000 for that, which definitely means that Jay and I have made an executive decision to put that purty little detail up ourselves. We actually came to this conclusion for a few reasons.

First – We want to be able to do crown throughout the entire kitchen, and if we purchased the manufacturers crown for the kitchen cabinets, we might have difficulty matching (we most likely would have difficulty matching…).

Second – Umm, hello cost savings. After pricing it out, it looks like we will be closer to $200 for the entire room vs. $900 for just. the. cabinets. Yep – that help us make the decision, too. :)

Cabinet Crown Molding

Kitchen Crown

Above is an example of the type of trim I am looking for. Lovely lovely love. Here is a look we are going for overall in the kitchen. Hoping we can pull this off with our ensy teensy kitchen.

Kitchen Renovation

Kitchen Renovation

Next up – counter top searching! Looking for an affordable and durable alternative to carrera marble. Along with the rest of the world, right. ;)

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B-B-B-Basement Bath

16 May

Since this is our main bathing local, it has been very nice to transform this little space into something a bit more updated, and a bit more our taste. Plus, relative to the upstairs bathroom, this one came in on the cheap. Still in need of a few more details, but the room now has paint, trim and tile so that is some solid progress!

Benjamin Moore Northern Cliffs

Basement Bathroom

For the paint color, we went with Benjamin Moore Northern Cliffs. It’s much darker than our normal paint picks, but I am totally diggin it. I like the warmth it adds to the space, and I like that it’s different than the rest of the house. Stands out a bit.

Northern Cliffs Bathroom

Basement Bathroom | After

With the more neutral (and lighter) tiles, I feel like the room is able to support the darker color a bit better. I’ve also thought about adding wainscoting at a later date, but for now I am really liking the look we got going on. Except that rug! I need to try bleaching it since it looks really dingy and almost pink next to the new tiles. So does the vanity top, for that matter.

Northern Cliffs

Cabinet and Wall

Funny thing is, the cabinet, and wall color are pretty much the same. The dude at Lowes messed up the cabinet color a bit, so it’s a shade lighter, but I really think it is difficult to tell how closely matched they are. They are also different sheens, semi-gloss on the cabinets and eggshell on the walls.

Down the road, I would definitely like to replace the light. In the interim, we should probably just get a new light bulb. he he. In the long term – I’ve got my eye on this guy. Kind of rustic chic. ;)

Lowes Bridgeview Sconce

Bridgeview 2 Light Sconce

Another big improvement is the door. Oye. This guys used to be lime green, like the rest of the room. And like the ceilings. Green – everything. I guess they had extra paint they had to use up. Here is what the trim used to look like.

Green Trim

Green Trim

Along with the green door. ;)

Green Bathroom Door

Green Bathroom Door

And the after! I think the oil rubbed bronze hardware on the door will look nice with light above the sink. Diggin’ it.

Simply White Door Trim

Simply White Door

So far our only costs have been the paint, the tiles and the trim!! So we are around $125 right now for the entire bathroom. Woott!!! After we purchase the new lighting, I’ll do a cost breakdown for you to get the total picture. As far as new bathroom reno’s go though, I think we will be sticking with these sweet little tiles from Home Depot. Marble – under $4 a square foot. Yes, please. There are still a few things that I want to tackle in the room, but that will come with time. For now – much better!

Small Bath Reno

Small Bath Reno

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The Green Has Got to Go

15 May

Hunter green and pink. If I had to pick two colors that would sum up the previous owner’s design taste – they would be it. Add some wallpaper and a few faux finishes and we are pretty much good to go. Not to say that hunter green and pink are not nice, but we’ve been phasing them out of our abode. Guess we are just a wee bit more plain jane round here. ;) I’m a sucker for a nice, crisp, black exterior door and perfectly bright and white interior. What can I say, I’m a tried and true for the traditional.

Sunroom Door

Green Exterior Door

I felt an extra push to paint this door since we had already quasi tackled it by painting the interior, but not the interior door trim, so anytime we opened the door this spring to get a wee bit of air in the space, I would hard core cringe and the unfinished look.

Unpainted Door Trim

Door Trim

If I had my way, and a few extra dollar bills lining my pocket, I would get a french door installed here to open up the dining room, and to get rid of all the ugly gold trim. A la this photo. Fades off into dreams of converting the screened in porch into a sunroom …

French Doors Dining Room

French Doors

But since paint cost $20 for a gallon and doors cost a few benjamins … ya know. Some decisions get made for you. He he. ;) It was looking pretty rough though. Definitely in need of paint.

Green Exterior

Exterior Door

Here is how it looked after two coats of Benjamin Moore Simply White.

Simply White Trim

Simply White Patio Door

The trim panel is looking a lot better, too.

Door Trim Simply White

Door Trim

Oh, and the door hardware. That has to go, too :) After lots of looking around at the big box and local stores with nothing striking my fancy, I stumbled across this guy when I was buying our appliances at my new favorite website, build.com. Plus, they are actually quite a bit less than the big box option. Yippie skippie. Perhaps in the summer we will snag this guy for the door.

Exterior Door Hardware

Exterior Door Hardware

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80′s Oak – Just Say No

14 May

Well it’s not actually 80′s oak. It more like mid-90′s, and maybe it’s maple? But I really hate to inform you that it had to go. I wish I was happy with the cabinets as they were. I wish I didn’t feel the need to gut this room and redo everything. But I do. And that is a wee bit sad, since it turns out they don’t give new kitchens away for free. Bummer.

Here it is in the post-reno glory. So far in this room, we’ve really only painted the walls to get rid of it’s faux finish and we have been holding off for the bigger revisions. Until now. Dun-dun-duuunnn.

Light maple cabinets

Kitchen | Before

Right now the kitchen has a few notable areas that are low on the efficiency/storage solution side of things. First, there is the area in the corner. It’s a dead corner with no storage, just an empty little nook of nothing. Since our room is already super-duper-small, not being able to use this back corner is kind of an issue. When we plan out the space, we would like to be able to access this area, so we are hoping to find a cabinet that can multi-task back there for enhanced storage.

Unused kitchen corner

The No storage Corner

Another area that could ramp up the function factor a bit would be the cabinet above the lame duck corner. I totally love the look of a built-in, old school kitchen, so we are hoping to bring this guy all the way down to the counter in order to 1) optimize space and 2) make the kitchen look super fancy shmancy. This is the built-in look I am hoping for after we are all done in this corner. Sans the glass, since this area will most likely be our main storage for plates, etc. and let’s face it, my daily dishes are not something I want on display. ;)

Kitchen Built-in Cabinet

Kitchen Built-In

One thing I am going to miss about our new, redesigned kitchen is this little food storage area in the corner. Although it offers a pantry of sorts for us right now, the space is not designed quite right, so all our storage feels very hap-hazard and unplanned. I’m looking forward to chatting with a pro on it to see if they have any really good ideas on how to max out the space here a bit more.

Corner pantry storage

Kitchen Corner

We are also planning on re-configuring the oven space a bit. I’m not crazy about how the oven range pops out beyond the window frame currently. I’m also just not a fan of the oven in that location in general. So we will most likely move that along the wall where the pantry is right now, or to the fridge wall. Still waiting on a final consensus there. Ideally, I would like some cabinetry at this spot that stops right at the edge of the window trim, to create a bit more cohesion in the space.

GE Profile Gas Range

Oven Wall

And while we are at it, we figured that opening up the wall would benefit the space too – so – in addition to the new cabinets and appliances, we are planning on adding a foot or so on each side of the doorway to make the whole space feel nice, bright and open.

Busting open a wall – this is new territory for us, so although I’m pumped for the final result, I’m also not super excited about the whole getting there process. No gain with out a little pain. The wall next to the fridge will be opened up nearly to the cabinetry, adding about a foot of space on each side, which I think will help the room flow much better. The fridge we purchased for the new space is counter depth, so it will hug the counter by a few more inches, so it won’t be quite as close to the opening as the current refrigerator is.

Opening Kitchen Wall

Wall Opening

Overall, we are pretty excited to get this show on the road, but also a bit daunted by all that has to get done. Ripping out cabinets, opening doorways, redoing floors – it’s a lot on our plate. Each step gets us closer though, so it feels good to be headed down that road. Ask me again how I feel when I am covered in dust and feeling broke from all the costs associated with a kitchen gut and ya might get a different story. ;)

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The Last of the Mohicans

13 May

That’s a wrap! The last of the ugly bi-colored, paneled, who thought this was a good idea, doors, are officially out of my life. Woo to the hoo. For some reason, every single door in this house had the middle panel left au natural, and the rest painted some color (usually pink). I’m all about the natural wood look, but it’s all or nothing to me. It was like they were framed, in pepto-bismal pink. No, that simply will not work.

Pink Paneled Closet Door

Pink Closet Door

While were were painting the front closet, we also opted to tackle the one remaining paneled door, which leads to the attic. This one already had a bit of paint slapped onto it, since I used it as my paint getter-ridder surface before I washed it each time :) I figured it was a good a place as any for it! ;)

Attic Door

Attic Door

The closet had a pink interior, and pink trim too. Sensing a theme? It also had a messy interior before, as this became the dumping ground for all our project odds and ends that we wanted close at hand during the bathroom reno. Easier than carting our patooties up and down the basement steps, but certainly uglier. Well, perhaps that is debatable, but I’m going with the messy closet on that one.

Closet Organization

Closet | Before

Since it has also helped us get a smooth, even coat in the past, we opted to use the primer this time around as well. Kilz, I swear by it man! It’s it is the best! After one coat of primer, things were looking very improved, but still very spotty.

Primed Closet Door

Primed Closet Door

Malcolm took his job of watching over the closet contents very seriously. Don’t mess with the orange tabby. I think he liked the tower effect. That whole cat complex of being higher than you. ;) What – you looking at me?

Orange Tabby

Orange Tabby

After a coat (and some touch-ups) of Simply White by Benjamin Moore, the two doors were looking like this. Voila. Amazing what a coat of paint can do.

White painted closet door

Closet Door | After

And the upstairs attic door. Notice the pink carpet leading up the stairs. He he – more of the same! When will it stop! ;)

White painted paneled door

Attic Door | After

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Ikat and My Cat

10 May

What can I say, looks like Malcolm has impeccable taste. :) Bought a little beauty of an Ikat rug over the weekend at Homegoods (where else) and the orange tabby hasn’t left it’s side since. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that spring is finally here and the door now gets left open. ;) All in a day’s work.

Ikat rug

The Orange Tabby

I’m not sure exactly why, but I’ve never purchased a rug pad before. Holy smoky mountains. They make a WORLD of difference. Plus, the one we found at Homegoods was all of $4 bucks. so it’s hard not to get them for the amount of difference they make with the rug not sliding around so much.

Rug Pad

Rug Pad

First thing we did was place the rug pad down to get a feel for where we wanted this new rug to go. The middle of the room seemed to make the most sense, so down she went. :)

Rug Pad

3×5 Rug Pad

I was a bit surprised at how much smaller the rug pad was in relation to the rug, but it seems to keep everything perfectly in place, so works for me. The other extra nice thing about having a rug pad is that it adds quite a bit of cush and comfort. This may be another factor in the orange tabby’s love fest.

Ikat Dhurrie Rug

Ikat Dhurrie Rug

I’m just loving this little pop of color in our entry. Gives the space some attitude. For reference, here is how the space was looking before. So barren  So lonely and barren.

Entry | Before

Entry | Before

And here is another close-up of the new addition. Loving it more everyday. Malcolm is too.

Dhurrie Ikat Rug

Dhurrie Ikat Rug

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Just Commit Already

9 May

Now that the bathrooms are starting to wrap up around here – we have two more BIG projects in cue. The first is the kitchen gut and remodel and the second is the attic conversion to a master suite. Both are so daunting that we’ve just been dragging our feet on them. Plus, since they are more involved, they’re also more expensive, so all our hemming and hawing has given us a bit of time to add some cash to the reserves to actually PAY for them. :) For reference, here is a shot of the kitchen when we moved in. I think she was going for the wine and Tuscany type of look. :)

Kitchen | Before

Kitchen | Before

The cabinets in here are actually quite nice, and the kitchen even has granite counter tops – both are just terribly not our taste. We will probably craiglist the whole kit and caboodle. Never sold an entire kitchen before, so I’ll keep ya posted! ;) Since we moved in, we made a few minor revisions to the space, most notably, painting over the faux finished walls and green trim. Now, it’s time to bring this space to the next level. So. excited! The absolute best part is, since the kitchen is so very small, the price tag is also a bit more manageable. Score. Overall, we are looking for simple lines, lots of function, and bright, white cabinetry and counters. Here is an inspiration shot – would love the rug, too!

White Kitchen

Kitchen Inspiration

The first step to the kitchen reno, was ordering the appliances. Since we can’t measure for new cabinetry until the appliances are installed, I knew that I had to get my rear in gear on this one and just commit already. Like any girl with a kitchen renovating dream, I had my eye on some top end Viking appliances when we first started looking. (Not) being the cook in the house though, my pure motivation was looks :) He he. Jay (of course) also liked the idea of the Viking set, but after we started searching around a bit, a few things started to sway us toward more affordable options.

First, the Viking fridges are actually made by Kitchenaid. Go figure. After looking around at all the fridges, we just kinda shrugged our shoulders and we were like. Yep, that one will keep my milk cold, too. We really became less and less keen on shelling out lots o’ similions for a fridge that was more or less, jacked up in price due to the name plate attached to it. After seeing Aubrey and Lindsay’s kitchen reno here, I was starting to become a bit more receptive to some other options as well. Namely the GE Cafe line.

Here is the fridge – love, love, lovely.

GE Cafe Counter Depth

GE Cafe Line | Counter Depth Fridge

And here is the gas range. We bought them both. :0

GE Cafe Gas Range

GE Cafe Gas Range

And…. here is the scoop on our search. Once we decided to nix the Viking line in favor of something more affordable – I started my search at Lowes. They are having a pretty awesome deal where if you spend $5.999 or more on appliances, you get a $1,000 Lowes gift card. PLUS we have our 5% cash back at Lowes this month (which caps out at $1,500 per card, for our two cards, an extra $150 back) AND there is a GE Cafe line rebate right now for $450 off if you purchase (3) appliances. Given these sa-weet deals, I had my oven, fridge and dishwasher all lined up and ready to go to purchase at Lowes. And then, I saw the total populate in the shopping cart. Yowzers. Granted, this did not include the $1,000 Lowes Gift Card OR the $450 in rebates, but still. That would be our initial out of pocket cost.

Lowes Shopping Cart

Lowes Shopping Cart

Being so reluctant to part with $7,000+, I thought I would do some quick online shopping around, just to see if I could snag a better deal. And snag a better deal I DID. Did you notice the capital D.I.D. Fo shizzle. Build.com, ya ever heard of it? Yeah – me neither but we are now BFF’s. They had this tricky little promo where they didn’t tell you the price until you put it in your cart. Before I put it in the cart, the oven and the fridge were like $200 cheaper each. So my $1,000 Lowes gift card, and $150 back in credit card rewards were still tipping the scale.

Build.com Shopping Cart

Build.com Shopping Cart

But then, a magic fairy came and sprinkled fairy dust on my shopping cart, and brought the prices down to $1,764 LESS than the Lowes options. And THEN I found a 5% off coupon online! Win-Win-Winning! And the extra good news is that our local distributor just happens to have a floor model available of the dishwasher, and that is marked down to $799 from $1,600. And THEN, we realized that there was free shipping with build.com, where Lowes was going to charge $100+ for deliver of each one. Sweet tamales, say it ain’t so Joe!

So the final breakdown is as follows for our new sweet fleet of stainless appliances.

  • Fridge – $2,124
  • Gas Range – $2,201
  • Dishwasher – $799
  • AND there is a $450 rebate
  • So the grand total is $4,673 

We plan on selling our appliances for a few hundred bucks, so that should knock the price down to right around $4,000. Since we were initially budgeting to spend closer to $10k on a Viking suite, this make me very, very happy! We are having these guys delivered in a week or so, and I couldn’t be more excited. Only downside is that this means we have to get crack-a-lackin’ on the rest of the kitchen reno. Exciting, but also expensive and daunting! I feel like we are on step 1 of 100 right now. Each step gets us closer, though!

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Bathroom Reveal | Pinterest Challenge

8 May

From the wall tear out to the floor install, it’s been a long time coming. Now that the faucet is installed, I’m extremely proud to introduce you to the official after shots of our upstairs bathroom (sans a mirror). ;) In spirit of the image that started it all, I’d like to present my pinterest inspiration photo. Rubber ducky and all.

Herringbone Subway Tile

Herringbone Tile | Inspiration Photo

Here are some after shots of the tub surround and built-in. I love how much more open and airy this room feels now. Big improvement! Here is how our bathroom compares to the inspiration shot. I still need to get a rubber ducky to complete the look :)

Herringbone Subway Tile

Herringbone Subway Tile

Probably one of my favorite details about the new space is this little hutch we found at Homegoods. I thought that it would definitely be too large to fit into the tiny space, but I think it really works. It’s the perfect place to stash all our toilet paper rolls. ;)

Small Bathroom Storage

Small Bathroom Storage

I’m also totally in love with the sink and tub hardware. Both are Kingston Brass, and after purchasing this brand for the first time with this renovation, I can say I am a huge fan of the quality and workmanship with these pieces. They really make the room feel a bit more old school authentic to me, and I love that.

Kingston Brass Cross Handle

Kingston Brass Faucet

Storage wise, the built-in has been a life-saver for us, and it completely transformed this bathroom from a very non-functional space, to a much, much more practical room. We actually have a place to put our toothbrushes now – go figure! :)

Bathroom Builtin

Bathroom Built-In

And although the sconces are not what I original had envisioned for the space, I’m pretty glad that I came in $120 under budget on these. Life lesson. Being flexible can save you money.

Completed Bathroom Renovation

Bathroom Renovation

This room has come a long way! There are still some minor revisions that need to happen (door threshold, etc), but I think it’s safe to say that we are back in the bathroom business.

Marble Hex Floor Tile

Marble Hex Floor Tile

To bring y’all back to the beginning, here is how the bathroom looked when we moved in.

Bathroom Before

Downstairs Bath | Before

And since seeing a room reno is no fun without knowing how many dolla bills went into the mix, here is the total cost breakdown for you. (I rounded up to the nearest dollar)

  • Marble Flooring (including grout, mortar, a new tile blade, a few new tools and sealer) $296
  • Subway Tile $84
  • Backer board $42
  • Paint – Free! (used a color already in the house)
  • Sconces – $80 (Lowes)
  • Built-in (including wood, supplies, veneer and accessories) $74
  • Sink (splurge…) $282
  • Tub Hardware $108
  • Sink Faucet (including plumbing) $162
  • Spray paint for tub hardware $4
  • Privacy screen for window $17

Grand Total: $1,149 

So although this certainly was not a cheapity cheap renovation, I’m pretty glad to have this sucker d.o.n.e. We laughed, we cried, we went home happy. Actually, there was probably more crying than laughing – but in the end – we definitely went home happy. :)

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The Third Iteration of the Faucet

7 May

What can I say – our faucet search was a hard one. A long, fruitless search, where we had to brush our teeth in the kitchen. Every night and every morning. Those days have officially come to an end. Yippie! First, let’s go back to the beginning, when we got this guy in the mail, only to find out that it was a wee bit small for the sink. No dice.

Kingston Brass Mini Widespread Faucet

Kingston Brass | Mini Widespread Faucet

It is cute though, isn’t it! :) I then moved onto to this guy, thinking that the spout length would be just about right (1 inch longer) but after hemming and hawing, I had a hard time justifying the $230 price tag. So… I waited, and search, and waited. And then – found this one! The winner! :) After an overstock coupon, this guy came out to $150, not too shabby, but heck, not too cheap, either! Really, in the end, I think it was the little things (like the faucet) that ramped up our budget a bit. I’ll do a complete break down of the reno costs in the next post, to give some perspective on the total cost.

Kingston Brass Cross Handle

Kingston Brass Faucet

After we got the faucet, I pretty much begged Jay to install it immediately, since we had been having to cart our behinds to much less convenient sinks every single night to get ready for bed. After about 5-mins, the hall floor looked like this. ;)

How to install a faucet

Faucet Installation

Now Jay is normally a pretty calm dude. This sink made him angry. His biggest complaint was that the thing was just complicated. Notably, the hot and cold water lines that they provided were way too long, and each part had a bunch of pieces associated with it, so you had to very carefully follow the directions. Connecting the plumbing from the wall to the sink was tricky since the pedestal sink cavity was super small and the faucet was an adjustable 8-16″ center set, so the two lines were pretty long. You can see that things were pretty tight down there below!

How to install pedestal sink plumbing

Sink Plumbing

Jay is used to having one unit that you install (i.e. 4″ center set sink), so these extra moving parts peeved him a bit. Does he look peeved. Maybe he is just concentrating.

Kingston Brass Faucet

Kingston Brass Faucet

Here is the sink mid-install, about 15 mins into the process. The whole kit and kaboodle took 45 mins (and a trip to the hardware store), but I think we are both pretty excited to have a sink again! Here is what the sink is looking like behind the pedestal these days. Mighty janky, huh? Glad we found the storage unit to put next to the sink, since it really does help camouflage things.

How to install a pedestal sink

Janky Plumbing

When we hopped over to Lowes, Jay did try to find some plumbing that was not quite as long, to avoid the looping in and out, but the connector part was not the correct fitting, so we opted to work with what we had. I’m glad that we were able to find a work around and use a lot of the plumbing that came with the faucet, since it saved us about $15 of plumbing in the end. Ain’t much, but I’ll take it.

Kingston Brass Cross Handle

Kingston Brass

One thing I have learned about plumbing (via Jay’s attempts) is that it is an extremely iterative process. I mean, 5 trips to the hardware store type of process. It’s really hard to know (especially when you don’t do plumbing very often) what the correct fittings will be, and what will or won’t work for your specific job. I gotta tell ya, plumbing is really my least favorite DIY job around here. It usually ends in an old faithful episode and houses and gushing water really don’t mix well. Just ask our old house.

Cross Handle Faucet

Cross Handles

There was one of easy step in the process. Gluing down the drain. We just used some bathroom quality caulk we had laying around. After applying a pretty liberal amount to the base, we just plopped the drain on. Done. That was easy. :)

How to attach faucet drain

Attaching Drain

Overall, I’m digging the new addition and I am certainly very ready to have some easily available H20 next time I need it.

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Greige – The New Black

6 May

Literally, he he. Black is chic and all, but it just wasn’t working for me in the downstairs bath. It was high time for some updating! Plus, I’ve got a weak spot for painting things – anything – so the cabinet was my latest victim. Waa haa haa. To refresh your noggin, we started out with this. It is hard to get a good angle is this room, so sorry about the cramped shot! :)

Benjamin Moore Simply Black

Cabinet | Before

Notice the green trim and doors. Lovely. After testing out lots of paint samples from Benjamin Moore, I decided on Benjamin Moore Northern Cliffs and carted my booty out to Lowe’s to get a gallon of the stuff color matched (since our cc gives us 5% back this quarter at Lowes – woot!!) When the dude at Lowe’s was mixing the paint, I swear it didn’t look quite right. I know he thought I was crazy sauce, but what can I say – I’m persnickety when it comes to my colors. Sure enough – got home and slapped some paint up on the wall and it was NOT the same color. Paint sample A above, what I got from the Lowe’s man, below. Way more silvery gray, no?

Not going to lie, I found this pretty annoying, since the whole reason I carted myself out there in the first place was to buy the sample, to make sure I liked it. Oye. In the end, being the (not) patient person I am, I opted to give it a try, and decided they could always retint it if I absolutely hated the color. Can’t win em’ all, right?

Northern Cliffs Benjamin Moore

Northern Cliffs Color Match

Grabbed a gift box from the storage room and got to moving and shaking on this thing. As it was going on the door, I was liking it more and more. Looks to have a bit more brown in it on the cabinet, to me. Which was ultimately the look I was going for.

How to paint cabinet door

Painting Cabinet

The other thing I found tricky about this room was how different the colors looked on the wall, vs. on the cabinet. Here you can see the same paint color, and how different it looks between the two surfaces. It reads a lot cooler on the wall to me. Crazy town. Same color people – same color!!

Paint Color BM

Northern Cliffs

Since the hubby was out of the town, I had to resort to creative solutions to get this installed. Probably took me 30 minutes just to get the darn thing at the right height, he he. When I finally found the right combination of magazines and got the height just right I practically did a happy dance. Then I started signing the Bob the Builder theme song. Something about using power tools always makes me start galavanting around the house and singing that tune. ;)

How to install cabinet door

Magazine Propping

And after the hardware was installed, this little baby was looking mighty fine! Normally I’m not a crazy huge fan of the polished nickel, but I’m digging how it looks on the cabinet. Ties in nicely with the marble floor tiles, too.

Greige Bathroom

Greige Bathroom Vanity

I’m pretty pumped to show you how the whole room is turning out! I’ve already got my eye on some sweet etsy art to tie the room together. One thing I am noticing though, now that the vanity has been painted, is that the vanity top looks kinda pink. The cultured marble may have to go in favor of something a bit more neutral and less 90′s (hard to tell in these pictures…). But that is another day, and another dollar my friend.

Northern Cliffs perfect greige

Greige Bathroom Vanity

This post is a part of the William Morris project at Pancakes and French Fries.

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