Tag Archives: Wood-Mode

August 6, 2017 · 3:13 am

I Think I Found My Backsplash…Well, Maybe, Please Help Me!

I think I am going batty trying to pick out backsplash tile for my new kitchen. I am closer than ever to making a decision. I am however, a bit confused on some of the components. I had given up on trying to find a cream subway tile. Every time I found something there was no coordinating trim to do what I wanted. I brought home a piece of beveled white subway tile and it didn’t look too bad with my countertops.

You can imagine my surprise when, after giving up on finding cream, and picking everything in white, I found out I could get it all in a royal cream color. Shopping for tile is very confusing. So, now I am going with cream. I mean, I think I am going with the cream, lol.

I like a 3″ by 6″ subway tile that is beveled, and glossy.

I don’t need much bullnose or trim pieces in my kitchen. I only need two small pieces where the tile comes up on the sides of the sink on either side of the window. I plan to top it with this piece of crown trim.

Gloss Cream Crown Molding 2.25″ by 12″

The other area I need a trim piece is on the side near my french sliding doors. I am not sure which trim piece to go with there, but there are a variety of trim pieces available. I will check with the installers, on what they think would look best. Here are some of the choices beyond the piece above. I know the colors don’t all look the same, but that is not accurate, they are all the same brand and same color.

Bead Wall Tile Trim 1″ by 6″

Bullnose 2″ by 6″

Bullnose Long Side Trim Tile 3″ by 6″

Bullnose Short Side Trim 3″ by 6″

1/2″ by 6″ Tile Trim

Dome Trim 12″ by 3/4″

Okay, at least there is an abundance of trim, the only thing they do not have, is the double bullnose corner piece. It is however available if I go with the white. I am not sure that it is necessary, but if it is, that will be my sign to go with the white, lol.

So now for the special accent behind the cooktop. I was inspired by this photo I found online on Pinterest or Google Images, I cannot even remember, I have looked at so many.

So, this brand also has a 4.5″ by 4.5″ tile that I could use in this design.

4.5″ by 4.5″ Square Tile

I would use the crown trim for the frame.

Crown Molding in Royal Cream 12 in. x 2-1/4 in.

The part I am stuck on is what color to use for the mosaics for the border and for the deco between the square tiles. Some that I think would be good are:

Natural Seashell Mosaic

Honey Polished Onyx Mosaic

White Natural Seashell Mosaic ( I think this may be too light to be an accent.)

Mini Tundra Glass and Stone Mosaic

My countertops are Cambria Quartz in Nevern.

My cabinets are Wood Mode in Vintage Bright White.

Ugh, as I am writing this, I am not thinking maybe I should go with the white. The cream is not a beige but really a bone that my kitchen designer said would look good. I am so conflicted. lol Here is the white:

White Beveled 3″ by 6″ Subway Tile

And a close up of it:

Close Up of White Subway Tile

And now the Royal Cream close up:

Royal Cream Close Up

My cabinets are not a bright white they have a glaze that makes them vintage, and more of a creamy white.

So, what are your thoughts on this? I really would love to hear, this has been the hardest decision of the entire kitchen project.

Big Home Improvement Updates & New Projects #HomeImprovement

Hi Everyone, I hope all the moms out there had a very Happy Mother’s Day. I am here with some very big updates. We will finally be starting the process of having the interior of our home rebuilt. We received great news from our air and surface testing after the mold remediation was completed so we can go to phase 2 and start getting our house back!

Need Help?

We have had a busy week. First off if you are looking for contractors or craftsmen and women, please try Thumbtack. We live in the country and we were having trouble finding contractors, electricians, plumbers, painters etc. One afternoon on Thumbtack solved that. Our house was like a hub for the next few days getting estimates because we had such a great response.

I have to tell you, we found so many skilled professionals we wanted to work with, it was hard to choose. We actually felt really bad about having to tell them that we hired someone. In the end, we found a contractor to do it all, from soup to nuts, everything! It was the best choice for us and we cannot wait to get this home rebuild party started.

Home Depot Pro Accounts Rock

My husband and I went to the The Home Depot the other day with our new contractor and added all the SKU numbers for all the drywall, wall spackle, thin set, grout, insulation, molding and other building supplies to my Home Depot Pro account. If you are doing work on your home and do not have a Pro account, go and get one, it is free, and if you are doing major renovations and will be spending more than $1500 in 7 days, it is well worth it. They also have a Pro special buy each week.

I could kick myself for the $7,000 plus I spent prior to knowing this. The only thing that consoles me is that what I bought previously was on a huge sale, so I tell myself it probably would not have been knocked down more. That is what I am telling myself anyway.

I work with a wonderful man there and he is so helpful and friendly, he knew my contractor immediately and told me he was a good guy. So, we now have just about everything we need except for the wall paint. That is because I need to pick the colors, which I plan to do this week. My kitchen designer told me to use the Cambria site that I am getting my quartz from. It has a paint match tool that is really cool so that is a huge help. It gave me four shades that would work and so I have to decide which two colors I want to go with.

Unbelievable Deal

We bought all the new hardwood flooring for our upstairs foyer, atrium and bedrooms as well. I am so excited about that because we got a great deal on the wood. It was more than a great deal, it was the kind of deal that makes me think of the IKEA commercial where the woman is running out and screaming to her husband, “Start the Car! Start the Car!”

We also have 3 pallets of Italian porcelain tile in our garage for the kitchen and first floor of our home. I still need to choose the tile for my kitchen backsplash, but my kitchen designer has advised me to wait until the countertop is installed, so I can really see how it will look. In the meantime, I am looking at what I think I want. I have just been informed by my contractor to look at some tile mat designs for the special accent tile I want to put behind my cooktop. I will try and do that this week.

Bathroom Renovation Finally Starting

We are going to be demoing the powder room downstairs and finally installing the new vanity and toilet. I did not pick out the new wallpaper yet so that will be something I need to do. I did pick up the new light fixture for the ceiling and we have a huge medicine chest, mirror unit that matches the vanity with built in LED lighting from Hafele.

We will then be installing a new TOTO USA Guinevere toilet in our bathroom and the beautiful Guinevere faucet from TOTO USA in the powder room. We will be installing the American Standard Self-Cleaning Toilet in the Powder Room along with the vanity and mirror unit from Strasser Woodenworks.

Kitchen Cabinets Due To Be Completed Soon

The kitchen cabinets from Wood-Mode are due to be completed on May 21st! I cannot wait to get my kitchen in. I am so excited. I have missed cooking and baking more than you can imagine.

Our refrigerator and dishwasher were delivered this week too! On May 19th, Home Depot will deliver all the building supplies and then work is going to be full speed ahead.

More Projects Underway

I also have some exciting little projects planned for me to do and show you on the blog. Our basement steps are still the unfinished wood from when we built the house. I want to dress them up a bit. I have thought about it for a while, but never got around to doing it, but no more procrastinating.

I bought Minwax Polyshades in the dark brown Espresso color for the top of the stairs and for the risers, I picked up some Wall Pops, Newport Reclaimed Brick NuWallpaper, peel and stick wallpaper to use. There was a photo on the outside of the package showing it used on stair risers and I loved the look. I will take video of the project to help anyone who might want to recreate the look in their own home.

I am also refinishing some windowsills in my house with the Watco Danish Oil and other Watco products. I cannot wait to share that with you, they are coming out fabulous. I am also covering the process on video, I hope it will help others to see how easy it is to get beautiful results.

Lastly you may remember in my master bath, I have the Concealed Cabinets. Well, I have wanted to add a little bling to them and I found some mosaic tile at Home Depot that I thought would match, and it does! I am going to put them all around the frame and then grout them.

I still need to find the right thing for inside the frame. I am thinking of using one of my flower photos enlarged to that size. The lilacs are just starting to bloom and I am going to try to take a photo that might work for that or use one that I have. I may do one in a peony and one with the lilac. I will Have to see. It is either that or one of my lake photos.

So, that is my update and I will be taking lots of photos and videos of the rebuild and all my projects to share with you of our progress along the way. If you have any questions, please ask.

6 Comments

Filed under Curb Appeal, Home & Garden, Home Improvement, Kitchen

Tagged as Bathroom, Curb Appeal, Home Depot, Home Improvements, Home Projects, Kitchen, Stasser Woodenworks, TOTO USA, Wood-Mode

March 30, 2017 · 2:10 am

Kitchen Update and Quartz Countertop Dilemma

I am back with an update on our new kitchen. I am happy to say, that 2 weeks ago we signed on the dotted line and our cabinets went into manufacturing. Since they are custom cabinets, they will be made to order and take at least 8 weeks.

We ended up going with a brand new Wood-Mode finish called Vintage Bright White. The Vintage finish is a distinctive glaze that is applied over the base color and adds a brushed appearance to the surface while highlighting the details of the door style and architectural elements. It also tones done the bright white and is just beautiful. The cabinets below are in Vintage Bright White. This is not the door I picked but I wanted to share the color with you.

We are also really excited about the integrated Häfele LED lighting matched to custom-fabricated Wood-Mode cabinetry. This lighting is brand new and we are the first kitchen that has it. I cannot wait because, I love light and I was forever saying I needed better lighting in the kitchen. This lighting will be in every cabinet and every drawer.

An industry-first, the Wood-Mode Integrated Lighting Program featuring Häfele LED solutions is a collaboration between two industry leaders to meet and drive the growing demand for integrated lighting design. The program utilizes the very best 12 volt, 3rd generation Loox LED options from Hafele. LED lighting is specified in 80% of kitchen projects overall (according to the NKBA) and offers energy-efficient, controllable, and discrete illumination with unlimited creative possibilities. You can read more about it HERE.

Beyond that, I have all the tile at the house and ready to be installed. I still need to pick the tile for the backsplash and that is where I am conflicted. The kitchen designer I am working with told me that it did not matter if I was having second thoughts on the color/pattern of the quartz now, because we have a lot of time. She said they will not be coming to do the template until the cabinets are installed. That made me breathe a bit easier because I have been going back and forth with my choice. I selected Cambria Quartz in Nevern. I have a very large sample piece and I love it!

The problem is that Cambria Quartz does not photograph well. At least the Nevern does not. In almost every photo I see of it online, it looks like a dull, flat, ugly laminate countertop. The picture below is the one I hate the most, it does nothing to sell this countertop.

That frightens me beyond belief. I know, I like Cambria Quartz, because I had it in my kitchen for almost 10 years. It is just that they need to do a better job in showing the beauty I see in this sample. I have heard other people complain about the same thing. Most said that they had second thoughts based on photos, but were happy in the end when it was installed. They said that the photos did not do it justice at all.

So I was thinking, I should play it safe and go with something like Ella.

On my way to sign the contracts, I kept thinking about it, but my heart and my head were not sold on it at all. I was so glad that when I told my kitchen designer I was thinking about Ella, she said, “Oh no, you do not want to go with Ella. You want something to make things pop!” I thanked her so much! It was the advice I needed! So Ella got kicked to the curb but I still am second guessing my choice.

I went on the Cambria Facebook page and asked them about my dilemma, but received as Verizon would say, a “half fast” answer. It was like they did not even read my question because they responded that I should look for a larger sample. I guess they missed what I wrote about having a large sample and the photos not looking at all like what I see in front of me.

I don’t know, I know I have time, but until I decide on the countertop, it halts the selection of the backsplash tile. Speaking of being halted, we have been halted for weeks with the demo crew. They should have completed everything by now. We have been held up for over 3 months, but let’s not even go there. Hopefully, work is going to begin next week. I feel like we are behind the 8-ball in getting everything done before the cabinets are ready.

Anyway, I guess this is not much of an update, but I wanted to let you know that things are still moving along slowly. The bathroom renovation has been halted a bit by this whole situation as well. I will have a post up about the faucet we chose for the bathroom in the next few days.

If you made it this far, thank you. If you would like to add any insight on the countertops, please do so in the comments. I would like to hear your thoughts. I will tell you one thing, if I do go for the Nevern and I love it, I will do everything in my power to get great photos of what it really looks like. I don’t want anyone else to have this uncertainty due to poor photos.