Wednesday

After lunch, we couldn’t find Toby in his usual places, but we found him with his bear sitting on the bed. It looked like they were have a heart to heart private conversation.

This morning, we met with the designer and owner to go over the kitchen budget and individual items. We were pleased that the estimate came in on budget, less than what we predicted. He included replacing our can lights with the newer sealed LED all-in-one fixtures. He also included replacing the up lights in the kitchen and living room with LED lights, as well as new smoke alarms in the bedrooms (bring the house up to code). The under counter lights will be LED and inserted into a grove under the bottom of the cabinet, so no light shield will be needed. There will be a contemporary looking crown molding to tie all the upper cabinets together. We added a few more things (more lighting over the counter where the stove will be), stove vent, new washer/dryer hose surround). Then we looked at backsplash and countertop options. The backsplash sample above has texture and different sizes and subtle colors.

Here is how it would look on the vertical. Of course, it's hard to imagine because the grout is missing. That's what makes selecting backsplashes so difficult: we're looking at just the raw tiles, uninstalled.

We also looked at more tab pulls for the cabinets. We discovered a couple of issues: 1) the normal tolerance between the top of the cabinet and the countertop is tight. The countertop also hangs over the door, so there's not much room to grab the pull because not much will be sticking out. 2) The pull-out pantry is one tall slab, and the pull needs to be in the center, but these are designed to hang over the edge of the door. Both of these problems could be solved, but it will require some adjustments to their normal design. For example, the countertop overhang could be shortened. They could add more space between the door and the countertop to allow you to get a better grip. The pull-out door could have a slot in the panel for the tab pull to come through, perhaps with a fake indention horizontally to make it appear that the pull-out has two parts, a top and a bottom. Or we could get a novelty pull!

The white countertop has subtle veining. I liked the solid white, too. Countertops are difficult to photograph.

She liked the tile above that we found, too. She agreed to meet us at the tile store to look at tiles together. We agreed that finding the backsplash is the key to finding the right countertop and white cabinet color; otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels. I ordered a sample of the tile above so we can see it and touch it. It’s supposed to be white, but it doesn’t look white.

They both loved the faucet and said it was worth the money to buy a nice faucet. The owner said that Grohe faucets have always been expensive. We had one at Blue Bottle that we both loved. It's a shame that Mom and Dad's has been such a pain. He also confirmed what I read that major brands (not Grohe) will sell inferior faucets to box stores. The faucet will look identical to one at a plumbing fixture company, except the one at the plumbing company will be all brass inside and more expensive. Apparently, the big box shoppers want the look without paying the high prices and think they're getting a bargain.

After lunch, I rode my bike to Weaver Park and did as much yoga as I could stand. It was 90 something with a heat index of 99 degrees. The concrete was like a brick oven. I did more weightlifting because I could stand up and feel a breeze. I was completely drenched when I got home. 

We celebrated the day with a golf cart ride to Bambino’s for pickup pizza.