It’s been a LOOOOONNNGGGGGG time! If you’ve read many of my past posts, you know I place high importance on life balance. Between home and work, I’ve been a bit overwhelmed this year and decided the blog had to fall off the “to-do list.” Just for an extended time out…
Work has continued on the house and the kitchen has been complete for a few months now. While the space configuration wasn’t that bad, overall, the room was plain, very boring.
Our first priorities were paint, flooring, and new appliances.
We liked the bar area, but found it too low to be useful. We had three options: 1. buy new stools; 2. cut the legs down on our existing stools; or, 3. raise the bar height.
After much deliberation, we opted for raising the bar. My industrious husband configured the solution.
The next step was granite. To be honest, we were not pleased with our selection: Giallo Ornamental. We selected it from a granite warehouse – as we’ve done with our previous homes – however, it seemed too brown upon installation. We thought we’d selected something with a whiter, brighter background.
But, it’s installed and it’s going to stay!
Jesse’s first attempt with tiling a backsplash was a huge success. And once it was installed, the granite seemed to brighten up a bit. We went with a tumbled travertine subway tile.

For a final finishing touch, Jesse installed a couple of pendants over the bar area.

What is especially genius about this project is the base that he created to hang the pendants. We’ve had a hard time matching the ceiling textures in this house. He knew he would have to patch a few holes with the install of this lighting. Rather than go through the trouble for results that wouldn’t be perfect, he fashioned this base.

I was worried that it would look odd, but it turned out nicely.

The final item to highlight is this faucet. We installed a Delta Touch2O faucet and it is awesome! Touch it anywhere and it turns on. One of those weird things you never knew you needed…

The only problem is that I now have the same expectation for all faucets I encounter. I touch them over and over, yet they don’t respond!

You’ll notice that we painted the window box above the sink white. It really brightened the entire room and convinced us to continue the white trim throughout the house – the entire house…
Hazel says, “Really?! You guys are gluttons for punishment.”
Why, yes. Yes, we are.