Last visits to the plumbing store

Over the weekend, I realized that I had neither ordered the drawer pulls for the bathrooms nor ordered the kitchen faucets.  oops!  My sales guy did not work over the weekend so I had to wait for Monday.

Yesterday (Monday), I ordered the drawer pulls over the phone.  They are from Pacific Modern and we ordered PMH-C-02 for the master (top most pull in the left column) and PMH-M-08 for the kids (bottom most pull in the right column).  Both in a stainless steel finish.

Today, I asked my mother to help babysit the little one while I ordered kitchen faucets.  I really really like the Perrin and Rowe bridge faucet.  Notice how it stands on two feet.

traditional kitchen faucets design by https://www.lightinguniverse.com

Well, ended up getting the Grohe Bridgeford bridge faucet.  It's got three feet but it's about $600 less than the Perrin & Rowe.  Money talks!


Also got the matching pull-out faucet for the prep sink.



My little one had a great time in the store playing with all the faucets within her reach at the Grohe display.  Right now she likes to both pretend and actually wash her hands.  Perfect rainy day place for her.  :p  After I was finished ordering the faucets, she had moved onto the more expensive Rohl display.  haha!

Restoration Hardware curtains

Since it was the last day of their friends and family sale where you get 30% off everything, we took a trip to Restoration Hardware to look at curtain options.  I had my eye on their Vintage Velvet collection because it looked like it could block out light.  This would be for our family room where the TV would reside so we would want to block out most of the light from the patio doors.

We were really lucky to get a designer to work with us.  Using her iPad, she pulled up the Ikea sofa color we wanted and matched curtain colors.  We ended up with the Basketweave Linen drapes in fog.  They're definitely heavy enough to block out light and the color matched better than the velvet colors.  She also helped us pick out matching curtain rods (Antique Silver with end caps), and she drew a nifty diagram as to how we should place the curtain rod over the door.  Very cool to have someone from corporate to help us.  :)  We were very lucky to have gotten her help.


Basketweave Linen drapes in Fog

Appliances delivered

Our appliances were delivered a week ago and were installed.  This is what the kitchen looks like now.

They tarp around the island is to protect it and the new appliances from dust and grit while the crew continues working.  One of the workers pointed out that there was a small dent on the hood.  He asked me if we wanted to exchange it for a non-dented hood.  It was so small that you could not see it, you had to feel for it.  I thanked him for his attention to detail but decided the tiny dent was not worth the hassle of exchanging it.

Here's the correct tiling in the kids bathroom!

Veterans Day: shower doors and granite

Today is Veterans Day.  A holiday recognized by the city so last night we called our GC to tell him he couldn't work tomorrow unless he wanted to get fined.  [We didn't even realize this Friday was a holiday until our nanny brought it up.  :p]

At 9am, we had a scheduled appointment with the shower door guy.  He came in and discussed how high we wanted the glass, how to open the doors, and whether we wanted towel bars on the glass.  Pretty quick since we only had two bathrooms that needed shower doors.

At 11am, met at the granite fabricator's again to discuss layout of the templates on the new granite slab.  One thing the GC pointed out that I totally did not take into account was where the most beautiful parts of the granite were located.  He said we would definitely want to incorporate certain parts of the granite if possible.  We were there for about half an hour placing the templates on the slabs in different orientations.  I should've taken a picture of the final decision!  Well, we ended up by locating the gray spots in the back of the counters where people wouldn't really notice.  Also I picked out what I thought was the prettiest part of the granite to use on the main counter near the cooktop.

I ordered two towel bars from Restoration Hardware's Modern collection for the kids' bathroom.  Gotta take advantage of their sale!  :)

Granite...argh!!

Today started with meeting the granite fabricator to take a look at the layout.  He had wooden templates made with the dimensions of our kitchen counters.  Discovered that one of the slabs we bought was not wide enough.  The GC had counted for all the granite exactly so we wouldn't have to waste money buying extra granite we would not use.  We simply had the wrong size granite (101" x 58").  So GC went immediately up to IRG to exchange the slab for a bigger one (107" x 58").

Went to Saratoga Plumbing to order the rest of our shower trim and powder room items (pedestal sink, faucets).  Going with the ever-popular Kohler Memoirs pedestal sink and Grohe Seabury faucets.  These faucets had to be in chrome to match the nearby wall sconces I had ordered, otherwise they would have been in brushed nickel.


Grohe Seabury - ordered one on the bottom with levers


Kohler Memoirs pedestal sink


Visited the home and found a dilemma in the master bathroom.  We had wanted our large rectangular tiles to be laid our horizontally but the worker had laid them out vertically.  *sigh*  After much discussion, we decided to leave them as vertical.  The biggest reason was that to use the tile horizontally, every single piece of tile would have to be cut and then we would lose the extra smooth factory edge which would not look as nice.  Plus, the worker has a lot of experience laying tile and he said that the edge from his cutting of the tile would just not be as beautiful as the factory edge.  Leaving the tiles vertical would give us the cleanest lines.  Also, I gave him a diagram of the shower niche we wanted.

Drove up to IRG to pick one of the two slabs our GC had pre-approved. The larger slabs of Princess White had large gray spots on them. So I picked the one with the fewest gray spots (below).  Check out the gorgeous Polar White marble slab behind it!!

Went to Restoration Hardware to order bathroom hardware for the powder room from their Chatham collection.  Towel bar was in stock but had to get the towel ring ordered and shipped.
Normally, I would've ordered the Grohe Seabury hardware but Restoration Hardware is having their 20% off friends and family sale so the price beats the Grohe hardware price.

Countertop templating

Last week's run to Saratoga Plumbing was to prepare for today's countertop templating appointment.  You need to have all your sinks and faucets before they can do templating so they know how many holes to drill and how they'll be placed.

Rob from Accent Counters came out to measure the counters and sinks, and took a look at the faucets.  Very efficient.

Lots of errands

Another day of running from store to store...

Universal Electric Supply:  GC sent me here to pick a recessed light trim.  I had to ask the front desk lady where they were and she pointed to the ceiling.  haha!  :p

Trim for all lights

Cool LED under cabinet lights

Swively light in upper right

Towne Tile:  Came here to order kitchen backsplash tile.  Just needed to pick out a color that would work with the cabinet and countertop whites.

Inspiration photo

Home Depot:  Looked at carpeting here.  DH has very specific ideas of how plush our carpeting should be so he went around and tested all the carpets.  Found two lines from their Platinum Plus brand that would work.  Took a bunch of samples home.

House:  Because you always have to check up the progress on your house.