Materials

The two highest costs in the remodel are the wood floors and the kitchen countertop. I am rather decisive, so it was a pretty speedy decision making process. I did not use design books or look for inspiration pieces. Rather, I thought about my personal tastes and went with my gut. Here are the basic building blocks for the home.

The floors are Hand-Scraped Maple, in a Saddle finish. They are from Home Depot and the hand-scraped texture gives the wood a lived-in, semi-rustic look. It is not matte, but definitely not a glossy finish. We went with the traditional 3 1/2 inch width to make the room seem larger - although I did love the thick cut pieces.


Since this is the ground floor of the building, and it is a concrete slab, we went with engineered "click" wood. It is less expensive than solid hardwood and will lay better on concrete than solid hardwood.

The kitchen counters will pick up the blue colors from my inspiration piece! I am excited about these countertops. Since the kitchen appliances are white, we wanted to choose a counter that would blend well with them and also be extremely durable, but also could work with stainless steel appliances if I or another owner wants to upgrade. Quartz countertops are non-porous, which means they will not stain, even from things like food coloring! The kitchen cabinets repainted in a creamy white will blend nicely with this. And of course, I can accessorize the kitchen in blues and yellows! This is Silestone brand quartz in Blue Sahara.

I chose lighting that I thought would anchor the house in traditional, so when I eventually sell it the empty home has a consistent look. I found the look I liked in Hampton Bay's "Caffe Patina" line of fixtures.

The chandelier is a nice 5-light fixture that will be slightly offset to fit exactly over the dining room table in the large living/dining room. Since it is slightly formal looking, we decided to dress up the new can lights with can light covers from the same collection. Again, looking for consistency. There will be four cans in the living space, and they will be on dimmers.

The bedroom ceiling fans are not from the same collection. Since the condo has traditional 8 foot ceilings, we needed a fan that would mount flush to the ceiling. It would not be nice to bump your head! The Caffe Patina fan is not flush mount, so it was not an option. This fan, Hampton Bay Carriage House II, has a 52" spread, perfect for the large bedrooms. The four lights will brighten the rooms significantly. This is important for the 2nd bedroom, which has a rather small window. They will be installed on a dimmer switch.

I have not made a decision on the kitchen sink, but I have picked out my faucet! I am enamored with Delta's Pilar Touch2Ofaucet. With a small space, I think it is important that all aspects are high quality. This is especially important for the items that are used every single day, such as the kitchen faucet. This has a high arch that will allow for large pots to fit underneath it, and the pull out hose provides flexibility. Since there is no utility sink in the home, the touch technology will prevent messy hands from ruining the nice kitchen faucet!