The Kitchen Reveal: The Sink Wall

In case you missed Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, VII and Part VIII of our kitchen renovation saga be sure and check them out before we dive into the installation of unique subway tile pattern and our custom floating shelves.

With our old house and it's wonky walls, we decided to have our friend Max install the tile on the sink wall. We had him apply Mapei Aquadefense which is a waterproofing and crack isolation / decoupling membrane that we use on all of our residential projects. 

For the tile we wanted a subway tile, but we wanted to get a little jazzy with the overall look. We chose a traditional 3x6 tile but in a matte finish. The line we chose was Rittenhouse Square by Daltile in Arctic White. We also battled over what the installation pattern should be for a pretty ridiculous amount of time, but in the end settled on a vertical running bond. See? While most married couples argue about where to go for dinner. These are our arguemnts haha. 

We wanted to use a darker grout, but not too dark, and ended up choosing Mapei Cobblestone. We had him tile right up to the window knowing that we would be adding new trim around the window for a nice clean look. The original window didn't have an apron which we just hated, so we had him start a solid row of tile along the counter and then the new window apron would conceal any gaps or cut tiles. 

After the tile was grouted, Derek added 1x2 trim that he cut a rabbit out of so that it would sit nicely along the edge of the existing window frame.

He then added a 1x6 apron that he cut down to a 1x5 size, and screwed it into place.

We wanted to have this side be much more open than the oven side, so we decided to have floating birch plywood shelves. However, we need to have really strong mounting hardware, but we didn't want to see it. So we sketched out a few different options and then basically settled on a really fancy (and much stronger) version of the Ikea Lack floating shelf system. So Derek welded together square tubing onto steel flat bar stock pieces that he had cut to size for each shelf.

He then created a jig to map out where he would be routing out the plywood for each piece of square tubing to slide into place. This also insured that the tubing was connected to the flat bars as square as possible.

He used a router to hollow out each area where the square tubing would reside to create a nice and snug fit.

He then repeated this process on each 3/4" piece of plywood that would then be laminated together to create one thick 1.5" shelf. 

Weight was a big concern because we would not only be mounting the shelves themselves, but also what would be sitting on them. So to take some of the weight out, Derek routed out several rows of material on each shelf which in the end saved about 5lbs per shelf.

After all of the shelves were hollowed out, he then laminated each side together to create one solid shelf. Clamps much?

Once the shelves were laminated together, he then sanded and finished all of the shelf edges and applied a couple coats of Minwax Wipe On Poly in satin finish. 

In order to mount each of the shelf brackets we used painters tape as a template to place each piece and mark where the holes would be drilled into the tile. Which was basically the moment my heart stopped beating.

After each of the brackets were mounted to the wall all we had to do was slide each shelf into place. I then painted all of the window trim and the new apron white while giving a little pop of eyeliner with some black paint on the window sash. Hubba hubbah.

Stay tuned for Part X of our kitchen renovation saga for the moment you've all been waiting for in this painfully long 10 part series. THE BIG REVEAL!

Olivia West | Seven Months

Seven months! This girl is just full of personality these days. And dance moves. More on that below.

| STATS |

Since there isn't a pediatrician appointment at the seven month mark we took our own measurements ha. She currently weighs in 16lb 13oz, she is 27" long, and we have no idea how to measure her head. 

| EATING |

Olivia is pretty much a professional eater at this point. She no longer has any issues with nursing and has become extremely efficient clocking in at about 4-5min on each side. How did I ever survive her 45-60min a side method in the early days? So crazy. We have officially started her on solid foods and I think its so cool that she just automatically understood how to use a spoon. As I mentioned in her last month update I made a ton of purees of each fruit and veggie for Stage 1 eaters and we are slowly working our way through them. I leave a 4 day gap in between each new food introduction to rule out allergies or tummy issues. So far she has been just fine trying new foods. We started with avocado (meh), zucchini (meh), pumpkin (obsessed), and butternut squash (double obsessed). With the avocado and zucchini she barely finished an ounce serving, but with pumpkin and butternut squash she wolfed her serving in a few bites. My little fall baby. We are waiting to try all of the veggies before we start introducing fruits so that she won't have a preference for sweeter foods (like her parents ha). She is still nursing regularly, and we only give her solids once a day around dinner time.

| SLEEPING |

While she is still a solid night time sleeper (praise be), she definitely hit a sleep regression this past month. It has since passed but a few weeks ago when I'd put her down for a nap or for bed she would lay there for at least an hour not crying, just rolling around and babbling. It was so weird. We aren't sure if it was officially a sleep regression or her tummy troubles from getting used to new solid foods. Because after she would (finally) poop she would be totally fine and sleep like a champ the next day. Poor girl. Now that she is adjusting to the new textures of solids she hasn't had any sleep issues, but for a while it was like we were starting over on her sleep training (minus the crying part). Did anyone else experience this?

| DOING |

Olivia now tries to imitate the noises we make and will practice them on her own. When she wakes up in the morning I can her her popping her tongue on the roof of her mouth haha. She also started doing this funny little hula hoop wiggle and will now do it on command. She usually does it when she's really happy. During a diaper change, in the bath, nursing, etc. She also laughs and laughs like a deep belly laugh if I bless Geoffrey after he sneezes. It can be any one else sneezing and she doesn't care, but when her puppy brother sneezes she thinks its SO funny that he gets a "bless you" just like her. She is almost crawling. She sort of just spins in a circle though. Or she will barrel roll from one place to the next. It's not as efficient but it works. Lately she has been getting on her hands and knees and sort of rocking back and forth, so I feel like she's almost there. She still loves her activity center and her baby gym. She also loves sitting in her high chair and playing with her stacking cups and watching Geoffrey walk around below her. She is about 98% of the way to sitting up unassisted. In fact she'll sit for like 5-10min and I'll forget she isn't officially sitting up yet and she'll just tip over without warning haha. She still loves her doorway jumper to the point where if you try and stand her up on the floor or your lap she'll just bounce haha.

| MILESTONES |

We took our very first long road trip a couple weeks ago, 5 hours to Dallas and then another hour to my parents house. From San Antonio to Dallas she was totally fine. She never cried or anything and just quietly played and napped the entire way there and back. However, the 3 hour pitstop in Dallas really put her and Geoffrey over the edge, and we hit a ton of traffic on top of it all so there was a bit of a melt down on the hour drive to my parents. But I'll take it! We have started taking her to more restaurants especially now that she's big enough to sit in the high chairs (for the most part). It helps her feel more included rather than being strapped in her car seat while we eat. She also now reaches up with her arms when you go to pick her up. She is still wearing size 3 diapers 6-9m clothing.  

| FAVORITE MOMENTS |

Lately she loves to just raise her hand and we'll ask "yes do you have a question?" haha. She definitely knows what the phone and camera are and will instantly smile and pose for her photo being taken. I think the hula dance is by far my favorite thing, and her laughing at Geoffrey's sneezing. Her personality is just blossoming right before her eyes and I can't take it. Every day is just so exciting to see what she will do next. 

The Kitchen Reveal: The Oven Wall

In case you missed Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII of our kitchen renovation saga be sure and check them out before we dive into the installation of our custom upper cabinets and vent hood wrap.

We tossed around the idea of having a more industrial looking exposed vent hood over our stove, but in the end decided to integrate it into our upper cabinets. We bought a Broan Range Hood Insert and a coordinating Hood Liner that were 30" wide to line up perfectly with the stove below.

Derek fabricated a birch plywood surround that extends all the way to the ceiling for a nice seamless look. I'm sure a lot of people are thinking "plywood?" But this isn't the cheap-o stuff you use to line your shed with. This is 13 ply furniture grade birch plywood. We love the light birch color and seeing the layers of ply along the edges. It's a little nod to our love of case study house architects, and it's another detail found throughout our home.

For the upper cabinets, Derek fabricated two long 15" x 15" rectangular birch plywood boxes to sit on either side of the vent hood wrap. We hate the idea of not being able to reach everything in your upper cabinets so we kept these long and skinny for a more modern twist. The 15" depth was determined by the depth of our turkey pan so I could finally have a place to store it haha.

For the doors we wanted to have sliders in lieu of traditional cabinet doors. Derek made the sliding doors out of masonite which he painted a high gloss white, and cut out a large 2" diameter finger hole on each end. He routed out a grooved track along the top and bottom of each upper cabinet for the masonite to glide seamlessly, and purposely exposing the plywood edges along all sides of the cabinet fronts.

Derek and our friend Max installed the upper cabinet boxes on each side of the vent hood wrap, and they fit perfectly.

Then they slid the glossy white doors into place and everything started to come together.

We wanted to have concealed upper cabinet storage on this wall for more unsightly items like the turkey pan, my hoarding of cake stands, Derek's hoarding of pint glasses, etc. because we will be having floating open shelves on the sink side of the kitchen.

Stay tuned for Part IX of our kitchen renovation saga where I'll share our (not so common) tile installation and custom floating shelves.

The Kitchen Reveal: Installing Our Steel Backsplash

In case you missed Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII of our kitchen renovation saga be sure and check them out before we dive into the installation of our custom hot rolled sheet steel backsplash. I know it sounds crazy.

On the oven side of the kitchen we wanted to have a unique backsplash other than your typical tile. This isn't a wet area where tile is a necessity, so we wanted to have a little fun with it. We both love the look of hot rolled sheet steel with its natural mill scale and deep black color swirls. Also, the fact that it is magnetic was a fun bonus so that we could pin up recipes while we cook.

That shelf line you see to the right will be a thin piece of sheet steel welded in place so that it sort of creates an integral blade thin shelf that will hold spices and grains. With it all just being the same material it kind of just goes away and melds into the backsplash. You'll see!

The first step was to make templates out of cardboard for each piece of sheet steel that would be installed. This allowed derek to see where all of the outlet holes were and how everything would line up. Sheet steel isn't something you want to have to keep hauling around and trimming down if it doesn't fit. 

He used 4x8 sheets of 14 gauge sheet steel that he cut down using a shear to match each template that he had created. Then he used a plasma cutter to cut out the finer details like the outlet holes.

Then we decided on the spacing and pattern of the holes so that all of the fasteners looked uniform across the entire wall.

After pre-drilling and countersinking all of the holes for the fasteners he applied two coats of Mixwax Clear Spar Urethane. We really love the natural beauty of the mill scale that is produced in the factory when steel is hot rolled so we wanted to seal that in and enhance it. 

I held each piece in place as Derek installed all of the fasteners, and everything lined up perfectly thanks to our cardboard templates. We decided on black oxide coarse thread fasteners so that they kind of just disappeared into the steel. You can definitely still see them but they don't stand out as other fasteners would have.

For the thin blade shelf, Derek used a piece of 11 gauge sheet steel and tack welded it into place. He also welded on the 1 ft piece that turned the corner so that this final section was a solid unit. 

See just how thin it is? I love how everything just sort of floats on top. 

Stay tuned for Part VIII of our kitchen renovation saga where I'll share our custom upper cabinets and vent hood wrap that Derek also made.

The Kitchen Reveal: Countertops + Hardware

In case you missed Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V of our kitchen renovation saga be sure and check them out before we dive into the installation of our quartz countertops, sink, and hardware.

Once all of our cabinets were in place, we had to make sure they were completely level before we could have our countertops installed. I mean they looked level to the naked eye, but with an 88 year old house you can never be too sure.

We used a laser level all around the room and then had our friend Brooks shim each cabinet so that it was perfectly level before adding the toe kicks back on. This was quite the process.

Once everything was level we had our countertop installers come and do their thing. We used A1 Stone for any locals wondering, and they did a fantastic job. We have recommended them to all of our clients. They came in and used their laser level to make sure everything was perfectly level, and it was phew! Then they measured everything and took our sink with them to have the hole precut and the sink glued in place which made the overall installation take only an hour or so. 

The countertop we ended up choosing was Wilsonart Quartz in Marrara. We loved the idea of quartz because it is a fraction of the price of granite or marble, it doesn't stain, it doesn't have to be constantly sealed, it's super easy to clean, and it's a real stone mixed with manmade materials which made us feel better about our impact on the environment. The only downside to quartz is that you can't put a hot pan on it, but we don't really have the need to do that so it hasn't really affected us. I used my designer connections to get quite the deal on this countertop (shoutout to Zane from Wilsonart!)

We chose the 3cm thickness in order to avoid having a false 1.5" edge wrapping plywood. This is solid quartz all the way through. We also chose a square edge for a more modern look. 

We LOVE our sink. We wanted a nice deep single basin sink to hide all of the dirty dishes when we're feeling lazy. It was difficult to find a sink with square edges (most are round or curved), but we scored our Elkay Crosstown sink at Lowes. 

They cut out the hole for our faucet on site. We wanted a matte black faucet that looked kind of commercial, and just about flipped when we came across this Vigo Edison faucet. It has an option to spray or flow normally, which is great when washing dishes. Or Geoffrey. 

The other (and probably most) exciting part about having our countertops installed is that we could finally hook up our new dishwasher. Derek and I have never had a dishwasher in any apartment or house that we've lived in together. Never. This was a game changer. I was so excited to wash all of our dishes that had been packed away during the renovation. Six month baby bump and all.

For the hardware we wanted something super modern and clean, and also matte black to match the faucet and light fixtures. I was about to shell out a zillion dollars at Schoolhouse when I came across these guys on ebay. We chose the 12 3/5" size. At about $4.60 a pop we couldn't be happier. I just love how they turn back and there isn't anything sticking out to catch your pockets on. They just look clean.

We made a handy little template for all of the drawers, and then did the same for all of the doors. We wanted all of the drawer hardware to be centered on the top shaker panel.

Derek's dad was in town and we put him to work. He and Derek lined up the template on each drawer and used a center punch to mark where each hole would be drilled, while I followed them installing all of the hardware. 

For the doors, we wanted the top of each pull to line up with the bottom edge of the top shaker panel. 

We used a Rev-A-Shelf conversion kit to turn two of the doors into drawers for our trash and recycling bins. Their system is incredibly easy to use, and then we ordered two of the Rev-A-shelf trash bins which fit perfectly. They are a little smaller than your average kitchen trash bin, so you have to empty them more often, but not having to see (and smell) freestanding trash / recycling bins was totally worth it. Aside from the dishwasher this was probably my favorite part of this entire project. 

Stay tuned for Part VII of our kitchen renovation saga where I'll share how Derek fabricated the steel backsplash and custom upper cabinets.