Countertops and painted cabinets, oh my!

Countertops and painted cabinets, oh my!

I snuck by the house this morning to take a peak at the cabinets and, to my delight, the caesarstone benchtops were being installed right when we got there!  They are BEAUTIFUL and look so luxurious!  We had quartz (Cambria Torquay) countertops in our last home, and while I loved them, they just aren’t as beautiful as real stone. We sent them to a countertop repair company to sell them.  These countertops are marble called Shadow Storm. This particular marble is supposedly one of the most durable marbles that exists.  It’s much less porous than Carrara and is comparable in durability to granite, according to the saleswoman at the stoneyard.  How can something so beautiful be less expensive (by $800!!!) than a manufactured stone?  Craziness.

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So, remember when I mentioned before that I was nervous about the cabinet color coming out right?  Well…*gulp*.  I wanted to consider this contemporary cabinet maker in Sacramento.

I’m a little shaky in the chest writing this.  There’s nothing more I’d like than to write how perfect everything turns out, but not everything is always perfect in a renovation…or anything in life, right?  Despite the color looking “perfect” on the sample, it just looks different when it’s painted all over thanks to the professional coating service I hired, to see more about the contractor please visit the link at any time.  This isn’t necessarily a BAD thing, it’s just different than my expectations, so I’m having to get used to the color.

According to the powder coating dublin company website, powder Coating gives consumers, businesses, and industries one of the most economical, longest lasting, and most color-durable quality finishes available on virtually any type of metal. Powder coated surfaces are more resistant to chipping, scratching, fading, and wearing than other finishes.

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It’s more of a robin’s egg blue, and not as gray as I thought it would be.  The word that keeps coming to my mind when I see it is “pretty”.  Since when is “pretty” a bad thing, Emily?  It’s not! …it’s just not completely my style.  I’d gladly pick it out for someone else who may be a little fancier than myself, but us Morrison’s are a laid back crew.  We wear jeans to church, we don’t dress up all that much in general, we rarely have an occasion for fine China, and we drink beer and two buck chuck from Trader Joe’s!  But this kitchen…this kitchen calls for fine wine and at least 4″ heels at all times of the day!  Sorry, kitchen, you may be a bit disappointed with your owners.  lol.  Okay, enough personifying a kitchen.  I’m still a little “I have an infant” crazy.

I was more nervous than anything to show Alex.  He already told me he wanted more gray, less blue, when I showed him my original paint samples, and this was waaaaaaaay more blue than those were. I text him these pictures and, thankfully, he’s been really positive about it. Although it is bluer than he’d want, he can see it looking more our taste once the dark floors are showing, the tile backsplash is in, lighting is hung, and the runner is on the floor.  Gosh I love that guy!  He really knows how to bring my mind to a good place when I start to panic.

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I’ve yet to decide wall color for any space in the house.  It’ll be something I do myself after we move in.  I’m leaning towards a gray (even thought I swore I was over gray!), or a creamy white. We’ll see…my brain isn’t that far ahead yet.

I also got a peek at the tile going in around the bathtub and I looooooooove it.  This bathroom started out as mediocre at best.  I’m honestly a bit shocked at how good it’s looking considering the layout.  I love being surprised by things turning out better than expected!

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The vanity is being painted today with the help of House Painters In Apex North Carolina and moulding around the mirror is being built and installed, and hopefully the vanity lights will get installed too.  This space is just such a pleasant surprise.  Mixing high end (marble tile around tub and marble countertops) with low end (subway tile and ceramic tile floors, re-using old vanity and mirror, $20 vanity sconces) is my favorite part of designing.  I could make a killer room given a massive budget, but doing a complete (NON-DIY) renovation of a master bathroom for around $8k?  That’s a challenge to tackle.  Most master bathrooms run between $15-$20k.  The small square footage is saving my butt big time in here.

Two more days before everything is supposed to be completed!!  I can’t imagine it all being done by then…we’ll see! If you’re looking for professional help with your cabinets, I highly suggest that you check out fitted kitchens Manchester.


8 responses to “Countertops and painted cabinets, oh my!”

  1. Looking forward to seeing more….I ditto what your husband said! I think the accents can down play the haughtiness of the color.
    Great work!

    • Oh…My goodness! Your chair redo is absolutely wonderful! You are so resourceful…so clever and talented! What a beauty! Your painting skills are spectacular…so pefect and so lovely!Thanks for sharing your ma!CsrpieceeBlessings,tarolynn

  2. We are considering putting shadow storm marble in our new kitchen. It looks great in your pictures, but how is it working out? I’m concerned about durability and maintenece.

    • It’s beautiful! We’ve only had it since August so I can’t speak for longterm quality. It’s been low maintenance– we were just told to reseal it once a year. I will say, my 2 year old took a serrated butter knife and hit the edge of the counters like she was drumming over and over for about a minute before we realized what was going on and it did chip the edges. I’m pretty certain that would’ve happened to almost any natural stone though, but just thought I’d mention it.

    • Yep! The butter knife incident is the only problem I’ve had. The maintenance has been zero, but I do try Tomane sure wine or red juices and sauces don’t sit on them for very long.

  3. Love your blog! I’m a first time visitor. I have the same question as those above. With three years (almost) into the project, how are you feeling about the selection decision of Shadow Storm? We’re having a hard time finding a low maintenance granite with light colors that’s not crazy priced. We have three kids so I’m just nervous about it.

    • Thank you Meredyth! We recently moved out of the house, so we had just a little over 2 years with it. My final conclusion about it was that it’s harder than marble, but not nearly as hard as granite. The heavy veining and coloring made it less obvious if it stained (which our didn’t at all) or etched (which ours did), but our 2 year old at the time took a butter knife to the edge and it took a few chunks out of the stone as well as heavy chipping around the sink.

      SO, it’s a gamble — sturdier than marbles but not nearly as sturdy as granite or quarts. 🙂

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