Kitchen Progress - New Counters, New Sink, New Faucet

Hello Cottage Friends!

Happy October! I was shocked to see I let the month of September pass without a blog post. (heavy sigh) I started this post over a week ago, then work got extremely busy and with all the extra physical exertion required, I lost steam. I'm not complaining though. Everything is humming along, despite the craziness in our world right now.

I've had my new countertops, sink and faucet for about a month, and I must say, I'm really happy with the choices I made.

The sink -- a Kohler Cape Dory cast iron sink-- was a great buy. I was able to purchase it from Home Depot for under $260. It's a four hole sink, so that allowed me to use an affordable bridge faucet and side sprayer I found from Kingston Brass. The sprayer is solid brass; very heavy. The faucet comes in a variety of different finishes, and I opted for brushed nickel. I know chrome is very popular right now, however I prefer a lower sheen. I used brushed nickel on all the kitchen and bathroom fixtures in my Oregon cottage, and I was very pleased with that choice.

The countertops are Formica laminate180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch with a waterfall edge. I couldn't be happier with their appearance, and actually they look even better than I thought they would. The company that built and installed the countertops did a spectacular job, and there aren't enough words in the English language to describe how professional they are, and how well they treated me. They installed extra supports under the portion of the countertop that holds my sink, just to make sure there would be no problem with the weight of the cast iron. And they did it at no extra charge to me.

 

I took these photos right after the countertops were installed. You can see how pretty they are.

A couple of you commented that you were planning to replace your countertops in the near future, and that you were considering Formica laminate 180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch after you saw the sample I showed in an earlier post. If you are still thinking of choosing the Formica laminate180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch I would say, "go for it". I think it's a great alternative to real marble. Certainly much more affordable, and easy to maintain.

I've made progress on the kitchen walls, too. After removing all the batten strips and caulking the gaps, I primed the walls and began the process of texturing. I have never done this before, so I was a little nervous about just jumping in and doing the work myself. However, as I've mentioned before this is a budget project and I can only afford to hire professionals for jobs too big/difficult for me to tackle -- such as the countertops, sink and faucet. So, I spent hours watching Youtube videos on how to apply joint compound to get the texturing I wanted, and took the plunge. I'm about 3/4 finished with the texturing, and I have to say it's been a fun project. This is a closeup of the texture. I will prime and paint this when I've finished all the texturing.

The pattern is very random, and achieved by applying joint compound with a skip trowel method. I want my kitchen to have a vintage, old world look and this texture is helping me achieve the desired effect. It's not an expensive DIY project. A 3.5 gallon box of pre-mixed joint compound at Home Depot is about $9. So far I've used almost one box and will probably use about half of a second box to finish my kitchen walls. So, that's about $13 for material that will make a big impact. My labor is free, whereas if I had a contractor do this for me I'd spend as much as $2.00 a square foot for their work. I haven't measured my walls, but I'd estimate there's about 200 - 300 sq ft to cover. So, I'm saving a big chunk of change doing this myself.

Today I hope to complete the texturing, and then I can prime and paint. I'll be painting the walls white, just not sure what shade of white yet. 

Hope you're well and enjoying the cooler days. Believe it or not, my patio flowers are still in bloom. However, I did relinquish the front of my home to Fall. My scarecrow Charlie Dickens is a thrift store find. The "So Long Summer, Hello Fall" sign and pumpkins came from Walmart.

This little vignette brings a smile to my face. Hope you're smiling, too.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8

Hugs.