Rehabber’s Rehab

Our countertops were installed today.  We now have SURFACES.  Places on which to put things.  A covering that keeps the dirt out of the drawers.  And the sinks are installed.  We have to get the plumber back to get running water to them, but in terms of appearances, we are starting to get there.

The bathroom and kitchen look like what they’re supposed to be now, and I know that we are so close to utilizing them for their actual purpose.  In a few days I can (or Thor can) wash dishes in the dishwasher and not the tub.  The countertops in addition to the microwave that Thor and Matt installed last weekend are turning the room into a usable space. The microwave was a bit more trouble than we thought it would be because the electrician put the plug a little too high and at first we thought a part was missing.  All the worry was for nothing and eventually it went in.  This increased our quality of life also because we were able to move the old microwave out of the office and are able to start to use that space for its true purpose.

I think I am most pleased with the bathroom.  It is a remnant that we choose in the middle of a snowstorm on a Friday afternoon.  All of the slabs of granite were frozen together and it took 6 guys to pull them apart so that we could look at this piece.  It looks awsome with cabinets and the slate we already have in there.  There was definitely a moment of worry when we chose it because we didn’t have any samples with us to make sure it matched, so I was doubly thrilled to see how good it looked.

The kitchen is thrilling too.  We were finally able to settle the debate over whether the countertops were black or not.  They are not.  They are green with black, gold, and white flecks.  After this weekend it will work like how it’s supposed to too.  As I type, Thor is in the kitchen installing the tambour (appliance garage) in the kitchen corner.

Today we went to pick out our granite.  We had done some shopping around, armed with a couple of quote we went to see the folks that my “aunt” had recommended.  “Aunt” because I was told by our family friend to tell them I was her niece in order to get the fabricator to give us a deal.  It certainly worked, and we are very happy with our choices.

At the fabricator’s we were able to get a deal on a remnant they had left over from another kitchen.  It’s a beautiful piece, one they call “exotic” due to its irregular streaking, and they made a point of telling us as a slab it was very expensive.  After looking at a few samples, we had a vague idea of what we were interested in, and went armed with names to the wholesaler to pick out our slabs.

Some granites look very different on the slabs, so we got to go and pick out which specific slab of the type we wanted for them to make our counter tops out of.  We are looking for the more standard grade, these are usually more consistent and have less variability in the colors between them, but again and again we picked out mid to high grade pieces.

Finally we found one that we liked and was in our price range, called “Verde Butterfly”.  There are several verdes, but we liked this one because it had lighter flecks and gold flecks, and overall wasn’t as dark.  They are coming to measure on Tuesday, and hopefully 3 weeks from now we will have new counter tops.