Change of plans

Ok. We have officially decided to go back to the original plan of espresso finish cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms! Yay! 

But I know what you're thinking; The kitchen is going to look so small with those low ceilings! Except, don't forget, we were planning on raising it up anyway, and adding beams to cover the plumbing, which will open the room a ton!  For this reason, we decided the darker, more expensive looking cabinets will be a much better option over white. 

The espresso color swatch on the right is what we are thinking for the stain on the cabinets, and the cream/beige on the left is a rough color we want for the granite countertop to be.  

These are a few samples of Quartz we were looking at last night at IKEA and Home Depot. We still want to do granite, but we love the minimalistic patterns on most of the Quartz samples we have seen. We are probably going to use the same "granite guy" that Brad's parents used for their kitchen and bathroom, since he's inexpensive and did such a fantastic job! 

For the backsplash, we really want to do granite or slate with gray/tan tones. We looked at some slate that we absolutely fell in love with and the price is amazing!

^^ These are the tiles against our color scheme! They should really enhance the dark colors from the floor, and amplify the cabinets because of the high contrast. 

For hardware, we found some modern, silver handles that Brad really liked. 

^^ I like all of these styles, but Brad absolutely fell in love with the ones in the middle. 

^^here they are shown on a dark cabinet

While we were at Home Depot, we also looked at some things for the bathrooms! We want to do tile floors, since it is more durable than laminate and better equipped for exposure to water. 

Our laminate floors are going to be this (the one he is stepping on).

We want a tile that will compliment the espresso bathroom cabinets and light cream granite, and also contrast well against the laminate. We decided something of a similar shade will be best, as long as it is laid in the opposite direction of the laminate it touches, that way it has a defined line between the two. 

We really like this style: >>

The dark espresso and cream swatches on the bottom are going to be the cabinet and counter color and the other two swatches on top are the wall color (gray) and trim color (white). 

We like this tile because, compared to the floors, it should contrast well. Also remember, there are different tones of tile that will be combined together for the floor, so we will get more dimension. 

For the bathtubs/showers, we are going to put a new tub into the downstairs bathroom and tile up the wall. The upstairs shower looks good, but will need some tile laid over it probably. 

Brad was testing out the size of the tubs, but at this point, we need exact measurements to see what we can even consider. I, of course, want to go as big as possible, but we don't want to add something in that won't add resale value, so we will go with a basic style. 

Something like this ^^ will be best because it is large, simple, and inexpensive. We will have to do some bargain hunting for the tub for the best price, but this won't go in for a while. 

And the countdown continues...

It's OFFICIAL

This is actually happening. 

We received our paperwork in the mail, signed our last paper to remove all contingencies, and now we have to wait.  

On December 5th, we will be home owners. 

How crazy is that? I feel like this whole process has just been TOO easy. Like, when is someone going to jump out and yell, "JUST KIDDING, you can't buy a house, you're just a child!" Number one, I don't feel like an adult. And number two, I thought buying a house was supposed to be hard? 

I certainly thought this would be a lot more difficult and stressful. Mostly because of things other people have told me over the years like, "buying a house is one of the most stressful things you will ever do" and "the mortgage industry is confusing." I mean, it really hasn't been, at all...

Well, not to say I understand all the house-buying lingo though, because I absolutely do not. Half the time, when our broker thing (or whatever she is - I call her Jill the bank lady) is talking to me, I have absolutely no idea what she is saying. You know when someone is talking to you and you are trying REALLY hard to listen, but all you can do is stare at them? 

Yea, that's me.

Thank god Brad has a real understanding of what's going on all the time and he can translate into my language.

But seriously though, I feel so fortunate (and scared out of my mind) that this is happening. 

Now, we wait. And the search for roommates continues...

*cue terrifying music*

Ideas for the kitchen

Brad and I have been really brainstorming lately on how we can open up the kitchen (since the ceiling is low) and make it more modern. Other than getting new floors, we also want to raise the ceiling and add rafters, paint/stain the cabinets, and get new appliances. 

This is what the kitchen currently looks like: 

Can you say outdated? 

Because of the already low ceiling, we have decided that doing white cabinets will probably be the best bet to make the room appear not only larger, but also more modern. The more traditional style cabinets are going to be difficult to pair with "modern" handles and knobs, which is why we think going with a minimalist "black and white" will be best. 

We are using this kitchen as our inspiration, because we like the rustic vibe, yet it still has clean, modern lines.

The one thing that we don't like about painting the cabinets rather than staining is the cheap textured look that brush painting leaves behind. After researching on many DIY sites and Pinterest, we went to Home Depot in search of a "cabinet painting kit," but the paint guy told us that in order to get the look we were going for, we could just use Behr paint/primer in one. 

Soooooo, we tested the paint out on a cabinet my parents got off of craigslist that we are going to make into an island/butcher block!! 

The butcher block will go in the middle of the kitchen. Brad thinks a layout like this would be best:

First, to prep the wood for painting, Brad sanded down the cabinet with a coarse grained sandpaper.

Then, we painted with a paint roller!

The cabinet was pretty well covered in just one coat, BUT you could still see the texture that we were afraid of... My mom suggested that we sand with a fine grain sand paper in between coats, in order to get rid of the grainy texture, and that seemed to work well. Although, since the Behr paint is water based, we think that using a spray gun rather than a roller or paint brush will yield a softer, less textured effect. Then of course, sealing with some sort of oil-based gloss over the top should do the trick :)

The low ceiling is another story. Since there is a lot of plumbing above the 1980's light panels, we won't be able to raise the entire ceiling by more than 3 inches UNLESS we cover the plumbing. I have always loved the rustic look of rafters, and Brad had the idea to do it in this kitchen! As of right now, we think we will keep the beams white, to amplify the cabinets and sustain the clean, minimalist appearance, but that could change. 

Ceilings like this are our inspiration:

Those floors though

Yesterday, Brad and I took our first trip to Home Depot to explore flooring options before meeting with Adam's boss (who does flooring). We found a few we really liked, and got a good idea of what style we want to go with. Our overall style for the house will be a minimalist/rustic, which will seem sleek, yet still welcoming. We want the house to seem comfortable and welcoming which is sometimes hard to obtain with a more modern style. 

So these are the floors we found at Home Depot that we loved! The only problem is these are tile. Wood looking tile is actually super popular right now, BUT it is SUPER expensive for installation/labor and we would probably want to play it safe and go that route rather than attempting to lay it ourselves. 

With that in mind, we went over the floor design studio Adam works for and picked out a laminate that was similar to the style we found at Home Depot! 

The one he is stepping on is the one we are going with!! It is even called "rustic pecan!"

We also looked at some potential paint colors. It was funny because every time Brad or I picked a color we liked, the other person grabbed the EXACT SAME ONE! We have such similar taste, it is making this decorating thing easy:)

This is one of our potential color palettes against a potential backsplash color!!

 

Going into escrow on "The Bunker"

Blogging?

So Brad and I are creating this blog to document the remodel/renovation/refurbishing of our first house. Our house (AKA "The Bunker") is going to be our first investment property, which we will sell in two years for profit. Since this is also my first time blogging, this journey is going to be an adventure in every sense of the word! As of yesterday, we went into escrow and put down our first $5,000 deposit on The Bunker. 

Today, our fist stop is to Brad's friend Adam's flooring store so we can look at potential flooring options. Our next stop will be home depot to explore their appliances! Wish us luck, hopefully we can find some things we like!