I don’t have the words to describe everything we have been thinking and feeling in the last two weeks. We realize we are living during a hugely significant part of history. The impact that the last few weeks and months will have on future generations is unknown, but we can feel the weight of it.
Sometimes that weight makes it difficult to stay focused on the every day parts of our lives. Paint colors and furniture selections in the midst of deadly viruses and racial injustice feels a bit insignificant.
And yet, here we are, trying to show up for our business and our families and figure out what living and working in the here and now looks like. How do you transition? We’re not sure, so we are just diving in. Not knowing how or the “right” way, we are just putting one foot in front of the other.
Make sure you also check out the featured and guest participants on the ORC Blog this week.
One Room Challenge Week Six
Last week’s ORC post got cancelled to give everyone time and space to be present for Black Lives Matter. This is going to be a bit longer post to be able to share the progress from last week and this week. We are also going to start sharing smaller glimpses into the changes going on so that the final reveal will still be a surprise.
As part of the mission to lighten and brighten the kitchen, the cabinets had to be painted. Abby knew what color she wanted to paint them when renovating the kitchen was still just a day dream over her cup of coffee. Benjamin Moore Hazy Skies had just the right amount of warmth without being brown, and had the fresh updated feel she was going for.
Painting the cabinets was one of those jobs that you think, how hard can this be? And then half way through you’re like, no this is really a pain. Thankfully, Billy already had a paint gun, and once all the sanding and taping were done the painting went pretty quickly. We highly recommend a paint gun. The finish is just so much better than brushed.
There was a moment when we were questioning the paint color (more on that in a second) and Billy brushed some paint on a drawer front so we could see a more complete picture of the color than just the cabinet box. The brush lines were visible, especially compared to the smooth perfect finish of the paint gun.
Selecting a Paint Color
Now, let’s talk about paint colors for a second. Paint can be so stressful in a project. So many factors effect how the color actually looks in a space, and it’s almost impossible to get the true effect until all the pieces are in place. So much trust comes into play when working with paint. We knew what Hazy Skies looked like, we knew deep down it was the vision, but it started playing tricks on us as soon as the cabinet boxes got painted.
It looked green. And then it looked white. And then it looked mushroom, which was the goal. The color shifted and changed and made Abby sick to her stomach. She almost changed it, but decided to stick to her original choice, and we are so glad she did.
There’s this funny process paint goes through. When you strip a room to be able to paint it, and then the color goes on the wall, you just stare at it waiting for it to be everything you wanted. And you’re not sure that it is. But then, you start putting the room back together, and layering in the new pieces of your design, the pieces that made your paint color make sense in the first place, and it all starts to work. Sometimes you just have to trust.
Selecting Countertops
Trusting your instincts is a huge part of design. Knowing who you are and how you want to live in your space is so important. It comes into play in so many selections, but the kind of stone you want in your kitchen is a huge (read expensive) selection that is so important to get right.
People debate the pros and cons of marble v. quartz. There are many points to consider! But we have boiled it down to one major one: maintenance.
Maintenance doesn’t mean just needing to seal once a year. If you have marble, maintenance means wiping down the countertop every time it gets wet. Marble is very porous, so it absorbs whatever is on it and leaves dark spots where the spill was.
Spill is a loose term though. Every time water is splattered while doing the dishes, it needs to be wiped down soon after. Every time grease splatters while cooking, it needs to be wiped down to prevent permanent stains.
For the first few weeks Abby had the countertops, there were major freakout moments when things got spilled, and she kept finding small spots from water and grease that didn’t get wiped immediately.
However, before you write off marble completely and think only a crazy person would sign up for this, let’s talk about the pros. Marble is a natural stone, which means it’s real. It looks real, it has real veining and variation. And those stains I mentioned? They start to evaporate and fade over time.
Now, we haven’t experienced a red wine stain that has sat for a while to know what will happen yet, but all the stains Abby was worried about at first are fading! And that is exactly what she wanted, a piece that would patina and show wear and life over time.
If you are the type of person who needs things to stay pristine, marble probably isn’t the surface for you. But guess what? Quartz is not maintenance free either.
We personally have friends that have bright white quartz, and they are dealing with stains and chipping too. But with a white quartz, there is no evaporating of the stain, no blending in with the veining of the stone. Some stains can be helped with bleach, but white quartz is definitely not a maintenance free material.
If you truly want a maintenance free material, we would probably recommend good old granite. There are many, many styles of granite, and we have seen some really beautiful ones while out shopping for clients! Don’t write off granite!
We are marble fans for life though, and now we want to show you the piece that Abby had installed in her kitchen.
So beautiful, right? Here’s how they plan where the cuts will go on the slab:
And here’s Billy moving the old countertop out by himself. Because he’s just that good.
And here is a sneak peak of the stunning marble and freshly painted cabinets in Abby’s kitchen.
That’s all you’re going to get until the reveal friends! We have SO much more to share next week, and then the final reveal will be the week after! We can’t wait!
If you missed Week One, Week Two, Week Three, or Week Four, feel free to get caught up.
