Well, it’s been a loooong couple of weeks. Full of weekend warrior painting, and trimming, and sealing, and who even remembers what else. Hence the long delay in posting an update. Thanksgiving was not in the cards due to a delayed countertop and cabinets that took longer than expected to paint and touch up. But…I’m happy to report that we’ve finally made some real progress on our kitchen reno.

After much deliberation I decided on a cabinet color….

Surprise! I picked the color on the right: Toasty Gray by Behr. I knew that once all the lighting was installed Campfire Ash (left) would get washed out and look too white. Without lighting to help guide me, I took a chance on Toasty and I’m glad I did.

It’s a perfectly warm putty color. If you’re in the Philly/Jersey area and need a cabinet painter, we were very pleased with Amber Painting. Mike’s dedication and attention to detail was really appreciated.

After the cabinet doors were removed for painting our slate floors went down. I’m currently very happy with the tile choice, but I’ll be honest, it took a while to get there. My husband grouted with a charcoal color that turned out looking anything but charcoal.

So I did what any other detail obsessed person would do and I hand painted each grout line. Which took six hours. Probably the longest six hours of my life. Except the three times I had to wait for my sister to birth her babies. I mean that was equally as tortuous and nerve wracking.

And yes, I’m fully aware that normal people wear gloves for grout painting activities.

I have to say in the end it was well worth those painful hours of sitting on the cold stone floor…

Next came the lighting…a whole ton four inch recessed lights and one gorgeous pendant. Let me tell you the folks at Olde Brick Lighting come through every time. They have beautiful hand blown glass fixtures, and phenomenal customer service. Highly recommend.

As for the rest of the kitchen, we’re hoping to wrap it up in a week or so. The biggest hold up/drama has been the countertop. Unfortunately we had to drop the Dekton. Our first fabricator couldn’t get the colorway we wanted. The next one wanted a price that was way out of the question, so we went back to square one and picked out a slab of marble.

By a stroke of luck we found this beauty that had the perfect mix of warm and cool tones. With some additional good luck, it will be installed by mid-week. Fingers crossed.

Last piece of news is the arrival of the backsplash tile. I considered white ceramic tile for quite some time, but ultimately I couldn’t find one I loved, that also fit in our budget (ie. the beloved but pricey Fireclay). So I chose a marble that’s ripe with warm tones along with a bit of gray. It should tie everything together quite nicely.

That’s all the updates for now! I’ll be back next time with hopefully a grand kitchen reveal. Thanks, in advance, for sending us some more smooth reno vibes.

Wishing you a beautiful week ahead.

-Sara