Mantelpiece

The mantel is in! It's beautiful, and the workmanship top-notch.

I love the shelves on the side.

The mantel is so spectacular that I'm almost regretting the hearth tile, that we didn't put in some rich dark granite, and perhaps a darker color of the "Craftsman" tile in the surround. The tile is great, the mantel is great, but I probably wouldn't have put them together like this. Alas, this wouldn't be a real project if I loved everything. Overall, the whole fireplace surround is great.

(The fireplace is as big as it is because the previous owners established that footprint with stone hearth they'd put in. If we'd reduced the footprint, then we'd have had to refinishing those old floors, which might not have another refinish in them, so we stuck with the footprint we had. It makes for a really big fireplace in a pretty small room.)

But, one you can sit on, set down a wine glass on, and set photos up on!

Kitchen News

Panic! Appliances are being installed today, and it turns out they hadn't planned for a range hood with a remote blower. Our contractor's foreman called my kitchen designer to ask about the availability of an overhead blower, I happened to call her for an unrelated reason, and she broke the news to me about the remote blower problem. I just about had a heart attack. I burn way too much food and set off the smoke detectors constantly -- we need a kick-*ss blower with the noise on the outside!

Fortunately, DH got on the job. He went to the jobsite and saw that the remote blower was indeed feasible, the motor is integrated into the roofjack and no inside venting has to change. Yeah, some re-roofing was going to have to happen, a new wire to be pulled to power the external blower, but it's entirely possible. He also gently added that this shouldn't have been news, the KD had provided cutsheets for all appliances, and we're not paying for a change. The big difference between an excellent contractor (as we have) and a lousy one (as we've had) is how they respond to such inevitable problems. Our contractor is taking care of it professionally and with the integrity we've gotten very spoiled with. Whew.

(Kitchen forum lingo primer: DH=Dear Husband KD=Kitchen Designer)

The kitchen backsplash tile is GREAT!

If I had to nitpick, I'm 60% on the row of glass tiles on the lower border, but as accents in the focal-point niche: WOW. Classy. My KD really pushed for the glass tile accents; I was so-so on it. (Now, am I that classy?!)

Same on the family room fireplace tile: WOW. Love the glass accent tiles (regrettably invisible in this photo):

Glass tiles: Sonoma Tilemakers Tantrum, in Pewter.
Field tile: Sonoma Tilemakers Sonoma Stone 1x2 Brick, in Olive Green)

I was really looking forward to these funky pull-outs as a corner storage solution, but they're much much much smaller than I expected.
Very cool, but a surprising missed opportunity to use all the space. Then again, dedicating corner storage is always problem anyway, and I'm glad to have accessible storage on either side instead. Many people give up on corner storage; this is better than nothing. Even if these goofy shelves are too small to fit my heavy 12x12 Le Creuset covered skillet. The good news is, they're sturdy, smooth, strong, and very cool-looking!

I'm grateful the kitchen details have come last, since I'm much more discriminating and educated now. Moreso than I wanted to be, especially about the ins and outs of remote vs. overhead and inline blowers. Thank goodness for DHs.

Glittering diamonds

Today I was dazzled by our new living-room light fixture. I'd only seen it online, named unremarkably the Kichler Classic 69048. The little diamond detail fit perfectly with the diamond trim theme we already had (in the corners of the top bar of door trim), and I was in the mood for something a little more colorful. I'm generally not a Tiffany-light sort of person, but this was pretty understated.

It's rare that something exceeds my expectations, but this fixture is beautiful. And it works perfectly in there!

(Bill, the energetic electrician -- no pun intended -- takes great pride in his precise, detailed work.) Previously this room had one switched outlet, and a scattered outlet or two in which we could plug in lamps. It is so time for centralized, adequate light.

Speaking of the living room and diamond-trim details, I visited the woodworking shop that's making our new fireplace mantle today. Here it is, in the works!

With, of course, a diamond detail.

(OK, not a diamond, but rather, a 45-degree offset square.)

The diamond theme started with the dining room's original window, which has offset squares on the top piece of trim. As far as we can tell, that's original to the house.

When we put the dining room chandelier in, we bought wall sconces with the intent of adding them to that room, but it took until this project to finally do so -- and a good thing too, because it wasn't easy to wire them in. This original room has no outlets, and only the one center pendant. Now, the sconces on either side of the window not only add some ambient light, but they look fabulous.

It helps a lot that they cast light onto a colored wall, instead of the previous harsh white we had everywhere. I'm loving our almost total loss of white walls (minus insides of closets that is).

But will we actually sit in this room now that we have the catch-all kitchen/dining/family room area? Before, it was the only place we had to sit to eat, but now, I'm not sure what to make of it. How many rooms have an exterior door with an operable casement sidelight (you can crank the sidelight open), a 4-foot pocket door, and a swinging door? It's very strange. Then again, strange is our hallmark. I was very pleased when the mantle guy commented at all the niches and pocket doors and hidden closets in the house -- like me, he makes use of every little space available. That may have cost us in numerous ways (money, time, confusion, no wall space), but the cool factor is pretty high.

Finally, something I don't have to get over. I love this light.