maven&meddler

Well, except for some switchplates that need to be cut to fit the rock on the backsplash, it’s done. (Big sigh of relief here.) I got the final painting done and the little decorative touches finished, including a new stencilling technique that I’d never tried before. It was working so neat that I ran and grabbed the camera so that I could show you how easy it is to get great results.

First the overall look.

We raised the cabinet countertop to the standard kitchen height, and we’re so glad we did. It’s wonderful. The cabinets are huge and the pull out unit gives us at least more than four times the space of what we had before all by itself.

The surface is a ‘salvaged’ granite slab from a local rock shop. With fabrication it cost a bit over $700. The green granite in the guest bath that we finished last week was the same sort of salvaged scrap and ran the same price.

The Kohler eurobowl sinks are expensive too, but I went to Savage and Son Plumbing in Reno where you can walk in off the street and get the contractor price … with about 3 day delivery. We probably saved about 30%. I’ve done business with other places in Reno, including one (that I won’t name) at the corner of Rock and Mill - which I will never, ever set foot into again. Savage and Sons rocks. I’ll take all my trade there from now on, and I suggest you do as well.

Can you say ‘screamin’ deal’?

The same with the Toto Soiree euro faucets. Another item that was beyond my price range, but lo and behold there were two in back that had been returned by a customer since they had ordered the wrong finish. I got the two for a bit over the price of one. They are of exceptional quality. You’ll throw rocks at anything less once you’ve used these.

The cabinets were ordered from a local refacing company. I’m ambivalent about recommending them. There are a couple of bugs that aren’t deal breakers but they don’t seem in a hurry to make it right. Some of the installation was just sloppy, but fortunately it doesn’t show in the final work and you’d never notice unless I pointed it out. They also had a hard time living up to their schedule which slowed the entire project down. The price was pretty fair, and I had priced out a lot.

The mirror was what we already had, but we removed it and reduced the height and then rehung it. It has pull outs on either side and medicine cabinets behind.

The rock splash was leftover from the rock we used on the floor. Waste not, want not.

As you can see, we carried the river rock right on into the existing steam shower and went right over the existing tile. The rock was laid over existing vinyl in the bathroom. It’s really cool to walk on … like a foot massage.

The steam shower, which we did during the main remodel about 18 years ago, has a japanese soaking tub in it and is airtight for the steambath. BTW: That porcelan tile in the shower was something I salvaged from a casino job when we did the orginal remodel. I couldn’t have afforded that tile otherwise.

This pull out is a brilliant idea. It really keeps the countertop clear of clutter and makes everything so organized!

Here’s a close-up of the river rock floor that we laid throughout, right over the old vinyl using advanced prep materials. It’s soft but textured … like a foot massage. And it’s really, really slip proof. I had enough left over that I had our tile and granite guru, Tyson, put it on the back steps out the kitchen door that tend to be slippery in the winter.

 Here’ s better idea of the granite, which is black with gold and silver flecks. The little glass shelf I had bought for the other bath but it just didn’t seem to work there. I reused it here to great effect, I think. If you’re wondering what the little pots are, they’re out Neti Pots. Type neti pot in the blog search and you’ll learn how they can relieve dry, irritated sinuses.

Well, I told you that I did some quick stencillig after I painted. Take a look at the very first picture and the leaves that go around the soffit.

Here’s how simple it is.

Cut out the stencils and tape them with painters tape where you want them. I just ‘eyeballed’ it.

Take some interior spackling or joint compound and a small knife and lay the spackle over the design. I had taped around parts that I thought might be too close to the design, so that the spackle wouldn’t get on my freshly painted wall. 

Then you carefully pull them off. I round that pulling from a top corner while holding a bottom corner - and in one smooth motion, worked best. I had an old paint tray handy to toss the spackle covered stencils into so I could take them out into the backyard and hose them off.

I originally was going to paint over the leaves with a silver, but Mr. Maven thought they looked great just the way they are.

They dry in just a couple of hours and are paintable then.

I bought the stencil in the paint department at one of the big box home improvement stores.

Try it.

maven