No progress… frustrating
Today was the worst kind of day, a weekday with no progress made on the kitchen. Where were the plumber and electrician? Walls still open here!
Actually, it’s not true that no progress was made. Today we made the most difficult decision we’ve ever had to make. It’s been eating away at us for weeks, a constant buzz interfering with work, sleep, eating habits, even TV watching schedules. I stopped speaking to Anne for over a week. She nearly canceled the whole project. But today it was all resolved: we decided on tile for the backsplash.
There have been a lot of decisions to make on this project, and most of them have gone smoothly. Anne had a cabinet line picked out before we even started. We mostly agreed on wood and finish. The countertop was a difficult balance of style and environmental concerns, but ultimately soapstone was the right choice. Appliances were done in a couple of hours at Yale Electric’s showroom. Then we tried to look for tile.
Turns out Anne and I have strikingly different tastes when it comes to kitchen wall coverings. I like stone, she likes ceramic. I like relatively modern, somewhat detailed designs and layouts. She likes simple, hand-painted, classic French-country tile. I like to play with colors and textures. She would prefer a clean, consistent look. After two contentious visits with tile designers, we were both exhausted.
Finally, we found a line of ceramic tiles whose designer mixes her ceramic with various types of stone. The result is a look that can be multi-textured but consistently-colored. We chose a color scheme and design for the basic backsplash. Then we chose accent pieces to create a more decorative element above the cooktop. It’s not distinctly French country, nor is it modern, but it has elements of both. And miraculously enough, we both like it.
That’s it - the last major design decision to be made on the project. We still need to pick a paint color and other little things, but this was the last big one. Whew!
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