Not yet. Patiently waiting for @coralbrook to post some! 
Backsplash photos are loaded. I donāt think the powder room pictures do it justice. Thereās still too many fixtures to be installed (we were waiting for the tile) to be able to tell how it will look all pulled together. Dfin changed her mind at the last minute after the tile guy showed up on Sunday and decided her leaf pattern glass mosaic was too āpaleā and didnāt contrast well with the countertop, which was just installed on Friday.
So, off to the tile store for Dfin (luckily Floor and Decor which has everything in stock) for a last minute change to a beautiful dramatic dark glass subway with slight veining in it. It contrasts really well with the white macaubus floating vanity.
But now, of course, the pretty brushed gold faucet and sconces donāt look right in the room. Kind of looks āLiberaceā. So, off to find some nice chrome or polished silver to give some shine in the small room. This is why I always adviseā¦ make sure you can return things easily. You just never know Especially with tileā¦ we had 20 sq ft of choice #1 and it got canned at the last minute. Imagine if it was some fancy special order that cannot be returned or has a big restocking fee. Same with the faucet and sconces.
Meanwhile, we finally can install the toilet. Dfin and H purchased a fancy Toto toilet for the powder room. My guy gets all the boxes opened up and the toilet tank is missing the hardware kit. No bolts, no gasket. Youād think these types of things would not happen with the expensive toilets. Now back to Dixieline tomorrow to try to get them to give us the right pieces to get the toilet installed. My concern is that they might be Toto special parts and we cannot just get these things off the shelf.
Sorryā¦ posted twice
Can you add a picture of the kitchen sink window with trim area? I am intrigued by what you did above the window with the trim.
I LOVE the blue backsplash in the kitchen! LOVE it.
I think a chrome or brushed nickel look will be nice in that bathroom. TBH, Iām not a fan of any kind of brass bathroom thingsā¦and these just sound nicer to me.
Looks like dfin is moving into her kitchen! GREAT!
The kitchen backsplash is fabulous! Itās so exciting to see this all come together. Looking forward to the completion of the powder room.
Yes, we are featuring a kitchen that is actually lived in:) we skipped the staging phase and she went straight to toaster and paper towel holder
LOL - we havenāt had a kitchen since Oct 23 and itās so fun to use it! I am so grateful for the dishwasher after months without a good sink for cleanup
Itās all looking kid. I love the kitchen backsplash. Thanks, @dfin2013, for letting us all go along for the ride on your very own @coralbrook adventure.
This is the funniest comment, @emilybee . There have been 3 times in our marriage that I let my husband make a design choice and all 3 have resulted in major regrets (white carpeting in Maine? purchasing a large, old house in need of lots of renovation as our kids head off to college? sheeshā¦)
I loaded up some more photos of the continuing progress, kitchen and outdoor countertop
Right now we are focusing on a complex stair baluster and railing build. Weāve got square iron balusters that donāt want to go into a round hole Lots of planning, measuring and calculations. Lots of practice on a sample kick board outside. Dfinās husband has been breaking a sweat doing major calculus on his scientific calculator. We were meticulously doing sample measurements and he broke out his scientific calculator. He has an entire spreadsheet with complex calculations to come up with the measurements of where he wants each baluster set
Lots of viewing You Tube videos to come up with several alternatives on how to set square balusters down into the bottom and up into the handrail. Then a run to a specialty woodworking store to get all the right tools and jigs. We finally decided to drill a round hole in the bottom and set each round hole with a wood dowel into epoxy. Then we are going to drop the square baluster over round dowel to set it in. It was impossible to try and make a perfect square into 1 1/4" of wood at the bottom. You just cannot get a square created with drills and chisels where the bottom didnāt look messy.
The staircase is one of many things that are causing a budget overrun. We were just going to repair the staircase and paint it, but the building inspector kept telling us it āwasnāt to codeā. OK, but it has nothing to do with the permitted work??? So, he talked to his supervisor and said we would have to put plywood or plexiglass over the balusters because they were more than 4" apartā¦ in order to pass final inspection. Well, once we went to all that work, Dfin and H decided just to redo the staircase. Weeks of looking at different staircase photos and Dfin came up with her design
We tore down the stair handrail, posts and balusters. Then there was an expensive build of a kick wall on the outside of the staircase. Then the flooring guy installed the treads and risers. We saved about $500 by building the kick wall because then the flooring guy did not have to do a meticulous edge on the open side of the staircase. However, that $500 was eaten up very quickly building the kick wall.
Installed 3 newel posts and we have stained them with Weathered Oak stain. Unfortunately the oak posts look like zebras with a lot of dark grain. Currently analyzing whether to do a darker stain or just give up and paint the posts and the rail a crisp white to contrast against the black iron balusters.
So far we have spent $1,800 on the staircase box build and materials. This does not include the balusters and posts that the owners purchased. We still have about $1,000 more in materials and labor to finish.
Love how the tulips add a splash of color to that kitchen! Looking awesome, CB!
I vote for painting those staircase posts white. Normally I am against painting wood, but this is clearly the case where paint would look better than oak.
Just as a reference. for the staircase build. A staircase carpenter gave the owners a rough estimate of $3,500 to build the staircase railing, probably excluding the posts, baluster and rail materials.
I ran a rough estimate of $2,500 but that was excluding building the kick box side. I think the kick box side and post setting was about $1,500 of the cost to date.
Arenāt the staircase posts iron? Not wood?
Place looks fabulous!! I really love the kitchen.
I love the kitchen. The view out to the pool is fabulous!
Love the dark glass tiles in the bathroom and kitchen. The wall of tile behind the floating vanity is particularly cool.
I love the folding window above the kitchen sink. That would work in my house (if I choose to spend the $$$). How wide is the window??
The window is not as wide as we would have wished but we needed to get that large pantry cabinet squeezed between the window and the large patio door. The window is 5 ft wide by 4 ft tall. This folding window manufacturer requires at least a 4 ft tall window. After receiving the window I noticed that it is actually built exactly like a full accordion patio door, just shorter. It has a āthresholdā on it that protrudes outside and causes the outside countertop to have to be installed under the threshold.
It costs more to get a truly flush window so that you can have the outside countertop flush with the inside countertop. That model has a channel you set down between the two countertops and oh boyā¦ that would have required some incredibly exact measurements as you set the cabinets and countertop, etc.
The cost of the window alone was $2,000