Kitchen Counters and Backsplash

We have lived with temporary countertops for way too long! White quartz was always our choice for the countertops, but we couldn't decide on the backsplash tile. So... we waited... and waited!

Originally we though we would want a 2x2 ceramic tile. Mostly white with a splash of color randomly placed throughout.

Original Kitchen Concept

After years of research and living with the kitchen layout, we have narrowed down the tile design to white quartz counters with white subway.

Inspiration

I know!!! How predictable. BUT... we aren't as boring as it may appear. We do want subway style in a 3x9 inch size. We do want them to be white, or at least a white that matches the quartz countertops. HOWEVER, we have discovered dimensional tiles. Yep. Tiles that have a slight raised geometric pattern in them.

We absolutely LOVE the dimensional tiles created by Heath Ceramic.

Traditional Subway Tile Layout

Heath Ceramics Dimensional Design Options

These sleek 3x9 Oval Dimensional tiles are modern and add a sense of interest and texture to a completely white palette. I seriously can't love these anymore that I already do. HOWEVER, there is one drawback... one very big drawback. These beauties cost $78/sf. That's right. SEVENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS. Our backsplash area is about 13' x 2.5'...doing the math, it was clear we needed alternatives. 

Option One: Ann Sacks—Modern Field Tile 3 x 9

This is a great choice, but I have yet to find out the cost. It may be even more than the Heath Tiles, but I really am digging the classic brick layout. The texture of the dimensional tile really creates an interesting pattern. The product spec sheet outlines other designs and layouts in the line. I will update cost once I visit the showroom. (Today is a snow day... so I'm will trek downtown once we thaw.)

Classic Brick Layout—Horizontal

Now, as cool as this layout is, turning it vertical gives it a completely different feel. I really like how the vertical layout breaks up all the horizontal lines and begins to create a completely different look using the same tiles. 

Classic Brick Layout—Vertical

Option Two: Pratt & Larson—Frame A 4x8 

These are not quite as interesting, but a very viable option. The big plus is that these babies are in stock as our local tile store: Classique Floor & Tile

I think this could work in the traditional stacked, horizontal brick, or vertical brick layout. I really need to see these in person, because the white option may not be white enough... it kinda looks grey. Hmmmm. 

Frame A 4 x 8 by Pratt & Larson

The frame is recess so the middle section is relief. My main concern after the color, is the thought a wall of these tiles may look like Legos®. NOT what I'm going for... So let's keep looking.

Option Three: Byzantine Bianco 3D Ceramic Subway Tile

These tiles are interesting. They run about $21.50/sf... which is less than 1/3 the cost of the Heath Oval tiles. Not the same, but point us in the right direction. 

Traditional Stacked—Byzantine Bianco 3D Subway Tile

By simply adding a flat 3x9 tile ($16.95/sf) into the layout, the design starts to create a fantastic pattern. Now... we're getting somewhere. This is AMAZING and I will order a sample to see if this is a good color match to the quartz counters we have selected. WOW. WOW. WOW... just ordered the sample! 

This may be the winner!

Once I have the samples in front of me, I will have a better idea which way we will go with the backsplash. I am really liking both vertical and horizontal layouts. The mock concepts give me an idea, but I will need to hold these in place to get the best feel for the space. 

Decisions. Decisions. 

BUT... yeah... those Oval Dimensional tiles from Heath Ceramic... 

Oh. My. Heart! 💙

-Haley

We're still here!

I know it's been quite a while... but we are still here and still love living in our Rummer. 

The major projects are mostly finished and we're sort of just spending time enjoying living in a great house. 
I guess that's not entirely true... I've been working on "Plan B," our 1956 Airstream Safari. Haley says she wants to go on a trip in June and there is a LOT left to do before it's roadworthy. I'm thinking I'll start another blog to document that little adventure. 

In the meantime, we've had some great pics taken in the last year or so... why not share!

I do hereby solemnly promise to try and add updates on the home office re-do, the garage workbench, and future plans for the master bedroom and bath. 

Thanks for dropping by!

-Steve

Rummer Plaque

Spent a wonderful day out in Oak Hills at the Rummer Tour sponsored by the Historic Preservation League of Oregon. Walked through some amazing homes; attended a MCM architecture presentation and Q & A featuring Robert Rummer himself; popped over to the open house hosted by the fine folks at the Rummer Network; then finished off the day with a fantastic steak dinner at Poor Richards. Simply perfect day!

Now, for the super exciting news!... These really cool Rummer plaques (designed by Bob and Phyllis Rummer and friends) are now available for Rummer homeowners to purchase and proudly display in their entryways.

If that isn't cool enough... each plaque is customized with the year-built for each home and automatically enters that house on the official registry of Historic Rummer Homes. It's about time! What a great way to honor the design and historical impact Rummer Homes have had on the Mid-Century Modern architectural movement in the Pacific Northwest.

So if you own a Rummer... get your plaque today!

http://site.rummernetwork.com/Rummer_Plaque.html

The tour was great fun and deserves its own post. We will post our highlights and a bunch of pictures soon. 

Closet Doors

The first week after we bought the house we ripped out the gold-mirrored, floor to ceiling closet doors in the hallway and promptly threw them in the dumpster! Whew.... But wait. We had nothing to replace the doors with. Consequently, we have been staring at our junk pile in the closet for nearly 3 years. Now, it wouldn't be so tragic except for the fact that the hall closet is prominently positioned in the front hall right behind the glass wall where our tiki fountain focal point sits in the atrium. Doh!
I started my search for door options. Flush panel, floor to ceiling doors were the easiest and most affordable option, but they seem too heavy and dark for the small, dark area at the end of the hall. Hmmmm. Then I found this photo of a shoji screen door design and knew that was an excellent option. Now, where do I get them?

We really like the natural look of the panels in this photo, but most shoji screen closet doors I found have glass panels. Time to get creative!

Several years ago I was given a roll of grass cloth wall paper. (Thanks, Ty!) At the time I didn't know what I would use it for... I just knew that I loved the look and would find a way to use it in the house. Grass cloth paneled doors are just the thing I need for the closet! We contacted our favorite door supplier to see if we could get the doors made without the panels. Then we could make and insert our own panels covered in grass cloth wall paper! Easy.

Apparently, I am developing this nasty habit of asking for things that are nearly impossible to create. And if it can be built, it will cost a fortune! Once my eyes stopped burning from viewing the door frame bids (seriously, ranging from $1400 to $2200 for ONE SET of 60" x 92" closet doors... just the frames...OUCH!) I started drawing up plans. Steve has tools and skills. I knew he could make these frames.

Here's the plan:


Supply List:
6) 3" x 8' Hemlock boards
2) 28" x 88" Masonite boards
2) cans of spray adhesive
1) roll of grass cloth wall paper
1) standard closet hardware kit
1-1/2 inch brads
1/2 inch staples
primer paint
oxford brown paint
utility knife


Simple frame construction. These are fairly light weight so they didn't need to be over-engineered. Steve just toenailed the pieces together with 1-1/2 inch brads.

Primer coat on.

Final coat of Oxford Brown. (2 coats)
Preparing to spray the Masonite and grass cloth with adhesive. (Hint: I had Lowe's cut the Masonite to the exact size I needed. They offer this service at no extra charge and there's no need to get out the jigsaw or table saw at home. Yay!)

Trimming the panels. We cut the wall paper a bit bigger than the Masonite so we could get a perfect edge for trimming.

The grass cloth panel looks amazing!

Attaching the panels to the door frames. 1/2 inch staples did the trick just fine.

Installing the the closet door hardware. This is just basic, bedroom style sliding closet door hardware. We didn't show the metal track we attached to the ceiling, but trust me... it was super easy to hang.

The finished doors in place. I've gotta admit that it's much better than looking at all our junk in the closet... and it's far better than the gold and glass doors that were there when we moved in! We still have to put up a piece of trim to cover the metal track that the doors are hanging from, but that project can wait for another day.


Total cost: $75
Time: About 3 hours labor; 4 hours of paint drying

Yeah, I'm pretty impressed with this one. I never thought we'd be making closet doors, but I never thought we'd be renovating a house from top to bottom either!

Pulling It All Together

Haley loaded up all these pictures. I think they rock... it always surprises me how well our home photographs. Anywho, I'm not sure what to say about these except, enjoy the eye-candy!

Let there be light!

One of the major complaints about the old kitchen was the lighting... or more to the point, lack of it. There were four 80s style "modern" fluorescent lights that worked okay, but it always seemed like we were working in shadows. We designed in a few different lighting solutions into the new kitchen let's take a look... shall we?

Globe Lights
These iconic light fixtures are a must have for any Rummer. They were in virtually every Eichler, and Mr. Rummer knew they were crucial to the nearly identical styling of his modern homes. The previous owner of our home threw away all the original globes and replaced them with ordinary fixtures (?!!!). She told us people were always bumping into them and that they didn't put out very much light. The kitchen had four, the family room had two. We've already replaced one in the loggia and two in the hallway. So far no one has bumped their heads. (Except for all our friends who are 7 feet tall.)

In order to have the kitchen globe lights centered between the beams, we had to move two existing wiring boxes (and figure out a way to cover up the holes they left behind), and add one in front of the fridge & ovens.

Our daughter came up with the brilliant solution of just using a smoke detector to cover one of the holes, and a carbon monoxide detector to cover the other one. Brilliant, simple and we needed them anyway.

I'm in the process of writing up a post about tweaking Ikea Fado globe lights so they look more like the originals. Stay tuned...

Cabinet Up Lights

Since the area above the wall cabinets is kind of encased between a couple of beams, it always looks kinda dark up there. So we wired in some fluorescent lights and wow... what a nice dramatic lighting effect. It's kind of an ambient look that is great in the evening. (Don't be fooled by what looks like white hot magma on top of the cabinets in this pic... the camera setting was wonky. It's really quite soothing.)
Notice you really don't see anything weird about the beam at the left in the two above pics, as opposed to the lights on the beam in the pics below. Keep reading to see what's up with that.

Task Lighting
These were really needed! I wish we would have thought ahead a little more and accomidated the light fixtures in the hanging cabinets so they would appear more recessed, but they work well, they look fine, and they make it a LOT easier to see what’s happening on the countertop.

NOTE: These seem to generate quite a bit of heat, so much so that the cabinets get fairly warm on the inside. We may be switching out the bulbs for something cooler. Maybe LED?

Spots in the Faux Beam
Haley is the genius mastermind behind these lights. Aesthetically we knew we needed to put a beam over the cooktop, but after talking with our construction guy, there wasn’t anything structural needed, so a false beam would suffice. We figured the area over the cooktop would need some extra lighting and neither one of us is crazy about track lighting (usually looks like an afterthought). Why not recess a few can-lights into the false beam?
It seemed like a simple idea, but it took a little extra encouragement and problem solving with our electrician and construction guy to make it happen. Just look at how much light they throw out. These lights are in my top 5 things I like about the new kitchen. I married a genius.

Here are a couple of our favorite shots.

NEXT UP...
Countertops. The countertops you see in these pics are temporary; sheets of melamine. We are hoping to get solid surface counters. Probably white. Hopefully much less expensive than what we've been seeing lately.
Backsplash. It desperately needs color under the hanging cabinets. We're thinking of a mosaic made from 2-inch square tiles, mostly white with random turquoise, grey & brown accents.