The End is Nigh!

Sorrynotsorry.

Bench top is in!!!! This last week has been hectic. Tim had a couple of days off and I feel like we grossly underestimated the sheer amount of little shitty jobs left to do before the bench top/electrician/plumber could do their thing and hook our kitchen up. 

Tim installed new skirting as our old skirting was tiny and incredibly crappy. We went with a thick (19mm) bevel edged, primed skirting from Bunnings which looks awesome and not that weird with the existing trim on the windows. We decided to try painting them the same eggshell finish as the walls....cue me having to repaint them all gloss white after they were installed because they simply did not hold up to being, yaknow, touched in any way. Oh well. 

So. nice.

We also decided we would paint our disgusting yellow doors. Remember these??

Yuck

Tim wanted to go a light grey (shocker.); whereas I have always loved the black doors that Daniel from Manhattan Nest  rocks in his apartment & house. I decided (I KNOW I KNOW I WAS ALLOWED TO PICK SOMETHING, MY TIME HAS FINALLY COME!!!) on a very dark navy-grey called Ticking from Dulux. I am totally 100% in love with our doors - that's normal right?? Unfortunately I only have crappy phone pics of this stage in the process but I promise fresh pics once we reveal the finished kitchen.

The process begins

I love them sooo much!

We also purchased new door hardware, called Sienna from Ikonic So awesome, except the lock on our ensuite door doesn't work very well and I was trapped in there last night in a towel and thought I would die and rabid alsatians would eat my body. Obviously I escaped as I am now wearing clothes. 

So let's move on to why you'll all here. The bench top. Caesarstone 4003 Sleek Concrete installed by the awesome guys at Regency Stone. It has an amazing matt-finish texture; beautiful, understated white and black grain; and Tim has developed an unhealthy compulsion to touch it all the time. Although the stone itself was definitely not the cheapest option (read: most expensive Caesarstone we liked), it was the perfect choice for us. Not too brown but warm enough to lift the feel of our entirely white kitchen; and, considering I believe we have touched/caressed/fondled all of the available bench top options ever known to mankind during our 6 month search, it is by far the best one that matches our style. 

We chose a waterfall end to give it a more modern feel, and are so glad we did. We also elected to have 5 drain grooves cut into the stone top next to our black tectonite Franke sink 

Don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the ri.....oops sorry, got carried away....

Groove is in the heart aaaaaaah 

Look at that bench top texture. So sexy

Our sink waiting to be hooked up. Don't worry, the water is just from the stone people caulking it. 

The cooktop section

We will be tiling this splashback with carrara marble hexagonal mosiac tiles - a job for the weekend.

There have been a few things bugging me around the house - inevitable results of novice renovators such as small gaps between the laminate floor and the wall which are actually not going to be covered (because we have a secret surprise coming this weekend that will feature somewhere in this room); and also a section of the roof that we patched must have dried and moved slightly, allowing the edges of the patching to show through. 

So last night Tim skim coated the roof and sanded it. Just have to re-paint this section on the weekend and good to go. We also fixed up the little bits of flooring that needed it, whilst all the while whinging and bitching.

Today's adventures include our plumber Kevin  hooking up the dishwasher and sink and our electrician Jimmy wiring in the new pendants over the bench, wiring up oven/microwave/dishwasher/powerpoints and hopefully our new switches.

Until next time x