Let's Talk Remodeling

[SplshMtn99]

TILE PEOPLE, I NEED YOUR HELP!!! While googling tile backsplashes for images, I found this kitchen on a tile layers site of work they've done. DH & I like it because it looks a bit more uniform in color compared to some we've seen. What does it look like to you? Tumbled marble or ceramic or other. I'm just starting to learn the tile lingo & I don't know anything yet. lol

 

[shovan]

Bill, No wonder you teased us with upcoming pics. That came out GORGEOUS!!!! I really like all of the colors you picked & the new stove is just WOW!!! Really really nice! You must feel like you're in a whole new house! Great to be finished I'll bet.

SplshMtn, That could be travertine or a porcelain tile travertine look a like. I think you could do it with porcelain tiles & save some money. Go back & look at the pics of my backsplash they are porcelain tiles.

 

[shovan]

Monday we had a meeting with the contractor. He is recommending using a travertine in the bathroom as a way to SAVE money! It's what I wanted but was surprised to hear this. He said that using the real stone would allow him (he's the tile guy) to bullnose edges & smooth corners on the tiles himself instead of purchasing those special edges. He said that in a good porcelain tile like we put in the kitchen, it can get really costly when you need a lot of those types of tiles. He also thought he could get a much better finished look going with the travertine.

Yesterday we went to the cabinet shop to finalize the plans for the custom vanity. Should get a price back today. I look at cabinet pulls & then we went to a plumbing supply store.

I need some opinions on this. I'm trying to replicate the look of my antique bedroom furniture with the bathroom vanity.

Here's a pic of one dresser. This one shows the drawer pull's color pretty accurately.

The pulls are old old brass. I brought a drawer with me & my drawer pulls are much darker than new pulls in antique brass. The antique brass pulls are much shinier & golder. Also antique brass is "out of style" but in replicating antiques it would be good if it was a perfect match. But there is also very limited availability in antique brass in the plumbing fixtures. I really like the oiled/venetian bronze it has a similar tone in shade but a bit browner. The aged pewter is also about right in the depth of color but too silver. I'm thinking I should go with the oiled/venetian bronze color in the pulls & with the plumbing fixtures. All of the plumbing fixtures we want are available in the venetian bronze from delta. So I'm thinking the venetian bronze would be a good choice. The bathroom will be seperated from the bedroom with either paneled double doors or frosted glass doors, so it doesn't have to match perfectly.

 

[SplshMtn99]

SplshMtn, That could be travertine or a porcelain tile travertine look a like. I think you could do it with porcelain tiles & save some money. Go back & look at the pics of my backsplash they are porcelain tiles.

Can you lead me to roughly where on this thread they were posted? Do you remember what month maybe? Then I can search for them. lol I only joined this thread in July I think. I'm not sure I remember seeing them.

 

[shovan]

Can you lead me to roughly where on this thread they were posted? Do you remember what month maybe? Then I can search for them. lol I only joined this thread in July I think. I'm not sure I remember seeing them.

I'm sorry, that is tough searching! I'll just give you a pic instead!

There are some porcelain tiles at Lowe's that really look like travertine! Here's some pics of those samples I had.

( My contractor had discounts at other flooring places & was worried about Lowe's having tiles in stock from the same lot, so we purchased elsewhere.)

If you are looking for uniformity in color shading, you can do that with either types of tiles. Maybe a little more with manmade porcelain or ceramic as the travertine or any real stone has variations in it. But some of the travertine lots will all be quite similar in shading & variations, while others will have a lot of mixed shades.

They have coordinating mosaics & accent tiles to go with these. As I said earlier according to my contractor in depends on the application as to whether or not porcelain/tile will be cheaper than travertine. He recommended the porcelain as a backsplash because it does not have to be resealed every year & is slightly "sturdier" than travertine. Although travertine nicks or scratches can be repaired & porcelain or ceramic has to be replaced. So it was a toss up for us & we went with his recommendations.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Wow, thanks! I guess we didn't look at those. They look a bit like what we used on our pellet stove hearth area years ago. Back when ColorTile stores were in business. It was something called Cobblestone.

We'll have to check them out. It might be more what we had in mind. And as far as costs, well I haven't even gotten as far as figuring who much we need, so I haven't even set a budget yet. I tend to just spend it if I like it. lol But my ideas & dreams are never as lofty as the awesome rooms you all are doing here.

If we had a nice house (instead of condo) I'm afraid of what I would be dreaming up. lol

 

[shovan]

Monday we had a meeting with the contractor. He is recommending using a travertine in the bathroom as a way to SAVE money! It's what I wanted but was surprised to hear this. He said that using the real stone would allow him (he's the tile guy) to bullnose edges & smooth corners on the tiles himself instead of purchasing those special edges. He said that in a good porcelain tile like we put in the kitchen, it can get really costly when you need a lot of those types of tiles. He also thought he could get a much better finished look going with the travertine.

Yesterday we went to the cabinet shop to finalize the plans for the custom vanity. Should get a price back today. I look at cabinet pulls & then we went to a plumbing supply store.

I need some opinions on this. I'm trying to replicate the look of my antique bedroom furniture with the bathroom vanity.

Here's a pic of one dresser. This one shows the drawer pull's color pretty accurately.

The pulls are old old brass. I brought a drawer with me & my drawer pulls are much darker than new pulls in antique brass. The antique brass pulls are much shinier & golder. Also antique brass is "out of style" but in replicating antiques it would be good if it was a perfect match. But there is also very limited availability in antique brass in the plumbing fixtures. I really like the oiled/venetian bronze it has a similar tone in shade but a bit browner. The aged pewter is also about right in the depth of color but too silver. I'm thinking I should go with the oiled/venetian bronze color in the pulls & with the plumbing fixtures. All of the plumbing fixtures we want are available in the venetian bronze from delta. So I'm thinking the venetian bronze would be a good choice. The bathroom will be seperated from the bedroom with either paneled double doors or frosted glass doors, so it doesn't have to match perfectly.

SplshMtn, Do you have any opinion or suggestions on my plumbing/pulls color?

 

[SplshMtn99]

DH finally took some time off this week from work. We've managed to get the old wallpaper border completely down in kitchen & dining room with NO damage to the existing paint. The walls just need a good cleaning now. I'm hoping that we can paint the entire condo maybe next year. For now, its fine.

Today we taped off around a few cabinets where some of the green paint needs to be changed back to porcelain color & we've been applying a couple of coats of Kilz to those small areas.

Tomorrow, we'll paint them back to porcelian & paint the existing green kitchen wall to Benjamin Moore Dry Sage instead. Hoping that won't take more than 2 coats to get the true color. We tested a small patch & 2 coats seemed to do it.

HOPING to go tonight to look at more tile choices for backsplash. All of a sudden the push is on to get as much done because family is going to be here next Sunday (10/21) for nephews b-day party. DH wanted to know if I could pick tile & find a contractor to get it installed all within the next week. Told him NO, just deal with the back splash area being a hodge podge of paint colors right now.

 

[SplshMtn99]

I think all my tile research has started to come together. Here's what I've found out so far. The natural stone that Lowes & Home Depot display in Chiaro & Noce colors are actually made by Westminster Ceramics. Tumbled Marble series. http://www.westminsterceramics.com/tmarble.html

Chiaro is the lighter color. Noce is the darker color. When you go thru the boxes, boy, do they vary is shade. So you have to pick thru boxes...and thru tile WITHIN the boxes. Some tile are in REALLY tumbled shape & you might not want those. If you go after someone else bought all theirs, you might not have as much to pick thru to get what you want. Same goes for any of the pre-made fancy borders they sell. They vary alot. So pick them all at same time.

Now, about SEALER vs STONE ENHANCER. I had it right the other day. And I found it on their website now. The enhancer will darken the stone. http://www.westminsterceramics.com/tm_specs.html

So, it looks like we want the (light) Chiaro, but in as dark a shade as we can get. And we want stone enhancer on it to darken it. The (dark) Noce was too dark to start with.

Now we just need to pick a backsplash pattern. Any patterns look too busy with our Silestone Black Canyon. I might need your help when we get to that. lol

Of the 1 Lowes store & the 2 Home Depots we've visited, it LOOKED like Lowes had or could order more of the different pieces available in the line. If other pieces were available to be ordered from Home Depot, I didn't see it shown or mentioned at either of the 2 HD stores. Lowes had way more pattern displays using the tile also.

AND, while taking photos of patterns at Lowes, I was told I had to put my camera away or leave the store. I said well how am I going to decide what to buy for a pattern. She said I would have to buy & take them home & return what I didn't want. Its the only time I've visited that store & I had all my color selections & samples with me. I really almost didn't want to return there....but it looks like they will have more pieces & I'll have to go back. Everytime I'm in either Home Depot, I've taken photos & no employee has ever stopped me.

 

[SplshMtn99]

SplshMtn, Do you have any opinion or suggestions on my plumbing/pulls color?

I know what you mean about "golds" in the store being too gold or too shiny. You are either going to have to find a way to speed up the aging process chemically or find old hardware. Perhaps a furniture reproduction supply search in google will lead to old looking "new" hardware? Or maybe those architectual supply places that get doors, knobs, mantles, lights when they tear down old buildings. Maybe they have hardware from built-ins.

On the faucet though, I don't know. Sorry.

I, myself, am waiver between finding the right brownish gold OR going with a brown tone rusted iron color. lol I'm probably going to have to try painting our existing hinges to match though. Yeah, right!!!

 

[shovan]

I had to show y'all this! My contractor just dropped off a travertine tile that he could get a good price on. It looks almost exactly like the porcelain tiles we put in the kitchen! It is honed travertine, I don't know the name of the color. Here's a pic of the travertine tile sitting on top of my kitchen porcelain tiles.

 

[shovan]

I went to the plumbing supply store thinking I had it everything all planned & ready to go. I found out to run the multiple jets & showerheads we will need a bigger water heater. No big deal right? Wrong. The closet the water heater is in now is very tight, we can only go up from a 40 gal. to a 50. So of course we think let's go with a tankless & gain the water heater closet space for the bathroom. At least a $3000 dollar add on if they have no problems with the plumbing. DH knows a several people having big problems with the tankless, so he is not feeling good about that. We are thinking we are going to get the 50 gal & hope for the best. Maybe add seperate smaller heater for the kitchen & laundry room later.

I thought I had decided on the oiled bronze pulls & plumbing fixtures too. But then I realized the kohler jets we wanted only comes in brushed bronze. Don't know what we'll do about that yet.

 

[perdidobay]

Beautiful tile shovan!
Isn't it maddening when you decide on fixtures and then find out you can't get it in the finish you want....I'm having the same issue.

 

[perdidobay]

My master bedroom closet is finished. We love it, it has a better layout and gives us so much storage space -we actually are looking for things to fill it up!
The closet was a weird layout with wire racks that made access to stuff hard.

I'm posting the before and after...

A closer look at the drawers and shelves( laundry baskets underneath)

Shoe storage...

Shelving above the shoes...

 

[SplshMtn99]

TODAY's paint problem: Yesterday we tested the paint color. BM Dry Sage. Mixed paint well. Put a small amount in a white paper cup. Brushed 2 coats in a test patch over the existing bluer green paint. Also painted a patch of kilz over old paint & painted 2 coats of new paint on it. Neither test patch looks even close to the paint chip. BUT, the remaining paint that dried in the white paper cup is a really close match to the paint chip & acceptable.

We only bought a quart of paint since its only 1 small wall & behind frig. I guess we'll paint a coat a kilz to be safe. Its the new $50 / gallon Benjamin Moore paint (Aura) & isn't supposed to need primer & its supposed to cover in 1 coat.


Shovan, that's a great match on the tile!!!!

Perdidobay, I would kill for a closet like that. Our condo is weird when it comes to bedrooms & closets. The room they techniquely call the master is approx 12x11 & has 2 closets. The 2nd bedroom is 13x16 & has 1 closet. Everyone here uses the 2nd bedroom as the master because its a bigger room. So I get the closet; and DH's clothes are in the so-called master bedroom closet. We've changed both closets to double rod systems too. That was a huge help.

 

[perdidobay]

SplshMtn99,
It sounds like you are painting the same colors I am..I had a blue/green color on my bedroom and dining room and painted them sage green. It took 2 coats and is not exactly like the paint chip, but close enough.

the color before...

and the sage I painted both rooms (it is washed out from the flash a little bit)

 

[shovan]

Perdido Bay, I'm drooling over that closet!!!!! Another project for another day!

SplMtn, I had the same problem with paint color. It could be the light in that room causing the problem. I had a gold taupey color for our bedroom, that only on the walls in that room looked like a baby sh**! mustardy green!!!! It was awful! I took it back to Home Depot & was honest that everywhere else we tried the color it was fine, but not in the room we purchased it for. I had bought 3 gallons of the stuff. It took 3 trips back & forth but they lightened it & tinted it until we got something that worked.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Bill, your remodel turned out beautifully! I bet you're so relieved!

TILE PEOPLE, I NEED YOUR HELP!!! While googling tile backsplashes for images, I found this kitchen on a tile layers site of work they've done. DH & I like it because it looks a bit more uniform in color compared to some we've seen. What does it look like to you? Tumbled marble or ceramic or other. I'm just starting to learn the tile lingo & I don't know anything yet. lol

I agree with Shovan; it doesn't look like my tumbled marble. You can tell mine isn't smooth, even in photos. That looks smooth to me.

I also can feel your frustration over paint. I swear, I went through about seven pints of paint before I found the color that I currently have. I don't think there's a color more difficult to match to paint chips, as any shade of yellow.

I had to show y'all this! My contractor just dropped off a travertine tile that he could get a good price on.

Oooohhh, great taste! That's my travertine.

My master bedroom closet is finished.

I love it! Do you mind sharing a round-about cost? I have no idea what we're looking at, and our closets look about the same size.

 

[SplshMtn99]

SplshMtn99,
It sounds like you are painting the same colors I am..I had a blue/green color on my bedroom and dining room and painted them sage green. It took 2 coats and is not exactly like the paint chip, but close enough.

the color before...

and the sage I painted both rooms (it is washed out from the flash a little bit)

Yeah, those are the colors exactly.

Painting is the thing DH probably hates THE most!!! And he stalls at any reason he can find. My dad popped into town today. So after a trip to the car dealer with my dad....and a long lunch at the chinese buffet....well, it was just too late in the day to start painting.

I managed to clean the kitchen, dining room & door windows. Washed all the mini-blinds & re-hung them. Ironed the tapestry wine bottle valances my mom had sewn up & my dad delivered. Got those hung & took some pictures before it got too dark.

DH took the A/C out of the bedroom windows & they are now sitting on the floor.

He has guards for the next 3 days. I wonder if he'll be painting on Monday...the last day off before he goes back to work. HA....and he wanted ME to get right on to getting tile & getting it installed & wrapped up by next weeks company. YEAH.....RIGHT!!!

I'm still hoping he'll have it painted by Christmas honestly. THIS IS THE MAIN REASON I HAVE PORCELAIN COLORED WALLS!!!! At least I can redecorate frequently & I don't have to involve him. I was so glad the border came off without damaging the walls & paint. I was soooo dreading having to have him paint the rest of the rooms. Since everything is open & runs into each other....it would be the dreaded towel bar syndrome in the paint dept.

 

[perdidobay]

He'll get the painting done one day! I think you were really lucky that the wallpaper border came off without any damage.
I'm painting the rooms myself since this is DH's busy time of year at work and he too hates painting