The cabinets have arrived :)

IKEA is having their annual sale. 20% off if you spend more than $4500 in the kitchen department (sinks, appliances, countertops included). We only ordered cabinets, countertops, and hardware. I've already got most of my appliances, which are Kenmore Elite, and I plan to stick to that brand for the remaining appliance (gas range).

Anyways...my Dad and I rushed down for the first day of the sale. We were second in line. I had already drawn out a plan here at home with the handy dandy IKEA kitchen planner and went in a few days before the sale to finalize everything. Unfortunately, I didn't account for enough clearance space on one wall, so the kitchen planner had to make some changes and I lost a little 15" bank of drawers (but gained a bigger pantry). I'm still not sure how I feel about that. IKEA is great, but their current line (AKURUM) is pretty limited in terms of available sizes. They have a new cabinet line, Metod, which has a larger selection of sizes and is supposed to be out in the US later this year (it's already released in many other countries), but unfortunately I don't have the luxury of waiting for this remodel. Oh well.

Full Kitchen

The wall to the right is being moved 30" to give more space to the kitchen.

  

Looking toward the livingroom

Looking toward the livingroom. The stupid breakfast bar will just be counter height cabinets w/a pony wall.

The fridge/pantry wall

Not a great picture, but the wall w/the thermostat is moving 30" to the right, and the space is being absorbed by the kitchen.

The dimensions (just in case someone cares, lol)

The door style we're going with is IKEA ADEL 

The countertop is Caeserstone (Quartz) Nougat

I also picked up some hardware from IKEA, since any kitchen item I added to my order was 20% off. I'm not sure I'll use them, but I do like them (but haven't looked much). I went with VARNHEM. Kind of a classic look with a modern touch. 

We opted to have our cabinets delivered. The last time we remodeled with IKEA, we picked them up ourselves. It made for a ridiculously long day of waiting, and took an entire truck bed and minivan to get them home. For the $79 delivery charge, I let them do the waiting, checking, and heavy lifting :) My delivery choices were two weeks out...or the very next day. I went with the very next day (though we were far from ready to accept/store them). It was about a week sooner than I had hoped, but two weeks out wasn't going to work, so I went with what worked.

The - I Hate the New Light - Edition

So, hypothetically speaking, I may not like the new light husband installed in the girl's bathroom today (read: I don't like it....). For some reason, I was looking only at the style (up on the display wall at the store) and it totally escaped me that the light is some weird brown color. I thought it was satin...I was hoping for chrome, but satin works.

I had originally wanted the husband to not only move up the light in the kid's bathroom (since the vanity was raised), but to separate them in to two separate lights as well. In the interest of time, I told him just to go ahead and move it up. That meant I was on the hunt for a vanity light with 4+ bulbs, but without the long wall plate. I hate those long vanity lights that have the long wall plate behind it. To me, it says 'I'm concealing shoddy workmanship'. No thanks. A 4+ vanity light without that wall plate is surprisingly hard to find, and I didn't love this but figured it fit the bill.

Well, whoops, it's not good. I didn't even bother to put the globes up. It's going back...

In other news, I'm trying to decide on a color for the wall and the vanity color. The kid's are requesting dark gray vanity, medium gray wall...I might not do that, lol, but I'm trying. They want to decorate in bright colors, and we don't want the color of the bathroom to dictate the direction they have to go. 

This is the tile we'll be using, with a medium gray grout. I like that it is a nice complement to our carpet, which is beige tones, but it ties in to the gray the girl's want to use. I'm not 100% sold on it (it seems a bit dark and a tad too brown), but the tile guy comes tomorrow, so if I plan to change my mind...I need to do it soon, lol. I love that it's 20x20. Less grout = more happy. 

I think I've settled on BM Whale Gray for the vanity (you can see a little sample of it in the picture of the light), but I'm not sure about the walls yet. These are the top contenders, currently, but I'm trying to avoid a blue-gray and these might not fit the bill. We'll reassess wall colors after the floors are in and the vanity is painted. 

 

We'll be doing batten board on the lower portion of the wall (so that we can use something darker on the wall without creating a cave like atmosphere). I wanted a white that LOOKED like a true white, but didn't make the white tub and countertop look dingy and gross. I don't recall the name of this color, but it fits the bill (I think!).

This is the 'look' we're going for with the batten board. Big, chunky, easy.

On the schedule for today...tile demolition on the first floor.

For the record...

It's taking a lot of self-convincing to get myself over to the house today.