Sunday, April 3, 2011

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I had originally planned to do a post about our master bathroom, but I decided to wait for the tub to be installed before posting. So this week you'll see where we're headed in the kitchen.


When designing the kitchen for our house, we wanted to go with a look that would be appropriate for an early 1900's Victorian. The kitchen that came with the house was circa 1940's so we didn't know what the original looked like.

This is the vintage/classic look we had in mind for our house:
Image via Southern Accents, photography by Tria Giovan.

I'm sure almost all of you who frequent the home blogosphere have seen this kitchen by Frank Babb Randolf. I love everything about it. So naturally I had my heart set on recreating this kitchen, including the marble counters. Everyone and their brother tried to talk me out of marble. It stains. Yes, I know. I'll seal it and wipe up spills right away. It etches. Yes, I know. It will be honed to help hide etching. It's not kid-friendly. We're putting walnut on the island, where the monkeys eat. But, alas, my honed Carrara marble tops weren't meant to be. It's not available at any stone yard in our immediate area. I almost cried when I heard this news. Too bad statuary is out of our price range! We just weren't sold on quartz look-a-likes. We wanted light, uniform counters, so we just weren't sure about granite, as it's mostly dark and speckled. 

During my visit to the stone yard I became increasingly worried. Nothing much light or uniform...except for the gorgeous statuary we can't afford. But then I spotted something beautiful and...green? We never planned to have green counters, but a slab of Coast Green granite was calling my name. Dear Hubs liked it, too, (he really wanted granite to begin with) so Coast Green it is! Although I really wanted marble, I probably will be happier with granite in the long run. Especially after one of the monkeys spills juice and doesn't clean it up (which is a daily occurrence). Soon the Coast Green granite (on the perimeter) and walnut (on the island) will be installed on these:
Getting closer! Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Met Monday!

15 comments:

  1. Oh, Erin.... you know I'm with you on the carrara. I love the look of the white kitchen with the marble countertops. However, I could never do it. I don't need the stress of wiping spills up immediately and worrying about everything my kids set on it. Put the marble in a bathroom and enjoy your granite in the kitchen!! I learned during our bathroom remodel that sometimes by not getting what you originally thought you wanted, you just may end up with something you love even more :) Hope that's the case for you!!

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  2. Nice progress, Erin! I totally agree with Carolyn ... sometimes Plan B turns out to be something we love! Can't wait to see the countertops installed...

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  3. Can't wait to see it all come together!

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  4. Can't wait to see the countertops installed. I, too, love Carerra, it looks great on the kitchen countertops, but I think you made the right choice going with the granite, much easier to take care of! My neighbor just got the Carerra marble for her kitchen and it does look great, but I wonder in the long run if she'd choose it again... anyway, good luck!!

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  5. Wow, so jealous! What a great kitchen you're going to have. Love your inspiration photo! I'm sure the green will be a wonderful contrast to the white! Can't wait to see it!

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  6. I really love the color green. And I can't wait to see how your discovery looks in your beautiful kitchen. :)

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  7. I have a marble island (which isn't sealed) but it is an old old piece of marble and I'm not kind to it and I LOVE IT!!!! I also have marble countertops and I love those as well.

    But the green sounds beautiful and I can't wait to see the finished product. I do love your inspiration photos!

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  8. Erin,
    I can't wait to see it all together, it looks beautiful so far! Wayne and I are pre planning our new kitchen and can not decide between bright, light and white or dark and modern. Choices....? Love all you are doing so far!
    Dee Dee

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  9. Dee Dee, I love dark and modern also, but it just wouldn't work in this house! Good luck with making the choice! ~Erin

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  10. You are just where we were a week ago. Today I posted are almost finished kitchen. It is entirely different than the look you are going for...but the granite conversation made me laugh. We went looking for granite, but we wanted a light white/taupe for our kitchen. We both said we didn't want anything dark. If you click on my name you will see what we did. Ours is also a green...Verde Butterfly...but almost a black green. I've had the granite since last Monday, and could use the kitchen starting on Wednesday. I love everything about the granite. I hope you do too!

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  11. Wow this looks really pretty!!!
    Great job!!!
    Can't wait to see it done!!

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  12. ohhhhh! sounds beautiful! can't wait to see!

    happy weekend!
    joan

    p.s. thank you for your lovely comment!!

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  13. Erin...I've just found your blog and am loving your house renovation!! Your kitchen looks amazing and I, too, am partial to carrera marble. We are not close to re-doing our kitchen, but I know EXACTLY what I want. I have been looking at Caesarstone quartz that is marble patterned. Maybe by the time that we can re-do our kitchen, they will have perfected it! Your granite sounds beautiful and sounds as though it will be grounding for your light and airy kitchen.

    Can wait to see more!!!!

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