Farmhouse Sink Cutting Board

Part of my to-do list this year was a custom cutting board that would fit over Becca's beloved farmhouse sink. We chose walnut to match the kitchen island, and purchased the material at Schutte lumber, which is probably one of the coolest stores for hardwood enthusiasts. Results below.

I carved out some notches with the table saw to get the perfect fit. The board ended up being 1.5" thick to strike level with the countertop.

To keep the board from moving around too much, I also added a few rubber grippers on the bottom of the board. A basic 3/4" drill made the cavity for a secure fit.

My buddy Orion and I have made several boards in the past year. There are easy ways, and hard ways, to make a cutting board. This version is an example of the easy way. One wood source, one round of gluing, and side grain (vs. end grain up). It all depends on the look you want and how much work you want to put into the project. For more cutting board ideas, you should check out his work.

A New Kitchen

Coming Together

I've been a bit behind on my updates, but the good news is that means there's a lot of progress to share. Late last week, tile was completed and the process of installing plumbing fixtures began. This is a big deal, as we've had running water only in the basement for the past two months. The upstairs bathroom was functional over the weekend, so no more dark middle of the night trips to the basement when nature calls!

I couldn't resist adding the decorative accents that I've been stashing in the basement for the past several months. We're still lacking the medicine cabinets, towel hooks, and oh, all the lights but we were nevertheless giddy all weekend to be able to use these adorable facilities over the weekend.

The wall faucets we chose look right at home in the subway tile backsplash. I'm going to switch out the ceramic "hot" and "cold" for the slightly fancier French options ("chaud" and "froid") that came with them.

The shower was not yet operational this weekend, but the tub was and be both enjoyed it thoroughly. It gave a great vantage point of the cute vanity (much like what you see above). They caulked in all the corners this morning, so we should be up and running this week, after I put sealer on the grout.

The little shadowboxes, designed to hold our showering toiletries, turned out a very cute accent in the tile wall. They used a marble threshold to build the bottom shelves of each one, making them seamless (and therefore waterproof) and also very pretty. 

And don't forget the stool! So happy to have this up and running. Although as you can tell from the picture, we're much in need of a good window covering!

On to the kitchen! Our fabulous farmhouse sink requires some special fittings that the plumber didn't have with him Friday, so we spent the weekend with a still-dry kitchen. We've been assured that he will have them today so that the faucet, disposal, drain and dishwasher can be all hooked up. 

I decided not to let the little hiccup slow down my part of the job, so I spent much of the weekend unpacking boxes and loading up the cabinets. I love how the glass uppers look all stocked with our dinnerware. 

I even got to work stocking the pantry. A little better organization is needed, but I love how much space there is for all of our dry goods now. 

And the faucet is in, but without a working drain it's still unusable. Hopefully we'll have progress on that soon. In the meantime, do you see how cute the side spray is? I'd been so focused on the main fixture, but this little guy is pretty charming, I must say.  

We're more than ready for this guy to get pushed back into his spot and all hooked up. 

And hopefully by my next post, this space will be filled as well with our range and microwave. 

Icing on the . . . . Cabinets?

Our counters are in! Our counters are in!

Need I say more? We've both been totally antsy all weekend waiting for Monday, when we knew our carrera marble countertops would finally be installed. Then we woke up this morning to another surprise - tons of beautiful oak trim lumber being delivered.

We were thrilled for all the progress to begin in a single day. Don't the boards have beautiful grain? We are splurging a little on the main floor on large oak trim to match the style and grain of the original oak trim that goes throughout downstairs.

 I couldn't help coming home for lunch to check on the progress, and while the trim guys were sanding up a storm in the driveway, the countertop guys were inside working hard. The kitchen stone was all in, and they were working on the seams which are tucked very discreetly behind the sink, so they shouldn't be noticeable at all when we're working in the kitchen. They had yet to drill the faucet holes downstairs, and were preparing to begin installation of the bathroom counter when I left to go back to work.

Here are a few quick photos I snapped. I was working hard to stay out of their way and not be TOO pesky, so please excuse the poor quality!

I am so thrilled with how they look - I love the dark rich lower cabinets, with the cool, matte stone on top leading to the white uppers. It's amazing to see the look coming together. Naturally, I couldn't wait to get home to see everything completed.

So, I was a tad disappointed to come home to this:

There's a protective layer of cardboard taped around the entire surface! Very opaque cardboard. I think they're teasing me. Of course, I very much respect their work in protecting the beautiful new stone as construction continues. I'm just glad I got a little midday peak. And I can still get the gist of the faucet, which is nice.

Fortunately for my sanity, the view upstairs was a much easier one to see - no cardboard on the bathroom vanity counter at all, and cute little undermount sinks to boot!

I love the simple, straight edge profile - it makes such a nice clean edge on everything.

And wait, there's more! Stone isn't the only thing that happened today - those trim guys got going big time. Our upstairs window is all trimmed in, and trim is installed in our downstairs half bath.

As you can tell, it was a big day for us and our old house. We're calling this week and next the "home stretch," with high hopes that everything will be finished by late next week or early the following. At this pace I think that feels pretty reasonable.

Shiny New Stuff

Becca is obsessed with hardware. She's been asking for knobs and pulls for the last two christmases. Today, some of her shiny new toys came in today. Needless to say, she's excited. We have picture of our 1/2 bath faucet, and our kitchen faucet as well. They come in these fancy boxes that look like gun cases.

I'm obsessed with windows. It's been something I've wanted since the day I moved in. We have 27 windows in our house, now we only need to replace 25 (someday). Two Pella windows showed up on my doorstep and I can't wait to see them go into our new rooms. They are wood on the inside, and metal clad on the outside. We picked black for the exterior color, for a little pop and style points. Our exterior window trim is white, so they will contrast nicely.