I've already talked about my tile problem, and the saga we went through with glass mosaic tile in our bathroom. Now here's a story with a happy ending. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, because. once again, I picked out glass mosaic tile with a paper face. But the difference this time is our tile installer extraordinaire, Cole Caldwell. If any of you were wondering, the phrase to describe a miracle worker in Spanish is: trabajador milagroso. Some phrases are really improved by being in another language I think...
Anyway, with Cole on our side - this tile installation was a snap. Little things like unlevel countertops don't bother Cole. He said that he woke up at three o'clock in the morning with the solution to that one. Wouldn't it be a better world if everyone had that much pride in their work?
A friend of ours had her tile edged with special stainless steel edges that covered the backer board and ugly edges of the tile, and I wanted to replicate that look. Unfortunately in the design wasteland of Memphis Tennessee that wasn't available at any tile place. Off I went to our local home depot and purchased some right angle steel weather stripping. It worked like a charm!
Finding the perfect coloration to match my crazy pea green cabinets and black galaxy countertops had only taken me about six months, but I think the result was well worth the wait!
We also finally got our seating area down thanks to a great deal on some chairs I got at the local West Elm outlet for $31 each!
You also get a view of one of our two pantries in this photo. These used to be two coat closets that were covered by icky bifold shutter doors that were pea green. In Midtown you never know what someone is going to through out, and shortly before we moved into the house we discovered a set of mahogany french doors across the street from our old house that were in a throw away heap. We liked their crusty finish so much we left them as is. In a true housewarming gift of love, my uncle Ray came and stayed with us a couple of days and retro fit these doors into place as pantry doors. Thanks again Uncle Ray! You rock!
The table is another "gift." Our friend Frank Mix is also our countertop guy and as good at what he does as master tile man Cole. It's because of him that we have our countertops in the first place - he so generously gave us a deal on some extra pieces of black galaxy countertop when we first moved in to our house, and we added on extra pieces as the kitchen began to take shape. My wonderful husband gave me a surprise 39th birthday party - and as a gift Frank strolls in with two extra pieces of black galaxy for us to use as table tops! BTW, Frank is a totally bad a__ Navy veteran, so if he tells you something is going to happen and what it is going to look like, you can bank on it!
Our carpenter and beer brewing afficianado and all around great friend Phil Kane of British carpentry built us the window seat that has a hinged lid. He gave me a lot of grief about that lid, saying that I would put stuff in there and never use it again, and that it was a waste. I'll have you know Phil, that I've opened that thing at least three times in the 5 years since you've installed it - so that just shows how little you know!
It occurs to me as I write about our kitchen how appropriate it is that this is the heart of our home. So many of our good friends and relatives have their time and efforts built in to every nail and groutline and coat of paint here. With all of the great rooms in our house it's possible to hang out and socialize in at our home, it is inevitably our kitchen everyone congregates in. As a perfect illustration of how important this room is, it's always the first place Big Eddy Hill members listen to recordings of our music! B Scott Duke swears by the little Bose speakers we have stationed on the countertop, but I think it's more than that. I think it's the good karma of all those who've left something of themselves here that makes the music sound so good...
Thanks guys - we'll never forget it:
Phil Kane - British Carpentry
Frank Simeon Mix
Cole Caldwell - Caldwell Tile
David Henderson - Henderson Electric
Lamar and Lynda Bridges
Super Duper Woody Cooper
Ray and Carolyn Karrer
Mark Wagner
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