Hot Out of the Kiln!

It doesn't have the same ring as "hot off the press" but it's just as newsworthy to me! Our fabulous tile installers emailed me a photo of my tile shipment today and it's just too good! I'll be stopping in this week to see it in person and approve the shipment, but here's the teaser: 

The picture is, admittedly, not so great, but knowing what this will look like installed is good enough for me. This raised arabesque pattern comes in a rainbow of colors and can even be mixed with stone, see exhibit A:

Gorgeous -- the marble is flat, the ceramic is subtly raised.

Or as we chose for this project, a glass crackle that puddles on the outside edges and creates oodles of depth and dimension for just a hint of color. Exhibit B:

Not my color

Yes,  my color.

AND I'm so excited for this tile to live next to its grasscloth neighbor -- I think they'll be quite happy together:

Exhibit: Awww Yee-Ahhh!

Set to be installed next week. In the meantime, I'm tracking powder room wallpaper shipments and wrangling floor re-finishers. 

Working. And More Working!

Serious progress is happening at the house I mentioned in an earlier post. So much has been happening that it's kind of crazy here, but I have managed to get a few photos. I'm pretty bad about keeping the blog up to date on my projects, but I'm considering this to be an early New Year's resolution (before you laugh people, we are staring down the barrel of NOVEMBER).

If you follow the me on instagram (@troveinteriors), you might have seen a picture of one of my boards before we went in to a huge presentation last week. This was just one of multiple rooms:

The custom entry bench is built and awaiting inset drawers. Such a great use of space for this little niche and the drawers will hold shoes, hats, gloves & what-have-yous:

All the new marble was installed last week which was huge. HUGE. Our trades really busted it to get in the counters and fireplaces. Literally, our amazing partners picked up the stone, we met them there to template at the yard(!), they drove it to their shop and 24 hours later we were installing. Unheard of. Did I mention this was a tight timeline, oh yeah, I did.  This surround was cut from the same portion of stone so the veining is continuous and stays true to the slabs natural pattern. And it has the prettiest creme color with a subtle"leathered" texture:

Also working on a little girls bedroom. These are two of the schemes that I quickly snapped a picture of on the floor:

Scouting at the Seattle Design Center I found these amazing faux bamboo chairs with leopard seats. They are perfect as-is and the bamboo is thicker than I usually see on this style of chairs making them a little heartier and unique. Love them:

No judgement as I'm sharing work-in-progress photos of the living room fireplace. We were dealing with an existing box and hearth sizes so we have some more work to do on the finishing touches to make everything come together perfectly. But from design drawing to reality, here we go:

Lastly, remember the pass-through? The cabinet box is in and the millwork is completed. The kitchen side needs more explaining, but I'll share that when we get things painted. As my contractor said "Sure took a lot of detail work, but it sure looks nice." Gotta love a guy who thinks about the small stuff with us:

That's all for now, keep on keepin' on is the motto around here.

It's Summer Somewhere...

Summer Palace Fret, that is.

I had to share this project with you because the wallpaper just went in on a powder room and it's SO pretty. I have to preface this by saying that this powder room has 14-foot ceilings, so even with the wainscotting, this was still 8 feet of wall that got wallpaper. Also, I had to document the amazing crown. With a ceiling height that high, we had to use some massive architectural details-- and with the great white semi-gloss, it absolutely shines. It's one of my favorite elements of the house. I'll have an update later with the mirror and complete shots of the powder. It's been really fun having a client who was game for such a great paper and every time we round the stairs in this new construction project and get a little peek of it when the door is open, it makes me smile.

(If you have questions about this wallpaper, email me!)

Update: Builder to Custom

I hope you don't mind crappy iPhone photos, because on a jobsite, that's about as good as it gets! I managed to snap a few pictures of some of the recent progress that's been going on and I'm happy to say that a lot happened last week. Hooray!

Gosh I wish this photo was better -- hindsight is 20/20. You can see that the cabinets are in and that the statuary marble is up, but not grouted and the newly milled shiplap is installed on the back wall. We're breaking up the wainscotting that is everywhere so that the bathroom has a breather. Plus, wait until the mirrors are hung and the three sconces are up -- so excited to see it painted and installed.

The new wall that faces the keeping room off the kitchen. Remember what it looked like before? Such a huge transformation already. Shiplap has gone up above the custom fireplace and it also marries with shiplap that backs all of the built-ins.

And last, but certainly not least, a humble pic of what will be a not-so-humble kitchen. The new chandelier arrives any day that will go above the island and the cabinetry will be finishing up next week while the painters also get started (it's going to be a crazy week!). The second row of cabinets help fill the 15' ceilings and Thassos marble is waiting to be grouted. I'm so excited about this kitchen. The faucets went in on Thursday and seeing them sparkling against that Calcutta made me want to tear up! Is that sad? I can be totally unmoved by the saddest episode of Oprah, but give me a newly installed Perrin & Rowe faucet and I'll choke up! I guess it's something only a certain group of us would understand...?

Onwards to a busy week. Thanks for bearing with me on the lack of posts. I have been burning the midnight oil since the new year (a classic example, simultaneously ordering at the drive through while on the phone with marble yards -- it was confusing for all parties, trust me!) but it will mean lots more updates of various projects and some good stuff coming up.

Have a good weekend!

So Long Faux River Rock!!!

It's a big week in these parts, well actually, a few big weeks! And for my clients, a few big weeks that are going to feel very long while they are living out of boxes and cooking with a microwave. But they say good things come to those who wait, and baby, this is a GREAT thing. Remember the house I posted about last week when I mentioned the builder to custom remodel? Well the cabinets arrived this week from Pennsylvania and demo started on the kitchen and attached sitting room. Just to give you an idea of what it was like before:

Great appliances were about the only thing the builder had splurged on so they are being re-used in the new kitchen. Other than that, low-quality cabinets in mid-tone wood and pre-fab granite. (Forgive the photo, we're feeling a little shy, aka, we did not know that photo was being taken!)

The beautiful media wall o' boxes and the three little pigs chimney. Why the builder thought it was a good idea to make a grid system, regardless of opposing drywall confounds me. Also, my client could literally FIT in these if she wanted to because they are SO deep! Who wants cubbies that deep at 14' high!?

And now, in progress after today:

Popping off the rock - I wish I had a picture of it with nothing, it's amazing the difference it makes, even at this stage and a few moments after this was taken, the top boxes were drywalled over and later the fireplace is being reshaped.

The wall where the range used to be. In the new kitchen, this wall is shortened and holds the bulk of the appliances - fridge, double ovens and microwave.

The biggest transformation: We ripped out the wall that used to separate the butler's pantry from the kitchen. The new plan opens up the space and gives the room a huge run of counters and it's now a wrap-around kitchen -- no hidden areas that don't get used and her desk area is actually a part of the space. Not to mention direct access to the dining room and another bonus is that it makes the soon-to-be-installed grasscloth visible from the kitchen. Gorgeous!

I'll continue to keep you posted. I also have a few more pictures of before and afters in this home and I can't wait to share more. It's truly a great example of what can happen to these "big box" homes when you have great clients and the opportunity to make it happen.