14 Jun Kitchen Tile and Cabinet Organization Essential Details in Kitchen Makeover | One Week Challenge | Spring 2020 | Week 6

Wow, we’re at Week 6 and only have 2 weeks left before the BIG REVEAL of the One Room Challenge on June 25th!  So much has happened in our country in these last 2 weeks, it seems surreal and kind of frivolous to be talking about a Kitchen Makeover.  Yet, change begins in the home, and with the kitchen at the heart of the home, it may be a good place to start. Whether we want to be or not, we are all a part of a Global Pandemic and major movement sweeping across the country fighting for racial equality.  The One Room Challenge canceled Week 5 out of respect for justice for George Floyd and other black lives senselessly stolen.  Protests can really galvanize a nation with the momentum needed for change and that is what we all hope to see. I know that is what I will be working toward once I finish our Kitchen Makeover. For now, I share why kitchen tile and cabinet organization are essential details in a Kitchen Makeover.

I’ve combined weeks 5 and 6 to introduce you to two more of our amazing partners, Crossville Studios and Rev-A-Shelf.

The Collier St. Kitchen Makeover for the Spring 2020 One Room Challenge

In case you need to catch up a little on what’s been going on these past few weeks with the One Room Challenge – the Kitchen Makeover I’m knee-deep in as a Guest Participant – please see all the Week’s progress below. Since Week 5 was canceled, I took the opportunity to write a little about my feelings with the Black Lives Matter movement and share an essay by my friend Marques Harper. If you missed that last week, you can read his essay As a Black Man, I felt Lucky to Turn 40 – And Sad That so Many Have Not HERE. 

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

 

 

 

Out With the Old & In With the New

 

Yup, that’s my plumber in our kitchen sink cabinet.  Boy, was that a mess during Week 5.  You know how you get into these projects thinking it’s pretty straight forward only to uncover so many issues.  And many dollars later, you are trying to problem solve on the spot. Below are a few unexpected issues that cropped up.

Old sink wasn’t cast iron so we really didn’t need that $150 extra labor to haul it off. And all this time I was coordinating my carpenter to come in and cut 2″ into the side cabinets so the undermount sink would fit. Well, all we did was plop it in the hole and voila! All ready to be installed.  But not before we had to go several days without plumbing.

And because our home is 63 years old, the turn on/off valve was rusted, so the plumber had to call the City of Austin to get them to turn it off and of course it snapped.  Before you knew it, water was everywhere outside and a work crew was digging up our front yard. These are the little things you don’t plan for in a Kitchen Makeover.

Then, once the countertop was finally ripped out, I had to contend with black mold and rotted out sheetrock.  I think the most challenging part of doing any kitchen remodel is you don’t know what you’ll uncover.  And then I had to get my carpenter over here in between the plumber and countertop installers. Needless to say Week 5 and 6 have been stressful. I had a minor panic attack thinking I had Black Mold behind my countertops, but my interior designer Patrick Landrum assured me it was not active and we successfully removed it. Phew!

But, I’m thrilled to report, the new BLANCO sink and ARTONA faucet are installed as well as the new countertop.  I was REALLY nervous about the new porcelain countertop, because of that challenging corner with the bar, but it turned out beautifully.  Sure enough EMPIRE Countertops came through and installed it successfully!  You are going to be AMAZED at the Before/After photos on the Big Reveal June 25th, so stay tuned.

Tile Inspiration

I’ve always loved tile because of the color and texture and multiple applications in the home. I think it is a very important design decision in any kitchen or bath remodel. Below are some stunning kitchen designs from interior designers across the U.S. that have inspired me for our Kitchen Makeover.

Soft blue tile with gold accents

San Diego-based interior designer, Alyce Lopez, of The True House, has an exciting fixer-upper background and I enjoy following her projects on Instagram.  Alyce’s use of gold accent combined with coastal green/blue tile in her kitchen design speaks to me.

 

Exquisite Detail

As one of the south’s premier luxury interior designers, Lisa Mende, of Lisa Mende Design, created this gorgeous kitchen. It’s incredibly inspiring to me for its detail, color, and texture. I really like Lisa’s use of Crossville, Inc. tile on the sink wall with the mirror and open shelving.  She also designed this stunning kitchen with a breakfast/dining nook, which you know I did for the fall 2019 One Room Challenge HERE.

 

Colorful Tile

Texas-based interior designer Carla Aston, of Carla Aston Designed, made an incredible statement with the use of this Ann Sacks backsplash tile. This kitchen’s back wall is similar to our layout where it will feature a similar new modern hood. I love the look of the tile running up behind the hood. I’m not revealing exactly what our Crossville Studios tile is going to look like until the Big Reveal on June 25th, but Carla’s striking kitchen design helped remind me I do want some color in my kitchen.

 

 

Gorgeous Visual Element

Tile is probably one of the first things you notice in a kitchen in addition to the cabinets and appliances.  It can blend in with the cabinets, or, as I shared above, it can have pops of color. So taking the time to think about your overall design is important in making a final selection of tile.  A big decision for me, and not one to take lightly, was the color of grout. As I mentioned before, our new Breakfast Nook has inspired my color choices for the kitchen, and the eventual re-decoration of our living room in the fall.

Crossville Studios is a tile distributor, for Crossville, Inc., with over 20 showrooms in regions throughout the country. I am so lucky to have one of their studios right here in Austin, Texas!!

It’s been really handy having Crossville Studios beautiful showroom in town so I could hand-select tile and work with the Crossville Studio team, which has been super helpful. They’ve gone above and beyond to make sure I am satisfied and have everything I need to make my kitchen tile project a success.

I went to the Austin Crossville Studios and worked with Lance and Tamara on selecting a Crossville, Inc. tile made in the USA. That’s one thing I love about their brand, it being American Made. After much thought and consideration, I selected Convergence, a glass mosaic tile that has a wood pattern behind the glass.  I love wood, so this mosaic pattern was perfect for our kitchen.  I also really like how it mimics the circular pattern on the breakfast nook cushion fabric by Kravet. Also, it’s special to note that this product is part of Crossville, Inc.’s ongoing support of The Common Thread for the Cure.

About Convergence Wall Tile

The stunning new wall line, that’s been out for a few years now, offers the look of end-grain wood captured in rich, jewel tones and cast in polished glass mosaics.

Convergence comes in eight vibrant colors: Pearl, Chardonnay, Sepia, Pigeon, Orchid, Indigo, Currant, and Peacock. These luxe hues are heightened thanks to the brilliant glass casting, creating a naturally sophisticated effect with a lustrous sheen. The 4”x4” mosaics, mesh-mounted on 12”x12” sheets, are suited for use on interior walls in wet or dry applications, in commercial or residential settings.

“We’re excited to see Convergence usher in new opportunities for designers to boldly tap into their individual styles,” explains Lindsey Waldrep, Crossville’s vice president of marketing. “The mosaics’ melding of bio-mimicry with an artistic splash and fun range of colors is sure to result in some incredible wall tile designs.”

Convergence is the latest addition to Crossville’s program to support The Common Thread for the Cure, the non-profit organization uniting the interior design and furnishings industry in the battle against breast cancer. A percentage of the proceeds from each sale of Convergence will be donated to fund Helping Hand Grants that provide practical assistance to those facing the struggles of breast cancer.

 

 

Convergence Tile in Indigo

Below is the Indigo Convergence tile I instantly fell in love with.  This is NOT exactly how it’s going to look in our Kitchen Makeover, so don’t get too attached to how this looks.  I want to save it as a surprise for the Big Reveal in June 25th, but this shows you the cool wood-grain that sits behind the glass tile.  I love the texture it exudes and how the pattern is different in each individual tile.

 

Here I am below with Lance, 6 feet apart with our masks, in the Crossville Studios’ Austin showroom for the first time.  I’ve been back a couple of times since, but this was my first time out a few weeks ago with my Schumacher face mask.

Below is Tamara and Lance showcasing the different colors the Convergent tile comes in. The Crossville Studios team could not have been more helpful!

In Week 6, I’ve been installing the tile with my One Room Challenge friend from San Antonio, Michelle Felux with Breaking Down the Box, who basically volunteered to come up and teach me how to tile. Boy, has it been an eye-opening experience and a truly exhausting one!

Here we are below only half way through. As I write this post we still have a 3rd day of work ahead of us to finish the grouting.

I’m so incredibly grateful to partner Crossville Studios for their wonderful customer service and to my friend Michelle for teaching me how to install tile. I think doing it once is going to be enough for me. It is very hard work. Way harder than installing wallpaper.

Important Info About Glass Tile

Often in the One Room Challenge, you learn on the job. That’s half of the fun of the challenge. But one thing Michelle and I didn’t plan and is important for you to know if you ever use glass tile in a project is it needs 36 hours to dry. That’s because it does not absorb moisture as clay tile does, so there needs to be enough hours for the tile to expand and contract BEFORE you grout. We cut it very close. In fact, Michelle has to come back next weekend to help me finish it up because it could not all be done over a 3 day period. Lesson learned!

 

 

From the Lazy Susan To the Whole Home Approach

Rev-A-Shelf is committed to “changing the way we think about cabinet organization.”  And that is a blessing because our kitchen cabinets are a hot mess.  Not only dated (more on that next week) but the insides are so poorly organized that we can’t find anything and we waste a lot of valuable space.

Partnering with Rev-A-Shelf I know is going to transform the insides of our cabinets and improve the functioning of our daily life in the kitchen, and I can’t wait! Their level of customer service has been excellent as it’s taken some time and thought to work with their South Midwest Territory rep, Bryant Chappel, to specify what will work best in our kitchen.  Because our kitchen cabinets are 20+ years old, not everything fit, but I’m real pleased, and I know you will be too, when you see all the options Rev-A-Shelf has that worked for our out-dated Kitchen Makeover.

I can’t wait to try out their handy Drawer Peg System.  I mean look at what a waste that drawer is currently stuffed with grocery store bags!

 

And I won’t even begin to tell you what a crazy mess our spice holder was. Do you know that I only learned that our spice rack popped out of the cabinet when I was removing it?  Our cabinets will thank us for installing the Adjustable Door Mount Spice Rack. 

 

About Rev-A-Shelf LLC. 

As a family-owned company, Rev-A-Shelf understands the importance of the home. For over 35 years, they have made it their mission to provide quality, innovative products that help make the kitchen, bath and closet more organized but also accessible.

Located in Louisville, KY, as a division of Jones Plastic & Engineering, Rev-A-Shelf’s product line began with metal and polymer Lazy Susan components and has since grown into the market-leading innovator of residential cabinet storage solutions and LED cabinet lighting. Rev-A-Shelf manufactures thousands of innovative accessories for your kitchen, bath, or closet and with the acquisition of Tresco Lighting, Rev-A-Shelf offers a full line of LED lighting options for residential cabinetry and commercial display fixtures.  Their products are available through cabinet hardware distributors, large OEM cabinet manufacturers, home centers like Lowe’s and Menards, and an array of online authorized web resellers.

 

Look at this handy Peg-Drawer System above!! Makes for a much cleaner, more organized, and functional kitchen.

Now one drawer that is ALWAYS messy is our eating and cooking utensil drawers.  Above is a great example of how well organized they can look with Rev-A-Shelf product, like the adjustable Cutlery Series.

Lastly, I am really looking forward to trying out one of these handy Above Appliance Pullouts.  For all those difficult cabinets that are way up high, this is the perfect solution to bring some of your kitchen gadgets more within reach.

 

These are just a few of the many Rev-A-Shelf cabinet organization products I’ll be trying out in our Kitchen Makeover.  I know they will be a huge improvement.  The only challenge is that I have to get my husband (who only is handy with changing a light bulb and toilet seat….I kid you not!) to help me install all the products. But I can’t stress the importance of having the inside of your kitchen cabinets organized and Rev-A-Shelf is the brand that can help you do that!

Under Cabinet Kitchen Lighting as Essential as the Inside of Your Cabinets

One thing I just have not had time to really think about, although I know how important it is, is under cabinet lighting.  I must confess that when our fluorescent lights went out several years ago and we couldn’t get the light bulb out to change it, we just gave up and have lived without undercabinet lighting for years.  I know, it’s such a simple thing we could have fixed, just like the leaky faucet and broken garbage disposal. But you know how some things in your own home just never get done.

Well, I was thrilled to learn that Rev-A-Shelf acquired Tresco Lighting several years ago and we are now, thanks to our generous sponsor, going to have some VERY helpful undercabinet lighting.  Just being able to see what we’re doing on the kitchen counter is going to be incredibly illuminating!

Announcement of two new partnerships/sponsors

I am thrilled to announce that we will be partnering with a local business, that happens to have grown nationally, Articulture Designs and a leader in kitchen ventillation systems, Zephyr. 

I have known the owner of Articulture Monique Capanelli, for many years, and I can’t wait for you to see the wonderful biophilic arrangments she’ll be creating for our Kitchen Makeover.  More on that coming in the Big Reveal on June 25th. But in the meantime, be sure to watch my Instagram Stories, as I”ll be sharing my trip out to her studio and all the wonderful products I saw. It was incredibly inspiring and reminds me how essential plants are to a healthy kitchen!

Next week, in Week 7, I’ll be sharing more information on our partner and sponsor Paper Moon Painting, as they start painting our kitchen cabinets first thing Monday morning!  And more on our newest brand partnership with ZEPHYR, so stay tuned for more excitement as we close in on the finish line.

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Till next time, Week 7, the very last week before the BIG REVEAL (OMG, I’m not ready!!!!) stay safe, well, and continue to keep standing up for racial justice.  We are all in this together and need to be listening, learning, and working toward change.   XO PG

Note: This post is sponsored by CrossVille Studios and Rev-A-Shelf. All press info and images identified are courtesy of these brands. All other images, except where credited, are my own, and opinions are all my own.

Thank you to all partners sponsoring the Collier St. Kitchen Makeover: