The Karina - carpet

The carpet was installed yesterday and I love it! On our cottage projects at Ross Chapin Architects, we have always put carpet in upstairs. Neil and I had discussed whether to go to wood flooring, because carpet tends to get a bad rap when it comes to indoor air quality. The problem with wood, though, is it's noisier and in my opinion not as cozy for bedrooms...even with area rugs. That's why we decided on wool carpet. It's a natural material that some studies have found to actually help purify the air. Ecohaus, our local environmental home center, describes wool as "'green' by nature. Sheep can be shorn every 9 to 12 months, and wool is biodegradable. It needs none of the chemicals that must be added to synthetics to enhance their performance." We went with Godfrey Hirst's Torquay series, color: mushroom. It's 100% New Zealand wool.

Another thing to note about indoor air quality...because we have been so careful about the materials we have used to reduce the toxic chemicals building the home, we want to be diligent about what we track into the home. Since the carpet went in, there is a NO shoes policy upstairs. Eventually, it will be shoes off entering the home, but we still have cardboard down protecting the floors. If you really think about it, it's the only way to go. Do you really want to be tracking into your home all the places you have been walking?


We used a local family business to purchase and install our carpet, Vogel's Carpet. We HIGHLY recommend them. We originally went to a big outfit, Great Floors, but felt they weren't being upfront with us about the cost and when we questioned their calculations they actually were a bit hostile. Our experience with Vogel's was the opposite and they worked with us even as we kept postponing our install date. Not sure why I had forgotten that lesson...it's best to stick with local businesses that have been around for years and who you can trust.

The Karina - counters

The kitchen counters are in! They came on Friday and installed the counters and kitchen sink. Here you can see how we wrapped the backsplash around and used stainless steel up the back of the stove. I like all the play of grey and stainless. Neil was installing the garbage disposal over the weekend.

The living room wall is about finished...just another coat of paint around the inset. The mantel turned out well. We had debated whether to paint it or not, but like the natural finish...it will go well with the floors.


At least someone is enjoying our mud pit of a yard....

The Karina - bathrooms

It's so exciting to stop by the house these days. There is always something else that is completed.

I can't wait to use this shower! I love the rain head. Neil insisted on the hand held as well...much easier to clean the shower with that.

This is also the main bathroom...I had originally put 2 of the above lights in on either side of the sink to match the other 2 in the bath, but since they use only 60 watt candelabra bulbs, there wasn't enough light. So back to the light store...this time Lamps Plus. I then chose the light in the bottom left corner.
But when Neil went to install it, the back of the light did not give enough room for the wiring because we used pancake electrical boxes. Those are used when there is a stud in the way. Soon there will be a recessed medicine cabinet in the middle so the studs are where the lights will go. So back to the lighting store I went and ended up with these.

The Karina - update

To think, in one week this is going to be all cleaned up! So much is finishing up this week. Yesterday the glass shower enclosures where installed and the little upstairs bathroom counter. Also the concrete guy came to start on our path from the sidewalk to the porch and the front and back step. This morning I'm heading over to meet with a landscaper that hopefully can help us with our muddy mess of a yard.

I stopped by on my way to work yesterday morning, and the cabinet doors were partially installed, so we looked at the 2 door handles I had picked up at Lowes. I had spent some time in Builder's Hardware, but just couldn't find the right knob. The Lowes one isn't right either, but it was close. I ended up ordering one online based on this one. We need 19 knobs and 12 bar pulls. The knobs will go on the doors and the pulls on drawers...except in the bathrooms which will be all knobs.

The Karina - hardware

Schlage Manhattan Lever Handle
There are 7 interior doors that needed door hardware like this. (We have 4 pocket doors as well) I wanted something simple with clean lines that felt good in the hand. This Schlage model accomplishes all of that for around $35. I specifically wanted levers, because they are easier to open...a "universal design" option.

We have the Schlage "Elan" model in our current home. And while it is modern looking, it's too edgy in the hand. I prefer the curve of the Manhattan.

Door hardware was one of the easier items to choose...much of it came down to what we wanted to spend. The items further below were all in the 80-$100 range. Valli&Valli has some beautiful hardware...it felt great in the hand and was simple and clean, but $100 each just was not an option. Especially when I rather liked the Schlage model we ended up with.


I also liked the INOX 210 Air-stream, which is the 2nd one down on the left.

The Karina - counters

The real back door is up now. Some of the cabinet replacement pieces arrived so we were able to put the fridge in place and all the end panels to the cabinets...which was important because the countertops were measured yesterday. They will be installed next Friday and then we can put the last plumbing fixtures in and call for the FINAL INSPECTION!

We are going with Chroma countertops which is 90-93% quartz with 7-10% polyester resins and pigments. It's easy to clean, heat and scratch resistant and requires little maintenance...they just recommend re-applying the sealer now and then. We had narrowed it down to 2 colors for the kitchen.

I was leaning towards the brown and Neil was leaning towards the grey. Downstairs we are using more greys...like in the bathroom and the pavers at the living room stove. So we went with Coastal Grey. Upstairs we went with Crystal White with larger stone pieces.

It was fun to go down to Pental and out to their slab warehouse. It really helps to see them large.

The Karina - lighting

It's been a busy few weeks for us. I had some time off from RCA around the holidays and was able to focus on the house, final decisions and running errands for Neil. We are coming down to the last weeks and there is much to finalize. One task was the final selections of lighting fixtures. As with the exterior lights, the interior choices were not easy. Three of these sconces were just used in the stairway.

Light: Forecast Niles F1065-16


These were chosen for the bedrooms. Both selections came from Seattle Lighting.

Light: Minka Lavery 342-84