Drywall and finishing are complete!  It’s gone from looking like a construction site to a home in the span of a week.  The kitchen cabinets are by Thomasville and they are a beautiful blueish-gray called Baltic Bay.  The construction is terrific and the color glaze has a depth and glow I just love.  The upper cabinets span to the ceiling and we will finish the look with a matching crown molding.  We’ll partner the cabinets with oil rubbed bronze hardware and fixtures.  Last night, we decided on the floor- a checkerboard of chiaro travertine and peacock slate.  For the ceiling, I am contemplating using a great molded paper in a sunflower pattern that echoes the hardware details.  We’ll see how much energy I have after painting……

Priority #1 is getting the bathroom functional so we can close in on our move-in date.  Tiling is an adventure.  Chris always makes tiling look easy, so I went into the project thinking I was going to help knock it out.  I was confident and told our neighbor Dave “I will be doing the tiling…”  Dave definitely noticed my lack of progress and after several hours Chris declared what my earnings would be in the trade ($10 for those curious) and I came to only one conclusion….  My talent is not prodigal and after several tantrums and tears of despair, I relinquished tiling for cutting duty.

In my own defense, I was hungry and tired, and I was trying to lay a diagonal pattern without understanding the foundation.  It’s truthfully much more difficult that it looks.  Chris was relieved for my new understanding of “designer” details and pattern changes.  He offered to take some pictures of me placing tiles at the top of the wall, but you’all should know diagonal applications are not a good learning ground.  At the end of the day, I was a much better tile-cutter and I got more practice with a tile better suited to my experience level the next day- subway.

The mural I chose is a 1901 piece titled “The Mermaid” painted by John Williams Waterhouse for his diploma work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.  He famously painted all matters of mystical lore, Shakespearian tale and Greek legend.  In a fantastical world, I would be a mermaid. In the real world, I throw on fins and gleefully perfect my fish undulations in the surrounding lakes and rivers.  The Museum Tile Company scans their murals from the actual artwork.  You can see the weathering of time in the paint and the transfer resolution is at 11,000 dpi so the tiles are incredible.  They have a great outlet store on Ebay with lots of options for kitchen and bath installations.  I love the cerulean quality of the ocean and the earthy tones of the shore and formations.  I used this to design the bathroom colors- noche and chiaro travertine, coupled with green quartzite for every other diamond of the band detail around the walls and in 12×12 diagonal on the floor (thank you honey).