Most people would agree that building materials make the mark of a magnificent project.
The question is always, “How do you select the right materials to make this mark?” The simple answer is: choose the materials BEFORE purchasing.
DEFINE SCOPE OF PROJECT
This is the York Cottage that has wonderful and rare ocean views of The Isles of Shoals. While we are doing an addition / renovation to a small cottage, the home will still remain relatively modest and our intention is to retain its genuine Maine Cottage feel. A mixture of dark and light distressed woods and cabinetry with light, textured fabrics will pull together the space beautifully. We shop with all these definitions in mind.
FLOORS
The existing floors are distressed wide-plank knotty pine. So the new flooring on the first floor will match that with new tile in the kitchen for function. Knotty pine is a kitchen is a terribly idea because it is soft and will show natural wear & tear in a short amount of time. By selecting the tile early in the process, we will be able to have the finished floors at the same height to avoid any thresholds.
The floors on the second-floor addition will be a distressed, bleached wide plank oak in the bedroom and hallway. Carpet will be in the closet – a wise choice to respect budget and feet-friendly. And the Master Bath will have wonderful mosaic patterned tile out of Thassos and Carrara marbles from Artistic Tile.
CABINETRY
The kitchen will have an interesting combination of painted soft white along the main kitchen wall, distressed wood grain on the island and a dark cherry stain for the bar in the living room.
COUNTERTOPS
Since we have one wall of cabinetry considered the main kitchen, the cabinets will be the soft white and the countertops will be a solid, engineered sage green Pental Quartz. The island with the distressed wood-grain cabinetry will read as a solid light taupe Cambria USA quartz. And the bar with the dark stained cherry will be the same Cambria. The Master Bath will also have this Cambria quartz on the soft white cabinets. A trip to Boston Granite Exchange will determine the use of quartz, quartzite, granite or marble.
BACKSPLASH
Tile is like art. So, we started with the tile and specifically the backsplashes. Cabinetry can basically be any color and selecting engineered stone makes selecting countertops relatively easy to work with the backsplash. These tiles are amazing and we want them to be the focus of attention.
It is a lot of work to pull everything together so remember, don’t purchase anything until ALL of the decisions have been made. If you would like help on your material selections, let me know. It can be complicated but for me it’s super fun!