Professional Pictures of the Kitchen and Powder room.

    The banquette in the kitchen and powder room have been finished for a few months now and we've been thoroughly enjoying both of them.  I'm still very careful when using the powder room because it feels way too nice to be using.  The kids have been sitting on the banquette bench and the Sunbrella  material has been holding up really well to their eating messiness. There have been a few spills that clean up well regardless of sitting time, so far.  I've had to put some grippy shelf liner between the bench and seat cushion to eliminate sliding and it seems to be a good solution.

   After all the dust had settled, Margaret came back through with Beth Singer, an architectural photographer, to take professional pictures of the completed project.  We spent days cleaning and polishing in preparation, which is good because it seems like it should take place more than annually.  The day before the shoot, Margaret brought some items to stage with the option to purchase most of them.  We did decide to take her up on the offer since we really don't have much in the way of decorations yet.

  The photography session was interesting to watch.  Beth came with one assistant and a few cases of equipment.  The camera output was monitored on an attached laptop and the process seemed to involve taking pictures with and without flash, later to be composited into the ideal picture.  Elements like wall switches, power outlets, doors and HVAC registers, were digitally removed from the final picture.  In some shots, wall art was held up in place and digitally added so they didn't have to actually be hung on the wall.  They even added a whole beverage fridge in the butlers pantry since that space is still vacant.  Ultimately, I think the photos are amazing so I'll share them, with permission.

The rarely clean kitchen!  While the wall art was digitally added and some wall sockets and ceiling speakers were removed, nothing else was modified.  It's a composition of pictures with different lighting conditions since you can't really get that natural light color while having the table light on.

The banquette has been really great for everyday eating and some homework.  The basement door was removed from this picture as it probably detracts from the primary subject and we usually have one more of those chairs around the table.

This is the piece I made for the wall opposite the banquette.  It sits on a small wall section between the exterior door wall and greatroom opening.  We're planning on using it as a landing pad for mail and phone/tablet charging area.  The outboard partitions of the live edge front are press to open, slow close drawers for storage.  The middle section is a door that houses an additional hiding place for charging cables.  The walnut front was sourced locally from a small sawyer near me.

The white portion is hardwood edged plywood painted with a high gloss oilbased paint.  I incorporated two wireless chargers through the top, indicated by the white stickers.  The post processing of the photos made the stickers whiter than they are in real life, to highlight their presence.  The paint was the hardest part of the build.  Getting it perfectly smooth and shiny took a lot of sanding and polishing and it's not entirely scratch proof.  I'm hoping I'll figure out a better paint to use.  Maybe a dyed epoxy or something.

While no changes were made to the butlers pantry during our most recent additions, the beverage fridge was added digitally.  It's something we definitely want to get in the future, but just haven't had the time nor need for it yet.

The powder room was very tricky to photograph.  As shown in my earlier blog post about it, the low lighting and small space makes it difficult to capture well.  Of course, I'm not a professional photographer that can put out this high quality of a photo.

Combining shots to get enough light to see details while still highlighting the fixture lighting is the most impressive part of these pictures.  In rea life, the lights provide enough lighting, but it's darker than what you see here.

Finished Powder Room

    One of the things we didn't finish before moving in was the first floor powder room.  It's a small space right off the rotunda next to where the closed-in elevator shaft is.  We knew what we wanted to do with the space, but couldn't muster the money to fulfil the completion at the time.  We've been using the mudroom bathroom or guest room bathroom in the interim for our first floor needs and it's been working out well.  Earlier in 2020, we started working again with Margaret Skinner of Margeaux Interiors, who was entirely responsible for the interior design of the rest of the house, as well as instrumental in the success of building the entire thing.  If you can remember, she was the one who introduced us to Mike Perri, the second builder, who came in and rescued our build after the first builder failed us.  She once again worked her magic on realizing our dreams for the powder room.

   I usually post update and build process pictures, but this was a different circumstance.  The Covid pandemic has dramatically delayed the production of all materials an, while this was a smaller project, took at least 7 months to complete.  All materials, furniture, and finishes are being produced at a reduced rate with doubled shipping times.  Business shutdowns make it difficult for Margaret to even obtain samples to show her clients with some samples coming directly from the manufacturers.  Regardless of the delays, we've finally finished the build, so on with the pictures.

  I think my fisheye lens was a little dirty so I apologize for the dust.  The walls and ceilings are covered in a metallic woven wall paper.  It has a cloth like texture and metallic sheen and seems to be a little delicate as rubbing it vigorously could damage it.  It looks wonderful though, so hopefully it won't cause any future issues.  The vanity wall is Duchateau Kubic in a Stout color.  They come in 1.28 sq ft pieces that are attached to the wall.  The ridges provide a nice shadow play from the back lit mirror.  The pendants are Hubbardton Forge Luma.  They don't have any symmetry to them so they're not mirrored to each other, but it still works.  

   Obviously, the center piece of the room is the under-lit black cloud onyx counter top.  It's lit by LED panels and controlled on the same switch as the back lit mirror.  The sink is a Badeloft countertop sink made from a matte stone resin.  It sits entirely above the onyx so minimal cutting was required.  The faucet is Hansgrohe Axor Citterio, which matches much of the style throughout the house.  More of the wall panel was used on the doors of the floating vanity and the baseboards and back of the door were painted a dark smoke black.

   The walnut dot is a hand towel hanger, the only towel hanger in the bathroom.  We used more of these in the guest room closet as an interesting and functional decoration.  The backlight from the mirror shines across the wood paneling and illuminates the side walls.

The painted black door and trim complete the dark elegance of the room.  The exterior of the door is still the original white color and the trim is split at the door stop.  The wall plates, recessed lights, and vent fan were all painted the same color.

   The black cloud onyx has natural opaque mineral inclusions that make it ideal for backlighting.  The LED light color used underneath is colder than 3000k but warmer than bright white.  The stone lends itself the natural amber color that shines through.

   Enough illumination can come from the accent lighting, without the overhead recessed lights.  The room is almost too nice to go in and I don't want to be the first to make a mess in there.  I'll enjoy the feeling the small room and dark accents have.

   Besides the obvious multi year plan on the landscaping, the only thing left to complete from the original build is the completion of the master bathroom.  We're still missing a feature tile wall and bathtub, which we'll hopefully be able to complete soon.  The basement remains unfinished so far, but we have some plans to implement in the near future.  Along with the powder room, we furnished the guest room, had glass shower doors installed in the guest and mud room bathroom showers, and had the kitchen banquette completed.  I'll post updates to those next.