California 2 Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico got hit by a freak storm (tropical storm Olga) last night and our power was out for the majority of today. So, since we couldn’t work (no power = no internet), we decided to design our closet. It took us a little over an hour, but here is the rough sketch.

Tomorrow we will go buy the cedar to start constructing the closet.

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Our downstairs offices are finally coming together enough that we have moved into them. Here is a sneak preview of the Vicious Enterprises - Puerto Rico office:

The polished concrete floors have been sealed three times and the walls have been plastered, but we have to wait 1 - 2 more weeks to apply the wall sealer (to avoid moisture problems in the future) and then we can paint. We returned the ceiling fan since we found out that the expensive fans we bought for the offices don’t actually circulate any air (unfortunately for Stefan his office was the 1st one to get the fan, where we discovered how bad they suck). I’m thinking of putting in an awesomely gaudy chandelier instead, plus air conditioning. If you can’t tell, my office is going to be decorated in a “modern vintage international Parisian flea market” theme. I’m using black, white and a bold accent color as the color palate, but I can decide what color I’m going to use yet. I was going to do pink, but every girl does pink nowadays, so now I’m leaning towards a deep purple or bright tealish blue.

It’s nice to have a somewhat private space again, so we can get back to work without distractions and interuptions. Contrary to popular opinion, Stefan and I do actually have jobs :).

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Since we are getting close to having a complete bathroom, I picked out all of the accessories for the guest bathroom. Here are a few of the things I picked out at Target.com:

Here is the bathroom that above accoutrements will be going into:

I picked out chocolate brown and sky blue towels, mother of pearl soap dispenser, toothbrush holder, waste basket and shower curtain rings, brown bathmat, crinkled cream fabric shower curtain, a fabric shower curtain liner and a bamboo reed diffuser in Bamboo Flower scent.

I love shopping online! I actually bought a few of the items above at the local Target store today, but I’m going to take them back so I don’t have to pack them to ship down to PR. Shipping at Target.com was free, so I figured I’ll save myself the time and hassle and have Target ship everything together, to Puerto Rico.

The final things we need for the guest bathroom now, are a towel bar and permanent shower rod. Woohoo!

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Summer has pretty much givin’ me full decision making authority for the kitchen (i am the cook). I laid out the cabinets, the floor plan and now have to pull the trigger on our counter tops. Her input is very important to me and we have collaborated on every purchase so far (no one gave anything up to get what they wanted, that’s a compromise) and I am really satisfied with every decision we have made together.

Now that we are onto the counter tops, I really wanted her input as to what they should look like. We both liked the idea of granite (solid, earthy, natural, strong presence) but neither of us fell in love with any of the samples we found. As a matter of a fact, we really didn’t like any of them. I couldn’t stop thinking of confetti or some cheesy jersey shore summer rental. There was one that was kinda cool, but really only because it was granite. If it were another material we never would have chosen the pattern.

Now, that it is decision time, I might be backing out on the granite. But I am not sure yet. I would really like everyones input on this one. Link to whatever may help us in the comment section and help give us some direction.

I found this stuff called SileStone.

The superman of stone, quartz surfacing provides a nearly indestructible material, idea for homeowners who want a beautiful countertop—that they might occasionally spill wine on! Providing the look of natural stone with a mettle that laughs in the face of coffee, lemon juice and high-maintenance care, its non-porous nature protects against more than just stains—it’s also extremely hygienic, making it a food-safe choice.

Though quartz surfacing is sometimes referred to as “engineered” quartz, don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ll end up with a synthetic countertop. Expect pure natural quartz (generally upwards of 90 percent) mixed with epoxy resin binders. The care-free surface doesn’t require sealants. Boasting the look of natural stone, quartz surfacing has a consistent color; its color should be very close to what you saw in the showroom.

Pros

* Does not require sealants.
* Scratch-resistant with diamond-like hardness, you can cut on quartz (excessive force can damage it, however).
* Consistent color.
* Its non-porous makes it virtually stain-free.
* Can be worked into a decorative edge.

Cons

* Though it can briefly tolerate moderate temperatures for a brief time, you’ll want to use a hot pad or trivet when placing a hot pan on it.
* Integrated sinks are not available, as with solid surfacing.

Click the link to see big version: SileStone Quartz Color Chart

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Stefan and I decided against doing wood floors in the kitchen, so we bought cream colored marble for the floors. Next step was to figure out what the hell we are going to do for the kitchen counters. Originally we wanted to do a modern concrete counter top, but we couldn’t find anyone skilled enough down here, that we would trust doing them. So, we went granite shopping the other day. Quite honestly, I thought all the granite was ugly, but we found one that we think we like (of course it’s the most expensive of the bunch…):

Here is a picture of the cream marble (floors), mahogany (cabinets) and green granite (counters):

What do you think? It will cost over $6000 to do granite in the kitchen. Ouch.

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The blue DecoLav sink arrived while we were playing poker the other night (The UPS guy showed up after 9pm. Weird.), so Stefan and I were excited to find a vanity so we could get it installed. We went to way too many bath stores, that we have already been to multiple time and still couldn’t find anything that we liked even a little bit. Just so happens that we found the perfect thing at Rooms to Go (which is a furniture store)! Here is a picture of the table we got and the Decolav sink in our bathroom:

Looks good with the walnut travertine, doesn’t it?!

It’s actually a table that is supposed to go behind a couch, but it fits the space in our guest bathroom perfectly. Now we just need to get everything hooked up. Faucet.com forgot to send our drain and mounting ring, but it should be here tomorrow.

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As I mentioned before, we’ve picked out a dark brown marble for the walls in the master bathroom and a light brown/cream travertine for the floor. Here is a picture of the tiles and trim we spent a good few days trying to decide on. The trim is small travertine tiles accented with copper:

Well, Stefan just told me that Gino (our tile guy) doesn’t like the trim. He thinks it looks too rustic for the marble. What do you think? I still think it looks good and we’re not trying to be all bling-bling marble with gold trim ;).

Stefan already axed my 1st choice of trim, which you can see here. Why doesn’t anyone trust my design ideas?

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Stefan and I have been searching for a sink for the stupid guest bathroom for at least 2 months now, and it’s getting ridiculous. We just want to finish the bathroom, damn it! The big problem is that everytime we find a sink we like, it only comes in white, which won’t work since the toilet and tub are almond (light beige).

So, I’ve decided that we need to make this decision now. I’ve narrowed it down to three choices and we will let the guest audience (that’s you) decide which sink will be purchase for/installed in our guest bathroom:

Here is a DecoLav brand vessel sink in blue (it is also available in clear, violet, green, cobalt, amber, silver, copper and gold). It’s simple, stylish and only $184. I think this sink would look good since the bold blue will break up all the brown in the guest bathroom (walnut colored tile and almond colored fixtures). Plus, it will compliment the blue paint on the walls, without being too matchy-matchy.

This Porcher “Zen” sink is kind of cool, no? It’s pretty modern without trying to hard to be modern. It’s available in “biscuit”, which I think would match fine with our “almond” fixtures. This Porcher sink is $360, which is getting kind of expensive for the guest bath, but it is a pretty cool vessel sink.
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This American Standard “Morning” sink is available in white, bone, linen, daydream (blue), beige and black. I would consider this sink in linen or daydream for our bathroom. But would a light blue sink be cute? Or ugly? Will the linen color be to much brown with the brown tile and light brown fixtures? The American Standard “Morning” sink is $255.
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Here is a picture of the bathroom that the sink is going to be installed in. Walnut colored travertine tile, almond colored fixtures and brightish blue paint:

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We are going to be covering the entire upstairs (except the two bathrooms) with Ipe Hardwood Floors. Ipe wood, also known as Iron Wood and Brazilian Walnut, is valued for its durability, strength, and its natural resistance to decay, wet conditions, and insect infestation.

Ipe and the Janka Test

The rating chart is from the Janka test, a rating test commonly used to measure wood hardness. Basically, the test calculates the number of pounds per square inch required to drive a small steel ball half its diameter into the surface of the wood. This test shows that Ipe wood is more than 368% harder then Teak wood! Ipe has a Class A Fire Rating which puts it in the same category as concrete and steel. Ipe Heartwood, is typically reddish brown with a greenish tinge, often with lighter or darker striping. When sanded and finished Ipe looks similar to a teak wood but for half the price.

Jamie and Brian, two old and great friends from my days in New Jersey, are going to be here in Rincon in November to do the installation. They have both been installing hardwood floors for years and always seem to be working there downtime at friends houses applying their well tuned trade and skills. We have about 1500 square feet upstairs not including the front and back porches. Right now we are guestimating that we are going to spend about $7,000 in wood alone. If we were to use Mahagony we would be spending $14 per square foot as opposed to $5 per square foot for Ipe.

Check out some examples of finished IPE (Brazilian Walnut and Ironwood) inside and outside.

I like the smooth finish on this floor

The is a little more our speed, but I don’t know if I like the spacing

An IPE Deck, I really like the wood

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