River House Diary

Once I fell in love with a chandelier for the foyer, Zuniga Interiors developed a design concept for our Foyer. Design concept for the foyer; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors For those who like details: Hallmark Floors Alta Vista Collection in Ojai Oak Au Courant Interiors Cynthia Chandelier in Aqua Kichler Lighting Alton 1-Light Wall Sconce in Natural Brass Magnolia Home interior paint in Pearly Cotton Arhaus Tinsley Three Drawer Dresser Uttermost Agustin Walnut Mirror

My latest swoon is an Empire-style chandelier made out of sea glass nuggets. When I sent it to our interior designer asking her to put me out of my misery and tell me it wouldn't work, she didn't. Instead, she incorporated it in to the design for our foyer. Cynthia Sea Glass Nugget Open Chandelier from Au Courant Interiors ; courtesy of Au Courant Interiors

The Bonus Bath is upstairs and will be used primarily by Pete and me, though will be available when we have an overflow of guests. Zuniga designed an affordable vintage bath with cream walls, a pivot style mirror and penny round floor tile. Bonus Bath Design Concept; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors For those who like details Home Decorators Collection 30" Tesian vanity without top in Flagstone available from Home Depot CreeKraft Cultured Marble Counter with Integrated Sink in White on White MAAX Open-top Acrylic Tub/Shower Combo in White Toto Drake ADA Elongated Toilet, Comfort Height in White Moen Dartmoor Chrome Posi-Temp Tub/Shower Faucet Moen with Magnetix Eco-Performance Hand Shower Handheld in Chrome Moen Datmoor Two-Handle High-Arc Bathroom Faucet in Chrome Kichler Riviera 3-Light Vanity Light in Chrome Pottery Barn Vintage Pivot Mirror 27" w x 35" h in Chrome Bedrosians 360 3/4" x 3/4" Floor & Wall Tile in Lagoon or Beige Magnolia...

I didn't have much of a vision for Bath 2. All I knew was I wanted to use the Capiz shell mirrors from Capital Lighting that hung behind the bar in our Oakton house and I loved Galbraith & Paul's Lotus wallpaper in Aqua , but likely couldn't afford it. With that scant bit of direction, Zuniga interiors came up with the design concept for Bath 2. Design concept for Bath 2; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors For those who like details. CabCraft Dalton cabinets in Canvas CreeKraft Cultured Marble Counter in Classic FHS MAAX Open Top Acrylic Tub/Shower Combo in White Toto Drake ADA Compliant Elongate Toilet, Comfort Height, White Kohler Verticyl Rectangle Undermount Sink in White Moen Dartmoor Chrome Posi-Temp Tub/Shower Faucet Moen with Magnetix Eco-Performance Hand Shower Handheld in Chrome Moen Dartmoor Chrome Two Handle High Arc Widespread Faucet in Chrome Kichler Audrea 1-Light Wall Sconce in Chrome Schaub Menlo Park 4-inch Drawer Pull Bedrosians Costa Al...

Much better than mine! Found on Instagram; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors

I had been toying with the idea of an apothecary sink stand for our Half Bath, but Pete called it the "gulag" look so it was back to the drawing board. I asked Zuniga Interiors if the Weathered Oak Washstand from Restoration Hardwar e would work in our house. They came back with this beautiful design. Half Bath design concept; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors For those who like details: Restoration Hardware 31-1/2" Weathered Oak Single Console with Sink in Weathered Oak Drifted Toto Drake Elongated Toilet, Comfort Height, White Moen Weymouth Two Handel High Arch Bathroom Faucet in Brushed Nickel Kichler Avery 3-Light Vanity Light in Brushed Nickel Pottery Barn Kids Dahlia Flushmount Birch Lane Moseley Accent Mirror   Daltile Premier Accents Pearl Herringbone 10" x 11" Stone Mosaic Wall Tile Kenneth James Juan Chan Grasscloth Wallpaper in Taupe Hallmark Floors Alta Vista Collection in Ojai Oak

It is possible to fall in love with inanimate objects and I can be very loyal. This has been my favorite wallpaper for several years. Our interior designer wants us to use it on one wall in Bath 2, which is the bathroom overnight guests will use. Galbraith & Paul Lotus wallpaper in Aqua ; courtesy of Galbraith & Paul

The Master Bath To-Go box arrived today. So many pretty things! Master Bath mood board; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors Master Bath design concept; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors And elegant, understated tile. Master Bath tile samples; personal collection For those who like the details: Bedrosians Purestone 12" x 24" Floor & Wall Tile in Beige Bedrosians Purestone 1" x 2" Floor & Wall Tile Mosaic in Beige (shower floor) Bedrosians Winter 8" x 24" Wall Tile in Beige Jeffrey Court Royal Cream Gloss Dome 3/4" x 12" Tile Oceanside Glass and Tile Tessera Meridian Mosaic (custom color blend) Oceanside Glass and Tile Tessera 1" x 1" Mosaic (customer color blend) CabCraft Allentown cabinets in Canvas Cambria countertop in Fairbourne Rejuvenation Sommerville Collection in Chrome Moen Weymouth Two Handle High Arc Faucet in Chrome Moen Weymouth Posi-Temp Shower Only in Chrome Moen Eco-Performance Hand Shower in...

Marble and soapstone countertops are hot, hot, hot now; and they are lovely. Many who have them think the staining (marble is porous) and scratches (soapstone is soft) merely add patina. I knew I wasn't one of those people and I would hate the imperfections that came from daily use. I'm also not a fan of a busy, colorful patterned stone (except for a brief love affair ), which is the issue I have with most granites. Busy stone screams, "Look at me, look at me," and demands to be the star of the show. It's a design bully. Amazonite quartzite; courtesy of Distinctive Granite and Marble In our kitchen the backsplash tile is the star so the countertops needed to be quiet and understated. We chose Cambria's Fairbourne quartz, an engineered stone. We're also using it in the Master Bath as tile is also the star. Fairbourne quartz; courtesy of Cambria Our contract included granite counters in the Kitchen and Master Bath. We added them to Bath 2 and t...

Talented interior designer Lauren Liess gave me the terrific idea of using mostly drawers in the kitchen base cabinets instead of doors. I noticed as Mom got older it was more difficult for her to access items stored in the little, back shelf base cabinets have. Why not use drawers instead? Lauren Liess designed kitchen using mostly drawers in the base cabinets; courtesy of Lauren Liess Two terrific posts on the  For the Love of a House blog explain the benefits of drawers better than I could ever do (with great photos): Kitchen Drawers -- the Range Side Kitchen Drawers -- the Sink Side And so we will also have mostly drawers. Perimeter, or cooktop, wall of cabinets; courtesy of JAK Moulding & Supply

After selecting the door style of our cabinets, we needed to decide whether to have them stained or painted. We decided to do both. I'm not a fan of true white; I think it looks stark.  Instead, we chose CabCraft's Canvas paint color for the perimeter, or cooktop wall cabinets. We'll also use Canvas paint color in the Master Bath and Bath 2. Canvas cabinet paint; courtesy of CabCraft The kitchen island will be stained in Smoke. Smoke stain color; courtesy of CabCraft

Our builder priced our home using cabinets made by CabCraft, a small company in Charlotte, North Carolina, that makes stock cabinets developed with the designer and custom cabinet maker in mind. They have a wide variety of door styles. The Dalton door style was chosen by TAB's interior designer for our house. This style is a partial overlay, which means portions of the cabinet frame are visible. Cabcraft Dalton cabinets; courtesy of CabCraft I like full overlay cabinets better because the frame is not visible. So I went looking for a CabCraft full overlay cabinet style I liked and found Naples. I thought the rope detail evoked my coastal, nautical decor theme. CabCraft Naples cabinets; courtesy of CabCraft I asked Zuniga Interiors about the Naples cabinets; they didn't like them for our house. They thought the detail might be too fussy and take away from other design elements. They were also concerned that cabinets with a lot of detail become collectors of dust,...

The Kitchen To-Go design concept box came today. I was expecting great things, but this is stunning! Kitchen design concept; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors I can't wait to see this backsplash tile in our house. Elevation drawing of the cooktop wall; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors We decided to used brushed nickel instead of brass in the kitchen as we will hang a large sunburst silver leaf mirror above the fireplace. Design concept for eating area; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors For those who like the details: Cabcraft Allentown cabinets in Canvas and Smoke  Cambria countertops in Fairbourne Kohler Cape Dory Undermount Sink in White Moen Brantford Spot Resist Stainless One Handel High Arc Pulldown Kitchen Faucet Hudson Valley Lighting Lambert Pendant in Satin Nickel Rejuvenation Mission Hardware in Brushed Nickel Roca Tile USA Maiolica 3" x 12" Ceramic Tile in Aqua Crackled Cement Tile Shop Pacific Classic Collection Mahlia II in Daylight and ...

Our weekend project was to read the final version of contract documents TAB Premium Built Homes sent. Four copies of the contract; personal collection All Pete's work history with government contractors is coming in handy! Pete reading all the contract details; personal collection

Pete and I have never had a front-loading washing machine and they are lovely. Erika Powell designed laundry room; courtesy of Urban Grace Interiors We read a lot about the pros and cons, and we learned they are more expensive, the wash cycles can be longer, and water can get trapped in the drum, causing a moldy, mildewy smell. Several bloggers wrote the smell can be managed with frequent cleaning. That sounded like extra work to us. So we decided to purchase a regular, un-sexy Whirlpool large-capacity washer and dryer. Whirlpool 5000 Series washer and dryer; courtesy of Affordable Sales & Rentals

When we renovated our Oakton home we had at 48" Subzero refrigerator/freezer installed. Our New York apartment has a regular residential-grade refrigerator, and we really miss our "beast." I am throwing away more food now than I did when we had the Subzero. Isn't it funny? When you upgrade something, it's hard to go backwards. I remember when intermittent wipers were first introduced. I thought they were the bee's knees! Then I got a company car without them, and whined about it a lot. We both decided we wanted a professional-grade refrigerator. Our builder steered us to Thermador because service is available if anything goes wrong. So we were introduced to Thermador refrigeration columns. Just devine. We'll take three -- refrigerator, freezer, and, of course, a wine chiller! Thermador refrigeration and freezer columns; courtesy Thermador Natural gas is not available where we are building so we had to go with an electric cooktop and ovens, which a...