Archive for April, 2014

I’ve been waiting for my kitchen faucet to get here, not that we’re ready to install it but I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! The folks at Kohler hooked us up with a kitchen faucet and sink for our new office and I have been wanting their Karbon faucet since I saw it on action on my trip to Kohler, Wisconsin this past fall.  Check it out … it’s going to look SO amazing with the dark metallic tile behind it! So close!

Kristina Crestin Design_kohler karbon faucet

Here is the photo I took when I saw it working in action when I was at the Kohler Showroom in Wisconsin

Kristina Crestin Design_kohler karbon faucet in action

Lastly, because choosing a finish was so hard – here are all the finishes it comes in. The antique brass is so cool, I am almost wish I got that!

Kristina Crestin Design_kohler karbon faucet finishesNot that these photos are all that exciting – but the cast iron sink and the grid came too … We’re all set!

Kristina Crestin Design_Kohler sink

Again a huge thanks to Kohler for supplying the sink and faucet! We’re probably a good month away from having it all up and running -the kitchen tile is being worked on as we speak and next we can set the cabinets …. so we’re about a month away from getting the counter in and the plumbing set up. I’ll share photos as soon as it’s done!

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Seriously … it’s like Christmas around here most of the time, all sorts of fun things showing up in the mail! Yesterday our surface mount lighting for our own office arrived – ya! We’re doing a grid of 8 of these Nina surface mounts from Robert Abbey for the open office area. I think they are a really great option for surface mounts since there are so many hideous ones out there!  Cooper clearly helped me out by showing a sense of scale, they are a really nice scale. Hopefully they will be up in the next week and we can share!

Kristina Crestin Design_Nina surface mountsAlso we recently unpacked our backsplash tile to inspect all the pieces, making sure there was no damage (which there was, thank goodness for always checking everything!) Words and images do no adequately describe how stunning these are in person. I saw them a year ago at Discover Tile and have been circling around them for something – and that something is now finally my kitchenette backsplash! We’ll have a marble counter that has nice warm and cool tones, so this backsplash that in one light looks bronze, then another black will be perfect!  We’re still a bit away from installing them sadly.  A big thanks to Discover Tile for hooking us up with this amazing product! The tile is Artistic Tile’s Kyoto line in steel metallic 2×9.

Kristina Crestin Design_Artistic Tile Steel Metallic 2x9

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What else does one do on Easter but work on getting just the right colored eggs of course. A couple weeks ago Mom and I hunted down some color tints that could achieve a turquoise (duh, what other color would I shoot for?) and last night I pretty much felt like a mad scientist mixing away trying to experiment with the right color. I got close. I ran out of eggs before I got the color mix right! I also shot for trying to create an ombre effect too …. also not so successful … guess if I can another couple dozen eggs I could have nailed it!

Kristina Crestin Design_easter eggs turquoise

Kristina Crestin Design_turquoise easter eggs B jpg

Kristina Crestin Design_turquoise easter eggs C jpg

Getting the eggs here was a bit of a process …. I don’t know why I thought I could fit it in while I was making dinner!

Kristina Crestin Design_turquoise easter eggs D jpgTrying to find coloring that was turquoise wasn’t exactly a quick stop at the grocery store ….. I did some research and found out that Duff made a line of icing coloring and there were some teals and blues – success!

Kristina Crestin Design_turquoise easter eggs E jpgTo hunt down the Duff color gels you can get them on line or at Michaels.

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I wanted to share some progress shots after my last post  …..  Its always nice to see a visible transformation – below are pics of my previous stop in – such a change! Last time we were there it felt like move in was so very far away ….. getting closer finally!

Kristina Crestin Design_New Office before

I don’t think we shared some of the before photos – below are pics from when the new windows got installed and our space got framed out … some of the electrical was already installed as well. At this point the space was finally starting to look like  a real space.

Kristina Crestin Design_New Office Blog Post _framingThe previous site visit there were no windows in and the framing had just begun. I brought the whole team so everyone could see the space …. of course it would have been nice if it wasn’t freezing – darn site meetings in the dead of winter with no windows or doors!

Kristina Crestin Design_New Office Blog Post_teamAnd finally … the real before! When we saw the space for the first time someone had already started demo’ing one of the office spaces. Certainly makes it easier to see the full potential of a space once the walls start coming down. That was last February – slow going but we’re almost there.  I’ll share some design shots and sketches next – hopefully it will all come together quickly now – keep a lookout for updates.  GC: Curran & Son’s Construction 

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Such excitement! I stopped at our new office space Friday and all the trim was up! Progress!

It was a really nice moment to appreciate we’re finally getting closer to move in. See some progress shots below. In the last week we got all our kitchen cabinets assembled and ready to go for install, my husband milled up a bunch of shiplap boards that will be going on the half wall and he also installed some rolling hardware on a pair of salvaged windows we’ll be using on top of the half wall. Two salvaged windows will be stationary and two will be operable – bypassing the fixed ones so we can open up the space a bit sometimes. So excited to see those installed!

Kristina Crestin Design_New Office Blog Post

I realize I haven’t shared any progress pics or sketches yet – stay tuned, I’ll pull together some progress photos and snap some shots of our materials that we have chosen!  Work by Curran & Sons Construction.

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Finally! Our new marble counter just went in. I am pretty excited to have one space completely done. The temporary wood counter was just fine, but this is so much more lovely. I worked with Athena Marble and Granite to figure out how our temporary counter (built of 2×4 framing and a plywood layer) could be the substrate for our marble – applying a slab to the top and to the face – faking a 8″ thick slab.

Kristina Crestin Design_marble counter install A

They set the top piece on the plywood and then set in the face which was supported below with some brackets you can hardly see – they are taking the weight to make sure it doesn’t slip down. With the marble we had to layer the slab, overlapping them rather than a 45 degree miter since the marble is so soft that it could have chipped in fabrication and just looked messy. You can see the seam below when you look up close.

Kristina Crestin Design_marble counter install BThough there is a seam – when you step away you can barely see it and it just looks like a  massive piece of Carrara – nice!

Kristina Crestin Design_marble counter install C Powder Room

Kristina Crestin Design_marble counter install D Powder RoomCarrara marble slab from Stone Decor Galleria and fabrication and install by Athena Marble and Granite. Barn Board was installed by my husband and sourced from Nor’East Architectural Antiques. Mirror from Restoration Hardware and spray painted yellow, animal heads were part of the Aid to Artisans Haiti that aWest Elm collaborated with. Roman shade Jonathan Adler Limitless fabric from Kravet fabricated by Miles River Sewing. Hanging pendants were a vintage find of mine!

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