If You Liked My Old Counter Tops You Might Like These

Let's go down memory lane in my kitchen.
We did our first clean-up and decoration when we bought the house in 2005.
I posted my first photos on the internet of it on Rate My Space in 2007. I was so proud of my funky New Orleans kitchen, decorated with a budget of under $200., and so proud to show people New Orleans after Katrina.
With that budget, we painted, did a faux concrete surface recover on the laminate counter tops, removed laminate upper cabinet doors, and wallpapered the lower doors.
Some people loved it, others didn't understand it. After I looked at the other suburban slick kitchens on Rate My Space, I knew the site wasn't for me ha ha. Shortly after I started the Visual Vamp blog.

Fast forward to 2011. The kitchen is finally "done". Alberto and I started what I call a soft renovation in 2009. We did all the DIY stuff we could: First new light fixtures, then in 2010 we painted, built new cabinet doors, and walled in a door behind the refrigerator. Now in 2011 we had marble counter tops put in and got new appliances. You all have shared the experience with me, reading my many blog posts.

For this last soft renovation, we did not rip out anything but the old laminate counter tops, and a sink base cabinet that was falling apart. We kept the existing floor plan, floor tiles, and plumbing. Decorative accessories got edited, and I reupholstered the antique dining chairs, got a Louis Phillipe mirror and some new art work. We also changed the appliances.

Visual Vamp kitchen 2011

Visual Vamp wallpaper on kitchen cabinets 2007

Visual Vamp kitchen furniture 2007

It's all very French farmhouse

Visual Vamp kitchen 2007 - chintz curtains & French pot rack

Visual Vamp kitchen 2007 faux concrete covered back splash and hood

Visual Vamp kitchen 2007 breakfast area

The chairs are yellow

Visual Vamp kitchen 2007
Old black glass door stove that came with the house

Visual Vamp kitchen 2009
The chairs are white, and aqua accent wall was painted
photo by Melanie Acevedo from Undecorate

Visual Vamp kitchen 2010
New lantern light fixtures

Visual Vamp kitchen 2010
"New" all white used stove

Visual Vamp kitchen 2011
New greige paint and cabinet doors (that still need knobs)
A mirror was added behind the sink

Why didn't we gut the kitchen and start all over? For one thing: Budget. For another thing, some of the things were in good shape. That's why I call it a soft renovation.

The marble I chose is the marble I got. Initially we were going to do a black laminate that mimics soapstone, and keep our old faux concrete back splash. Enter a friend who owns a kitchen and bath company who offered me a couple of slabs of his "garbage" marble that no one wanted. I was ecstatic, until I saw it. Holy 1980's, Hello 1990's, it was dark green, like all that Ubatuba granite from India that had its heyday.

What me panic? I looked at the reverse side of the slabs, and it in my mind's eye a beautiful honed surface was revealed that read more gray than green. I asked if I could have it installed on the "wrong" side. After a couple of double takes and thought bubbles ("this chick is crazy"), everyone said why not. Then I asked for a chunky edge. I consulted Holly and Joni, and the stone fabricator said he never did a 2.5 inch edge before, but he would try.

I also needed a new sink base cabinet and asked for one with drawers, and ended up with two cabinets, one 36 inch wide one for the sink, and one 12 inch wide one with three wonderful drawers.

I ordered the cheapest, nicest faucet on eBay for $94., and asked for a new stainless sink. I would have used our old sink, but it was over mount, not the under mount used with stone counter tops.

There were alot of delays, but finally installation day was upon us!

The cabinet guy (Duane) arrives!

And here's my marble -
it's called Empress Green
The honed side I used looks more gray

Of course I was taking a huge chance using, gasp, green marble. Actually according to Stephanie Southwick who has the excellent blog The Granite Gurus, said this about my marble: "It's called Empress Green. Okay, well if you want me to get all nerdy about it, it is technically a serpentinite. Which is a good thing! Serpentinite's don't etch in reaction to acids. They also are a bit harder than real marble, so they won't scratch and stain as easily.

I have seen some serpentinites etch, but I think there was probably a little calcium mixed in those slabs. I highly doubt you will have that problem with your Empress Green.

Here in the USA we label stones under more generic labels, so Empress Green gets put in the marble category. It helps keep things nice and confusing."

My back yard as a cabinet maker's shop

I felt the Empress Green on the reverse honed side had a gray cast and was actually quite beautiful. That is my story and I am sticking to it. I also compiled a quickie clipping file of inspiration images of green kitchens ha ha. I also reminded myself that I am the empress of make-do, and free marble is free marble ha ha.

Dakota polishing my Empress Green counter top to a beautiful gray

I had to choose a sink

The old kitchen stripped down and ready

One last look before it goes

The new sink base cabinets are installed!

Duane is taking out the old counter top

Randy the genius marble man with a template

There were so many bittersweet feelings about seeing the kitchen counter tops getting replaced. We loved the old ones. In fact everyone loved them. A $15. bag of Ardex concrete mix spread over that crappy laminate was a real crowd please-er. But after seven years, the counters were showing wear and tear that was shabby and not chic. They were meant to be a temporary place holder for a year or so.

I learned so much watching this installation, like if you guys do this, insist that the installer use a template, and not just go off measurements to cut your counter tops. Randy the genius marble man fitted the new counters and back splash impressively tight, because he used a template of the exact size and shape of the space the counter was installed on.

Template for the back splash

Randy installs the marble

I had two counter tops cut, both without any seams

The under mount sink

The counter tops and sink are done

Detail of the 2.5 edge I had fabricated to make it look like a thick slab

The counter tops looked so beautiful when they were installed. It reminded me of soapstone or slate. I asked about sealing them, and a regular marble sealer could not be used because it would restore the shiny granite look like the side I did not want to install. Duane suggested grout sealer because it would keep the honed matte finish.

The back splash goes up!

The next thing to get installed was the back splash. Like so many of you, I love the look of tile, subway tile or glass tile, and bead board, but I also loved the stone look of our old back splash. And ding ding ding the marble was, like a gift. So the marble back splash was da winner!

The stone look of the old back splash

Da winner!

The marble back splash is almost done

Since I took what I could get marble wise, I didn't have the luxury or agony of having to match slabs.The pattern is random, left up to nature, and Randy chose pieces that looked good side by side.

Marble back splash over the stove is done

A seam in the back splash was filled to look invisible

Once the counter tops and back splash were done, I sealed them with four coats of grout seal. It darkened the marble a bit, but not alarmingly so, and the counter tops could not be left unsealed.

Randy does the finishing touches

I sat in the kitchen and just sort of watched my marble. Sometimes it looked gray. Sometime blue. Sometimes green. You always wonder if you have done the right thing, and a change always takes some breaking in time. After about ten minutes of watching the marble, I decided I love it and I made the right choice. If money were no object, and the marble was not a gift, would I have chosen this? Maybe not, but I would have chosen something very much the same - black soapstone or slate. I was never one of the white marble girls, though it is very beautiful.

The counters and back splash are done!

The dark kitchen is trending right now. Chiarascuro. Moody grays, blacks, and white. Who knew that after all the years it took to finally get update the kitchen, that a trend would catch up with me.

When the new marble came in, we decided to get stainless appliances right away. Ever since last October, we kind of do things (within reason) sooner than later. We found a cheapo package deal and got all four pieces (Frigidare builder's grade). Nothing fancy, but a thrill for us to have new appliances, something Alberto and I never had in our long lives. We were city dwellers and renters for most of our lives, or living with what came with a house we bought, so we always had used appliances. We kind of felt romantic, like newlyweds setting up house for the first time.

Visual Vamp kitchen 2011 with stainless appliances

The whole feeling of the kitchen is so adult. Do I miss all the arty farty make-do stuff? The wallpaper cabinet doors? The sink skirt? The Union Jack decal on the dishwasher? The faux concrete I applied with my own hands? The edited and re-edited clutter? Well, yes and no.

One thing has happened to so many of us that have discovered the internet as a source for inspiration. We have earned our higher education via Blog Google University. I for one have evolved and learned so many things from reading your blogs, and by doing online research for my own blog. My kitchen is a product of this education, combined with a talent I have possessed all my life.

Visual Vamp kitchen 2011
My PhD Thesis from Blog Google University ha ha

The other side of the kitchen
A left over piece of marble is on the island

The old microwave was here - we have a new over the stove one now
So now there's a place for Kitty Kitty Bang Bang

Cholo loves the new runner

The love note behind the microwave

The last time the kitchen was renovated was 1983. We know this because the carpenter found a 1983 penny under the old counter top he took out. He told us carpenters often leave a coin or a note to perhaps be discovered by someone in the future. We left a 2011 penny under our counter top, and we wrote a love note on the wall before the over the stove microwave was installed. We hope whoever lives in our house long after we are gone, will perhaps renovate again, and find our note from the past. We hope it inspires them to know that this is a happy house where happy lives were lived.

Visual Vamp kitchen 2011

Thanks:
Smart Buy Kitchen and Bath - (504) 455-4700
Randy expert marble and stone man - (228) 224-1403
Duane the excellent carpenter - (228) 332-1440
Bon Marche Furniture (appliances) - (504) 362-8877
Bloggers and readers
Alberto, the love of my life

Subway Sign Giveaway!

Here is a great giveaway for you! Last two days to enter! Winner announced on Monday!

Chris from Subway-Sign.com offers a choice of any "standard" products sized 20" x 30" selected from Subway-Sign.com Subway, Metro and Streetcar 20" x 30" Photographs or Subway-Sign.com Destination/Personal History 20" x 30" Photographs
It is only available for shipping to USA addresses. The prize winner will need to provide her/his street address and email address.

You know the drill - please go to Subway-Sign.com HERE and look at all the cool choices. Come back here to Visual Vamp and leave a comment telling us which sign you like. The contest will go on for one week, and the winner by random choice will be announced next Monday. You must please leave a comment here on this post in order to win.

Visual Vamp has a subway sign in the kitchen!

Say what???!!!! Can this be the dreaded subway sign dissed on many a decor blog as another trend that bites the dust?

Like many of you, as a trend gets popular and trickles down to entrepreneurs like Chris, it becomes affordable and accessible to us mere mortals, of which I am certainly one.

I am a great fan of the art of typography, and have loved vintage subway signs, since I saw one hanging in a friend's loft in New York twenty years ago. These genuine vintage signs have become rare and collectible and pretty expensive, and I have always had my eye out for that miracle flea market find.

Buenos Aires subway sign HERE
Visual Vamp kitchen

Over the past three years printed reproductions have been cropping up most notably at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Oh the kiss of death for sure for so many that wouldn't be caught dead using such pedestrian stuff. And the signs were pricey. And then one showed up in a JLo movie, and the coffin lid was creaking shut.

Visual Vamp kitchen with chicken wire insets on upper cabinets

As many of you who read Visual Vamp know, Alberto and I have been working on a progressive kitchen project HERE, as in we progress when we have some money and energy to DIY improve our kitchen. It is a quirky space in an old New Orleans shotgun house. Alberto has been refacing the cabinets, and yay! he felt well enough to hang the last two cabinet doors he made with chicken wire inserts to show off the white ironstone.

Eventually we will replace countertops, and maybe do a new backsplash. In the meantime a concrete treatment I did six years is holding up, and I love the color. There is a boxed in chimney from an old fireplace that has also been walled in (by the previous owners), and this provides a very long and narrow wall space to uh hang something. I have always envisioned a subway sign in this space. Read more HERE

Of course I always thought it would be a New York subway sign of some sort. Or maybe a sign with the streetcar stops in New Orleans. Or maybe a Paris metro sign.

New Orleans streetcar stops from Subway-Signs.com
It was added to Chris' great selection at my suggestion

But since our devastating trip to Canada, Alberto and I realize we may never be able to fly to Buenos Aires again. So what does this have to with our kitchen and subway signs? Well after trying several art options on the long narrow wall space, with nothing looking right, I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride, and gasp, started looking for a subway sign for that wall. I immediately knew I wanted to have one from the B Line from the Buenos Aires subway, and couldn't find any such thing, because, uh, it doesn't exist.

I found several sites that do custom signs, and I found Chris and he/she (still don't know if Chris is a man or a woman ha ha) immediately came up with a design based on the information I sent.
I wanted do the canvas sign, but the size I needed is not available. So I opted for the paper sign, a super glorified poster, great quality on a superior heavy paper stock, and at a terrific affordable price.

The Buenos Aires subway sign is so perfect for anyone who loves the city, or for a tango lover. Two of the stops on the B Line are named for two important and beloved tango personalities: Carlos Gardel and Osvaldo Pugliese.

The sign did need to be framed, and a huge custom frame job like that would break the already broken piggy bank. After a little Google shopping I found a DIY frame and ordered that too from HERE

Framing it was a two person job, and not that easy, and I am sure there is a hair or two and a speck of something under the plexiglass. But all and all, it came out so great, and Alberto and I love it.

I sometimes let the idea that something is "out", influence my decor choices. Often this is valid concern and a good thing. But sometimes when you know something that has been trend trashed is really right, and it is something you really like, you just have to say fuck it, I like it, and that's that.

Enter the giveaway - you will love having one of the high quality signs from Subway-Signs.com in your home, or giving it as a holiday gift.

If you don't win this time, just buy one! It won't break the bank.

And thank you Chris for providing this wonderful holiday giveaway to the readers of Visual Vamp!

Adding Something You All Hate

There was an amazing flurry of comments at Jenny's MFAMB last month HERE

If you like this fabric, get it HERE

Blah blah blah we all hate Imperial Trellis type fabrics. Well in your face trendz haters! I just covered a cutey-pie Saarinen stool in the guest room with a knock-off fabric from Fabric.com HERE

Visual Vamp Guest Room - Count the trendz!
Folk art painting by Charles Gillam

I love it. And I love my one Foo Dog too. And the black and white stripe rug. And the Dwell Studio bedding. And the sunburst clock AND mirror you can't see.

I took all the colors for the room from the crazy wonderful folk art painting and woodcarving entitled "Le Tango" done by Charles Gillam (call: Susan and Charles 504 975-8421 or 504 234-1703).
The painting is an homage to Alberto and me. That's me with the red hair I used to have.

Chippendale Fretwork Fabric by Waverly
Wicker vanity from Ruby Beets

And to twist your knickers further, I put a SEAGRASS rug on the kitchen floor!!! I sprayed it with something called Sisal Guard, and so far (only two weeks) no problems with spills or anything. I always like adding "living room" stuff to a kitchen. Why? I'm crazy! So I added a mirror over the sink too!

Seagrass rug in the Visual Vamp kitchen

In New York, certain apartments during a certain era used mirror in the small kitchens as a backsplash. My kitchen revamp is taking on the feeling of a bistro, where you often see long mirrors, so I thought a mirror over the sink in lieu of a fancy backsplash looks spiffy.

Visual Vamp uses living room elements in the kitchen
The framed photos have a bistro mirror shape


Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles inspires me

I used a good looking inexpensive closet mirror with a black plastic frame from Target.
I stuck it to the wall with Velcro tape. Beware, I still might get a subway sign for the kitchen, though I am thinking of one from Buenos Aires.

Mirror over the sink
in the Visual Vamp kitchen

Long mirror in a bistro - do you get the crazy mind of The Vamp?

Happy Weekend!