A few posts ago, we talked about hardwood floor stain colors. As we mentioned, we narrowed down our options to three: Dark Walnut, Ebony and Jacobean. The next day, our super-nice “floor guy”, Frank, applied them to the floor to let us see the stains on our red oak floors.

We looked at the above samples in every lighting possible: sunlight, lights on, lights off, in the dark and even three different kinds of light bulbs. Call us crazy, but the stain will be going throughout the house (see floor plan here), so we want to make sure it’s absolutely perfect. In addition to our lighting experiments, we went through an extensive process of elimination to make sure we were making the right decision. Here’s how it went…

Let’s start with Jacobean. When we looked at the swatches in the booklet, we really liked this stain. However, when we saw a bigger sample on our floors, we weren’t so sure anymore. We liked the extra-dark grain, but didn’t feel like the other browns were rich enough. If there’s anything we don’t want, it’s for the floors to be too light. We crossed this one off the list.

When given the sample deck, my favorite was the Ebony stain. Within seconds of being handed the sample deck, I said, “Yep, this is it!” We had our reservations about it being too dark, but we wanted to see it on the floor just in case. On our floors, though, it wasn’t dark enough in certain lighting, and it had a lot of unexpected lighter gray tones. We ruled this one out without reservation. Gray undertones were not what we were looking for.

Then came Dark Walnut. This choice was Greg’s favorite. I wasn’t too crazy about it at first because I didn’t think it was dark enough. However, I became a big fan when we saw the sample on our floors. We love how the stain really brings out the wood grain. We also love the mixture of  rich, dark browns. We really have nothing bad to say about this stain, other than it could stand to be somewhat darker on the non-grain portions. Nevertheless, it looks like we have a winner! We told Frank, our “floor guy”, we wanted it somewhat darker than the sample if at all possible. We are very anxious to see the final result!

Frank and his crew are coming in next week to begin the staining process! We are ultra-excited that it’s finally time for this point in the renovation. We feel like we should have a floor staining party or something! Maybe a celebratory Ukrop’s cupcake will have to do until we move in, though : )

You might think I’m a little crazy, but I’m already watching Christmas movies. I love how a good classic Christmas movie makes you feel like everything is going to resolve with a perfectly choreographed “impromptu” song and dance routine.  In my opinion, it’s never too early for a little bit of Christmas.

Obviously, I have Christmas on the brain. I’ve skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving and went straight to Christmas. The plus side is I’ve been getting a lot of inspiration for our Christmas decorations this year…

Holiday Inn

White Christmas

Miracle on 34th Street

It’s A Wonderful Life

You may or may not see where we are planning to go as far as our Christmas decor this year. But you’ll just have to wait until November 26th to find out ; )

As some of you may have realized already, I’m all about inspiration photos. I have files upon files of inspiration photos on my computer, laptop as well as notebooks (hence the blog design!) filled cover to cover with cut-outs, magazine pages and scraps from anything that inspires me. It’s something I’ve done for years. And it all started when I was in college with a simple computer file called “Future House”. Now that the “future house” is a reality, those photos have come in handy when picking out our finishes. They have been especially helpful as we start thinking about the kitchen.

Though the kitchen is a little further down on our rather large to-do list than some projects that are going on at the moment, we want to get a jump-start on our plan of action. We’ve decided on our top five favorite kitchen inspiration photos and now we’re going to use them come up with a combination that screams, “Greg & Ashley”.  Of course, our place isn’t as grand and spacious as some of these photos, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pull inspiration from each photo to make our house feel as luxurious and comfortable as any of them.

After deciphering the inpiration photos, we have found six elements that we “must have” in our new kitchen:

• White cabinetry. I didn’t set out to gather exclusively white kitchens, but 90% of the photos in my entire kitchen inspiration collection (including our top 5) have white cabinetry. We figure that we should probably go with our instincts on this one. We want a kitchen that will be beautiful and enjoyable for many years to come.
• Glass-front cabinetry. By having a few glass-front cabinets, it will open up the space and let me display my collection of white dishes and serving pieces.
• Stainless Steel Appliances. For us, stainless steel was a no-brainer. We love to cook, so the closer we get to a professional kitchen (while preserving a “homey feel”, of course), the better.  Stainless steel isn’t just easy on the eyes; it’s easy to keep clean and looking brand new.
• Cottage-Style Lighting. This similarity in all of the inspiration photos might not “hit you in the face” but it’s definitely evident. We already have some recessed lighting installed in the kitchen. However, there are a few places for small pendent lights. By using cottage-style lighting options, this will really charm up the kitchen and bring in a vintage touch.
• Subway tile. Four out of the five photos have subway tile as the backsplash. It’s timeless. It’s classic. And we are huge fans.
• Carrara Marble. Yes, carrera marble can be kinda pricey. But there are ways to use it in your kitchen (especially one as cozy as ours) without breaking the bank. Carrara Marble subway tile for the backsplash? Maybe ; )

That’s the gist of what we’re thinking for our kitchen. We’re so anxious to see how all of it will come together! Do you have any suggestions for anything we didn’t mention?  Did you do something in your kitchen that you absolutely love and you want to share it with everyone else?  Let us know in the comments or drop us a line at submissions@7thhouseontheleft.com.

Inspiration photos courtesy of Peter Pennoyer, House Beautiful, Film Kitchen, Young House Love, and KB Home.