Green Cleaning for Your Stainless Steel Sink

I've been scrubbing a lot lately to get our place in tip top shape for our housewarming, ten months after we closed on our new (and first) home. Needless to say, we've used a lot of elbow grease on this place since the prior owners were not the cleanest people. My last big job was the windows, and they're done (thank god). Now, it's the minor things like maintaining the cleanliness. Getting our stainless steel sink has been a once every 2-3 week job, and I haven't been happy with the results...until now.

Believe me, I've tried scrubbing with dish washing liquid and household cleaners, but wasn't quite satisfied with the dull finish. Thinking back, I should have tried green cleaning like we did for our tile grout, but now I realize that it was just so much easier to reach to the left for the dish washing liquid or under the sink for the household cleaner, as opposed to walk over to the pantry to grab the baking soda. All I did was sprinkle about a tablespoon of baking soda onto my already wet stainless steel sink, rub it in with a paper towel and rinse. I wish I have some before & after photos, but I was so impressed with the results, I only have the after photo.


The baking soda and water formed a paste that, when rubbed into the surface, gently took out any dirt and dark spots from the sink. I did this twice to make sure the sink was really clean. Our stainless steel sink now looks as shiny as the day we bought it! Now, if only I can get my hands to where they were before they got sandpaper-like from the endless cleaning...

The End of Our Kitchen Renovation, Finally!

I can't tell you how nice it feels to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. And now, the big reveal of our kitchen after a much needed face lift!


If you recall, this was the before photo:



Here are the details behind this kitchen:

Cabinets - The existing cabinets had relatively good bones, so we had them painted white. We did a lot of research and decided to leave the job to the professionals, who chose White Satin Impervo from Benjamin Moore. Sanding and painting 4 coats for 29 cabinet doors and more just wasn't for us.

Countertops - The cracked corian was replaced with a grey granite called "Platinum Blue." I made sure our granite was not sourced from China, as I've heard that their product could be injected with color that will fade over time. We went with Home Depot, but will never again! I'll save that story for another time.

Backsplash - I wanted a classic look with staying power. Out went the mirror backsplash and in came the grey subway marble tiles.

Paint - We chose a sky blue called "Beacon Grey" from Benjamin Moore for the walls to complement the subtle hints of blue in our granite countertop and to bring the sky indoors. Grey can dreary, so we wanted to add a lively brightness to the room. The minimal amount of grey in the paint worked out perfectly. We also painted the ceiling to get rid of the years of grease that somehow splattered at least five feet up.

Appliances - Stainless steel ones now replace the old white turned yellow appliances.

Cabinet Hardware - We replaced the old, worn down wooden handles that matched the cabinets' putty color with new stainless steel ones to go with our new appliances, sink and faucet. They are like jewelry that totally transformed the look of the cabinetry.

Lights - We swapped out the headache causing fluorescent lights with modern track lights. Now we can point them to wherever we need.

See past Kitchen Renovation posts here:
Part I
Part II
Part III

Kitchen Renovation, Part III

The last item on our to do list for the much needed kitchen face lift is the backsplash. The old mirror backsplash simply had to go. I didn't mind it much, because it made the kitchen appear larger, and no grout lines meant easy cleanup. But the countertop professionals said they could not do their job with them still attached to the wall.

In a perfect world, I would use glass tiles on our new backsplash. However, they can easily run over $10/sq ft (some even over $20/sq ft), so they are far from budget friendly. Although my eyes are drawn to dreamy glass tiles, I had to stick to reality.

So plan B was subway tiles - they have been around forever, have a classic look and are making a come back. To take it up a notch from the plain white ceramic variety, my husband and I decided to go with white/grey marble. The marble variety we found cost less than glass tiles. Although they are more expensive than ceramic tiles, the cost differential will be minimal since we have less than 20 sq ft of wall that needed to be tiled. Between the granite countertop and marble backsplash, I hope there's no such thing as too much natural stone. Come to think of it, I hope there isn't too much pattern going on between the two to the point where it becomes overwhelming.

Out with the mirror backsplash, and in are the marble subway tiles! Here's a sneak peek at the backsplash that's work in progress.



The look to our backsplash will be classic and clean with the use of white grout. I'm not a fan of white grout as it is not forgiving when it comes to dirt and grease, but that is the only color that will work with the existing kitchen color schemes. I also learned that marble can absorb color, so a colored grout may not be ideal. We're having both the grout and marble sealed, so hopefully they'll still look good years from now.

Stay tuned for the big reveal!

Kitchen Renovation, Part II

For our kitchen face lift, we worked with the existing grey floor tiles and grout. I flipped through plenty of magazines to get inspirations. I knew I wanted a classic, timeless look with some modern elements, and I was mostly drawn to kitchens with carrara marble - there's just something about subtle grey combined with bright white that look so classic and clean. Knowing I shouldn't blow my budget on carrara marble, I decided to just use the color scheme of white and grey, with blue accents for a pop of color.

We went to this (so far):


from this:


Almost everything had to be worked on, from the cabinets, countertops, walls, ceiling, appliances, cabinet hardware, sink, faucet, electrical to lights. And I won't leave out the scrubbing that I did throughout the kitchen - grout, cabinet interior, floor and hinges. What's left to do now is the backsplash. Stay tuned!

Kitchen Renovation, Part I

As you can tell from my recent posts, I've been busy cooking in the kitchen. Our kitchen is currently functional, but not 100% complete as we're still missing the backsplash. When we bought our house, we sorta knew what we were dealing with. We knew we didn't have to gut the kitchen, but what we didn't know was that the cabinets smelled and the kitchen had a roach problem. One of the two problems was easily fixed, thanks to several roach bombs, but we're still trying to figure out the remaining one. Apparently, baking soda doesn't cure all.

The L-shaped kitchen had a good layout and the cabinets had good bones, so we gave it a huge face lift. We had the "putty" colored cabinets (thanks to my sis for naming the color of the cabinets when I failed to find a color to describe it) painted white, replaced the dingy, what used to be white but is now yellow appliances with stainless steel ones, replaced the fluorescent light boxes with modern track lights, replaced the cracked corian countertops with granite, painted the kitchen from a dirty pale green to sky blue, and lastly, I gave it a deep cleaning since the previous owners appeared to have never cleaned.

We went from before:



to during:


Here's a sneak peek of the painted cabinet doors:


Stay tuned for an almost finished kitchen!

I Hate Carpet!

The previous owners of our place had wall to wall carpet in the entire house. With 2 kids and no cleaning habits, the carpet became extremely filthy. Unfortunately, the hardwood floor underneath was unsalvageable. After much thought, we came to the conclusion that the budget friendly solution for us was to install floating floors in the living and dining area and carpet in the bedrooms.

We had help with ripping out the carpet, but I had the finger friendly task of taking out the tacking strips and the base moulding. A burn from the radiator, a cut on my finger and damages to my cuticles later, it was finally done.

Bathroom Renovation, Week 3

It's finally complete!!! In 3 weeks, we went from dingy white tiles (don't let the photo from afar fool you), pink shell-shaped sink, gold trimmed shower door and faucet, Broadway dressing room vanity lights, a deteriorating medicine cabinet, and last but not least, the urine smell:


to this (please excuse the sticker in the sink):



The frameless shower door really opened things up and made our bathroom appear bigger. To bring the bathroom to 2009 from what looked like the 1970s, we got rid of the gold and opted for brushed nickel. A modern vanity completed the look.

Next up, the flooring chapter of our renovation!

Bathroom Renovation, Week 2

I have been very busy with the new house, so I haven't been cooking. The only thing I can share with you until the big move is our renovation. I really look forward to going back to the cooking mode, which definitely beats the sanding and painting I've been doing.

So what went on for our bathroom renovation during week 2? Tiling. This is a big step forward after the demolition and rebuilding in Week 1. Using the lovely inspiration I found and the modern glass mosaics I fell in love with at Home Depot, we worked around the availability of bullnoses and sizes, and picked out the rest of the tiles that fit our budget and color scheme.


We ended up with 12x12 porcelain tiles in a stone color for the shower wall and a darker shade in a smaller size (6x6) for the shower floor to add traction and reduce slippage. For continuity (so as not to make the bathroom appear smaller), the main bathroom floor tiles are in the same color as the shower floor. The darker floor tiles compared to the shower wall will add dimension; the larger size (13x13) will give the illusion of a larger space. We have an 8x5 bathroom, so making the bathroom look larger is a top priority.

I wanted a recessed shelf (or a niche) for soap and shampoo for a custom look, but it didn't work out. Our plan B was to install soap dishes. We stayed away from the glazed ceramic kind, as the finish didn't go with the rough surface of the wall tiles. For continuity, the mosaics that will surround the medicine cabinet (you'll see in Week 3) served as an accent in the shower area.

Stay tuned for Bathroom Renovation, Week 3, when the vanity gets installed and the final product is revealed!

No Tree for Christmas :-(

Yup, no Christmas tree for us. I was hoping to have our first tree together in our first new home, but I don't even know if we'll be moved in by then. I can always resort to admiring the Rockefeller tree, which, by the way, came from Connecticut this year. Go CT!

Image from RockefellerCenter.com

My next hope is to have blossoms for a very romantic Chinese New Year (it falls on Valentine's day this year) in our new home. The popular flowers for the lunar new year include peach blossoms 桃花 (below) and the very fragrant narcissus 水仙花.

Image from bbg.org

Here are our family's beautiful blossoms many years ago, decorated to the nines with lucky red envelopes ("lai see" 利是) by my mother. The yellow blossoms resemble gold, and literally showers us with gold when these blossoms fall onto the ground.

The Joys of Tile Shopping

Picking tiles for our bathroom renovation was like getting my teeth pulled...painful. We are tiling our shower (walls and floor) and half tiling the rest of the bathroom. So as the head (and only) designer, I had a huge task of finding the tiles that fit our budget and style. My aim for the bathroom design is one that is contemporary, but not too modern as to turn off potential buyers when we decide to move. This meant no drool worthy glass tiles, since they are expensive and are hot now, but what about later?

We crossed off going to tile stores after we checked out a good number, most of which were without price tags on display. I soon found out that I have expensive taste. Off to Lowe's and Home Depot, where I fell in love with a beautiful mosaic with hints of metallic design that went well with green, gray, cream or brown, and thought it was flexible enough to work with other tiles. I immediately thought it was the perfect accent tile. The problem was, it looked better with darker tiles as it made the mosaic pop out more, and my husband was of course gravitating towards those. Unfortunately, darker tiles can make the bathroom look smaller.


We put the mosaic against lighter colors and it didn't pack a punch like it did with the darker tiles.


Then, it came to the issue of whether the tiles come with different sizes (we needed smaller ones for the shower floor) and bullnoses. This changed our game plan quite a bit. Our contractor still hasn't finished our bathroom after 2 weeks of work, but I'll definitely share with you the final product when the time comes.

Dream Bathroom Design

I love glass tiles, and would like to tile the entire bathroom in our renovation, but neither is budget friendly. So I'll have to put my dream on hold. I love the transparency and soft colors that glass tiles create. Wouldn't this bathroom be great for our place?

Above image from Waterworks

The below bathroom was my next inspiration for a budget friendly renovation. I love the simplicity of this design - pretty mosaic around the vanity area (we can allow ourselves to splurge here since it's a small area), darker floor tiles to ground the bathroom, and lighter wall paint to add dimension. Our bathroom isn't as grand and airy as this, so there will be no soaking tub or chandelier. We'll also stay away from dark dark floor tiles to avoid making our bathroom look smaller than it is. We'll stick to a neutral color to play it safe for future sale. Sounds like a plan!

Image above from Metropolitan Home

Bathroom Renovation, Week 1

I am happy to announce that a much needed bathroom renovation is underway in our new place! What do we have here that's got to go? Dingy white tiles (don't let the photo from afar fool you), pink shell-shaped sink, gold trimmed shower door and faucet, Broadway dressing room vanity lights, a deteriorating medicine cabinet, and last but not least, the urine smell.


We've gone from that to this during demolition (day 2):


After that, some electrical rewiring work was done and the medicine cabinet area was resized. Sheet rock and shower pan were installed during the remodeling (day 5):


Things are going relatively smooth so far, aside from the demolition causing sheet rock to fall into the apartment one floor below us that nearly hurt our elderly neighbor. Up next, my vision for the bathroom, tiling and the finishing touches on week 2 (hopefully the final week).

Flooring Options

We have very well stained carpet throughout our new home that has got to go, so my husband did some exploratory work to see what we're dealing with underneath the carpet. We were hoping that the wood flooring underneath would be in mint condition. Unfortunately, it's not. Surprise surprise.


There has been some substantial water damage from a mini-fridge the previous owner had in the bar area and around the door that lead out to the balcony. Taking out the existing parquet wood floor would be expensive and time consuming. My husband and I are not fans of carpeting the entire place, so our remaining option is a floating floor. Floating floors - either laminate or engineered wood - have tongue and groove joints that lock into place so that they don't require nailing or gluing, perfect for installing over our existing floor.

Laminate has become very popular because of its attractive price, low maintenance and supposed durability. They are made out of paper, with a "photo" of wood printed on the surface. On the other hand, engineered wood has a thin layer of wood resting on layers of wood composite. Both have lower price points relative to hardwood floors. Can you tell which ones are laminate or engineered wood below?


The one on the right is engineered wood, the other two are laminate. We brought some home from our local home improvement store to test out their look, feel and color in our place. Upon close inspection, I was able to tell which ones are laminate. On top of that, I didn't like the texture of the laminate on my feet. In terms of color, while I love the look of dark wood floors against white walls with modern furniture, I am not that bold. The lighter color is very Danish, which I don't think is totally my style, but it makes the place look bigger.

We have yet to pick a color or material. What to do, what to do?

Granite or Quartz?

Our kitchen countertop needs some serious upgrade. Just about anything would be a huge upgrade from cracked corian (don't ask me how the previous owners did it), but to boost our home value, we wanted to invest in either granite or quartz. Both are natural stones, but the latter is a composite. Consumer Reports and Consumer Search helped me narrow down to these two choices, while I did some serious research at the store to come down to a final decision.

I was impressed by the variety of colors offered at Home Depot for quartz when compared to granite. A main feature of their quartz offering is its built-in antimicrobial protection and its low maintenance as no sealing is required.

Quartz by Silestone

At first, I thought quartz would be the answer since in general, granite requires more maintenance in terms of sealing as it is a porous stone. However, I learned from my trip to HD that the granite they carry requires no sealing at all! I was eying their color named Platinum Blue, which looked grey from afar, but carried little hints of blue up close with hints of sparkle.

Granite by Stonemark

Our decision came down to a no brainer when we factored in the price. With granite starting at $57 vs. quartz at $61, why not pick the real natural stone and not the composite? Believe me, making this decision was so much easier than picking tiles!

Green Cleaning

The former owners of our house weren't the cleanest people. For example, what was supposedly grey grout in the kitchen is now black. I've never cleaned with green products before, but I figured it's never too late to start!

I did a lot of research on the best method to clean grout, and they all point to using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Plenty of cleaning solutions cost more than $3, and for less than $2, I got myself a trust-worthy green cleaner. I tried different methods of using the green cleaner from my research, and below is the method that worked for our extremely dirty grout:

• First, make a paste using baking soda and water. It doesn't take much water to make the paste, so be careful how much you use. If it's too runny, you can always add more baking soda. Spread the paste onto the grout and leave it there for about 5 minutes.

• Meanwhile, make a solution using equal parts of hydrogen peroxide and water in a spray bottle. Spray on the solution to the baking soda that has been applied on the grout. Leave on for about 5 minutes. (My grout was so dirty that the moment I sprayed it on, dirt started coming out of the grout!)

• Scrub the area with a grout brush. You should see dirt coming out. Wipe off the area with a wet sponge. Spray on the hydrogen peroxide solution and scrub once more to ensure you've gotten the dirt and baking soda out. I also tried scrubbing with a stiff toothbrush, but the grout brush worked the best.

• Do a final wipe using a clean wet sponge to get the baking soda off entirely and allow the area to dry. You may need to repeat the sponge process in order to get the baking soda off completely. I saw results after scrubbing two to three times (because it was so dirty!). Below you can see the difference between the cleaned grout (left side) vs. the dirty grout (right side). My grout is now grey like it should be!
  

Setting Goals

We have a lot to do for our first place together, so it's important for my husband and I to keep the big picture in mind while managing the small details. I think most homeowners, unless if they're Donald Trump, would have at least one goal in common with ours. Below are the grand scheme of things we're planning for our place.

Make the place look larger than it is - since we don't actually own a house, but rather, a condo, I want to keep the place from looking small. To carry this out, we'll need to:

• keep the place light and airy by avoiding dark, large scale furniture and dark paint (however, since dark sofas mask stains well, we may need to go that route)
  
• use paint with similar undertone in all rooms that will unite the spaces
  

Keep costs low - since this is not our first and final home, we're not looking for a high-end renovation. I do, however, want to have quality of life, so I am allowing some small splurges that won't put a dent in our wallet because our place is relatively small. With this in mind:

• we'll be keeping the existing suspiciously colored kitchen cabinets but investing in a good countertop
  
• tiling just half of our bathroom walls but investing in good looking accent tiles
  

Invest in quality pieces - again, since this is not our first and final home, we'll need to invest in furniture that lasts and can be brought to our next home:

• a wood dining table is tempting, but it's prone to scratches, so we're exploring other options
• we're gravitating towards a leather couch since they are more comfortable and may live longer than a microfiber couch
  

Do all of the above without strangling my husband - somehow, I have a feeling that this may be unavoidable

A Whole New Chapter, Endless Choices

It's official...we have no life. My husband and I have been paying a lot of visits to home improvement stores on the weekends to do some research for home renovation. I imagine that the frequency will increase when we get elbow deep into the mess, and I will undoubtedly be posting more on the home front to share with you my experience.

So far, I've been overwhelmed by the amount of choices out there. It's not that I haven't done this before when I was helping my sister out with her home, but I didn't have to pick fixtures or vanities. Literally, picking a faucet was a pain in the neck! Lowe's and Home Depot display hundreds of faucets up on walls (think warehouse height) and expect you to get a good look at these things. Not so much. Sure, the difference between a gold tone, chrome and brushed nickel is pretty obvious, but you can't even touch them to see if you like their feel and function!

Picking tiles was more fun than picking faucets. I loved the variety of choices, from ceramic, porcelain, marble, granite to even glass tiles (to my surprise). I only wish that they had more modern looking tiles. Consulting with my husband on the color combinations was a tad more painful than I expected. I really need another woman's opinion when tile shopping.

from marble tiles...

...to glass tiles

Come, join me on this whole new chapter - my journey in becoming my own decorator and designer!

Starting Fresh

Good news! After months of agony, we finally got the keys to our new home in CT. Unfortunately, the former owners did not keep the place in good shape, so it needs some serious TLC in the kitchen and bathroom. My sister, a relatively new home owner herself, gave me a few words of wisdom in attacking the renovation:

• Get 3 to 5 estimates from contractors
  
• Lock down one and begin work immediately
• Get appliance and materials in
• Choice of handing the old keys to contractor or you let them in to do work
• Keep an airbed and some basics should you need to stay over
• Be there frequent enough that any changes/mistakes can be caught before too late. Don't count on your husband to do this.
• Supervise contractors’ work and wait for deliveries
• Make sure you have broadband or you’ll be bored
• When all are done, since neither you nor your husband are handy, have the contractor change locks last then move your stuff in

Thanks sis!

I must say that me having to be the project manager is by far my least favorite because it is similar to the wedding planning not long ago...all because I'm the one with all the ideas and time. Sigh.

Pottery Barn Surprise

It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of Pottery Barn - it's too traditional and their furniture are mostly made of dark wood. However, I do browse through their catalogue once in a while when they come in the mail. Imagine my surprise when I saw this non-traditional chandelier:

Image from Pottery Barn

What a great idea to recycle your empty wine bottles! If I were a handy man, I'd totally make one for myself.

Finding OUR Style

I'm all about function and style. He's been all about function and no style. For our future home together, we agreed on modern functional comfort.

I really want our new house to feel like a home. I love light, so I'm not crazy about having a lot of dark furniture. That pretty much eliminates Pottery Barn since it is all about traditional style and dark furniture.

Above from Pottery Barn

Although I've been drooling over the Herman Miller and Barcelona chairs, their prices are far from attractive...that eliminates Design Within Reach (which should be renamed to Prices Not Within Reach). Add to it that sticking to a strictly modern design translates to a rather cold-looking home.

Above from Design Within Reach

I was drawn to these magazine features on the homes of the famous wedding gown designer Monique Lhuillier and model/actress Molly Sims, and I've been drooling over them ever since I saw them. Hopefully, our home will look somewhat like them...a blend of chic and the old & the new.

Above from Elle Decor

Above from InStyle Home