Backsplash...

Well I think we've finally selected our backsplash!! That was a lot less painful than our wall paint selection process has been (still undecided -- I have my interior designer coworker coming over next week to help us select a paint color, as we currently have EIGHT colors on the wall and hate all of them..).  We selected this backsplash.  I'm not exactly sure of the name or the make of it (other than we're getting it from Ames Tile & Stone).  It's similar to the mini glass strips I originally wanted (see this post), but with two colors (including black!!) with a bamboo stripe behind the glass.

Seems like we really like the "bamboo" style tiles, as this is what we selected to put around the fireplace...one of my absolute favorite items in the house since the renos...it looks AMAZING!

The new backsplash should pull out the black in our Kashmir White granite, without being boring (our other selection was a tan brown subway tile with a mosaic accent band in varying browns).  I would've loved to do a stone & glass combination backsplash, but I only liked the ones with white stone, and our "white" granite isn't exactly white, so they just didn't work...Our next step is selecting a paint color for the walls. The yellow that we currently have has GOT TO GO!

 My dad built the cabinet opposite the stove (yes, we lacked THAT much counter & cabinet space!!).  We had it built to match our existing oak cabinets, although I still haven't ruled out painting them a cream color (white is out due to the "white" of the granite), but our renovation list got way too long this winter, and we decided to leave the cabinets for now. It's always something we can do later on...Oh, and I also want to add crown moulding to the top of the cabinets, it would just help finish it off, don't you think? (You should see my DIY list of projects we have to do yet....and that I want to do, just for fun!!) I definitely want to do the backsplash and paint before Christmas though. The baseboards and door casings can wait 'til spring (as we have no garage to do any cutting in - not to mention, not enough room to lay the 14ft baseboards out in to paint -- and we live in a snowy climate...brrr).