Our new faucet came via UPS and the range hood by FedEx. I feel like a bird lining my nest with shiny, new things. Gary found the stainless steel faucet for a great price because it is a discontinued model. It was shipped from the CSN Store in Boston (small world). This on-line store has an immense number of wonderful, mostly expensive products. There are the occasional good deals for the eagle eyed, like Gary. There is one faucet I liked better, by the same company, Danze, but it cost a small fortune. Check out the 'Sirius' model for yourself. The model we bought, Parma, will fit our kitchen better. It's 10.5" high and reaches just to the bottom of the window moulding. It really is a thing of beauty. And skookum, too, at 14 pounds. We weren't sure if the wall mounted, chimney type range hood would work with our low ceilings. After measuring it on the wall, we figure it will look balanced. Gary found the range hood at Euro Kitchen.
We visited Ele Mar, a granite warehouse in the Portland area. It was like viewing a solidified rainbow. Cobalt blue, brick red, salmon pink, sparkling white and ebony black. If we hadn't been set on green, we would have been overwhelmed. Green Peace, Rainforest, and Turtle Green were a few of the greens we considered, but we fell in love with Verde Bamboo before we ever went to Ele Mar. And you know how it is when you fall in love. Our hearts were with Verde Bamboo. Especially after seeing a full size slab. We had only seen it as a small sample in Eugene. I would describe Verde Bamboo's color as mellow celedon and soft charcoal, with small veins of emerald.
It was interesting to watch how the slabs were moved. A clamp hung from a fork lift was put on to the top of the slab. One man guided the slab along as the fork lift driver moved it away from the stack. They separated a few of the slabs so we could inspect each one. Having been cut from the same piece, they were all similar and at the same time amazingly different.
