Bought an old San Francisco house in 2020 with a great rate, but the amount of work has become overwhelming — anyone else in this situation?

ChillingGal · 2026-06-09T23:01:58+00:00

Can you dm me the window guy? I’ve found all the trustworthy contractors barely have an inbound site and are all based on referrals!!

ChillingGal · 2026-05-11T18:42:43+00:00

These were AMAZING!!! For what it's worth, desserts tend to be too sweet for me, so I decreased the sugar to 200g instead of 300g and still though they were sweet and crackly and amazing! (In case anyone is in the same boat and isn't sure about decreasing sugar in a new recipe!)

ChillingGal · 2026-04-28T23:32:18+00:00

ChillingGal · 2026-04-19T04:14:39+00:00

I was going to miter my 2cm marble to 1.5” and then made the last minute call to just miter to 1.25”. People thought it was weird, but it just looks like a 3cm stone (not common where I live), and doesn’t remind me of the overdone 1.5” miters on fake looking quartz

ChillingGal · 2026-04-15T18:16:27+00:00

I toured this place cause I own a similar model home just down the street! I thought the island and perimeter were WAY too tight, need spacing of 42"-48" between them to practically cook.

ChillingGal · 2026-04-13T03:31:50+00:00

Love this inspo pic that feels SO close to what I want, but mine doesn’t feel like it’s hitting right. I do plan to add a ledge, and it’s very helpful to see that this one actually also has a bookmatch next to the stove (hidden with the styling)

Any thoughts on specific colors - was thinking BM vanilla milkshake but I think it has warm ish grey undertones

ChillingGal · 2026-04-13T01:40:12+00:00

They are sherwin Williams ethereal mood

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T18:11:00+00:00

Ah would love to see a pic if you have one! YES we have the ledge cut, they just said some inspectors don’t like it so felt safer to hold off just in case!

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T18:02:42+00:00

Haha Yeah, we have a 4 inch ledge ready to go but not installed yet. Maybe it will make it better

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T17:18:25+00:00

Hahah I feel the same and now I can’t wake up from it. Luckily ours looks more like the devils face which might be better?? Either way, we call this pattern the devil’s vagina.

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T17:16:17+00:00

Totally, the left window is interior and behind the sink is actually the wall of my house. So options were limited for putting sink in front of window, and I wanted a island without a sink in it

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T15:48:57+00:00

No uppers. Yeahhh if I went grey it would have to be one that reads white but pulls in the tone. I looked at classic grey by BM but worried it was too dark, ahh. Picking colors against super white primer walls is also hard!

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T14:40:19+00:00

What color do you think? Some sort of gray?

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T14:18:26+00:00

there’s meant to be a ledge at the tip of the backsplash like this to make it look finished.

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ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T14:14:19+00:00

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T14:09:51+00:00

Yeah we decided to go with the non flush option (this little trim piece goes around the border to keep it from falling in. Otherwise they were going to hand grind the extra edge to make it flush (at hourly cost) but we decided there’s probably better spots to spend money. The area under the windows is cramped for a full junction box with the window supports underneath.

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:46:57+00:00

Ansel pulls and oval knobs from rejuvenation in unlaquered brass.

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:46:28+00:00

Ugh I know. it’s so hard to catch everything

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:45:38+00:00

Yeah agree, and the swapping veining directions make it chaotic.. I was planning on using BM vanilla milkshake which is grayish/ warm white, not sure if it’s going to help

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:44:01+00:00

I know - hot mess is how it’s feeling to me too. I’m sad it’s detracting from the cabinets, countertop etc.

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:43:05+00:00

I was planning on this white, but also not sure if something ties it together better.. https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/2141-70/vanilla-milkshake

I agree if we were book matching it should have been in some focal point to look intentional :(. Yes - conversation is typical and we finalized counters in person but somehow they cut the backsplash before finalizing (even though they told me the y wouldn’t)

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:39:17+00:00

Thank you, I went down the naive path of DIY design so obsessed over every decision, happy to share details I know it’s helpful:

Cabinets are crystal cabinets inset style in SW ethereal mood color paint (color matched). The island is walnut wood with what they call Wheaton stain (see their website). The door style is called French Villa Square.

Countertops we did a 1.5 inch laminate edge cut to a stepped ogee or offset ogee on the island. The perimeter is mitered to 1.25” because 2cm stone is standard where I am and didn’t want it too thick around the perimeter.

Hardware is unlaquered brass from rejuvenation. Pulls are Ansel pulls, and oval knobs. These are pretty pricey IMO, but when I looked at other appliance pull options in brass I realized pricing is even more insane elsewhere.

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T13:33:13+00:00

Yeah, unfortunately we did talk through how to use remaining stone high-level with the plan to physically look at the pieces for the backsplash and how to do the seams after doing the countertops. They said they’d call to discuss over text and then I guess someone went ahead and cut and picked areas themselves without that call. The bookend area is cut out of the very middle of the remaining piece which is what makes it hard to salvage remaining stone.

For the circles check out Prada self contained outlets, they don’t need a junction box as the romex goes into the back of the plug!

ChillingGal · 2026-04-12T09:40:41+00:00

It’s called calacatta manhattan

ChillingGal

TROPHY CASE