Wilsonart® Premium Laminate - Breccia Nouvelle

Just got back from the Wilsonart design department where I saw a brand NEW design debut.  And yes, it’s pretty darn fabulous.  Senior designer Jill Lock tells me that Breccia Nouvelle is listed as THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR MARBLE, and that it was created in Nature during the Jurassic Age.  So, I did a little research.  It is quarried in France today and is one of the most expensive Marbles in slab form.

And here’s the exciting part!  Wilsonart is bringing this admired look to your home.  Yes, Breccia Nouvelle countertops are exclusively coming to your local Home Depot.  So, what’s special about this design?  Well it’s laminate with Wilsonart’s industry exclusive AEON™ Enhanced Performance Technology in a large scale format, which means ultimate design impact.  It really is a surprisingly smart alternative to granite.  Honestly, I just wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it.

And for those of you who want the full background info:  Wilsonart’s Breccia Nouvelle is a rich stone composed of various broken fragments of brown, black and sienna minerals accented with white quartz, featuring the Quarry (Premium -52) finish.  And there’s more.  VTI’s Marbella pencil-line edge adorns the ready-to-install countertops.  Be on the lookout, as they’ll be sporting the Hampton Bay brand at Home Depot.

But that’s not all!  Jill has even provided helpful coordination suggestions for your remodel needs:

Wilsonart® Premium Laminate Countertop in Breccia Nouvelle

CABINETRY  Breccia Nouvelle pairs nicely with wood cabinetry like KraftMaid®.  Choose Maple or Cherry wood with stains in light to deep chocolate browns; equally enhanced with rich mahoganies and cherries.  Consider: Cinnamon, Praline, Cognac, Antique Chocolate with Mocha Glaze, Caffe, Cabernet, Rye and Peppercorn.  Painted White or soft Black cabinetry are equally enriched with the Breccia Nouvelle countertop and make a nice Island accent.

APPLIANCES  Stainless appliances or Glass Black give a high-tech appeal to this countertop.

BACKSPLASH CONSIDERATIONS include 12×12 easy to install Tiles in: Ivory Travertine, Crema Ivy Bamboo STN Mosaic Tile, Mixed Travertine Tumbled, Sasparilla Glass and Auburn Emperador Glass Mosaic.

PAINT  The Classics, Arts & Crafts, Neutral, Cottage and Modern paints, from Behr’s Decorator’s Collection, feature wall accents that give personality to Breccia Nouvelle.

• In the Classics, choose from January Garnet, Persimmon Red, Burnished Caramel, Sassafras Tea, Portsmouth Olive and Nocturne Blue.

• In the Arts & Crafts, choose from Halls of Ivy, Ancho Pepper, Heather Sachet, Smokey Claret, Lyric Blue,and Provence Blue.

• In the Neutral family, choose from Crème de Caramel, Wet Cement and Aged Olive.

• In the Cottage, choose from Wind mesh, Grey Mist and Greywood.

• In the Modern family choose Cordite, Sonic Silver, Dove, Tiramisu Cream, Minimum Beige and Rave Raisin.

I’m happy to share this breaking news with you.  But please stay tuned, because I also had a sneak peek of two additional new releases for Wilsonart in large scale format coming to you very, very soon.   But in the meantime, please let me know if your upcoming remodel project involves the new Breccia Nouvelle, I’d love to hear about it (or better yet see it)!

Special Note:  The 48″ x 96″ laminate sheet is stocked in select stores only, but is available through Special Order, along with the 60″ x 144″ sheet.

Deciding on a new couch wasn’t the hard part of our style update, but choosing the right one was.  It was due time to retire the old sectional.  You know, the first couch purchase post-college graduation.  And yes, it was one of those complete living room packages from The Room Store.  You know the one where you get the great value deal – couch, two end tables, coffee table and matching pair of lamps.

To this day, I’m not sure what we were thinking.  The sectional wasn’t really that bad.  Heck it lasted for a good 10+ years from apartment living, to our custom built home, and through the toddler years.  The only dislike I really had besides the pattern was the pillow back.  Talk about constant arranging and fluffing to keep it pristine looking.  Then came the toddler years. Our daughter would build a mountain and plunge off the pillows (that’s another story).

First couch purchase.

Now if only I could dig up some old photos of the end tables and coffee table, to completely tell the story.  They were contemporary as contemporary could be.  They were white faux stone.  I remember vividly that they each had a corner ball on the base top as an element of design.  Each table had a square glass top that sat on it.  Let’s just say that when the baby came, those tables (all 3) were the first thing sold in a garage sale.

The lamps were peach – that’s about all I have to say about them.

So, the delimma?  My husband and I could not decide on the same sofa.  We saved for the purchase because we knew that we wanted a quality purchase and a kiln-dried hardwood frame.  So, we knew the sofa wasn’t going to be cheap.  We were looking for longevity – another 10 years would be awesome.

So, it came down to two:

Tammy’s Pick!  Pottery Barn Seabury

Inspiration from the '50s Modern Movement with a touch of casual chic.

Sean’s Pick!  Crate and Barrel Axis

Modern clean lines with a casual attitude.

Does the stylist save the day? Stay tuned to see who’s pick made the final cut.

When choosing to remodel more than one room or space at the same time, you can reach a point where your entire world feels upside down. I know this because after more than two years of living with most of our first floor under construction, my life (and often my mind) was one big mess. I felt as if it were never going to be finished. We were just going to live with saw dust and caulk splattered floors forever. For-ever! Well, it felt like forever, until… I saw results. Seeing real results is the best medicine for any construction frustration. Heck, just looking at my first before and after photos (below) has me so excited I’m already planning our next project! Now, my husband, he might be thinking of a little break first. We’ll see.

Before…

After…

How’s that for results!?

Now, I have to be honest. My after photo does not do this part of our kitchen justice. I hope to share a better quality and complete photo post soon.

Also, coming soon are all the details that got us to our before and after. How did we make out on appliances and cabinets? A Q&A with the builder, a.k.a. my husband. Was DIY really worth it?

To be continued…

Mirror, mirror now on the wall (and why wasn’t it before?).

Here’s the blank canvas we had to work with.  Look past the fake plant and the area rug (if you can), they are long gone.  They are now in the garage sale pile.  Sigh! just thinking about that project.  Anyway, we repainted our walls for the 3rd time in 10 years.  Hoping this will be the last.  But, what I can tell you is that our entire family, friends and guests absolutely rave over the Sherwin-Williams Aqua-Sphere.  It’s very calming.  And I love the smokey hue it takes on most of the time.

Foyer: looking into from open dining room.

It’s now safe to say the glam mirror is hanging on the wall – all 55 lbs.!

55 lbs. holding strong!

And here’s pulling the industrial chic look all together.

Marrying industrial chic with glam.

It’s now time to accessorize the cart. I already have my eye on this lamp.

Photo: Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao

Those who live in the “flyover” zone of the United States may not know Park Slope, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, although they would likely recognize the iconic brick and brownstone townhouses and tree-lined streets (where parking is nearly impossible).  The neighborhood is located near Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Brooklyn Museum, offering relative quiet compared to Manhattan.  Park Slope’s proximity has historically made the neighborhood an area of authentic community.  Suleiman Osman, a Slope native and assistant professor of American Studies at George Washington University told the New York Times that the urban revitalization of Park Slope that started in the 1960’s was a “postwar middle-class search for urban authenticity as a refuge from mass consumer culture.”  Fifty years later the neighborhood is a family-friendly mash-up of hip New York, vibrant café life, organic restaurants, co-ops, museums, galleries, creative capitol and good schools.

The landmark architecture of Park Slope is comprised of blocks of row houses, brownstone, Queen Anne, Renaissance Revival and Romanesque mansions.  Thanks to preservationists, many of the historic 19th Century and early 20th Century buildings are still in tact despite having undergone subdivision and then reconsolidation back into single or double family dwellings.  But working on historic buildings requires special care.  Susan Leboff learned this during the recent renovation of the kitchen in her Park Slope townhouse.  “A contractor we know advised us against Corian or anything heavy without reinforcing our basement because in his experience, those materials made the old Brooklyn row houses sag,” says Leboff.  “Having already reinforced the basement, I could not see reinforcing it more.”  So Leboff started researching other countertop materials that could give her the sleek look and durability she wanted without compromising the integrity of the structure.  “We had redone a country cottage kitchen with laminate counters and they looked just as good, if not better than, Corian,” says Leboff.  “Then we read the Consumer Reports kitchen guide which gave laminate high scores, so we started looking at Wilsonart.”  In the end, Leboff chose Wilsonart Premium Laminate in Black Alicante, a large-scale black marble accented with fine white and black veining.  “The countertops look stunning,” says Leboff.  “You can come see for yourself.  People don’t need to buy Corian or stone, the Wilsonart laminate is every bit as nice.”

Wilsonart Premium Laminate Kitchen - Black Alicante, 4926; (c) 2012 Susan Leboff

While Park Slope’s family-friendly gentility and creative, crunchy hipness sometimes make it a target for razzing from other New Yorkers (“What’s with all the trees and mommies?  This is supposed to be Brooklyn.”), it was ranked the number 1 most desirable neighborhood in New York in 2010, according to New York Magazine.  If you visit, plan on using the great public transit system and keep an eye out for historic architecture and interesting locally owned endeavors.  The residents are also known to be friendly, even offering to show you their renovated kitchens on occasion. But watch out for the strollers.