The pic below is of a sidewalk coffee stand in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, on the Asian side.

They take their coffee very seriously there and boy, do they like it strong – the story goes that your espresso isn’t strong enough unless it can support a standing bull. Debra and I aren’t quite that fanatical but we do like our coffee. We’ve had dedicated coffee bars in the last couple of houses that we’ve redone. The new look of the one in the SoMoToHo is the subject of this post. Here is what we started with:Again with the mid-80s disco tile. I swear the stuff was everywhere. The first thing we did was paint the cabinets Benjamin Moore Dash of Pepper – a color that I particularly like because of its depth of tone.

The new color almost made the tile tolerable. But not quite. So off it came.

Actually, sitting in the driveway ready to haul off, I thought “That’s not so bad. Maybe we can find a use for it.”But no – away it went.

We didn’t want to spend a fortune on the coffee bar, so we resisted the temptation to repeat the lovely marble from the kitchen. Besides, the potential for staining increases exponentially when making and serving coffee and tea  is 98% of the activity in the area. (The same would be true if the new owners want to use the area as a wet bar – nothing stains quite like red wine.) So Debra found a slab of Dallas White granite that fit the bill nicely, I think.

And it compliments the Dash of Pepper beautifully.

The next two pics provide a comparison.

The contemporary faucet and under-mount sink complete the look – elegant, comfortable, functional. I think that the degree of transformation far exceeds the expense. What do you think?

We’re still working on the remaining baths – the en suites for the masters both up and down. Hopefully, it won’t be much longer.

I’m also pleased to report that the LOAP Alpha has a new owner – I hope she’ll be as happy living in that beautiful space as we were creating it.

Thanks, so much, for coming along with us on these journeys; it’s really great to have you! Until next time –