Don't you love when a store surprises you for the better?
HARDWARE
Since Splash is so conveniently located by my office, I continued to stop by for inspiration as my kitchen renovation began. Well, I was lucky enough to meet Beth! She was the first person in the store to be friendly and personable towards me. And, conveniently enough, she works in cabinet hardware, which was where I had been having quite the mental block. I showed her my cabinet and countertop samples, telling her that I wanted to do a hardware color that was more out of the box, like copper or brushed gold. She immediately pulled one board off the wall, and I knew right away that was the hardware I would purchase.
Just to clarify, I never feel this way about anything. I like to look at every known option and THEN make my decision. I also don't like to trust other people to curate my options for me. So the fact that I (a) trusted Beth as a consultant and designer and (b) went with her recommendation is pretty monumental for me.
She asked the vendor to send me a free sample of the hardware and told me to come back once the cabinets were installed so we could order the exact sizes and styles that were needed. I would occasionally browse around in Splash or on Pinterest during this period of time and always felt affirmation that we had made the right choice. I also shopped around for the hardware at a nearby competitor and online and found that her quoted pricing was very competitive.
My final consultation with Beth was just as enjoyable and easy as the first. I arrived with pictures of my kitchen and had drawn in pencil my ideas for the size and placement of the hardware. We agreed on everything except that she encouraged me to change the size of the hardware on several different cabinets to make sure that the hardware would be large enough to give the visual impact that I would want. I am so happy she encouraged me in this direction because I think otherwise I would have been a bit disappointed.
My order was direct shipped to my home and arrived just six days later. I am so pleased with the whole process and can't wait for my contractor to install the hardware next week.
BACKSPLASH
After my initial interaction with Beth, I decided to also check out Splash for backsplash. I had hoped that she was able to cross departments, but she told me that she only worked in hardware and recommended that I work with one of the tile consultants. I set up an appointment with a lady (sorry, it's horrible that I can't remember her name).
I gave her my overall design ideas and we started shopping around for the perfect subway tile. I liked that she gave her perspective while still allowing me to have my own personal opinion and aesthetic. The first 45 minutes of the appointment went very smoothly and I was feeling pretty good about everything.
After selecting the tile options, we returned to her desk and she asked me if I would like to receive a quote. We had discussed the fact that I needed to return to work as I was just on my lunch break, but I said that I could definitely stay a little bit longer. Unfortunately, this process took three times longer - another 45 minutes - than I had expected. She was a bit frustrated with my Lowe's designer's lack of detail regarding the walls and windows around the backsplash in the drawings, so determining the dimensions took a very, very long time. However, I was looking for merely a price estimate, not perfection, with this quote. As I was feeling very antsy and anxious about returning to work so late, two bombs were dropped - (1) the cost was twice as much as I had budgeted for backsplash and (2) the lead time for this backsplash was 6+ weeks. Even if I was willing to spend the money needed for this high-end, California-made product, my contractor couldn't wait six weeks for it to be handmade. This was information that I wished that I had known up front - approximate square footage costs and lead times - that could have potentially made us focus on more affordable and/or faster lead time products throughout the consultation. read more