HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!!!

i am absolutely, POSITIVELY, TERRIFIED to pick out a countertop for my studio! seriously – paralyzed with FEAR!

i have 2 very real reasons for my terror…

first – i’ve been waiting, anticipating, saving for and dreaming about this project for THREE WHOLE YEARS!

and b ;) when i redid my bathroom, i had one plan in mind – paint color, cabinets, countertops, tile, shower glass, and general mood – think brick walls, black traditional cabinets, white countertops, that tiny octogonal white tiles, rain style shower glass – sorta old hollywood glam. i ended up with malted milk walls, dark brown transitional cabinets {a last minute change of mind at the store while placing my order}, clear shower glass and tile that i only had a day to pick out – sorta a grey, pinkish brown limestone looking tile. the only part of my vision that stayed was that the cultured marble is pretty much white – veined with some ivory and quartz lines.

—and i LOVE it! all the individual parts and pieces came together BEAUTIFULLY!

as a designer, i want all the pieces IN PLACE, and i want to see what i like best – but in REAL life – you don’t get to see everything in place, you get to see samples! relatively small, minute, tiny snippets of what your room “might” look like.

my worry is that i just got lucky in the bathroom and i’ll HATE the studio! so far, i am loving the cabinets – both style and color, and i’m really happy with the wall color that mom and i put up – but NOW, it’s onto the FINAL choice — COUNTERTOPS! it’s the make or break part of the process. they can either pull the whole room together, or it can absolutely RUIN it! i’m just one wrong move from HATING my brand new studio, having to walk into it everyday and wonder “what on earth made me chose THAT???!!!” and i just can’t take the pressure. i find myself RUNNING back towards white. i know i won’t hate that, i might not love it, i might not like trying to keep it clean, but i certainly won’t hate it!

the metal formica that i thought i might like just looks grey…

so instead of that sleek touch of metal that i thought it would bring, it just looks BLAH!

and then, we have the quartz/granite wanna-be’s…

i think they look okay – but i REALLY wanted this space to look like a craft room, not a kitchen! so i’m a little worried about choicing these. plus, i really LIKE formica, that’s why i wanted to use it – it’s SO durable, and SO cleanable! so i don’t want it to look like i wanted granite, but couldn’t afford it, so got a formica look-a-like!

then, there is the one i’m leaning towards, it’s called oxide and it looks like oxidized metal…

 i think it blends with the wall and cabininet colors…

AND the floor color nicely…

 and i DO like how a small patch of it looks, but the question is “will i like a WHOLE room of it?” the countertop runs around 3 WHOLE walls!

i decided to toss out black as it didn’t go with the floor, i have a stained concrete floor, it’s a reddish brown, and i thought the black just didn’t go at all. which is too bad because it was another “safe” option to go with instead of white!

so PLEASE chime in, give me your feedback or comments. some of your own remodeling advice or color choices {or color choice dilemas}, ANYTHING!

i am supposed to make my selection by tomorrow! although i don’t absolutely, positively have to!