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Welcome to Let’s Build with Armada, the podcast where Washington homeowners learn how to remodel with clarity, strategy, and confidence—on a schedule that follows real projects, not a rigid calendar.
I’m Charlie Carter from Armada Design & Build. After years of working across the greater Seattle area, I’ve learned that successful remodeling isn’t about luck. It’s about planning, transparent conversations, and understanding how every decision—from windows to insurance to material selections—affects long-term value.
In each episode, I sit down with experts to answer the questions homeowners genuinely care about:
- Why your PNW windows cry every winter
- Financing options that actually make sense in 2026
- How to not get burned by a cheap insurance quote
- What adds value in Seattle… and what just burns cash
- How to plan a DADU without turning your backyard into a 2-year construction zone
Whether you’re preparing for a kitchen or bathroom remodel, planning a full-home upgrade, or exploring a backyard DADU for equity or rental income, this podcast gives you the clarity you need to move forward confidently.
Listen here, watch more real projects on our YouTube channel, and visit us when you’re ready to build with confidence.
And don’t forget to follow the show—so you never miss an episode that could save you time, money, and stress.
Visit the Armada Design Center in Bellevue when you’re ready to start planning your own home transformation!
📍 15600 NE 8th St. Suite O2, Bellevue, WA 98008
📞 425-587-8286
🌐 https://armadabuild.com/?utm_source=transistor
Hello. Hello. Welcome back to Let's Build with Armada podcast. I'm Charlie with Armada Design and Build here in beautiful Belleview, Washington. Today we're doing something a little bit different. All of our other prior podcasts have been with industry experts, with insurance people, cabinet people, finance people, those kind of things. And today we're breaking the norm a little bit and we are bringing in a homeowner, someone that we did a project for. We've got Rob Fountain here with us today. We're going to talk about the good things, the challenging things, the surprising things, um, you know, that you experienced going through it. Just hoping to give people that are thinking about doing a project, that are considering a project, kind of some behind the curtain insight of, you know, your experience. So, hey, don't forget to like, subscribe, comment down below, rate and review, give us a thumbs up. If you have ideas for future topics that you'd like us to discuss, please leave those and we'll make a list and hopefully we can make that happen for you. So, Rob, let's jump in. Oh, one other thing I want to mention, sorry, before we go is that we are going to cut in some footage and photos of their kitchen. We will show you the house and what we did and what the kitchen looks like now. It's a lovely home, great view, etc. So, that will be sort of cut in here and whatnot. So, thank you, Rob. I appreciate it. Yeah, happy to be here. Rob is a lifelong Pacific Northwestern. Yep. Right. I don't know if you can see, but he's got his Seahawks gear on. So, we're just about the Seahawks are about to play in the Super Bowl. We're obviously big football fans. Rob played college football. So, um he's a big fan as well. So, we're all excited about that and repping the stuff today. So, that's awesome. Um but two, the reason why we're here. So the first thing that I want to ask you is talk about during the process at whatever point you know whether it was in the design or early phase or deep design phase we got into details or construction or whatever but throughout that kind of frontto back component of it. What was the most surprising thing or the most unexpected thing that happened or didn't happen or whatever that was like, oh wow, that okay, that was cool or different or unexpected like what would that be? Sure. Sure. Well, for for the from the top of it, I would say the project management and the management of the process and the streamlining of the activity was really a surprise. I mean, I've been in the business a little bit with my with my background, but having it actually happen to me was really surprising. It was it was comforting. It was or efficient. And I we really enjoyed the process. And you know, from the beginning to coming to the design center to to laying out everything that how we wanted it, it was very uh simple and yet surprisingly comforting, you know. So, it's a it's a stressful situation very and we uh took a mindset of, hey, we're going to make it through this. This is a good thing. We're appreciating our largest asset, you know, and that's really the big piece for us was having a home. We've been in the house now about oh 15 years or so. Okay. And in fact, the last time the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl was we were just moved in. So, so it's kind of connected a little bit there. But uh you know ideally uh we have we wanted to appreciate and take care of our best asset and our largest investment and being empty nesters now we've had the opportunity to uh get to know each other again so to speak and wanting to really get out of that old kitchen. Just so you know the older kitchen was uh was great at at one point but it had seen its better day. the glass cabinets and the island that was there was removed and we lived with it and we worked through it and we adjusted to it and that was great but at at some point we were like this has got to change and so we did it and so now was that kitchen that way when you bought the house or did you guys do I don't remember that the answer to that question. So it was not I mean it was it was 90% of it was there but because it was a short sale we had to replace all of the appliances. The previous owners had taken the appliances. So we did we did the range, we did the fridge and uh the dishwasher and all that. So but the guts of it or the nuts and bolts were there and it worked for for the for So you didn't you didn't really change much of anything. You just kind of had to finish it, make it functional because things were missing and you guys bought a great range and the hood and some of that stuff, but the cabinet layout was I don't know, not something I'd normally seen. And I've seen a lot of kitchens, right? I've been done a lot of kitchens and I was like, okay, there's some interesting features to this kitchen. Um, one of the challenges with Rob and Katrina's kitchen is that one wall, because kitchens are very cabinet centric, right? Which means windows and cabinets don't often play well together. Because if you want to put cabinets on the wall, you really can't have a window there. But Rob and Katrina's home has a fabulous, amazing view of Lake Washington kind of up on this hill and you look out the back and there's the lake and you see all the stuff and it's just it's just really gorgeous. And so that wall along there that I guess the west wall is not maybe facing directly west has 32 feet of sliding glass door. Correct. 16 ft wide four panel sliding glass doors. So there's no cabinets over there, right? And I totally get why there's no cabinets over there, but it makes the kitchen layout a little bit more challenging in that really we only get two walls or in your case the peninsula. Right. Right. Where it kind of came around and wrapped around. Now, that was I think one of the biggest things early on when we were talking about laying out your kitchen was the debate between keep the peninsula, lose the peninsula, go island or peninsula with small island, right? Would you most definitely characterize that? Most definitely. I mean, in the layout of the home of the room, the peninsula was a little bit of a divider between the kitchen, the dining room, and the rest. So, right, cuz it's all one big long space. And you'll see this in in the stuff. It's so that kind of created a little dividing space. It did. And it held all of that light bank where all the light switches were. And I'm like, "Oh my god, we're going to have to move those." And but yeah, it was definitely a centerpiece of the kitchen because the island, the previous owners had an island there, and they removed it on the short sale. So yeah, that was kind of our little space. It was our cheers bar. You know, we go there. Hey, you know, come on over. We're going to have the appetizers here. We're going to have our central point here. This is And it wasn't that long. It didn't five or six feet, right? And it was a tall top. Tall top. Tall top. Rob's a huge man. He's 6'5 something like so it worked for him that he could lean on it. But for a lot of people that counter was way up here kind of thing.
but it was definitely I remember I mean and it was good but it was a little bit of a battle with me and more so Katrina I think in terms of I really think the island is going to be better for you guys most definitely and to show the difference and what that was so talk a little bit about that yeah so the the peninsula had the abyss of a corner cabinet was only seriously maybe 7 in or 8 in wide and it was 3 ft deep and so it was way back in there where all the Tupperware lids got lost. You know how we all have Tupperware lids, you got your sock drawer and uh and so so yeah, so that was that was really the problem with the peninsula was that it had a set of drawers and then it had this massive abyss of a cabinet that was super Susan. We'll talk about the super sus was was should have been put in or something. It was a very was a design at some point that uh come to find out that most of all the electrical for the kitchen ran through that space as well. And so your team did a great job redesigning that and replacing that. And we still have our cable that runs through there because we haven't cut the cord yet. Some people some people cut the cord. We we're one of those older go older folks. We haven't cut the cord. But anyway, you don't have a home phone still, do you? We don't. Okay. So, you got past that, correct? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, modernization. So, at the end of the day, it was about cabinet space and drawer space and storage and everything that the island has now provided us with the peninsula was its little stepchild. That didn't work. Right. I loved it cuz it was tall. It was a nice little meeting place and it was a catch-all for a lot of stuff. Uh but at the end of the day, yeah, it was it had to go. Right. So, remind me now, how long did the island wind up now? Is it 8 ft? 7 8 ft. It's 6 and 1/2. 6 and 1/2. 7 ft. Something like that. Six and a half. Yeah. It's long and big, right? I remember like Katrina was was um reluctant to believe that that was gonna be a more functional because she was definitely I think she was definitely thinking about it from a functional standpoint in terms of how it's going to work. Sure. Right. Not just necessarily how it looked. I mean there's always that consideration. But I was I was feeling like her sort of reticence to sort of like say, "Oh, let's lose the peninsula. go with this much bigger island kind of thing was that she was concerned about how it was going to change how she worked in the kitchen or what the functionality of this space was. Would you fair? Would you say that's fair? I would agree. Yeah, I would agree. We uh just a little step back in our previous home, we did our own kitchen remodel. Okay. And we added an island to that. And so we've had an island in our in our past and found you weren't totally new to the idea. No. Okay. But yeah, there was a little bit of convincing and understanding and and creating an opportunity for us to have a center center space which was is extremely functional. We you know with the drawers, the microwave, the cab the the cabinets on the one side and then we now have stools. You'll probably see the stools. So, um the overhang eating bar overhang eating bar. It's all very functional. Um, and we really have have come to really love it and and and it was so you're happy with the decision for sure and feel like for sure. One of the other things and you'll see this in some of the cutin stuff. One of the other things that we did, I think that maybe when I suggested it, I saw Katrina kind of flinch a little bit maybe and even you to a touch more more money I think related was they there were two windows sort of right and left of kind of the sink setup right along that wall. The garden windows the garden windows. And so one of the things that I immediately suggested that at least we think about was redoing that configuration. taking the not reducing necessarily the amount of window. In fact, we may have more window than we did to start with, but taking two separate windows and putting them together and getting one big window where the sink is and then allowing some more cabinetry on the sides and whatnot. So, that was correct. Though it was a relatively most things in the same place as we would kind of call it kitchen remodel. We didn't really significantly change things around in terms of where they were located. But that was different. Definitely different. But definitely knew that we wanted to get rid of those things being the garden windows. They were double counter deep. uh they were leaking and all fogged up from the previous in installment and so they did some serve a little purpose for gu for plants and stuff. Okay, I get it. But the but yeah, having a a larger single window was really key. And um one of the things that came up in that process was the change order, right? And um because of the venting for the sink, which was removed, you know, we removed the windows, the sink is still going to be in the same place, but because of the single window being there, all of the venting had to be reouted rerouted around. And so Armada did a great job of communicating that and letting us know, hey, uh we just found this and hey, we're going to need to change it and that's going to be a little, you know, okay, and that's a great point. So could maybe we stick there for a minute. Um in that that people worry about I think the two biggest things that people homeowners are concerned about whenever they're thinking about getting into remodeling, renovation, addition, doing some work on their home of any real substance. Sure. Is that how long is it going to take and how much is it going to cost or you know the surprise cost, right? like that would make those in sort of 1 A, one B top two concerns people have and there's a number of different ways that contractors work out there. The two biggest being that we are a fixed cost contractor which at Armada we are that we give you a specific scope of work. We say these are the things that we're going to do and this is how much that's going to cost upfront before we start. And then from change order standpoint, what when those occur for us is that there's something that we have to do that wasn't included in the long list of stuff, right? A lot of people I've heard I've had clients tell me before like, I spent a million dollar or $800,000 and it should be I'm like, yeah, but it's not an all you can eat buffet, right? you know, you just pay $800,000 and then you just get to go in and we do whatever. It is a very extensive alle cart menu and these are the things that we've selected for you and if we have to do other stuff that's going to cost more. We're not going to try and kill you on it. And in fact, we really almost can't charge you enough fairly because as a fixed cost contractor, we're going to make so much the job's going to take this much time. That means we make this much per week. And when we have something we have to do unexpected, that's going to always add time. And the real value of that change order would be however many weeks it adds plus that cost like what we would make those weeks, right? So we technically kind of lose money on those. So we don't want to do them, but that's how those come up. So there was some work that we were required to do that wasn't on the list that we hadn't included and so we did it. And there was another one, the roof, right? The roof. So, it's all about talk about the roof and kind of how that went down. So, the roof was uh was unique. Um it's a flat roof house built in the60s. It's a mid-century modern style home, which very popular here in the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle area, which means it's it's a typically always a flat roof or semiflat roof, you know, square box kind of construction and whatnot. So, it's not a peaked roof. And so, talk about that. Yeah, nice and flat. And uh so over time uh we've experienced some minor leaks here and there. The previous owners had run some pendant lights in the family room which is just to the to the south of the kitchen. And every once in a while on a heavy rainstorm, we would get a few drips through these pendant lights. Um but we also when we removed the that wall where the sink was to do the to put the new window in, change the window. There was at the top there there was uh some water that had collected but not popped through to to the interior and so we had to deal with that. Um the uh Greg your your our project manager was very efficient of say hey we got a roof guy we'll get it out here and that was another small change. Um, but then unbeknownst to us, we had I had been up on the roof and uh cleaning it up cuz it was in the middle of winter when the project was going. And you know, in the Northwest, we get these gully washers that don't stop for 3 days. And uh so we had a leak come through in our in our bedroom. I mean, completely opposite completely opposite of the kitchen. And we're like, "Oh my god, it's raining. It's leaking." You know, and you get that call. Hey Rob, it's Katrina here. We're got we got water coming through. Ah, you know, and so emergency and so yeah, so Armada and Greg was really great. They they contacted your roofing people and they were able to come out and patch it that same day and uh so crisis averted there. So, okay. So, no real damage. No real damage. Some minor interior paint stuff that we've already corrected, sanded down, and and uh but I think the the the ease of that and the relief of that and the effort that was put forward was helpful. I mean, that's that doesn't seem normal to me. It's like you have to worry about it and worry about it and then fix it. So, well, it's super I guess convenient. I mean, if if it had been otherwise we weren't there doing a project, I you would have probably called me anyways and we have been able to me and we've done that before. But for anyone else, like if we're there and that's boom, yeah, we can jump right on it, take care of it, and you know, super glad to be able to let you rest easy and know that that's oh handled. I feel good about it. It's all squared away. That's awesome. Um, so let's talk a little bit about the um the deep design part because we really and I like to do this and I think our team here does as well is to really get into the minutia Yeah. of the cabinet layout. I mean, and we've spent hours, right, talking about the the garbage can cabinet is here and this is a three drawer and you know, like you like we're using this size range and you know, the fridge is this and playing around with some of that. So, talk about kind of the things that were surprising a little bit, the stuff that you learned the, you know, were there some frustration points there, you know, just in terms of the amount of stuff I know I made you think about. Yeah. that like like, hey, where are you putting the silverware? You know, you right-handed or left-handed? Where are we going with the dishwasher? You know, some of that Jeep design and kind of how that went down and and what that experience was like and the surprising and are you happy? Was that great? Like, yeah, get into that a little. Yeah. Gone are the days of the cocktail napkin design, right? It's just like the real deal. So, that was really nice to have that and you you and your team at the house working with Katrina and I hearing us kind of stumble through what we're trying to accomplish and then seeing it get to put together. So, um we we're bigger people. We're tall, so we like the taller cabinets. That was another big part of it for us. Um, but just this the flow of like you say left-handed versus right-handed and the sink and then the dishwasher placement versus the trash can placement were really key. Um, and so that has really flowed well for us. The uh also the cabinet or the toekick area I love. I mean the that's it's uniform all the way around. We can vacuum in there with no problem. I had no idea that was standard or normal stuff, you know. That was that was really cool that and that we've really enjoyed that piece. Um, but the just the vastness and the large amount of space and storage that we have now with the island with our pantry, Charlie, we we've never had a pantry before. We had a lazy Susan pantry before, right? And so now we have a Florida ceiling pantry that's got slideins and slide outs for all our canned goods and our our spices and all that stuff. And so that part of it has been really helpful. Uh really really the value of it. Um the other thing that we love is our new, you know, uh cabinet that has the dog food and the rooms and that has turned into our alcohol cabinet as well. So So that's been good. Didn't really know for sure what we were going to do with that space. I know that we talked about a putting in some kind of slider that you could put your brooms and your mops on that would slide out. that never came to fruition and that's okay. Um, but it's still very functional, right? Um, and we love that piece. This is a whole new design. Moving the the fridge from one side to the other, that was that was monumental. I mean, that opened up that space. We removed the peninsula and that's where our brand new fridge is. And it's really, really cool because it's a stainless fridge and with our view and the reflection from Lake Washington and the sun, it's just it pops. It's kind of a showpiece. It's a showpiece for sure. But also, I think that you don't when you walk into the kitchen, it's kind of a profile like you see the side of it. So, you're not looking at it way over there and seeing this giant piece of stainless steel, which isn't really a problem, but it also is not like the dominant feature over there. It's kind of over here. And then once you get in, then you see it. Correct. But the benefit is that monster pantry that we got over on the left, which is where the fridge was with that dinky little tall cabinet next to it. Right. It was like 9 or 10 in wide. Really almost not worth anything. And we wound up with I don't know a 30 or 36 in pantry if I remember right. Yes. You know, essentially the size of the fridge. Correct. Correct. And and on all that all that uh with the new fridge, we did build a stub wall. So when you do walk up into the big room, you don't just see the side of the fridge. You have a wall with the with the light switches, which is great. And so the form and the flow of that is really comforting as part of I didn't really ex know what to expect because I didn't want to just walk up and look at the side of my fridge, you know, and so that was that was great. And it's it's been very functional. Um uh but the island itself is also was welldesigned uh with the with the our shelves or shelves and cabinets on the on the west side and then all of our drawers and the the depth of the drawers and then on the north side there we're facing the range is where the big pots and pan drawers are. And it's all super functional. We've uh we we invested in some uh lid racks that go inside. I think you suggested that. And it's just like it's like they're not it's not a pile of lids. Right. Right. Right. It's just all organized and uh we really enjoy putting stuff away, you know? That's part of it. It's a mindset, man. It's a mindset. And part of it is just being able to put stuff back, get it out, put it back, get it out, put it back. It doesn't just sit on the counter and oh my god, I'll get to it when I can. Right. And that's I think that's a really important thing is, you know, a place for everything, everything in its place. Right? if you know like and I have the same thing in mind. My have the big two drawer cabinet um right next to the cook top and there one stack is the lids and one stack is the standing pans and they're all right there and you know they're easy to find, easy to put away. Get they don't damage each other where they're all stacked and banging into each other. So I think that you're right that just makes a difference that I have a spot for it. I know where it is. I get it put away and it doesn't sit out right. It's not a battle to go get it. It's not a battle to put it away. Yeah. I think that makes a huge difference. Mission accomplished there for sure. Excellent. I And I just And I remember sometimes I think I would get a sense of Katrina with a little bit of frustration where I'm like, okay, like do we want this drawer to be a three drawer cabinet or a four drawer cabinet, right? You know, what are you going to put in this? Because if you have three drawers, when I say three drawers that stacked vertically and the same height, that some of those drawers are deeper than others. And so that if they're too narrow, remember we talked about this, right? A three drawer cabinet that's too narrow is effectively bucket storage. Right. Right. You're just dumping stuff in it. And so as they get deeper, they need to get wider so that you can use them. And I think one of the things people miss a lot in kitchens is that they don't have enough shallow drawers. I think every kitchen needs a four drawer cabinet, which is a more shallow drawers for zip locks and aluminum foil and parchment paper and placemats and, you know, things like that. So that everything's got a spot, you know, and we got all that stuff. And Katrina be like, "Ah, it doesn't." I'm like, "No, it matters. It matters. Trust me, you're going to like this when it's done, but don't let me dictate this for you. Tell me how you want to use this." you know, and it was it was just making her, I think, think about stuff that she wasn't didn't really think that she needed to think about kind of deeply at that phase. You know, I'm like, let's talk about how would you use this? That's kind of how we got the pots and pans on the end of the island across from the oven. Right. Right. That they're right behind it. You turn around, there they are. That's where they live. I use them right here. You know, like that kind of conversation. Where's that stuff going to go? Sure. Right. And it sounds like it was good. It's been very good. Perfect. And gone are the everything drawers. I mean, we used to have got one of those, right? Yeah, sure. You you definitely should.
So let's talk about living through the project the stress you know you you touched on that a little bit like you know how did you manage the stress and you know deal with that and going through it and then what was that like daily life you know regular stuff and kind of what was good oh surprising you know glad that happened type of that so let's talk about that a little bit sure well I think uh like we said it's a for us it's a mindset and we're avid campers and so we enjoy going out and camping and doing our thing and so we're essentially camping in our home and that was the mindset that we took. We're like we're this is a process. We're going to live through it and we're going to luckily we have a lower level to where we can set up a a little mock kitchen and and a living room where we could put our dining room table because u but yeah it was a it's a it's a mindset man. it it just really uh we realize that we're it's an appreciating asset and we're doing our best to live through the process. We've been through other little construction here and there, but but this was major and so uh yeah, it was uh a lot of microwave, a lot of Door Dash, a lot of uh trying grilling. Grilling. Yeah, we do. I'm a big fisherman. We had a lot of fish, so that was good. Rob will drop some salmon on you now and then. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Don't Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes, sir. So So you in our lower level, we set up a a my kitchen. We had we had the air fryer, the coffee pot, and the toaster outside and below. We built I built a little kitchen that had our bar our grill, and we bought a Tupperware sink thing that you could wash dishes in cuz uh we didn't wash a ton of dishes. We just ended up going with paper plates and paper bowls and and things. And Amazon's good on that. they can get it to you real quick. But but uh at the end of the day, I mean, we lived through it. Um there was a lot of banging and clanging and and dust and dirt and that's just part of it. And uh but the the team at Armada did a great job of keeping us informed of what was happening. Uh the and that helped us stay cool, you know, and the expectations expectations were happening, right? And uh it's it was really fun to after the whole the team left for the day on several occasions then another team would come in and take all the debris and I was like oh man this is white glove almost you know and that was really cool and that helped us just get through it and keep with the keep with the times and not get too worked up and you know there was a nice zip wall that was put up so that kept us somewhat separate from the rest of the house. Not much for noise but pretty good on the dust and you know type of control more so that for sure. So it was a it was just a you know part of the part of it and I tell you when you when you spend the type of money that you want to have a nice kitchen. Well yeah that's required to do a kitchen like that. Yeah. Then you're going to live through live through the process and major surgery. This is major surgery surgery. We're not painting. Not painting. You know, I mean, that's just one thing we did at the very end, right? Right. You know, when you cut a hole in the side of your house to change around window locations, you know, you're getting into the relatively major surgery section of the brochure. Correct. Correct. And uh yeah, we uh we had our challenges. You know, we got frustrated sometimes and oh my god, I've got to go downstairs to do this and go upstairs to do that and but and lived with it. And it's and it was surprisingly went faster than I than we thought. It I'm glad that we did it in the time frame we did over the course of winter. Um because it was just it was just easier. It's darker here. You know, you go to work in the dark, you come home in the dark and so it was dark and and you might not have found that other leak if it wasn't raining in the summer. Correct. Right. Correct. That's a good point. Um but yeah, it's a again the camping mentality. Mh. You're you're it's a it's a little bit of a conundrum paying all the money and and that yet you have to camp, but you get through it. It's it's part of the it's part of it. And we really have had a a good experience. Well, we're all good. So, and that's interesting you use the term camping because when I talk to people a lot about projects, one of the things obviously that comes up is like, can we live through this? Can we stay in the house? Do we need to move out? you know, and there are obviously those projects that there's no question you got to move out. There's we're not we're touching every room in this house. There is nowhere to hide, right? And you guys had a place to hide downstairs. We really weren't doing anything down there. But when I talk to people about it, the answer that I often give them, if it's not an obviously you got to move out answer, is how much do you like camping? Right? cuz it's going to be a little bit like camping while you're there in your own home, you know, type of thing. So, it's interesting to use that. Um, and you know, the daily stuff, the cleaning up, uh, you know, we always put a a portage on there for the guys to use, you know, so we're trying to respect that you're there and the zip walls and things like that. And that communication, we think, is super important to make sure, you know, you can look on your website. We create a job website that's got the schedule and you can look ahead and say, "Oh, they're going to be drywalling for the next five days or painting or right, the cabinets or the countertops are coming on Friday, right?" You know, like, oh my god, it's like when those kind of things happen, it changes. Oh, one thing we had a little I don't know if a hiccup, right? But just something atypical was that the tile backsplash, right? Right. Because we Rob and Katrina and we do this in most kitchens um is that you got your countertop and then from the countertop up to the back of the or the bottom of the wall cabinets or all the way up in between the hood is we do tile. Yep. In most cases and typically that's just done as we go. It's very end. We have to countertop obviously has to be installed before we do it. But in your case, what happened with that? Well, uh good. That's a great subject and it was definitely something that that we wanted to have a certain type of backsplash tile. You see so many subway tiles, so many long shiny tiles. That's just seems to be the trend, right? So, we had a in our mind that we wanted not that and we wanted a more of a uh I don't know if it's a a Latin look, but it was a a 4x4 uh tile that was ordered out of uh from Italy, I believe. Right. So, yeah, it was a unique Didn't come from Poria. Didn't come from Poria. And uh and so uh your design team did great. Uh we we made a decision and then it came to the time during the project to put the backsplash tile in and oh it's not available. It's been backordered. We've got to delay and that's part of the game. I understand that's beyond our control. We can help. We can work together with our design team but at the end of the day the vendors are have that piece you know that they're responsible for. So, so yeah, so we just we we looked at some alternatives that were available and we we felt the pressure that come on, just go with this. It's the same thing. No. And we said, "No, we're not doing that. We want these 4x4 tiles because we love them." And there the the colors, right? And it matched all of the other things that we wanted from the ceiling was painted to match that. The walls were painted to match that. It was all part of the palette. All part of the pallet. And uh so yeah, we waited and we waited like 90 days, maybe 60 days. It was it was well into two two and a half months, something like that. So yeah, we talked about the option was we have really two options, right? You can pick something else that we can get right away and we'll put that in. Yeah. Or they're not saying this tile's not ever gonna come. They're just saying it's substantially delayed and if you guys are okay waiting, Yeah. we will wait because it's the backsplash. It's literally one of the very last things that goes in. Sure. And it was like, okay, we can wait as long as you guys are cool with it and then once it comes in, we'll come back and put it in. Yeah. Which is what you chose. Exactly. Right. And so we came back, I don't know, almost 3 months or something like that. It was close to 68 days or so. Yeah. And so then we came back at like, oh, regear for like you're all done. We're out of your hair. The house is cleaned up. you know, the zip wall's gone, the porta john's gone and all that stuff and sort of life's getting back to normal. And then here we come again to put in the tile backsplash. So, how long was that process? What did that take? Good. It was a week, I think, three day for cuz it's kind of complicated tile and well, good bit of it. Good bit of it. And it it with the you know you set the tile but then you have to grout it and it that was a two or three day comeback process for it to set up and um and and it really was the period at the end of the sentence uh or the end of the rainbow so to speak where we're like oh my gosh look at here it is thank goodness we waited. It was really a nice ending to the project in that respect right getting there was a little tough but hey you know cuz people are like hey can we come see your kitchen? No, not yet. Not yet. Not yet. And so I mean that would be cool like it like to like how did you guys feel cuz obviously you'd been living in it for weeks at that point without it and then all of a sudden you know in a day day and like a lot of it got installed. It wasn't grouted and finished but you walked in that day came home from work, right? And you're like whoa. And it's like that whole section of the walls done. Like how was that? That was that was eyeopening and very rewarding. Um, I mean the the prior to it, obviously the drywall was kind of the same color, but the we did have you guys put in under counter or under cabinet lighting, right? And so that really when you turned it on the switch, it was like, oh yeah, now highlight highlight of the day or high really was fun to to get through that and see it in its final stage. Uh the Schlutoter uh which went around the window was also very tied in with that tile. Uh so that's nice. Uh Greg, our project manager, detailed edges, the detailed edges of that was cool because uh we we didn't know for sure how it was going to look and with that that edging uh right around the window above the sink uh really turned out nice. And so, uh, on one of the walls next to the fridge, it's counter to ceiling of the tile. And that I didn't expect that to be so nice looking. You know, most of it obviously is under the cabinets, but that one piece that's open. Yeah, it's it's Now, remind me at the hood. Did we go to the bottom of the hood or all the way up at the hood? All the way up at the hood. All the way up at the hood, too. Right. Okay. Cuz that's kind of one of those things we decide sometimes we stop it here or take it up, right? Yeah. So, we did land on all the way to the ceiling. all the way to the ceiling and the next to the hood. And yeah, it's it's a really good thing for sure. Uh very cool. Really cool stuff. And that was all part of it though in the getting back on the pallet of the project. Uh the design team helped with what colors we like, you know, and how we decide on it fitting. And so part of the the cool thing was our existing doors and other uh trim pieces right in the other parts of the house are now all the same. Um and so that was cool. We were able to find the correct cabinet that we wanted. Katrina really had her heart set on the the darker color with the inset and uh but then the paint was also really key to match that tile and the ceiling. We were thinking we would just go all one color, but we decided to go a little lighter on the ceiling and the walls got matched and we did have one change there. You may or may not remember, but the the paint the paint uh went on the first coat and it was not right. I mean, it was like almost a little reddish or pinkish in it. Okay. That your lighting is so different there. Yes. Right. And it could have been the color when you looked at it at the showroom and then the color there at the house. And I'm glad you caught that. Yeah, that was definitely something that caught our eye and and so it was an easy change, quick change, different color, different color, not a ton of expense or delay hopefully. Delay. Yeah. So, that was also good. We had we really, you know, wanted it to look right and had the vision and then it came to fruition. So, uh kudos to you guys. It was it was fun and stressful and all of it, but it it worked out well like a roller coaster, right? It's like exciting and adrenaline and then but you're nervous and scary and then it's over like do it again, you know, let's go again kind of thing. I don't know if you would say let's go again so much, but but it's not as bad as you maybe thought it was going to be. Um, one thing I wanted to talk about for people and just like relate your experience a little bit coming back to the the living through it. I think you did a nice job talking about that, but I skipped over one that I wanted to talk about and forgot. Um, is, you know, adults living through a project is one thing, right? Little kids, that's a whole another thing that younger families would have to deal with. Your kids were well adults themselves by the time you guys did this, correct? So, little kids are a whole another challenge for younger parents to deal and manage. And I mean you could imagine what you can put yourself back you know when Amarie and you know her brother the younger and then like Drew doing that again now with them at you know six and eight or eight and 12 like that would have been a whole different kettle of fish. Right. Yes. So that would be one thing but another one is Lola. Right. Your dog. Right. Right. You know, so people have pets and they're home all day for the most part and we're there and Lola's used to no one be I mean Trina works from home some you're in and out some but gone a lot like so how was that experience? I know that probably was something you guys were concerned about because Lola's a big part of your family you know she's not a goldfish in a thing on the shelf you know so talk a little bit about that and that concern. Okay well just so you know or you know uh Lola's a black Russian terrier. She's 110 lbs and uh we got her early in 2020, right? And uh she's great and she's really provided that that little buffer between in the empty nest. Sure. And uh so we got one the same time our dog like we go to the my dog's a big 120 pounder as well. So they go play yada yada. Yeah. But and Lola really warmed up to the idea of people being in the house. She's a guard dog. She is and she's but she's also very domesticated and uh she lived through it with us and has had a good experience. The guys would come and talk to her. She would go meet the guys in the morning. uh when I was there, I would see that and uh you know, at the end of the day, she didn't experience any issues with the noise or dust that I that was visible to us, right? Uh but she did enjoy the uh the project being over, right? You know, cuz she sleeps all day and uh the extra attention was fun for a minute, but then was like, when are you guys leaving, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we did we still continued our walks and um and uh specifically to the flooring portion. So, we haven't talked about the flooring much, but we had our floors redone in the process and we at first we're just hardwood floors that were there, correct? That were sanded, refinished, you know, that whole thing. That process of going through that. Correct. So, everybody knows what we're talking about. That was part of the part of the process was and we had to patch some of that cuz it was there and we had to go in and we didn't tear it all up, none of that, but we just had to patch and fix and blend and tie it in underneath the peninsula. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, so but the flooring process um uh your team was really good about communicating, hey, you she can't come up here at all. There has to be, you know, because of the set and because of the finish, she has to stay below. You know, okay, no problem. Good communication. You know, she loves to sleep with us or sleep in the bedroom, which is upstairs. And we're like, sorry, Lola, you got to sleep downstairs for a couple days. And she was fine. We could hear every once in a while she'd bark or scratch or something, but uh but the flooring was a big part of it. I think that's probably the biggest thing for her that she had to adjust to other than just the daily commotion, right? Um people in and out. People in and out and um but she was she at the end of the day people she would go and you know rub up on pe on the guys and they they were happy and she was once she knows you're okay. You know, like I remember going over in the early phase when we were just kind of getting started and I was doing some homework and measuring and things like that and you left me a key, right? And I just went around the back and went in by myself and you know I'd known her but then she was like hey you know like she popped up off the bed like what are you doing bro? You know so she was concerned for a minute like all of a sudden who's this guy walking in the back door you know kind of thing. So but that was great. So yeah, so the pets and living with the kids and dealing with that, that's all part of it and making sure that that's been thought through and homeowners have some expectation of what that's going to be like and you know get mentally ready for that and like okay this is kind of what the dayto-day is going to be like and that's a I think that's a big part of leading into the process you know oh the design and the functionality and then the styling and you getting everything on the way, but then now we're under construction, right? And like what is that really going to the camping aspect and all that? So, I think that that's a big part of that.
I guess one thing we didn't talk a ton, but you you brought it up and I because I am so function focused on the design, you know, and that the drawers are right and that the where the pots and pans are and the drawer and shelves and all that kind of thing. But a little bit about that that the styling, the door style, right? The style of the door, the color of the door, the color and material for the countertops, the tile. You touched on little things like, you know, the battle over the decision of the hardware, right? Right. Like what color, what's it going to look like? Like I mean, did you ever imagine like how much time you would spend thinking about like the shape and color of the handle that's going to go on your cabinet? No. No. Didn't think about it at all. Right. And then we're like, "Okay, here's 137 choices. What do you like, sir?" kind of thing. Well, the showroom experience provided us with a lot of options and that was great. And uh we f we kind of paired it down to a couple of choices and then did some research and what we are used to and what we want it to look like. And we and at the end of the day, I let Katrina decide, you know, she's most of those for sure. Yeah. And if she was here, she would appreciate that. But um so yeah, so the design pieces were big and the decisions were large and there were a lot of them to make. Um and the funny thing that hearing you say that uh towards the end of the project after all the decisions were made on what to put in, we had to decide where we wanted to put the the cabinet poles. Is it going to be on the vertical where on the door or is it going to be on the bottom? you know, and we're like, "Oh my god, what do we do now?" You know? Well, it's funny that you mentioned that because that's now and I I don't know. It might actually even have been your project that prompted it that that now is something that we put on the drawings. Yes. And decide in the showroom with the designer and specifically show this is where the knob is to be installed. Yeah. Exactly. Right. On the drawer, on the door. if they're different, you know, like center center, we call it kind of center center, we call it rail center or whatever the case may be that that decision is labored over. Yeah. You know, where is it going? What's it going to look like? Where then does it be put it? And so now that's a standard thing. It's on the back page of the drawing. It's the last page. Yeah. You know, here's where the hardware gets installed. Okay. Well, that's great. I Yeah, that was a it was it was fun. And it was one of the one of your chief or head people on the project, not Greg, but actually one of the guys. Yeah. And we're like, "Hey, what do you think?" You know, what you what's your suggestion? I mean, cuz there's there are a few corners in our kitchen, and we have some cabinets or the the the handles or the poles will touch each other as they open. And that's okay. I'd rather them touch that than the face of the cabinet, right? But uh you know just the vertical versus the horizontal and% and and we went with the horizontal and we love it. Right. And Rob's got giant hands so like that is a thing like where like you can't like a little dainty piece of hardware is hard for you to manipulate. I mean you know and so like bigger chunkier stuff you know. I like that with more clearance to get your hand in there. Right. Agree. Completely agree. Right. And other little things like um the edge detail on the countertop. The edge detail. The edge. Like what is the edge of the countertop going to look like? You know what? Well, going to be Yeah. There's like the thing with Yeah. 91 12 edge samples over there. Like you like this one, you like the OG, you like this, you like that. Like that stuff I think makes a huge difference. It customizes it, personalizes it. And some people I think get a little frustrated with decision fatigue. Sure. There are so many decisions. Yeah. That you have to make, right? You know, and it's like, well, I I don't know. I don't really like you pick, you know, it's like, well, and fine, we're happy. This is what I would recommend, right? But do you does that are you happy with that? Do you like that? You know, and say because we don't want to push anything at you, right? and just like not it's one of those things I find a lot of people don't it like they'll they'll just draw something and I see this a lot when people bring us a plan that they've had someone else do and then I'll sit down and I start getting into the detail I'm like I'll see something on the drawing it's kind of a specific detail you know pretty technical thing and I'm like did they tell you this was going to look like this you know and they're like what do you mean and then I'll describe the situation or whatever And they're like, "No, not at all. I had no idea." And I'm like, "It's kind of a big deal, you know, like this fine. You could it could look like this." Yeah. But if as long as you're okay with it, but I just find that interesting and weird to me a little bit that designers, architects, whatever, whomever will just pick things, insert things, tech effectively making decisions for people when they don't talk about the options at this right here. right here. You could do this, this, or this. Sure. Here's what I like. Here's what I prefer. Here's what I think makes the most sense for you. But that can lead to the decision fatigue of like, what do you mean? I got 9,000 decisions, right? Didn't we already talk about this or like wait right here? It's a little different. Right. Right. So, talk about that a little bit. I know Katrina was experiencing I think I'm assum felt like some decision fatigue. There are too many. Yeah. Well, there was a lot and and we you know have a vision and the communication I think is big to get out what we want and then you absorb that and then here comes our motto the whole thing and yeah you've got steps you've got the the demo and how are we going to do the where are we going to stack all the debris and deciding on on timing and it was it's a lot and that's I think where that and you just did a kitchen, a complicated kitchen, no question. But extrapolate that over a whole house. Add three or four bathrooms, right? Right. You know, and two fireplaces and the detail and a staircase and all that, you're like, "Oh my god." You know? Yeah. That's it's it's a lot. And again, on the on the front end of all this, it's a mindset. You you've got to have the idea of patience, patience, patience, and and making sure that what you want is communicated effectively. And but the the decision fatigue does set in. And oh my god, it's like you're signing papers on you're buying a house. It's like never ending. And it's true. And in our case with the handles on the cabinets, that was definitely decision fatigue uh to a tea. Um but we get got through it and we decided correctly. Uh at least for now, you know, it might change, right? What are we going this way? But uh at the end of the at the end of the day, it was it's it's part of the process and we realize that we've been through other small remodels, like I said, in our old house. So, we're aware of that. But um when you're paying the money and you've just you've made a commitment to seeing the true Yeah. You just have to push through that fatigue, right? and go the extra to get her done, you know, and find that like so that leads in perfect here kind of just wrapping up a little bit is that I loved your and I knew that this was going to be your approach and mentality just kind of the way that you think and and sort of your wired in terms of expectation and what we're going to get through this type of thing. But for other people for you know homeowners hopefully listening and getting something out of this is that that pushing through that would you say well worth it? Right? that at the end of the day totally worth it. We got because if you'd have just said design me this generally speaking and someone had just gone in there and hadn't driven you through all those little decisions, right? It almost assuredly wouldn't look like or function the way it was now or is now, right? I mean, the pots and pans could have been over there or like they wouldn't have been to think, you know, that wouldn't have been considered. Right. Yeah. So, do you think that that was all time well spent and energy and heartache done that you like absolutely this is the thing? Uh, definitely definitely part of the process and well worth the time and energy to get an understanding of, hey, if this is what you want, this is how it's going to go. And we we were patient with that and we're not making some snap decision here. Again, it's our our largest asset that we're taking care of. It is for most people and it is for most people and and anybody spending money on your on your project. It's worth it. Take take the time, pay attention, and communicate because I mean, we're only human and you can only understand so much of what we're trying to do. And I realize that this is what you do for a living. and you're you're listening and listening and listening and listening and listening and and you know obviously producing and that's great and so yeah it's just a a a timeconsuming well spent effort to improve and okay I we really appreciate it. It's been a great experience and it's a cool space and we love our kitchen. It makes coming home great. It makes cooking great. It makes entertaining fun. people are wo you know that was going to be my next question is like what what what do the kids think and like the friends the people come over like how did that whole thing come off when people you know it's like the thing I haven't seen you in a while and you know they walk boom look at this yeah no it's been wellreceived we've had lots of guests and the obviously the view is really big and the glass doors and all that but but the kitchen is just now the centerpiece even more because we love to entertain. I love to make 50 salmon patties at a time and they're spread all out on the on the table, you know, on the island and and so we we've used the space effectively. Um it's been it's been really a good thing and we feel we feel convicted in our decision and to do it. We chose wisely. Uh we were patient and and it's it's been great. people have said, "Hey, who did you do who'd you who'd you go with? How'd you find these guys?" "Well, Armada," you know. Okay. And uh so that's been good. It's it's it's a great piece of of our of our life now. And perfect. Well, it is, you know, talking about the kitchen, heart of the home in most places. Yeah. And so, just a couple more things to wrap up. you have touched on and talked about and I don't disagree at all but you know in terms of altering messing with appreciating your largest asset right I mean and it and that and that is something that I definitely do not take lightly and we no one here at Armada does is that the trust that you have to have to essentially turn over the keys to the because when we start it's not worth because day one we're going to come in there and tear the rear end out of that place, right? You know, and if we were to disappear, you'd be in a problem, right? Kind of thing, right? Right. So, that is we understand and appreciate the level of trust that and and kind of guts that like, okay, you know, here's a bunch of money. Go tear up my house. Yeah. On the promise and hope that it's going to be cooler and better when it's all done, right? I mean, that's a big leap for a lot of people to make. And so, I I appreciate that. But from the investment standpoint, do you feel like that you kind of got what you were looking for, achieved your goal? Now, obviously, you guys aren't looking to sell the house or anything like that. So, it wasn't a matter of spend this much and go sell it or anything like that, but talk about that a little bit in terms of like, yeah, yeah, that worked out or we real happy with that. Well, I mean it's a again uh I'm a big mindset guy and we uh have a beautiful home and it was a it's a spec design home that was remodeled gosh maybe 18 20 years ago and so we want to maintain that level of you know quality and the money was part of it and the ease at which we experienced the the change uh was well worth the money. Uh that's for sure. Uh you're never going to be completely satisfied, but at the end it it were it was a good decision. Um and the budget was in place. We're empty nesters. We've been preparing for this for a while now. And so it came together and timing was good. Uh and so I just want to say yeah, thank you. It was it was great. Uh uh it it didn't feel like we were getting ripped off or like you were going to fly take off, you know. Yeah, there is that mentality out there. And never once never once did we feel that was were just going to leave us in a lurch. That was that was that was never a part of it. But it was, you know, the the c from the cabinets to the quartz counters to the to the to the experience we had with your vendors and choosing the appliances. That was all really great. Um, so yeah, so the it was a full package that that been one of our best projects we've ever had. It's really good. I love it. So, and I can't wait for you guys to see it. We're going to cut in some shots and we're going to go and shoot some stuff and maybe get Katrina to say hi for a minute and we'll put some before photos. I don't think we have much in the way of before video, but we have before photos. We'll show you what it looked like before and we'll show you some of the the video now that it's done and what it looks like. And of course, we'll give you a sneak little little peak of the view that they have. I think it's going to be decent weather. So, we're looking forward to that. So, just happy to have Rob come in today and share with you guys a little bit firsthand experience from a homeowner's perspective and what it was like to live through a reasonably substantial renovation. You know, tearing out the kitchen and remodeling that. Um, it shows that that they are challenging and but they can just transform your house and and how it looks and the value, but also how you use it and live in it on a daily basis, right? I mean, all of those things changed, right? Like you function in the kitchen differently. The house is worth more now. Like you feel great about the way it looks. I mean, that all of those things are different and hopefully different in a positive way, right? But it's a hard road to get there. So if you're thinking about a major remodel or a renovation, if you're in the Seattle area, give us a call. Armada Design and Build, come into the showroom, check us out. If you're somewhere else in the world, find a professional that is in your area that is wellreed and wellreceived and talked about in the community that provides all the level of service if that's what you're really looking for. Now, that not everyone is. They're DIYers, people that, you know, need to do things differently. But when you're at that spot that you can sort of do it right and not short shrift the home, the value of the home, right? I mean, you know, this home's worth the, you know, little bit, right? And so you go put in a handyman kitchen, you're actually probably kind of hurting the value of the house, right? You know, so that can happen. Pull your punch. So, um, if you're if you're at that spot, find a professional, do the thing. We hope that this was educational, informative, that you got something from this um talking about the experience and what that was like to live through and kind of the surprises and the good things and the bad things. So, thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Like, comment, rate, and review. Subscribe, do the things. Come into the showroom. Give us a call. Check us out on the website. Thank you very much and we will see you in the next one.