Painted Cabinets

Remember where we started?

Before

Half-way

After

Half-way

After

Before

Half-way

After

The kitchen is SO much brighter.  And I'm so glad it's DONE.  

I still need to get knobs, but I've been without them for a year so that's no big deal.

Whaaaaaaat?!

Were my yellow linen-look 1970's laminate countertops actually cool?!

http://retrorenovation.com/2013/02/26/linen-laminate-counter-tops/

I haven't been able to totally get into the midcentury modern trend, probably because our house is a little too midcentury un-modern.  But a day after I painted the countertops, I was reading the Consumer Reports magazine (it had a whole section on kitchen remodels), trying to decide on a permanent countertop solution and what do I see?  Laminate is coming back, and in retro styles!

http://new.pentagram.com/2013/01/new-work-formica-anniversary-collection/

Kitchen Transformation

It's all done and turned out great!

Haha...okay, not really. The countertop painting went great.  The polyurethane over the paint is not going great.  After the first two layers it looked awesome.  But then the third layer turned cloudy and streaky.  I almost cried.  I'm still not sure why.  Maybe I didn't stir it enough.  Maybe it was too humid.  Either way I'm still trying to find a way to fix it.  

Here is the before of the pic from above.

Scary

The linen-patterned harvest gold laminate is gone.  I'll update later with whether or not this turns out to be a disaster. 

Open shelving in the kitchen and the kid's bathroom

Just a reminder of what it used to look like.

Now, much better.  Still, those yellow countertops...

Now the bathroom update...

Here's where we started.

Progress.

Uncovered this groovy wallpaper behind the mirror.

Painted the countertops and the vanity.  

We'll see how it holds up.  I painted the countertop with Aged Copper spray paint and then several coats of polyurethane.  I'll be surprised if it doesn't get chipped by the kids, but it really couldn't be much worse than the red so I didn't have anything to lose.  

Taking out the soffit

I just couldn't stop myself.  

But once I got to this point, I needed help. 

I wish I knew more about electrical stuff, but I don't and didn't feel like figuring it out.   This is where the fluorescent light above the sink went, and where I'll hang a pretty pendant light.  

I also couldn't hold the drywall and screw it in place by myself.  

Kids Bathroom 2

The tile is done!

 It looks great!  I still need to paint the crown and baseboard and touch up the walls, but it's useable and looks amazing.

But then there's still this...

I'm not sure what to do for the countertop.  

The Kids' Bathroom

Ewwww...

The Kitchen

So I said I'd taken off 3 days between painting the bookcases and putting up the planked ceiling in the hearth room, but one of them was actually spent doing this...

This is how it looked before:

Once you get over the disgusting floor, notice the cabinets on the right that block any light or view into the breakfast area.


So, after the floor was torn out, next to go were these lovely knobs.  Not just because seeing them made me cringe, but they were in the very center of the cabinet doors.  Why?!

I actually sold them on ebay for $80.

I wish I could zoom in on this picture so you could see the porcelain farm animals on the chandelier.  They came off immediately after the railing came out.  Which was right before the gross peel and stick floor tiles were torn out.  There were so many horrible things about this area of the house I lose track of the order they went in.

Which reminds me that we also replaced the fluorescent light.  Ewwww.

By "we" I mean Uncle Scott.  He also replaced the faucet and disposal.  Thanks Uncle Scott!

Much better.  So I could actually see what I was cooking, but the kitchen was still dark and gloomy.

So one day while Margaret was napping, it went from this:

To this:

And this is how it currently looks.  I don't like drywall so I'm waiting to take out the soffit until Kyle can patch the hole.  Which may be never.  Just kidding, I have 6 weeks until my due date and I'm pretty sure my crazy nesting powers will find a way to make it happen!  We're having the kids' bathroom redone this week (by a real contractor!) so I'm taking some time off until that's done.

Here's a sneak peak of the bathroom:
Kids' Bathroom

The Vaulted Ceiling

I took off 3 days after finishing painting the built-ins before I decided I couldn't stand the dark PAINTED brown wood beams and yellowed popcorn ceiling.  Nothing is more awful than wood that's painted brown.  Why would you paint wood brown?  It's already brown.  

This picture makes me shudder.

The beams are rough so they took tons of paint.  I had to do two coats of primer and two or three coats of paint.  And my ladder was barely tall enough to reach the high point.  With a big pregnant belly almost knocking off the paint bucket every time I moved.  And two little kids climbing up the ladder behind me with chisels and hammers.  Waaaah...waaah.

Two sections done.  

Me looking awesome, as usual, with my new brad nailer.  This is how I "nest".  

The kids eventually got used to the compressor running in the living room and the blasts from the nailer.  

Anyway, it's all done now!  It only took a couple weeks.  

It's hard to photograph a ceiling.

Now I just need to find some new shades for the fan lights.  And maybe matching bulbs.

House Updates

Well it's been a long time since I've posted because I've moved from little projects to a big one - our "new" house!   

It was built in 1971 when wood paneling was apparently awesome.  An entire room of wood?  Great idea!   Popcorn ceilings and dim lighting?  Perfect.

I actually love wood, but this room felt like a cave.  

First thing to go was the railing and beam dividing this room from the eating area.  (Kyle loves it when I call him with questions like "Where's the sledge hammer and the Sawzall?")

I couldn't stand having a gloomy Christmas so I at least primed most of the room.

Having a 3 year old and 1 1/12 year old helper made it really exciting.

But it actually made me feel happier every time I walked into the room.

Then there were the built-ins.

Wood, obviously.  

They're actually really pretty and I knew the details would show up better in white.  The room needed some color though.  I'm sure in 30 years I'll look back at the 2010s and wonder why in the world I wanted everything white and grey.

I tried a few different options on the back of the bookcases.  

I ended up mixing some Disney Wish Upon a Star Blue that was left at our last house with the Disney Bother Free Blue from Margaret's crib and adding some grey exterior house paint to tone it down.  And hoping I didn't run out.

This was a long project.  But...it was worth it.  Now, how to decorate a huge wall of shelves. I'll probably just fill it up with junk.

And if I ever need to remember what it's like to be surrounded by wood, there's still this room, that's entirely wood paneling with another wall of wood built ins.