Painting the Kitchen Cabinets: Part 2

Do you ever have those weeks, where your day job says to you "Yea, this is all you'll be doing this entire week, including evenings"? That's me this week, it's my turn.  I haven't had a spare moment aside from working, eating & sleeping - crazy! But I found time to sneak in a post, since I felt so guilty being postless all week.... Last week I posted Part 1 of Painting the kitchen cabinets, and this week I'm so excited to show the rest:

Aaaaah! Fresh & Clean.... this time we used the sprayer, which is pretty self explanatory, maybe I'll do a post on it someday though.  But as you know, we DID do the white ones by hand, or roller... (full directions in Part 1).  Also - we decided to add a few coats of minwax polycrylic on this set, in semi gloss.  Being the bottom half, they'll be more likely to get beat up so.. better safe than chipped, right?

Before I show the close-ups, the color is Glidden's Blue-Grey Slate.  Paint & Primer in one (a must!), in Interior Semi-Gloss. Here is a link to the color.  Always tell your paint person what you need the paint for, as they will have the best advice for your finish.

Like I said, I'm sneaking in this post before work, so let's get to the good stuff:

It's an interesting color! I love it - sometimes it has a blue tint, other times  a dark grey... and at sunset it gives off a blue purple.  Hooray... color changing cabinets!

Things are starting to come together. Yes, those are rainbow knives! Ha I know.. typical of me, right?  Many of you asked about them - they are called Pure Komachi, and they're the best knives I've ever used, so sharp.... (find them here on amazon - they have tons more too).  Rather than use a knife block, we used IKEA magnetic knife strips to keep the counterspace pretty free.

This area is to the right of that stove, across an entryway.  I love that blue-grey slate!

Hello new rug! (Ikea.... lovely!)

Oops! Bad photographer moment... Surprise appearance by Sir Brown Paper Bag, who in our part of the country, is becoming a rarity...

Oh, I grouted that round marble lamp in the top corner there, I'll be sharing that soon - came out great.

There we go! I love this angle.. really shows off that stove.  What do you think of our newish cabinets? Eventually the counter-tops will be hopefully butcher block, but cement would be amazing too.  We'll see how the wallet feels when the time comes.  All in all, painting the cabinets was the affordable upgrade we needed, to hold us over until we redesign the kitchen all together.  But honestly? They came out so good I wouldn't mind them sticking around...

What about you, any cabinet transformations in your future?

Back to work... wish me luck...   ;)

Have a fantastic weekend!
     -Jesse

Related Posts in-case you missed it:

• Painting the Cabinets: Part 1 + A tutorial
• 7 Kitchen Buffet Ideas
• The Great (soon to be late) Kitchen Hutch Makeover

And one last time, here's the paint color link, Glidden's Blue Grey Slate:

• Paint color link @ Home Depot

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Curb Appeal: Part 2

Oops! I forgot to update you all when we finished chopping those ginormous bushes down in front.  So, remember in this post when we first tackled the beasts? Well we were only halfway done, and we finally finished! These things, were enormous.  We bought a chainsaw (yeeeea buddy!! Here's the one we got, it was great) and decided the easiest way to tackle them, was to chop 'em in half and clean up the damage. Check the progress out:

 Here's a wide view, it's so weird to be able to look out the windows and see more than just bushes! It's soooo barren now though! Don't worry - the bushes are still alive, they just got a much needed trim:

So the only drawback is our privacy level dropped, but since we're up high, we still have a lot of privacy inside the house. I just love that you can SEE the house now.  That water utility box... major eyesore. I'm not sure what we are allowed to do with it, so I'm just going to plant a big bush in front. I can't wait to fill up the hill with fun (deer-resistant!) flowering shrubs. 

And through the magic of the internet (Or, because we trimmed in June & I forgot to post) you can see the bushes have returned and the hill is filling up a little bit:

 The bushes are coming back but it's still kinda barren in front. This will be a big project! To keep things pretty, here's what I've got goin so far that the deer haven't eaten:

1. Lantana

2. Begonia (up high, otherwise I think they'd mow it down!)

3. Mexican Sage.

Everything else they eat, or try to eat.  I know, I know, clean that roof! Right? Well, I tried. I got up there, cleaned most of it, then got to the front and realized I was really... really...high up there. Scary! So until we get a mega ladder that will reach up there, let's hope the wind handles it.

What's your take? Is this too out in the open? Do you like homes that are cozy & private or standing proud in sight? 

Let's make it a great week!

-Jesse

Related Posts:

• I can see my house from here: Trimming the bushes Part 1
• Curb Appeal: Painting things White
• Building a Pergola

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Installing a New Faucet

Last weekend our lives were forever changed.  We installed our new kitchen faucet! Life changing might be a little dramatic, but seriously - this pup has had such an impact on the dish doing life. I'm in love. And you know what? It was SO easy! The hardest part was figuring out how to remove the old one. That took FOREVER. It was like a puzzle... a rusty, mysterious puzzle... Here's the newbie:

wee-woo! I don't know how to spell that nasty wolf whistle, but you get the idea.  What a beast, huh? It's the Price Pfister Mystique - oh la la... Here's the link for more info.   Picking a faucet was a piece of cake. I was pretty lost as to how to know what would fit, being my first time and all. I went under our sink and counted 4 holes, and I was able to sort the Pfister site to only show faucets for 4-hole sinks, and it was good.

Read along as I tell you the tale, that is our new faucet....

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Patio Progress: Using Our Feet

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Since it's Monday, I figure I can distract you from work with an update on the front of the casa.  We've been really getting into the fix-up-the-outdoors spirit lately, and one of our biggest pet peeves about the front of the house was this outhouse style covered patio (original whiny post here):

I imagine the last owner wanted more privacy or something, but we are not like that last owner at ALL - so this thing had to go.  It started innocently, we went outside to do some basic yardwork, and as it always tends to go, we got majorly distracted.  Before you know it, we were kicking (yes, KICKING) the semi-rotten patio walls down.  It. Felt. AMAZING.

***UPDATE: See the finished patio here***

Our original plan (seen here if you are just joining us) was to maybe cut the wall in half, make a decent banister and a semi-enclosed patio.  Nope.  We just through it all out the window and decided to make a pergola-like structure, which completely by accident, now looks as if we have a front door!  Please folks, if anything, let this post inspire you to tackle these seemingly intimidating projects around your home.  This was WAY easier than we thought, and I wonder why we didn't do it first!

OK, let me show you the progress pictures of this rewarding endeavor - lighting was hit or miss that day, so please forgive my photos!

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Mirror Makeover

Good day! Today I'm going to share a quick mirror make-over, this was a fast & fun little number.   I've done mirror projects before, (remember the teal mirror from way back when? or the Jade standing mirror/chalkboard?) but this one was hands down the easiest. Everything just went well, don't you love when that happens?

So fresh & so clean....  this project took, oh, a few hours? Majority of time was waiting for paint to dry.  Green is one of the major players in our living room, and I've always wanted to incorporate this one - it's "Meadow Green" by Rustoleum.  Yep - spray paint, you know I love it!

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How To: Built In Shelving

***UDATE: Guest room? Check.. See the full tour here*** 

In our guest room, the backside of our wall heater juts in about 4" inches to create this "interesting", off-center box that leaves most people wondering why it's there.  My goal? Disguise the heck out of it.  I showed you a few days ago the driftwood mobile that has helped so much, and today I want to share the details of that loverly shelf back there.  Here's my dilemma & solution:

Hooray! I'm done.  When I first saw this odd area I immediately thought shelves, but I didn't want to have to deal with installing a ton of shelves & L brackets one by one, so I thought up a built in look.

This was fairly easy to make, and will be pretty straight forward in the directions. Don't be fooled though, give yourself a free day to work on this, so you have time for all those little bumps & snags that love to pop up mid-project.  You'll be glad you did!

Read on for the basics of building a custom shelf.

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Radio Silence...

Oops! Sorry about the radio silence there, as luck would have it - Ralph and I managed to get 5 days off together, which means we went in overdrive on the home projects.  So much has changed, and we've done so much work, that today we are off to Monterey to relax.  We've been working 12 hour days on this house, and I can't wait to show you the results.  We fixed a major drainage issue in the yard, but that was so boring that I didn't bother with photos. Let's get to the good stuff!  Remember our porch dilemma? Here's a snapshot:

Yea... interesting little cave there. Behind that is a door, a brown oak door at that - I am pretty sure that this outhouse looking contraption is what helped us get the house over other people.  I'm sure people saw it, noticed the lack of curb appeal, and just left. I mean, where is the front door? We were going to chop it in half, make a cute patio, then on Sunday... we just.... kicked it down in a split second decision. Here's a sneak peak (warning - blurry phone pics!):

We painted the door red in a spur of the moment decision too, "Fire Cracker" by Behr.  All the names in the red category were really... interesting. My favorite was "Flirt a little" - who knew paint could flirt?  You can also see the wood 2x2's on top there that we set there to see how it looked...

There - we have a front of the house! I have a million more pictures, as we didn't stop there. We've been turning the frame into a little pergola... and repainted the whole thing (frame, not the house! I wish...).   We decided to just ditch the half banister and keep the whole thing open, and I like it. Of course a bench, some pots & planters will make an appearance later... baby steps.... (name that movie!)

More to come soon... just didn't want to leave you all in the dark! Have a great day - are you getting the itch to start working outside too? Spring is here!

     -Jesse

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Custom Dining Set Update

Hey, It's Monday! Did you end up making that corned beef? We did, and oh-man - it was delicious.  It was totally worth the amount of salt it came with, haha...seriously a years worth in that puppy.  The new cabbage experiment? Totally gonna remember that, it was great.  But anyway...

A long time ago, a little over a year - I started in on a mega dining project that a customer requested.  It was a really fun project and I was excited and flattered that she asked me to do it for her.  We were in communication the whole time, from picking the fabric to scouring craigslist, and it came out great.

Well, I've sold a lot of furniture over the years and it's always SO great to see the furniture in it's new home. Leila was nice enough to send me a picture of the dining set I did for her, staged nicely in her beautiful home:

Aaaw! So great to see the set in it's home.  Special thanks to Leila for sending these pictures my way, and good luck to her too - she's following her dream and starting a new adventure in a new state, have fun Leila!

Alright before I head out, let me leave you with a gallery of links that'll catch you up to speed if you're new around here.  Thanks for stoppin' by!
     -Jesse

Next up: DIY Picnic Blanket? Yes please...

Dining Set: Part 1

Dining Set: Part 2

Dining Set: Part 3

Dining Set: Part 4

Last minute Table Swap!

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How To: Jute Wrapped Chandelier

***UDATE: Guest room? Check.. See the full tour here*** 

Hello again my friends! I've just wrapped this project up (ha! wrapped...get it?!) and it came out even better than expected.  It was surprisingly easy, and costs SO much less than the popular Jute wrapped chandies that are springing up in stores these days.  Doesn't take many supplies either, and a chandelier is pretty easy to come by.  Thrift stores are usually overflowing with old brass lights no one wants, but are perfect for this project since you'll be covering the whole thing up.  Let me walk you through how I made this little baby:

This is one of the many projects associated with the New Guest Room adventure, remember I want to keep it lightly nautical? Well I thought the addition of a Jute element to the room would help me stick to that, without going over the top.  I think it came out pretty swell....  Read on!

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New Paint, New Room!

***UDATE: Guest room? Check.. See the full tour here*** 

I need to catch you up! A lot has changed in our house over the last week or so. I mentioned in the Cardboard Chandelier post that we got the wild idea to swap our downstairs guest "suite" with our upstairs "tiny-bedroom/walk-in closet/catch all" room, and I'm so glad we did. 

See what I mean?!  The room before was our closet, storage, project, basically a catch all for things that we had no home for.  We used it as a walk in closet, and while it was really fun having a huge room to get ready in, (we'd heat it up, so nice!) it wasn't the cutest place in the house.  No I think I've seen cuter pantries than this.  You've got to see all the before pictures...

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IKEA Hack: Cheap & Easy Kitchen Cart

Those words are like music to my ears, a kitchen cart that was not only cheap but extremely easy. I've been looking for a while now for a solution to this problem.  Craigslist, thrift shops, you name it - for a kitchen cart that would not only fit, but not be terribly ugly.  Here was our temporary situation:

That's our old kitchen table, we used to have stools around it at the last house.  Of course I appreciated the extra counterspace, but having it 6 inches taller than the counter and hogged up by a microwave? Not so much.  I knew, somewhere out there in the universe, there was a kitchen cart - just for us - that would not only be the right height, but would hold that microwave on a shelf below.  I scoured the internet, and even started to dream up plans of building one from the ground up (Yea, let's add THAT to the never-ending to do list!). Then one morning it dawned on me - duh! Ikea coffee tables!

I was on my way there anyway. So,I went and grabbed two Lack coffee tables from Ikea,  we all know the ones. They are the basic of basic, and completely affordable.  You'll need 2 if you are going to this project.  That's Rubin making another appearance there, always loves to lend a helping hand paw. 

Ready to see the new cart?

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How To: DIY Triangle Pattern Kitchen Tabletop

During the Great Hutch Makeover post I mentioned that we polished up the final details on our kitchen table, and now it's ready for reveal! I'm not only revealing it though, I took pics along the way so I could whip up this tutorial. Meet the new love of my life:

Yar, (enter pirate accent) a satisfying before & after she be... (end creepy pirate voice)
I love it when things work out as planned! Remember when I talked about the Kitchen Table Makeover ideas? Well, I stuck to it.  This idea has been floating around in my brain for a month or so now, but it was intimidating! Fear not, after this test run - I feel confident I could repeat this anytime.  Set aside a weekend or so though,

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Hutch Makeover Part 2, Done!

Remember Part 1 of the Great Hutch Makeover? Well we're done. That's misleading, the hutch is done except for the handles.  Sadly, they were deemed undeliverable (accidentally didn't change my address in etsy!) and have started roaming from post office to post office, waiting for me to track them down. (wish me luck...) Otherwise, we are DONE!

Those of you with an eye for detail will see the strange putty marks on the front of the picture on the left. The story is, the doors weren't closing because the frame had popped, and the rubber mallet & I decided to tap slam them back together.  In other words, I made a mess & had to do some repairs, but we're all good now!
Let's go back and see what the hutch was in the first place:

What a difference! And surprise,

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Thrifty Accessories

We've been doing so much work in the kitchen to make our vision a reality, between the Hutch Makeover and the Kitchen Painting, I'm wiped out!  I get so excited once I start to see it all come together though, and accessorizing the room is one of my favorite parts.  I usually "shop" all around my house first, to see what would go nicely in that room that another room can give up (found a few things for the kitchen!)  After that, I love going to thrift shops and creatively scouring through the shelves for items with interesting colors, texture, shapes & uses. It's tricky, because you have to really think outside of the box.  In this case, I knew I wanted some interesting wall art & hopefully a large white or metallic tray for the table.  I found my items, but they weren't my colors... never underestimate the power of some spray paint!

This is a solid metal wall hanging, that was actually originally gold, I had it painted black for a bit in my living room. Remember I said I shopped at home first? Ding ding! Score. Well I had the spray paint,

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Hutch Makeover: Part 1

**UPDATE: The Hutch is done, click here after to see the finished job***

I told you all about how we've been repainting the kitchen, while I love how it came out - it definitely pointed out that the furniture was ready to get a makeover soon too, soon as in should have done this yesterday... I mentioned we had started in on the Hutch, and here's the update. We're almost done!

 I love side by sides. This was midway, and I believe I already showed that.  Anyway, the big dilemma was whether or not to do one of my favorite colors, Beach Towel by Behr (Remember this Beach Towel Bookshelf? Oh yea.. ) or to go with white.  See the teal against the new aqua wall here:

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Before & After: Beautiful Bamboo Fence #2

A while back I posted about my sister, Denise, and her boyfriend, Joey's fence they finished up.  You can see it here.  Well they didn't stop there, the two have been extremely busy pulling off yet another amazing backyard makeover, and their fence is the icing on the cake.  So nice actually, the company they purchased the bamboo from has entered their fence into their Project of the month contest. And for good reason! Check it out:

Pretty amazing right?! They did a great job.  That redwood frame looks gorgeous with the golden bamboo.  Perfect match, so warm! If you like this as much as I do, hop onto Cali Bamboo's contest gallery on Facebook and "like" their fence pictures to help them win. They deserve it!  I've watched them tackle this side yard from start to finish, and it has been a labor of love. They took an unused hillside covered in raspberries and turned it into an amazing summer patio.  A word of caution to those who love raspberries, do not plant them unless you get the thornless variety! Removing insanely overgrown raspberry vines is an absolute nightmare.  But that didn't stop them, they still did it, and it was worth it:

Luckily they took a lot of pictures of the process, and

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How To: Bird Cage Chandelier

Bird cages are readily available. Garage sales, thrift shops, previous pets... have you thought of making them into a light? Some stores sell birdcage chandeliers already, but that will run you upwards of $200 - $800 (no joke!).... lighting can be intimidating but it really isn't that hard! Today I want to show you how I took my old bird cage (sorry lil finches..) and made it into a sunny chandelier.  Take a look:

I chose paper cranes for mine, but another really cute version would be the "mushroom birds" you see at craft stores:

In that photo, you can tell it wasn't originally a bird cage, but a lampshade that has wires vs. paper. I promise to make one of those next time, and I'll do a tutorial for you then. But for now! Let's begin:

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Chevron Side Tables

Introudcing, my latest furniture project, the Twin Chevron Side Tables:

Wow, I'm finally done! This was my first time doing the chevron pattern, and it was definitely a new experience.  Lots of taping! I know I've been talking about them forever, but you know how time is, it just flies. Can you believe it's almost Halloween? Wow. So what do you think of these tables? Those handles pull out drawers that I lined with a great coral print fabric, leftover from this project. I of course forgot to take a picture!  Hmm, these pictures may not do the top justice, but it's actually cream stripes on a walnut surface:

There we go, that shows up a little more. I love that dark walnut stain! It's always been one of my favorites.  For the base I used Cozumel, another favorite of mine, and decided to try it with the DIY Chalk paint recipe, and in my gravity feed sprayer.  I had a little trouble though, I didn't dissolve the plaster of paris enough apparently and got a few chunks here and there.  They sanded off very easily, but then I had to recoat so I didn't have little white dots! If you try this, dissolve that plaster as best you can!  Before I rattle on, check out the before: shot

I used Citristrip on this one to remove as much of the finish as I could. Though I just found out about a Minwax Product called Furniture Refinisher, which apparently can remove a good amount of this junk. Next time! Have any of you used that before? Citristrip is great and all, but it was a little challenging this time, not sure why! That's the ins & outs of furniture refinishing, a product will work great on one piece, and not great another. Who knows!

I originally intended to try and go really clean with this piece, mainly to keep a little variety in my life, but as that one cricket in that one movie that shall remain  nameless (copyrights, hello!) always said, "Always let the furniture be your guide" - yes, that's what he said, I'm sure of it. I had to follow these tables lead, and distress them.  The paint was being finicky in certain areas, and the decision was made - they would look much nicer as a distressed piece.  I think it matches their age really well though! These are solid wood tables, and heavy duty! I think they'd look great framing a couch for a pop of color in a fun loving home. These will be for sale soon, e-mail me if you're interested & want me to hold them for you.  Have a fantastic day, keep in touch: Facebook - Twitter - Pinterest.

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Before & After: Making Ikea Unique

I love Ikea. Everyone loves IKEA. I bet you even people who say they don't love Ikea now and then catch themselves liking something they didn't realize was from there.  Affordable and attractive? What a combo.  The only drawback with there being in Ikea in every town on the planet with a population over 50, is suddenly you start seeing your furniture everywhere.  I don't mind that too much, but I definitely get inspired when I see all the creative things people are doing with Ikea's mass produced wonderfulness.

I subscribe to Ikea Hackers, which is a fantastic blog, so every day an email with 4 or 5 "hacks" comes through, and it's awesome.  Normally it's taking the parts of furniture and making all new pieces with all new purposes, which is great.  But there's something to be said about a simple makeover, so when I saw this one come through, I had to appreciate it's simplicity.

I love them even like that! But that's not all, they took it to the next level with some nice paper:

A basic stool, and some fun colors & papers makes all the difference.  Just think how many different ikea pieces we all have could use a little creativity to make it all your own.  This just reminds me how I've been needing to make the trek and battle the crowds, for some fun (not to mention flat packed!) projects.  Head over to their blog to see more of these stools, it's not in English, but I don't think you really need it to be.  The pictures speak for themselves.  Enjoy!

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