Before Christmas, Brian and I installed the backsplash behind the stove in the kitchen. We mulled over different designs for a while, but ultimately a beach-y blue/white/silver won out. You can find a link to the backsplash here. Below is about the best image I have of the backsplash prior to our installation - a bit boring (minus the silly kitties). Of all the things that needed to get done, the backsplash was not high on the list. I was just sick of looking at WHITE. Everything in the house is WHITE. WHITE walls. WHITE cabinets. WHITE ceiling. WHITE WHITE WHITE. I needed some color in my life! The installation took about two hours, and was more frustrating than originally anticipated (surprise, surprise). The tiles kept slipping down, the cement kept pushing up into the seams, nothing was straight, etc. To say the least, I needed a few glasses of wine to get me through the project. And what kind of project would this be if it was complete? Nope, even three months after installation, we still need to grout the joints ;) Coming soon, I hope...
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This week I finally got fed up with the chaos that is my kitchen. The kitchen is almost done (still have some little projects here and there), but I am finally cooking happy in my wonderful little space. Except when it comes to finding my cooking utensils and spices, that is. So, I took to Pinterest to find some DIY projects to help organize my drawers. Here's what I created: I simply went to Lowe's, bought $20 worth of small pine boards, cut them to size, and glued them together. Brian admitted to having doubts about how my DIY organizer would come together, asking why I didn't just buy a drawer organizer from the store, however, he loves them now and realizes how much more functional the custom organizer is! For the step-by-step instructions, click here! Finally, the most frustrating element of my cooking space was the lack of spice organization. Since we've started cooking again, knowing what spices we actually have not only makes cooking easier, it saves us money. We have so many duplicates because we keep buying stuff we already have! Ugh! So, what else would I do but make a DIY spice rack. The best part about this project was that it was free!! I made it out of some scrap wood I have laying around in my basement. Sweet! If you'd like to see the spice rack step-by-step instructions, head on over to Ana White's amazing website.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves! Mr. Boots especially loves the new (AND WORKING!!!) kitchen faucet. He can't help but be super adorable!
Yay! The countertops are in! Well, they've been in for about a month and a half, but we've had a lot going on since then so here's the update on the process. Our friend Garland came over to help us with the countertop installation. We had never worked with laminate before, but let me tell you - literally ANYONE could do this. It is SO easy. The hardest part was cutting the hole for the sink. To be fair, Garland did most of the "hard" work - we were too afraid to screw it up any cuts. He made us deal with the glue. :) I did splurge a bit on countertop edging. I thought it would give the countertop that finished look it needed instead of the typical flat edge on most laminate countertops. I went with a bullnose edging ordered from Cabinetmaker Warehouse. It was super easy to install (I just used some Gorilla Glue, tape, and made a few miter cuts for the corners). This made an immediate difference in the look of the kitchen. The cost breakdown:
The floors are going to be installed in a few weeks, and to prep for them, we have to make sure the trim work is ready to go. This has forced me into project mode, which I actually really like :). So, the current project is finishing the kitchen peninsula. Here's a quick reminder of what we started with: Then this: That is probably the cleanest the kitchen has ever looked! Dreams! Well, you should notice there is no base moulding and the bookshelves kind of stick out like a sore thumb. I decided the only way I could really blend them in was to add some DIY shiplap. I'll let you all google the how-to and just show you my pictures of the process. And now with moulding, trim, and paint! Now all I need is a countertop and I'll be all set!
I'll keep this post short and sweet and let the pictures do the talking! Now, with the fridge and microwave installed... And now for a view of the entire room!
Well, this has taken a while. The cabinets have been sitting in my first floor bedroom for about a month and a half now. Whoops! Although we probably could have done this a little faster, I'm glad we have taken our time to do this right. We started by sanding the base cabinets really well. I think we may have over-sanded, however better safe than sorry. We basically took the finish off and went down to the natural wood. Almost. After sanding, I vacuumed the cabinets really well and then ran a tac cloth over them. This just ensures that all of the little dust particles that can ruin your project are picked up and out of the way! Next, I primed the cabinets twice with Zinsser Oil Primer. Oil primer is a must when painting cabinets! DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! We weren't particularly careful with the sides of the cabinets, as each of these will not show. Again, I sanded and ran a tack cloth over all of the bases before applying Benjamin Moore's Advance in Chantilly Lace. I choose this particular type of paint after doing tons of research online. The paint is latex, but acts like an oil, giving it self-leveling properties that help eliminate brush strokes and roller marks. The bright white color and beautiful! I can't wait to see them up! We recently did a dry fit of the cabinets in the kitchen. Here's a sneak peak (including what the cabinets look like primed vs. with the final coat on them. EEK!
Happy Veteran's Day to all of our military service members! Thank you for your sacrifice and all of the work you do to keep our country safe! Here's a nod to my brother Brian, a Navy veteran, on his graduation from boot camp back in 2006: Well, as a school teacher, I also received Veteran's Day off, so I put my time to good use building things for my kitchen. First on the list was the small box for above the too-short-pantry. Next, I decided to build some bookshelves for underneath the countertop, to be placed at either end of my 11.5-foot long peninsula. This will create an enclosed overhang area for a breakfast bar which will be able to hold anywhere from 3-4 stools. The bookshelves are 12.25" deep and 24" wide. When building, I first measured for one shelf in the middle of the bookshelf... ...but after seeing how large the opening was, it looked more like an Ikea piece of furniture than a custom under-counter built in. I took the middle piece out, re-positioned it, and added an extra shelf near the top. I'm still not completely satisfied, but I think it will look fine when complete.
On top of building a workbench, router table, and three cabinet doors this weekend, I also built a 3" filler cabinet for cookie sheets and cutting boards. One of my Craig's List base cabinets is, you guessed it, three inches too small, but a typical filler piece just seemed like wasted space. We'll see how well it works, but in the meantime, I'm pretty happy about how it has turned out!
This weekend was full of kitchen projects, including building matching cabinet doors for my kitchen pantry. As you already know, my kitchen cabinets were purchased off of my favorite internet site - Craig's List. Unfortunately, when you buy things off of Craig's List, sometimes you have to take what you can get. I was able to furnish my entire kitchen with the shaker style cabinets that I needed except for the pantry. I figured since the box was the same color wood as the other cabinets, I could always find a shaker cabinet face at a later date. In reality, I've been searching for these shaker faces for a while and haven't been able to find any that matched my specific cabinet front. Four months after purchasing my cabinets, I have decided to make my own cabinet fronts. As stated in a previous post, one of my coworkers lent me her husband's router for this specific project. After creating a router table for the project, Brian and I got to work playing around with the router and seeing what bits would work best for my cabinets. We used 1X3" pine boards and quarter-inch luan for the project. These are slightly smaller than the original cabinet faces, but they were close enough to the real thing that we rolled with it. We measured the boards and cut them to size, using the old pantry doors as our guide to make sure that everything was the same size. Next, we routed out the inside of the boards, creating a 1/4" groove for the luan to fit into. After creating the grove, we added a "decorative" rounded edge to the front of the inside edge of the cabinet. My cabinets are shaker style, but they are slightly rounded and not perfectly square. By adding the rounded edge, we made them look more like the original (which was the goal). The above picture is our "dry fit" of the cabinet face compared to the real thing. Looks pretty good to me! We attached the front together using my Kreg Jig and Gorilla Wood Glue. This was surprisingly a LOT of work, but the results are great. Below are all three finished doors! Fabulous!
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about meHi! I'm Lauren! I'm a twenty-something teacher and homeowner in North Carolina. I love math, decorating, and getting down and dirty learning new things about home renovation and repair. Categories
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