Nesting Nest Nested ~ DIY Kitchen and Dining Room

Emily from


is doing a beautiful job – all DIY work and details at making her home just her style. It’s beautiful and her DIY projects are amazing!

Here is her kitchen and dining area before:

And here is what she’s done! Wow!

  • Painted, glazed and added crown moulding to the upper cabinets.
  • Raised the cabinet above the microwave.
  • Tiled the backsplash.
  • Switched out florescent lighting with can lights.
  • Framed the window. 
  • New cabinet hardware.
  • Added beaded glass to three cabinet doors.
  • Made a plate rack!

She’s still deciding on the countertops and color for the bottom cabinets. I love that she’s considering something different than the glazed creamy on top.  
Her dining room is just as beautiful now with $80 dining room table and chairs getting a new look, textured wallpaper with chair rail and a beautiful new chandelier – DIY painted, of course.  I also loved her framed plate wall art.

I love what you’ve done so far, Emily and I look forward to seeing more!  Thank you so much for showing off!
See more of Emily’s creative DIY ideas and hard work at 


Here’s just a sneak peek of some of the FUN you’ll see…

Cool Dr. Suess Room

Awesome Boys’ Closet

DIY Tile Installation Tutorial

Great tips for Painting/Glazing Cabinets and more!

Guess why I'm so excited?!

UPDATED!

This is why we’re smiling big this week…

honed Jet Mist granite installed today…so pretty

Here are a few things we’ve purchased for the kitchen…

Venatino marble tiles which have 1 review (bad) but we’re moving forward. We’ll review our experience.  Sometimes DIY’ers don’t feel the need to review if it’s good, but if it’s bad – there’s definitely something to complain about.  Crossing fingers that for 1 bad review, there are 100 good silent ones. 🙂  We’ll keep you posted.  We’ll start off with a minimum purchase to test if it will work or if the bad review was correct.

 12" x 12" Venatino Polished Marble Mosaics

I couldn’t pass up this cute wire basket for right inside the door for Dr. DIY’s cell phone/keys/etc. (from Wisteria).

images/w5177-large.jpg
Build me a kitchen around these!  Our beautiful new American Made faucets from Waterstoneco.com
(We received a discount for our review but the 
“HOLY COW! These things are awesome!” is our own opinion.)
Cabinets are painted, (Painting Kitchen Cabinets Tutorial) countertops are in but I’m so eager to see more progress!  
When we moved in…
Now… (is it me or does the kitchen look bigger with more cabinets now?)
New sink! My Chef LOVES this sink!

What do you think so far? Tempting to keep that floor, huh? JUST KIDDING!  Stay tuned.  Coming up:
  • Installing garbage disposal – DIY cutting water pipes and making it fit from dual-bowl sink to single and much deeper.  Wish us luck!
  • Connecting water supply – and celebrating a once-again functional kitchen!
  • Installing insta-hot water tank (I can’t live without my hot tea all day long. No more microwaving my mug!)
  • Backsplash!  A lesson in tiling! 
  • Distressing and glazing cabinets – still waiting for Lowe’s to stock the Valspar glaze so I can ‘test drive’ it before beginning. 
  • Removing pantry closet to allow room for future stand alone refrigerator and freezer and patching walls. (New appliances aren’t in the budget but since we’re doing the floors, this needs done now.)
  • New wall color! Mr. DIY loves his green kitchen walls.  I suggested something different.  Every inspiration picture I see is all white.  I mentioned this.  He says “you promised!”  Darn.  lol  But then he said “you can do whatever you want” and in a sweet tone (not the sarcastic one).  So…I’m looking for a white/green color to compromise. Current green color is Benjamin Moore’s Palisades Park and I actually don’t mind it as much without the honey oak and blue countertops but I’m ready for a change. 
  • Light fixtures – this has been hard for me! I bought one copper one but one existing is brushed nickel. The pot rack is oil rubbed bronze.  It’s driving me crazy.  I w
    ish we could have 2 barn/farmhouse style. Still looking!
  • Building an island – reclaimed barnwood and marble slaps that came with the house when we bought it (outside). 
  • Building shelving – a DIY with reclaimed wood. For the microwave/etc. on a blank wall.  Maybe even something similar (tweaked to fit our needs/measurements) to Ana White’s Tryde table with shelving. 
  • New floor – still deciding.  It will be dark and distressed but can’t make up our minds just yet.  Disappointing trip to Lumber Liquidators has us confused.
  • Butler’s pantry in the hall behind the kitchen cabinet wall – with the pantry cupboard being removed, more storage here and in the island. 
  • Window treatments – DIY but need to see how the kitchen progresses and wall color/etc. 
  • Decorating!  The fun part!

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

We’ve lived with our outdated kitchen for 3 years since we purchased our home and the time has come for some updating. First thing on our list was painting our cabinets. This is how we did it and we love the new updated look. We’re still deciding if we’ll distress or glaze to fit the style for this farmhouse but here is how we got this far.

Notes before you begin: This is a very time consuming DIY project.  It took us a two month time frame of working weekends, an occasional evening and free time.

Materials:
Primer
Paint – We used Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo Paint (it’s like an enamel coating – love it).
Paint brush – We use Purdy paintbrushes.
Sand paper – We used our Dremel Mult-Max

These were our cabinets when we moved in…orange-tone red oak with brass handles.

1. Remove hardware and doors. Our hinges are hidden so they were left in place and I painted around them.  Note:  cracks where cabinets meet each other or meet wall are hidden and unseen when cabinets are darker.  When going with white, take the time to fill and sand the cracks with a sandable/paintable/flexible caulk.

2. Label each door with tape (keep this with the door at all times).

3. Put hardware, hinges and screws into individual baggies and keep close to each area. We taped them inside cabinets and drawers.

4. We sanded the cabinet bases and each door. The Dremel Multi-Max is perfect for reaching grooves and hard to reach places.

5. Clean doors removing dirt and sawdust. We also stuffed newspaper into the big hinge holes to prevent paint from pooling/dripping inside.

6. Prepare your paint area. We had two areas prepped. One for spraying and one for brushing paint techniques. You’ll want to tape around the cabinet bases where they meet the walls, floor and ceiling.  Note for removing tape after – run an Xacto blade where the tape meets the cabinet before removing tape so you don’t pull paint off of the cabinets.  Also – I lay out newspaper to throw wet removed tape onto, it makes throwing it away a lot less sticky and messy.

7. We used a paint sprayer for applying the primer. It did an amazing job for coverage. Practice first to get the technique down as well as getting the air out of the line. We had to water down the primer. Surprisingly, we used much less than anticipated. Cleaning the sprayer is super easy – just run water through the line and nozzle until clear. For the spraying, we did two coats of primer on half of the doors. Let dry. Flip and repeat. Then moved those doors to another area and set them on paint cans to keep them raised and sprayed the other half twice and flipped and did two coats of primer on the other side. *Wear safety gear including a respirator and safety glasses.

If using a paint sprayer – practice before doing this project.  It’s very tricky to get the correct consistency (thinning the paint) and learning how to achieve an even coat.  We had to re-sand and start over. Unless you’re familiar with a paint sprayer, I’d suggest using a brush.  

8. For the actual paint, I tried both a foam roller and Purdy paint brush for the first coat. I preferred using the brush.  I liked the way it reached all areas thoroughly and since we wanted to see the wood grain, I was able to apply the paint with the direction of the grain.

Benjamin Moore’s Satin Impervo is thi
ck.  It dries to an enamel-like finish.  Spills wipe off with a dry towel easily!  It’s also self-leveling and a great choice (worth the extra $) for it’s durability.

Tip:  Using a screwdriver and hammer, poke small holes around the lip of the can.  It’ll act as a drain for paint that collects there and make life much easier when the lid goes back on easily and isn’t “glued” with paint when it dries.

9. We allowed at least a few days between each coat of paint.

10. Once dry, reattach doors and hardware. You’ll be happy that doors were marked and hardware is located at each cupboard/drawer after the length of time that has passed.So much fresher. We’re both pleasantly surprised with how much of a difference it makes in giving our kitchen a more classic look.

New color is actually not white but gray. It’s Benjamin Moore’s Moonshine. (I’m not sure why that day says is was mixed 9 years ago!) We purchase our paint at our local True Value store. 

I’m happy to answer any questions about our experience.  Just email me at thediyshowoff@gmail.com

SEE MORE BEFORE/AFTER AND IN PROGRESS PICTURES OF OUR KITCHEN AT
http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/p/farmhouse-tour.html.