WOW! Kitchen Makeover

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Roeshel

This kitchen looks decent enough to begin with…

Don’t you think? Not too bad, at least in the pictures. She describes it though and it doesn’t quite sound as nice: “Here is the before. When we moved in the walls were painted two shades of greenish blue and tan above the cabinets on one wall. The cabinet boxes were painted the same color as the walls and the doors were painted cream. The floor had a tan generic sheet vinyl floor.”

Well, This Family is Sweet with a Few Nuts (Janet and her husband) changed that ulgy description into something awesome. Here is her post:

Kitchen Reveal!!!

After

This has been a lot of work.

Here’s what we did and a breakdown of costs.

1. Paint Cabinets & Walls Benjamin Moore – $100 paint and brushes
2. Ikea Black Countertops & Farmhouse Sink – $400
3. Price Pfister Faucet Home Depot – $140
4. Armstrong Vinyl Tile Lowes – $260
5. Tongue and Groove Beadboard Backsplash Home Depot- $60
6. 2 Ikea Chandeliers – $80

For a grand total of $1,020!!!!

We did buy a paint sprayer and compressor to spray that cabinets for $120 but since their are so many uses we’ll have for them I didn’t include it in the total.

Their are still a few small things to do. I will not love it until it has crown molding, a new toaster and coffee maker. But for now its a huge improvement.

WOW! Did you see the farmhouse sink? LOVE it! I know you didn’t miss that gorgeous floor or the beautiful counter tops or those freshly painted cabinets. Boring to so much character! And $1020 budget? Unbelievable! If you have any questions, here is more information on what they did. Great job Janet! Thank you so much for sharing!

I'm tired of winter and dreaming of an island…

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Roeshel

A tropical one – yes, we’re planning a trip BUT being addicted to decorating and renovating means I’m really dreaming of a kitchen island. My kitchen is definitely something I will never show off…well not until I have a beautiful “after” to share anyway. After seeing Lisa’s kitchen yesterday (and looking through the posts labeled “kitchens”), I’m getting so antsy to begin ours.

Check out Kristin’s kitchen island renovation. Isn’t it pretty? Here is her post:

The Reinvention of our kitchen island

Most days of the week I seem to have an extra person eating dinner with us, it makes me happy. I love feeding people; I know that sounds strange but I really do. I enjoy cooking adult meals however; I don’t love cooking kids meals. My island’s so called bookshelves at the end were frankly really annoying. Anything I put their meant I had to dust, I don’t enjoy dusting! So hubby took out the shelves and added our freestanding furniture legs we had previously purchased 50% off a few months prior. Taking out the shelves exposed the bare cement on the floor, “oops!”

Thank goodness we had lots of leftover stone when we replaced our tile a few years back. We took a hammer, broke it up and added it as a mosaic, I think it gives it a very unique feel. My oldest son had lots of fun helping. Now that I know my hubby can tile maybe I’ll have him tackle my master shower next.

When we added the double oven I lost my microwave space. For months we had our microwave sitting on the counter taking up precious space. I’ve seen the microwaves inserted into the islands and figured that would be the most sensible. My hubby cut out a hole and luckily we already had an existing electrical plate so we were able to tap into the electrical and hook the microwave up.

We placed wainscoting over the existing cabinet on both ends (front/back) and framed the wainscoting with large shadow boxes, again using the smooth pinewood. We added a very simple small trim inside the boxes.

On the microwave side we added 2 small shadowboxes with small wood trim to give it more of a custom feel. We wrapped ¾ of the island with a tall baseboard and gave the cabinet side some feet to spruce up the look of the island. Voila! I’m extremely happy with the end result. It looks like a piece of furniture and we now have room for 2 extra guests at anytime!

Head over to Kristen’s blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, to check out her latest DIY project – adding height to her kitchen cabinets! It’s an awesome change! She also has the painted kitchen cabinets that I admire soooo much!

Isn’t this a dream kitchen?

Kristin – I love it and you did an amazing job! You definitely turned an okay kitchen island into something beautiful and gave me one more reason to hate my kitchen and get motivated to move it up on the DIY to-do list!

Kitchen Facelift

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Roeshel

Lisa’s kitchen makeover isn’t DIY, but I love the transformation and she thought it still might be helpful and inspiring for those wanting to paint kitchen cabinets. I agree! This is on my DIY to-do list so I’m honored to have it in the DIY archives. I love her blog name too…Popcorn Served Daily! How perfect is that for her kitchen facelift slide show? Pop over and say “hi”. She has even more before/after posts to share! Here is her kitchen makeover post:

Before:

Big island,

and lots and lots of cabinets and drawers.

61 total.

Blonde, maple cabinets.

Plain,

blonde, maple cabinets.

We just felt our kitchen was lacking some character.

So,

a few days before Christmas,

we decided to add a little pizazz to the kitchen.

That’s right,

a few days,

like four.

We’re crazy like that.

We had previously met with Bob,

the cabinet refinisher,

and had gone over painting choices and the details.

He was just waiting on us to give him the go ahead.

We called,

and his crew come over lickity split and removed all doors and drawer fronts.

Welcome to my mess.

Don’t stare at the contents for too long or it will make you schizo.

You can’t help but stare,

I know.

This is all of our junk?

Really?

Well,

who stuffed everything in there like that?

Not me.

7 days later…

My husband and I

removed every single item from every single cabinet and drawer.

Then the prep crew,

Arnie and Misty,

spent no time whatsoever,

removing the hardware and

covering every inch of wall,

countertop,

refrigerator,

floor and fish tank,

with paper and plastic to

keep the area,

which wasn’t getting painted,

protected.

They were meticulous,

and nice.

Very nice.

That’s important.

This is their work.

That was no easy task.

I know,

because I watched them and snapped a few pictures.

They also created a wall of plastic to keep dust and fumes to a minimum.

A thing of beauty.

After the plastic wall went up,

they sanded all of the exposed wood.

The next day,

Bob came in and worked his magic with the paint sprayer,

then applied a glaze by hand.

It was a 2 day painting process.

They added our new hardware,

and this was the finished product.

Before and After….

The island was refinished in expresso.

Caution: Blurry picture ahead. Do not adjust your monitor.

The center panel
to these doors was cut out for glass.

We are waiting for the special order glass to arrive.

The Canadian arranged the items so they were pleasing to the eye.

She’s got an eye for that, don’t you think,eh?

I just had everything shoved in there.

Go ahead and go back, see for yourself.

I have no shame.

Needless to say,

my husband and I

are very happy with the outcome.

With everything (neatly) back in it’s place,

the first 5 days of 2010 are looking good.

It’s gorgeous Lisa! Thank you so much for sharing!

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Category Archives: Kitchens