Progress- The Kitchen!
We have been hard at work painting those kitchen cabinets. Not finished yet, but getting close. I just thought that we would update you on some of the process and the progress.
Here are some before shots of the dark, mismatched, and very worn cabinets:
I started by using a palm sander to sand the stain off of all showing cabinet surfaces. They then looked like this:
Next, I removed all of the old hardware and filled the existing holes with wood putty. I did not need to fill the holes from the hinges, however, because we were lucky enough to purchase new hinges that fit in the old holes. But the handles are completely different sizes and shapes, so these holes and to be filled. I also swiped some of the putty across any cracks and dents I found. By the way, the new wood putty they have out there is more of a foam than putty. It is super easy to use. I sanded the putty spots down once they were dry. For the larger holes I puttied and sanded a second time so that they came out very flat with the wood. Here’s a shot of that step before sanding (after sanding they look much smoother):
I then started the painting process (the lengthy part!). I decided to start with only the bottom cabinets. There would not be enough floor space to paint all of the doors at the same time. I taped off walls, trim and floors with painter’s tape. I also taped down papers on the floor. (Actually, this is kind of weird, but I taped down puppy pee pads. We had a bunch left from when the puppy was still having accidents. She never liked to use them, but instead of throwing them out they made great drop clothes!) I then applied to coats of Kilz primer.
You can see that the first coat goes on kind of streak-y, but the second coat covers much more evenly. We now have the bottom cabinets painted with two coats of white semi-gloss paint, and we are hanging the hardware and doors tonight. More updates to come… but isn’t it starting to look gooood?! 🙂
Thrifted and Rearranged
We have been busy busy. It all started with a quick stop at the D.A.V. (Disabled American Veteran’s) thrift store. I happened upon a cute little vintage typewriter table for $3.95! I love the metal industrial look, so I couldn’t resist. It was just a bit dirty and scratched, so we painted her white. With one more coat and a small black swirl on top (this weekend) this beauty will sit next to the door to the backyard in the dining room. It is on wheels and easily movable, so it will serve as an outdoor drink table as well. We have been searching for something to go outdoors while enjoying grilling or the bonfire, and nothing seems pretty but built for the outdoors. This way we can just bring the little table in when we aren’t out there. Here she is:
While I was there I also spotted an antique, claw foot, drop leaf table. Hmmm… We got to thinking. We have been wanting a bigger table for the dining room and decided to try moving the red table to the kitchen. After giving the rooms some rearranging we fell in love. Here’s the kitchen:
It feels so nice and cozy in there now. We even sat here yesterday morning and had coffee together. So, after giving the new arrangement a night we decided it was a keeper. I headed back to the D.A.V. and snatched up the dining table. We got a great deal, but it does need some work. I removed some scuffs, but there are scratches. We are probably going to cover it with a table cloth until we get some other projects finished and then start stripping and refinishing it. We are thinking of staining it either a lighter brown to match the maple bar or black like the desk that is still in progress. I am still hung up on my mis-matched chairs, and am in the process of adding a few different styled ones, so although it doesn’t match perfectly right now it will when we get done! Bonus: I found out that the table expands for adding leaves! Although it didn’t have the originals with it we can make some for it to have big family meals here! 🙂 Here’s the dining room:
Well, what do you think? Any suggestions or ideas? Its always a work in progress, but it’s getting there! Oh, and Romeo the camera hog says hi, too.
Sweet Little Details
I really believe that it’s the little details in a home that make your space special. Ok, that sounds cheesy. But, it is true. We have made some major repairs, spend lots of money, and in the end it’s the little projects worth a few bucks that make me so proud of our home. I have been excited for days about the new towel bar we hung in the bathroom. This is not only a convenience, but looks so much better than having the towel laying on the sink all the time- and, it only cost me about $3!
So, last night while finishing up the living room curtains we also hung up some coffee mugs in the kitchen. I bought a few new red mugs at Wal Mart for $2 apiece. I got a few cup hooks, and viola! Instant face-lift for the kitchen space. I love my bird of paradise mugs, but these look much more updated and will go great once we finishing the painting of the cabinets. Tony actually hung a separate board under the cabinet so that the screws for the hooks wouldn’t go all the way through. He also had to slightly open up the cup hooks, as the mug handles were a bit wider than standard ones. All in all I think they look great and will be awesome in the new kitchen too!
I know I said that I would be starting to work on the cabinet painting last week, but I got a bit lazy. I really am going to work on it this week, so check back for updates and tips on the cabinet painting!
I’ve Been Spotted!
I just had to mention that I noticed I was spotted by Apartment Therapy! The other day they noted on their sister site, The Kitchn, the post of our kitchen island. It was featured as one of their delicious links. We are so excited to have inspired some one! Thank you Apartment Therapy!
Mini Bar Update
We have had the old TV armoire we found on Craigslist home for a couple of weeks now. I haven’t posted about it because we are having a change of heart. We had wanted to strip the wood and stain it black. But, when we got the cabinet home we thought it was so gorgeous we couldn’t bear to do that! I thought that going black and adding some shiny handles and mirrors would add some Hollywood Regency to the cabinet, more suiting it to become a mini bar. I just don’t know if we can bring ourselves to touch the beautiful wood. We did add a stemware rack to the top and filled it with our lovely bar glasses and goods. It is really gorgeous in our dining room, and it has already served it’s purpose. We do still plan on adding another shelf in glass and also a pull out shelf for more mixing and pouring space.
What do you think? Should we restain the cabinet black or leave it as it is?
You can't see it here because there is no stemware in it, but there is a clear stemware rack on the right side.
We really do need your advice, opinions and ideas!!
New Old Shade
Its official. I am sick of our curtains. All of them. Every room. I knew they were bad from the day we moved in, but now I am at my breaking point. So, on my day off yesterday I did some work and started plunging into our curtain situation.
I thought I would start off small. There was no shade over the large window in our kitchen door. Our neighbors could see right in! I decided to take the old white roller shade from the dining room door (since it also has a curtain) and refinish it to go in the kitchen. I wanted to stick with the black and white theme. I used some swirly scrap-book stencils I had and a paint pen ($3 at Wal-Mart). I laid the stencils out where I liked them, traced, and colored in. Now, viola!
What a simple , inexpensive project with such great results! This weekend I plan to get some black material and sew a valance at the top, as well as simple black curtains to replace the strawberry ones in the kitchen window. Then on to the rest of the house…
P.S. Yes, there is a cute in the shade. The landlord has mis-cut part of the shade. I didn’t want to try out my new paint idea on a new shade and ruin it. We like it well enough that I will soon go through the time and effort to reproduce this on a new shade!
Wabi Sabi
Wikipedia defines wabi sabi as the Japanese world view centered on the acceptance of transience. Sometimes it is also described as beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. I think a good description of this is finding the prefect ion in imperfection. I love the concept of wabi sabi and try to incorporate it into my home all the time. I truly do believe that things can grow more beautiful over time. Maybe its the fact that a well worn item looks well loved. I love how these items have a past, a history. New furnishings from some big box store are often not very well made and are also mass-produced. Meaning that too many of these items in your home and things might look exactly like some one else’s home. This to me is boring. Age and imperfections add interest. So, although we do mix modern items in with our antiques and used finds, we do have some wabi sabi pieces in our home. I thought I would show you a few of our currently well-loved pieces.
This is our little dining table. It is very old and imperfect, but, it has so much character and personality. Even the chairs are worn-in, and mismatched!
A close-up of our perfectly imperfect table.
This is an old table with an antique frame used for the top. We use it as our living room coffee table. It has its dings and scratches, but I think that's what makes it so unique.
The mirror top of our coffee table.
Here are a few more imperfect yet gorgeous items currently in our house:
A vanity bench in our guest room.
One of two old plant stands used as bedside tables in our guest room.
A worn coke crate is hung up in our bedroom.
New Chair Love
This week I have been a little sick, making me a little absent, but I am pining for a new chair. I had to share it with you. Its the Marais AC chair from DWR. Industrial. Colorful. Perfection!
This photo was on Apartment Therapy. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-bright-yellow-076197
Here is it in red:
I think these are just gorgeous! I would love either color. Or silver metal…
Oh, the possibilities!
Making A Mini Bar
Currently we hold all of our drink glasses, servers, shakers and wine and liqueurs in one of our kitchen cupboards. But, I have always wanted to do something different with these items. I would like to have some sort of mini bar in the kitchen or dining room. This would be such easy access for entertaining. Also, it would free up more cupboard space in the kitchen, which for us is at a premium!
I have recently seen a few photos of DIY bars and am in planning process for making one of our own.
This redone shelf unit was posted on Apartment Therapy. I think this is great inspiration for our project. A simple shelf unit like this would be easy to find and probably affordable. I really love the wine racks and glass holders. I also like the idea of lining the backs of cabinets with colorful ,fun paper. Here is another picture of a mini bar with beautiful paper:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/inspiration/inspiration-lined-cabinets-075583 . Originally from Homes and Gardens.
I also like the idea of using a bar cart or serving tray with a few bottles and glasses, but options like the cabinets in the pictures would give us much more space and probably be safer with pets, especially if there are doors.
I am very excited to get started on this project, and will keep you posted!
Finally Framed
Last night we finally found some square frames for the vintage fruit crate ads we have been wanting to hang in the kitchen. Square frames are hard to find! We got these at Micheal’s (what a great place!). We hung the ads on either side of the vintage Absinthe ad we already had hanging in the kitchen, just as we had planned. The colors look nice and bright, and they do fill that empty space above the landing strip. But, we still feel like maybe there is something missing here. Is it that the desk still looks dwarfed on that big wall? Are the ads just wrong there? Hmm… we will have to ponder that for a while. But, if any of you have any suggestions for us, we are all ears!
This is pretty much what the "finished" landing strip wall looks like.
A close up of the framed ads
I love how bright and fun the ads are! What do you think?
Make Mine Eclectic 