Post 32: Kitchen introduction

Our kitchen is one of my favorite and least favorite rooms in the house (if that's possible).

On the one hand, we have great custom cabinets, we've recently updated all of our appliances and our sink, and it's the heart of most of our social events.

You can read about some of our upgrade projects by clicking below:

• Microwave
• Cooktop
• Kitchen Sink

On the other hand, the room is pretty dated (cue wallpaper, furdowns, honey oak waterstained cabinets, and poor lighting).

Pause. Okay, before I go on, I am not out to offend anyone.  We have gotten a lot of nice compliments on our kitchen and a few mixed reviews when we have shared that we are "renovating" the room.  The truth is, we agree that our kitchen has a lot of great features; it's just not exactly what we want.  So we are going for a different style. Play.

It's not very open to any other rooms and so it poses barriers to conversation and flow in the house.

When we first moved in, lighting in our kitchen was pretty much non-existent.  We had this awesome little guy to light the main part of the kitchen...

...and this dim fan to light the breakfast area.  (It may not look super dim, but I spent a lot of time messing with my camera and trying to get the picture while the sun was out to show the room without shadows!)

After a year and a half in this house (when we finally got the nerve to tackle this project), I decided I wanted the space to be as bright and open as we could make it.  Here are some pictures for inspiration.

Our to-do list for the kitchen is pretty lengthy, but we think it is going to make a huge impact.  Here's what we're planning on doing:

• Removing all furdowns
• Opening up the bar for more "open concept" flow
• Painting cabinets brighter
• Raising the cabinets on the wall
• Installing better lighting
• Removing wallpaper and texturing/painting
• Installing new counter tops
• Installing a new, brighter backsplash

Follow along with us as we work to make this space awesome!  Click here to see our first project -- venting out our downdraft stove!

Post 31: Half Bath Reveal

Our half bath was a fun transformation for us because we learned a lot and built our confidence for bigger projects around the rest of our house.  We started with a dark and dated bathroom without much charm...

...and ended up with a bright, farmhouse bathroom for guests.

I'm loving it!  What about you?

Want to see more details about this project?  Click below to see the project phases!

Phase 1: Demolition -- Removing the Furdown
Phase 2: Re-routing and Re-installing
Phase 3: Paneling and Molding

Phase 4: Finishing Up

We have a huge project coming up -- our kitchen!  Click here for more details!

Post 30: Half Bath Finishing Up

In case you needed a reminder, here's where we left off last time with our half bath "remodel".

This time, we are finishing up the room and getting ready for our big reveal!

Phase 4: Finishing Up

Patching Holes and Seams

To get us ready for paint, Alan used caulk to fill in the seams where the paneling came together and then we went back and patched all of the nail holes with caulk or wood putty.

Once this all dried, we took sandpaper and sanded over each area so that the paint would look smooth over the holes.

Painting

Since the molding was stained wood, I used sander/deglosser over all of it before I started painting.  I just poured some on an old rag and wiped the molding down -- simple as that!

Then, I got to work taping and prepping the room for a coat of paint.

To help everything "stick" to the molding, I painted a coat of Kilz 2 over the wood trim.  

Once this dried, I used semi-gloss paint and primer in Sherwin Williams Alabaster (in Behr) to paint the baseboards and the molding around the door.

Next, I taped the baseboard and around the door and cut in the walls with the same paint in satin.  I finished up by going back with a roller brush to get the large parts of the walls and ceiling.

The mirror I had (a Goodwill purchase) wasn't quite what I wanted for the space, so I used some of the semi-gloss paint to make it blend right in!

Here's a glimpse of our progress so far...  I'm so excited!!!  Okay... I know it's pretty simple right now, but wait until you see the finished room!

Shelves

Alan built some really great farmhouse-y shelves to add some storage to the bathroom.  This was an interesting project for me because he showed me how to use a planer.

Alan's work was getting rid of some lumber and instead of throwing it away, they let Alan take it home.  He decided that these would make perfect shelves for our half bath.

Using his table saw, Alan trimmed three boards to a ten-inch width.    

After this, he set up his planer.  A planer is a machine that removes the rough/excess surface from a board.  Alan explained that one pass did the work of an hour or more of sanding.  It looks like this:

Once the boards were planed, Alan sanded them a little bit to make them really smooth.  Then he applied stain and polyurethane.

We chose to mount the shelves with L-brackets.  I really liked this look from 7th House on the Left, but we priced the plumbing parts we would need and decided the L-brackets would be much more cost-effective.  

I spray painted the brackets bronze to match the rest of our hardware in the house.

Next, it was time to mount the shelves.  Originally, we thought we wanted three shelves, but when we started measuring where they would hang, we decided two would look less crowded and give us more vertical space to store things.

Alan used a stud finder to figure out where to hang the brackets and then we mounted the shelves.

So, to recap, in our half bath, we have 

• removed our furdown
• added (and updated) a mirror
• improved the lighting in the room
• installed paneling over our stubborn wallpaper
• brightened the room with paint
• and built shelving for more storage and a farmhouse look.

Click here to check out our big reveal!!

Post 38: Chandelier

Today, we are talking about brightening up our breakfast nook.  This really easy chandelier DIY was a fun addition to our space that added some style, light, and didn't dig into our budget.

When we moved in, our breakfast area was lit by this ceiling fan.  It's a pretty nice fan and I think it would look great in a sun room or a larger space, but I'm not crazy about it in this space.  It's not quite as bright as I would like and I would prefer to have a chandelier or another non-fan light fixture over our table.

You can tell that when the fan was installed, the owners had to move it farther away from the window than the previous fixture so that the blades wouldn't hit the furdown above the windows.  It's just really not the pretty statement piece I would like.

I've been watching a lot of Fixer Upper, and it's made me really want a painted chandelier to go over the kitchen table.  Below are some pictures of what I had in mind.

With a price tag starting at $650, though, I wasn't too happy (average price at Magnolia Market, Lowes, and Home Depot at the time I first started looking).  I was sure I could replicate something for a much better price.

I have seen similar light fixtures in brass or nickel finishes on Craigslist before, so I figured I could snag one and paint it for a fun DIY.  After looking online for a grand total of TWO MINUTES, I found this one listed for a whopping $20.  We can afford that.  What's even better is that the seller decided to give it to us for free!!  (I'm not sure if she was just feeling generous or our project clothes made us look like we couldn't afford to spare $20, but she blessed us and we are so grateful!)

It didn't take long to get this project going.  Alan used a small hook screwed into a stud to hang the chandelier in the garage for me to paint.  I secured the extra wires out of the way with some painters tape and I was ready to get started.

Remember our dining room table project when I experimented with chalk paint?  (That table has since been moved to our kitchen.)  When I was reading every blog I could find that talked about chalk paint, I was amazed at the range of surfaces people use the stuff on.  One that stuck out to me in particular was -- you guessed it -- chandeliers!  I like the texture it leaves and since 1.) it will perfectly coordinate with the table in the kitchen and 2.) I have a ton of the stuff left over from the table project, I decided it was the perfect paint for the project.

This project was pretty straight forward.  I just started painting at the top and worked my way down.

This was after the first coat of paint.  I was pretty sure that two coats would be perfect.  I let this one dry overnight before applying the next coat.

Here is the chandelier after the second coat went on.  I went ahead and painted the candle tubes with the chalk paint as well because the white plastic against the color of the chalk paint was a little gross (Old White is closer to a cream color with a little hint of yellow).

This turned out to be a pretty inexpensive project.  Here was the break down:

• Chandelier: free
• Chalk paint: left over (originally, $37.  I had half a can left and I barely made a dent in it for this project)
• Candelabra lights: $12 for 10 bulbs

Total: I "guesstimate" less than $20 total!  Not bad for a chandelier!  Now to get rid of that pesky fan...

We were able to sell the fan on Facebook for $70.  So, I'd say we really profited on this project!

I couldn't wait to get this up in place of that ceiling fan -- it fits the space so much better.  I'm already liking the room more!

On to more kitchen projects (we're gonna be here a little while longer!).  Check out our painted kitchen cabinet tutorial!