Day One Of My Kitchen Makeover

     Today begins my Kitchen makeover.  I'm expecting it to take me three days to complete.  It will not be the remodeled kitchen of my dreams just a better version of itself.  Day one started with paint.

     Here is a sneak peak at my color scheme.  I'm will be adding a few accent colors, but for the most part, these are the colors I will be working with.
Note: I prefer to paint with flat paint.  It helps hide imperfections much better than other finishes.

 

 

     So, here is my kitchen before I get started.  It's your basic galley kitchen.  One exception is that mine has a stairway to the right that angles over the right side of my sink area.  If you'll notice, I moved the refrigerator down and added some shelves.  They provided me additional storage and extended my counter space.  My finished product is going to include installing some additional shelving on the wall over top.

 

 



 

     Today, I started with the upper cabinets.  First, I removed the upper doors and took all the hardware off to refinish them. 

Note: Always remember to label each door to lend with reinstallation.

 

 

 

     Plenty of layers of paint to remove here!  I will take care of all the hardware tomorrow when I remove the rest with the lower cabinets doors.

     Then everything then got a fresh coat of white.

 

 

     This is where I stand for today.  Already looking better!

     So far so good, but I still have a long way to go.

I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow, lots do get done.  So, be sure to check in to see where I am. at.

DIY Wood Sign

 

I made this sign tonight in under 20 minutes!

Are you looking for a quick easy way to add some artwork to your walls?  Then you need to try this one. 

I had a busy day today but I still wanted to have some Mommy "project" time.  So, I went through my scrap lumber and threw this together. 

I started with a scrap piece of 1 x 6 pine.  I chose this piece because I loved the knots and holes.

 I stained it with a dark walnut and wiped off the excess.  I wasn't satisfied with this because it needed a little more depth.  That's when I started mixing colors.

I added a red mahogany and ebony to the walnut.  Same application just brush on and wipe off.

Perfect!  Now ready for letters.

To give it that true rustic look, you need to break out the sandpaper.

 

That's all there is to it.  And it was simple, easy, and simply cute!

DIY Wainscoting of a Hallway

  This hallway was always bare and it really bothered me. While I was digging through my garage one day, I came across some extra baseboards from my bedroom remodel.  That's when I started to think, "hmmm what can I do with these?".  So, I kept digging.  Then, I came across an old frame I had put together with 1x1 pine and stapled fabric on it for an art piece.  I now had these 6 pieces of wood and I knew exactly what to do with them!
  The hallway project was now in full effect!  The amazing moment came when I realized that they all fit perfectly without any cutting required.  When does that happen?

Here is my lonely hallway before.

 

Yes, it was definitely calling for some love.  Please pay no attention to my ugly carpets.  I have plans to install hardwoods throughout.  However, I am stuck in the vicious circle of wanting to tear down my walls for an open concept, but they are load bearing.  Which means, if I change the floors now, I will have to patch the flooring when the walls finally come down.  So, I wait..... 

 

Now, back to the walls ... and the frame is up.

 

 

Time to patch and sand.

 

 

Then, a heavy coat of trim paint.

 

 

And here is my finished hallway.  It took a day of work and some left over wood from my garage.

 

 

Happy DIY!  And be sure to share if you like what you see.

 

 

 

 

How we replaced the 80's fluorescent lighting in our kitchen

  The kitchen in my home is my worst enemy!  I am getting ready to remodel it once again in a week or two which will consist of painting cabinets, some open shelving and a new wall color.  But it will never be my dream kitchen until I am able to tear down the walls that block it from my family room.  These walls are load bearing and this is the only reason I haven't come at them with a sledge hammer!  Until that glorious day arrives I continue to just work with what I got. 
  As with most homes built in the 80's my kitchen had this beautiful domed fluorescent light with a miniature fan in the middle.  I found a picture for you that is almost identical but our fan was white.

In fact my cabinets were the same color when we bought the house.  Pretty right?  Obviously this had to go and this is what I came up with.

I removed everything and covered up the mess with beadboard. The wood accents are cedar that I stained a mix of colors till I liked the look.   We added the rivets all the way around and then added the track light with pendants.

 

 

And now the 80's have left and my kitchen is a little more tolerable until my dream kitchen arrives.

 

 

My Favorite Mason Jar

   This saucy little project is one of  my favorites.  I have these all over my house and use them to store my kitchen utensils, toothbrushes, pencils and sea shells.  The best part is that I buy this sauce every week so I have quite the collection.

I start off with my Classico sauce jar.  As soon as I use the sauce, I soak the jar in hot water to get the label off.  A run through the dishwasher, and you're ready to go.

Pick your favorite colors and start spray painting.  As you will see, I like to layer the colors.  So, don't be afraid to play with them.

This white has a layer of gold under it.

I took sand paper to this one and roughed it up a bit.

I brushed on an antiquing glaze and then rubbed the extra off. 

Just a few ideas. 

And it all began with a jar of sauce....

Repurpose everything!

Here is a quick repurpose idea for you.  I had remodeled a room and had this sunset & dock picture left over.  When I cleared out the room I accidently put a large scratch down the middle.  I never want to throw anything away so  I came up with another option.... Time to break out the chalkboard paint!  This was right before Christmas so my eight year old enjoyed using it to count down the days and this was always his first stop every morning!  It is now used as my shopping list and the whole family uses it.

All hail chalkboard spray paint!

The Kids Bathroom

  I have a ranch style home with a second floor over the kitchen side of the house.  This works wonderfully for me because the Master is on the other side of the house and my boys are all upstairs in the area I like to call Boyville.  Boyville is a scary place full of teenage boy smells and messes.  I try not to venture up there....for health reasons!  This was the day I went up to deliver towels and instead ended up taking a sledge hammer to the entire room.  This bathroom needed to go and I was the woman for the job.  Two days of breaking apart tile and a fiberglass shower insert that I ended up throwing out of a second floor window and THAT really needed to be video taped.  Here are my before pictures:

 

Its your typical three piece bathroom and these before pictures already make it look better!

 

Drumroll......................

 

 

At this point I still need to add the finishing touches to the shelves.

 

The floors are now wood tile,  the walls are a soft grey, and as you can tell we took out the tub and there is a shelf to the left side of the shower wall.  The Vanity is from Ikea and the mirror is a stock mirror from Home Depot that I added cedar trim to.  The light I ordered from a farm supply company for $25. and spray painted it yellow.  We added stainless steel shelves for storage and easy cleaning.  The towel rack is also cedar that I stained the same color as the mirror trim and then added hooks.  So far it has remained clean but I am not willing to put money on it staying that way! 

Free Wine Printables

  This is what happens when I have nothing to do.  I was going through things I have saved on my IPad.  I screen shot everything!  I had saved these printables about a month ago and forgot about them so when I found them I got excited cause I had the perfect spot!  By now you all should be tired of me talking about my coffee and wine bar but this is the icing on my wine cake.  Now off to the garage to find frames!!  Ok, came out alive and slightly bruised but I found some Ikea frames that are the perfect size but wrong color. 

That's ok because I always have spray paint!

I am not patient waiting for paint to dry......
These frames had nice borders inside but they were white.  Break out the spray paint!

I am getting there.  Time to print!  I will have a link to the site at the end of this post.

Instant art work and little injury.  Well except this..

 

Free Art Is The Best Art!

 

 

 

Now go and get yours

http://eclecticallyvintage.com/2014/09/corkscrew-free-wine-printables/