Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

One of the main things I wanted to change when we bought our house was the kitchen cabinets.  Our house was renovated before we bought it, but the kitchen did not get even half the attention of the rest of the house.  The previous owner did put all new cabinet doors on, but left the old frames.  So, if you look closely you will notice that the doors and drawers are not the same wood as the frame itself.  Also, all of the cabinets under our sink area were not updated and they didn't match any of the other cabinets.  It drove me crazy!

In the first year of living in our new home, I had a local company come and quote me to stain the cabinets.  Needless to say, it was way more money than what I had intended to spend at that time.

Then, just recently I had a company quote me to paint the cabinets.  Again, the amount of money was ridiculous!

At this point I knew that if I ever wanted these cabinets changed, I was going to have to do it myself!  And that I did (or am doing).

Here are a couple pictures of our kitchen the first week after moving in.  In the first picture you can see our new cabinet doors and if you look closely you will see that they don't match the frames.  In the second picture you will see how the cabinets under the sink share no resemblance with the others.

A couple weeks ago I stumbled across a product called Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations.  I immediately showed my husband, and we watched the tutorial video, looked at the before/after pictures, used the virtual tool and then agreed that we were going to try it.

With Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations there’s no stripping, no sanding and no priming required, so its super easy to do!  And the best part is the price!  A small kit will cover 100 sq ft and was around $79 and a large kit will cover 200 sq ft and cost about $140.

You can choose from 70 different colors and finishes so there is no doubt you can find the custom look you are going for.

There are four easy steps:  1.  Apply Deglosser to degloss the surface  2.  Apply Bond Coat (this is the paint color)  3.  Apply Decorative Glaze (optional...we did not do this)  4.  Apply Protective Top Coat

Although, this process is pretty simple...it is very time consuming.  Especially because I am doing the project on my own.  If you had more than one person I'm sure you could finish your kitchen over a weekend.  At this point, after 2 weekends, I have half of the project done!  I just hope I don't run out of steam before I'm finished!

Here are some photos of my progress so far!  Please excuse the messes inside the cabinets and also the photo quality is poor as these were taken with my phone.

Before



After applying Coat #1
(we ended up needing 3 coats instead of the recommended 2)



Coat #1 on the backside of the doors
(we did 3 coats on the front and only 2 coats on the backside)

Upper Frame Complete

Slowly but surely making progress

We decided to add new hardware to the cabinets for a more modern feel.  All in all, this project has cost us less than $300 and that includes 30 cabinet pulls, the transformation kit and all of our supplies.

Note:  We have noticed that some oils from the wood are seeping through a few of the cabinets causing yellow/brown streaks.  I contacted Rustoleum yesterday and was told that certain types of woods contain more oils than others.  He recommended deglossing those doors again, coat with an oil based primer and then finish with the bond coat and protective coat.  Rustoleum is going to reimburse me for the cost of the primer as this product is 100% gauranteed!

New Addition

We have a new addition to the family.....Her name is Lainey!  Today she is 7 weeks old.

By brother has a pit bull that my parents have been taking care of for about a year and a half.  During this time, my husband and I have fallen in love with my brothers dog and we knew that if we ever got a puppy, it would be a pit bull.  I know that they have a bad reputation, but I truly believe it is all in the way they are raised.  We have witnessed the gentle soul of my brothers dog and after only one day we are head over heels in love with ours.

Renovation Failure

When hubby and I bought our house we knew that we were probably going to have to do something about the carpet.  There was new WHITE carpet throughout the whole house.  It sure did look nice for about the first week, but then it became such a hassle.  I spent so much time scrubbing out marks on the carpet.  Not to mention that since my husband is in a wheelchair, we had many a battle between that chair and the white carpet.

Two years after moving in, it was decided that the white carpet had to go.  It was still in good condition, but I felt like it would be so much easier for my husband to get around the house if we had a smooth type surface.  I was also convinced that it would be easier to clean up all the dirt/mud/water that comes off the wheels of his wheelchair if we didn't have carpet. (you will see I was sooo wrong)

So, in January of this year we tore the carpet out and donated the carpet and padding to a fellow employee of mine who was in need.  And....we put down laminate wood floors.

The first couple weeks I was in awe....I would just sit and stare at the new floor with a cocky little grin on my face!  Our floors looked awesome! (see pic below)



I {heart} my floors!!

 But then the "newness" wore off and reality set in.  First of all, dark colored wood floors and white Jack Russell Terrier hair DO NOT MIX!!  I could swiffer the floors every 5 minutes and I would NEVER be able to stay on top of all the white dog hair.

Secondly, the amount of dirt/mud/water that comes off those wheels from hubby's chair is astounding!  If it rains outside....we have puddles of water to clean up.  If he goes out to the lake fishing....we have 1/2 a beach in our living room.  If he goes out to water the plants....we have dried mud particles everywhere!

It is a constant battle!!!

The absolute worst part of having wood floors is that no matter how many times you sweep or swiffer the floors, IT WILL ALWAYS BE DIRTY!  I could walk across our carpet and not realize it was dirty unless I stepped in something or noticed a stain.  But, walking across wood floors (especially in bare feet) is HORRIBLE!  Every little crumb, dog hair, cat hair, piece of dirt, etc. literally sticks to your feet.  Almost magnetized in the same way that a swiffer is.

Thirdly, this is not an ideal situation when you have white furniture.  I don't just "sit" on the couch.  I have to pull my feet up and get comfy.  But every time I do that, the debris from the floor (that are now on the bottom of my feet) gets wiped off onto the white cushions of the furniture.  So not only is the floor always dirty but SO IS THE COUCH!!



White couch.....Ugh!!



Don't get me wrong....wood floors are awesome (and a good selling point to new buyers), but I made a BIG mistake!  This was a total renovation failure!



I can't even begin to tell you how badly I want to rip out the floors and put down carpet again.  Definitely not "white" carpet, but something that would SAVE MY SANITY....because, I'm about to lose it. 

Can someone please convince my husband that this is a good idea?

Fall Inspiration

I was in the basement the other day and came across some of my fall decor items.  I love decorating with the seasons!

Here are some of my fall inspiration items.....

(note:  these pics were saved in a "favorites" file on my computer so I don't have the links to give proper credit to the owners)

Want some cheese with that whine?

I'm having an "off" day.  I kind of just feel like an emotional mess (and no, it's not that time of the month).

It's hard to put into words what I'm feeling.  It's a little bit of fear, a lot of sadness, and a splash of insecurity. 

Summer is coming to an end, which I am okay with, because Fall in Michigan is my 2nd favorite time of the year.  But, I am feeling like I didn't really "do" anything this summer.  Five years down the road am I going to have any memories of summer 2011? 

I feel like I am stuck in a rut.  Following the same routine every.single.day!!  I have not spent nearly enough time with my family this summer and I haven't seen my girlfriends in months.  I know we all get busy and life tends to "take over", but this is not how I want to live.  I want time spent with my nephews, shopping trips with my sister and wine shared between girlfriends.  I want days spent with my parents and siblings, laughing until our side aches.  I want these things so badly, but instead of actually making it happen, I sulk about it.

I'm really good at whining, crying and complaining about all the things that make me unhappy....but horrible at actually "doing something about it". 

Case in point:  I lost 30 lbs in 2009 and managed to maintain that loss through most of 2010.  But, as ashamed as I am to admit it...I have gained back 23 of those pounds I lost.  Instead of getting off my butt to do something about it, I decided to eat 2 packs of Nutter Butters and whine about it on my blog.

In general, life is so good right now.  The problem, is that I am so concentrated on the things that make me sad, scared and insecure that I am missing out on opportunities to do things that make me happy, fulfilled and secure.

I need to make a change.  I need to "stop and smell the roses".  I need to learn how to find happiness in the most mundane situations.  I need to start...now!

Is it just me?

Is it just me, or is this week flying by?  Although, I've been a day ahead of myself since Tuesday so maybe that's the reason.  Tuesday felt like Wednesday, Wednesday felt like Thursday and today just feels like a Friday.

By tomorrow I'll probably be complaining that this has been "such a long week".  I'm good like that.....

Just around the corner

I was out running errands this past weekend and it seems like all the garden centers have their mums out.  This makes me sad...this is a true sign that fall is just around the corner.  But, where did my summer go?  I feel like we've only had about a month of good summer weather here in Michigan.  And I've still got summer projects that need done.

Don't get me wrong, I love Fall and I love that college football starts in less than a month, but I am not ready for summer to be over.  Even more, I'm not ready for Fall because that means we are only one season away from winter.  And in case you don't know....winter in Michigan sucks!

Please summer...stay a little longer will ya?