I’m back!

Sorry for the brief hiatus.  Things got a little busy with family, work, life, you know how it goes.

I am proud to announce the kitchen cabinets are done!  Woo Hoo!!!

 

 

Sorry for the tiny pic, the only before pic I could find was from the realtor photos when we bought the house.  Here’s a close up of the final product.

The final push to get them hung was a deadline.  We offered to host Mother’s Day brunch and I knew I had to have them done by the time family came over.  I think looming deadlines can help speed along any project, especially stalled ones.  We still need to install the molding around the tops of the cabinets.  We are at an impasse. I know what I want and have bought the materials.  I know how to do it.  I do not have the tools to do it right.  I need a miter saw and I don’t want to go buy one.  My options are:

1.  Ask/beg around to the neighbors to see if any of them have a miter saw I could use

2. Rent a miter saw from a local home improvement store

3. Hope/pray that my dad, who is coming down this weekend, has a way to do it.

Since we’ve had a chance to spend a lot of time with friends and family this last month, I kept getting asked two questions:

1.  Are you getting baby fever?  This happens whenever I hold a small child

2.  What’s your next project?  In some ways, this is more daunting than the first question.

I really had no idea how to answer the latter question.  I had finished up my cabinets, and was still in the process of removing gravel from my side yard, but I didn’t have anything lined up for my next project.  I had options, like re-doing the spare bathroom, or updating our laundry room, but I wasn’t really excited about those.

The kitchen was stuck in my mind. With the cabinets done and the molding in limbo, I felt like it was unfinished and I shouldn’t move on to another room.  I found some cute stools to put by the counter:

But it still felt like something was missing.  I have been loathing my counter tops for months.  Whoever decided that white laminate counter tops were a great idea was wrong.  They stain easily and are just so stark.  Especially now with my darker cabinets.  So what do you do when you’re out of ideas?  You scroll Pintrest!

I’m not a Pintrest addict (no offense to those who are), but I check it out about once a week.  And I’m so happy I did.  I found a tutorial on how to paint laminate counter tops to look like faux granite.  I’ve wanted stone counter tops in the kitchen for awhile, but was really dreading the price tag.  With this option (assuming it goes well), the counter tops can get an update and I can put off buying the expensive option for awhile.

Here’s a pic from the tutorial from this website:

In the blog, they also redid the cabinets with gel stain a dark color.  I’m so excited to start this project, especially since the tutorial blogger said it doesn’t take too long.

Time to Wine

When I started the cabinet project, I decided to save the hardest part for last:  the wine rack.  Above our refrigerator, we have a built in wine rack.  I was dreading this because there are 2 lattice work pieces plus the back, sides, and top that I would have to stain.

Took all the wine down and cleaned to start fresh.

Back plate of the wine rack done, minimal gel stain on my hands and arms.

Back lattice piece done, now have gel stain over most of my fingers and on my tricep.  I have no idea how I got stain on my tricep.

Front lattice piece plus the sides, bottom, and top of the box done.  More gel stain on fingers and arms.

Almost done!  I’ve got both coats of stain on, just waiting to put the Poly coats on!

I also stained my test piece of crown molding and I think it’s going to look great!