Our New Home! --Kitchen

So been MIA for a while. But Im back! St Patricks Day didn't quite go as planned seeing as nothing was really set up here at the house...no Internet no computer or printer to finish things up. But don't worry!! We still had green beer (and wine) and a few good laughs.

Anyway so the reason I haven't been around is We Finally bought our very fist Home! Good-Bye apartments and renting! So we were a liiiittle busy with the move and all but we're finally settled mostly settled and I'm hoping to get back into the blogging asap.

So the house we bought is a bit older, but has lots of things we can change and make it our own. Exactly what we were looking for. Tyler needed something he could work on, make his own little project. My first project....the kitchen. So I just realized I dont really have a great picture of the kitchen before...anyway here is one that shows most of it...with my crazy family :)

Very Dated hardware and arrangement going on, the kitchen; which Im sure everyone can imagine, is very important to me, so this wasn't going to fly. First thing we did was rip out that section of cabinets that was dividing the dining area and kitchen and dating the kitchen from 30 years ago.

So with help from My wonderful mother and Bestie A, we got to work degreasing, stripping and refinishing these cabinets. Yes ALL of them. It took a lot longer than I anticipated but it was soooo worth it.

Cabinets Finished, Kitchen Painted, counter tops...next on the list!

 What we changed:
-ripped out section of cabinets
-changed light fixtures ($100 for both)
-changed hardware on cabinets and drawers ($55)
-painted cabinets($115.00)
-removed all cupboards from dining room side and added wainscoting ($24)



Close-up of finish and Hardware

So Keeping in mind we are still trying to make it homier, Ill update the pictures as I decorate the kitchen. But I wanted to get this show on the road! So we redid the cabinets using a kit from Rustoleum we purchased at Home Depot for $99.99 +tax, the kit did all of our cabinets and we still have some left.

You can purchase the kit in many different colors with different glazes, we chose the "Quilters White" and literally put the glaze on and wiped it right off to get the effect we wanted. To get a little better idea of what you're buying the kit includes:
-Chemical Sander, paint stripper (so no sanding required with this revamp!)
-Small Can of paint (they tint it at home depot for you, to whatever color you choose)
-2 cans of stain
-Small can of Top Coat
-2 Green scrubbies (go to Costco and get a package...you're going to need them!)
-3 Paint stir Sticks
-Roll of dustless cloth (aka. Cheesecloth)

Its a fairly lengthy process, removing all the doors and hardware from the cabinets then cleaning them with a very strong cleaner (we used pure degreaser because of the age of the cabinets, there was a lot of built up grime) After that we used the chemical sanding solution that was provided in the kit, applying it using green scrub pads and just scrubbing the S**t out of it...switch arms for an even workout. After that is done and is dry  you paint, 2 coats, and let that dry, then apply the glaze. The longer you leave this glaze on before wiping it off with the cloth provided, the more of the wood grain that will show through.  Then last but not least you give it a "Top Coat" also provided.

To finish the cabinets off we went and bought new hardware for the drawers and doors, we were able to find packs of 10 knobs and pulls that matched and were pretty close to exactly what I wanted. Everyone who knows me knows I have an eye for expensive things...the pulls I wanted were $10 each and we needed something like 31 total...soooo I went the cheaper route and I'm more than happy with the way they turned out. We were able to clean up the hinges using CLR and they match the hardware almost perfectly!! I was Happy about that. Also because we ripped a whole section of cupboards out there was a section of unfinished cupboards showing so we went to Home Depot got some paint able wainscoting and got it cut to fit and where we took off the cabinet doors on the dining room side and all the "fake drawers" we added a sheet of wainscoting to clean it up and modernize it a bit more.

All that being said and DONE (finally!) the only things left to do in the kitchen is Counter tops, replace the appliances and the stove hood. Like everyone has told us, it will be never ending the things you can do and will want to do with your new home. Good thing about it is both Tyler and I are pretty hands on, DIY kind of people, so it keeps us busy. 

Bre's Next House Project

Very white, half bath downstairs.

to be transformed into a beach themed paradise haha