There is nothing like a coat of white paint

Days of labor. Hard labor. Sanding. Painting. Sanding. Painting. More sanding. More and more and more painting.

We got a lot done. All the cabinet interiors have a fresh clean coat of white paint. This was an involved process. We had to clean up the cabinets first. My mother-in-law and I took out old contact paper. My husband sanded and sanded and sanded. Then we used a white primer on the cabinets. Finally, we painted the interiors with a fresh, clean coat of pure white semi-gloss paint.

What an incredible amount of work this has been. We refuse to do a shoddy job. So much shoddy work has been done on this house over the years and we refuse to participate in that. So, we’re making it look GOOD!

And, eating out a lot!

We went to IKEA on Saturday night and picked up our cabinet innards. The new drawers but also pullouts for the cabinets.

It was a bit of a comedy of errors. All the IKEA people were great. I love that store even with long lines and tired screaming babies (not mine, thank goodness!).

Here are a few pics of the latest work efforts . . .

Greg and his mom, hard at work.

Working on everything . . . including the kitchen sink

A coat of primer and suddenly things look better. That yellow glow on the wall is the wall color (although it won’t be in that actual spot! 🙂 ) Isn’t it gorgeous? Like Alpenglow.

Somethings are not responding as nicely to the primer as we’d hoped! Rats!

Greg just wore himself out sanding.

Giving my old cutting board a new lease on life. I did the hand-sanding myself, thank you very much!

One of the drawers needed some glue (couldn’t get an IKEA drawer innard to fit 3 of the drawers in the kitchen). I like Greg’s unique clamping methods!

So, a coat of clean, white paint. Done! Next step, the finally selected green on the cabinet faces. Then, Greg adds all the innards and the hardware. Then, we paint the walls. After that, floors. Wonder what joys all that will entail.

Stay tuned!

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Leaps and Bounds

As I listen to the competing sounds of Herbie Hancock’s Progress album and my husband sanding the cabinets, I am drawn to update this site and share some of our progress. I’ve been taking photos but not posting them. So, there are big changes. We’ve taken out the counter tops, taken off the cabinet doors, drawers, and all that good stuff. Today, we are making our final decision on paint. We are also patching the walls where The World’s Ugliest Tile™ used to be. Greg tested our new hinges and ordered them. (Yay!) Lastly, we are going to figure out exactly what hardware we need for the cabinet innards and go to IKEA tonight and get it. Yahoo! Any day that includes a trip to IKEA is a good one for me! 🙂

Here are some photos to update you on our progress . . .

Countertops out but we still have the cabinet doors on. See how ugly that wall is where the Ugliest Tile in the World™ was used as a backsplash? Gotta lotta work to do there.

Otherside of the kitchen. the range is out. The sink is in but non-functional. That’s rice for dinner cooking on the stove though. 🙂

That’s me taking a turn at taking out the Ugliest Tile in the World™. Oh, it probably looks like it’s just a boring gray tile to you but trust me, it was ugly, boring, annoying, and I hated it. I’m so glad it’s gone!

Greg working on the last of the countertops around the sink. What a mess! 🙂

This is what the walls looked like after taking the ugly backsplash off. A mess!

This is what they look like after I cleaned them up and put a nice, fresh coat of mud over them. Lovely!

A quick sanding and they will be ready to have a new and lovely tile backsplash put over them.

Sanding, sanding, sanding.
So much endless sanding.

Sunday I’ll get our paint for the cabinets. We finally decided on a flat latex paint that we’ll cover with a satin finish varathane. We’re trying to use the Wonderpure brand paint from our hardware store as it is their low VOC paint. So, tomorrow will involve painting . . . lots and lots of painting. Inside the cabinets, the doors, and hopefully the exteriors. Lots of painting. Lots of sanding. I’m so glad my mother-in-law is coming to help! 🙂