More Painting…Obviously

I finally got around to painting the interior of our now open corner shelf.  I used the wall paint and cabinet paint to make it look like framed shelves on the wall. Let me just show you the picture…

Open Shelving

I still have to paint the shelves and get them mounted in there.  I haven’t done that yet because I want to put a lip on the front of the shelves to make them a little more substantial looking.  Also, I want to paint a pattern in the green – I think.  I have a small sample of the green that is in a different finish (our walls are satin finish & the sample is not…yeah I don’t know what it is).  The pattern would therefore be very subtle.  Actually, to tell you the truth, it may not even be a big enough difference to show up.  Ha.  Whoops.  I’ll see what happens when I do it.

But its painted!  Let’s focus on that achievement.  We’re obviously slow over here.

Update:

• Prime, paint, and seal the cabinets. (we opted to not seal)
• Buy new hardware and add it to the cabinets (duh)
• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Re-do the countertop (either paint or re-laminate)
• Re-redo the countertop again (surprise surprise!)
• Replace the floor
• Finally finish installing the big light (it needs a sealing gasket thing installed, but we couldn’t find it for awhile lol)
• Replace the under cabinet light
• Find a permanent solution for the trash and recycle bins (on our way!)
• Make the upper corner shelf open shelving (just have to add the shelves back in – more on that later)
• Paint the new open shelving in the corner (still have to paint the actual shelves + maybe a pattern in the background + hang the shelves)
• Possibly replace the above-window light
• Add some sort of curtains to the window and the door
• Strip and repair the doors to the outside and to the basement
• Paint the doors to the outside and the basement
• Bright gloss white paint on the trim and doors
• Create a family command center on the big open wall that includes a calendar, mail center, meal planner, and anything else we may find useful.
• Add a light in the little nook where the doors are?
• Decorate.
• Enjoy.

 

Green with Envy

So it’s bright green.  To be specific, it’s Behr’s ultra premium super duper paint & primer in one color matched to new grass green by Glidden.  If people are interested (I totally sure you are not), I can go get the formula off of the paint can.  I love it.  It’s really cheerful and there’s not a whole lot of wall in here anyway.  The giant wall behind Kevin is going to be home to the family “command center” – so you are not going to see a whole lot of green there either.  That probably won’t get done until 2013 in reality though.  But we both love the green.

Checklistmania:

• Prime, paint, and seal the cabinets. (we opted to not seal)
• Buy new hardware and add it to the cabinets (duh)
• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Re-do the countertop (either paint or re-laminate)
• Re-redo the countertop again (surprise surprise!)
• Replace the floor
• Finally finish installing the big light (it needs a sealing gasket thing installed, but we couldn’t find it for awhile lol)
• Replace the under cabinet light
• Find a permanent solution for the trash and recycle bins (on our way!)
• Make the upper corner shelf open shelving (just have to add the shelves back in – more on that later)
• Paint the new open shelving in the corner
• Possibly replace the above-window light
• Add some sort of curtains to the window and the door
• Strip and repair the doors to the outside and to the basement
• Paint the doors to the outside and the basement
• Bright high gloss white paint on the trim and doors
• Create a family command center on the big open wall that includes a calendar, mail center, meal planner, and anything else we may find useful.
• Add a light in the little nook where the doors are?
• Decorate.
• Enjoy.

Ceiling Changes

The initial plan (as you can see here by the paint samples on the ceiling) was to paint the walls and the ceiling in the kitchen the same color.  We used the technique in our bathroom reno (here) to make the space feel taller and bigger.  However, we ended up choosing a bright (I say cheerful) shade of green and felt that having it on the ceiling would be too much.  Also, a white ceiling will help our dark kitchen appear even brighter than ever.   So on the white ceiling paint went.

Here’s Kevin cutting in the paint in the little nook.  The door in front of him is the door to our patio and the unpainted door behind him is the door to the basement.  The kitchen floor actually steps down in this little two-door nook, so thats why Kevin is doing the cutting in here.  I can’t reach – even on the step stool – and I don’t do ladders.  So everywhere else it was business as usual – me cutting in and Kevin rolling.  We didn’t bother taping off because the walls were the next to be painted.  We were just extra careful to not get any paint on the cabinets or countertops (we covered those up) and we taped off the big ceiling light.

Here’s a before & after.  Look at all that reflecting light! Yum!

Before & After Ceiling Paint

So yesterday’s post didn’t update the checklist, so lets have at that.

• Prime, paint, and seal the cabinets. (we opted to not seal)
• Buy new hardware and add it to the cabinets (duh)
• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Re-do the countertop (either paint or re-laminate)
• Re-do the countertop AGAIN (surprise!)
• Replace the floor
• Finally finish installing the big light
• Replace the under cabinet light
• Find a permanent solution for the trash and recycle bins (on our way!)
• Make the upper corner shelf open shelving (just have to add the shelves back in – more on that later)
• Possibly replace the above-window light
• Add some sort of curtains to the window and the door
• Strip and repair the doors to the outside and to the basement
• Paint the doors to the outside and the basement
• Bright high gloss white paint on the trim
• Create a family command center on the big open wall that includes a calendar, mail center, meal planner, and anything else we may find useful.
• Decorate.
• Enjoy.

It’s coming along.. and needed some updating now that we have to re-redo the countertops.  Progress is progress!

Rustoleum Countertop Paint

I read up a lot on Rustoleum countertop paint.  I hated the idea of it.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I loved the idea of slapping paint down on a countertop that is pink and dirty and disgusting and it suddenly looking lacquered and beautiful and flawless.  I hated the idea that it didn’t live up to its promises like a high school boy.  Every thing I read said either you needed to seal it or it’d let you down in a heart beat.  Buttttttt sometimes people…sometimes I… don’t listen.  Kevin & I went back and forth on it for a few weeks (probably longer) and had initially said no, we aren’t going to waste our time, let’s just re-laminate them.  But we got to looking at prices of laminate and delivery costs.  We determined we couldn’t just buy a cheap countertop because of the awkward corner sink area.  We’d have to rip off the old laminate and put down a new sheet on top of it.  We’d have to buy a gigantic sheet so there wasn’t a seam.  It started to seem like a whole lot of work and money to drop on laminate.  So we decided, hey for $20 this countertop paint can’t really be a complete waste of time.  So what if it only lasted 6 months?  In that time we could save up and come up with a different idea for the countertops.

The bad news?   It lasted just days before it got dinged up.  The good news?  Even with how dinged up it is, it was still “good enough” that we got rid of the pink dirt and came up with a better idea (but more on that later).

It’s now December.  We actually painted these countertops in early September.  Over 2 months ago.  So I feel like 2 months is a good “use time” that I can give you a fair review of my thoughts.

Let’s start with how we did it.

 

 

 

So yeah.. that’s it.  Seriously there isn’t much to it.  Just move quick and try not to pass out from the smell.. Actually do as I say not as I do and wear face masks n’at ’cause that stuff smells like you are swimming in nail polish.  Which every time I mentioned that Kevin said, “well thats basically what it is.”  I get it, Kevin.

So what’s my beef with the countertop paint?

It’s cure time is ridiculously long.  Yes, I know the can says just a few days, but they lie.  We painted this on a Wednesday evening & got up Thursday and left town until Sunday.  We didn’t touch it until Monday evening.  So it cured LONGER than the minimum.  And it chipped as soon as we sat something down on it.  Kevin brewed coffee & sat it down on the countertop & it left a ring here it had melted the paint.  We don’t drink super hot civil lawsuit degree coffee.  It’s just standard heat.  It melted the paint.  Then the rest of the chips came from less-than-standard things… like accidentally dropping a wrench and some other tools in random places.  It chipped it up like crazy.  Then a few weeks later, we sat a chicken on a platter on it and spun the platter to carve and it left a huge scratch in the paint.

HOWEVER – after that first month or so, the paint stopped chipping so badly.  I’d say if you could let this stuff cure for 6+ weeks before touching it, it may just work the way its supposed to work.  I don’t know who has the luxury of not using their kitchen for 6+ weeks, but if that’s you, then this $20 paint should work great for you.

With that said..We haven’t had much problems with it since the chipping stopped a few weeks ago.  It looks crappy now because we did so much damage (I’ll post pictures of that later probably) early on.  So we started brainstorming other ways to redo the countertop.  I’m not sharing just because I don’t want people to try to talk me out of it (I am looking at you, Billionaire).

 

 

The Cabinets are painted!

Painted Cabinets

Hello, gorgeous!  I am so happy this step is done!

There are a ton of posts that outline how to paint cabinets.  In no particular order, here are the one’s we consulted:

• Young House Love – link
• Better Homes and Gardens – link
• This Old House – link
• Curbly – link

We studied these four tutorials and then came up with our own variation.  I’d say if 1 is just rushing through it and getting it done and 10 is taking every single precaution and step to do it exactly correct, we we’re probably a 5 or a 6.  We learned a lot along the way about how to properly use deglosser and whose better at what jobs when splitting tasks.  Here is the basic rundown of our steps that we utilized:

1. Remove all the doors and drawer-fronts and all of the hardware from them (like the pulls and hinges).
2. TSP everything.  Really get that junk clean.
3. Degloss.  Everything.  For more on what we learned about deglossing – see below.
4. Fill in all knicks and the holes leftover from the pulls if you won’t be using them again.
5. Sand.  Everything.  We used a high-grit (a 220 worked well for us) to just smooth everything out evenly.
6. Wipe everything down really well.  Dust is enemy.  Dog hair is worse than dust.
7. One thin THIN THIN coat of primer.
8. Let the primer dry and cure overnight, then a very light sand over thin coat of primer.  Make sure its smooth.
9. Wipe everything down really well.  Again dust and dog hair are baaad.
10. Repeat 6-9.
11. Once you are satisfied that your primer is properly cured (READ THE CAN), move on to painting.
12. Paint the very first very thin coat.
13. Follow your paint can on how long to wait until the second coat, then second coat on everything.
14. Once your second coat is on, we gave it abou 20-24 hours to just sit and cure, then we mounted the doors.
15. Attach new cabinet pulls/handles/etc.
16. Enjoy.

So here are my caveats.

Deglosser.

This was our first attempt at using deglosser.  Neither of us had a huge grasp of how deglosser really worked – until now.  For the cabinet doors that we started with, we just wiped it on and 15 minutes later we figured hey it must be done.  Just like the bottle said.  For the first doors we did, we didn’t do anything else.  We just started priming after we wiped post-deglossing.  For the cabinets, and for the second batch of doors we did, we implemented the sanding. HOWEVER, for the remaining cabinet and last door that we did not do with the first batch (this cabinet had been removed and left in the basement and we decided we’d hang it back up – so we just left it til last to do), we deglossed MULTIPLE times.  It turns out, there is a ton of gloss on these, and the more deglosser we use, the better the wood looked.  They ended up looking like bare wood when we were done.  We are actually still working on these remaining cabinets, so I will let you know if theres any difference in appearance in the finish.

Also, I will say that for the ones we did not sand between deglossing and priming, the primer was still a little tacky when we went to paint.  They sat for WEEKS and were still tacky.  I called the Behr hotline and the guy said it was fine.  The doors that were like this have been hanging in the kitchen for a couple of weeks now and I can’t tell the difference between them and the ones that were sanded.

The lesson?  Degloss multiple times THEN sand.  No matter what the bottle says.

Dog hair is the enemy.

I really have no speech on that.. but there are little tiny flecks of dog hair in our finish in some places.  Why?  Because our dogs shed so much we couldn’t control it.  It’s not really obvious unless you shove your face up to the exact spot where there is a piece.  And really theres only like 4 or 5 of them over the entire thing, so it could’ve been worse.

The lesson?  Shave your dogs before doing this.

Now on to what we used.

BEHR Premium Plus 1-Gal. Stain-Blocking Primer and Sealer Interior

Our cabinets were gross.  We TSP’ed everything twice.  And if anybody has worked with TSP you know that stuff will remove your skin from your bones so dirt is no problem.  But we were still worried the grossness of them would come through the paint.  As a result, I made sure to buy a stain-blocking primer and sealer.  It did the trick.  Follow the directions on the can and if you have any questions, call the 1800 number on the can.  I did and they were awesome and helpful.

 

Behr paint in “Silver Drop”

Even though we initially started out to get a dark grey cabinet, priming changed ur minds.  Weird, I know, but after seeing how bright and sunshiny the kitchen felt with the white primer, we wanted something lighter.  However, everybody painting everything white all of the time no matter what it is has really turned me off from white kitchen cabinets.  Plus, I had my heart set on grey.  So the compromise was a very light grey.  After the first coat, they looked white.  I was nervous.  I doubted how light I went.  But they look grey now and almost spot on to the color sample.  Heavenly.

This is the exact paint we bought – link.  We didn’t buy the paint+primer in once since we already primed.

 

 

Just for fun, lets look at the sidebyside for the before and after painted cabinets:

Side by side. After on the left, before on the right.

So here’s where we stand on that checklist of ours:

• Prime, paint, and seal the cabinets. (we opted to not seal)
• Buy new hardware and add it to the cabinets (duh)
• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Re-do the countertop (either paint or re-laminate)
• Replace the floor
• Finally finish installing the big light
• Replace the under cabinet light
• Find a permanent solution for the trash and recycle bins (on our way!)
• Make the upper corner shelf open shelving (just have to add the shelves back in – more on that later)
• Possibly replace the above-window light
• Add some sort of curtains to the window and the door
• Strip and repair the doors to the outside and to the basement
• Paint the doors to the outside and the basement
• Bright high glass white paint on the trim
• Create a family command center on the big open wall that includes a calendar, mail center, meal planner, and anything else we may find useful.
• Decorate.
• Enjoy.

Stay tuned!

You may have noticed…

…in the last post, that there were green paint samples on the wall.  I can safely tell you that all paint colors and samples stuck randomly in these pictures are not the ones we used. They were all rejects.

 

Paint Rejects

Operation Kitchen Overhaul… Started.

Emptied (ish) Kitchen

As the picture above basically explains, we’ve removed all of the doors from our little kitchen, pushed the fridge out into the dining/living room, and emptied the countertops and lower cabinets (doggy proofed!) so that we can start with this kitchen update.  That pic was taken August 4th, I can honestly report that kitchen things are still all over our house basically making our life even more chaotic.  Here’s the wishlist/to do list for the kitchen:

• Prime, paint, and seal the cabinets.
• Buy new hardware and add it to the cabinets (duh)
• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Re-do the countertop (either paint or re-laminate)
• Replace the floor
• Finally finish installing the big light
• Replace the under cabinet light
• Find a permanent solution for the trash and recycle bins
• Make the upper corner shelf open shelving
• Possibly replace the above-window light
• Add some sort of curtains to the window and the door
• Strip and repair the doors to the outside and to the basement
• Paint the doors to the outside and the basement
• Bright high glass white paint on the trim
• Create a family command center on the big open wall that includes a calendar, mail center, meal planner, and anything else we may find useful.
• Decorate.
• Enjoy.

 

I am tired thinking about it.

Big Decisions are in the works…

Kitchen Color Choices

We’ve decided that our kitchen needs some TLC.  The flesh pink walls and pink, filthy countertops are not working for us.  Neither are the impossible to clean cabinets.  The plan?  Green walls and grey cabinets!  I’ve fantasized about a green kitchen since I saw one in a Domino Magazine so many many years ago.  Spoiler alert, however… we decided that our 10×10 kitchen just cannot handle the dark grey cabinets and bright grass green walls I’ve fantasized about, so believe it or not, NONE of the colors pictured here are the final choice.. Tease tease tease.

Our Main Bathroom – Paint!

Behr Mined Coal Enamel Paint

 

This is the color we painted the walls & ceilings of our freshly face lifted main bathroom.

Our first before & after reveal – The Main Bathroom, AFTER(ish).

It’s now time for the big reveal.. our main bathroom!

As the caption above states, here’s the new view from the hall!  Please forgive the mismatched towels– just keeping it real (haven’t bought new ones yet – that’s part of why this is “after-ish”

View from the doorway

By far our favorite part of our “new” bathroom is the solution we came up for the medicine cabinet.  Since we wanted such a large mirror and definitely needed a light in our bathroom *duh* – we couldnt use the traditional swing out door.  So we put it on drawer tracks that we got off of Amazon for about $16 !  I think the results are pretty awesome!

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