Welcome back! I was really trying to keep the remodel posts to a single post, but there was a lot of information in it. If by chance you didn’t get to see part 1, you can check it out here.
——————————————————————————
In the last post I had left off explaining how I did the cabinet and drawer fronts. Lath strips! Gotta love them, they are cheap and easy to use and oh-so-versatile! I think that project is what got me hooked on using them for little projects and crafts – anyway – back to the story…
Before I could paint the cabinet bases, I needed to build cabinets in the space that the fridge used to be in. I wasn’t very hard to do, but I wanted to make it look like it had always been there. For the base cabinet I decided to use the cabinet doors from the sink cabinet on it (under the sink I hung a curtain to have a bit of a country vibe). And the area just below the upper cabinet I built in a shelf.
During this time I also kept looking at the built in we had in the kitchen. And after a little thinking about it, along with a hammer, chisel and a dry wall saw I had a lovely hole in our wall, and a husband that was trying to figure out how to keep me away from the tools while he was gone…
It actually wasn’t too hard to make the built in – I will have a post about it soon – and will explain how I made it!
————————————————————————
After I built in the cabinet, I jumped over and made the countertop for the stove side of the kitchen – I’ll explain the countertops below.
It was then time to start painting. I had already had the cabinets, doors and drawers ready. I had stripped them of paint, sanded them then wiped them down. As mentioned in the post last week, I also had added the detail to the doors and drawers and prepped them.
I ended up jumping back and forth painting the cabinets then going outside and painting the countertop. The upper cabinets and walls all got painted white. And the lower cabinets were painted grey. All the cabinets were painted 3 times.
Countertops
If you notice in the picture above – there is no countertop on the right side. The original countertop that was there wasn’t long enough, so it had to go. What I did instead, was cut a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to the size needed and added a bracing system on the back with 1×4’s. After a quick dry fit to make sure it fit, we hauled it back outside and I painted it with black chalkboard paint – 3 coats! And then 3 coats of food safe Polyurethane.
The countertop on the sink side got a good cleaning then a good sanding – I wiped it down with a tack cloth to remove the dust then painted it the same way as the plywood. It was a bit trickier with the sink, but around it I just took my time, painted slowly, then once dried I sealed around the sink with clear silicone caulk.
After all the painting was done, we put the doors and drawers back in and started on the little finishing touches.
The little finishing touches were:
Adding beadboard as a backsplash
Putting peel-and-stick wallpaper up on the far wall
Putting patterned contact paper over the tile backsplash behind the stove
Laying new flooring down
Making a small spice shelf for under the cabinet
Redoing sign above cabinets
Adding lath strips to crates/staining them – for potato/onion storage
New rugs
Made curtain for under sink
It’s been almost 3 years – how has it held up?
Pretty good so far. I was worried about using white on the cabinets, thus the reason I only did white on the upper cabinets, they need a wipe down every now and then, but not as much as I originally thought.
The in-wall storage, I love! And I wish I had more. I have my collection of antique blue Ball jars on it that I use for dry storage.
The countertops I love the look of, but you can see every little crumb left on them, so it seems every time I walk into the kitchen I am wiping them off. The paint adhered better to the plywood then the original countertop. Every now and then they have a little flaking, but not much. I have had to touch them up a couple times, but it doesn’t take very long, and they look just as good as new afterwards.
Moving the fridge was a great idea. It really did help give us more room.
What do you think?
-Dawn