Some honesty (and a bedroom makeover for good measure)

Sometimes, life sucks a little. I'm just being honest. If we can't stop bumps in the road from coming, we just have to hope that they make us better, not bitter; right? I'm going with that. Suffice it to say, the past couple years have been a challenge for me personally... the last couple months, even more so. Maybe I'll share one day, maybe not. I've felt like I lacked any control over my life, and if you know me, you're aware that I'm a fan of the control... there's that darn honesty again.

When faced with the grim, humbling, horrible, awful, no good very bad reality that I didn't have control over a lot of the things in my life, I started to fall back into some old, unhealthy patterns of "pretend-control" that I used to practice. Things involving food. Not good, friends. Not good.

So I decided to stop. This time around I've benefited from being older (oy), wiser, and therefore possessed with the ability to recognize "pretend-control" behaviors a little easier, so hopefully it will be easier to redirect them... into home projects! Of course. 

Believe it or not, I've missed you, and I've missed toiling away in my little house. If I have to control something, it should be the color of my walls and the alarmingly slow speed at which I execute any sort of carpentry project. Measure forty-seven times, cut once (or three times and then go back to the store) - that's what they say!

Right now I've decided to tackle my bedroom. I never really finished it and have been living without baseboard and with lots of plans for several years now. It's time to put an end to all of that silliness. So what did I do? I slapped some paint samples on the wall, duh. That's pretty much my solution to most existential crises.

I've been in love with navy for a long while, and decided to take the plunge. On 1/4 of my bedroom walls (I have commitment issues and/or my bedroom lacks in the natural light department).

I'll spare you the suspense, because I totally already chose one, since I'm used to not blogging anymore and I'm learning how to be zen in making design decisions alone. I chose Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy for its delightful greyed out, deliciously pensive self. And then I painted the other three walls white.

And then I forgot how to clean up for blog photos and left my sock monkey pajamas and half of my earthly possessions at the foot of my bed.

This is where I'm going:

And the next stop, besides replacing all the baseboard and casing that I ripped off this morning, is picking some fabric for some roman shades. I'm thinking something geometric, gray or mushroom maybe? This is what I'm looking at:

(Source: 1, 2, 3)

As always, hit me up if you have any amazing ideas.

It's good to be back! I can't promise quantity... but I'm just happy there are still people out there who read. xoxo

Front Room {Reveal}

I'm so excited to share this room! It all happened so quickly with other people doing the board and batten and painting... I have to admit, I could get used to that.

But for now, some pictures. We'll talk later. 

 

 

Squee! After four years, I have a front room!

Board & Batten Surprise

Last week I made the impulse decision to go ahead and make some progress in my front room while waiting on some things for my kitchen (AKA "the project that must not be named" or "the 5 year project that just wouldn't stop").
I gathered up my motivation and my DIY know-how, and I used them both to call our contractor friend. I could have done it myself, but when I'm talking through a project with him and it starts "maybe I could help you with that," and eventually morphs into "maybe you should help me with that," I know I'm beat.

Anyway, we emptied the room and he spent a few hours throwing this together. He's way faster than I am. And you know, probably a tiny bit more precise and better, since finish carpentry is his specialty and all.

And bonus, he rebuilt the window seat so it's bumped out a little from the wall and has cubbies. I love it!

The painters start today. Color me giddy. And color the walls Palladian Blue.

I can't wait to share what it looks like later this week! This is proof that when I make a decision, stuff can happen fast. See last year's impulse kitchen wall demolition for reference. So it's not that I can't make progress... I'm just lazy. :)
 

Kitchen Progress: Shelves! Paint! Counters!

I've been pretending I didn't have a blog or a kitchen that needed paint over the last couple weeks.

Bad news: my kitchen didn't paint itself while I ignored it.
Good news: It's painted now!
More bad news: I spent my entire weekend painting.
Good news: I'm done painting in there!
Even more bad news: I'm lying, I'm not actually done painting.
Good news: I've got at least a week or two of denial to go through before I paint again.

 Last week the shelves finally went up...

And this weekend I decided I couldn't put it off any longer, so I gathered my supplies, including my big girl underoos. I filled nail holes, caulked, and primed. I repainted all the trim bright white and painted the walls with the new color.

I even dragged the butcher block outside and Mike and I took turns sanding it smooth and pinky promised not to use it as a cutting board anymore.

So after all the sanding and painting, plus some mineral oil (on the wood, not the walls), this is what we've got:

Doesn't it look great?? I love the paint color and I can't wait to fill the shelves up and put subway tile on the walls.

In other kitchen news, I ordered the laminate for my counters last week, too! They're by Formica and made to look like Calacatta Marble. It wouldn't make financial sense to install expensive countertops in our neighborhood, so if I'm going to go with laminate I might as well have fun with it, right?

And in non-kitchen news, I'm less than a month from finishing school and reclaiming my life. That's worth a celebration, right? The count down is on!

Kitchen Cabinets: the Paint, the Application & a Review

Painting your own kitchen cabinets is a big, long job. My cabinet doors literally took over my house for a week while they were laying on every available surface! In the end it's definitely worth it, but you want to make sure you do a project like this right the first time -- the idea of doing this again in the next several years is enough to make my stomach turn a little.

Earlier this month I wrote a post about prepping the kitchen cabinets for paint, so feel free to hop over there for a review. Today I want to talk about the paint I chose, how I applied it, and my thoughts on the product now that I've finished.

Paint

The paint I used for my doors was Sherwin Williams ProClassic Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd. I chose this relatively new product because I wanted a paint that was self leveling to help eliminate brush strokes, and one that would dry to a really hard finish, both characteristics of oil (alkyd) paints. This paint combines those traits with a water based (acrylic) paint's lower VOC levels, a non-yellowing finish and water cleanup. It sounded too great to pass up!

The color I chose was a custom mix called "L4 white" that my Sherwin Williams mixes for a lot of painters - I don't know if it's a company-wide or a regional thing, but I first heard about it from our contractor friend and have been using it for my trim ever since.

It's regular white paint with just a touch of raw umber to tone it down the tiniest bit. It reads as a true, bright white that goes with everything but doesn't have the glowy, almost flourescent brightness that pure white paint can have. I had zero desire to flip through 50 white paint chips or read blogs about the right white. The right white for me is white. Ha :)

As you can see in the photo above, I went with a satin sheen because I have a sneaking suspicion my cabinet doors were homemade, and they have little warps, dips, and knots in them that I wanted to minimize. The lower the sheen, the more imperfections it hides -- and the Sherwin Williams product webpage says this satin paint is cleanable, so I went with it!

Application

I used a 2" angle sash brush, like this one:

It's my favorite type of brush, and the one I use for my trim projects too.

When painting, I started on the edges/details and worked my way toward the center. I painted quickly and put a thick enough layer on that I could smooth it out over the entire door. The goal is to have complete coverage without any little spots, patches, or lines where the paint skimmed or "hopped" over. This allows the paint to level itself smoothly across the entire surface.

However, don't apply it so thickly that it starts dripping off any higher details. (the door may be horizontal when you paint but I will bet that it's not perfectly flat, and if there are height differences the paint can drip or pool!)

I will say that this paint is a bit trickier to apply than wall paint, but not so tricky that it would or should be intimidating. It's a good reason to paint the backs of your doors first, so you can practice your technique!

(Left: a cabinet right after application with visible brush strokes; Right: a cabinet after being left to dry for an hour or two.)

My Thoughts

I'm really pleased with this paint. True to the product description, it did clean up easily with water, there was no oil-based paint smell, and I feel like the finish, when applied carefully, is excellent and smooth. It was a little drippy in places and I can still see minimal brush strokes in a few spots, but I picked up a few tips that I'm sharing with you at the end of this post that I think will make a difference in your experience if you decide to try this paint on your next project.

The satin finish has a nice glow to it that I'm happy with, and the lower sheen hides a lot of the weird cabinet imperfections while still cleaning up nicely from the couple of jam spills we've already had.

I think my cabinet frames (painted with the ProClassic acrylic enamel by mistake) got that hard, finished feeling to them faster than my doors have, but the frame paint didn't have the oil-based component that takes longer to cure. I'm sure I'm going to be happy with the extra strength this paint will bring to my doors and I'm willing to baby them a little for a week or so while they set up!

All in all, it's a win. I'm going to remember this paint!

Tips:

• Don't skip sanding if your surface is glossy at all. There were a couple doors where I missed a small spot when sanding down the high gloss paint, and this paint would bead up during application. I'd wipe the wet paint off, let it dry then re-sand. If you want your finish to last, remember: prep, prep, prep. 
• Wash your brush each day - I felt like a soft, clean brush made for a much smoother finish, and when I saved the brush and wrapped it up overnight, the stiffer brush left deeper marks in the wet paint that didn't fill in as well when the paint leveled.
• Don't overbrush. You hear it a lot, but apply the paint, smooth it out a little and then walk away.
• Apply thin coats on vertical surfaces. Since this paint is self leveling, it will flow together after application and on a vertical surface this means it's prone to dripping, so be careful with how much you apply and don't forget to watch it.
• Paint the backs of your doors first so you can practice and also so they can have a head start drying and you can carefully re-hang them a day after the fronts are painted. (if you're impatient like me)
• To replace your cabinet hardware soon after painting, just leave the screws loose and keep the cabinets open for a week or so to help prevent sticking while the paint cures (the water may evaporate quickly but the oil-based part of the paint takes a little longer to fully dry and harden.)

(I'm not affiliated with Sherwin Williams and I received no compensation or products from them for this project -- I simply wanted to share my thoughts and experience with this paint!)

Painted Kitchen Cabinets

Last week, after what felt like an eternity, I finished painting my kitchen cabinets. I am so relieved to put this project behind me, especially considering how much more painting I still need to do in this room. Let's not talk about that right now though, I'm still in my happy place.

It looks like a subtle change on the screen, but I swear it's made a big difference in person. The entire room feels so much brighter. It matches the color scheme of my house now, instead of being a big off-white sore thumb of a room and a testimony to thinking paint colors through carefully and in context with the bigger picture of a house's design.

As a reminder, here's a photo of the north wall before we started monkeying with anything:

And here it is after we messed with cabinets and the painting was all done:

Some of the difference in color is lost due to different lighting and my poorish skills in photography, so here's a better illustration of the difference:

 See? Totally worth painting. The previous color ended up looking dingy and dim when surrounded by all the crisp white trim of the other rooms that my kitchen is now wide open to.

The halfway unpainted box is where our new over-the-range microwave will go and not match my bisque-colored oven.

 Instead of adding wine storage to the space where the microwave was previously, you can see that we created a sort of coffee nook. Because that space is between my range top and the weird cabinet-covered heating duct, I decided it was too warm for wine storage. Improvise, adapt, overcome. That's what I say... when I'm writing blog posts.

On the plus side, now I get to buy a cuter coffee maker. And then I get to slowly come to terms with having an appliance on display. Wish me luck...

I'll be back tomorrow with details about the paint and the process!

Update: Learn about the paint I used and read my tips for achieving the best finish!

Cabinet Painting Worst Case Scenario Survival Guide

Sometimes we need reminders from the universe to do things right the first time, instead of cutting corners. And occasionally, those reminders aren't fun. And maybe those reminders may trigger a panic attack as we imagine our cabinet doors still spread around our dining room floor when our kids graduate high school. This is all purely hypothetical, of course.

On Saturday I took my cabinet doors down, believing that the long weekend would help me get them taken care of quickly. I painted the fronts of them with some porch and floor paint that I had seen someone recommending for cabinets because of the self-leveling characteristics (it was oil based) and its super hard finish.

Problem #1: The porch and floor paint dried glossy. Crazy, crazy glossy. I still can't explain how I missed that on the paint can... I think school may be affecting my decision making abilities. Solution? Grab some clear satin spray and tone those babies down...

At first it looked like I was a brilliant problem solver... but then?

Problem #2: The clear spray made the white paint buckle and crack in places. I checked the temperature, I checked ingredients... the only explanation I can think of is that I didn't allow the oil-based paint to properly cure before applying another product on top of it, which made it go Britney-Spears-shaving-her-head crazy on me. I waited over 24 hours, people... I don't have time for high maintenance paint issues.

Problem #3: At the same time the crackling paint disaster of 2013 was happening, our contractor buddy came over to put a cabinet box above my range to mount the microwave to, and when he got here we realized the cabinet next to it was too deep for the microwave to open... so he had to rip out yet another cabinet, cut it in half and replace it before he was able to even get started.

Problem #3 1/2: This doesn't really pertain to the story, but it's a problem nonetheless. Take a look at my ridiculous cabinets:

Anyway, this was the point where I started to panic and thought I was having a heart attack for a good 30 minutes before I realized that I was just freaked out of my gourd. I knew I should have chosen my paint more carefully, so I started doing research to try to fix my mistake.

 (admit it, if your kitchen looked like that and you realized that you were going to have to repaint... you might have a panic attack too!)

While searching I discovered a really interesting newer product -- a water based (acrylic) oil (alkyd) paint. This is fancy stuff, y'all... it's non yellowing, lower VOC and cleans up with water... but it's self leveling and super hard like a traditional oil paint. It's pretty much the paint gods' gift to furniture, trim and cabinetry. Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore both make one, and so I decided to go pick up a gallon while I kicked myself for not doing it in the first place.

On Monday I bought my new fancy paint and started painting my cabinet frames, since I still couldn't look at my messed up doors without my eyeballs starting to twitch; I needed to make some actual progress before I would be emotionally ready to tackle those again!

Problem #4: After two coats on my cabinet frames, I looked at the paint can for the first time.

Umm...

The paint guy gave me the wrong paint.  Aaaahhhhh!!! This was regular acrylic latex (albeit a bit fancier and harder because it's in their ProClassic line). The chipped stuff all over my cabinets was acrylic latex... I wasn't going down that road again, even if this paint was 10 times nicer than the stuff I had sprayed 3 years ago.

I called the store, they apologized and replaced the wrong paint with the stuff I had asked for:

And that's where I am now. I've decided to leave my frames as is, since the ProClassic Acrylic Latex I received in error is still harder and smoother than a traditional wall paint, and the frames receive less wear than the doors. Plus if I had to repaint the doors and the frames I might literally never paint another thing again.

So today I start painting the doors. Cross your fingers that the can doesn't spontaneously combust? At this point I wouldn't be surprised!

Moral of today's worst case scenario survival story: Cutting corners is not always a good thing! And, you know... maybe look at products salespeople hand you.

Update: See them painted!

Prepping My Cabinets for Paint

I can't lie, I have approached painting my kitchen cabinets again with a mixture of dread (obvious) and excitement (finally, it will look nice!) -- we just had them sprayed three years ago when we bought this home, and I've been unhappy with the finish for about 2 1/2 years. So even if I had wanted to keep the creamy off-white color, which I don't, I would need to paint them again because of the large amount of nicks and hairline cracks they have accumulated.

When I painted them last time I didn't research at all thoroughly enough and I chose a latex paint; this time I'm pulling out the big guns and going for a really durable oil-based, self leveling one. I saw it recommended on a DIY forum for kitchen cabinets, and I asked the paint guy at my Home Depot and he agreed that it would work. I had it tinted to match my trim. So here goes nothing!

This paint does have a poly in it, which means it will yellow over time -- but since I hope to replace my doors in a few years and my kitchen is not a sunny room, I decided to give it a try. I am pretty sure Sherwin Williams makes a water based porch and floor paint, but I really wanted a self-leveling paint (oil-based) to help hide all the imperfections in my doors. So I'm taking my chances and I'll be sure to let you know how it holds up.

Here's what I did to prepare the cabinets correctly, so I don't have to paint them again in another three years (fingers crossed):

1. Caulk and apply wood putty to imperfections.
My cabinets are weird and they look homemade. I don't love them. There are lots of knots (they are knotty pine, after all) and textural issues, not to mention holes and dents (pine is soft). If you're making your own cabinets for some reason, maybe don't choose pine. Maybe. Just my thoughts. I look forward to the day I can get new doors -- like I said above, they're in bad shape with lots of nicks and cracking issues.

Did I mention that they're trashed?

2. Remove hinges and hardware.
Do me a favor and put them somewhere safe, okay? Loose screws are like socks in dryers... just asking for a black hole to appear and snatch them away.

3. Sand
Like I mentioned above, I did use wood putty in several spots so those needed to be sanded down, but I also sanded the entire surface front and back to remove any trace of a glossy finish that would prevent optimum paint adhesion. (I feel like I sound so smart right now. It's an act, y'all.)

4. Clean
This step is pretty common sense. It's not the best idea to paint over your 5 year old's sticky pudding fingerprints. Not that those ever show up on my cabinets... nope! Grease and dirt are not paint's friends.

5. Prime
According to the paint can's directions, I don't need to prime over painted surfaces (i.e. most of the cabinet doors), even though the existing paint is latex. In general, it's latex-over-oil that is a seriously bad idea. From what I've gathered, there are oil-based products that do need a primer to go over existing latex finishes because the two products flex and expand at different rates which can be a recipe for bad finish (oil is harder, latex more flexible) but it seems that most newfangled oil-based products are formulated to work over latex.

I used my regular oil-based primer on the nicks where the orange pine in its original glory was shining through. It's always a good idea to prime raw or unpainted surfaces before painting, plus my paint can told me to.

After it dried, I sanded the primer smooth. You should never skip sanding the primer because it dries with an unpleasant gritty finish, but after sanding it becomes quite literally one of the smoothest, most delightful things in the world. Am I a giant geek that I love the feel of sanded primer? It's like a baby's butt and my husband won't let me have more babies. I need to seek counseling.

(my crowded cabinets wait for open shelving to be built)

Now it's finally time to paint. A thorough prep job makes such a difference in the results, but I swear it ends up eating 75% of the project time. Not fun for impatient folks such as myself who are dying to slap some paint up and move on with their lives.

Update: Read about the paint I used and my tips for a great application!

Hacking IKEA Pendants

I stumbled across a blog post recently where a smart, smart lady had turned IKEA's Foto Pendant into a DIY barn light for over her kitchen sink and I said to myself, "self! $14.99 for a pendant is just the right price for your kitchen."

So that's what I did. An old neighbor of mine in Salt Lake traveled to Idaho this past weekend for a family function, and before making the trip she was kind enough to grab a couple pendant lights at IKEA for me -- what a gal, saving me seven hours of driving (and some unknown amount of money... IKEA is dangerous like that).

These pendants come with a plug so I had to have to flex my electrical muscles. And I'm mildly afraid of electricity so really I made my husband do most of it. Since he never works on house projects with me, it's secretly fun when I get to rope him into helping me out... quality time, you know.

In the interest of full disclosure, I also purchased a couple of ceiling canopy kits for about $6 each which brought the grand total to $21 a pendant. And since this was a little jury rigged, I also had to tie a fancy knot in the cord above the metal cross bar to keep the pendants at the right height, which means we assembled the light and the ceiling kit first, tied the knot in the cord and then my husband mounted the whole unit to the ceiling (as seen in the photos below). Lucky for us (him) this pendant weights next to nothing, so it wasn't a big deal.

I'm not 100% sold on the color I chose (Krylon's Ocean Breeze) as I was hoping it would be a little more muted. I think I might like Krylon's Catalina Mist on these, but then I'd have a pair of Catalina Mist pendants right next to a pair of Catalina Mist lamps, so maybe I should find a new color for those living room lamps before I do anything hasty! Or maybe spray paint companies need to come out with more colors. Just a thought. I like blue lights, okay?

For now though, they'll do! I like 'em, and $21 a pendant is well within my budget kitchen makeover plan. Now to just sort out that unfinished wall...