And knobs like these on the cabinet doors...
Or I could go a bit less traditional and do something more funky like these...
Well, really I would do forks and spoons, not just spoons. I'm not sure I'm funky enough for forks and spoons though...but my children sure would get a kick out of them!
This is my kitchen...lots of oak and gold handles and oak...and more oak. Did I mention that I don't like oak? Now that we've expanded our family room (yes, I know I haven't posted "final" pictures of that!) and have a such a light and bright space with crisp white woodwork...well, the oak kitchen really doesn't flow with the space.
My plan for our kitchen is to put beadboard on all the exposed ends of the cabinets as well as in the flat panels on the cabinet insets. Crown moulding will go on the tops of the cabinets and trim will be added to the bottom edge of the top cabinets. Quarter round trim will go along the base of the cabinets to transition to the hardwood floor. Everything will be sanded and painted a crisp white.
First we removed the cabinet doors and everything in the cabinets on one side of the kitchen. Then I started sanding the cabinets while my husband started cutting beadboard. We clamped up the first big piece of beadboard to see what we thought...and we loved it! Now my husband was beginning to see my vision for the kitchen!
I kept sanding and my husband kept cutting. I sanded all the doors using a random orbital sander as well as sandpaper along the edges. I primed and painted the old hinges with spray paint as we're hoping to reuse them. We attached the beadboard to the cabinet sides and door fronts using Liquid Nails and then my husband used finish nails and a hammer to attach the crown moulding and other trim pieces. Right now the budget doesn't allow for the purchase of a nail gun and compressor, but that sure would have come in handy.
This is my husband's first time cutting crown moulding--I think he did a fantastic job! Oh and take a look at the countertop. We have laminate counters with oak trim (yes, more oak!) that we're trying to save. I taped off the edge and primed it...and it is looking like it will work.
At this point the cabinets have one coat of primer. I'll be priming them again before painting them with some high quality white latex paint that I bought from Benjamin Moore. I'm painting everything with a brush. We have a paint sprayer, but it isn't a very good one because we don't have an air compressor (that whole budget thing again) and I decided that sanding out drips from our cheapo paint sprayer would be a huge pain because of the beadboard. So far the brush is working really well!
The beadboard panels fit perfectly on the flat surfaces of our kitchen cabinets. The faces of the cabinet boxes stick out just a bit on the front--so on the corners of the cabinets the edges aren't even. Does that make sense? Here's a picture where you can see how the beadboard just nestles right in there.
Still a lot (a LOT!) of work to go, but I'm already thrilled with how much better our kitchen is looking. I really and truly love what we're doing to the kitchen! Stay tuned and I'll post more pictures as we continue with the process.
My Endless Summer Hydrangeas finally are in bloom! Oh how I love them!
They are taller than my 3 year old!
I just love seeing them in bloom. They're blooming earlier this year than usual because we have had a few spells of extra warm weather...although not today, that's for sure!
For more "small gifts of the everyday," visit Chatting at the Sky.
We had a busy weekend...mostly busy with the start of a HUGE project that I'll blog about later this week. H.U.G.E. !! We did, however, find some time to celebrate the Stars and Stripes!
Princess and Handsome made these adorable flag placemats and had so much fun doing it! I did the cutting and they did the gluing. After they dried, I sandwiched their flags in clear contact paper and, voila! Cute placemats!
They look great on the kitchen table with the cute and simple patriotic centerpiece. I filled my Ikea white pitcher with flags from the dollar section at Target.
I had a few spare flags, so after seeing this post from Shannon at Bless Our Nest, I decided to stick them in the flower pots on my front porch.
We had bbq hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner on July 4th, followed up with a patriotic dessert. It had to be a quick and easy dessert because I was *busy* working on my H.U.G.E. project all day. I sliced up some angel food cake and topped it with sliced strawberries, blueberries, and Cool Whip. My children were confused about the Cool Whip--I guess I've never given it to them before! Once they figured out that it is sweet, they were happy with dessert.
Happy 4th of July!
And I sold this set (our old set that was too small for us) for $100...
And I cleared more space in the garage by selling *two* of these rugs for $40 each--they've just been rolled up in the corner for five years now!
I'm happy to get this stuff out of here and thrilled to make some decent money off of it. Now our formal dining room is a playroom, I can *almost* get my car in the garage, and I've partially furnished our new addition without breaking the bank. Hooray for Craigslist!
Seeing their joy gives me joy.
You are one of God's most precious gifts and I love you more than words can say.
Jen of You're Gonna Miss This !! Congratulations, Jen! Please email me your address through my profile and I'll put your TJ Maxx giftcard in the mail to you.
Traci of Beneath My Heart !! Congratulations, Traci! Please email me your address through my profile and I'll put your Marshalls giftcard in the mail to you.
Speaking of giveaways...Glidden is giving away paint! Woo! You pick the color and they'll send you a quart of paint in eggshell finish. Who doesn't love free stuff?
