finishin' the kitchen

I'll finally have some pictures of the finished kitchen for you guys in the next couple weeks. We're going tomorrow to buy the bead board for the back splash from Home Depot. Then we'll work on getting it put into place.

But to hold you over until the final reveal of the kitchen being completely finished (on one side! still gotta work on the floor to ceiling cabinets and window seat as mentioned here) I figured I'd go ahead and show you the process of painting the cabinets from white to navy blue.

This is what they looked like originally, before the paint. You can also see the old countertops in this picture too.



One thing I learned thanks to internet searching is to put a pushpin at all four corners of the cabinet doors before painting so that they don't stick to whatever you lay them on, for example news paper or plastic sheets or whatever you choose to use.






First I primed them with KILZ primer. I did two coats of primer, after cleaning them. Most people use a special cleaner before painting cabinets but I didn't have anything like that, so I just used Windex and paper towels. This is after two coats of primer.



It says on the can to let it dry for 30 minutes in between each coat but I waited about an hour in between, just to be sure it was dry. Then I started painting with the color I picked Deep Blue Sea by Behr. This is after one coat I think. I did three.



This is after I finished painting the final coat of the blue. It was still wet in this picture, which is why it's so shiny.



Annnd this is the finished product. I figured I'd go ahead and show you the new counter tops too. If you look at the walls behind the sink area, under the top cabinets, which I also painted a light grey color & the wall behind the stove, that is where the bead board will be going. I'll probably be painting that white.



Here is a wider view of the kitchen. The bead board will be behind the fridge & oven as well.



We got the counter at Ikea, of course. You can check it out on their website here. The countertops are also a greyish silver color. They match everything so perfectly. I was originally going to do a dark wood countertop but once I saw these, I changed my mind instantly because the color was perfect! I'm really happy with these countertops. They are SO EASY to keep clean!! I'm very happy with them.

If you have any questions about this process at all, feel free to ask me about it!

Befores & Afters

I decided before I do the big reveal of my new living room/dining room I'd share a few before & afters of a couple things I painted to match my new living room/dining room. First up is an old wood cabinet that I got from one of Paul's friends. I got it about 2 or 3 years ago and it pretty much just sat with the same things inside it in the same place. Mostly just wedding goodies & baseball memorabilia. I knew right from the beginning of designing my LR/DR that I wanted to keep it & paint it & really spiff it up a bit.

Here are some befores....



First I pulled the backing off by prying the nails out of the sides with a spackle thingy (I'm not good with terms, ok?) & also a hammer, which isn't pictured since that takes two hands. Ha!


Here is the back of it after I got it off. Ready for the fabric I wanted to use as a background.


This is the fabric I chose at JoAnn's. It was $34.99 a yard! I know, cray cray! But thankfully my mom gave me two 40% off coupons so it was allll good.


This is the adhesive that I used. I just sprayed the back board like crazy & then laid the fabric onto it & pressed it down into place, then hot glued the corners down so nothing was sticking out.


Here she is! All pretty!




Isn't she preeeetty? :) I love it!

Up next is a lamp I found at a local thrift store for 3 bucks. She was ugly & purple which to me is the worst color in. the. world. Yes, ever. HAAATE it. Anyway.





Here she is all primed & ready for paint! I decided I wanted to paint her a light yellow. Because yellow makes me happy. :)




This is with two coats of yellow paint. I did three or four.




Annnd here she is all finished! Light on. I don't know why the yellow looks so BRIGHT but the yellow I chose is actually a very light yellow, it's really pretty. The actual color is probably closer to the pictures above when I was still in the painting faze.


Lights off. Still looks SUPER bright but, like I said, it isn't this crazy of a yellow. It's the lighting I think.


And lastly a close up of the lamp shade that I picked up at IKEA. I think it's perfect for this lamp. It's so pretty on my yellow lamp. :)



That's all for now. I'll be posting pictures of the big reveal of my LR/DR in a week or so after my wall decal gets here. It's coming from Hong Kong sooo yeah I gotta wait! When I get that on the main wall, you'll get pictures, promise! Until then, hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Hopefully some of you comment! I'd love to hear... err see what you think! ;)