Our Kitchen Makeover on a Budget (Phase 1)

I am finally going to show you the progress we have made in our kitchen! First, I want to give a few disclaimers. These aren't true "after shots" because we aren't finished with the kitchen but are taking a break from it for now to work on about forty million other projects in the house so I thought I would show you where we are at now. I am currently mid-way through making over the dining room, entry way, hall closet and powder room so about half of our downstairs is kind of a construction zone but at least now the kitchen, family room and den are tidy and presentable. And when you walk upstairs everything is still all a mess except for Lillie and Lola's room (which I shared last week). I have finally made some decisions on the direction I want to go in the other bedrooms so I am excited to start working on them once we get the rest of the downstairs a little more under control.

The second we walked into the kitchen when we first saw this house we loved the open concept and the wood floors. Other than that I don't think there was anything else we were crazy about. I would have loved to remodel the entire kitchen but seeing how we plan on completely gutting the master bath and expanding it and there are quite a few other projects to do in every single room we knew we it would be smarter financially to work with what we had in the kitchen and stick with just brightening it up and updating it vs. completely overhauling it. If we completely overhauled it that would mean no master bathroom updating and the master bath needed it a lot more than the kitchen so it was an easy decision. For this first phase we pretty much just replaced the appliances and hired a wonderful contractor to help us with building the hood. He also fixed up the ceiling and beam area where we pulled down the upper cabinets that divided the room. Other than that it was pretty much just painting and replacing the lighting and hardware!

For phase two we plan on replacing the counters and adding a new farmhouse style sink and new faucet and adding a nice backsplash. When we add the new counters we are going to have them overhang on the peninsula so we can add some counter height stools which I am really looking forward to. I cannot wait to do all that but seeing how we are going to be working on other parts of the house before we come back to the kitchen and finish it up it might be a little while before we make those changes.  I'll keep you all posted.

For now though here is what we've done:

Pretty much as soon as we got unpacked we got to work on this space seeing how we spend by far the most time in here. My parents came to visit the night after we moved in and my mom got right to work scrubbing down the kitchen cabinets. I cannot even begin to tell you how disgusting they were. I actually have a photo of one of the cabinets that I will show you later in the week when I do a full post breaking down how we painted the cabinets (this is the third set of kitchen cabinets along with plenty of bathroom cabinets that I've done and I've done them all a bit differently and learned several things the hard way - haha).  Anyway, I owe her big time for that because it was a pretty awful job. Then we all went to a family wedding in NC and my parent's returned home and Jon's mom and dad arrived and we got right to work painting. Jon's mom helped me with all of the priming and painting in here. With both of us working all day (between the two of us we were practically working around the clock - she would get started each day around 8 and I was finished up around 4am) it took us about 4 days. The actual cabinets themselves were not that time consuming - they probably only took about ten hours or so I would guess. It was all the trimwork, the fireplace, and windows and doors that took so long. I can't imagine having done it without her. I've done all the rest of the painting and projects in the house on my own (I've been working on the entry way which includes several doors and of course the dreaded staircase for over a week now!) and have to say it was so much more enjoyable painting with a partner! I am so grateful for both my mom and mother-in-law's help in transforming this kitchen. And my dad and father-in-law too - although neither of them did any painting they helped with a million other things!

I replaced the black frames on the chevron art for thicker white ones however they hung lower so they look a little off in these photos. The night after I took all the photos I moved the nail a little higher up on the chevron so the white frames are now nicely centered. I still need to distress the white a little so it isn't so bright but I'll get to that eventually. I also plan on painting the table a darker gray color but I'm also thinking about building a smaller farmhouse table for in here so I'm holding off until I decide for sure what I am going to do.

I ended up moving the mirror back above the mantel and I think that's where it's going to stay.

I originally was really torn on whether or not I was going to paint my cabinets white or light gray. Once we decided to hold off a little on replacing the counters (and therefore the backsplash) it helped me to pull the trigger with the light gray that way we could leave the walls white and it would help hide the dated backsplash - especially the weird part above the stove. If we painted the cabinets white I would paint the walls gray and with the backsplash in it's current state it would have made it really stand out which would not have been so attractive. Once the microwave was removed it left a weird patch where there was old wallpaper and some bumped out wood pieces so the easiest thing to do to hide all that for now was to just put a piece of beadboard and just wedge it in there to hide all the mess that's behind it. The big piece of Corian behind the stove with the beadboard above it drives me crazy right now but at least because it's all white it's not too noticeable until you are up close. I can't wait until we get ride of all that and do counters that have no backsplash and do subway tile. At that point I may switch and paint the cabinets and trim white but until then I am happy with how this all looks and how the white walls make the strangeness behind the stove not stand out too much. I am not sure why but in this picture below the white Corian below the beadboard looks similar to the gray on the cabinets. In reality it's more of a white - or was once upon a time many years ago, white. =)

I love this little basket from my sweet friend, Allie. It has wheatgrass in it now but also has been fun to use for holding our silverware.

Here is the old piece of furniture that I turned into an island cart I showed you in this post. However as I mentioned last week we've been playing musical furniture quite a bit over here.

And right now we have this more industrial looking one in here. Although, as I mentioned in the other post neither of them are really quite what I am looking for. =)

Just this afternoon I hung our first chalkboard canvas in that bare space between the end of the cabinets and french doors. I can't wait to get that photographed.

And yes, I still need to paint and wax the legs on our sectional and add a rug and recover the ottoman... and on and on it goes...haha!

And one last before and after shot:

Source List (for both kitchen and family room):

Cabinet and Trim Color: London Fog in Semi-Gloss
Wall Color: was here but very similar to Simply White in Matte
All appliances are Whirlpool and were purchased at Lowe's during their Memorial Day Sale
Flush Mount Drum Shade Fixture - Lowe's
Pendants - These were a hand-me-down from my mom and they worked perfectly in here
*update - my mom gave me the info on them: Kichler Seaside Nautical Dome Light from Bellacor.com

Wood Topped Island Cart - read more about it here
Metal Island Cart - IKEA
Circular Mirror - Antique Farmhouse (from my sister, Dana)
Oversized Clock - Joss and Main
Metal Baskets - Joss and Main
Dishes - Emma Collection from Pottery Barn
Chocolate Cups and Saucers - L. A. Burdick (from my sister, Jamie)
Canisters - Williams-Sonoma
Three-Tiered Wire Basket - Collections at Laurel and Grove in Peterborough, NH
Table - Pier 1 years ago and has since been painted
Dining Chairs - IKEA
Sectional - IKEA
Chevron Picture Frames - tutorial here
Pillows - Home Goods, Target, Dear Lillie
Tufted Chairs - TJMaxx
Script Chairs - TJMaxx
Painted Cabinet - makeover here
TV Console - Antique shop in Camden, SC
Frames above chairs - tutorial here
You Are My Sunshine Print - Dear Lillie
Runner - Home Decorator's Collection
Sconces - RH Baby and Child
Mirror - Restoration Hardware
Rocking Horse - RH Baby and Child
Floating Shelves - Target
Urns on Fireplace - Seasons in Williamsburg (years ago on clearance)

I'll be back again soon as we have several new products to share and also I will be doing a full post dedicated to painting cabinets.

I hope you all are having a fabulous week!

Making Over a Chandelier with Chalk Paint

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! Tonight I wanted to show you a quick makeover we did on an outdated chandelier. We actually have ordered our new chandelier for our dining room which should be coming in the next week or two. When I was painting the dining room, though, we hadn't made a decision yet on what chandelier we were going to order and I knew once I got the walls painted staring at this brass chandelier was going to be distracting from the paint job so I figured it would be fun to give it a quick makeover so it didn't stand out so much in the newly painted room. I remembered that Amy from Maison Decor had updated a chandelier a while ago with chalk paint so figured it couldn't hurt to try it on this one. If it went awry it wouldn't matter too much seeing how we were taking it down anyway, and if it worked well then I would be able to possibly use this technique on the sconces in our powder room (the powder room is the next project after I finish up the entryway - we already have the new toilet installed and new vanity top, sink and faucet ordered so now I just have to make a decision on wallpaper and then paint the sconces, trim, door and current vanity base, and then switch out the mirror and do a little decorating).

Here is the chandelier we had to start with:

The first thing I did was paint on some of the Annie Sloan paint in Paris Gray from the lovely Karla at Lady Butterbug.  I figured it was going to go on fairly easily but I have to say it went on even easier than I anticipated. I added a second coat once it was dry just to ensure all of the brass was covered.

After that I just rubbed on the wax and switched out the bulbs for more delicate looking ones and that was it - so easy! I didn't even take it down from the ceiling! Because I knew it was just a temporary fix I didn't put a whole lot of effort into getting the detailed parts perfect. I have to say it was relatively quick and easy project and such an inexpensive way to modernize an older light fixture!

The girls wanted me to add some "sparkles" which was a fun little touch but I have to admit I took them down after a day and fortunately they didn't notice. =)

We've still got a lot to do in here but here's a little peek at the new paint on the walls and trim. I like the clock better in here than in the den although it may make one more move to the entry way when I am finished painting in there. Or it may end up staying in here but I will wait and see where it looks better once the walls in the entry way are painted - we shall see. More musical furniture. =)

 

If you are looking to purchase some Annie Sloan chalk paint I highly recommend ordering it through Karla at Lady Butterbug. She has been such a pleasure to work with and I am looking forward to ordering some more colors once I find some furniture pieces for the dining room and entryway! 

Have a fabulous week! I plan on being back tomorrow with lots of photos of the progress we've made so far on the kitchen.

Making over our Kitchen Cart

When we first saw the kitchen in our new house I was hoping we would be able to add an island. After we went back to visit the house a few more times and took measurements I realized we really weren't going to be able to fit a real one. Shortly after we moved in we put this kind of random bookshelf type piece of furniture up against the wall in our kitchen. This was one of the pieces I had been hoping to get rid of once we had settled in. I purchased it for about $20 back for my first apartment post-college and gave it a quick coat of white paint. It made it with us to our first apartment after we got married and then came along to each of our first two homes. I never really liked the piece that much but it just kind of hung around. I kept things like my cook books on the shelves and it was fun decorating the top. It was a functional piece but I always thought it was a little blah looking. When we were painting the kitchen I moved it away from the wall into the center of the kitchen so we could paint the trim and realized that it actually fit nicely size-wise as kind of an island type kitchen cart. However, it was several inches too short and not that easy to move around. At first I started looking for a piece similar in size that had a more industrial feel to it but couldn't find anything reasonably priced except for an IKEA one that was okay, but I didn't love (although ironically I did end up getting it to try and that is what is in our kitchen right now as I am typing this which I will explain about in a minute).  Although I found a few pieces that had the look I was going for they were quite expensive so I decided to see if I could transform this piece seeing how it was the right length and depth.

The first thing I did was strip the paint off the top of the piece. I brushed all the gel on and then waited a few minutes for it to do it's magic.

For some reason I kind of like seeing how all the paint starts bubbling up like this. Once it was ready I just used a scraper and scraped it all off. It took two coats of the stripper but wasn't too difficult of a process. 

Once that was done I sanded the top down. You can see the difference from the left where I had already sanded and the right side that I had not started on yet.

Then I used this stain in the color "Provincial" and stained the top. I didn't seal it because we will just be using it as a storage piece and won't be doing any food prep on the island. We have plenty of counterspace for that. 

That after that I put a fresh coat of paint on it. I used Shenandoah Taupe because I had plenty of that leftover from a previous project from our old house. Then I added a little hook for dish towels and that was it for the main part.

The extra part was adding wheels to help give added height. I have no advice on how to put those on though. I had no idea what I was doing. I should have taken the time to look online for some kind of tutorial but I figured it couldn't be that hard. Well, it was a pain in the neck and honestly I tried a bunch of different things and although I did finally get them I have to say it was a mix of a bunch of random different things I tried. Next time I will take the time to do a little research first. =) The good news is they helped add a nice amount of height. 

It's hard to tell in this photo but the island is several shades darker than the cabinets and trim. I will be showing our full kitchen early next week and also will be doing a post on the things I've learned about painting cabinets and how we painted ours and what we used and all that good stuff.

It certainly is starting to look brighter in our home now! This is what that angle looked like when we moved in:

The cart lasted in the kitchen for several weeks. I had purchased the inexpensive metal IKEA one before I made this one over and was torn on whether I should still try and put it together and use it out on our porch. Seeing how we moved the farmhouse table that was out on the porch into the dining room we just have a small round table out there now and I thought it would be nice to have a place to kind of act as a serving piece out there to keep all the food on when we were eating at the small table during these summer evenings on the porch. I decided to go ahead and put the IKEA one together and when I did I ended up thinking it would still be fun to try it out in the kitchen. Although I like this one here I do think it made our kitchen a little more "country" looking than I was hoping. I tried the IKEA one and Jon liked it better so for now we are keeping that metal one in the kitchen (you can see that one in the photographs I will be sharing on Monday) and we moved this one to the dining room for now seeing how it's pretty bare in there. I've been on the hunt on Craigslist and in our thrift stores and antique shops here for a sideboard to fix up and once I do then we will either move this to the porch or move it back to the kitchen and move the metal one to the porch. It's been kind of a musical chairs game here except with dining room tables and kitchen carts. Pretty confusing, I know! But anyway, for now as I am typing this up the cart is temporarily in our dining room.

Well enough on that! I plan on being back next with a little makeover I did to the brass chandelier in our dining room. I hope you have a blessed rest of the week!

Lillie and Lola's New Room (Not Quite Finished But Getting There!)

Although I still have a few more projects I'd like to do in here, Lillie and Lola's room is almost finished! The two main projects I have left to do in here are upholstering their headboards to they look a little less shabby chic and I may possibly monogram them. And then making little benches for the ends of their beds. I also would like to add a little interest to their drapery panels. Other than that though I am pretty much done. It sure feels nice to have one space feel pretty completely. We are making quite a bit of progress on the downstairs but this is the only room we have touched so far upstairs.

Here are some "before" shots next to how it currently looks:

 

The girls really wanted a bright pink room. I didn't really want to paint the walls bright pink so I thought doing a wallpaper with bright pink flowers and lots of bright pink accents throughout the room would still make the room feel very bright and very pink but still be something that I would like too. I have to say I love it now as much as they do!

We sell both these prints in our shop and the beautiful shoes are from our newest sponsor, Joyfolie!

Dana gave this little piggy bank to Lillie a few years ago - maybe for her first birthday?

Lillie has an owl and Lola has a pig that they sleep with every night from their best friend's Chloe and Bayley.

On this wall we just tacked up two pieces of string and Lillie has been regularly changing out the artwork.

The chandelier was a gift from my mom and dad when I was pregnant with Lillie and doing her nursery so it made the move with us.

We spray painted this old birdcage that I got seven years ago at an antique shop and also fixed it up a little (it had been pretty neglected the last few years out on our back porch). I didn't do the best job protecting the floor in the garage so now it is dusted in a nice coat of bright pink. The girls think it's pretty but let me just say it is not! Then I used some leftover wallpaper to very quickly make this "racing flag" as Lillie calls it.

 

Here is the Source List:

Wall Color: Glass Slipper in a matte finish by Benjamin Moore

Trim Color: Simply White in a semi-gloss finish by Benjamin Moore

Rug: Pottery Barn Kids (during a sale this summer - I would have preferred the larger size but because of the price difference went with the smaller option)

Wallpaper: PiP Birds in Paradise in White  -  Ordered online from Decorate to Go - Was a bit of a splurge for me so that was why I only did one wall but I LOVE it!

Square and Bolster Pillows: I made using fabric and trim from Hancock Fabrics

Bedding: Pine Cone Hill - or at least I think (have had for six or seven years)

Vintage Chair and Desk: White Home Market 

Mirror: Pottery Barn (about six years ago)

Headboards: Target (about five years ago)

Large Pictures Frames: made using this tutorial here

Dresser: Craigslist

Pig and Owl: Pier 1

Shoes: Joyfolie

Drapery Panels: IKEA

Drapery Rods: Lowe's 

Piggy Bank: Target

Crown: made here

Carousel Print: can be purchased here

You are My Sunshine Print: can be purchased here

I hope you all are having a great week!