Work has begun on our kitchen/family room! This will be a much longer project than the last 3 rooms. I promise I will get photos of those almost finished rooms up as soon as everything is put away in it's place and I can actually see the rooms to take the photos and they are finished rooms instead of almost. It's okay, sometimes I have a hard time understanding me too.
Once again the first step for the room was scraping popcorn off the ceiling. I have to admit I could not do this one by myself. It had been painted, I think more than once. J came up and helped me out. Thank you so much!
(he saw this pic, laughed and said,
"camo must have been the dress code of the day but my hair forgot")
M had to repair cracks in the drywall in every corner of the big windows in the family room. The cracks happened during the move. M thinks the size of the windows created a bit of a weak spot. That's okay with me, it's just drywall and I love those big windows.
M can fix them,
when he's not plumbing or doing something else that involves grinding red dirt into a white tee shirt.
By the way these photos were taken through drywall dust. Could you tell?
We are so pleased that all the repairs we have had to make, have just been cosmetic repairs. When M eliminated the niche and actually dealt with the construction of the house he was totally impressed. He told me that the house was better constructed than any site built house he has ever worked on. For those of you who know him and know the amount of work he has done on homes, both ours and others, this is saying a lot. Though we love the house, it is much different than the house we had planned to build on this Hill. Finding out good things help to quell flitting thoughts of the dream gone.
The kitchen. The cabinets themselves are real wood and pretty decent.
They are in good shape except the finish is a little worn in spots.
This actually looks much worse in the photo than in person. In reality it just kind of looks like a dull spot. It must be the way the light hits the finishes, This photo is a much better representation of the color too. They really don't have the orangey oak color that shows up in the other photo.
My plan is to leave the cabinets as they are with just a few modifications. I will steel wool the surface of the cabinets, maybe wipe them down with a slightly different stain, and maybe glaze them. The maybes are what I want to try to do but this has to be tested first. Has anyone ever tried anything like this?
I'm just not sure exactly what I will do, because I really want to paint them. I know not everyone does, but I love painted cabinets. I've had these pics for awhile; it's kind of my Dream Kitchen. I really have Champagne tastes with a Sun Tea budget or maybe wine coolers. I just don't do beer.
At least I can dream about Champagne. Realistically, I know light colored, painted cabinets are not a good fit for our lifestyle. Think rural country living, lots of red dirt, an outdoorsy man and 5 dogs. Know what I mean? (a Joel phrase - every once in awhile I have to use it - almost a comfort thing) So I am trying to be practical and besides life is full of compromises. I'm a pro at compromise by now. I'm thinking if I make the cabinets just a bit different, update them a little I'll be fine with them. You know, do an HGTV thing.
The island/table thingy will be completely taken out and a new island put in eliminating the table thingy. It will be made from cabinets that we are recycling from M's grandmother's kitchen. Seating will be on the family room end and part of one side; around the corner type thing. That end will have legs or maybe corbels, I like them both. I want it to have a "furniture look" and am thinking about making it darker than the other cabinets. Maybe even black. A distressed brownish black. Something like these but with the cooktop in it.
The island/table thingy will be completely taken out and a new island put in eliminating the table thingy. It will be made from cabinets that we are recycling from M's grandmother's kitchen. Seating will be on the family room end and part of one side; around the corner type thing. That end will have legs or maybe corbels, I like them both. I want it to have a "furniture look" and am thinking about making it darker than the other cabinets. Maybe even black. A distressed brownish black. Something like these but with the cooktop in it.
See the depth of color in the wall and counter cabinets? That's what I'm wanting. The cabinets below actually look a lot like my cabinets.
When this is done we will install the countertops. I had been trying to find countertops that I liked that would have the flavor of Champagne but with the cost of Sweet Tea. I collected hundreds of samples. Seriously. But could not make a decision.
My #1 requirement? It had to camouflage coffee stains. Even though I don't drink coffee, I've lived with coffee all over countertops for almost 39 years now. Wet and dry. Cuz M is a messy coffee maker. That's okay though, I will wipe up his coffee and scrub his shirts because I think I've now given you a glimpse of what the man does pretty much every waking hour, and let's be honest. He does not care. He does not care what color the walls are, or if the cabinets are glazed, or if the island is rebuilt. But he will do it all with very little complaining. For me. The least I can do is wipe up his coffee. Right? After almost 39 years I even do it with a smile. Most of the time. Oh yeah, searching for countertops.......
Enter My Girl. Here she is, though she probably will not like me using this photo since it is several years, hair styles and 1 baby ago. But it's what I have. It's tough to get her in front of the camera, she tends to hide behind it.
She is absolutely awesome. Of course, I am a little biased. She's an outstanding mother. Her home is filled with laughter, music, dancing, little girl giggles and love. Lots of it. She's a fabulous cook and baker and is determined to have her girls experience through her hands what she experienced through her grandmothers' hands. For example, she is determined that her girls will not believe that pudding comes from a box, nor do pies, cookies etc. come from the store or deli. She does this, with them in the kitchen with her. Have I mentioned her patience?
I think most of you have seen her photographs. She can and does do so much it amazes me. Including homeschooling her Girlies and then finding the time to do things like paint rocks with them. Oh, and she wears aprons. Like MY Mother not hers.
She has another talent that is not known by all and certainly not appreciated by some. I think it is one of her best. She is a first class bargain hunter. Out of the blue one day she called me and told me about a 3 day sale she had found near her. She wasn't sure that they would have what I wanted but they did have lots of countertops and she just wanted to let me know. The catch? It had started that day. But I know her, and her sense of bargains is uncanny. So even though I would have to make the trip North and back South in the same day, (6 hours round trip - J had to have the car) I went. I am so glad I did. It was a Builder's/Manufacture's Left Over Sale. (don't remember the real name, but it really was a leftover sale)
They had countertops. Corian and granite countertops. I got Corian for my countertops for about $7.00 a square foot! This picture is the best I could do and it does not do it justice. It's kind of a pale mocha color with deep mocha speckling. The speckles are about 1/8-1/4 inch big. It is very pretty and I think it will blend with coffee stains quite well!
They also had a slab of already cut and partially finished granite just the right size (42"X84") for the island. For $70.00. This was an amazing piece of luck. A color I love, it looks great with the Corian, it was the right size AND it was cheap? This never happens to me! Again, the picture does not do it justice. It's a very deep, rich brown. Close to the color of semi-sweet chocolate with lighter veining, a few reddish purple veins and black speckling. It's gorgeous and coffee will never show on it.
Needless to say I was very excited about these purchases. I got Corian and granite countertops for LESS than I had budgeted for formica!
These bargains were purchased during the time of the Great Plumbing. As often happened then, I found myself heading to the orange home improvement store for yet another coupling, elbow or some such thing. I go to the orange store because it is closer than the blue store. I never go to either store without checking for things on my Need Stuff list. Just in case I come across a bargain. This time I found a "Special Buy" glass tile that I really liked and I thought it would look good in the kitchen.
A real need, because you can't cook without some sort of pretty backsplash. Right? I thought so, but not everyone around here agreed with me. The "Special Buy?" $4.95 a square foot. I would have liked to have found it cheaper but I bought it because I think I might have been pushing my luck not to. What doesn't show up in the picture is that some of the fine lines that look tan are actually greenish, almost the same color that I want to paint the walls and some of the dark ones have a purply cast similar to the color in the granite. These are all just hints of color, even in the granite so it's all still very neutral so I can use any color I want in there.
The tile looks great with the countertop,
It looks good with everything!
I'm really happy with all my bargains. It's easier to find bargains if you are flexible in your wants and I started shopping with no real vision of what I wanted. I just wanted the most bang for my buck, though I would not have bought it if I hadn't really liked it. For that reason I feel even more lucky that everything I've purchased looks great with somethings I already have. I'll show you that in Part 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment