Not all primers are created equal

I have painted a good amount of furniture and my biggest complaint is that the paint often chips.  I have tried many different primers and approaches to painting but the end result is often the same...the paint chips.

And then I came accross this blog and decided to go ahead and try the bonding primer.  What did I have to lose, right?  I chose Valspar because I buy my pain from Lowe's.

It turns out bonding primer does actually bond pretty well to what you are painting.  So I knew that I would use it to repaint my cabinets.  The last thing I wanted was any chipping after all my hard work.

The process of painting the cabinets went like this:

1. clean cabinets
2. lightly sand the surpface with a 220 grit sand paper
3. wipe clean
4. paint with bonding primer using a small foam roller to avoid brush marks
5. let dry (dries fast)
6. 2nd coat
7. dry
8. and paint my white satin finish paint on the cabinets (2 coats)

Yes, decided to paint our white cabinets white again.  You just can't go wrong with white cabinets.

Check out how Young House Love paints their cabinets.

320 Sycamore also shares her tips for painting cabinets

kitchen budget

We have decided to keep our original cabinet to save some money and because they are solid wood and with the exception of needing some new paint in good condition.  This will save us a ton of money.  However we will be replacing the following:

1. countertops
2. tile backsplash
3. sink
4. cabinet harware

We will be adding the following to give our cabinets a more custom look:

1. crown molding to the top of the cabinets
2. beadboard to the side of the peninsula and a few accent areas
3. a new frame around the fridge

We will be doing all of this with a budget of ...............drumroll please........................

$1,500

Yes, only $1,500. 

You can save a lot of money doing your own work.

We are at it again

We bought this home when I was 6 months pregnant with my daughter.  She is now 2 years old.  In about three years we have managed to make over a dozen updates to our home and continue to work on it weekly.  As rewarding as it may be sometimes it feels like we will never stop working on our home.  Not to mention that having 3 children makes it hard to get much done around here but we do what we can, when we can.  Our last big project was the main bathroom in our home.  You can read about that here.

The truth of the matter is that we actually really enjoy (most of the time) remodeling our home and making it "ours".  A few months back we talked about making some updates to our kitchen but then as usual we got very busy and it was put off.  It wasn't until we had a dishwasher leak that required all new flooring that we realized that NOW is the time to work on the kitchen.

Cue....our next project.  The kitchen.

I'm gonna attempt to blog about the whole process.  I can't make any promises but this is my goal.  I'm often asked how we did something when it comes to remodeling and I find that many people think many simple projects are 'too big' or 'too hard' for them to do themselves so they put it off unti they have the money to pay someone and then it often doesn't get done, right?  Been there.  But have no fear.  If we can do it, so can you.

So let's get started.  Here is our kitchen before we moved in.  The previous owners' style was a little out of date for me but they kept a very tidy and clean kitchen.  Very impressive.

Here are two more views.

And here is our kitchen now.  As you can see we have already started some work (like removing some end caps at the end of the counter).  We also replaced all of the appliances.  I wish my counters were as clean as the previous homeowners. (sigh)

So there you have it.  The beginning of our kitchen remodel.

as if I have the time

I'll start this post off with a cute baby picture.

It's weird to say that he's now almost 8 weeks old.  Weird because it seems like we just brought him home but at the same time it's like he's always been a part of our family.  Does that make sense?

I am extremely busy these days with my three kiddos and feel like I spend all most of my time changing diapers and nursing the baby.  I keep reminding myself that soon enough he will be older and I will sleep again and hopefully have some time to do something other than change all these diapers.  After explaining how busy I am these days it's gonna sound crazy for me to now mention that I want to update our kitchen/dining area.

You see it all started when we bought this new dishwasher.

pretty, huh?

Our old dishwasher was on it's way out and when this dishwasher went on sale a couple weeks back we took it as a sign and jumped on the deal.  I'm excited to say we have now replaced all the appliances in this house.

Ok. so back to my never ending story...

 Getting a new dishwasher had me thinking it was time to start  thinking about finally updating our kitchen.  I wish I had a current picture handy of our kitchen but I have a sleeping baby in my arms and won't be getting up anytime soon.  Nothing super major but just some fresh updates to make it ours.  I was thinking some new paint on the cabinets, new lighting, some curtains, new dining chairs, and maybe a new countertop.  And then I came across this picture.

And I heard angels singing. 

Ok, there were no angels but I fell in love with this kitchen from the blog the lettered cottage.  I love so much about it that I don't want to waste your time breaking it all down.  I shared it with my husband and he didn't object loved it too so it looks like we are gonna use this picture as our motivation for some of our kitchen updates.  There are a few things I'd change so that the kitchen flows more with the rest of the house though.  Probably use some darker colors that match our rung under our dining table giving the kitchen a warmer feeling.

So there you have it.  My post about a beautiful kitchen update that I may never have time for but enjoy dreaming about anyways.

the never ending dining room project

I think the title just about covers it. As you know, we have been working our butts off trying to make our new house a home that fits our style and needs. We haven't really finished any rooms completely yet but I kinda expected that there would still be small things to add as I go. Our recent transformation was on our dining area. Here is what it looked like before. The purple paint, wood trim, and grape wallpaper border just doesn't stand out in this first picture cause it was a dreary day when these were taken but this second one gives you a better idea. You can click on the photos to see them bigger. The house had a woodsy country feel to it for sure.

And yes, the blinds are a sea foam green color. Where the previous owners got them is beyond me.

Here is another picture taken right after we moved in with their paint and our furniture.
Here is what it looked like this morning, Please excuse the box and hammer.

It's clearly still in the process but I am soooo happy with the direction it's moving in. We hung up some art that my husband painted when he was just a kid. Cool, huh?


And we still need something for that big open wall. My husband is leaning towards artwork and I am leaning towards a floating shelf with some doo dads. We'll probably meet in the middle.

Our other dilemma is what color of shades/ blinds to buy to replace the sea foam green ones. We are trying to decide between white wooden blinds and a bamboo roman shade. The problem is that we can't find the right size of the roman shade that will fit both the dining and the kitchen window (not pictured).

The kitchen is also coming along but will probably be something we finish next year. Kitchens are just so expensive to redo and so time consuming. Time is something I am short on with the baby coming. However, we did get this baby to start the replacement process of our appliances.

Never mind the half painted wall. This is an older picture taken before all the finger prints could stick to my new stainless stove.

Well, that is about all I got for now. I wish I had redecorating fairies working around the clock to get it all done but it's just my husband and I and the bigger I get the less help I am these days. Plus I need to focus on getting things ready for the baby.