Blog Archives

Our DIY Kitchen Remodel

Posted by Susan @ Uniquely Yours or Mine

I’m so excited to be able to not only finally share our kitchen remodel with you, but to also just be D-O-N-E!! I I think that the progression from concept to completion went very smoothly with only a few tweaks (tile and range hood) in the overall original design. I’m also very sure that I will want my cabinets in any future home setup like this, with open cabinetry below closed cabinetry, it just works so well for all of us and no extra dusting required!

So here is where we started (that’s the home inspector at the island), my hubby took photos of the house as he was inspecting it. What we have is a nice, open, good sized kitchen just not exactly what we wanted.

The first stage for us was replacing the can lights for pendant lights, new fridge, microwave, sink, faucet, dishwasher and updating and painting the island.

Stage two was the easiest and quickest, installing marble subway tile backsplash…

It remained like this for just over 2 years, but I always knew that painting the cabinets was next…

The third stage was to update and paint the butlers pantry, it was also my “test” for the kitchen cabinet paint color (Benjamin Moore White Dove).

Then FINALLY the last stage, raising the original cabinets to the ceiling, making new open cabinets to install below, adding decorative molding, installing more tile above stove and sink window, installing new range hood and adding a decorative cabinet above stove and fridge and painting all of the cabinets and installing new hardware… WHEW that was a mouthful and I’m pretty sure a run-on sentence!!

I hand painted (with a combination of foam roller and soft bristle brush) with Benjamin Moore’s Advance paint line all of the cabinet boxes and trim, but I spray painted the doors in the garage. I always follow the same routine, clean the cabinets with Formula 409, fill imperfections, lightly sand, wipe down with tack cloth, spray prime, sand, clean, spray paint color and repeat as many times as necessary. I sprayed 4 coats on each door side, letting them sit for 24 in between each coat and a week before I flipped them from the back to the front (always paint the back first). The final finish looks great!

The molding I added is the same we added to the island and helps disguise where the 2 cabinets are connected.

So much easier to access glassware and everyday dishes now!

We love our new hood, it works so much better than the microwave vent and because it is mounted much higher than the microwave was it helps open that space up.

My one small decorated area…

The wall color in the kitchen is Benjamin Moore Chelsea Grey.

Some before and after comparisons for you…

Well that’s it! No more phases left to do, whew!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this walk-thru of our kitchen renovation!

My Newly Raised and Organized Kitchen Cabinets

Sep 8

Posted by Susan @ Uniquely Yours or Mine

So you may know we went through a kitchen cabinet overhaul where we raised the original cabinets to the ceiling and added an additional open cabinet to the bottom of the original cabinets…

This setup works extremely well for the way we want our kitchen to function! The everyday dishes and glasses are in the open shelving area where they are quickly and easily put away and retrieved. The original raised cabinets are now setup for basically anything that doesn’t fall into the everyday category. However my 5’5” frame can only reach the first shelf in the old cabinets now so this is the main issue that was taken into consideration when I was re-organizing the shelves.

This most likely might sound a tad anal retentive, but I started with a list (because who doesn’t love a good list) of the different categories of items I had to organize, for example…

wine glasses (why do I have so many… OMG I am such a lush )
Casserole dishes
Storage containers
Everyday dishes
“Fancy” china
“Fancy” water glasses
Misc. drinking cups

Anyway, you get the point… I think I had about 15 line items that I needed to deal with and rather than start to randomly put the items away and then decide I needed to move them or that I forgot something I created a very crude cabinet diagram and worked on placement of the items by numbering each line item and then placing that number on the cabinet they were to go in. It took a little more upfront time, but when I went to put everything away the job went very smoothly.

Just some of our many, many wineglasses… also all of our china fit on the top 2 corner cabinet shelves, you know the shelves you always loose stuff in anyway!!!

I mean the cabinets almost look bare, maybe I need more ice cream bowls…

This entire area (top and bottom cabinets) is dedicated to drinks, coffee, soda stream, tea etc.

Our one display area in the kitchen, which I love and hopefully I won’t have to clean too often…

And look we even have the new range hood installed!

I can’t even tell you how much I love my new ceramic knife holder from Williams & Sonoma… it is super cool with its Kapoosh insert and I think it looks way better than the traditional wood knife block!

By the way remember the time I totally broke the glass stove top to pieces…

Well come to find out you can just replace the glass, which my hubby and I did as it is totally a DIY job. Yes, I would have LOVED to have purchased a new top, but finding one that fit the exact dimensions of the granite opening proved to be impossible very difficult. The Jenn-Air glass replacement top I bought online and it cost just a tad over $300, about 1/4 of what I would have had to spend to replace it.

I organized the cabinets based more on how often I would need to use the item more so then where I would use it. So for example all of my china and extra wine glasses went way up on the uppermost shelves. Where it would make sense for most people to have their casserole dishes near the oven (where ours were originally) I put ours in one of the base cabinets near the island because we use them quite frequently. I still have quite a few empty shelves, but everything is put away and I have only had to get the step stool out once in 3 weeks so I think the setup is working great so far!

As far as finishing the kitchen I just started spray painting the cabinet doors so once done the kitchen will be finished… whew hew!!! I took a few weeks off, some due to weather, but quite a bit due to procrastination on my part… but I’m getting it done now and if I never have to paint another set of kitchen cabinets I will consider myself a lucky girl!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Posted in Decorations, Design, DIY, Home Improvement, Interior Design, Louisville Kentucky, Refinishing

1 Comment

Tags: cabinet design, cabinet organization, diy, kitchen, kitchen design, organized kitchen, painting kitchen cabinets, Raising kitchen cabinets, range hood

Updating, raising and painting kitchen cabinets

Jul 25

Posted by Susan @ Uniquely Yours or Mine

I know that there are a bunch of cabinet painting posts out there where it only took a couple of days to paint the cabinets… well that is clearly not how fast my project is going. Now I will say that I knew going in to this project that it would take a lot of time, be messy, tedious and pretty much a pain in the ass, but if I wanted painted cabinets I was going to have to suck it up, put on my big girl panties and get started!

So you know I finished the butler’s pantry a couple of month’s ago… which I am so happy with!

Then I took a little beginning summer break and me and my hubby started working on raising the kitchen cabinets and adding open lower cabinets. So our kitchen currently looks like this, nope I didn’t even straighten it up for you, no glamour shots here… but I can see how much I’m going to love the finished product already!

I removed all of the dishes from the cabinets and all of our everyday dishes are temporarily housed in the butler’s pantry, everything else is laid out on the dining room table… it looks like I’m getting ready to have a rummage sale in there and I’ll have to wash everything that’s there when I’m done due to all of the dust I’m creating…

The cabinet below was a H-U-G-E pain in the arse for my hubby to build, but I think he did a fabulous job and I love the fact that it is one large cabinet rather than 3 individual pieces, it will give us so much flexibility for the space. He also added an electrical outlet in it in case we want to put a microwave or something else in the cabinet.

As much as I know my hubby would love to be done with the cabinet making part of this project he still has a rather simple one to add to the top of the stove and refrigerator space. We also added a wire from the under cabinet lights to this area so that it can be lit at the same time. This will be the only area in the kitchen cabinets where I will have decorative items, all of the other open cabinetry is for everyday dishes, glasses etc.

We also changed our mind on the range hood and decided to install this hood instead of a custom wood surround.

I think that the black of the hood in combination with our black island cabinets will be a very nice contrast to all of the white cabinets. So we had to remove some drywall, install a 2×4 support and shift the electrical over so that it will be hidden by the hood as well. When we were done we just patched the area with 1/2” plywood and I will patch and prime the entire area in preparation for the tile. Yet another scope creep item, we will be installing the tile backsplash all of the way up to the ceiling behind the hood… did we need to do this, no, but will it look better if we do… yes, I think it will look stunning!

So I’m slowly working on adding trim to the sides of the cabinets, caulking, filling and priming, in general I’m having no fun, but it’s better than being outside in the hot muggy hotness that has decided to reside over the Louisville area for weeks!!!

I will (eventually) be painting the interiors of the open cabinets the same color as cabinets themselves, but I’m pretty sure I will be using paper or fabric as a removable colorful backdrop in them.

Just so you can see a comparison to where we were before we started this project and today, it’s getting there slowly but surely!

What you can’t feel is the sense of height that raising the cabinets to the ceiling gives you when you walk into the kitchen, it just seems so much more grand for some reason, I love it! Obviously getting to the top shelves will require a step stool, but I am planning on storing all of my china and rarely used dishes and cookware on the highest shelves so that I will rarely have to get anything down from there. Well I guess I have stalled long enough from working on the kitchen… better get back to work and get this project done!

Until next time!

Posted in Design, DIY, Home Improvement, Interior Design, Louisville Kentucky

4 Comments

Tags: diy, Home, home improvement, home renovation, kitchen, kitchen cabinets, kitchen design, kitchen renovation, kitchen updates, modifing kitchen cabinets, open shelving kitchen, painting kitchen cabinets

A few thoughts on scope creep

May 20

Posted by Susan @ Uniquely Yours or Mine

Wikipedia defines scope creep as: in project management refers to uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in a project’s scope. This can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered harmful. (I underlined that last little statement just for emphasis.)

My definition of scope creep: necessary changes made to ones plans in order to achieve a better overall plan, or to increase function and custom look.

My husbands definition: Additional work that Susan deems “necessary” but in reality is a nice to have not a need… also this usually means more work, more money and a longer timeline for the project. In addition I completely concur with Wikipedia’s final sentence “it is generally considered harmful”, however, we usually end up doing it and the end result is worth it.

SO… I did confer with my Hubby about the scope creep in the kitchen as originally I was just painting cabinets and replacing cabinet hardware, but I had a thought one day while sitting at the island enjoying my lunch. You see I like the idea of open shelving in the kitchen, just not the function of keeping it all nice, neat, clean and overall perfect looking. What I do like about it is the ease of getting the item you need or putting something back in its place quickly, so nice right?! So my plan is to raise the cabinets to the ceiling and add an open cabinet/box under the cabinets in order to have the best of both worlds. Similar to this but without the bead board back.

I much prefer this look to open shelving as to me it has a decidedly more professional, cohesive and finished look to it.

The main issues with this plan is that we also have to reinstall the under cabinet lighting, install a ceiling mount speaker to replace the wall mount one and build about 5 boxes. Not too big of a deal right?

The other areas I wanted to “fix” are where the TV is located, just totally looks junky to me.

And the microwave over the stove (just don’t personally care for the look).

I found this idea while browsing kitchen cabinet photos and thought it was genius! Now I don’t want my cabinet to come all the way down to the countertop, but the general idea seems perfect for me!

The main issues with this plan is that we have to move the cable outlet, remove the corner cabinet and build a custom one to take its place and add an outlet for the TV and microwave.

The third (and hopefully last) update is to add a hood over the stovetop and make a custom range hood, similar to this…

Which is a TOTAL DIY project that Jill over at the Rozy Home wrote up a step-by-step tutorial for and I just think is drop dead gorgeous and cheap to boot at only $65 for the project!!!

The main issues with this plan is that we need to buy a new stovetop vent and make the hood.

So overall I’m thrilled with the new plans for the kitchen and I think the changes will make it more efficient and give it a much more current and custom look. Plus I really like the idea of having the best of both worlds with both closed and open storage in the kitchen.

As you can see in the photo below that I have already finished updating the base cabinets and I am just starting the process of getting the upper cabinet doors ready to paint.

I’m hoping that my Hubby and I will try and move up one of the upper cabinets this weekend so that I can live with it at that height for a while. At only 5’5 I’m certainly not tall so I’d really like to see how the cabinets will function before I commit to the project. Also, I’d need to do some rearranging of items so if I have any pieces I need to get to with any regularity I can do so without getting out the step stool! This needs to work more efficiently not less…

In closing I’d like to say that I look at scope creep as inevitable and plan for it in my plan as part of the plan, does that make sense? What about you? Are you a stick to the plan person or do you feel like scope creep is inevitable as well?

Thanks so much for stopping by…

Posted in Design, DIY, Home Improvement, Interior Design, Louisville Kentucky

5 Comments

Tags: adding open shelving to kitchen, custom kitchen cabinets, home improvement planning, kitchen design, kitchen renovation, painting kitchen cabinets, raising kitchen cabinets to ceiling, scope creep, upgrade kitchen cabinets

Kitchen cabinets and a little R&R

Apr 11

Posted by Susan @ Uniquely Yours or Mine

So I have this project I’m working on and I am doing a pretty good job of not letting it stress me out or make it a priority in any way… the project is painting all of the kitchen cabinets, but I’m starting with the buffet / butler’s pantry area just off of the kitchen.

This is what I started with, not too bad, the cabinet color is pleasing, but what the pictures don’t show is quite a bit of damage (one door broken, prior owner’s dog chewed on corners etc.).

Not only did I want to paint my cabinets white, but I wanted to beef them up a bit. My final color choice was White Dove by Benjamin Moore (in Advance Satin), I saw so many pretty examples of this color and since my countertops are staying the paint tone worked perfectly with them. I removed and labeled all of the door and drawer fronts, lightly sanded (repaired) and cleaned the cabinets and then hand painted the boxes and trim.

I also added the same trim to the sides as I did on the island and my Hubby made a beautiful set of “feet” for the base which I think makes the piece feel more like a custom piece.

The cabinet doors and drawers are getting all new handle placement so I filled and repaired the original holes and used my Critter sprayer to spray them in the garage so I could have a beautiful streak free finish. And this is where I’m at after 3 weeks of working on them off and on…

As you can see I still have 3 door fronts to finish (and a glass decision to make), my Critter sprayer is being a total B-I-A-T-C-H and keeps spitting chunks of paint onto the cabinet surfaces so I’m waiting for some warmer weather to tryout a new sprayer to see if I can get things working properly again… this is hugely frustrating for me, but I have plenty of other things to work on in the meantime.

So last week I left the work behind and me, my Super Awesome Hubby and the last daughter packed up and went camping at Red River Gorge for her spring break. We had a fabulous 4 day/3 night stay with lots of campfires, Uno, stories told and many beautiful hikes.

We had an awesome camp site right next to the creek… and despite what this picture may indicate we hiked miles and miles of beautiful woodland trails!

I happen to catch these two enjoying some much needed (no electronics) father daughter time… I just love the fact that at almost 14 she still wants to hold our hands from time to time.

So we’re back home and I’ve got to get back to painting (eventually), I’ve already removed the door and drawer fronts off of the rest of the base cabinets in the kitchen and I will slowly be working my way through them. For me this is not a race to get them done, I have no deadlines so I’m taking my time and making sure that this paint job is done properly so I won’t have to do it again! And while I’m waiting for paint and filler to dry I can enjoy some gardening and planting my new plants! We had a great time at the Starview greenhouses yesterday, I’m sure that this place will be my go-to for all of my garden plants, it was fabulous… just look at all of my lovelies! I’m also growing quite a bit from seed as well…

And this little absolutely stunning true black Petunia just stole my heart and it is going to find a prominent place in the garden where I can enjoy looking at it everyday!

Also there is SO much going on in Louisville now, the Derby may only be a one day affair to some but for this town the celebration starts a month in advance of the races and we have plans to enjoy as much of the festivities as possible!

Thanks as always for stopping by…

Until next time!

Posted in Design, DIY, Furniture refinishing, Garden & Plants, Home Improvement, Interior Design, Louisville Kentucky

6 Comments

Tags: adding cabinet feet, Black Petunia, camping, Gardening, hiking, kitchen, ky, louisville, painting kitchen cabinets, Red River Gorge, The Kentucky Derby

Kitchen and Cabinet Updates

I have some great news to share with you, we now have a contract on our home! While this is exciting news, it’s also bittersweet… plus I have a TON to do to get ready to move, and our youngest starts her new school on August 14th! We don’t ever start school around here until after Labor Day so we have some hustling to do to get her enrolled and ready! And believe it or not I am still finishing up two custom pieces that I will be sharing with you soon, but I wanted to share this post with you while the kitchen was clean… 🙂

I finished painting our kitchen cabinets almost four years ago (before blogging) but I DID take before photos! I know there are a lot of “How To” cabinet painting posts out there but I wanted to share the products that I used on my cabinets… I think the fact that they have held up so well after 4 years of abuse really says a lot about the products!

BEFORE

Pretty standard, brand new, mid grade cabinets that we chose knowing we were going to paint them!

By the time I took these photos I had already replaced all of the knobs on the cabinets with new ones.

I also had already painted the island, I seriously did this before we even moved in (I know my neighbors thought I was crazy) but my older girls helped me out with this so it didn’t take too long. Needless to say the island cabinets were the same color as the rest of the kitchen.

Here are the current after pictures!

We removed a can light over the island and sink in order to install the chandelier and the pendant.

We installed the travertine backsplash, removed the grills from the cabinet over the stove and added a glass shelf… all of my decorative stuff for the kitchen is packed away so this space looks a little bare now, sorry!

We replaced all of the hardware, I had to fill and redrill holes for the drawer pulls as the original knobs were single hole… We also replaced all of the electrical outlets and faceplates with black ones to help minimize their appearance on the travertine.

Replaced the wire shelving in the pantry and the pantry door.

I added molding to all of the doors and drawers in the center island. I was planning on doing the same to the rest of the cabinets but it took forever and I really was just not motivated enough… It was easy to do, just cut the wood and adhere with Loctite. Also, I let them sit for 24 hours with weights on them before I painted… it’s just tedious.

We also added a new baseboard around the bottom of the island. The original one only went along the fronts of the cabinets and didn’t wrap all of the way around… it just looked unfinished and strange.

The kitchen is a little depersonalized now due to the fact that the house is on the market, but I do love it! I forgot that we had opted for the taller cabinets when we built this house and I just noticed that the new house has the shorter ones… I may have to add some decorative cabinets to the tops of the new house cabinets!

I’m pretty sure more cabinet painting is in my near future as this is my “new” kitchen (and the house inspector). I think I will start with the island first… it looks a little more BLAH for some reason. Also installing a backsplash has to be on the list too…

I will be using the same paint products I used before because it just held up so well! I did a tiny bit of touch up on the cabinet that has the trash can in it, but other than that I just wiped them down with water and a sponge and they still look great!

So if you’re interested in tackling painting kitchen cabinets below is a list of the products I used… good luck and have fun!

Products I used:

Cabinet Coat paint, which is AWESOME, but can only be tinted in light colors. I bought mine at my Benjamin Moore store but I think I saw it at one of the big box stores recently.. The color I tinted it is the Benjamin Moore Navajo #947. I didn’t prime the cabinets but I did wipe them down with TSP first. I painted the cabinets with a foam roller & foam brush, it took 3 coats but each coat dries very fast.
The glaze on the cabinets is Benjamin Moore Kona #AF-165 mixed with a glaze medium 2:1 ratio, I already had this paint on hand as it is the color of my dining room. I just painted the glaze on and wiped it off leaving some in the crevices.
The chandelier is from Ballard Designs, I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint “Provence” and glazed it with Martha Stewart Glaze “Metallic Coffee”. SAH hung it where there was an existing can light.
We installed the tile backsplash ourselves one Labor Day weekend (fun times I tell you!)… It is black travertine “Noir” honed and had a wonderful smooth feel to it. We installed it at an angle which increased the installation time, but I prefer the look.
The accent piece in the travertine is Sandlewood “Corinth” honed, which I got for FREE! This tile comes in sheets and a lot of pieces in the sheets were broken so the manager just gave them to me… it NEVER hurts to ask someone for a price break but it is always unexpected when they give you something for free… YAY!
The backsplash behind the stove is Jinsan Bone “Noir Niles” and comes in 12×12 sheets. This stuff was super easy to install.
The granite we chose when we built the house is Juparana Persa and I love it! It is very difficult to see crumbs or a mess on it… fabulous for us and our little Schnoodle just loves to follow behind me when I’m wiping it down in hopes of getting a crumb or two!
The black center island is painted with Valspar Black satin, distressed, waxed and buffed. I didn’t prime this either, just wiped it down with TSP before painting. I applied 2 coats with a foam roller and foam brush.
All of my knobs are from My Knobs.com, I have 5 different knobs/pulls in the kitchen. The wall upper cabinets, lower cabinets & drawers are all in brushed nickel. The island drawers & doors have their own set in black iron… trust me, it works!
The pantry was originally that laminated wire stuff.. which I cannot stand using.. so we designed and ordered a new system from Easy Closets. I can spend HOURS on this website designing layouts for my closets… I have a sickness and I’m not too proud to admit it… I have a THING for a well organized closet! We bought the door from Lowes recently and it is actually pretty reasonably priced. I wish I had painted something cool inside of the pantry before we installed the shelves, but I just never got around to it…
So that’s it! I’m glad I got to show you this Before and After of my kitchen before we sold the house!