Give blood, remodel.

We have lived in our house for 2 years and as most homeowners we have been busy with one project after another since we bought it. We put in hardwood floors, done a lot of painting and yard work, etc. The biggest & most daunting project, which has beaconed me the longest, has been the kitchen. I decided IT & I had waited long enough.

This is a picture of what our kitchen looked like when we bought the house. LOVE that country blue/ mauve rose wallpaper, mauve art deco backsplash & my personal favorite.....the "holly hobby" valance above the bay window? :) There was a matching valance in the kitchen nook as well. It was super FANCY! 

First things first. I ripped down the wallpaper & painted. We lived with the backsplash until this summer. This pic was taken after the removal of it. Can you feel the peace enter your body just looking at these two pictures?  Ahhhhhhh.... 

We added the white "shoe cabinet" to the kitchen which has been awesome and very useful. 

Much better but not quite complete. ;)

To start the cabinet makeover I took off all the doors and set up my little sanding station. It took about 15 hours to sand the lacquer & stain off the 28 doors & 17 drawers. I real treat, especially in first week of August when Texas is at its hottest. It was a ridiculous 110 degrees outside with the humidity. Don't ask me why I started this project this time of year. :) 

Post sanding....that sander got a serious workout. 

(I couldn't fit them all in the same picture -Right side of the garage)

(left side) 

This is how we have been living for the last month & a half. Ben has been in heaven. I tried to block him out with baby gates but those proved futile. 

The little priming station I set up inside the house.

The color you see is just a tinted primer-NOT the color I will be painting them. :) 

All primed up and ready to be drilled! 

I decided I wanted to put Euro hinges (concealed) on my cabinet doors. As you can see in this picture the hinge is inset on the inside of the door so you have to drill a 1 3/8 inch hole in the door for each hinge, to install them. 

Like this. :D 

Luckily a guy in our ward has a great work shop in his garage and he assisted me in drilling the holes on the drill press.  

I stole this pic from the internet. I haven't put my hinges on yet but this is how they should look afterward. 

Time for paint! 

This is the little spray booth I set up in the garage. 

Here is the color I went with. It is called Sealskin.  I do love it. Although my inner Emily wanted to paint them a super cool aqua blue but the practical Emily over rode and decided on this one. It is really beautiful too & will bring continuity through my house since I also used this on two walls in my den which connects to the kitchen. I do want to bring some cool color in, so eventually I think I will do a colorful pop of color with some glass tile for the backsplash. 

I decided to go with oil base paint eventhough people at the paint desk at Lowes & Home Depot will tell you anything to make you believe the new latex paints are just are durable. The bottom line is they are just telling you what they have been trained to tell you so they can sell more paint. I called Benjamin Moore and they recommended oil base. I also talked to several professional painters and they agreed. Oil base is the best way to go for cabinets.

My painters get up. You know you want this. 

The painting was so painless and so exciting! 

The first coat only took about 40 minutes total to do them all! :)

I did two coats, front & back. I finished the last coat yesterday and they are almost dry. The cupboards inside are all painted. It is already looking fabulous! I can't wait. I am hoping to get the hinges installed & doors hung in the next few days. Therefore, we will celebrate our Labor day appropriately. Final pic's coming soon. 

Stay tuned! :D