Kitchen Cabinet Painting {DIY Tutorial}

We love our kitchen and are so happy that we took the plunge with painting our kitchen cabinets.  Here are some before and after pictures too.

Prior to beginning the project we did a ton of research and asked a lot of questions.  We also prepared a budget and a supply list.  We were lucky to be able to borrow a HVLP paint spray gun and an air compressor (since then we have purchased our own HVLP paint spray gun for more projects!) which saved a good amount; both of which are not cheap. 

I think one of the most important pieces of painting your kitchen cabinets is the type of paint you use and using the paint sprayer as opposed to brush painting.  We used Advance paint by Benjamin Moore and the color we chose was a Behr color from Home Depot that they made for us in the Benjamin Moore paint in Powdered Snow.  The Advance paint by Benjamin Moore is not cheap, but it is SO worth it.  I love the color and am so happy we took our time and looked at lots of samples.  We are even using the same color now on our fireplace mantel and on our media table in the family room.  It will look nice and cohesive so that makes me very happy.  With having such an open floor plan you have to be consistent, as I have learned. 

The project took a lot longer than we anticipated.  We started the kitchen cabinet painting project after our powder room remodel was complete, the end of February and finished up about mid-April.  We did take a week off for vacation and had no real hard stop; besides just being annoyed with having our kitchen not a totally working kitchen and having to park outside (yes, we are spoiled and love parking in our garage!).  Seriously, if you plan to do this project take your time and don’t feel rushed or stressed to have to get it done by a specific date.  Things come up and unexpected steps come into play.  It is worth the wait and perfection in the end.

We started off by taking out everything from our kitchen and placing it in the office closet and office space.  This was annoying and tedious because I had to think about what we use on the regular and make sure we could access it during the project.  It took a couple of hours and while I was doing this step Jeff was removing all of the cabinet doors, drawers and hardware.  We used painters tape and labeled each door with a number along with the matching Ziploc of hardware.  Jeff took photos of the kitchen before disassembling and numbered all doors and drawers in a Word document to refer back to when putting everything back together at the end of the project.

We created a work space in the garage and got to work applying Krud Kutter Degreaser to all of the cabinets, letting it sit on them and soak in a bit and then using some old freebie t-shirts from Jeff’s work to wipe all of the Krud Kutter off.  We then let them fully dry overnight.

The next step was to apply wood putty in all of the cracks and imperfections.  After the wood putty dried, we started the boring and monotonous sanding portion, but oh so important!  We used 80 grit sandpaper after the wood putty and then in-between coats we used 180-220.  We sanded all of the imperfections out that we could and then used the dry vac and tack cloth to clean the sanding residue off of the cabinets.

The cabinets were then ready for their first coat of primer.  The primer we chose was Glidden’s Gripper which was referred to us by the paint guy at our local Home Depot and it did not disappoint.  Jeff and I both used the HVLP sprayer for the primer as well as the paint.  The HVLP sprayer we borrowed from a co-worker was a Husky Gravity Feed Sprayer and it worked well, but did take some time to do. 

For the spraying we created a spray booth out of plastic and painters tape and made a sort of lean-to on one side of the garage.  Inside the spray booth we used two saw horses and placed a board on it with nails that stuck out all across the board.  This allowed us to get the sides and pick up the cabinets without touching the fresh paint.  After coating the back side of the cabinets with primer we placed them in the safe drying area and let them dry for 24 hours.  After they were fully dried we sprayed the cabinet’s front side with primer and let them fully dry.

Next up, another dose of sanding with the 180-220 grit making sure we can in all of the grooves.  At this time we applied more wood putty if needed as well (pretty much in between every coating we looked and applied the wood putty as needed).  After sanding we again used the dry vac and tack cloth on all of the cabinets.  We did two coats of priming so repeat again allowing 24 hours between each side.  This basically takes a week with having to wait 24 hours to let each side dry. 

After the two coats of primer and sanding again (yes, again…ugh) we were finally ready to paint!   Again, we started off with the back sides and made sure the cabinets had a safe place to dry in-between each coat, allowing them to dry 24 hours before touching and applying the other side of paint with sanding, wood putty and cleaning them all in between.  We did three coats of the paint so this took a while and we let them dry an entire week before attaching them back to the frames.  So worth it though – we are so happy with the results.

Then it was time to start thinking about prepping the inside to spray the frames.  It took me an entire day to plastic off the entire room, taping off the cabinets and insides of the cabinets – I started at 7 am and finished at about 7:30 pm.  It was pure agony doing it and I was completely delirious.  In the end, after spraying it was key to making sure things looked well.  I would not have done it any other way.  Take the time to prep – it is so important.  You have to do enclose the entire room because of the overspray.  Even with enclosing the room we had a tiny film of dust from the paint that settled on everything.  It took a while to clean everything again and that wasn’t very fun.  The joys of doing projects inside your house!

After the inside prep work was done I did all of the priming by hand followed by a light sanding.  We did the priming on the frames pretty heavy so we only needed one coat.  Jeff sprayed the frames and did three coats of the paint with sanding and wood putty in between as needed.  We let the frames cure for a good 3 – 4 days before putting everything back together.  The best part of this was being able to take down the inside spray booth and being able to use the oven, microwave, dishwasher and being able to get to the fridge without jumping over hoops.  It was a rough 5 or 6 days not having full use of the kitchen when we were spraying the frames.  So tired of take-out by the end!

It was an amazing day when we got to put back up the cabinets and doors.  Jeff’s dad helped Jeff do this step and Jeff finished off drilling all of our new pulls and cups which turned out great – we used the template for the cabinet hardware that you can buy at any hardware store.  I also applied the little cushions on each corner of the cabinets to help. 

We are now enjoying our kitchen and love it so much.  We have had to be very gentle with it as the first 30 days it is curing.  All is going well besides having to make sure Livie doesn’t ram her car into the cabinets or take her keys to them, but we are managing.  I also did one little touch up once we were all done to clean up a few spots that needed a little more attention.

I highly recommend taking on this project, but best to do your research, be patient and meticulous if possible.  I have read some blogs that said they did this project in a weekend and I have no idea how that would even be possible, but that is with just paint brushing.  I hope this tutorial is beneficial to some and please let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Painting!!

Weekend {Mother’s Day 2013 & Mantel Project}

Talk about a really nice weekend!  It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weekends.  I can’t remember the time that I watched TWO movies in one weekend (that I actually liked) – seriously why don’t I sit more and enjoy a good flick?!  Not only did we enjoy movie time, but we also had great weather so Liv enjoyed playing outside Friday evening and Saturday.

Saturday we celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom by meeting them in-between our house and theirs in Sumner.  We went to Loyalty Park and it was SO cute; great playground, grass fields, huge old beautiful trees in an old cute neighborhood.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch of sushi from Trapper’s – Liv had a yummy packed lunch from home to enjoy too!  She loved the park so much.  She was so happy running around, going down the slide, up on the play-gym and in the swing.  It you want to experience what pure joy looks like, take a 1.5 year old to the park filled with kids.  It was awesome!

We had a great time celebrating the day with my mom and dad.  I wish we could have done more for my mom – she is the best, but I hope she enjoyed her Mother’s Day.  We also ventured to look at some estate sales in the area and over to The Old Cannery to look around.  Nothing purchased, but we enjoyed our visit.

Saturday night we enjoyed pizza for dinner and watched “Django Unchained” once Livie was in bed.  We both liked the movie, but I felt like it kind of dragged on a bit too long.  I don’t think I was in the mindset for a long movie, but I did make it until the end.

Mother’s day at our house on Sunday started off with the three of us enjoying breakfast together, then a family run and a day of projects.  I had asked that we just be at home on Mother’s Day and work on things around the house.  Jeff and his dad worked on the mantel project and I had Liv for the day.  When she napped I worked on refinishing a new table for her room and different odds and ends around the house that I wanted to get done.  It was really nice.  Late in the day I even started a movie, “Safe Harbor” and it had better acting than I expected.  It was good.  For dinner Jeff grilled salmon and we had a delicious dinner all together at the table.  It was perfect spending the day at home with my family.  I guess I am easily pleased, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Mother’s Day dinner with these two cutie pies

Jeff and his dad also made great headway on the mantel project and it is really starting to come together.  It is just the shell and doesn’t even have the finishings yet and it looks good – I can’t wait to see it all complete.  I am in the process of figuring out the dark stain color we are going to use for the mantel beam and for the banisters.  I am doing test stains to see what looks best first.  I think I have it narrowed down to two that I really like.  The first photo below is where we are at right now and the second photo is close to what it will look like, wood-wise and our beam is thicker than our inspiration.

As of today – the shell is constructed

Mantel Design Inspiration

Jeff and Jim are seriously skilled carpenters!  I can’t wait for it to be finished.  We have another working weekend – hoping we make some more good headway. 

I hope all the moms out there had a very Happy Mother’s Day last weekend!

18 Months {Olivia Haven}

Olivia is 1 ½ today!  If you ask her how old she is though she’ll hold up one finger and say “two” and then we politely correct her and say “no, you are one”.  She is so funny not to mention adorable, sweet and so smart with a little stubborn in there too.  She blows us away in one way or another every day.  She is the best gift.  I haven’t done any updates on her since she was one, but I thought a mid year update sounded like a good idea so we can look back and see just what was going on at 1 ½.

We have had an entertaining and busy last six months with Livie.  She is a little spark plug and is always into something.  She enjoys playing with her babies and wrapping them up in a blanket, putting them in her stroller and putting them to sleep.  She will whisper and say “sshhh baby sleeping”.  She also loves her “Caa” car and takes my keys and drives her rig around.  She loves keys and tries to unlock the doors with them and she is pretty close to opening the doors too.  She locked Jeff outside over the weekend by turning the lock on him.

Livie loves her shoes.  She always wants them on and if she sees shoes or you say shoes she will ask to put some on or try to get into her closet in her room to get them out.  She’ll plop right down in front of you if you are sitting on the ground so you can put them on for her.  I just can’t help but buy her new pairs often because she loves them.  Her favorites right now are her salt water sandals – she wore them all weekend long and likes the way they sound hitting the hardwoods.

She is also infatuated with birds and anything outside; the neighborhood playground and any slide is the best.  Every day we get home she wants to spend time outside so we have to go out and run around in the grass and see if the birds are out on the pond.  It scares me when she is outside because she is fearless and wants to run all over on the concrete, but if you try to stop her she gets upset.  The terrible twos have started a bit early and when she doesn’t get what she wants or gets frustrated she throws a tantrum.  Jeff and I are trying really hard to stay calm and if the tantrum is out of frustration from what she is trying to do then we help her and explain that she should ask for help.  If she is getting upset from something that she shouldn’t be doing or can’t have then we give her a reason and ignore her and turn to a “time-out” in her crib or somewhere safe that she can’t keep it together because she does the whole flip out on her back mode; pretty sweet.  All is easier said than done, but we are sure trying.  Parenting is tough.  We had a hard time this past weekend – she just wants what she wants and is not easy to deal with when she doesn’t get it.  The girl needs to learn and we are trying.

Besides the tantrums she is a true delight.  Smiles, hugs and kisses.  She gives the best hugs and love her sweet kisses.  She says “hiya” to everyone and everything.  When she walks upstairs with one of us she waves and says “bye-bye” to even her cats that are downstairs and is really good at blowing kisses.  She is doing really well and singing the alphabet.  When you sing it she will say some of the parts to it.  She is a pro at animal flash cards and knows pretty much every animals name and the sound that they make.  The snake is the funniest.  She knows most of her body parts and can point to them when asked where it is located.  She says “thank you” when you give her something without being asked and says “please” when she asks for something - such a good little girl.

Livie loves to talk and says pretty much every word that she hears and understands just what you are saying.  We are going in soon for her doctor check-up so we can get her stats, but pretty sure she is 27 pounds.  She wears 18 to 24 months and 2T clothing and size 5 and 6 shoes.  She has a full mouth of teeth – guessing 16 to 18 teeth.  She loves her “bubble” (binky) and Terry, her stuffed bird still… 

Typically she is a great eater, there are certain meals that she doesn’t want much, but the other meal before she may have eaten a good amount or had a large snack.  Breakfasts at home normally consist of mini waffles, pancakes, eggs, toast, muffins, yogurt, fresh berries; lunches are usually cream cheese sandwiches, cheese and chicken quesadillas, grilled cheese, cucumbers, carrots, fresh berries; dinners are usually baked chicken, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, turkey hot dogs, pasta, broccoli, fresh berries.  Snacks are string cheese, rice crackers, cereal, and dried fruit with some milk.  She enjoys a little dessert of M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces after dinner.

We love our little girl so much and have learned a ton from her.  Can’t wait for what is to come – we have lots to look forward to watching her grow up.

Lately {Spring Chelan Trip & More}

Jeff and I had a nice trip to Lake Chelan last weekend with Jamie and Troy.  It is so nice that our family is also our best friends – we are truly blessed to have such wonderful family in our lives.  They are the best!

We all took half-days on Friday so we were able to get going and get to town late afternoon.  We were all pretty excited to be there and decided it was best if we just started wine tasting – we quickly pulled into Tunnel Hill to start the weekend off right and then went to Tsillan Cellars to follow and then checked into the GrandView which was right in town.  We stayed in a condo and it was great, comfortable and easily walkable to all of the restaurants.  The first night we went to one of the Mexican restaurants in town, Marcela’s Cocina, which was really good; loved their seafood burrito, and headed back to the condo to watch a movie – I didn’t make it past 9:30 pm because I was so tired from the work week.

Saturday we started off by going to the casino which everyone enjoyed and we were all a bit surprised because we (or I should say Jeff, Jamie and Troy ) were not too jazzed about going originally.  All had fun and I got my gambling fix!  Love spending a little time at the casino when on vacation.

We then made our way wine tasting.  We hit Four Lakes, Wapato Point Cellars, Vin Du Lac for lunch and then to Nefarious (our favorite).  We were not too impressed with Wapato Point Cellars or Vin Du Lac – all were not prepared for crowds and had horrible customer service unfortunately.  We finished up the day of tasting by going to a new vodka distillery, Blue Spirits, which actually has all kinds of liquors that they make.  The owners were so sweet and their tasting room / cabin was awesome being on the water and had a gorgeous look-out.  I watched while the gang tasted and then we were off to rest and then figure out dinner at the Local Myth which was amazing as usual!

Saturday was another restful evening with everyone and an early to bed – drinking during the day is exhausting!  We were all up and ready to head home Sunday which was nice because we were excited to get Livie from the grandparent’s house and spend some time with her before it was night-night time.  Looking forward to our next trip to Chelan in September.  A special thank you to Jim and Nancy for watching our little spark plug all weekend.  I know she had a great time!  Here are some great pictures that Grandpa Jim took – just love them all.

This week has been a busy work week with lots of meetings, but we are looking forward to a nice weekend again.  Livie hasn’t been sleeping that well all week due to a cold and up at 4:30 am…ugh.  We have had some fun after work enjoying the backyard with Liv on these beautiful nights.  She loves playing outside or maybe it is because she gets to wear her shoes – she is obsessed with shoes!  A 18 months / 1.5 year post is on its way soon.  I cannot believe that she will be a year and a half next Friday, the 10^th.  My baby is growing up!

We are ready for a relaxing Friday evening with the family at home, a Cinco de Mayo party at a family friend’s house on the lake on Saturday, some work projects around the house and wine tasting in Woodinville with friends on Sunday.  Weekends just go too quickly these days though – it is going to be a hot and beautiful weekend here in Seattle and I can’t wait!!  We will enjoy it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Project Update {Finished Kitchen}

We finally finished our kitchen project!  We started off the project by thinking it would take two weeks.  We completed the project in just about two months.  It was a long process painting our kitchen cabinets, but I will say that the finished product made it all worth it and we love our new kitchen.  Here are some before and after pictures.

Love my new faucet!

The glass cabinets is my favorite look in the kitchen.

So dark before – it feels so much more open and bigger with the lighter look.

Obsessed with the old school pendants!

We are going to be painting the walls in the kitchen next to match the newly painted downstairs walls.  We are also looking into updating our island to butcher block in the kitchen – love that look!

More to come!  Have a fabulous weekend - we are off to Lake Chelan to soak up some sun and spend time relaxing!

Working Weekends.

I have had this post pretty much all written for the last two weeks and just now updating.  We finished up another weekend of working on the downstairs.  We have had a few fun breaks the last two weeks though; we went to a very special little girl’s first birthday party in Olympia a few weeks ago.  Nina turned one and we were very excited to be there to celebrate with her – it was such a fun party!

It was a much-needed step away from painting and it felt good to be with friends and spend time together as a family since Jeff was gone all last week for work.  Livie was eager to be with kids her own age and play at the party since she was away from “school” and her buddies all that week due to Spring break.

With “school” being closed she got to spend two entire days with her Aunt Barb from Spokane, two days with dad at home and one day with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim.  She had a great time and got lots of attention from some of her favorite people!  I do think she missed her buddies though.  She got to go on Monday of last week to see everyone, but the rest of the week she was at home with my mom who came to stay with us while Jeff was in Scottsdale for work.  We were sure glad to have her and felt very lucky.  She made my week SO much easier and less stressful.  This week is back to the old normal routine for Livie, but not at home because we are in spray mode with the cabinet frames.  Our kitchen is completely non-functional and has been since Saturday when we did our first spray of the paint.  Everything is plastic and taped off – I can now say that I am tired of take-out and I long for a normal meal at home.  Saturday was Thai, Sunday was sushi, Monday was pizza and tonight is Subway – sigh.  We spend most of our time in the upstairs bonus room playing while things downstairs are being worked on.  It does work out pretty well considering.

We are so close to being done with the kitchen.  I also finished painting the downstairs walls of the family, living and dining room.  Jeff and I also sold our sectional and ottoman that was downstairs and purchased a new couch a few weeks ago which will be delivered this coming Saturday.  We were not happy with the sectional; it didn’t work in the family room.  We are much happier having a regular sized couch and chair in the room.  We will be getting a leather chair and ottoman to go with the new couch soon, but for now the room is all freshly painted and we moved our living room couch set into the room and it looks great for now.

Freshly painted entry way

We have been able to relax and enjoy the new family room the last two Saturday nights which has been so nice.  Overall the feel is so much more light and airy – I still have no clue why we waited so long to make the house our home and add personal touches the way we want it.  We will post the photos once all is finished.  My mom has another project coming her way too; she is going to help make us new throw pillows for the family and living room and drapes.  I ordered the fabric over the weekend and am so excited.

Pillow fabric samples

The dining room is also coming together.  The painting is done, pictures are hung and it is ready for the final touches of color.  We are going to be adding two accent chairs that will go at each end of the table, but we will wait for those probably around Christmas.  I just love the way it is all coming together and all of our hard work is paying off.

So excited to put the kitchen back together – We have all of the new fixtures, hardware and bar chairs so everything is ready and waiting!  Once the kitchen is done the last two projects are refinishing our stair banisters to an espresso dark brown and creating our new fireplace mantel.  I can’t wait for it to be all done.  Our estimated completion date, at this time, is by Memorial Day weekend.  Hopefully we can stay on track – we’ll keep you posted.  I will post before and after pictures of each room to get the full effect and a detailed tutorial on our experience painting kitchen cabinets once all is finished.

Let’s hope this week goes by fast so we can have another weekend.  We are off to a 2nd birthday party for a family friend at the Hands On Children’s Museum on Saturday, Jeff is golfing and we have lots of work around the house.  I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me from all of the remodel.  We hope everyone is having a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Easter Weekend.

Easter weekend was beautiful and we sure did enjoy it!  We started the weekend off by playing with Livie in the backyard Friday after work and letting her run around in the grass and soak up the sun.  She loves being outside and being able to see the birds flying in and out of the pond, ducks quacking, the subtle train noises in the background, airplanes overhead and watching the bugs buzz around.  She is so interested and so acquisitive to it all.  She loves the outdoors just like her mama.  I love that we have a pond with all kinds of animals in it for her to play in when she is of the right age to enjoy it.  It is truly amazing looking through the eyes of a young child and reliving everything for the first time with her.

Saturday Jeff had a softball tournament and lucky little girl got to go to a couple of games with Grandpa Jim and watch dad and friends play.  I had a few appointments so wasn’t able to join, but I heard she had a great time!  Grandpa got some great pictures of her and there was even an awesome playground right there that she got to enjoy during game breaks.

Tickle monster time!

With no real afternoon nap, just a small car nap on the way home, it was an early to bed kind of night which was nice for me because I have loads of painting to do downstairs.  I got a lot done on the project this weekend, but still lots to get done.

Opening her Easter gift from Grandpa & Grandma Havens – adorable Spring / Summer outfits!

Easter Sunday was another spectacular weather day!  We started the morning by getting little missy up and brining her down to what the Easter bunny brought and boy did the bunny not disappoint .  She got all kinds of fun things in her basket this year; several new books, a couple stuffed animals, bunny ears, a new sippy cup, coloring book with crayons, bubbles and the obligatory Easter candy which we will undoubtedly eat most of.  After the Easter basket it was time for breakfast, playtime and then a morning nap.  She is funny – at home she still takes a morning nap, but at “school” she only takes an afternoon nap.

The Easter bunny also hid eggs for Livie this year.  She enjoyed her second Easter egg hunt of the season.  Earlier in the week at school they had an Easter egg hunt too.  She did pretty well searching for the eggs and putting them in her basket.  We had fun watching her.  We also attempted to take some family photos, but she was not having it this year and wouldn’t allow us to hold her to pose for photos so we chanced around after her trying to get a good shot…

Catch me if you can face – little stinker!

We went over to our cousin’s new house in Bellevue for an early Easter dinner with family.  Their new house is beautiful and we loved getting to see it and spending the afternoon with everyone.  Livie did pretty well with not taking an afternoon nap again – just the old car nap on the way home.  She loved playing with her cousins, Annelise and Evan and running around in the backyard with them.

Kristi’s pretty Easter table

Cousin buddies!

When we got home last night we enjoyed some time in our backyard and blowing bubbles!  She loves her bubbles and I got some great shots of Jeff and Liv.  So precious they are together.

A great weekend with family and looking forward to the next!  We hope everyone had a fabulous celebration with family and Friends!