DIY Kitchen Remodel

I want to start off by saying thank you to Mrs. Miller for giving me basically step-by-step directions on how to complete this kitchen remodel.  I also want to thank Ashley for coming over and helping me sand (you really got me motivated to finish it).  Thank you Carl for watching Hunter and for priming and painting the top half so I didn't have to tape it off.  And thank you Kelly and Harry for letting me borrow your sawhorse.

Our kitchen is not a big area.  Add to that dark hardwood floors and dark wood cabinets and it makes the kitchen look even smaller (plus a poor choice of paint color when we first moved in... but I have matured in my paint selection).  We couldn't afford to have someone else come remodel nor did we want to put that much money into this house.  What is a family to do?!  DIY!

Here are some before pictures.  

I've talked before about the brick backsplash.  That was the first thing I completed.  Bricks are not as easy to paint as you may think.  Carl actually found the bricks in the attic when he was cleaning it out this month.  We promptly threw them in the garbage can!

Ashley came over last Friday and we sanded everything.  We took all the cabinet doors off and the hinges and knobs off (and threw them in the trash).  We numbered the cabinets and the spot with corresponding numbers.  I'm glad we did this because there would be no way I would have remembered which door went where.  Carl is still debating with me that one is out of place, but I assure you it isn't.  Ashley was also kind enough to let me borrow her drop cloth so I didn't get paint everywhere (because I literally get paint everywhere.. my hair, my legs, the floor, some how on my face).

Next I primed everything.  I've never worked with oil based primer, and let me just say I hope I never do again.  It took two coats of primer to make sure no wood was popping through.  Killz is really the best.  The guy at Lowes told me to get the odorless can (this is my first major project, so I went in there telling them that!) and I'm glad he did.  The fumes still got to me.

Just some advice... don't try to prime in the 90 some degree heat!

Then I painted.  It only took 1 coat of paint to cover.  I had to do some touch ups after everything was put together, but putting two coats primer on was really worth it!

Once everything was dry, I attached the new hardware we purchased.  The cabinets had goldish color hinges and white knobs.  We purchased brushed nickel knobs (from Target) and and dark, almost brushed nickel looking hinges (from Home Depot).

Old hinge

I then reattached the doors.  The drill and I as well as the cabinets and I had a few fights, but in the end I won (or will win once Carl fixes some of the doors.. the ones that have no space between them are overlapping, so he needs to drill new holes on the doors, I don't trust myself to do that).

I'm also putting in adhesive covering in all the drawers and cabinets.  I found them at Target.  I don't feel a rush to get this done, so I'm doing a little at a time at night.

Here's the finished product:

See the yellow on the right?  It will be that light green hopefully by next weekend

Don't let me fool you, my countertops are not that empty.

We used Valspar paint for everything.  The brick and the top portion of the wall I painted Panacca (well, I haven't gotten to some of the walls yet).  The cabinets are Drumskin.  The bottom of the wall is Paris Mint.  I really like that one!

I'm super excited because we are getting rid of this thing:

And replacing it with a ceiling fan!  Thank goodness!  It gets hot in the kitchen without a fan.

Oh, you know what else a remodel is good for?  Making you clean out your junk drawers.  You know you have at least one.  In our case we had two.  I made one into another utensil drawer and the other is more organized.  I threw out a bunch of stuff!  I used some office organizers from Target to organize the drawers.  If it doesn't fit in the baskets, it doesn't belong in the drawer!

*Carl did do the top portion of the cabinet structure.  I would have had to tape everything (remember, I get paint everywhere) and to save me time, he primed and painted the top.  I didn't get out of doing the cabinet doors though.

Oh and Koal tried to help paint.