Painting the Kitchen ~ Day %$*#!

No really, I'm done painting.  I'm thrilled.  I love it.  But, I'm tired.

I still need to strip the old paint off about half of my hinges.  I googled for ideas on how to do this, and found one where you boil the hinges on your stovetop, in a mixture of water and baking soda.  Works like a charm!  Then, I can put the cupboards back together and start putting my stuff back in the cupboards.

And, hopefully, in the mess, find my (expletive deleted) camera cord.
That's all.  Goodnight.

12 July 2010 Picture Update:

The lighting isn't great in this picture - it all looks a little yellowed.  Please see other pics for a more accurate idea of the colours.  But, here is the finished paint job on the cabinets:

Opposite cabinets:

And, getting my furniture in place:

Hinges before and after:

Painting the Kitchen ~ Day 7

Still missing my camera cable; still no pictures.

So, it seems like my plan to wrap things up by Monday was a little optimistic.  Okay, wildly optimistic.  That said, I'm trying not to be too hard on myself for taking awhile to get this done.  It's my vacation, after all.  I'm not painting 8 or 10 hours a day - I'm reading and napping and taking the dogs to the dogpark and watching a few episodes of Sex and the City every night.  And gardening; oh yes, a little of that too.

The cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and the walls up to the plate rails are turquoise (Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Spring Stream), and those are all done, with two coats on and dry.  I took all the finished cabinet doors off (scraping through about 4 layers of old paint to get to the screw slots on the hinges), so that it would be easier to paint the interiors.  Most of the rest of the kitchen will be "cream" (Behr's Premium Plus Ultra Artist's Canvas).  I have two coats of that on the walls, but only one coat on the ceiling and inside the cabinets.  I need to decide whether I'm going to do a second coat inside the cabinets or not.  It looks pretty good as is, and you won't actually see that much of it.  It's pretty clear my mom and dad only did one coat of yellow when they painted; but it still feels like cheating.  At any rate, I still have to do a second coat on the ceiling and on the cabinet fronts.  I also have to do start the insides of the drawers.

If I can do as much tomorrow as I did today, I'll have everything done except the trim.

I've been thinking a lot about Mactac lately.  Does anyone still use that?  Does anyone sell it?  Looking online, it seems like it is marketed as an adhesive, rather than as a peel and still cupboard liner.  I have some vintage wallpaper in the basement.  I wonder how it would hold up as a cupboard liner? hmmm ....

btw, it looks amazing

12 July 10 Picture Update:

Here we are with all the cupboard doors removed (and Gabe's butt in the foreground).

Painting the Kitchen ~ Day 5

No pictures today.  I can't find the cable to connect my camera to the computer.  I was hoping I could continue working mornings in the garden and afternoons in the kitchen, but the chaos is driving me crazy.  I am going to do a big push on the painting today and tomorrow and then will hopefully wrap up by Monday.

Where am I at?  Let's see .... Wallpaper border all stripped off; all shiny sufaces sanded down, hardware removed.  Most of the spackling is done, except for a few big spots that I've had to keep repatching, trying to even them out.  The cabinet doors and drawers all have the first coat done.  I've cut in some of the wall area.  And that's pretty much my update.  Hopefully I can find my camera cable at some point, so that I can show the colours.

I keep wondering what my mom and dad would say.  I know my mom loved her yellow kitchen.  But, it was time to paint, so I might as well have some fun with it, right?  I think they'd mostly be happy that I am just doing something.

12 July 10 Update:  I finally found my camera cord; yes, about a month after I lost it.  Hey, at least I found it!


So, pictures.

About a year ago, I had a plumbing issue, and the plumber went through my kitchen wall before realizing the pipes were actually in the bathroom.  Duh.  It seemed silly to hire someone to come and fix such a small thing, but I had no idea how to do it myself, esp. as the walls in the house are plaster (my dad was a drywaller by trade, and I helped him on many a job, but plaster I don't know).  I'm sure I did it all wrong, but I'm proud of myself all the same.  I'd say the dimensions were maybe 8ish inches by 4ish inches.  I used the waterproof gyproc, 'cause that's all I had on hand.

So, once I was all spackled up, the next thing was figuring out what to paint where.  I initially planned to paint the top part of the wall turquoise and the bottom cream.  It very quickly became apparent that the amount of cutting in between the turquoise upper wall and the cream ceiling was more cutting in than I ever want to do.  I went with turquoise on the bottom half of the wall (*wink*).  I think it was the right decision anyway ... I think the turquoise on top might have ended up being too dark; I think having the upper walls and ceiling the same colour makes the walls seem higher too.

And, so, once I got the sorted out, things started looking up.

And the first coat on the cabinets (keep in mind that the background is still yellow):

PS to Painting the Kitchen ~ Day 1

I decided to rewatch the entire Sex and the City tv series while I am on vacation.  I got to Season 1, Episode 11 tonight, and there's Carrie painting her kitchen!  She of the $485 shoes and regular manicures.  I don't believe we ever see her taking out the garbage or plunging the toilet, so I was a little surprised she would paint her kitchen by herself.  Clearly my job isn't as "big" as I think it is!  I try to cover my embarassment by thinking "well she never eats at home, and I think she only ever actually 'cooks' fondue once in the entire six years of the series, so she probably doesn't have as much stuff to pull out of her cabinets as I do."  Yah, whatever.  Suck it up, buttercup.  If Carrie can do it, you can too.

Painting the Kitchen ~ Day 1

I have needed/wanted to paint my kitchen for some time now.

There are two things holding me back:  it's a BIG job, and it's the last room I haven't done anything to yet.  Sure, I hung up my own clock, added the countertop dishwasher, and put some of my own stuff in the cabinets, but otherwise, it looks pretty much exactly like my mom and dad had it.  The flip side is that it is looking pretty gungry.  The paint and arborite on the cabinets is chipped.  My foster beagle, Annie, suffered from separation anxiety, and tried to dig her way through a door frame, which is still shredded.  Just a little bit, but still, should be fixed.  I never did like the wallpaper border - a country theme of strawberry baskets and flowers.  A while back, a piece of the border became unstuck from the wall and I became obsessed with getting it off.  I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning peeling flecks of the border off the wall.  I never did get all of it off, but there is a weird white strip where part of it used to be.

So, like it or not, it's time.  I have this terrible feeling that I'm going to end up documenting this like "Painting the Kitchen - Day 34."  Please, if you're reading this, send me productive wishes!

Day 1:  I worked in the garden in the morning, had lunch, and a snuggle with Gabe n Arch.  I didn't actually get going on the kitchen until almost 2:00, but then I worked for a good 4 hours plus.  And, I boogied!  I started by hauling everything from the china cabinet into the basement; and then I moved the china cabinet into the living room.  Then the remainder of my stuff was crammed into the china cabinet or relegated to the basement.

The plan for Day 2:  Clear off the countertops, wash everything down, remove the rest of the wallpaper border.  If I'm lucky, I might start patching and sanding.

The sink area BEFORE:

The china cabinet area BEFORE:

Yay, cabinets empty!

Yay, china cabinet out of the road!

Wallpaper border, be gone!