As you know, I have not been on here much lately for a week since we began our amazing kitchen renovation. Just wanted to let you know that the work continues and that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, there is just a glimmer of light. It'll be great when it fills the entire kitchen! LOL!
I have managed to do 3/4 of the work on about 3/4 of the cabinets. Today, I will tackle the other 1/4. There are 4 steps that must be done with this particular technique.
1. After the cabinet doors are removed, sanding needs to be done to ready the wood for everything. So far, this project has killed my original electric sander. It was working well until I lifted the sander up one evening when I was sanding. All of a sudden, parts started flying EVERYWHERE! Even after Stan worked on it, it never returned to normal. So...I had to buy another sander. It is working well.
2. After the sanding, two coats of light colored paint must be applied. In our case, a light yellow had to be used to look good with our new countertop tile which looks like a gorgeous stone. When they are throughly dried, you're ready for step 3.
3. This is where the fun really begins! A cocoa shade of brown was chosen. Some of it was mixed with equal amounts of glaze. I was taught to use a very CHEAP paintbrush, the kind that has a wooden handle and bristles that are not the same length. It is used to apply very light amounts of this mixture onto the solidly painted surface. The same brush is then dipped in the can of uncolored glaze. It is then used to spread the cocoa-colored paint around until it looks like wood. With the paint colors that we chose, the wood looks like a beautiful oak. Since we are going for an old Tuscan look, nothing is supposed to look perfect. For instance around the edges where fingers would come into contact with the cabinet door and around where the door knob will be, extra cocoa paint needs to be applied so that it looks like hand oil, dirt, etc has been there.
4. This is the final step. Several coats of polyurethane must be applied to protect the doors from any kind of damage. It is up to the homeowners to decide whether they want to use satin or gloss finish. In our case, we went with the satin because these cabinets are supposed to look antiquish.
Yesterday, I did these steps on the portions of the cabinets where the doors are hung.
That is the work that I have been doing. Stan has definitely been doing his fair share of work also! He has had the un-fun job of removing the old formica from the countertops and the old backsplashes. I am very happy to say that he is now ready to attach the tiles to the countertops! As soon as the countertops are in place, he will put the new backsplash on. For me, this is the EXCITING part!
Last night, we had to finish our shopping for the kitchen re-do. New undercabinet lights were purchased along with more cabinet and drawer knobs and pulls. Many interior decorators consider the knobs and pulls to be the jewelry of the cabinets and drawers. I now see why! They really perk the room up! We chose products that look nothing like the ones that we had before. By the way, there is nothing wrong with our fomer ones so if you are interested in having them, just let me know. They just didn't have the style that we needed to look Tuscan. They're yours free-of-charge. I hate to throw anything away if someone else can use them. You know...one man's junk is another mon's treasure.
When we're finished, the only things that will look original is the ceramic tile floor that Stan and I added about 9-years-ago and the refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and overhead microwave oven. All of them were added in the past year. So, it'll basically be like a brand new kitchen!
When everything is completed, I will try to post some pictures of it here so that you can all look at them if you want to. Or, give me a call and you can come and take a look at the kitchen in person!!!
Well, more work is beckoning to me so I'll close for now.
VLE-B
Can't wait to see the pictures.
ReplyDelete- Doc