Before & After
Reader Redesign: A Dream In Travertine
When Brianne sent us her before and after bathroom pics, we couldn’t wait to share her transformation. Here’s her letter:
We totally made over our bad builder bathroom. Basically we started with a stark white bathroom full of linoleum and brass fixtures that had NO closet (who doesn’t have a closet in the full bath?). Basically, it was my worst nightmare every time I went in there, but my handy hubby Bill stole some space from the hallway and added a closet, built a vanity by hand, and built a frame for an old mirror that we had laying around. Then we got a new lower profile toilet and a brand new tub/shower. Bill tiled the floor and walls with travertine and then we painted the rest of the room a putty color to give a very earthy/spa feel. We also bought a raised sink and a piece of granite for the counter. Quite the contrast to the stark white room that we purchased with the house. Anyway, enjoy it! We certainly do! -Brianne
Talk about a transformation. And we can’t believe that Bill did almost everything himself. I mean he made that vanity- insane! Thanks so much for sharing your pics Bri. It looks like a fabulous place to relax after a long day. That travertine is positively dreamy.
Reader Redesign: A Smokin’ Mantel Overhaul
As soon as we laid eyes on these amazing before and after pics, we were psyched to share this fab fireplace makeover. Talk about a transformation. Here’s Megan’s letter:
I’m a big fan of your website and also live in Richmond – isn’t this a great city? I really enjoy reading about other people’s DIY projects, so I thought I’d share our latest venture. When we moved to our 1970’s transitional, it had a floor to ceiling brick fireplace that was taking over the living room. We considered painting it white, but then decided to get a bit more adventurous. We removed the garish brick hearth and replaced it with tumbled marble stone. Then we finished off the top part of the fireplace to make it continuous with the surrounding wall. Finally, since we couldn’t find a prefab mantel that fit our measurements, we constructed a custom one using lots and lots of molding pieces from Home Depot. We spent a full weekend making mitre cuts so that everything would fit together, but it was totally worth it in the end. We definitely would encourage others to renovate their fireplace! It takes patience, but in the end it isn’t an expensive project and gives a lot of bang for the buck. Be sure to research fire safety codes for your area – there are quite a few specifications on what kind of materials can be against brick and how close you can get to the firebox. Hope you enjoy the pictures of the process! Keep up the good work with the website!! – Megan
Is that not a wowee of a makeover of what? Thanks so much for the pictures Megan! We love what you and the hubs have done (so ambitious!) and the results are truly stunning. That room went from country to current in no time flat! What do you guys think? Are you inspired to spend the weekend sledgehammering your hearth and mitreing some molding?
How To Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets
Update: We have a much newer cabinet-painting post with more photos, details, and even a video for you here.
If you can paint a wall (and even if you can’t) you can paint your kitchen cabinets. There are just a few tried and true rules when attempting this project, so if you follow the simple steps outlined below it’ll be pretty hard to screw things up. And although you’ve all seen our newly renovated kitchen, we actually painted our previous 50-year-old knotty pine cabinets right after we moved in (to tide us over until we had the funds to replace them altogether). Check out the dark and dingy kitchen that we inherited with the house:
And the refreshing “after” thanks to only a few hours of prepping and painting:
So how did we do it? Easy peasy.
Step 1: Figure out what you want. Bring home paint swatches and select the perfect palette, and if you’re planning to replace your hardware, purchase some before you move on to the next step. Because most old hardware is a different size than newer hardware (the holes are further apart or closer together), it’s important to know if your new door and drawer bling is spaced differently than your current hardware before you begin. Then it’s nice to wash everything down with a little soap and water to cut the grease and the spills that have built up on the doors and drawers over the years. Nothin’ like a little sponge bath to get you in the mood to makeover your kitchen…
Step 2: Take it off, baby. Now it’s time to remove all of your hardware and your hinges (regardless of whether you’ll be reusing it or replacing it- and it helps to store everything in a big ziplock bag so you’re never short a screw). Of course by removing the hinges you’ll be removing all the doors, so finding a place that you can lay out a big fabric or plastic drop cloth (which are about $2 from Home Depot or Lowe’s) is a good idea. Once you have your drop cloth in place, lay out all your cabinet doors and drawers so you can paint them all together in one convenient spot (and have full access to the frames of the cabinets in the kitchen).
Step 3: Fill ‘er up. Then if you’re replacing your hardware with something that won’t fit the existing holes in your doors and drawers, you’ll want to pick up some wood filler (it’s around $6 a tube, which is all ya need) and fill those existing hardware holes in all of the doors and drawers. There are many different colors of wood fill, but since you’re painting your cabinets, matching the tone isn’t really a big deal (although it can’t hurt to grab the one that most closely resembles the color of your current cabinets).
Step 4: Get sandy. The sanding process isn’t always necessary (for example, our cabinets weren’t glossy so we skipped it and went straight to priming) but for some people with super shiny cabinets (aka: lots of polyurethane) it can’t hurt to run an electric sander over everything- or take a bit more time to hand sand things- with fine grit paper to rough everything up for maximum paint stickage. Not sure if yours need to be sanded? If they feel matte like a cutting board (a little absorbent) then they shouldn’t need it, but if they feel shiny like a laminated piece of paper or a glossy credit card then sanding is your best bet. Note: lead paint is a serious health risk when sanding, so if you have an older home with already-painted cabinets that look decades old it’s worth testing for lead with a $6 lead test kit from Home Depot. Safety first!
Step 5: It’s prime time. Due to all the grease and even just the wood stain that often coats kitchen cabinets, it’s über important to get down and dirty with oil-based primer (even if the water-based equivalent claims that it works just as well on cabinet surfaces, we’ve seen stains seep right through that stuff, so oil-based is the better-safe-than-sorry alternative). One coat of primer applied with a decent quality roller should do the trick (then just use a brush to get into those tigher spaces and the grooves in the doors). We prefer wool or polyester rollers (Purdy’s a great brand) over foam ones as we’ve found that they rile up the paint and cause bubbles. Oh and it doesn’t matter if you can still see the wood tone underneath after one coat, the primer’s main job is to make your cabinets sticky and the paint will do the rest. You’ll probably want to snag an extra brush just for priming since they’re usually pretty messed up afterwords (it’s best to toss it or save it for other priming projects and use a pristine new one for painting). And ditto with the roller. We usually don’t even try washing the oil-based paint out of it- and prefer to replace it with a fresh new one before painting for a seamless result (reused rollers and brushes can often compromise the smooth finish that you’re going for when it comes to your cabinets).
Step 6: Get your paint on. You’re in the home stretch, so just two coats of latex paint (in a semi gloss finish for easy wipe-ability) are next on the agenda. You’ll definitely want to wait a few hours after applying primer, but I actually primed and painted my cabinets (two coats!) all in the same day. When it comes to applying the paint, a high quality wool or polyester roller makes for the sleekest application. A mini foam roller can also help since it’s smaller and easy to control. You’ll also probably need to use a brush sparingly, just to get into those little cracks and crevices that your roller can’t reach. Do yourself a favor by buying an angle-tipped brush as opposed to a flat-tipped one- they make staying in the lines a lot easier.
Note: We didn’t prime or paint the inside of the doors, but our approach would be to prime/paint them first and then wait five days and turn them over and prime/paint the outside (that way if anything got a bit imperfect after being flipped face down, it would be on the inside- an therefore less noticeable).
Step 7: Wait for it. After two coats of latex paint you now have to practice patience. Most experts advise waiting at least three days to rehang or begin using your doors and drawers (especially since the rehanging process involves lots of holding and pressing and drilling which can muck up anything that’s not 100% dry). We actually advise waiting five days if ya can (it beats doing the whole thing all over again and guarantees a totally seamless finish even in high humidity).
Step 8: Hang in there. Then all you have to do is rehang your doors (either using your existing hinges or new ones), slip in your drawers, and add your hardware. If the hardware is new, take time to measure twice before you drill to avoid any annoying mistakes that will make you want to putty and repaint, which never looks as good as the flawless finish that you get the first time around. John actually took his sweet time drilling all of our holes for the new hardware (to the tune of about two hours) but it was well worth the assurance that everything was perfectly centered and right where it should be. In this case slow and steady wins the race.
*Oh and it bears noting that if your cabinets are anything but solid wood (laminate, veneered, etc) you should definitely take off a door or a drawer and bring it with you to your local hardware store and ask the paint pro there what they recommend. There are some great oil-based primers and enamel paints out there so it might be possible to get a semi-durable finish (although none as long-lasting as solid wood paint jobs). The key is really roughing up the surface so it’s less glossy and then priming and painting with the best stuff they have (usually oil or enamel based). Oh and don’t forget to let everything dry for a while so things can cure up and get super durable for the long haul.
So that about does it for our cabinet painting and refinishing tutorial. Of course Step 9 is to invite all of your friends over for celebratory margaritas or to do the happy dance every time you walk into your amazing new space. We hope this will help you completely transform your kitch on a dime and in a flash. And just in case you need a few more before & after pictures to convince you, here are two clients of ours that we helped transform their rooms with painted cabinets:
Here’s Kim’s crazy blue kitchen that she inherited with her home:
And here’s her two-tone masterpiece after a quick paint makeover (we suggested slightly different colors for her upper and lower cabinets):
And here’s Carla’s kitchen before she came to us for help:
And here it is after we encouraged her to paint her cabinets a crisp glossy white tone (along with her dining room chairs) while the dining table went black to mimic the backsplash:
Amazing what a little paint can do, eh? And if they can do it you can to! So if you have a spare weekend or even a few week nights you’ll be well on your way to a totally new room. Happy painting…
In need of a furniture painting tutorial? Fret not, we’ve gotcha covered.
Update: We have a much newer cabinet-painting post with more photos, details, and even a video for you here.
You Might Want To Sit Down
We hooked you guys up with an easy breezy chair upholstery tutorial a while ago, and we’re back with some more fabulous chair overhauls for your viewing pleasure.
John’s frequently mentioned sister Emily recently recruited me to go fabric hunting with her in hopes of stumbling upon the perfect new fabric to cover two old chairs with serious transformation potential. First we pounded the pavement to find the perfect complement to this sleek, low slung chair (with worn orange fabric that had seen better days). Here we are testing out a few swatches before calling the upholsterer:
And here’s the well dressed “after” proudly sporting a tiny black and white checkered fabric that gives off an overall gray effect with some movement (and a super fun pillow to keep things interesting):
But the upholstery party didn’t end there (in fact, we cleverly negotiated a discount rate thanks to the fact that we had two chairs that needed recovering). Here’s a chair that Emily and I discovered for a mere $15 at a thrift store (The Love Of Jesus, here in southside Richmond- and yes it’s really called that). The bones were there but it needed some major work. Here’s the granny-esque before:
And a progress shot after we spray primed and painted the wood a bright crisp white:
Then we sent her off the the upholsterer for a sexy little makeover (in ever so classic black suede) to compliment her new white paint job:
So there you have it. Two fab chair makeovers thanks to some timeless fabric selections and some much needed upholstery assistance (many thanks go out to our local upholstery guy Bruce Thorton: 437-8853). We hope you’ve been inspired to rescue a sad, droopy looking chair or two! If they have the right bones you’ll be well on your way to sittin’ pretty. And send us your chair makeover pics if ya got ‘em- there’s nothing like a little eye candy in the morning.
