This is the kind of picture the casual visitor to my regular blog sees - lovely pics, pretty flowers and cups, so serene and sweet....



But because you, dear friend, dare to go beyond the surface and look deeper, you are witnessing something far darker and more horrible than ever imagined. It's...the kitchen nightmare.




This, gentle reader, is a Paint Mistake.

I've made a few over the years, so I knoweth of what I speaketh.



If you're a follower, you know we've been working on this project for better than a year. We do all the work ourselves (counting Wonder Jared, of course). So when it came time to start on the north end of the room, the cupboards doors came off. That in itself was startling and, well, not so pretty.


And then I got this bright idea to paint the isides before the new doors went on - not plain old white! Anyone could do that. No, something fun and interesting - a little surprise when the door is opened.

Well, the first color was a asurprise all right, but the kind of surprise that wakes you out of a dead sleep in a cold sweat.




But alas, not to be discouraged, I return the first color and try again. This one is better. Much better. We can all sleep this night.

windows with curtains

Another completed project: wood plantation shutters

I had a difficult time taking pictures of the shutters against the daylight, but I adjusted them a little, so hopefully you can see the finished product.

The shutters in the living room have been made, painted and hung. Finally! And the next project is a rod for my lace swag curtains.

After Jay got the shutters finished, he's been painting the stairs.

Update: the transom window

It's slow going, but one more thing was finished over the weekend.
We selected the great old window before the doorway was closed over, and Mr. Wonderful made the opening to fit. He took out the original imperfect glass, cleaned it and reglazed - and the living room side here is painted white like all the trim.



We left the kitchen side its original old layered paint color, but he sanded it. I wish you could see how great it looks up close. Maybe I'll try a close up photo on a sunnier day.

Top section of the china cabinet is finished!

Since you're here, you can now see the finished top section of the china cabinet wall above. Awesome, isn't it? Here are a couple of pics of Jay putting the latches on the doors. There are plenty more pics, and I'll get those up soon.

South Wall - will be custom china cabinets

Here's are pics of the south wall in its early stages.

These photos were actually taken in March, and I'm just now posting them, because I want to keep the project all together so you can see the progress. And it was progress, even though it didn't always seem like it.


Jay put up tongue and groove beadboard that will be the backs of the cupboards.


The dog hates the air compressor and nail gun, but I worked with him, using It's Me or the Dog techniques (Animal Planet, people) and a lot of cheese, and now it only takes me pointing at him to keep him quiet. Pretty cool.










I selected one of the colors that are in my two-tone parchment walls for the beadboard. I didn't want the color to distract the eye from the items in the cupboards - and there will be a variety of colors.







Pam Crooks and her hubby gave us several cupboards when they remodeled their kitchen. Jay removed the doors and went to town refurbishing them. They'd be white anyway, so paint didn't matter. We figured out how to space them across the wall - leaving open spaces which he could then later fill in.



It seemed like we painted and puttied forever, coat after coat. He had already filled the holes where hinges were. And sanded. And sanded.



Here's Jared putting one on the wall. Everything's a major decision - how high? how low? What kind of doors do we want?





i knew I wanted the doors to look like those on an old cabinet - in fact we had my dream pictures to work from.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE

Custom China Cabinet Story

Pam sent me a picture of these cabinets when they were in her kitchen.




Lots of painting.



Here they are fastened to wall, but with gaps between. There was more wall than cupboards that would fit evenly in the space.


So then Mr. FixIt does his magic and gaps the space between.





As soon as the top board and trim go up, they'll blend right together.


Here I'm painting the top board and he's figuring out the filler and trim.

These photos are wacky out of order - you can tell because I've already shown you those finished inset walls on the right that aren't yet finished in these pics.

The Hutch Story

Because I'm me, I used to have two china hutches. I know, excessive. When we downsized I gave my daughter one of them. All along I planned to use the remaining one, which holds a LOT and simply paint it to go with my cottage look.

It's a great hutch and I liked it a lot.

I wanted a really long table in our now really big kitchen, so I began a tentative hunt. My husband shops for salvage building material at Habitat for Humanity, and I was along with him one day when I saw a table the perfect size. All the furniture that day had come from model homes and was spankin' new.

New is good, if it doesn't LOOK new. Yeah, I know.


So anyway the table was part of a set with yellow-flowered fabric chairs that were so not my thing. I asked if they'd split the set. This was on a Saturday. The manager said if they were still there on Wednesday, they would sell me the table alone. I went back on Wednesday and snapped it up.


I called Jay and he suggested I give the matching hutch a second look. I didn't think it was my style the first time I saw it. But I looked again. Wow, Broyhill. A really nice piece. "Why not get one that doesn't have to be painted and the back removed and all that?" he asks. "And it matches." Well, I'm not all about matching either. In fact, that's not a plus for me. But I decided okay and even talked them down to a cheaper price.



My wonderful husband had to make two trips with his pickup over the next two days to bring both pieces home. Yet more stuff in the garage where my car used to fit.



"Well, " says I. "This hutch has mirror in the back, and I had my heart set on red bead board."

"Okay," says Mr. Wonderful. "I'll take out the mirror and give you bead board."

"And," says I. "It has glass shelves, and glass shelves aren't my style. I need painted wood."

"Okay," says Mr. Wonderful. "I'll take out the glass and make wood shelves."

"And it's white, but it's not the white that goes with the rest of the kitchen. It's not MY white."

"I knew this was coming," says Mr. Irritated. "You mean to tell me I talked you out of the old hutch that needed the back replaced and painting and into a new hutch that was perfect -- just so I could replace the back and shelves and you could paint it?"

That pretty much summed it up. The rest of this story takes about two months.





So I painted the table and hutch fudge chocolate brown. A yummy color. And then I took a candle and rubbed wax over all the corners and edges. I then painted it three coats of white. My white.

And then, with a great deal of elbow grease and determination I sanded off the places where I wanted the brown to show through for a distressed look. I actually love it.



Unfortunately it doesn't hold near as much stuff. :-(

And then there are the awesome knobs. Note the reproduction glass knobs I found. (The wood ones had to go.) I bought them during the refinishing process and tucked them away until the hutch was finished.

CLICK TO ENLARGE to full awesomeness



I never saw them again. Not even after hunting and tearing the room apart. They're somewhere safe I have no doubt. So I bought them again.

And it's now finished. Well, except for a teeny weeny coat of acrylic or polyurethane, so the finish doesn't get scraped up.

ha ha. That was a joke.

Oh, and my son and daughter-in-law got my old hutch. They already had the table.

Still need to touch up the trim where it's been filled.

Whose Big Idea Was This?

So. Time comes to block up the doorway, and we've already decided on a transom window between the living room and ex-dining room/new kitchen. The kitchen gets wonderful morning light, and I hated to completely block that light from the other room. A window will let light through, circulate air (if we open it) and just look cool.
Note all the junk on the china hutch on the other side of this wall! LOL

So from the kichen side, I saw the wall being framed and said, "Hey, there's a spot for some inset shelves. Since a wall was removed I lost display space for collectables. Jay the Builder thinks the idea is okay, so he whips it together.



I got the bright idea of painting the backs the color behind the cabinet on another wall and staining the shelves red. It was a lot of work painting/staining them separately and then him putting them together. I really didn't like it. I guess it's not so bad to have one goof out of so many good accomplishments, but this was an eyesore goof.



So. I shall paint them. Taped them, found a can of green I liked - there's loveky old cracked green paint in the old window, so this will be a much beter look.



So. The first green is way too dark. I mean way.
So. I take some of the color from the opposite wall and blend it in to lighten it.


Two greens later, this is the right color. I still have more to show you now that's it's finished.


But that's the story.
And look all the junk is gone on the other side of the window.

Progress on the Window/Wall/Shelves

Not sure how to title this exactly. This is where a doorway once was. It's now recessed shelves for my vintage spice tin collection, and a transom window to let light through to the living room.
It's looking better and better!
After I saw the window in there, I thought I should have stained that wood green instead of red. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, ya know?
Jay scraped and sanded the window frame, but I don't think I'm going to paint it/ It's really cool, with old crazed paint. Yeah, I'm crazy like that.

living room side of old doorway

WAY BEFORE
Here is the living room with a cabinet in from of the doorway.
This is the same doorway as seen from the dining room on the other side.
The one that is now drywalled over



Here you can see through to the dining room.


It was an arch, but they took that out and made it into an opening for a transom window and filled in the rest.


And all the work is happening in the kitchen, so this still looks pretty much the same except the wall has been patched, there's woodwork around the kitchen doorway, and the wall is ready to paint.

BEFORE AND DURING

This was taken from the living room looking toward the stairs and kitchen doorway. The doorway is now a lot wider. The banister has been removed, carpet removed, old tile removed, and new steps are in place of the old ones.



This after the bigger hole was cut.

Are we having fun yet?

Here's me sanding the wall that goes down to the family room.


I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is we're finally to the painting stage! We're getting COLOR!

The bad news is this wall goes all the way down THROUGH the family room, so that whole room will need painted as well.

And here I am painting my parchment colors.

I use a double-headed roller and with two colors and then a big sheepskin to dab it evenly.



Who's idea was this anyway? The corner and around the doors are especially fun.

The wall shelves

Sing to Rick Springfield's song: I've got a hole in my wall!

But, hey it's level.


So then he puts some beadboard stuff in the back after I paint it.


And then I stain the shelves red. Red wood stain, you ask. Yeah, I'm crazy like that. Wait until you see the finished product before you gag.



And I tried to get a picture of the wall color - it's parchment-looking and took me forever. Pictures of that process are coming, too. Cause I know you haven't seen enough yet.


Here's Jay sanding the window that will fill that hole.

Cool pic of all the crap in the air, huh?

The West Wall

This wall used to have a doorway from the dining room to the living room. We left an opening for a transom window, which will be over an antique cabinet in the living room and allow morning and mid-day sun through. Below it here on the kitchen side are recessed shelves being built that will hold my vintage spice tins.

Here, Jay is putting primer on the wall. We looked at pieced-in and bare drywall for a REALLY long time. This is a big moment.



You can see the old wall here - the wall that was in the dining room and the wallpaper border ran out behind the hutch. LOL It was fine when there was a hutch in front of it, but I looked at it like this for MONTHS!




This picture is jumping ahead a little, because here you can see the recess shelf project coming together and the bottom wall color. The top is still primer and there's a space (the blue tape) for a chair rail.

Also note Jay's new sturdy ladder, which I made him buy. Last summer he fell off the old one and broke three ribs.

west wall destruction

WAY BEFORE
This is the west wall of the dining room before the wall came out.
There was a doorway behind this hutch.


Here is the doorway after during destruction.


Now the space is getting put back together.


And drywalling over the hole except for a window space.

ENTRYWAY FLOOR

Inside the front door was this awful BROWN tile. Can you say REALLY UGLY?



So Jared chipped off all the tiles with a hammer and a crowbar



and then Jay chopped the little pieces and glue with a chisel.

The new flooring now goes smoothly right from the kitchen to the front door.

The Essential Tools

A hammer, coffee and chocolate. Duh. Everybody knows that.

The Floor

THE DILEMMA: This was previously two rooms. One is carpeted, the other is wood laminate. The three-year-old wood laminate is now obsolete. So much for being able to buy more and piece it together somehow. Behind Jared you see the old cupboards on the original kitchen side. (They are still a work on progress.) You can also see the can lights.

So, the old flooring and carpet has to come out.

That was fun. Here's they're looking at where the doorway was between the two rooms.

Then the dining room side needed underlayment to bring it up level with the kitchen side.

Jay and Jared removed the old flooring and carpet and put down underlayment in a day.


This was under the laminate flooring. Bet it was ugly even when it was new! Yuck. Brown!



Then you have to lay down this foam plastic stuff under the new flooring. I got to help with that.


I'm probably saying, "THAT was under the stove!?" CLICK TO ENLARGE THIS and you can see whatever the kids are watching on TV down in the family room! LOL

The new floor is called ANTIQUE OAK. I think.

TWO BUTTS

This picture just makes me laugh.

Floor Continued

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The underlayment going down



Jared is doing the piece at the top of the stairs that go down to the family room.



The color of the new floor. It's distressed looking. Of course. Sort of like us when we look at the mess.

Replaced the front stairs

Murphy's Law: Everything you do leads to something else you have to do.

The old carpet and entryway tile had to come out - also removed a banister. So there were holes on the steps and yada yada.
The guys ripped off the carpet to see what they could do. We had this idea of removing the carpet and staining the stair treads and painting the risers.


Well, of course the old stairs were just gross and pieced together, so the guys decided they had to go. I was doing dishes and Jay said, do you want to be up or down?

PHOTO: JARED WORKING ON STEPS



By the time I was done with dishes, I was down. There were no stairs. So I went shopping and picked up Elijah from school and we went shopping. I mean it's not like I could get to my desk to work.


The new stairs are solid and great. One teeny weeny thing we didn't anticipate: They are NOISY. I mean NOISY. Thump thump up and down.



They worked really hard on the stairs and they're great -- but......


Photo: ME, LITTLE JARED AND ELIJAH


...we thinks we'll be gettin' carpet on them. I'm all about comfort.

The ceiling project

The ceiling was a huge job. Jay worked on it many evenings and a couple of weekends. Since the space was originally two rooms, they had to make the two sides even and match. There was a gaping hole where he and Jared cut access to the attic and Jared wired all the new lights up there, and then they put in more insulation.
Also, a big ugly recess hole where they removed ugly flourecent lighting had to be framed over and filled in.
CLICK ON THEM TO ENLARGE PHOTOS
And me being me, I really liked the rough look of the patched places, so I requested the texture be covered over and the ceiling made to look like plaster.
Jay is my hero because he made it happen. I really love it. He and Jared put in can lights and a fixture over the island.
We are in disagreement over the old ceiling fan. I was happy to see it go. He put it back up in a different place. But he did say last weekend that he knows he's already lost the battle. Guess I'll be fixture shopping.

LIGHT FIXTURES

This is why our kids think we're nuts:
We take down new light fixtures and replace them with vintage ones that sometimes, okay usually, have to be rewired. This is one we found a long time ago while browsing at an antique mall. It was under our bed for months, and now it's above the island (we're using the antique sideboard for our island - it has a marble top) and it's awesome. CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS and you can sort of see the ceiling effect.


This one is in the living room. We found it at a rummage sale in a small town nearby. The young couple who sold it to us removed it from their home to put up a modern one. I think we stole it for something like $25. It's porcelain with roses painted on it.

welcome to my nightmare

yes, this is the living room during the worst of the destruction.

color me happy

Jay takes down the ceiling fan/light. I'm not a fan of the fan. He is.
MORE ABOUT THIS LATER.

chronological or illogical

The thing about blogs is, you will be seeing all of this backwards as I go back and bring you up to date. I've tried to make the first ones make sense.

one of the first things to happen

was to remove the window
This is Jared and Bob and Rich - everybody needs a couple of crazy friends.





and then the doorway was created
Jay is the one in the yellow hat.

DURING

So then it looked like this for a while.

Once Upon A Time....

in a not-so-faraway land,
this was my kitchen wall.

Yes, that's some of my stuff. It's all packed away now. has been since last...um, well the end of February '07.

:::sigh:::

BEFORE

This is the old doorway from the kitchen to the dining room.

and this...

was the teeny weeny dining room...
The hutch you see here is covering up the arched doorway to the living room. And the room is ready for Christmas. That's more of my stuff.










This window is no longer there. It's in the garage. Just stashed in the garage. Some day it will be in the family room. Cause we're crazy like that.

the living room side

okay, where you saw that big hutch in the dinign room that I said was covering a doorway...
this was the other side - the living room side with this china cabinet in front of the doorway.

the way it was

living room pre-chaos