Let's Talk Remodeling

[shovan]

Oh, I have no clue how to use my camera either! I got it in December, but so far it's just been used for work.

When I take pictures of the handles, it looks blurred without the flash, and washed out with it. Again - it's the photographer. The first picture is with the flash on, the second is the flash off, the third is the sconce (with some dust - you've gotta love that!), and the last one is the light ceiling fixture. Make sure to tell her that I also aged them with black paint.

Thanks!! The pictures look good!

I still can't get over how good those came out. Did you have to prime the pieces first? So is that the pewter color with a regular black paint brushed on & wiped off?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Thanks!! The pictures look good!

I still can't get over how good those came out. Did you have to prime the pieces first? So is that the pewter color with a regular black paint brushed on & wiped off?

The kit comes with the primer (it looks milky, but dries clear, with a slight shine to it) and the metal. A little goes a LONG way.

You prime your pieces, then apply the metal, then use the primer again to seal them. In my case, after I applied the metal and let it dry, I brushed them with black craft paint (those cheap little bottles from Michael's), quickly wiped it back off, then sealed them. I only wanted the black left in the crevices.

It's withstood a lot of handling on the door handles, and it still looks great!

You wouldn't believe the things I've refinished, not just with that, but with craft paint. I don't even really look at color anymore, because if I don't like it as-is, I'll just change it.

My favorite was a floor lamp that had a black base. I didn't want it black anymore, so I took several different colors of rust, brown and black craft paint and sponged it on. It came out looking like wrought iron. I think it's fun!

I'm fixing to do it to my ceiling fan in my bedroom, as soon as I can convince my husband to take it down. Now that I have the black bed, I want to paint the blades black and make the casing look pewter. Right now the blades are oak and the casing is brushed bronze (which is what those sconces were).

I'm rambling... sorry!

ETA: So much for stopping... lol. That ceiling light had a white glass shade, but my sconces were more amber. I took a dark yellow craft paint and diluted it and brushed in on the inside of the shade, and wiped it off with a damp rag. That was scary, but it turned out. It looks just like the sconces and I spent a whopping $15 on the light.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

As someone who is faced with the very daunting task of removing white paint from a gorgeous antique hutch, don't paint the cabinets unless you are going to replace them! I can't emphasize that enough.
A darker stain would be gorgeous. Not black, but a darker brown. I absolutely love your lighting in the room btw.

I have never removed paint, but I can only imagine how much of a pain that would be!

 

[gardenhoe]

hmmmmm, painting the light fixtures, huh? I think I could handle that.

 

[shovan]

As someone who is faced with the very daunting task of removing white paint from a gorgeous antique hutch, don't paint the cabinets unless you are going to replace them! I can't emphasize that enough.
A darker stain would be gorgeous. Not black, but a darker brown. I absolutely love your lighting in the room btw.

Thanks for the compliment on the lights! I love those myself. I found them discounted mixed up with a bunch of other stuff at Home Depot. I installed them myself, something I had never done before. Only to get one of them up & it not work (defective). I was so upset, sure that HD wouldn't have any left, there were only a few on the shelf one I bought it. But thankfully they did have one left!

Well I know what a hard job removing paint from an antique is! And although my house is almost 30 yrs old, the cabinets are hardly antique quality. To prep a stained wood, wouldn't I have to sand down to bare wood? I don't think I'm quite up for that.

The kit comes with the primer (it looks milky, but dries clear, with a slight shine to it) and the metal. A little goes a LONG way.

You prime your pieces, then apply the metal, then use the primer again to seal them. In my case, after I applied the metal and let it dry, I brushed them with black craft paint (those cheap little bottles from Michael's), quickly wiped it back off, then sealed them. I only wanted the black left in the crevices.

It's withstood a lot of handling on the door handles, and it still looks great!

You wouldn't believe the things I've refinished, not just with that, but with craft paint. I don't even really look at color anymore, because if I don't like it as-is, I'll just change it.

My favorite was a floor lamp that had a black base. I didn't want it black anymore, so I took several different colors of rust, brown and black craft paint and sponged it on. It came out looking like wrought iron. I think it's fun!

I'm fixing to do it to my ceiling fan in my bedroom, as soon as I can convince my husband to take it down. Now that I have the black bed, I want to paint the blades black and make the casing look pewter. Right now the blades are oak and the casing is brushed bronze (which is what those sconces were).

I'm rambling... sorry!

ETA: So much for stopping... lol. That ceiling light had a white glass shade, but my sconces were more amber. I took a dark yellow craft paint and diluted it and brushed in on the inside of the shade, and wiped it off with a damp rag. That was scary, but it turned out. It looks just like the sconces and I spent a whopping $15 on the light.

Thanks that is everything we need to know!! What a great idea to redo your fan! As you know I'm thinking about changing everything in the house from antique brass to ORB. So if I'm successful with my kitchen pulls, I may be doing a lot of painting around here!

I can't believe you attempted changing the glass shade color! I anged the shades on the lights in the master bath. While I was hunting, I found plenty that were pretty but in white instead of amber. I considered getting a glass paint to redo them, but chickened out! I hope your DH appreciates how much money you are saving!

 

[sm4987]

I painted over my stained cabinets in my kitchen. I followed advice, down to the paint color, of a woman's kitchen I had been drooling over on Gardenweb.

Here is the link to my kitchen from Gardenweb: http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2005/07/smbnobles-kitchen.html

If you look down at the comments, you'll see where I posted what I used to refinish the cabinets, including the primer and paint. Make sure to check out Reno_Fan's kitchen too. That poor woman just moved and remodeled ANOTHER kitchen three years later, and it is absolutely gorgeous!



I swear, I will remember my advice this time.

I wouldn't do cream, unless you're planning on replacing your counters... and then you're verging on towel bar syndrome territory.

How 'bout a darker color, like cherry, or even black, and try your hand at glazing? Or you could do a finish like mine, where you paint one color and then another on top, rubbing off some of the top color, letting the color underneath come through, in a distressed way. My black vanity, has a deep red underneath.

And I don't know what you're talking about referring to your bathroom paint. I think it looks great!

Her kitchen is wonderful isn't it! I would be so much happier if I stayed off that website!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

hmmmmm, painting the light fixtures, huh? I think I could handle that.

Uh-oh. I may have started a huge towel bar syndrome movement!

I hope your DH appreciates how much money you are saving!

Apparently not enough to test my skills in my master bathroom! That's still stalled and I'm getting so frustrated with him!

Her kitchen is wonderful isn't it! I would be so much happier if I stayed off that website!

And she's such a nice person too. Did you see her most recent kitchen? It's in the current gallery of Gardenweb, not on the blog. It's gorgeous!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Okay, I admit, I've done my share of procrastinating lately about my bathroom. I just called my cabinet guy and he's coming back out on the 7th of February.

His price was around $2,300 (I think?) for stain-grade cabinetry. For the longest time I thought it would be cheaper to get manufactured cabinets, but all of the sudden it dawned on me that we have to wait six weeks, and pay 50% of the purchase price for install.

If my carpenter makes them, I get them in two weeks and his price already includes installation. I think I would have ended up waiting longer and paying more for the Thomasville cabinets we had picked out.

Now I just have to decide if I should get then stained, or have them painted.

And get this... we're doing the tile ourselves. This should be fun. Anyone wanna take bets on how long my marriage lasts?

 

[mickeysgal]

And get this... we're doing the tile ourselves. This should be fun. Anyone wanna take bets on how long my marriage lasts?

We just got done tiling our basement bathroon. Let me tell you that we had such arguments over grout lines and cut tile seams lining up and everything in between. And this was a regular, small 5 X 8 bathroom. As he was setting tile, I was pulling it off if I didn't like the way it didn't line up, or whatever. It was not one of our better moments. I can't imagine doing a master bath of any significant size together. I just can't imagine...

 

[Crankyshank]

Yeah that's the downside, you do have to sand down to wood. However, I've sanded down to bare wood - it's really not bad if you have a motorized sander. I did 5 (yes 5) layers off of my front and side doors and it took me a weekend to do.
I'm not looking forward to doing this hutch. It's 6ft tall and 6ft long. Even the shelves and the fixtures were painted white. Anyone know a good paint removing brass cleaner?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

We just got done tiling our basement bathroon. Let me tell you that we had such arguments over grout lines and cut tile seams lining up and everything in between. And this was a regular, small 5 X 8 bathroom. As he was setting tile, I was pulling it off if I didn't like the way it didn't line up, or whatever. It was not one of our better moments. I can't imagine doing a master bath of any significant size together. I just can't imagine...

See, this actually scares me. I do think we'll argue, but it was my bright idea to try to save some money and now that I've talked him in to it, he's determined. I'm my own worst enemy it seems.

My carpenter usually knows some good people, so maybe he can turn us on to a good tile guy. At least I'm contracting it out myself now, so I won't be paying the designer's fees. That will save some money.

Have any new pics?

 

[SplshMtn99]

Hi all. I haven't been around much. Decided to check in today & find you talking about tiling. Funny.

Remember me? The ones who usually does everything ourselves & don't hire people because we usually aren't satisfied with their work?

Well the backsplash tile is finally going up this weekend. But not by us. This whole kitchen thing has taken tooooo long considering it was only a few things we changed. I think DH has just crapped out on me when it comes to projects. But in all fairness, he's been working ALOT. And I've been working some weekends.

At Christmas, I finally picked the tile & we bought it. The past 2 weekends we've intended to start tiling. We got everything measured out. Knew where we were starting & how the cuts would work out at the ends. And that's where it ended. When it came time to actually dip a trowel into the morter bucket, all productivity stopped. Then we realized that the next 4 weekends have things on the calendar or DH being thousands of miles away.

I finally gave in & told him to ask the neighbor to do it. REMEMBER THE NEIGHBOR? The contractor who wanted to cover a gap from silestone to countertop with that white plastic bathroom molding on a roll?
I think I need my head examined. But I'm just soooo done with this project. And I figure since I'm the one who did the math & the layout, I'll be happy with it. And I'll be working with him on the project. I'm NOT leaving the room. I guess I figure I have some control over what it looks like since I'm the one who planned it out. He came over & looked at my math & tile that is spread on the floor. He was ok with it. Its a pretty straight forward brick layout. And the tile is already on sq ft sheets. Its not hard. Just that DH didn't want to do it.

So, wish me luck!! I'll either kill the neighbor or myself if it looks bad.

Hope to check in again soon. LOVE all the pictures everyone has added. Need to get my "little" kitchen project done because we have a trip I need to get working on. I can't be doing this again all summer.

 

[shovan]

Yeah that's the downside, you do have to sand down to wood. However, I've sanded down to bare wood - it's really not bad if you have a motorized sander. I did 5 (yes 5) layers off of my front and side doors and it took me a weekend to do.
I'm not looking forward to doing this hutch. It's 6ft tall and 6ft long. Even the shelves and the fixtures were painted white. Anyone know a good paint removing brass cleaner?

Yeah, I'm don't think the cabinets are worth that much work. I guess I'll see once I get started on the sanding.

Okay, I admit, I've done my share of procrastinating lately about my bathroom. I just called my cabinet guy and he's coming back out on the 7th of February.

His price was around $2,300 (I think?) for stain-grade cabinetry. For the longest time I thought it would be cheaper to get manufactured cabinets, but all of the sudden it dawned on me that we have to wait six weeks, and pay 50% of the purchase price for install.

If my carpenter makes them, I get them in two weeks and his price already includes installation. I think I would have ended up waiting longer and paying more for the Thomasville cabinets we had picked out.

Now I just have to decide if I should get then stained, or have them painted.

And get this... we're doing the tile ourselves. This should be fun. Anyone wanna take bets on how long my marriage lasts?

Good Luck with all of it! Especially the tile & marriage!

I finally gave in & told him to ask the neighbor to do it. REMEMBER THE NEIGHBOR? The contractor who wanted to cover a gap from silestone to countertop with that white plastic bathroom molding on a roll?
I think I need my head examined. But I'm just soooo done with this project. And I figure since I'm the one who did the math & the layout, I'll be happy with it. And I'll be working with him on the project. I'm NOT leaving the room. I guess I figure I have some control over what it looks like since I'm the one who planned it out. He came over & looked at my math & tile that is spread on the floor. He was ok with it. Its a pretty straight forward brick layout. And the tile is already on sq ft sheets. Its not hard. Just that DH didn't want to do it.

So, wish me luck!! I'll either kill the neighbor or myself if it looks bad.

Hope to check in again soon. LOVE all the pictures everyone has added. Need to get my "little" kitchen project done because we have a trip I need to get working on. I can't be doing this again all summer.

You did WHAT??! I hope he doesn't plan on finishing the edge of the backsplash with that plastic molding!! Good Luck & I hope BOTH of you survive this!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I finally gave in & told him to ask the neighbor to do it. REMEMBER THE NEIGHBOR? The contractor who wanted to cover a gap from silestone to countertop with that white plastic bathroom molding on a roll?
I think I need my head examined. But I'm just soooo done with this project. And I figure since I'm the one who did the math & the layout, I'll be happy with it. And I'll be working with him on the project. I'm NOT leaving the room.

Glad to see you here!

I think if you're there, that you'll be okay. I'm sure he does good work, he just doesn't have the best of taste. You've already got your layout - you just need the labor.

 

[SplshMtn99]

We have a tiled backsplash! I didn't kill him or myself, but of course DH had to come home & find every little fault. I told him he wasn't allowed to complain since we had to hire someone because he couldn't seem to find time to do the job. He shut up after that. lol It's not perfect, but I don't even care at this point. (That's me on anti-anxiety meds talking. lol Years ago, I would have stressed & maybe even cried. lol) I have a 20 year old condo, with 20 year old cabinets & my kitchen at least looks like the 21st century on a budget. I'm happy. Its what I can afford right now unless I decide to return to the workplace....which ain't happening anytime soon.

You guys were right on the darker tile choice back in December. We did buy the lightest sheets of the dark tile & I do like them. They'll look even better once the grout is in. We want to match the grout to the tile as much as possible to try to minimize the look of grout lines so the countertop will be the focal point once again. And to get rid of the geometric look next to the randomness of the Silestone.

This was taken last night before I cleaned up everything. The color is probably the closest I've come so far with the florescent light on.

Taken today with some natural daylight & florescent light. Its a bit washed out.

Also today.

We took down the microwave so we could tile higher than cabinet bottom. We'll be raising the microwave & cabinet up 3.5" for more clearance above the stove. I only had 16.5" from stove to microwave.

I believe these are the first pictures you've seen with the new hardware too. I like them. Also my fear of everything being too neutral is gone. The sage green wall pops more than I thought it would, but its still subtle.

Album link for anyone interested. Befores & progress pics.
http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/SplshMtn99/2007 Kitchen Updates/

After the sealing & grouting, we'll be adding molding to the tops of cabinets. I won't be able to find an already stained molding that matches 20 yr old oak, so I think I'll be looking for one that is darker (but not black) to complement our black & oak table. It should also balance well with the darker countertop & hardware & appliances.

I suppose I should go clean up the rest of the mess in there now. lol

 

[mickeysgal]

Also today.

SplshMtn99, I love it. The colors really came together well. You landed on the right color combination thats for sure.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Splash, that looks absolutely wonderful! You did an awesome job!

And I wouldn't worry too much about imperfections, because the tile itself isn't perfect. Nobody will notice, but if you're like me, you'll point it out to everyone.

 

[Ranatra]

SplshMtn: I think your tile looks wonderful!
I also love your sage green walls!!
Nice job!

 

[Hixski]

Splash: Your tilework looks beautiful! Don't forget to post a picture when you move the cabinet over the microwave. Your cabinets are very similar to mine and I can't wait to see what it looks like when you are done.

 

[shovan]

Splash, That looks great!!

I know how stressed you were, picking out that tile. So glad for you that it's done & came out so nice! And that no neighbors were injured in the process!!!

The colors all work really well!