New Year, and a New Kitchen (plus a Giveaway!)

As you may remember, before Christmas, I took on the task of repainting my kitchen cabinets. Along with new paint, my cabinets also received shiny new hardware that I ordered from CSN Stores. CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from modern dining room furniture to a large selection of cabinet hardware and accessories. I was really pleased with the selection of cabinet door knobs and pulls they offered, and I think they really help to put the finishing touch on my cabinets.

Now, on with it.

Here is my kitchen now:

Clean and white, with nice hardware.

But it wasn't always this way...

It took a lot of sanding...

And a lot of paint.

Here are some "BEFORE" shots of things like some dried paint drips:

Broken doors:

Original finish where the old hinges used to be:

Uneven texture and handles:

Before:

After:

Before:

After (without knobs):

I know it doesn't look much different - I did just repaint the cabinets white - but oh does it ever look better in person!! So much cleaner and nicer!! It was by far the hardest project that I've ever done, but it was so worth it!

In honor of my new cabinets with their shiny new hardware, CSN Stores is generously offering up a $50 gift certificate that's good at any of their online stores! All you have to do is leave a comment here on this post - simple!

The contest will be open through next Sunday night at 8:00 CST, when I'll announce a winner. (It would be great if you'd also leave a contact email so I can contact you).

Good luck!

A Sneak Peek:

Taken from my cell phone (because I have a suspicion that my husband has the USB cord to our camera in his backpack...which is with him in New Jersey!)

Almost done!! Only 8 knobs to go, and some clean-up (of course).

Then - better and prettier pictures. Promise.

I Hate it When This Happens...

All day.

That's how long we worked on my cabinets, and I'm tired.

I thought I would share with you some "before" pictures. And some pictures of what we did today...

But nooooooo.

I can't find the cord to plug the camera into the computer.

And did I mention that I am really tired??

And a bit cranky?

So, once the husband makes it home tomorrow night from his trip, I'll figure out where the cord is, and there will be pictures for everyone to see.

Until then, here's a list of what went down today:

Cabinets and drawers were taken down

Hardware was taken off

Degreaser was applied and all was cleaned

Holes were filled

And lots of sandpaper was used

Tomorrows fun will include primer, cleaning and sanding of the actual cabinet box faces that are inside, and *possibly* a coat of paint!

Later, dearies....

It's the Weekend! Almost...

Wouldn't it be nice to have Sunday brunch here???

(And another example of a table with a weathered paint base and natural wooden top.)

Have a great weekend!!!

Picture of West Elm's VP Alex Bates' beach cottage from this month's Country Living

My Favorite Kitchen...

I have loved this kitchen ever since I saw in in the October 2007 Better Homes and Gardens. I love the island with that thick slab of aged marble, the built-in refrigerator with the chalk-board front, the little built-ins under the stairs with the baskets, the sliding doors to the garden, and I especially love the vaulted ceilings with the skylight.

One of these days, I will have a kitchen that looks like this.

Photos by Philip Harvey from October 2007 Better Homes and Gardens

Monday (afternoon) caffeine

A little pick-me-up for a Monday afternoon! (I apologize - I so meant to get these up this morning, but it didn't happen!) Any of these kitchens or dining areas would be perfect to sit in and sip on a cup of coffee or tea.



In love with the windows!!

I would KILL for architectural details like these!!

Nice mix of modern and trad.

I love the geometric tile on behind the range. And the green cabinets. And the huge island!

The open shelves are nice, as are the bleached ash cabinets and floor.

Since our kitchen is open to our dining and living rooms, I love being able to stand in the kitchen looking out over them while I fix a cup of tea, prep for dinner or put up dishes. Do you have a favorite spot in your kitchen or dining area?

*photo credits: #1 Domino, #2-#4 Flickr, #5 Cottage Living via MHI, #6 Canadian House and Home

Butcher Block Counters

One of these days, we'll tackle and re-do our kitchen. The cabinets desperately need a new coat of paint, they need new hardware, our appliances (except for the dishwasher) have seen better days, and our countertops are older laminate. Boo.
Previously, we've purchased some tile on sale for the counters, but the longer we wait, the more I start to think about other options. Due to our teeny-tiny budget, things like marble and granite are out of our range, but butcher block counters are a surprisingly affordable option.

I love the gray-ed wash on the cabinets here.

These counters look like they've just been oiled, or maybe polyurethaned.

Black cabinets and worn butcher block.

If only my kitchen was this light and bright!

Ikea is awesome. You can get an 8' piece for $59.00! Granted, it's the thinner 1 1/8-inch thickness, but still. Solid beech wood, and totally within our budget. I'm liking butcher block more and more.

Happy Friday!

Glass Canisters

My new glass canisters from the Crate and Barrel outlet.
After I bought the ornaments, I used part of the gift card that was left to buy these. My old ones from Ikea were ready to retire, and I have had my eye out for some that were a bit larger and a little nicer.

Here is a better picture from their website:

Now my question is: Do I leave the tops as they are (silver), or should I paint them?

Black?

Or maybe a color? I like the red, but I'd probably choose dark green.

What do you think?

Kitchen tile options: which do you like better?

Here is my dilemma: We bought some tile on sale last year for our kitchen countertops. Now that we are getting ready to do them, I am not 100% on whether I like them or not.
Well, let me put it this way: if I could spend any amount of money in the world and was not poor and on a budget of next-to-nothing, I wouldn't probably pick this.
But, since we are on a budget, our house is not worth the amount of money to put in marble or a slab of granite, etc, our options are limited.


So, I give you the choices.


Choice #1: The existing tile we already have. We would be using the larger tiles for the counter, and the small squares for the backsplash. As they were on sale when we bought them, there wasn't enough to cover the entire wall from the counter to the cabinets. What we would do would be to use a strip like this, which is about 4 inches tall, and then top it with a small strip of painted moulding to finish it.





Choice #2: Use the existing counter tile we have with plain tile, which we would buy, laid in a subway pattern for a backsplash. Subway tile. I love the look. But, it is time-consuming to put up. And since I've decided that the tile on the left doesn't co-ordinate well, we'd be using white tile, like the tile on the right. So, would it be TOO white and shiny? Would it look kind of cheap since the counters would be nothing-special tile and not granite or marble, etc.?? I'm not sure about this, and the last thing I want to do is spend all weekend tiling a backsplash and then not really like it. Plus, Chris would refuse to re-do it, so I'd be stuck with it.





Here is a (poor quality) picture that shows the 2 choices again, with the (dingy and in need of a paint-job) white cabinets. My kitchen is small, doesn't get a ton of light, and is visible from the living and dining rooms.



The other option that we could do is to put down granite tiles for the counter, maybe with a 3-inch tall cut piece on top for the backsplash. We found a place that is selling certain colors of the tile for a very reasonable price. But if we bought them, we wouldn't have any money to buy anything (like subway tile) for a full backsplash. The color of tile we liked the best is close to this in the picture:
Option #3


If we end up purchasing any tile (granite or subway), then the tile we have already purchased will be used in our bathroom - which will also need to be redone in the near future. So, no wasted tile.

What do you think? Any suggestions?