Transform your kitchen with DIY painted cabinets

Painting kitchen cabinets can feel intimidating, or even sacreligious, but I believe that it’s one of the easiest, most affordable ways to completely transform your kitchen. I lived in our kitchen for years wanting to paint the cabinets, but felt bad painting them because they looked relatively new and were perfectly fine. But here’s the thing, I LOVE our kitchen after painting the cabinets. It feels so much more “us,” it feels modernized, and custom (vs. basic builder grade).

I’ve painted cabinets in three different kitchens now and I love each transformation. In some, I’ve replaced the upper cabinets with new ones, to freshen up the look (like in the before/after below), or put in open shelving, and in others I’ve painted both the lower and upper cabinets.

01/ Remove doors and hardware

This one is kind of optional. Removing drawer pulls and knobs is not: you’re definitely gonna want to remove those, it only takes a couple minutes and a screwdriver. But removing doors is up to you. It’s definitely easier to prep and paint them separately, but I have painted cabinets with the doors on and it works too! If you don’t have a garage or somewhere that you can set up a painting area, leaving the doors on is workable!

02/ Clean + degrease your cabinets

You’ll want to make sure you have a clean surface to paint, free from kitchen gunk and grease. Lower cabinets that aren’t near the oven don’t tend to have as much grease, but cabinets over the stove can have grease build-up that will definitely need to be removed in order for the paint to stick well. Use TSP or a similar cleaner to clean your cabinets first. Do all the surfaces you plan on painting. I have never painted the interior of cabinets, mostly because it seems like a pain and I don’t mind the insides having the original wood, but you’d follow the same steps laid out here.

03/ Sand and/or degloss your cabinets

Next, you’ll want to remove some of the glossiness on the cabinets so the paint will stick well. I use Liquid Sandpaper first, and then if I feel like I still need to rough up the surface a bit more, I’ll hit it with a fine grit sandpaper like 220 grit.

04/ Prime!

There are tons of primers out there, some specially designed for furniture and some that say they’ll stick to basically anything. I use Kilz for basically everything, so that’s what I’ve used on all my cabinet painting jobs, as well as to paint metal file cabinets and it seems to work really well.

With primer and paint, you have a couple options. I’d say the best option for a smooth surface is using a paint sprayer. We have a pretty heavy duty sprayer because we bought it to do the exterior of our house, but there are smaller, more affordable ones available that would work for painting cabinets. For spraying, I would recommend just doing the doors and setting up a spray booth in a garage or other workspace with plastic sheeting and drop cloth, unless you feel like masking off your entire kitchen and spraying the whole cabinet. We sprayed the doors, then used brushes and 4-in smooth rollers for the cabinets themselves. One coat of primer should do the trick.

05/ Paint!

Now the fun part! You’re gonna want to get a nice paint. I’ve used Behr Marquee for all my cabinets because it does a nice job of self leveling and the coverage is amazing. Behr also makes an Alkyd paint that is designed for cabinetry and was recommended, however they have limited paint colors available for that paint and I’m too picky with my colors. I’ve never had a problem with using the Marquee.

When it comes to picking a sheen, I’ve discovered that I prefer eggshell. I’ve used semi-gloss in the past thinking that the glossiness would be easier to wipe down, but I’ve found that semi-gloss and gloss paints tend to, like, not stick as well? I don’t know, they seem like they can be scratched easier, and for cabinets when there are fingernails scratching when you grab for drawer pulls, I’ve had the semi-gloss paint scratch off, but the eggshell doesn’t.

I’d recommend at least two coats, possibly three, depending on how it looks after two. Again, if you’re spraying, spray the doors and then roll + brush the cabinets. Allow the right dry time between coats based on what your paint recommends.

Also, I should note that I have not used a sealer or top coat on my painted cabinets yet, but with my most recent cabinet painting project I’m thinking of finding one so I can see if it’s something I recommend. For some reason I just never thought to put a top coat on, so I’m going to do some research and testing to see if there’s something I like and I’ll update this accordingly!

Thrifted Dresser Revival

After we moved into the new house I was looking for a dresser for Dan because the closet space isn’t huge. I knew I wanted something kind of modern, kind of scandinavian, but also affordable. Buying anything new that fit those descriptions seemed nearly impossible. I could get the first two, but nothing that fit my (real low) budget. So I decided to hit the thrift stores and see what I could find. I ended up getting this old dresser for $25 and promptly started refinishing it!

In the Before image I’ve already removed the old hardware that was just plain and dated, and I’d removed some of the drawers to start sanding. The door’s hinges broke off when the gal was wheeling the cabinet out to my car and she hit a pot hole, so that’s why the door is sitting on the ground, but replacement hinges were easy enough to find at the hardware store!

BEFORE

AFTER

I had some long legs from Pretty Pegs for a bench project that I never ended up doing, but I loved the idea of adding a bit of quirkiness to a dresser with the long legs. I used a skill saw to cut off the bottom on the two sides that served as the old legs in order to give it a straight bottom to attach the legs to, but other than that, the only power tool I really needed was a sander and a drill. And man did I do some sanding. So. Much. Sanding. I used a belt sander for most of it, then used an orbital sander for some parts, and had to do hand sanding in all the crevasses.

I decided to keep it unfinished because I liked the light, naked wood. I replaced the old dated drawer pulls with new ones, and then I added some shelves in the door space on the right because it previously held an odd slide-out hanging rod that didn’t seem practical for our purposes.

I picked up the drawer pulls from Home Depot and just made sure that they had the holes the same distance apart as the original ones so all I had to do was screw them right on, super easy update! And the Pretty Pegs legs came with brackets to attach the legs, so that was also a pretty easy update!

Since it’s relatively top heavy with the longer legs, I’m planning on attaching it to the wall with brackets, just so it doesn’t fall over with the drawers pulled out (or some crazy toddler decides it’s a good idea to climb up it).

All in all, the project took 2, maybe 2.5 days from start to finish and here’s the breakdown on the cost:
Thrifted Dresser: $24.99
Drawer Pulls: $32.40
Hinges: $2.78
Legs: (c/o Pretty Pegs) $75

Adventures in DIY tiling

There’s not much I won’t DIY, and I’m usually pretty spot on in my assessment of how difficult a project will be but this kitchen floor has turned into a huge pain. And to be fair, I’m not feeling the pain of how annoying the install process is— Dan is the one doing the mortar and laying the tiles. But what we planned on being a weekend project has now entered the second week of having no functional kitchen, and I’ll tell you what: not having a range is a lot harder than I thought. I finally broke down and bought a microwave yesterday so we could at least have some home cooked food.

We’re probably about halfway done with the kitchen and the same tile will continue into the bathroom and in the laundry closet, so I’m thinking we probably have at least another week of doing tile, though we thankfully have laid the tile where the range goes, which means it will be able to return to it’s home and functional status in the next day or two.

Next up, I’ll be grouting the tile, which is perfect because it’s a great project for me to do while Jack naps. Even though I hate working with it, I decided to go with the Fusion Pro grout again, just because I don’t have to seal it or anything. And I think it’ll be less annoying to work with this time simply because I’m not doing a contrasting grout (last time I did black grout with white hex tiles). Since I wanted a concrete floor, I’m doing the grout in as close to the same color as the tile to give it more of a seamless look. But you know I couldn’t make things easy, so we’re doing a herringbone pattern. It’ll be more subtle since the grout won’t be contrasting, but I still think it’ll add interest.

Ooooh, and peep that new light fixture too! In the meantime, you know I couldn’t wait any longer to paint something chartreuse in this house. This color is Lemongrass by Behr and It feels so happy! Even with no trim.

DIY Triangle Shoe Storage Shelf

I knew I needed a better solution for my shoe storage and I wanted something cuter than just a bunch of cubbies, when I found a large version of this shelf on Pinterest (it was like a 6ft high version) I knew I wanted to make a small one that would fit beneath the angled ceilings of our attic closet. The wood for this was super affordable, and it only took about an hour and a half from start to finish to complete it!

What you’ll need:
2 8ft 2x2s
1 8ft 1x2
8 1.5 in screws
2 2 inch mending plates with screws
4 corner braces with screws
1 4ft 1x8 plank
1 6ft 1x8 plank
Drill
Skillsaw

1/ Using a skillsaw (or a handsaw) cut your 2x2s into four 41 inch long pieces for the ladder sides, and your 1x2 into four 11 inch pieces for the ladder rungs.

2/ Make a ladder by laying two 2x2s next to each other, marking a line 13 inches and 29 inches on each one. Separate the two sides and place the top of the 1x2 rungs at each line, screwing them to the 2x2s. The ends of the 1x2s should be flush with the sides of the 2x2s so the total depth of the ladder is 11 inches. Repeat for the second ladder. I pre-drilled the screw holes on the 1x2s because otherwise the screws would split the wood, so I recommend doing that.

3/ Use your flat brackets to attach the tops of the ladders to each other. Using a speed square, make sure the angle of the two ladders is 60º at the top where they meet. In order to keep them together while I got the angle right, I used clamps to hold the tops together and then used a piece of scrap wood and screwed it into the sides to keep the angle correct. If you have a friend helping, though, you can probably just use them to help hold the ladders together while you screw the brackets at the top.

4/ Place the planks on each shelf, the shorter one on the top shelf. Make sure they’re centered so that each side has the same overhang length. Use the L bracket and screw the vertical side to the inside of the 2x2, just below the shelf, then screw the horizontal side up into the bottom of the shelf, securing the shelf to the ladder. Do this on both sides for each shelf. I only put one L bracket on for each shelf, but you could put one on each side of the ladder for both sides of the the shelves if you want a little more security.

If you’ve screwed on a scrap piece of wood to the ladders to keep them at the right angle, you can unscrew that now. You’re all done!

I made sure that all the brackets were behind the wood so you don’t see them from the front, but that’s just me being nitpicky because #aesthetics.

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DIY Modern Pergola Tutorial for under $100

I've wanted a pergola in our side yard for quite a while.  First of all, we've got these hops that grow like mad and I wanted somewhere for them to climb.  Second of all, our side yard is on the south side of our home and it gets real hot over there, so I wanted something to cover the area a bit and provide shade. I saw a lovely, black, modern pergola at Target one day for like $450 and was not about to drop $450 on it, but wanted to create something similar and figured it'd be a pretty simple DIY. Lo and behold, it was!

What you'll need:

Skill Saw
Drill
3 in deck screws
2 10ft 2x4's
2 8ft 2x4s'
4 8ft 4x4's
8 8ft 2x2's
Paint/stain (optional)

01/  Lay your 4x4's down on the ground 10 feet apart and then lay the first 10ft 2x4 across them.  Attach each end of the 2x4 to what will be the top end of the 4x4s using three screws.  I pre-drilled all my screw holes with a bit slightly smaller than my screws just to ensure that I wouldn't split any of my wood.

02/ Once both sides of the 10ft 2x4 are screwed to the 4x4s, tilt it up to standing.  If you have a pal or two helping you (which I recommend), they can hold it up while you build the next side, using the same process.  If you have zero friends willing to help, you can be like me and do it alone, you'll just have to prop your two sides up by lashing them to sawhorses.  

03/ Now that your long sides are up and finished, you can put them together with the two 8ft 2x4s.  Using 3 screws on either end, screw the 8 ft 2x4s into the top end of the 4x4, but make sure the end of the 2x4 goes all the way to the side of your first 10ft 2x4s, otherwise your pergola will be too wide for the top 2x2 slats! 

/04 Now that everything is connected, you can add the top slats.  I just used one screw on each end of the 2x2s and screwed them into the top of the 10ft 2x4s.

05/ if you'd like to add more stabilization, you can put some diagonal 2x4s in each of the top corners.  If you're not too worried about wind, you can leave it as is, as it's pretty heavy, but if you want it to be more anchored, you can either dig holes for the legs to sit in and pour some concrete, or you can buy concrete pier blocks to screw your legs to for a little less permanent of an anchor. 

I also chose to paint mine black to match the exterior of our house, so you could either paint yours or stain it to preserve the wood. 

Rug : Target | Adirondack Chairs : Fred Meyer
Cafe Lights : Costco | Hanging Macrame Chair : Sorbus

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