Dorothy's Kitchen Makeover

I am so excited to introduce you to my sweet friend Dorothy.  Dorothy and I go way back to our college days, where we rented an apartment together! She now is a mom of 4 and last year, she started her own blog.  She recently gave her kitchen a makeover and I'm so excited she agreed to share it with us over here. 

It’s been just over a year since our kitchen remodel and I’ve never written about the journey getting there!! When my sweet friend Jolie asked me to write a guest post about it, I was thrilled!!!  When we first bought our home, I loved EVERY part of it...except for the lovely iron banisters separating the living room from the entryway and family room. I don't think I even have before pictures 'cause they came down as soon as those keys were in our hands. Anyway…back to the kitchen…

The kitchen was spilling over with cabinets and drawers!!! I was in heaven! The only downside was the cabinets directly over the peninsula…they hung SO low that you ended up with a neck cramp leaning over to see the person on the other side. Solving this predicament inspired our kitchen redo and sent us singing a little ditty or two 🎝🎝"do your cabinets hang low, do they wobble to and fro..."🎜🎜 JUST KIDDING. 

Painting the Cabinets:

Often times I start a DIY project without warning because sometimes you just never know when you’re going to miraculously have the energy to tackle one. So, on one particularly hot August day, I decided to paint the upper cabinets white. I had paint left over from another project and away I went. BIG mistake. AND here’s two reasons why…

1. The paint was LOW quality. If you’re going to be painting an important piece like cabinets you’re going to be using daily, you want high quality paint. Luckily, I started painting a portion of the cabinets that sit above our buffet counter and are separate from the others. So, I solved the problem by finishing the main cabinets with quality paint. The paint I used is from OSH:
2. I started with a LOW quality paintbrush. If you want a smooth finish (which I did), you will want to use a small smooth foam rolling brush. This will leave you a smooth finish without any sign of brush strokes. If you want brush stokes, then still choose a soft quality brush. Worth EVERY penny.  So, for the rest of my project I used this foam roller pictured below. AND, if you come over for a visit, don’t look too closely at the first three cabinets I painted. Eventually, I’ll be repainting them.

A list of ideas from my experience painting cabinets:

1. If you’re using traditional paint (not chalk paint) you will need to sand each piece A LOT. You want to ensure you’ll have good wood for the paint to adhere to. You don’t want peeling and chipping paint after all your hard work. The extra sanding will be worth it.
2. BEFORE removing any cabinet doors or hinges LABEL (do this for staining cabinets too). Label each cabinet so you know where you pulled it from. Label each hinge so you know where to attach it to. Our cabinets are original to this 1969 house so they’ve been hanging in the same spot for almost 50 years. Trying to make them fit in a different spot might cause problems.
3. Plan on applying at least two coats. I painted 2-3 cabinet doors at a time. I didn’t have a huge space to store them while they dried. So, it was a slow (but well worth it) process. I needed to move slowly anyway because I was limited to naptime every day.
4. Paint the back of the cabinets first. This means the fronts are painted last and will not be facing down as you paint the back side. You wouldn’t want to damage the cabinet side that faces out.

Cabinet Coming Down:

One goal in the kitchen was to lighten the space. There is a window but the space outside is covered. So, very little light comes into the kitchen. We fixed that a little bit by painting the upper cabinets white but more needed to happen. That HUGE cabinet blocking the light from our sliding door needed to come down.

Removing this piece took longer than we thought. Each section contained over 6 plus nails driven into the wood. In order to loosen their grip, we had to chisel away at the wood around the head of the nail…over 20 to be exact. The nails still wouldn’t come out. So, we had to cut most of them with heavy duty wire cutters. Once, the last nails were demolished, my husband and I enlisted the help of our 125 pound 9 year old and we pulled that baby down! After the removal, we had to fill in holes and paint over the exposed sheet rock. AND the light we wanted was accomplished!!!

Staining the Cabinets

 

After thinking about our options for the lower cabinets, we decided on a darker color. Kids plus white cabinets didn’t seem to match well to me. My husband and I like the “real” wood look and decided on staining the cabinets a darker color.

There are other options out there for “staining” your cabinets with (supposedly) less work BUT I decided to go the traditional route of sanding and staining.

A list of ideas from my experience staining cabinets:

1. Invest in a good handheld sanding tool. I would recommend a manual tool. When I used our electric sander it was hard to control the strength and direction of the sanding. To avoid gouges or movements that push against the grain, I would manually sand. You want the movements to go with the grain. Once, you stain, all your mistakes will be highlighted even more (trust me, I know).
2. Sand and then sand some more. You want to make sure the stain has something to adhere to. If it doesn’t, it will bead up when you apply your clear coat.
3. When going to the store for more stain, ALWAYS bring your empty container with you. I didn’t and ended up with the wrong stain.
4. Start collecting old lint free socks for staining and plastic ziplock bags. You can slide the bag over your hand and the sock goes over that. No stain on your hand and then you have a bag to throw your sock away in when you’re done!
5. Let the stain cure for the FULL recommended time. This will allow the clear coat to adhere correctly.
6. I used spray-on clear polyurethane for the first clear coat over the stain. I then followed up with a foam roller and clear coat to ensure full coverage. You want those babies protected!!! I used:
7. You can use a lacquer thinner if you make a mistake but don’t use too much or it’ll start eating away at the wood.

Taking care of the cabinets

1. Keep the name of the paint and stain on hand for touch ups.
2. I keep a small container of paint in the kitchen to quickly cover nicks or scratches. Letting those sit too long will only cause them to chip away more.
3. Because we chose a dark stain on light wood, the stain does start wearing on the pieces that are used often. I keep a wood finish pen in a matching stain close by!
4. The lower cabinets will remain dark while the kiddos are little but I’m seeing grey in our near future. I love the two-toned look we have right now and would like to keep it that way.

Counters, Backsplash, Sink and Stovetop

 This was probably the funnest (that’s I word, right?) part of the project cause we only did the backsplash and chose Home Depot for the counter, sink and stove install. After pricing out another private company in town, Home Depot was by far better in price. And here we are a year after install and I’m still thrilled with the work they did.

Counters

 For counters we wanted to stick with our “lightening” the kitchen goal and choose a white with splashes of grey. I loved the look of Carrara Marble but not the price or the upkeep. Siltstone Quartz in Snowy Ibiza was a great look-a-like alternative!

Sink

For the sink, I wanted BIG and single basin. We looked into an apron front sink and the pricing went up significantly for install due to the carpentry needed on the cabinet.. SO, we went with an under mount Kohler Riverby Single Basin Sink. LOVE IT!!! The white gets dirty quickly but Bar Keepers Friend is AMAZING in keeping that sparkle! For the faucet, I loved the idea of a traditional farmhouse bridge style faucet (bridge means that the levers and faucet itself all branch off one part). But then you have all these parts to clean. NO THANKS. I already have enough to clean. So, we chose Delta Cassidy in stainless. It’s simple to clean and still has a little country charm.

Backsplash

Our house was built in 1969 and we wanted the kitchen to look like it was part of the original design. So, after bringing home SEVERAL samples, we finally decided on a thin-brick backsplash to match the fireplace in the adjacent room. We purchased this at Home Depot: Thin Brick Web in Castle. To cut down on cost, my husband and good friend put these babies up!!! They come in sheets of 12 (thin) bricks stuck together.

Last minute advice:

1. Slow and steady!!! Haste makes waste! From start to finish the cabinets took me three months. The full project took 6 months!
2. Stand back and be proud of your work! Even the mistakes show you tried and completed a really hard task.

Thanks for reading this VERY LONG post on our kitchen renovation. My hope is that you would be satisfied in the home and space the Lord has given you. We can create beautiful homes simply through the attitude and hospitality we carry when people enter our space. May you be encouraged in dreaming big and loving your family and guests well!!! 

 Also, If you are curious about the hand lettered cutting board, you can find them here. 

And the paint color on the cabinets is Benjamin Moor White Snow

Clearcoat is polyclearic clear semi gloss

Dorothy spends a majority of her time putting a Masters in Early Childhood to good use at home with 4 kids. She documents the joys of childhood to inspire the fun in parenting. Outside of motherhood, you will find her spending time with her husband of 15 years, gardening, creating diy projects or spending time encouraging a friend. You can find her her blog here and her instagram here.