I Ah"door" this project!

I got my room almost done and I have the perfect spot for some bookshelves. But honestly I do not have $350+ for some nice shelves, so with one of my great doors from my salvage excursion
and some salvaged wood from old furniture I have had the inspiration to make some bookshelves out of it! Yes, a big project, but with proper planning I think I can pull this off for next to nothing. It will take resourcefulness, time, and a good plan.

A good plan:

Whenever I get started on these type of projects I put my drafting background into action. Actually I am a little OCD when it comes to this phase of my projects. It's a talent! I admit that. Sometimes it's hard to recognize your talents, but this is one I can claim. Many friends ask for my help in this area because it comes very easily to me and I love to do it.

So here we go! I have the major supplies for my shelves and now lets figure out how I am going to use them. A good plan will ease the process and eliminate errors that cause waste. Here is my plan:

I drew this up and now my husband sees what I saw when I said I had to have this old door. And I have his approval. He likes it! During this phase it helps to make a supply list so hopefully it can minimize your trips to Lowes.

Resourcefulness:

I cannot throw good wood out and it drives my husband crazy to have all this scrap wood in our garage. But after it's all said and done he sees that I really will do something with it he has learned to trust me! It usually turns out for the best. We had a dresser that was poorly made but still had some great plywood and even some solid wood crown moulding. I will use those items for these great shelves. I got a hold of another door that I will use for the sides and it will look perfect! So as of now I have the door for the back, the door for the sides, the wood for the shelves, Some faux legs that we have had for the past 3 years, and the crown moulding. I need some detail moulding for some finishing touches and hopefully we can get that at Al's salvage yard for next to nothing. I am hoping with my resourcefulness I can get these fabulous shelves built for under $50! I decided to use all wood mouldings. This is going to be a heavy duty piece of furniture, so I wanted it to be all wood for durability.

Time:

Time can often be the biggest obstacle in getting a project done. I have so many projects to do and not enough time. So this is the slow going part for me. I have great friends who are always willing to help me, which is great when cutting big doors! Thank Traci! :)

(wear your safety goggles!)

I have found some time to get all the shelves cut out and the side door cut in half. Now comes assembly. This is where you sometimes need to tweak your plan. I only had 5 pieces of wood the right size for the individual shelves so I will alter my plan a little for that.

(6 months later-yea, that's how I roll)

I found some spare time and now I will get these shelves done! Since I had all of my prep work done and have the majority of my supplies, it is time to assemble. When I cut the door for the sides in half I was sure to cut it down the middle of the panels, not necessarily the middle of the door. I later trimmed the side that was too big to make the sides even. If I had cut it down the middle of the door the sides would have been even but not symmetrical.

I overlapped the sides around the back door. (see pic)

I then applied 1" square braces for the shelves. Note the angle cut on the ends to mask the braces a bit. I was sure the sides covered the whole side since some of the braces went over the recessed panel. All of my shelf placements were around the paneling of the back door. I tried to be consistent so the panels reveled were pretty close in how they aligned with the shelves.

More details:

• While getting my moulding from the salvage yard I found a 1 1/4" moulding to face the fronts of the shelves. Since I used plywood I needed to cover up the end of the shelves and this touch gives an illusion of thicker shelves while masking the wood braces underneath.
• I used a 3" chair rail moulding to go around the 3rd shelf from the bottom. I wanted to bottom to feel a bit more substantial and this was a good divider from the bottom and top.
• A huge detail for the bottom is the half sawn legs. I had these from my kitchen remodel and never used them, so these were perfect! These really add substance to the bottom to set it apart.
• For the bottom I ended up using a base board and some spare moulding rather than my initial plan. I was afraid if I had done a cut out, random things may have ended up under the bookshelves. Note I did have to use some scrap wood as a brace for the base to be secured on.
• The top sides did need a little doctoring as well. The side door is a solid core door but the solid interior was more of a pressed board so there were some dimples that would show. I did have to put a piece of lattice moulding to hide the dimpling texture. Then for added detail I found a great scrap of moulding. I don't really know how to describe the pattern, so see the picture below.
• For the crowing finish of the shelves I used a 3" crown moulding with a dentil moulding detail. I used some pine for the top and added another moulding to face the top. This adds to the illusion of a thicker crown.
• Just under the crown is some 3/8" craft wood that I cut the arches out with a scroll saw.

Finishing touches

See the following pictures for the little touches I added to give some personality.

• The old door knob and face plate give add to the charm of shelves made out of doors.
• The escutcheon keyhole plate is another fun touch. I still want to add a cute hook of some sort with a key hanging from it. I did drill out behind the keyhole or you could paint black behind the plate.
• The old hook and numbers were a fun salvage yard find. Hook already had paint layers on it and I just need to install, but the numbers did need a few layers of different colors of paint to simulate years of paint.

All in all this was a very fun and rewarding project. I love how they look in my room now and it is a great focal point! I did stay within budgets so that makes it all the more rewarding! Hope this can inspire others to find fun things to do with old architectural items.

*a note for realism! Staging is fun and is great for pictures. I had fun finding all the old books in my house and making theses shelves picturesque. After all was said and done these shelves hold my text books, photo albums, and fun novels. I still try to make it look nice and the top shelf has stayed decorative, but I do have to live in reality and live with function, it still can be cute. right? So now just image a couple of loads of laundry sitting by the chair and welcome to my world!

Cabinets: To Paint, or Not To Paint?? Is it a question?

Painting your cabinets can be a big decision.  There is definately a lot to consider.  Painting over wood is pretty much permanent, unless you are up to stripping your cabinets, so that takes some serious consideration.  Also it is a time consuming process.  The best reason to paint your cabinets is plain and simple, cost!  It is the cheapest way to redo your kitchen.  When I first painted my kitchen it cost me $50.00 (including hardware).  For a growing family on a budget, that was doable.  In this post I will walk you through the basics of painting your cabinets.  

Here is my kitchen I lovingly refer to as my micro kitchen before I painted the cabinets.  I loved the red on the walls but the honey oak cabinets were just not doing it for me.  I was ready for my cottage kitchen.  

While looking through the paper one Sunday my inspiration hit me!  This is it!  This was what I wanted for my kitchen.  I loved these cabinets with the red walls and I LOVED the texture finish.  

So here is my finished product.  

(This picture was taken just before we did our addition so I had already taken down all of the decorations, but you get the idea, right?)

This sure was a upgrade for me from the cheap looking honey oak cabinets.  

Now that brings me to another point.  Cabinetry is very expensive to replace.  But if you live in a tract home and could not afford the upgrade you have very CHEAP cabinets.  If this is the case, then what have you go to lose?  Actually I think the cheap ones paint easier.

Here is a detail of the cabinet door.  I only did this finish on the upper cabinets.  It was very time consuming and I didn't feel like the bottom cabinets would be noticed enough to warrant my time with the faux finish.  I textured these with plain old joint compound using a stencil and sloppping it on real thick.  

So lets you get you started on getting your cabinets.

(note: this is an example of a recessed cabinet door)

Preparation: 

clean- get your cabinets good and clean.  Any dust or grime can make your paint not stick as well.  

remove cabinet doors and hardware-  now is the time to start to take everything apart.  Remove all hardware/hinges so you will not get paint on any of them.  If you are changing hardware you can putty holes now if you need to.  You may need to let it dry and then apply more to make sure there is no shrinkage of the putty.  You will want it to look smooth.

sand- your cabinet will have some type of finishing topcoat.  By using a fine grit sandpaper (150-180 grit)you will start to roughen up the cabinet.  Doing this will add some roughness for your paint to grip on your wood.  The sheen and thickness of your cabinet topcoat will determine how much sanding you will need to do.  You really don't need to do much sanding, you just need to roughen it up.  I recommend using a mouse sander for this.  The pointed design will help you get into corners.

remove dust- use a damp towel to remove the dust.  Make sure all of the dust is gone so the paint can adhere better to the surface.

Add some moulding???-  if you would like to add some crown or some squares to flat cabinets now is the time to do it.  I just recommend using wood moulding.  3" -4" crown would look great.  If your cabinets have no crown and are similar to my micro kitchen cabinets you can take off that little piece of stop moulding at the top and put crown up there.  It really is a nice finishing touch.  And if you have older flat cabinets you can put on squares with some small profile moulding similar to wainscoting squares.

Here is an example of a kitchen with flat cabinet doors.  We glazed over them with a walnut stain to give them some character from the flat white look. 

prime (optional)- the reason I say that priming is optional is because if you sanded you probably do not need to prime.  Here are the circumstances that I may recommend priming.  First if your cabinets have a thick topcoat of urethane.  Urethane is an oil based product and using water based paints your paint will repel the topcoat.  This is usually the case if you have older cabinets that have been refinished and the homeowner applied their own topcoat.  You will need to use a primer in this situation.  Now if you have darker cabinets and you will be painting them white it may save you a couple coats of paint if you prime first.  Primer does cost a little bit more than paint, but if you will need less paint if may be worth the difference.   Both times I have painted my cabinets I did not prime first.  Sanding proved to be effective enough.  These cabinets have actually held up better than my cabinets that the manufacture painted.  Also with my green island I wanted the black underneath to show through when distressing.  I didn't want a white primer to show through as well, and they have held up fine.  My old cabinet bases are in my garage for my work bench and they are still holding up quite well.  

So if you do decide to do some texturing to your cabinets this would be the time to do so.

(I will add a post on how to do this later if you are interested and need some instructions.)

painting- okay, here we go!  Now is the time to get dirty!  When picking out a paint take some time.  Do not choose lightly.  Even if you are doing white there are so many shades of white.  My appliances are bisque.  I was able to match a color to those and that was my micro kitchen cabinet color.  It was a great slightly off white color. (American Tradition, Moonlight @ Lowes) So take into consideration your appliances and any other close furniture or flooring.  As far a sheen goes I reccomend using a Semi-Gloss.  Here is Bob Villa's explaination of semi-gloss paint "Semigloss paints have a slightly glossy appearance and are less reflective than gloss paints. They offer good stain resistance, are easy to clean, and may be a good choice if you have young children. Must experts agree that the highest quality semigloss paints are 100% acrylic latex paints, which also come in enamel grades."   You can find more info on his website by Clicking Here  So I prefer semi gloss because they make your cabinets cleanable!  Very crucial in a kitchen or bathroom.  You will need to apply at least 2 coats.  I have always brushed on my paint with a good paint brush.  I personally have not tried spraying it on and how well it would stick.  I do have a friend who is wanting to spray on her paint so I will update when I know more.  If you do want to try spraying I would recommend using a good sprayer, preferably airless.  Be sure to let your paint completely dry in between coats.  

Finishing up: 

Be sure to check out the Grunge it Up! post for details on adding  some "grunge" to your cabinets.

(note:below is an example of a raised panel door)

dents & dings-  in thicker/harder areas of your cabinets (I would not recommend doing on your recessed doors that have a thin wood panel in the door, just on the thicker frame of your door) you can beat your cabinets to add some fun distressing.

glazing- this method is most used on kitchen cabinets.  The heavy bodied glaze works well with vertical surfaces.  Also if you added some dents and dings to your cabinets the glaze will help those stand out a little bit more.

sanding/distressing- sanding is fun to add some character to your cabinets.  Sand the edges and any other detail you want to stand out.  If you have another color underneath this will be a good way to let this show.

top coat/sealing- if you are doing any type of distressing listed above you really need to apply a top coat.  This will seal in all of your hard work, so when you have to wipe down your cabinets you won't take off some of your glaze. I use a ploy-acrylic spray.

putting back together- at this point you will probably feel burnt out and ready to be done.  But just think, you're almost there!  If you have a previous screw hole that is stripped and your screw won't grip on the wood, take some wood toothpicks and put them in the hole with some wood glue, break them off to be even with the surface.  Let dry and you should have a good grip for you screws!

adding hardware- This is the fun finishing off point!  It is like putting on your jewelry, you do look good without it but you feel more finished off when you have some on.  Cabinetry looks so much more finished off when you have on some great hardware.  When you start to add your hardware make a template for the spot to drill,  then you won't need to measure it every time!  Drawers can be a little bit tricky since they vary so much in size, you will have to do more measuring.  If you have hardwood cabinets be sure to drill a pilot hole for your screws if needed.

Knobs and pulls can really define your cabinets as well.  Doing this will really set the them for your kitchen.  Do a lot of shopping around for knobs, they can get quite pricy so spend some time deciding what you REALLY want.  I found my knobs and cup pulls at Pottery Barn, sounds expensive right?  These were actually the best price for what I was wanting.  So check out those unexpected places too.  You may be surprised.  

Here is our kitchen after our remodel.  (I still need to glaze and put hardware on the upper cabinets, can you tell the difference?)  Originally the island was black.  I ended up not liking the black so I painted it and my desk this great green color and glazing it.  I had all of the supplies so it ended up costing me $3, the cost of the oops paint I used to paint them.  I really love the green in my house and I am so happy I did it!

(sob story alert!  I would share with you a before picture but while backing up my photos one day my hard drive crashed and I lost 18 months of pics, including those from my remodel.  If anyone know a good place for hard drive retrieval please let me know!)

I will give you some fun tips to jazz up an island.  For the panels I bought some tongue and groove pine bead board at Home Depot.  The cabinet doors already were beaded, so the bead board panels really finished it off.  While planning my kitchen I looked into getting the panels from the manufacture and the price was outrageous.  Another example is the legs on the island.  I needed 3, the manufacture would have been $350 each.  I did some research and found these great hardwood legs at Outwater for $70 each.  What a great savings!  Outwater also sells hardwood knobs and all those neat wooden door racks to install on your cabinets too.  If you are doing a remodel I highly recommend using them.

This pic is of my desk.  Despite how the color looks bluer on the previous pictures this picture of my desk is a better representation of the color.  I also got the bun feet at Mesa Sales and painted them.  I kept the toe kicks black to help the feet stand out a little better.  Here is another kitchen savings tip,  If you cannot afford the granite countertops there are some great laminate counter tops that look a lot like granite.  I just recommend using a full round nose on the edges to make it a little more believable.  Also I asked to have backsplash removed and did a tile backslash.  (see first pic of my mega kitchen)   That laminate backslash is a dead give away that your countertops are laminate.  Now here is my reasoning.  countertops are easier to replace than cabinets.  So if granite does not fit into your budget with the cabinets you want settle for the laminate for now and you can upgrade down the road, hopefully!

I caught my friend Danielle just before she moved to snag these pics of her kitchen.  She first painted the cabinets red and then decide to paint them black.  That worked out great when distressing them.  The red shows through perfectly.  And her red bead board looks great with the black cabinets.

Here is a good pic to show the distressing.

This is a real fun idea.  I did this to my kitchen too, but I put in plexi glass.  The chicken wire is very cute!  If you have a recessed panel door and it is pretty thin chinky wood you can cut out the panel and add something else.  This makes for a fun decorative door.  

Here is another fun detail of the black.  I really do love how Danielle's kitchen looks, but I will tell you why I painted my island from the black to green.  Believe it or not, black is hard to keep clean.  It is not forgiving of dust and water spots like lighter colors are.  I felt like it was always dirty and frankly I am not the kind of person who wipes down my cabinets daily.  So if you are considering painting your cabinets black keep that in mind.

     

This is a little bit easier way to give your cabinets some pizazz!  Kim did her cabinets by painting chalkboard paint on the recessed part of her cabinet.  It looks really fun and can be versatile.

    

So good luck on this and hopefully this inexpensive fix can give you the kitchen you want.  And if you every want to send me some before and after pics of your kitchen I would love to share them on this post.  Happy Painting!

Cornices

Traci & Teresa sent me the idea of making your own cornice.  They have made quite a few over the years and got the idea from Family Handyman Magazine.  You can find the article by Clicking Here!

Here are some of their finished projects:

Here is a detail of the black cornice.

A little trim to top it off!

Trim in a home is the icing on a cake to me! It is a great added touch to any home. If you are a fan of the traditional look-then you love moulding too.

I grew up in Denver. My grandparents had this beautiful old 1920s Denver Block Style home. I loved the moulding in it. By the time I was sixteen my grandparents had moved out of their home but the memories of their beautiful home still influence me today. Look at that timeless trim. . . . (look past the sweet 80s hair-do and see the beautiful paneling in the dining room)

Many of the trim projects in my home, even in my friend's homes, have been inspired by my Grandmother's home.

These pictures are of Teresa's door topper-we went a step further and made her topper a shelf patterned after the the plate shelf in my grandmother's dining room. She does a great job decorating it for the seasons.

After we moved into our current home, one of our neighbors went to town on the trim in their home. I was so impressed. It looked very hard and intimidating. I asked him how it was done and wa-la! I figured it out, it wasn't as hard as it looked. One of my friends also learned how easy it was from him and now she even has her own trim business. So hopefully after reading these different projects you can feel confident about doing your own trim work.

There are different materials that you can use.

• MDF (medium density fiberboard) is widely used because the cost is the least of the products, it is easier to work with-doesn't warp, and it comes pre-primed in many varieties.
  
• Wood moulding comes in many different varieties. You'll notice the harder the wood, the more expensive it get. I like to use wood moulding in higher traffic areas, such as door ways and chair rail. The MDF is easier to damage so wood works out better in high traffic areas, in my opinion. The least expensive option for wood moulding is to buy it finger jointed. FJ moulding is pieced together. So every 18-24" you will see a joint where the wood was pieced together. If you are painting the moulding anyway FJ is a good less expensive way to go.
  
• Foam & PVC mouldings are another option. I personally have not used any foam moulding. It can be a little pricy and you need to glue it on. If you are interested in doing foam I would reccomend you research it to see if it will suit your needs.
  
• Flexible moulding is definately pricey but if you are doing a curved wall or area the price is worth it. Outwater sells it, they are a great company to use (I love all the fun stuff they sell).
  
• Decorative moulding is VERY pricy, but so beautiful. If you are on a budget you can use this moulding as accents just to give that extra detail but not break your budget.

So I want to walk you through some trim ideas to do in your own home. I will include seperate posts for different moulding projects. Each project will have their own download-able instruction sheet. For a shortcut to all of the trim projects just click on the moulding lable in the side bar to access all projects. As I get more done on the blog you will be able to click on the project below and I will link it to the post.

The different projects will include:

Baseboards

Window casing

Window Sills

Toppers (windows & doors)

Crown Moulding

(pre caulk & putty)

Wainscoting

Decorative Touches

Now remember the trim job doesn't end when the trim is on the wall--Now you have to caulk, putty, and paint. I really do not enjoy that part.

So if you don't have a friend like Teresa (who is always willing to help with my crazy ideas-notice our "don't get caulky" T shirts) and you are going to hire help for any part of your trim project I would reccomned a good painter to do all three! If that is not in your budget follow these tips:

• Invest in a caulking gun. They are inexpensive and worth it!
  
• Cut the tip off the caulk (at an angle) only as big as you need-if you cut it too big you end up with too much waste
  
• Apply the caulk where needed
  
• Cover you finger with a damp small cloth and smooth the caulk into the seam. Wipe off any excess. (It the area you are caulking has a large gap you may have to go back over it after it dries-caulk tends to shrink)
  
• Rinse off your rag when it gets too caulky!
  

To putty I just apply with my finger. You want to over fill the hole so you can sand it smooth after it has dried. (I also prime the putty if the trim is already primed to avoid any bleeding through the paint)

Keep in mind your style while looking for trim accents for your home. Take pictures of things you like, watch for ideas in your magazines, and keep your eyes open. Your home is YOUR haven. When you start getting into finishing touches on your home remember it is for you, not your guests. You should love to be in your home and it should reflect YOU, just worry about being comfortable in your own home, you're the one there day in and day out!

So good luck and as always, please share any great trim projects you have done with the rest of us too!