Painted Kitchen Cabinet Review

Best Decision Ever!

Hey all! If you follow me on FaceBook you know I finally took a
huge, big plunge and had my cherry cabinets "stained" white.

Here is a picture of just the cabinets painted, before I striped the wallpaper down and had it painted.

It is so light and bright in the kitchen now. I really love it! It really feels like a whole new house.

I am so thrilled with the results, I wanted to give you all a review of the company I used, Nhance. This company
is a franchise and can also be found through Home Depot. I went directly through my local one owned
by Mike Steenson here in Northern Virgina. You can view his website HERE. Or give him
a call at 703-357-7468 and be sure to tell him Lisa sent you!

The process was pretty seamless. They took the doors and drawers off to their workshop to clean them,
then spray them with many coats of primer, followed by many coats of the white stain. At the last minute
(as in the day they showed up to start work) I asked them to go ahead and add a light brown glaze
on them as well. I love a contractor that happily accommodates my general indecisiveness
and does not roll their eyes (like my husband does)!

To paint the bases, some sheet plastic "walls" were put up around my kitchen and everything sprayed
the same as they did doors. The whole process took about 4 days. I opted pay a little extra to have them
immediately cured with their UV light which makes the cabinets durable and useable right away rather than
having to wait a few days for the paint to cure and harden naturally. It was well worth the few extra dollars!

Steve was great to work with. He communicated with me frequently to let me know how things were going.
I highly recommend this process to ANYone thinking of updating their kitchen. Especially if your cabinets
are in good shape and of nicer quality. For about $3500 my kitchen has a whole new feel - even the granite
and backsplash look better. That is a whole lot cheaper than purchaseing all new cabinetry!

Here is the kitchen with the wallpaper down:

And after the paint (Restoration Hardware Silver Sage):

We went ahead and ran the color through to the sunroom as well.

I was never really 100% happy with the color in there. 

Every time I staged a home with this color in it I fell in love with it a little more.
I am completely loving my "new" kitchen!

Some small updates

Soooooooo. Wow. March. March was my last post! Good gravy! That is lame.

Annnnnny-way.

I still need to post more info on the powder room and the twins bathroom. In the meantime
I thought I would post on the pre-kitchen-fabulousness that is about to commence! If you recall,
I have been slowly changing my home from a warm color scheme
to cool. Long process when you do not have a bottomless bank account (thus the name of my blog!)
Here is the kitchen now:

The other problem would be the fact that when we built this home 7+ years ago I begged my husband to upgrade the kitchen cabinets with all the moldings and glazes Toll Brothers was offering. What I really wanted was a white kitchen. The only white option that was offered was the glazed and distressed look. Which I myself love. But if you have a husband in your home you know that look you get when you want to spend large amounts of cash on something that looks 200 years old. Now add to that look a loud "NO!". That was what I got. I have lived in 3 different homes and wanted a white kitchen in every one. But I have been talked out of it by my loved ones who convinced me it was "too trendy"! 20 years later… white kitchens are still popular! BAH! I am clearly surrounded by idiots!

So. Now the conundrum. I wanted to go ahead and change something in the kitchen to make it seem lighter and brighter - in a cost-effective, non-husband-mind-exploding way! After incessant and thorough Pinterest scouring
I knew I had a few options. Change out the existing granite to white granite or marble. Still pricey. Replace
the cabinets - not a option if I want to stay married. Have the already expensive and in perfect shape
cabinets painted white. Or just control myself paint the walls.
Now I have to say - all these ladies that chalk paint their own cabinets have my envy. There is no way I trust
myself with that job. It seems like it takes people weeks to get it done. I have a very small attention span when
it comes to projects. If it takes more than a day I get: a.) distracted b.) bored c.) tired! I am pretty sure I would
get one cabinet painted and then end up hiring someone to finish or better yet just leave it like that. Then
I would have to concoct some story to the husband about how it was a fantastic new trend! Eek.
Here is a inspiration photo via Houzz.com:

Love! I even already have those pendants!
Back to the point. So then came the legwork. I contacted a couple of cabinet companies through Houzz.
No one got back to me! I was having a rough time finding a company or person to paint them - spray them
specifically. There was no way I was going to have just anyone take a brush to these cabinets! I knew that
spraying was the way to go. I did not need these cabinets looking like Huck Finn had painted them!
Again - life and limb are hanging in the balance here! But then I came across a neighbor's FaceBook post
recommending N-Hance Wood Renewal. N-Hance "stains"the wood. They can refinish or color change
for a fraction of what new cabinets would cost. They take all the doors and drawers to their workshop to spray
them and then come back to your home to hand paint the bases. Whee!

So, I have signed the contract. As with every project I am flipping between excitement and nervousness.
Should I add a glaze? Or just plain white? Agh!
But they are coming in 4 day! I am committed. I have decided to keep the island cherry. Fingers crossed. I will
update you all on the finished product. Promise! (stop shaking your head!) In a timely fashion! Pinky swear!

But just in case you don't hear from me. Check my husband's fingernails for dirt. Or my yard for a freshly dug mound!

Laundry Room reveal ~

I am so glad to be able to finally share some photos. This house has been a mess for a couple months now.
I'm overjoyed to have some projects finished and a end to dust and dirt being tracked all over! My dining
room table was a landing ground of crap for the entire time as well! Not a pretty site. I had a powder room,
upstairs bathroom and the laundry room all in various states of disarray while the work was being completed.
Typically I am much more organized and only focus on one job at a time. I'm not sure what happened
to my well laid out plans this time! Lesson learned though!
Without further ado… here is the before of the laundry.

Gold walls and the old washer and dryer. We previously had a utility sink in there as well.

 The door to this laundry room really ends up acting as our front door.
All our friends know to come to this door when coming over to visit. The laundry is right off the kitchen
and the area where one of us is most likely to be. So I really felt like it needed some dressing up.

So now -

LAAAAAAAAAA! Cue doves and harps!

My awesome contractor happened to come across a piece of granite that matches our kitchen granite. Originally

I was just going to put white laminate in and call it a day. I did not want to spend a ton of money in there.

But to special order a piece of laminate from the hardware store was going to cost me a couple hundred anyway!

This looks SO much nicer and I am thrilled we found this stone (by "we" I mean my fabulous contractor!).

 This is just so much more inviting to walk in to!

 The best part is I do not have to vault myself up and lay on top of the machines flailing a bent coat hanger
around every time a sock or something falls back there! There's some good fun - NOT!

 I still need to do some tweaking with the artwork and figure out where to hang the paper towels.
I may need to come up with a little project and paint a "laundry" sign for in there!

I really love having all that space to fold too. As a girl who hates doing laundry this room is now one of my favorites

in the house. Who would'a thought!

 Oh, and the color on the bottom - Gray Wisp - is the Ben Moore color I used in there.
Edgecomb Gray is in the hallway outside.

Help! I have created a monster!

Wheeeeeeeew! It is all crazy over here! Lots of semi-small projects going on. I am usually SO organized and
methodical going room to room with my updates. Not this time! I am all over the place - both ends of the house
and 2 levels! Yikes. Not good! I am mid-wreckage in the powder room, twins bathroom and the laundry room
is just getting started. Then just to add some extra fun I decided that if I was painting the laundry I should
also paint the mud room since they are right across from each other!

(disclaimer: I am NOT doing all this painting myself!)

Project One: The twins bathroom
Before-

 Very cute for two little boys, right?

 They always keep it so clean...

HA! Not!
So they are just getting older and I felt like it was time for a change. Or maybe some of the wallpaper was just
coming down. Long showers and toilet mis-fires! Whatever! Let's not fret the details! I spent about 5 days pulling
wallpaper down. Scrubbing walls. Wrestling with the border paste. My arms should look like Popeye's by now!
I was sore for days!
Way back when we moved in I thought this was such clever idea:

We used a piece of the border to make faux crown molding (by "we" I mean the wallpaper installers).
It's all fun and games until its time to take it down!
Now it's all bare bones in there:

 I even had the huge mirror/medicine cabinet taken down/out.

"We" added crown molding and bead board a little higher than half way up.

So that is on its way. Here is where I slapped the paint samples on the wall:

The one on the left is the winner!
Beach Glass by Benjamin Moore. I just can't get that beach theme out of that bath room, I guess!

More on the Powder Room update soon. But here is the before:

If you look close you can see the monkeys in that wallpaper. I really loved my monkeys! They were fun!
Oh, and clearly this shot is from Christmas. I did not keep a santa in there year 'round! LOL!
And YES, I have put it in storage by now!

Another Pinterest Success!

Hi everyone! I hope you are keeping warm wherever you are! It is super cold here in Virginia. We are getting
a nice little warmup this weekend though. I feel like the groundhog at this point -
I may come out of hibernation this weekend though!

I was all ready to have my leather ottoman reupholstered. Then I cam across - what else - a great Pinterest tip!
Well I dove right in to see if it would work. Because money saved is money I can spend on another project!
Look at how horrible this was looking. It sits in front of a chair in our family room and gets a lot of use!  The leather
is very soft and scratches so easily. I was pretty skeptical that it could be revived. Look at how the leather is so
scratched that the top layer is scraped off! This would be what you call "overly distressed"!

And it really just looked like that from end to end. I swear, it looks like someone threw it off a cliff!

So the Pinterest tip said to just rub some olive oil onto it and then buff it off with a dry paper towel. I used a old white
tee shirt to wipe the oil on. This poor thing was so thirsty it just sucked the oil right up. I worked in small sections
and just really rubbed it in. Here is the picture of me just starting to work on it! That is the first little spot I did.

You can see how quickly it is making a difference!

Here it is all finished:

The ottoman sucked up the oil so much I did not even have to buff with the paper towel.

I guess the leather was that dry! Yikes!

I may actually go back and do another coat.

So. Pinterest is proving to be a great resource if you actually end up doing all the things you pin!
Whoo-hoo! Success!

Time to get real. And admit my addiction...

Well in my last post I hinted at the fact that I may be a teensy bit OCD. I am. There is no denying it.
It's not too terribly bad. Not in a really horribly noticeable way. Just little things. Like, I can't fall asleep if the
closet door is open. I can't focus if a pantry or cabinet door is cracked. Or carry on my day in any
sort of sane way if I, say, forget to put earrings on. I always get complimented on my tidy house
but it is really driven by my little OCDs!

So. On to my next confession. I have a serious addiction. Compulsion. Whatever you want to call it.
Either way -
it's really not healthy. I can't control myself and I just keep doing it over and over again.
It affects my family. And my friends enable me as well.

So I am here to come clean!

Candles. Scented candles. I just can't stop! : ) (Sorry, I'm sure you were expecting something more exciting!)

They have their very own cabinet in my kitchen.

Yup. 2 full shelves worth. Stacked up. Summer scents, Fall scents, Holiday scents. The smell pretty much
sucker punches you in the face when you open the drawer above this cabinet!
I ran into my neighbor in HomeGoods the other day. She asked what I was shopping for.
I said "apparently this candle that I totally do not need!".
So I am on a mission! I am going to burn a candle every day until I get through this ridiculous stash!
Here is the one burning in the kitchen today - Yankee Candle Autumn Wreath:

But I have them tucked all over the house. There are 4 around the kitchen alone!
Here is one in the crate on my dining room buffet...

 And another under the buffet...

 Up on the corner of the family room mantle...

 On the coffee table in the family room...

 AND that smaller container on that table is another in the family room! That is too many for one room.

In my defense we do have a bagel (bassett/beagle) dog who can have some fairly intense gas!

Sorry to out you Burly - I still love you though! (aw, look at that face!)
And I have candles in the bathrooms, the master bedroom and basement too. Stop the madness!
BTW. That candle I got from HomeGoods is a Yankee - Coconut and Sea Air! To. die. for! : ) But I told myself
I can't light it until I get through some of these other candles! Candle rehab starts now!

My OCD disguised as Organizing

I want to share some of my tips for keeping my life organized and stress free uh… reduced!

Let me preface by fully admitting I am a little OCD. Having a tidy, clean house
just makes it easier for me to relax and, quite frankly, even think!

1.) Make my bed every day. It is amazing how nice it is to slip into a nicely made bed at the end of the day!
Before I got my dogs I would even turn down our sheets! Just think how lovely the turn-down service at a hotel is.
You should have that feeling every night. Go ahead and leave yourself a chocolate on the pillow too!

2.) I keep a running shopping list on the side of the fridge. Whenever something gets used up my
family knows to write it on the list the same time they throw the empty out. It took a little to time
to get them trained - but once you do it really works!

3.) I never leave dirty dishes on the counter or in the sink. Seriously. It only take a couple seconds
to throw them in the dishwasher. Your kitchen will just always look better and cleaner instantly.

4.) Keep up with the laundry! Do a load of wash every (other) day. If you just do one load every day/evening
it won't pile up to a mountain that you just keep putting off! Do ONE load and finish it. This does not mean you
leave it in the dryer. It means fold it AND put it away! Don't drag one load out over 48 hours.When you don't
do this you clutter your house. If the clothes are clean but in a basket to be folded or folded but still
sitting on the top of the washer it makes it seem like you still have a bunch of work to do!

5.) All of makeup is in desk organizers in the drawers in my bathroom. I totally lucked out and found some that
fit the drawers perfectly! That smaller one sits perfectly on the top edge of the drawer...

 So I can store more makeup underneath. This drawer holds some of my favorite eyeshadows, blushes and palettes.

 I have another drawer that is filled with my hair accessories and nail polishes.

Now. Don't judge. This next drawer has all my lip products, pencil liners and foundations. Yes. There are a lot!
In that little pink Vera Bradley bag I keep the concealer, powder and foundation I use most often.

I might as well put it all out there. I have already shown the worst. Let me prep you by saying I was a fashion
major in college. So I really, really love clothes and jewelry and makeup. And I really wanted to enjoy walking
into my closet each morning and "shopping" for my outfit of the day. I did not do any tidying up before I
took these pictures either. So this is pretty much how it always looks in the drawers and the closet.

So I have little jewelry displays in there. Those are my handbags along the top. And my jeans and leggings at
the bottom. All my clothing is organized by type and color - just like in a boutique.

Those pink bins up top have off season clothing like bathing suits and shorts and things. Next, on the right,
are all of my tops. Short-sleeve and sleeveless on top and long sleeve and jackets on the bottom. Keep in mind,
I keep all my clothes in my closet. So all my t-shirts, underwear - everything.
I am hoping that telling you makes it better and not so shocking! LOL!

And then the shoes…

with another shelf of jewelry display in the middle.

Well that's it for today. What do you do that helps you get through your days easier?