Project 1012: Kitchen Makeover

I am fairly certain that I spent the most time on this area of the house before Jake and I moved in. We spent six weeks from closing to moving in, and I think three of them were on this kitchen. Along with painting each surface (except for the ugly linoleum), I even decided to tile a back splash. I had never tiled before. Why do I do these things?

The funny thing about starting home improvement projects is that you never really know just how much of a mess they will be until you are half way through with no way of turning back. If you look at the first picture, you will see a light bluish wall covering behind the sink. I thought this was just a laminate covering that the old owners put up for looks, but it turns out, behind it was hiding a hot mess of holes, grease splatters, and crumbled plaster. I will show you that later...

But, if the transformation looks appealing to you, I will share my secrets:

• Have a crap ton of spare time and patience. If you are low on time, just avoid sleep (like I did).
• Don't be a perfectionist. 

Just kidding. Kind of. So anywho, the main project in the kitchen was painting the cupboards Now some people might think "Why would you paint those cabinets?! They don't look all that bad!" Well, you're wrong. They looked bad. Mainly, because water damage and the scraping of old food from the surfaces caused the finish to peel. Perfect excuse for me to roll on some paint! Not before I created a complete disaster area. Remember folks, it's going to look worse before it looks better. 

If you are going to paint your cupboards, you should follow a few basic steps:

1. Scrub the surfaces. I used this handy recipe I found on Pinterest to get the job done. Actually, maybe it wasn't that recipe. I think it was Borax and baking soda with a smidgen of water to make it a paste. Wow, I am mighty helpful. Whichever cleaning method you use, just get the surface clean. Tooth brushes help! 
2. If you have a really smooth finish, you may want to rough up the surfaces with a sander. I did not do this. Remember when I said some of the finish was already scraped from the cupboards? It was like a natural sanding. 
3. Get a good primer. On one of my many trips to Menards (my local home improvement store), the paint guys recommended that I use Zinsser Fast Prime 2. They did not steer me wrong. This prime sticks to any surface and dries quickly. I used it on the walls and ceilings too. 
4. Have a good space to spread out your cupboards doors, and don't plan on using your kitchen for a while. 
5. Take off all of your hardware. It's so much easier that way. 

I applied two coats of primer to each surface using a small sponge roller. I used a brush for the small nooks and crannies, but rollers give the smoothest finish. After the primer dried, I used a semi-gloss white paint and applied two coats again. It's tedious, time consuming, but worth it. I painted the doors, inside and out, the drawers, and the mounted cabinets. 

Now, the kitchen looks like an absolute mess because while painting the cupboards, I was also painting the walls, the ceiling, and prepping the walls for my tile back splash. I meant business. 

The picture kind of sucks, but if you look below, I had to do some considerable patching behind the sink. They must have had a faucet coming out of the wall, because when Jake and I pulled off the laminate sheets I told you about earlier, we found the holes.

And we found this hidden mess as well:

Yes, check out that chunky corner of plaster, and that murder scene of what I hope was spaghetti sauce. And the yellow. Oh, the yellow. No worries, though. I fixed it up, good as new. Took a lot of scrubbing, though. In case you were wondering, I just used a premixed bucket of drywall plaster, mesh tape, and a scraper to repair the walls.

So let's skip a few steps. I painted the cupboards. Bought new knobs. Reattached all of the doors, and painted all the walls with "oops paint". If you don't know about oops paint, then you are missing out. Well, if you are a picky person, then you are probably the supplier of oops paint, so to you I say thanks. Most paint stores will have a section of returned paint, where the buyer didn't quite like the color they chose. The store will then discount this paint to a ridiculously low price. Like five dollars a gallon. I painted my kitchen, both bedrooms, and the bathroom with oops paint.

On to the tile back splash. After watching a couple of YouTube videos, I fancied myself a borderline expert. It didn't turn out all that bad--but it could probably be better. Lately, I have been wanting to rip it all off the wall and put on some different tile, but there are so many other things to do...

Around the time the previous owners put weird laminate sheets on the wall, they must have coordinated the counter tops to match. I grew to hate this weird muted blue color, but I was too cheap and too tired to learn how to replace counter tops. This led me to discover Rust-Oleum Countertop Coating. While using this paint, I really began to appreciate the fact that I did not yet live in this house. The smell is powerful. For those of you that know a little bit about my personality, you know that I freak out over chemicals very easily and quite often think I am dying as a result of moderate exposure. This paint set my anxiety on high. I wore a mask, held my breath while rolling on the paint, and frequently ran outside to breathe in fresh air. Overreaction? Yes, but it's probably not the craziest reaction I've had. 

Anywho, this paint goes on thick. You will want to use a super fine sponge roller for the smoothest finish. Tape off all of your walls, etc. Don't plan on using your counters for at least 72 hours. But the longer you can go, the better. Within the first month of painting, we acquired all of the nicks and dings to the coating. Even though it cures in 72 hours, it remains vulnerable for another month or two. After two years, the counter top paint has remained strong, but could probably use another coat, if I were a perfectionist. 

To add to my painting to do list, I spray painted all of the hinges and cupboard knobs with an 'Oil Rubbed Bronze" color. There are few surfaces in this house that I haven't painted. I think it was worth it, though. 

This winter, I added the cafe curtains, and the shelves in front of the window. Maybe some day I will do a short tutorial for the curtains. Obviously, I couldn't find pre-made curtains that I could buy, so I had to bust out my ancient Singer sewing machine. By the way, someday I am going to destroy that linoleum. It's the worst.

Thank you for checking out another one of my projects! If you like home improvement projects, check out how we refinished our hardwood floors. Otherwise, stay tuned for more random messy adventures.