Blue Castle

Day 3 - Painting My Kitchen Cabinets

This is real-time, real-life blogging, folks.

Today we applied the first coat of paint to the cabinets.  Now, I know this looks like a huge job - and it is - but, if I hadn't decided to take the cabinet doors off and have open shelving, it wouldn't be this big of a job.  To paint just the doors and frames of the cabinets would be a breeze.

Especially if you use this magical little tool:

 

(Please excuse the weird picture.  I was going to take a picture while I was using the roller, but then I couldn't find my camera and my roller was full of paint and I was making a mess.  The roller head is in the plastic bag - for tomorrow's second coat)

This works so slick, I love it. It makes painting a snap.

Again, sorry for the fuzzy picture.  I'm too tired to get up and take another one.

The paint is almost a shade darker than the primer, and while I was biting my lip at first, I'm really, really in love with this color.

Which is good because I had a bunch of various grey paint chips up and when I got to the Sherwin Williams' store, I decided I didn't like any of them and picked the first random grey that didn't look too brown or blue.  Not the best way to pick paint, but boy did I luck out on this.

And get this - The Man said to me "I really like it".  My jaw dropped.  "Better than the white?" "Yes, this looks really good."

That, my friends, is HIGH praise indeed.

Tomorrow we'll add a second coat and then wait for it to cure before putting everything back in the cupboards.  So I will spare you any further pictures until then.

On the countertop side: No decisions have been made yet.  I really don't want granite tile - it's not the look I'm going for - and so we're stuck as all my other ideas: 1" glass tiles (in a mixture of blues and greens), Zinc (google this, it's so pretty!) and concrete have not met The Man's approval. And really, I'm not willing to spend more than I have to on my countertops. When we find a good solution, I'll let you know. 
A blog reader sent me this link to her countertop re-do and I'm thinking I may try it. 

Painting Kitchen Cabinets - Day Two

We managed to accomplish quite a bit today and I thought it would make a good blog post, for anyone contemplating painting their kitchen cabinets.

First, we took off all the cabinet doors.  That was yesterday.  I then got overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project and retreated to my sewing room to try sewing myself a new shirt.  That's not a good way to handle frustration.  I ended up one day behind my "schedule" and while my shirt may have turned out okay, I'm not entirely happy with it.

So, today I was determined to get this thing done.  I emptied all the cabinets on the north side of the kitchen, leaving the small set of upper cabinets and drawers on the south side intact until a later date.

Here are the cabinets before being primed, just after we filled in the holes from the cabinet door hinges and de-glossed every surface of the cabinets.

And, here they are after being primed: Quick tip: have your primer tinted to match your paint - it will give you better coverage for your paint.

Tomorrow, we (and by we, I mean The Man and I) will give the cabinets two coats of paint and then they should be done.  We won't put anything back into the cabinets until 2 or 3 days later, to be sure the paint is good and cured before being put to work.

Right now, the plan is to leave all the doors off of the cabinets, except for the bottom cabinets, which should make painting go quicker.

In the meantime, I have random dishes, pots and pans strewn all over my house.

Lovely, isn't it?

Under Construction

My kitchen cabinets are in need of a little tlc.  The previous owners painted them white, and the paint has begun to yellow and peel.  After much back and forth between The Man and I, (I wanted to paint them black like Emily did here, and he liked them the way they are), we met in the middle and decided on grey.

For the first time ever, I invested in some higher quality paint and couldn't wait to do a test swatch. (Don't you just love my big fork and spoon?)

I took my fingernail to see if I could scratch the paint off after it had dried.  It took some effort, which made me quite happy since this is just the paint over the old paint and if it sticks this good without the deglosser and primer I'm going to use also, then it was worth every penny.
This is also good because, frankly, I NEVER want to have to paint these cabinets again.  I'm dreading all the work it's going to entail.

Up next: picking a wall color.  But I can't do that until I find a really, really inexpensive countertop solution.  Right now it's looking like granite tile is going to be the winner.  At $2/square foot (yes, really) it's the cheapest option available.  I'm not a huge fan of it, but that's probably what we're going to end up using unless I can find something else.

Ideas, anyone?  I've got about 50 square feet to cover - that includes the backsplash.

So, now you know what I'll be busy doing this week.  And next.  And possibly the week after that too.

Desperate Measures

It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

They don't complain, or nag when you haven't taken the time to give them a haircut.  No, they just grab the nearest scissors and get rid of the part that bugs them the most. 

Blue&Brown Swap

Melody and I are hosting our second color-themed swap and you are invited to join us.

Here are the details:

1. To participate, we ask that you are either a reader and frequent commenter on one of our blogs or you have participated in our Pink&Green Swap.

2. You may sign up by leaving a comment here or on Melody's blog.

3. The swap will remain open for 1 week (closing on 6 July 2009) or until we have filled our quota of 15 swappers.

4.  After the swap is closed, we will pair you up with another swapper and send you an email with information so you can contact and get to know your swap partner.

5. You will have 2 weeks to put together a swap box filled with various items that you think your swap partner will enjoy.  This may include, but is not limited to: handmade items and thrifted items.  We recommend a value of about $10-$15 for your box.

6. Your box will have to be mailed NO LATER than Tuesday 21 July 2009. 

7. If, at any time, and for any reason, you are not able to complete the swap, you must contact your swap partner and also let me know so I can make other arrangements.

8. International swappers are welcome, as long as I can match you up with a swap partner who is willing to ship internationally.  If you are not in the continental United States, please note that in your comment and I will do my best to make sure you are able to join the swap.  Also, if you are willing to swap with an international partner, please let me know in your comment.

9. Once the swap is completed, we will be hosting a link-up party here on my blog for everyone to "show and tell" about your boxes.

By leaving a comment on this post and signing up for this swap, you are agreeing to the above "rules".

Let the swap begin!

Friday Funny

Soon after my oldest son started reading, he could read pretty fluently from his Bible. 

That may not seem like a big feat, except for the fact that I didn’t buy him an “easier” version of the Bible to read.  It was the King James Version all the way. Both of my boys have seemed to do pretty well with it, and lately, I’ve noticed some funny effects of this.

One evening in passing, JWes used the word “nor” in a sentence.  We all stopped and looked at him.  “Did he just say “nor”?” I asked.  “Yes. He did.” The Man was just as astounded as me.

While taking a test, Izzy was very confused. 

The instructions said to pick the one compound word out of a group of three words.  Two of the words were: airplane and tomorrow.  He thought tomorrow could be a compound word because it has “to” and “morrow” in it.  “Just like in the Bible, Mom.” he reminded me. 

The only downfall?  The other day he asked me what “whoring” meant….

For even funnier stories, pop over to The Run-A-Muck where Amber’s having her Friday Funny party.

Exhausted

I am completely wiped out.

Last week was the week of the Severe Thunderstorm.  The boys and I accompanied The Man on a job out of state and got to visit with a dear friend of mine in the process.  It was wonderful.  But the weather was not so wonderful. Not only where we were, but at home too, severe weather was everywhere.  Despite torrential rain and a couple of Tornado Watches, we managed to all come through it unscathed.  Thank God.

After all the weather chaos, we arrived home to blue skies and chaos of another kind - Wedding Chaos. A young lady from our church had her wedding this last weekend and we all were called upon to help out in various ways. My sister is now fully convinced that when she gets married, she will be eloping.  And to that I say "Amen". 

So, today I am recovering and enjoying the fact that as a stay-at-home mom I could ignore The Man's alarm clock and make up for all the sleep I lost.  I also appreciated The Man that much more.  He still had to trudge off to work, despite being just as tired as I was.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Since I was gone last week, I wanted you all to know how much I appreciate your comments and those of you who faithfully visit me.  Thank you.

I was able to read your comments from my cell phone (hurray for technology!) and I will be returning the love shortly.

A couple of blog-keeping updates:

Melody and I will be hosting another color-themed swap starting sometime this week.  We will be limiting the participants to those people who are regular blog visitors and commenters this time around and there will also be a few more guidelines.  Our first swap went well, but we did have some hiccups along the way that we have learned from.  Stay tuned and know that if you're reading this, we would love to have you join us!

I have another giveaway in the works also, which you'll really like if you're a  Rodney White fan.

And now the picture that has had me laughing all week long:

 

Why The Word "Camp" Makes Me Shudder

When I hear someone talking about “going to Camp”, I think of two things – Haley Mills (as in The Parent Trap), and me as a girl, sobbing myself to sleep on a top bunk.........

(I'm guest posting over at Jendi's Journal today, pop over for the rest of the story....)

My Posse

I love that these guys are still at the age where they like to go shopping with me, looking like this:

Someone asked Jwes if he was Daniel Boone.

He looked at me and asked “Mom, how did they know that’s who I was dressed up as?”

Family Tree Art - Revisited

I showed you what I did with my dysfunctional window here and here.

I had some left over windows, and using the same techniques as above, I took one of them and made it into this:

A portable Family Tree.