Kitchen progress – the end is in sight

I have been side lined with pneumonia and wasn’t able to work on my kitchen for two weeks! It felt like an eternity because I had picked a paint colour (finally) and purchased all the new moulding, but my body had other plans for me. I’m still not good, but I am getting there.

Last night I had 3 hours of sleep in a row and felt positively rejuvenated :)  I got up bright and early and got to work.



I started by painting the ceiling and installing a new light fixture. The ceiling paint is a very light blue, barely noticeable.



Next, I cut the bamboo blind down to fit into the frame rather than outside the frame. I should have done this a long time ago, it’s made such a difference. Before it was too small for the window and I had it sort of centered, but it was weird. See what I mean?



After trying out a lot of different paint colours, I settled on French Silver by ICI paints. It is blue during the day and grey during the night, love it. I had some repairs to do to the walls, so it nearly took me all day just to get a coat of paint on.



I framed out the new pantry door and added a handle to match the cabinets.



This is the eat in area. My daughter pleaded with me not to remove the chalkboard wall and although I’m tired of it, she isn’t. I picked up some wrought iron and wicker chairs for $10 each. They work better in this space than my old chairs. 



I have a few teapots that I adore, so I decided to display them together.



The tiling is next and it’s going to look smashing! I hung a couple of pieces up on nails to see what it is going to look like.



It’s coming together.



Still to do. Install the tile. Paint all of the baseboards. Get a new panel made at the end of the dishwasher as the old one is now too small, after removing so many layers of flooring. Install the same flooring in the dining room.

Oh, and clean up this mess!!!!



I hope you are having a great weekend!

A fresh coat of paint and added moulding

It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint and moulding can do! This is the eat in area of my kitchen.

I remembered to take a before picture, but not before I had taken the bamboo blinds down to wash them…gross!!!!!!

I added trim around the window and put a fresh coat of paint on everything. Wow, it’s so much brighter. Maybe that’s because I washed my windows.  Next up is the window above the sink.

Before (the sun wasn’t quite up yet)

After

I am experimenting with paint colours. I have some paint that I picked up at the recycle centre that I am going to mix together and see what I can come up with *fingers crossed*.

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The nerve! Someone stole my photo

Update: My photo has been removed, as requested. 

When I first started blogging I made a sign that someone else had made and posted on their blog. This person was quick to tell me that it was her intellectual property and that I had no right to copy it. I disagreed but I removed my version, that I made with my own two hands, and apologized. There is a fine line between stealing someones property and making a version of your own, but at the time I didn't know any better. Now there are even websites and blogs that show off knockoffs!  If the Etsy poster had of asked, I would have given her permission to use my photo any way she wanted to.

I know it happens all of the time, but someone has stolen my photo, of my work, and is selling the photo on Etsy!  Really?

I don’t know why anyone would want it, it’s not a particularly good photo, but they’ve taken my watermark off and added their own. Sheesh, she should have asked and I would have said yes, use it.

I’ve sent the offending party a message to remove it from their sale site, let’s see what happens.
Here is the photo they took, which clearly has my watermark on it.



Thank you to WolfSilverOak for letting me know.

Kitchen progress – when you don’t really know what you are doing

Here is where my kitchen stands today.

My walls are not straight and the Ikea Pragel counters cannot be scribed. I’m left with gaps that I have to find a solution for before I can tile. The wall behind the stove is an easy fix, thanks to clever thinking by my bff, I am going to put up 1/4” plywood the entire width and height, that eliminates that gap. The longer wall, where the gap is more gradual may involve removing the drywall, installing new drywall and shimming it to meet the counters. Not a pleasant task, but it may be the only way to go. 

I did pick out new tile though, and I love it.  A little bit of putting the cart before the horse, but like anyone that enjoys home decor, you are drawn to the pretty bits that make it sparkle.

 

I got the tile for a steal of a deal at $3.50 each.

I needed a new door for my pantry and only a bifold would work. A panelled door was not what I wanted, so I bought a plain Masonite door and added the same trim as I did on the cabinets.

not painted yet

This was the biggest door I could get that was not custom order (read, big bucks) so I had to add wood to the top of the frame

The frame is so out of whack that I had to add a shims on one side to bring it to level. The frame is also out of plumb, but trim moulding will hide the majority of the sins.

It will be painted the same white as the cabinets and a matching handle will be installed.

I am still way ahead of my August deadline, so having to take a couple of weeks off while my wrists felt better is a-ok.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Chalkboard art and a great GW find

My kitchen is at a standstill while I rest my wrists. I had no clue how painful carpal tunnel syndrome is until experiencing it for myself. Owww.

My daughter is grounded from her computer this week and apparently is a little bored, because she asked if she could draw something on the chalkboard wall in the kitchen.  Um, yeah!

I have a self imposed moratorium on junkin’ until my kitchen is done, but I had some time to kill after work before picking my daughter up from rugby practice, so I popped in to the Goodwill close to work. I was giddy when I found this, for $20!!!

I’m not sure what I will do with it yet. Some thoughts are just hang it up as is, or use it as a headboard which would fit a double bed perfectly. Or change the colour and hang it outside, screw in some hooks, hang some small buckets and put candles in them, hmmm, maybe I could do that inside too.  Anyway, the possibilities are endless. What would you do?