Awesome...just AWESOME!

I guess all of the weeks and MONTHS of hard work on this room are finally paying off!

This is what the cabinets looked like this morning after being sprayed with poly yesterday.

This little 8" paper was really all I needed to protect the ceiling from overspray with the poly.  It was amazing actually how LITTLE overspray there really was.

It was finally time to pull the plastic out and see what all this fuss was actually about!

The final finish...so smooth...

and so crisp and white...

just what I was hoping for!  (whew!)

I had to sneak in the countertop for the sink area...I know it hadn't been 24 hrs. of dry time yet...but I was gentle putting it into place :)  Look how much dust is inside that cabinet!!  I spent ALL day vacuuming, and wiping these cabinets up inside with the damp cloth.  I couldn't believe how dusty they were! (what did I expect though, I've only sanded in there like 8 times, lol!)

I love the contrast of the white cabinets with the warm wooden countertops.

Can't wait to put my GALVANIZED WASH TUB sink in there!!

I walked around with Mom and checked out the asparagus, rhubarb and just about anything with a bud or a bloom on it.  This red dogwood tree we were just SURE was dead.  Guess not!  HOWEVER...I'm still not sure it's going to make it... probably 1/3 of the branches are dead.

It sure does look like it's trying though doesn't it?  It was such a beautiful day.

I finished cleaning and then started putting the cabinet doors back on...

it sure seems like forever since they've even been in that room!

I must admit...that numbering the cabinet doors where the hinges go and taping over that really made it go quickly when putting them back on!!

Remember what it looked like before?

I can't even see this in my mind anymore!

It looks sooooo different now!!!

 WOW....WoW...wow!!!

What a HUGE difference!  This may be my favorite room in the house now!!

THE CLUTTER ROOM!!! (laundry, pantry, and misc)

FINALLY!!!

DONE!  I sprayed two coats of Minwax water based polycrylic on the laundry room / clutter room / pantry cabinets today.  HOWEVER...I didn't take any pictures because you couldn't really tell that I had done anything, lol!  So...for the sake of having a picture...here's one that I took this evening.  This cute little tree frog was hanging out by the front door :)  Tomorrow I'll look everything over but I'm pretty sure that I FINALLY get the take the plastic down and reveal the cabinets in their finished state!!  WOO-HOO!!!

Are We Ready Yet?

This morning I pulled down all of the paper to reveal the crown moulding & base that I still need to paint.  Look at how yellow the "primed" crown moulding is compared to the white that I already painted on the cabinets!  Kinda gross!

Nothing like prep work to waste a day away!

This picture REALLY shows the color difference.

I got it all painted..twice (not sure why I didn't take any pictures of it actually ready, lol) and now I've just got to tape off the ceiling and around the crown in the rest of the room and then I can get back in here and spray the polyurethane.  Sounds like tomorrow will be another fun day!

Have I mentioned that I'm ready to be done messing with these cabinets?

SAVED!

Well...maybe saved isn't the right word...but EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK with these gosh darn cabinets!!  I lightly sanded them this morning and then gave them another coat of polyurethane.  They look great now (well....great enough, lol)  The crackle effect is gone!  WHEW!!

You can see on the cabinet door farthest away that it has a more "smooth" finish.

The closer door is the one that still had crackle before I sanded and sprayed it again.

Kade spent his time working on building door headers so that we can get some of this trim done.  Why do we always pick something that's not just cut and hang??  We're always gluing, nailing, modifying, lol.  We are so difficult :)

I think he got about 15 of them cut and put together.  AWESOME

(that means that I have 15 headers waiting for me to caulk, fill, prime and give a first coat of paint to before they can go up...where is my clone?? anyone??)

(think about how much he could get done if he didn't have to go to work every day!)

I guess tomorrow I'll repaint the crown moulding & baseboard in the clutter room and then get ready to spray the poly in there.  I can't wait to see this room finished...

I hope it's as good in real life as it is in my head!!

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Kade finally hung up the mirror in the half bath today.  I just love that mirror :)  It's actually the mirror that goes with the dresser that we're using for the vanity in our hallway bath. (see pics below)

Here's the dresser as I bought it.  I couldn't just let that cute mirror go to waste.  I just thought it seemed a little too small for a bathroom...at least a main bathroom!

Here's the dresser after I stripped it down and cut it's "sink" hole.

Refinished and ready to have the drawers modified

And here's the mirror in its final resting place.

I just love how the lights kind of "hug" the top of it :)

Now we need to finish the chair rail in there and that room will be....DONE??

Oh wait, no...it still needs to have the trim touched up and then it's door put back on the hinges!

I finally built my nerves up today and sprayed the first coat of polyurethane on the cabinet doors.

I used Minwax polycrylic - it's suppose to be a true "clear" finish...which is what I wanted on our white white cabinets. (and not what I got with the minwax waterbased wipe on that I used on the cabinet boxes!)

Can you see the results...

Here's a closer shot....YEP...that is crackle!

WHAT THE HECK??  I have NO IDEA why this happened.

I would swear these cabinets are TRYING to kill me! (or at the very least make me go insane!)

They don't look bad from a distance.  I'm going to have to think about this one a little.

Maybe another coat will fix the problem?

I'm seriously beginning to think that our basement is where cabinets go to die!

(or at the very least try my patience something fierce!)

I guess I'll revisit this tomorrow - UGH!

But honestly...why would I expect this to go smoothly??  Not much else has!

Here's the HVLP spray gun that I used.  I THOUGHT it was doing a pretty good job, lol.

Maybe it's my technique...maybe it's the poly...maybe it's....

TIME FOR ME TO GO TO BED!!

I'll worry about it tomorrow (and believe me...I WILL worry!)

Window Sills & MORE PAINT!

Look!  It's our very first INSTALLED window sill!  Don't you love it?  I do!  Kade did a great job fitting these.  EVERY window had to be custom fit. (imagine that!)

First one installed was the one over the kitchen sink.

It's strange to look and actually see window sills and not just unfinished window :)

Kade got ALL of the new sills installed today.

For some reason he decided he wanted to use "real" nails and not the nail gun.

So there he is...using the nail set and setting each nail he put in.

(I seriously think we BOTH make everything harder than it needs to be!)

I went ahead and did just ONE MORE COAT of paint on the clutter room cabinets.

NOW they should be good to go!

In these pictures from day to day I seriously don't htink I can see ANY difference in the coverage, but I assure you...they needed just one more coat :)

I can't wait to rip this plastic out of there and reveal the "new" cabinets in all of their glory.

Next step is to poly the cabinet doors which are all still down in the basement...

(yikes...makes me nervous just saying it!)

and then head back upstairs and give the cabinet boxes a few coats before I can put this room together once and for all!

I wonder how long I've taken on this room so far...

(note to self) It probably would have cost less to just buy finished cabinets at this point!

How depressing!

Ready, Set, SPRAY!

Oh my gosh....as of this morning I was STILL doing prep work.  Let me just say...it's not easy to hang giant pieces of plastic by yourself, lol.  I had to look almost like a cartoon in there pulling the tape off of the plastic and trying to get the plastic to actually hang on the walls!

Finally I was ready to paint!

EVERYTHING was covered.

(I mean EVERYTHING)

Yes, I wasted time and made these tight fitting poster board covers that fit IN the drawer spots in the base cabinets.

I think they'll make it so much easier to spray against.

Can you tell how I taped everything off?  I put the tape ALL around the insides of the cabinets and cut the plastic to fit.  It took FOREVER!

I taped off the crown with some small rolls of paper that I have.  I think it's meant for around the baseboard, but it worked great this way too!

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS??

I also got the first coat of paint done!

Look at how messy that is!  It took about an hour and a half or so to spray everything.

I'm not sure that I've got the sprayer dialed in just where it needs to be.

I think it did a pretty good job though.  It probably helps that I'm using flat paint and floetrol.

Have I mentioned that even though this is so tedious I just know that I'll be glad I re-did these in the end?

The sprayer sure does put on a nicer finish.  Why didn't I get one of these sooner?

Finished!  I'll check them out in the morning light and decide if I need to do another coat or not. (I might as well just do another coat, cause I know I'm going to convince myself that they need it, lol)

 

Last event of the day....BIRTHDAYS!!

(and cake with two of the boys favorite pics that I took)

 

Happy Birthday to Jeff & Johnny Harman! (Jeff on the right, Johnny on the left)  Jeff's birthday is today and Johnny's is tomorrow.  Where did the past year go?  Seems like we were just celebrating these SAME two birthdays  :)