Kitchen Crashing: Reveal

You've waited. And it's done!

Get ready for some totally awesome just okay pictures!

The weather was gray, no good light, the grouting was just complete so nothing could be up against the backsplash, and I gave Diana no warning about bringing the camera, so truly, nothing staged in these photos, but I can't wait for better ones. I need to share!

First, a before refresher:

Like I said, not the best pictures, but you can see how great the transformation is:

I suggested rotating the table, and that is working really well.

I love the finishes. New gray floors, warm cabinets, black granite counters. The accent walls are a mid-tone gray-purple and the other walls are light gray.

The wall is all opened up. Love!

This wall is gone. Scroll back up, this view is the same as the one with the door. No more door needed.

The awesome lantern shaped tile.

Okay, so itty bitty microwave. This admittedly is small for the space, but Diana is dreaming of a drawer microwave someday, so planned the opening for the future, but just stuck this little guy there for now. I absolutely love the idea of putting the microwave in a lower cabinet. 

Really, who wants it all featured, up in the air. Ours is above the stove. This is annoying because my oldest could totally microwave his own food items now, but he can't reach it. Seriously, whoever came up with the whole microwave over the stove thing never had kids. Wait, how did I get on this soapbox? Sorry. Stepping down. But love the microwave placement in this kitchen.

I'm so jealous of their new kitchen, but mostly just super happy for them.

Check out the Kitchen Crashing posts to find out names and where stuff was bought and to relive the process. Links on the upper sidebar.

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH) The ArtsyGirl Connection,  Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

New "Old" Sign

I've wanted an "old" sign for my kitchen forever. Just now got around to it.

Remember when we redid our deck steps? Well, I used a plank from the old steps that we took off since it's a good size and already perfectly weathered.

I experimented to see if I could get the inkjet printer ink to transfer, but no go. All the techniques call for a laser printer.

Since that didn't work, this called for a stencil. So, I printed my words and then cut them out, careful to keep the outline intact because that's the part I needed.

It took several pieces of paper, so I made sure to line everything back up and then taped it all in place on my wood plank.

Because I had to line the letters up properly, I printed the word smaller so I knew what it should look like.

I mixed black acrylic paint with water to make it very thin and then painted the letters. Because I just used paper, I did not slop paint on the edges much so that I did not have to worry about bleeding too much.

I peeled off the stencil and let it dry. I definitely looked weathered, but it didn't quite pop enough. 

This is a really awkward angle. I hope you aren't getting dizzy!

Now, I don't know why, but I really didn't want color on this one. Finally, I decided to use the black like a shadow, and paint the letters again with watered down white paint.

I just free-handed it, but you could put your stencil back down. I brushed the white very thin in some places and let it pool and soak into the wood in others. I hoped this would create a uneven weathered look.

It is thick, so we hung it by screwing four really long screws back into the holes that used to hold down as a step.

Why MI cherries? I like cherries and I thought that font would work well with the word cherries. 

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

 

Kitchen Crashing: Almost there!

Well, color is done and it looks great. Floors, cabinets, new sliding doors are all in. They have a contractor that is helping install all the big stuff. Considering they revamped the whole layout, it was probably a good idea to have some professional help.

There is so much natural light now! So much in fact these pictures are overly bright.

Appliances are still to come, but they will be going stainless (last I heard anyway).

The counters will be granite.

It has a little more variety than Diana first wanted, so I'm super excited that she branched out. :)

By the way, Diana keeps telling me that I'm too nice describing all this to you, and that I should tell you that she is crazy and wants everything very boring. 

Yeah, except with only minor prodding she painted her kitchen purple, picked a non-rectangular tile, and on her own went for the granite with more variety. Boring? Nah. Definitely tasteful and classic though.

I'm standing with my back against the fridge when I took this. It's sitting in the living room at the moment. The crazy arrangements you have to make to get through a remodel!

It's so close! Back splash and counters need to be installed and the new sink along with the counters and then the appliances.

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

 

Kitchen Crashing: More color and Floors

If you are not in the loop, check out "Kitchen Crashing" where I explain what is going on with my friends' kitchen.

Where we last left off (I feel like I am an old school tv show recap), Diana had bought a darker color to try.

On left, was to be the living room and main color, right arrow points to the color that would be accent walls.

She painted the light lavender/gray color on the hallway and didn't like the way it looked in the poorly lit space (no natural light). "It looked like grapes!" said Diana. She tried Valspar's Gravity at 75%. (I'm not sure the 25% less saturation made much difference, but whatev's.) 

Although there is the slightest hint toward lavendar, it is a gray gray color.

So, she painted the accent wall color next to it, and woh-woh, it didn't work. The problem is that they are too similar. Really, she has to go darker on the accent wall now.

So, she is going to try Opal Slate from Valspar.

It's a very gray purple color. The purple is definitely there in real life.

Diana also picked floor tile. They will be going with Mountain Mist by Cascade. It's a laminate.

It looks good, but I think it sounds like I'm chilling in my dishwasher with a pop (or soda). 

Demolition began yesterday. I just have an early shot of the upper cabinets coming down.

Stay tuned for more demo and back splash tile.

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH)   Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

Mini Polaroid Magnets

I saw this idea on Pinterest from blogger

Jennifer Kirk on Ambrosia Creative

She even offers the file for the Polaroid frame!

So, I downloaded the frame file and used Photoshop Elements to add my pictures. From what I understand, Picnik will work as well.

I placed all my images on one page (I made mine each slightly bigger than 1 in x 1 in) and printed it on regular white paper.

Then it was time to make them into magnets.

I gathered my illustration board, spray glue, ruler and xacto knife.

Oh, and scissors. I just used scissors to cut the mini polaroids apart. Then I added spray glue to the back and glued them to my mini illustration board.

I have to tell you that I love these boards. I figured I would need to buy a full size matte board and then I found these mini boards by Strathmore at Michael's. They were perfect for this little project.

To both get a good cut and protect your fingers a bit more, place a metal ruler along the line you want to cut. Hold it down with firm pressure, and set the knife against the ruler. 

Cut along the edge of the ruler, depending on the thickness, you will have to make more than one pass. Don't try with a wooden or plastic ruler; it will just cut the ruler.

This is not the best for this application. Ideally look for something labeled Spray Lacquer.

I used a Satin spray to seal it and give it a little sheen like a picture.

Hot glued magnets to the back,

and voila! 

Super cute magnets for the fridge!

Featured:

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