Finally Finished!!

The kitchen cabinet makeover is finally finished, more than a year after beginning it.  Isn't it amazing how life gets in the way sometimes?  And by life, I mean a crazy toddler boy that will climb and jump off anything, play with any thing (toilets, knives, whatever), and generally make life hectic for this mama.

But sheer determination had me pushing through, and it looks great.  I think the reason it took so long was that I could already see it in my head when I looked at the cabinets.

Here are a few pictures:

When we toured the house before buying it, I took these pictures of the kitchen (above).  Stuck in the early 70s it looks like.  Good news is the lighting fixtures are back in style, so they'll do for a little while.

This wallpapered paneling was in the dining nook area, and on one wall in the kitchen.  A little coat of khaki paint took care of that until we can afford to replace it with drywall.

This shelf paper covered every square inch of the shelving in the kitchen.  Every square inch was taken OUT!

This is a little idea (above) of what I had to do to 18 cabinet doors and seven drawers.

Side by side of the old and new.

I love the finished cabinets.  Totally worth all the sanding, coats of paint, sweat and sometimes tears.  Including the kitchen island, the whole kitchen makeover (to date) has cost about $200, and that's all the brushes, paint, wood filler, hardware and whatnot that it took to do the cabinets.

Money saving tips: 

Spray paint the old hinges:  for $5 and a can of metallic silver spray paint, I saved all the hinges and made them work.

Sand and paint:  If your cabinets are sound structurally, stick with sanding and painting.  You'll save time and money, and lots of kitchen construction nightmare by not ripping them out.

Reuse old hardware:  I wish I had thought of doing this instead of buying new stuff.  I could have just sprayed the old hardware and repositioned it.  I did, actually, in a couple of places, and it's very hard to spot.  You can also hang onto the old hardware, refinish it with spray paint, and make a coat hook or rack out of them.  Get creative!

Go rummage saling:  I found the kitchen island at a rummage sale for $10 and refinished it for less than $100 total.

Next part of the reno:  covering the brown tile with white bead board and trimming it out.  Fun, and for less than $50 will totally change the room.  I can't wait!

DIY File Folders

I was inspired by the January 2012 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine to get some really pretty folders, ones with great design that inspires and not plain old manila.  The caption of the folders photo in the article referred me to The Container Store's website.  I headed on over, and saw that a set of three folders was $5.99.  Plus shipping.

Now some of you are saying, Hey, six bucks.  That's not bad.

But I think, Hey, six bucks.  That's a whole meal at suppertime for my family most days.

I had a few untouched pages of pretty 12x12 cardstock left from a card project a while back.  And that got me thinking I could do my own folders on the really cheap, for about 20 CENTS each.

And yes, I know they don't look exactly like the store-bought ones.  But I like them, and they're really cheap.  Here's how I did it.