Finally recovered....

Hey all!  Sorry to have been gone for so long....it took a bit of recovery after the kitchen reno, long weekend and general busy-ness that is my life!

No major projects on the horizon for right now.  I plan to recover the chairs in the kitchen - I want to do them in this fun orange fabric for summer...but that may have to wait a while.

I love the pattern and the bright orange in this fabric....pictures to come once that is finished.

Right now though I am busy planning our charity event.  Last year my son started a longboard/skateboard ride for kids with cancer and it was a great success.  We are back at it this year...and being that my son is a 13 year old boy...you guessed it, the bulk of the work is on me.  I am looking forward to it but Holy Toledo it's a lot of work!

Here's the link if you want to check it out:  www.longboard4kids.com

I also have a super fun project for my real work (as a prop stylist) coming up and will post some pics of that when it's done...for now I can't reveal anything about it.

I have been doing some snooping around though at other interesting things I can get up to and came across this really interesting idea for our very ugly laundry area.

(image from Kelly Deck Design)

It's hard to tell from this picture but it's basically like an armoire/cupboard built around the machines with hanging space above.  I love it because it is simple and would disguise the really awful concrete wall we now have in that space....this may yet be a project for our basement!

So it's not been a super productive couple of weeks design-wise...but it was a much needed break from the contant reno we had going on for the past 2 months....it was totally worth it because I am still loving the kitchen!

The Final Reveal

At long last the day has come....we are finished the kitchen.  Well, there are still a few pieces of trim to put on and the tile backsplash and hood fan...but essentially it's all done.

It has been a very long haul...not as long as some renos I know....but living without a kitchen for so long really took its toll.

In the end taking our time to plan and really search for all those pieces that we really wanted was worth it.  We ended up with the kitchen we wanted and it is uniquely ours.

If you are ever planning a reno make sure you don't skip the planning stage.  If you have things well thought out and even pre-ordered,  the easier the whole process will be.  Taking time in the initial planning stages will pay off in the end. Even if it is annoying to have 600 sq ft of wood flooring, a hood fan, light fixtures and building supplies stored in your basement for 3 months.

So without further ado....here is the finished product.

Kitchen Before:

 and here is the....AFTER......

I keep walking into the room just to stand there and love it.  The space has changed so much and the whole feel of the room is exactly how I wanted it.  

One final touch we put on was a vinyl transfer I bought months ago and waited patiently to put up in the new kitchen.  It totally personifies everything I want our family to be.  I love that it will be in the kitchen for us to see every day...words to live by.

Islands in the Stream....

Progress is being made on the island...honestly it feels like it's taking forever but between the kitchen, my real job, kids, working on the charity (www.longboard4kids.com) etc etc....it actually is taking forever!!

I was able to get the cladding on the sides and put on the wood kickplates at least.  The counters are now finished and just getting their "treatment".  Which is a fancy word for brush on...wait 24hours...brush on...wait 24 more hours...do this 7 times (4 coats on the top, 3 on the bottom).

I started the cladding with some old panel doors cut to size and mitred the corners so they would be neat and tidy (this job I assigned to the hubby since I just had no desire to do it).

I cut the kickplates to the correct height (width of door subtracted from countertop height) out of the same wood boards as the countertop.  I left these a little rougher because I just liked that look.

I installed them by simply screwing into the base frame of the island.

Once the doors for the sides had been measured, measured, measured and then finally cut....I was ready to " put a little English on them". 

They had been painted white, but under that were several years of paint colours.....curiously every door I seem to come across has some shade of teal in there.  I think it could be like finding the age of a door by peeling back the paint layers.  When you get to teal, I think you are somewhere back in the 40s...it must have been the colour of the day but I can't imagine those teal doors in a room.

After sanding and scraping all the loose bits off....and sanding down enough in the areas that I wanted to show as wood in the final finish....I quickly slapped on a coat of white paint.  And I truly mean quickly slapped it on.  By this time in the project I was so relieved to be moving forward I just literally finished this step in about 10 mins.  Good thing that the look I am going for is very vintage rustic.

I used up the last of my Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Pure White....you may remember Annie from my table project from an older post....this time Annie wasn't such a pain in the arse to work with (thank goodness) and 1 coat stuck and was all I needed to spruce up the doors.
I didn't want a perfect finish anyway so I just made sure enough paint went on to freshen it up.

After this step I sanded back the areas that would naturally get wear...corners, edges etc.  I sanded back to the bare wood here to give it some character.  And just for fun I sanded back to the teal green to show just a "hinch" (my 10 year olds word combining hint and pinch) of the colour.

Next I brought out the wax..hello again to Annie!  I applied one generous coat, let dry 10 mins and then buffed to a nice sheen.  I must say I do love the finish that Annie produces but she can be a royal pain sometimes!

Voila!  doors finished...this whole process took roughly 1/2 hour and satisfied my impatient need to actually accomplish something.

I installed the doors on the sides of the island and was thrilled with how they turned out.  It is exactly the look I wanted for this piece.

Doing this confirmed my belief in using old doors for these purposes.  The wood is solid and well put together.  There is already detail and character in the mill work.  And you get to save some really neat doors from a landfill while adding amazing charm and history to your home.

The counters are done their 4 top coats and 2 bottom coats.  I more bottom coat, sink and faucet install and we are done!  Can't wait to show the final, final, final reveal!!

Counter Productive

So the final stretch is here...everything but some minor trim work is complete.  Well, everything but the kitchen sink....we can't install it yet because there are no counters for it to go in.

I decided when I was planning the kitchen to put quartz counters on all the cabinets on the north wall.  They went in about a week and a half ago and I love them.  But I wanted the kitchen island to stand out.  Everything around it is modern and sleek....it's going to be rustic and aged.  So I decided to go with wood counters for the island.  And I am going to clad the cabinets with some old doors turned on their sides.   It would add some warmth and character to the kitchen and really make a statement....Sounds easy right?

After finally finding some great boards, getting them milled down to be a consistent thickness I joined them together with the biscuit joiner.  (see previous post for details)

Once I had them together, it was time to cut the opening for the sink and do the final sanding.  I measured carefully and marked out the opening.  I drilled holes in each corner large enough for the jigsaw blade to fit into.  Then I inserted the blade and began cutting out the opening.

Much to my surprise once I was finished cutting out the sink opening, I found that there was a large section of the wood that had huge cracks and gaps in it.  I was so frustrated because the process has been slow going and this was one more thing to set back the timeline.  I mixed up another batch of filler (wood glue and sawdust I had saved from cutting the boards)....patched the cracks and gaps and let it dry...again.

There are no pictures here...I was way too upset to stop and take any!!

Finally I was able to sand off the filler and get ready for the final finish.  As with any wood surface, before you do the final coat of paint, varnish or oil you have to make sure it is really well prepped. Work in stages of coarse to fine grades of sandpaper and the wood will just get smoother as you progress.  When it feels very smooth to the touch, it is done.

I was able to put on a coat of stain on after sanding it really well and it is looking great so far....I now need to put on 3-4 coats of Waterlox (a treatment I found online that is supposed to be the best product for this application) and then they will be finally done....here's the progress so far.

Since I was a bit way-laid by the counters, I had to complete something today so I worked on my message board/calendar.

I took one of my old window frames and made it into part cork/park chalk board earlier.  Today I painted the lines and letters on it so I would have a chalkboard calendar that I can write on month by month and change it each time.  It turned out well, and took a bit of sting out of the counter dilemma.

I added two 1/2 moon vintage handles mounted upside down to hold the push pins and chalk.  I also found these great chalk markers online that will give a very fine line and wipe off the chalkboard.  They arrive next week so I can't wait to try them out!

Stay tuned for the final reveal on the counters and the complete kitchen reveal!

Almost there!!!

It's been a productive week in the Robert's household....I started working on the counters, we got the wood cladding and pendant light fixture installed and I made a phone shelf.

The counters came back from Peter at Wunderland and were levelled enough to use so I then started the process of joining the planks together.

First I had to make the edges straight and true to be able to join them together seamlessly.  I laid it out several times and measured carefully to figure out what portions of the boards were the best looking for the counter.  I aligned them so that when we did the cutout for the sink some knots and other not so desirable areas would be cut away.

I had decided to use the biscuit joiner for this project.  I must say it might be one of my fave tools.  Super easy to use, super accurate and super fun!

The biscuit joiner is a tool that cuts out 1/2 elliptical slots from the material to be joined.  You do this on both pieces and then insert a "biscuit" which is an elliptical shaped piece of wood that you glue into the slots.  It's hard to describe, but the pics below may show how it works easier than me trying to write it out....

 

 Dry fit boards together and mark where you want the center of biscuits to be                                  

Set depth of slots from top edge.   I did 2 rows, 1 at 1/4" down and 1 at 1 1/2"

  

Line up the marks with the joiner and make the cuts..repeat with all marks

First row done!  Adjust the depth setting and repeat for the second row.

 

 Put glue in slots and insert biscuits

         Put both pieces together and tighten clamp to hold while glue dries

It took some time to get it done perfectly and I almost wanted to be sick while joining them in case it didn't work and they didn't line up...but that's the beauty of this joiner....it made it so simple to align them perfectly.   They came together really well and I mixed up some sawdust I saved, from cutting the wood, with some glue and used it as a filler for the larger holes in the top.

While the counters were drying, we cut and installed the boards to go along the nub wall in the kitchen.  This was the section the previous owners cut out from the old exterior wall and now was an awkward bump in the plan.  

I had gone up to Ed's place to get some boards for this purpose...and out of this pile picked a few great ones....Here is the opening before

And here it is after.

  I love the way it adds so much warmth to the space and the way the light fixture looks on the wood.

While Fred was installing the light and boards, I installed a shelf for the telephone message center that I had made out of an old wooden ladder and a piece of old barn board.I love the metal hardware detail on the ladder.  This shelf will be the perfect spot to hold our phone and iphones, ipad etc while charging.  I am also making a chalk and cork board to hang above the shelf so it can be message central! 

Told you it was a busy week around here!  The kitchen is really coming together and now all that's left is the wood counter and sink....plus a few little finishing touches.

Island of my dreams!!

Slow week really...had to work at my "real" job to be able to pay off some of those purchases!!

Back at it this week though....We managed to install the island and get some doors and hardware on the cabinets.  It is looking fantastic!

I have always wanted an island in our kitchen.  We never thought we could do it since our space is really tight width wise, but we managed to just squeak one in.  We bought all the interior fittings with the rest of the cabinets at Ikea, and I will be covering it with some old doors on the sides and a beautiful wood top made from Hemlock flooring from an old barn.

I sent them to the neighbourhood coffee shop to be planed down...because of course that's what every neighbourhood coffee shop has right?  A portable saw mill in the back?  Well ours does, and Peter at Wunderland was amazing!!

He got the undersides prepped so they are relatively level and good to work with now.   He also gave me a handy tip for cleaning kitchens and bathrooms without chemicals...he uses a 3% peroxide solution as a cleaner and said it kills all the germs safely and quickly without harmful chemicals...great suggestion Peter!

Tomorrow I will start the process of getting the wood slabs true and then joining them...still researching the best product to seal and finish the tops so they will be impervious to water since our sink is going to be there.  I think I have a lead on a great product so when I confirm it will work, I will let you know....stay tuned for more updates....

Kitchen Update

It's been a busy week here.  We ripped out everything, put in new electrical and plumbing and then put in new drywall.

Then we starting building the cabinets and mapping out the kitchen.

Here's how it's looking so far.

I am so thrilled to finally have pot lights.  It has been said many times that lighting is one of the most important aspects of a room and that is so true.  I can honestly say that I think one of the biggest changes has been the new lighting.  It adds sparkle and interest to the space already and we aren't even completed yet.  So if you are planning a reno, don't forget to plan your lighting carefully.  I can't say enough about dimmer switches either.  Being able to control the lighting from the dimmer switch is pure magic.  

My 10 year old was playing with the switch and narrated "dinner time", "romantic dinner time" and "PARTY TIME" according to the brightness in the room.  It's a great and super inexpensive feature if you can change the mood with lighting.

Up next...more cabinets to be built...and the big kitchen island project.   I found some really great old boards from a barn that will be used for the counter top on the island...

I literally had to scrape the hay and manure from the bottoms!!  Don't worry they will be well cleaned up by the time they hit the counter top!

I am planning to  use old panel doors as the sides. Considering I have about 10 in our shed, it will be great to use some for this project.  I can't wait to get started on it.  I think the super modern and sleek cabinets and appliances will be a good backdrop for the rustic, vintage island.

Stay tuned for more updates as we progress....