Kitchen Makeover Parts 1 and 2: Open Shelves and Painting Cabinets

Wow. Has hardly been a month since I posted my ideas for a new kitchen, and just a few months since the fiasco when I painted my kitchen green - for three days - then back to red because I just LOVED it SOOO much...I'm starting to think I may just be 100% insane. I tell you, I get these ideas in my head and they won't EVER leave me alone! I kid you not. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this stuff. It's no joke. So I decided I was D-O-N-E with the red. (Well, not completely - we'll get to that;)...). So here I go, back to the drawing board. Glutton for punishment? Perhaps. Let's hope not, this time around. I have a good feeling about the kitchen now. You might ask yourself, how does a stay at home mom, with a 2 1/2 year old, an almost 4 year old, and a 5 year old find the time (and ENERGY!) (and MONEY!) to give their kitchen a makeover twice (kinda sorta) in a matter of months? I'm here to divulge my master plan. It all pretty much boils down to one principle: BREAK. IT. DOWN. In other words, I do little bits here and there (I do follow sort of a schedule, like, what I want to start with, what comes second, third etc.), and I'm pretty crazy about not starting something else until what I'm working on is DONE. A kitchen, of all places, is one room I do NOT want chaotic. I need to cook three meals a day in there. I need to go in and get snacks and drinks 2 times a day. We LIVE in our kitchen. The island is where you will find my kids many times a day, either drawing, or coloring, or play-dough-ing, or "helping" me bake something. It's truly the heart of our home, and I would flip my flippin' lid (ha!) if it was filled with paintbrushes, emptied contents of drawers and cabinets that are in the midst of being painted, etc etc. So even though it might take longer, in order to keep my sanity, I like to break it down. I decided the very first thing I wanted to tackle was removing a few cabinet doors, and creating some open shelves. I started one day just clearing out our dishes, wiping down the inside, and before I knew it, I was unscrewing the cabinet fronts and priming away!

 Now, we have our original 1960s cabinets (are you surprised, after seeing our 1960s bathroom?!), and we (and by 'we' I mean, my husband since I was 8+ months pregnant with our first when we moved in and did the kitchen!) painted the fronts only. We picked Shwerin Williams Jersey Cream, to go with our SW Pottery Red. I love Jersey Cream - it's a nice buttery creamy yellow, and complimented the red well. So the inside of the cabinets were nice and raw - I just had to clean them and fill the holes from the door hinges with wood filler (sand those spots only), prime them, then slap some white semi-gloss on them. It took what seemed like 800 coats, but was probably more like 3, maybe 4. I kept feeling like I could see the wood - I wanted to be good and sure they were nice and white! Here's what that cabinet looks like now:

I picked up a few dishes at the Dollar Tree, and had a few red bowls to include (yep, I'm still holding onto a **LITTLE** bit of red...told ya;), and threw a couple natural items, like the salad bowl and basket (which hold tupperware!) in the mix. Not 100% how I want it yet, but we'll get there.

Here's the other cabinet I did:

Then when I saw how much I loved them, I did a skinny cabinet over by the fridge - you can see it in this pic:

Here it is now - I picked up a few baskets (at the Dollar Tree! They're not the best - I want to replace them sometime, when I find the perfect baskets, but for now they'll work).

Okay. So that was Phase One of the Kitchen Project. The Open Shelves took a day - I did ONLY the open shelves, hadn't started painting the cabinets yet (even though in these pics the cabs are painted) and this is what it looked like when I was done.

 It was getting close to the bewitching hour, so I cleaned up this mess and kept the pile of dishes on the Dining Room buffet table while the shelves were drying. The next morning I put the dishes away and our open shelves were complete.

The next day, I decided to tackle the upper cabinets only. This happened to fall on a Saturday, so I took full advantage of Paul being home and got it all done. We ran some errands that morning, played a while, then naptime came, and the rest of the day was yucky out, so while he kept the kids entertained, I got them painted. I just gave them a light sanding, wiped them clean, and painted, since they were such a light color to begin with. Giving them a light sanding gives them some 'teeth' - something for the paint to hold onto, instead of the glossy finish they had from the Jersey Cream. When I removed each cabinet front, I placed EACH doors' hinges, knobs, etc, in a bag and labeled the EXACT location of the cabinet. Makes it nice and easy when you know exactly what hinge goes where. I finished around dinnertime, and the next morning, I replaced all the hinges, handles, etc, which took no time at all, and since it was the Superbowl, I left Sunday at that.;)

So today...I decided to attack half of the bottom cabinets. Since it's a weekday, I don't have the luxury of spending the entire day painting, so I broke it down like this:
8:55: See the kindergartener off on the bus.
9:00: Remove all drawer pulls and hinges from half of the bottom cabinets while the other 2 kids are finishing up breakfast and playing nicely (gotta take advantage when that happens, right!?). Give them a quick sand and wipe clean. Totally ready for paint.
9:15: Get dressed, play a while, go to Mom's to borrow a table, kids play, eat lunch there, leave without said table.
12:30: Come home, put kids down for nap, bust out the paint, get rolling.
2:02: For some ungodly reason, the 2 year old, who's famous for his amazing 3+ hour naps every day of his life, wakes up. I did somehow manage to get half done though, and they dry while we go outside to play until big sis gets home at 4.
4:00: come in, kids have snack while I screw all the hinges and handles on. PLENTY of time before the madness of 5pm, when I start cooking dinner.

I have to say, this 'little bit at a time' method might be a lot longer than say, knocking it all out in a weekend, but at least there's order, and if there ain't order, this momma ain't happy!


So tomorrow I'll finish up the last of the cabinets, and they'll be completely done. Next thing I'm tackling is the backsplash. I won't ruin any surprises, so I'll keep you in suspense until then;). Then the paint and molding around the cabinets. They are far from done; I think some nice molding around them will really give them a finished look. Still haven't committed to a color for the rest of the kitchen, I just know it'll be in the blue family. Stay tuned;)

It's funny, I had always thought our cabinets were so light, but check out how nice and fresh the white looks compared to the Jersey Cream:

WOW. Can't wait to see how this all turns out. White paint is like a breath of fresh air!

So as far as the open shelving, I thank you all for your wonderful comments/advice/words of wisdom and experience. One major issue that seems to come up a lot, is the order thing. Yes, you will have to be somewhat tidy, but I only opened up a couple, I still have a few left that can go untidy;) When it comes to the plates/cups/bowls cabinets, we've always been fairly neat about those anyway, so I wasn't concerned about that. (Now, the pots/pans/baking dishes cabinets...you'd be afraid...VERY afraid.) And I just decided to put the kids' plastic plates, bowls, sippy cups in a couple of those drawers.

 We're down to just one sippy cup kid, so while we used to have 1,000 of them, we have just a few left. CRAZY!!
And the favorite mugs, cups, etc. that we didn't want to get rid of, but don't look too purdy on display, I have them in this closed cabinet.

So it all works out:)

WHEW! I rambled quite a bit on this post, didn't I?! Sorry, a little excited about this whole kitchen redo!

Still a lottttt ahead of me, but it's a start!