Trading Spaces

As I've mentioned before, our house came with closets galore.  Parker has TWO of these full size closets in his room, and only ONE was being used for clothes.  The other was overrun with lego bins and stuffed animals (which I swear he will end up bringing to college because he continues to accumulate them).

I already started hacking away before I remembered to take pictures. Oops.

I decided to tear the slatted wooden doors off this one (gotta love that builder-grade oak again) and transform this closet into a workstation for my soon-to-be middle schooler.  His room was overtaken by his large loft bed and bookshelf, and since this entire wall was closets, there wasn't much room for a desk are.  Bingo.

Both closets have a shelf about 6 feet up with a hanging metal bar beneath.  Functional, yes, but although they were equipped with lights, little was able to filter down to serve any real purpose.  First thing I did was remove the upper shelf and bar.

A bit of demo is always fun.

After the bar and shelf came down, I had to pry the wood supports off the wall.  In hindsight, I should have just left it up and painted over it - I dented the drywall with the hammer.  Whoops.

I let Parker pick out the colors for his room - a neon green for the closets and a bright blue for the rest of the room.  Off to painting!

Blurry, with a chair. Because I'm short, shut up.

It looks speckled in the picture above, but I promise I did more coats and fixed that.  Those white spots are my terrible attempt at drywall patching.

Instead of buying a desk and cramming it in there, I took the shelf I previously removed, sanded down the rough edges, and replaced it on the existing midway supports.  Total cost = zero dollars, just a little elbow grease and some nails.

From Desk Til Dawn

I wasn't going to use the bar, but seeing as the desk was so long, it required more support than the side rails.  Repurpose item #2 - the bar and it's supports served to hang cords wired for Parker's computer and eventually wall mounted television.

Saddle on up to the bar.  Top Shelf.

The shelf needed some finishing, so I painted it with the leftover white paint from the kitchen trim.  Oh, and that TRON poster nicely hid the drywall boo-boo until we got a wall mount for his 32" tv.

End of Line. Almost.

Drilled a few holes in the back to allow for computer cords and voila - a fun and functional workspace for a growing boy that took up ZERO floorspace.  All for the cost of some paint and invested time.

Not sure if fun or functional or both...

Taking the ring to Mordor

This summer I began a massive makeover of our kitchen.  I'm firmly rooted in camp "paint makes everything better", and since I couldn't exactly demolish cabinets in our rental, I decided to do what I do best - make it a different color.  I vastly underestimated just how long this would take me.  This was my reaction by the time I completed the months-long and oft interrupted project:

That's enough, Daniel Radcliffe.

To start, our house was built mid 80s using builder-grade oak and builder-grade brass fixtures and builder-grade BLAH.  Seriously, 80s to late 90s home builders had ZERO creativity and bought their home furnishings at Dated and Faded Surplus.  If there's one era I abhor in home design and decor, this would be it.  All we were missing was a floral couch, some dusty silk flowers and paintings of geese and I'd feel I was back in Jersey.  *shudder*

"What do you mean not everyone likes wood on wood trimmed in wood?"

This was our kitchen.  Good bones and TONS of counter space, for which I was grateful, but it just felt so... blech.  Off-white laminate tops that didn't do anything for the off-white walls and the off-white porcelain sink, on top of the honey oak cabinets and trim (which was around every door and on the baseboards and crown moulding).  New black appliances seemed out of place against the very dated fixtures, so something had to be done.

First, I researched the best way to go about painting the counters.  Fortunately, Rustoleum makes a very smelly oil-based paint specifically for countertops.  I decided white cabinets with a gray counter would bring everything up to date, and still accent the appliances (and beautiful wood flooring) nicely.

Pots and pans and cups better scurry...

The countertop paint was very oily and tempermental.  Requiring several coats and days between application, it made trying to use the kitchen for cooking challenging.  And despite that blue painters tape I still got it everywhere.  Sigh.

Same cabinet with the door reattached.

Did I mention I had to remove every drawer and door in our massive eat-in kitchen? A total of 27 doors (yes, an odd number) and 10 drawers.  Oh, and I had to refinish the hinges on all the doors too, because builder-grade brass.  Again, Rustoleum to the rescue with it's dark bronze flecked spray paint.  Also came in handy for bringing the builder-grade brass chandelier up to date.

Worth it in the end.

Once the cabinets were done, I moved onto the massive expanse of wall space and trim.  "But Joy," you're saying, "there's only that tiny space above and between the counters and cabinets!"  Oh, how little you have learned...

Yeah.  THAT wall space.  And trim, top and bottom.  I went with a lighter gray with hints of soft blue to brighten the room but bring it down to a "cool" color.  The oak cabinets against the floor and oak floor boards made the room seem dark and closed in - not to mention the previously dark oak crown moulding, which framed the whole space in a depressing manor.

"Hi, I'm your kitchen and I'll be the bane of your existence for the next few weeks."

Dat window box, doh...

Ooh, shiny.

 And the before/after comparison.  I'm still super proud of this:

From drab to fab without demolition!

I love how it all came together.  The hardwood floors are gorgeous but were drowned out in the sea of honey oak cabinets.  Now they serve as a warm backdrop for the cool comfort of the kitchen counters and cabinets.  Next step is getting knobs for the drawers and doors, and replacing the frilly-lamped ceiling fan, but I'm pleased with it for now.