Thursday, February 17, 2011

My old house.


Hello folks!

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for all the "grandbaby love" in the last post. I think he's just about the cutest little guy ever! Hopefully I'll be heading out to see him in a couple of months! Not sure how much longer I can stay away from him.

And so... one of the many reason for working on my kitchen. It will keep me busy and not focus on how much I'm missing of grandbaby's many new accomplishments. (Evidently he is now mobile! Waaaaah)

I've talked about how our house used to be the Community Church in 1915. And how it was converted into a house in 1930. Well, I don't think the kitchen has had anything done with it since it was first put in. Initially (last September) I took off three of the cabinet doors thinking to strip them and then repaint them because..... My Honey said (at the time of purchasing this house) that we would have to wait 5 years before we could renovate the kitchen. And at that time I was just so happy that he wanted to buy this house (because we had only recently bought our other house) that I would have agreed to just about ANYTHING! Since then, I've come to despise my kitchen cabinets. Okay, AND counter tops. And floor! And sink. But mainly the cabinets. The cabinets were gross! No matter what I used. They were sticky. Like the paint had developed some kind of sticky residue that would NOT come OFF! Plus the paint was chipping and the inside of the cabinets were lined with sticky backed shelf liner in a baby pink floral design which was peeling away in places and then there were some interior cabinet walls that were not painted and was all brown-ish looking. Anyhow, when you looked at them it made you wanna say "eeeyyyyuuuuu". Well, it did for me anyhow.


This is what the doors look like. Definitely old looking. There is some paint chipping on the doors.


Here are some "eeeyyyuuuu" shots.



Can you see where the shelf liner is beginning to pull away and bubble up. (Top shelf in case you don't see it)


You notice that the doors have been removed on the one set of cabinets. I had started the paint stripping of the doors last year and then the weather got cold and I stopped. So, over the holidays, I was without doors. And then My Honey and I decided we sort of like the "no doors" look so... I decided that we would just go doorless. At least, on this side of the kitchen. I'm still un-deciding about what to do with the other cabinets.

So yesterday, I ripped out all the shelf liners and found that there were shelf paper that was stuck on the shelves. So with a bucket of diluted T.S.P. I got to work cleaning and wiping down the cabinets.


Gross!



Clean at last but still yucky to look at. Love those particle boards. NOT!

Then, I had picked up some paintable wall paper and applied it onto the backs of the cabinets. I had initially thought about getting some Beadboard shelf paper but all the ones I found did not have enough of a raised design on them so had I painted over them, the design would have disappeared and... well, it would not have worked. So, I found this tin ceiling tile paintable wall paper and thought it would do. (Seriously, it will only be up for a couple years and then the REAL renovations will begin).



Here is a close up of the wall paper.




Another shot of it up in the cabinets. Don't mind that it's not up there perfectly. I'll be painting the whole thing today.


The cabinets are not level or squared. It sags in some places and the spaces are all UNEVEN! I had to cut each section of the wall paper individually because none, I repete, NONE are the same height! (Ahhhhh, the beauty of having an old home.....) :-)


So this is what I've gotten done so far. I'll keep you posted on this little (ha!) project as I go along.

I hope you all have a great day! See ya back here soon! ;-)

4 comments:

Corinnea said...

Nice job! I feel for you with the kitchen thing... Mine is 60 years younger but still pretty ugly. Mine has no character. I think what you've done is a fantastic way to transition from what you despise to your grand reno! I am VERY impressed and you make me want to try doing something to mine. Then I get tired.....

Jessica said...

the wall paper seems like an improvement? You need to show us the whole space though!

Joan's Good Life said...

Corinnea, yup, I exhausted myself.

Jess: whole space? You mean the whole kitchen? 'Cuz missy, I got a pictures of my "whole" kitchen!

pam said...

I like them! I think the wallpaper is going to make it look so good. So pretty, especially if you leave them open.