husband’s handiwork | Beneath My Heart

How to build a Fireplace Surround

October 11, 2012 AT 10:03 am 29 Comments

October 11, 2012 By traci 29 Comments

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my Fireplace Makeover Reveal yesterday.

I wanted to hug all of your necks! We (mostly Cy) worked so hard on that fireplace surround, so it was great for us to read all the great positive feedback. I felt like y’all were giving us a bunch of “high fives”, and it was awesome. Smile

If you came to my house to see the fireplace in person, you and I would look something like this…

And then we would go get a Coke at McDonald’s to celebrate, and probably eat chocolate too.

Today, I want to show you the steps we took in creating our fireplace surround.

Cy had to get pretty creative to make it work, but he did it.

We were using this picture as our inspiration…

source

There were two problem areas on our fireplace.

1. The brick stuck out in two different places.

2. The vents were going to need to be covered up by the surround.

Cy started the project by building a frame above the mantle ledge to create a flat surface between the two places where the brick stuck out.

To attach the wood to the brick you need to first drill a hole in the brick with a concrete drill bit. Then drill through the wood as well.

Next, add PL Adhesive by Locktite to the back of the wood…

Then attach the wood to the brick using a concrete screw.

The brick on top of the fireplace stuck out a bit, so Cy had to come up with a way to create a flat surface on the front.

He used his level to help him figure it out.

By attaching a “filler” piece to the 2×4, he was able to create a level surface to attach the plywood to.

Once he had his frame, he added a large piece of cabinet grade birch plywood to it.

Next, we added 1×6 boards of Poplar wood to create the “planks.” You could use pine or mdf boards to save money because you will be painting them.

If you put nickels between each board as you attach them, it creates nice even spacing between each board.

Next, Cy began attaching ripped pieces of 2×4’s below the mantle (the same way he did above the mantle) to create a frame to attach the birch plywood to.

He cut and attached birch plywood directly below the mantle…

And down both sides of the fireplace to cover the vents…

Because we wanted to cover the vents, we had to attach the wood a little bit closer to the fireplace opening than we would have liked. We only have about 4 inches between the wood and the fireplace opening on the sides. Therefore, it technically cannot be a working fireplace. It doesn’t work right now anyway, so we are okay with that.

Cy added a 2×4 to the front brick ledge and trimmed it out with the birch plywood to create the mantle.

Next he covered up the mantle and the sides of the fireplace with ripped 1×6 poplar boards to fit.

He also added 1×4 poplar boards to picture frame the planks above the mantle.

Then there was a lot of adding decorative trim to the fireplace.

It is really up to you how you want to trim out your fireplace. We just chose the pieces we liked and added them.

After Cy finished trimming everything out, he caulked all of the crevices. Don’t forget to caulk! It makes a world of difference!!

I forgot to take an after picture of the picture molding that Cy add with 1/2 x 3 inch poplar, but you can see it in the picture below.

I painted the wood with two good coats of white paint, and the brick with Ebony Fields by Valspar. It’s a gorgeous blackish, grayish, brownish color. Smile

Cy also cleaned out the inside of the fireplace and spray painted it with a high heat spray paint.

And we were finished!

You can see in this picture that I also painted our front door the same color as the brick. It really made a huge difference in the space.

Hopefully I can get the mantle decorated soon and share it with you.

If I left anything out, or if you have any questions about this process, feel free to ask!

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Filed Under fireplace, husband's handiwork, New Home 29 Comments

Budget Breakdown of the Kitchen Makeover

January 12, 2012 AT 11:59 pm 71 Comments

January 12, 2012 By traci 71 Comments

Happy Friday, friends!

I am still trying to answer the many questions about our kitchen makeover.

One of the main questions I keep getting asked is: “How much did this cost ya?”

Well, we paid approximately $3,300 for our floor to ceiling kitchen renovation.

That sounds like a lot of money!

But when you remember what it used to look like…

And compare it to what it looks like now…

I think it was DEFINITELY worth the money, don’t you?

Let’s be honest. If we had hired out all of this work, from floor to ceiling, it would have cost us about $11-12,000!

However, we did 100% of the labor ourselves, so this renovation was a third of what it would have cost us otherwise.

That’s pretty darn good.

So here is the (approximate) breakdown of what it cost:

(click on the pictures to see the post about each project)

375 square feet of Southern Yellow Pine (Lumber Liquidators)

(3/4 inch by 5 inch) – $1.25 sq foot = $465

Flooring supplies (oil-based stain, semi-gloss polyurethane,

wood conditioner, floor sander rental, sand paper) : $200

Baseboard and Crown Molding: $175

Paint for cabinets and walls: $120

Cabinet hardware (Lowe’s): $50

Wood plank ceiling (Lowe’s): $240

Pantry doors (Lowe’s): $300

Recessed lighting: $40

White Subway Tile (plus adhesive and un-sanded, pre-mixed grout) from Lowe’s: $175

Open Shelving (3/4 inch MDF cut at Lowe’s) and Corbels (Home Depot) and Trim: $240

IKEA butcher block countertops (stain and poly): $525

Farmhouse Sink (Signature Hardware) $600

Faucet (Home Depot): $100

Supplies for making extra lower cabinet: $40

And that’s it!

I’m sure there were a few more miscellaneous expenses that I forgot about.

Like maybe the 128 times we went out to eat because I had no kitchen in which to cook.

Or a table to eat on…

Oh, those were the good ole days!

But we made it through!

And I’m so glad we did!

(I promise this is my LAST kitchen renovation post for a while!)

Now it’s time to get (back) started on our addition!

So, do you think all of our hard work was worth the $8-9,000 savings?

Did you think our renovation would have cost more or less than what we spent?

(Please say more, please say more, please say more…)

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Filed Under husband's handiwork, kitchen makeover, makeover, makeovers, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 71 Comments

Painting our Kitchen Cabinets (Supplies and Process)

January 10, 2012 AT 11:09 am 34 Comments

January 10, 2012 By traci 34 Comments

Happy Tuesday!

I am still trying to answer a lot of the questions we had about our kitchen renovation.

Many of you were wanting to know how we painted our kitchen cabinets.

I had planned on doing a detailed post about the process while we were working on it, but things were happening so quickly, I just couldn’t fit it in.

Painting kitchen cabinets is not difficult, it’s just a pain in the wha-toosey! (How do you spell that?)

But it is sooooo worth it!

Remember what they used to look like?

Painting your cabinets is one of the quickest ways

to update the look of your kitchen!

We basically did three things:

1. Cleaned/Prepped the cabinets.

2. Primed the cabinets.

3. Painted the cabinets.

Now let me break it down a little further.

1. CLEANING/PREPPING

We removed the cabinet doors and drawer fronts before we cleaned them.

We also removed the hinges and the handles from the cabinets doors/drawers and threw them away because we knew we wouldn’t be reusing them. If you will be reusing your hinges or handles, keep them (along with the screws) in a bowl to use again later.

Then I laid the doors out and cleaned them with Krud Kutter.

This stuff worked great! I just used an old rag to clean the doors and the cabinets frames. I also cleaned inside the cabinets since I knew we would be painting those too.

Next, we prepped the cabinets by applying this Liquid Sander/Deglosser.

This stuff is the best invention ever! Instead of sanding all of the cabinets with a sander, all you have to do is wipe them down this this deglosser, and they are ready to go!

2. PRIMING:

Next step is to prime the cabinets.

We almost always use KILZ primer. It has always worked well for us.

We covered up our appliances and used our paint sprayer to apply the primer.

We didn’t have to cover our floors or our countertop because we knew we were going to be ripping them out soon. Yay!

When using a paint sprayer, be sure to clean it out thoroughly (and according to the instructions) between each use.

3. PAINTING:

Last step is to paint!

(If you are getting new hardware for your cabinets, you may need to put some wood filler in the old holes, let it dry, and sand it before painting.)

Here is the paint that I always use on my kitchen cabinets:

It is by Valspar and is usually located over by the spray paint at Lowe’s.

It only comes in a quart size, and I think it took us 2 or 3 quarts to paint our cabinets with the paint sprayer.

I used this same paint during our kitchen re-do at our last home:

This paint goes on so smooth and is extremely durable! And it is also easy to wipe clean.

I use the “gloss” finish to give the cabinets a little shine.

Cy used the paint sprayer again to paint the cabinets.

We were thrilled with the results of the paint sprayer, and it saved us a ton of time!

However, if I didn’t have the sprayer, I would have just painted the cabinets with a paint brush and roller.

On our previous kitchen, I used the paint brush to paint around the edges of the cabinets or around the parts with “grooves”, and I used a small paint roller (like 4 or 5 inches) with a low nap to paint the smooth parts of the cabinets.

Looking at the above picture gives me hives! I really did not think those days would end!

But they did! Halleluiah!

When you are finished painting, all you have to do is attach the hardware and put the cabinets back on. Voila!

And then you will look (and feel) like you have a brand new kitchen!

If you have any other questions about how we painted our cabinets, please be sure to ask me in the comments, and I will shoot you an email back. Smile

(Because I feel like I am forgetting something.)

Have a blessed day!

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Filed Under husband's handiwork, makeovers, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 34 Comments

IKEA Butcher Block Countertop {Answers to your questions}

January 2, 2012 AT 4:08 pm 40 Comments

January 2, 2012 By traci 40 Comments

Happy 2012!!

I am so excited about this New Year! And I am so excited to share it with you.

The holiday rush is now over, and I am in the mood to get things in order. Are you?

One of the things I wanted to do is try to share a few posts with some more details about my kitchen. I had a lot of you ask questions about the specifics of our makeover like paint colors, stain color, etc.

So I am going to try and answer those questions. (Hope you are not getting sick of my kitchen. Smile )

Here is some information that I wanted to share about our IKEA butcher block counter tops:

Here is the link to the exact butcher block that we purchased…http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20057397/#/60057395

They come in different types of wood, lengths, and depths.

Cy cut the pieces of butcher block so that there would be a seam right under the faucet, and two 45 degree seams in each corner.

Cy wanted me to make sure that I told you that he used PL Adhesive to adhere the seams together.

This stuff is the bomb! When it dries, it is actually stronger than the wood that it is holding together. By using this adhesive, it eliminates the chance of the seams splitting or shifting over time.

He also attached a 1×2 underneath the seams with screws for extra strength.

After the butcher block was attached to the cabinets, we needed to fill in any gaps in the seams with wood filler.

Here is a little trick:

When sawing the butcher block, be sure to save some of the saw dust from the floor.

Then mix some of the saw dust with the wood filler before filling the seams.

This will help the wood filler blend more evenly with the wood and help the seam to accept the stain the same as the rest of the countertop.

Next, just press the wood filler mixture into the seam with your finger.

Once the filler is dry, you can sand it smooth with a sander.

Once the seams were all filled, Cy then sanded the whole countertop really well and then applied ONE coat of this stain…

You can see that the stain gave the wood just a little bit of a deeper color.

Then we applied 4 coats of Satin Polyurethane, sanding lightly between each coat.

Perfection! I love the way it turned out!

In the video below, you can see how Cy made the rounded corners in the wood around the sink. We applied a bead of caulk between the wood and the sink to keep the moisture out.

I’ve had my countertops finished for a couple of weeks now, and I can honestly say that I am thrilled with them. They are extremely durable and easy to clean.

Here is a little video I made of some footage of Cy working on the counters.

If I didn’t answer one of your questions in this post, please let me know in the comments, and I will get back to you. Smile

Have a blessed day!

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Filed Under husband's handiwork, kitchen makeover, makeover, makeovers, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 40 Comments

Studding up the Boys’ Rooms in our New Addition

September 19, 2011 AT 1:29 am 5 Comments

September 19, 2011 By traci 5 Comments

Well, we are chugging along on our new addition!

My husband is busy studding up the walls in the boys’ bedrooms upstairs in the new addition.

It took me FO-EVA to figure out the layout for their rooms upstairs.

The upstairs is basically a 24 foot by 24 foot space.

I desperately wanted to create a Jack-n-Jill bathroom between their rooms, but the layouts kept leaving me with two very long narrow bedrooms on both sides of the bathroom in the middle.

So we finally came up with a floor plan that put the boys’ bathroom in the corner of the upstairs.

When you walk up the stairs, the bathroom will be immediately on the right.

In the picture above, you see the bathroom on the right, and room #2 on the left.

The closet in the middle of the layout will be for both rooms. There will be a closet door in each room that leads into a single closet.

I’ve been searching for decorating ideas on Pinterest, and I think I have a few fun ideas that I want to try in the boys’ rooms.

I’ll share some more pictures tomorrow.

Be sure to enter to win the dress of your choice from La Posh Style HERE. The giveaway ends today.

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A Laundry/Mudroom Makeover Re-visited

August 29, 2011 AT 11:47 pm 18 Comments

August 29, 2011 By traci 18 Comments

Last December, we built a laundry/mud room in our garage. We were trying to sell our home at that time, and we thought a laundry/mud room would help the house to sell.

Here is a before picture of our garage:

My very talented husband studded up some walls in the corner of our garage to create our new mud/laundry room…

He did all the plumbing and wiring himself, and created this little storage bench exactly like I wanted to store the boys’ shoes…

Four separate storage spaces for four sweet little boys’ shoes. HERE is the video of how he made it.

Cy also installed the board and batten treatment in our laundry room. You can see how he did it HERE.

We were so thrilled with how it turned out, and I had a blast decorating it!

I completed some of my favorite DIY projects to decorate the room on a tiny budget.

One of my VERY favorite projects I have ever completed on my blog is this $3.00 Pottery Barn Style pendant light makeover.

I probably get more emails about this project than any other!

Some more DIY projects for the laundry/mud room included:

This velcro skirt for the mud sink.

This mirror makeover for above the mud sink.

And this little blue mason jar soap dispenser.

I also made another Ballard Designs inspired shelf for my laundry room.

You can see the tutorial of how to make it HERE.

I was so proud of this room, because Cy and I worked so hard to complete it together. It was a lot of fun. And to be honest, I miss it like CRAZY!

But I have great plans for our future laundry/mudroom in our new home. However, it may be several years before I get to that project. :)

Thanks for letting me share our DIY laundry/mud room with you again!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Filed Under crafty project, husband's handiwork, laundry room, makeover, makeovers, mud room, room makeovers 18 Comments

Quick Bathroom Makeover Post {without mouseover}

July 25, 2011 AT 11:03 pm 8 Comments

July 25, 2011 By traci 8 Comments

Hey Friends!

Thank you for all the sweet comments you left on the Bathroom Makeover Reveal we completed at Mandy’s house.

We are really pleased with the way it turned out.

And I hope you liked the “mouseover” effect on the before and after photos. I have been wanting to do that forever, and it was a ton of fun.

I will try to do a post about how I did it soon. :)

A few of my readers (eh-hem…like my cousin, Linda) mentioned they were not able to view the “mouseover” effect when reading it through their reader, or on their phone or ipad. (If you are viewing my post in a reader, you can click on the post title and view it on my blog. Then the mouseover effect will work.)

They asked me if I could do a quick post showing the before and after pictures separately. (Next time, I will do this in my post for you. I am still learning.) :)

So here are the pics! Enjoy!

The new mirror, vanity top, hardware and (spray painted) light….

The newly “glazed” tub and tiled shower….

Goodbye blue toilet and tiled blue wall…

Goodbye blue sink!…

One more look…

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Today we broke ground on the new addition to our home!

It was sooo exciting. I’ll share some pics soon.

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Filed Under bathrooms, husband's handiwork, makeover, makeovers 8 Comments

Bathroom Makeover REVEAL!!!

July 25, 2011 AT 12:18 am 58 Comments

July 25, 2011 By traci 58 Comments

Well, we finally finished Mandy’s blue bathroom makeover!

We are so excited at how it turned out.

It looks soooooo much better, and we transported the bathroom from the 1970′s to the year 2011!

I wanted to try something fun with this post, so I finally figured out how to do the “mouseover” effect with my pictures.

All you have to do is move your cursor over each picture to see the AFTER shot.

Try it out! :)

Doesn’t it look so much better?! In these pictures you can see how we installed a beautiful new vanity top and white sink. We also replaced all the silver fixtures with oil rubbed bronze ones.

Move your cursor again over the picture below to see the before and after!

The cabinets got a fresh coat of white paint and new hardware.

Go on…keep going…keep on moving that cursor over the picture below…

The biggest change to the bathroom was getting rid of the blue tub and toilet.

My husband installed a new white toilet, and he glazed the tub himself with a $40 kit from Lowe’s. You can read about how he glazed the tub, HERE.

Now move your cursor over both of the pictures below to see the before and after!

And again…

The shower curtain wasn’t hanging very well in the above picture, but it is a beautiful shower curtain. Here is a shot of the curtain pulled out…

The 3D flowers on this curtain are so adorable! I purchased it at HomeGoods.

And behind the shower curtain is the beautiful tile work that my hubby did!

Didn’t he do a great job?!

Move your cursor over the picture below to see the before and after…

We were so happy to see the blue toilet with the padded seat go “buh-bye!”

Move your cursor over the picture below and say “Goodbye ugly blue toilet!”

We kept the same light fixture and just spray painted it with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

And the gorgeous mirror we got at Lowe’s! (I usually do not take pictures for my blog with the lights on. But there is absolutely NO natural light in the hallway or bathroom, so I had to leave the lights on.)

Mandy is extremely happy with the way her bathroom turned out! And we are too!

Here is one more look at the before and after…

Just move your cursor over the picture….

We are going to be doing a little work around our home for the next few weeks, and then we will be back to work at Mandy’s house! :)

We will be doing a makeover in her downstairs bathroom, laundry room, and entry way. Fun!

Have a blessed day!

Linking this project to…

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Filed Under bathrooms, husband's handiwork, makeover, makeovers 58 Comments

Armoire Re-do

March 29, 2010 AT 12:34 am 48 Comments

March 29, 2010 By traci 48 Comments

I have been working fast and furiously on my master bedroom re-do. I have gotten a lot done but still have more to do.

I wanted to share with you the entertainment armoire that I found for our bedroom.

As I told you before, I wanted to be able to hide the tv in our bedroom. To do this, I decided to try and find an entertainment armoire to re-do.

I searched at some antique malls and on Craig’s list, but had no luck. The ones on Craig’s list were all $200 to $300, and I didn’t want to pay that much. (Remember, I am doing my master bedroom re-do on a $700.00 budget.)

One day I ran into a Habitat store and saw this armoire…

I walked over to check the price and expected it to be way more than what I would have wanted to pay.

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was only $40.00!!! I was so excited!

To be honest, it wasn’t exactly the style I was looking for, but for 40 bucks, I could learn to love it!

When I opened the doors, I quickly realized why it was only 40 dollars…

The back was gone!!

But that didn’t bother me or Eli one bit! That was an easy fix! (My 8 year old help me take these pictures.) :)

I called my honey and said, “Honey, I found an armoire for 40 bucks!”

He said, “Great!”

I said, “The back is gone.”

He said, “Oh.”

“Can you put a back on it for me?”

“Yup.”

So I paid my forty dollars and took that baby home! :)

Here it is from behind…

My hubby applied wood glue to the edges…

And then used his staple gun to nail the new back on…

( 4 x 8 sheet of birch plywood – $18.00 at Lowe’s)

I also need some more storage space inside the armoire for baskets, so my hubby built some extra shelving. He used a 4 x 8 sheet of MDF board for the shelves since we were going to paint them. It cost approximately $ 15.00 at Lowe’s, but we only used a little of it. My husband used the leftover wood to make a work table for his garage.

Here are the products I used…

First I applied a liquid deglosser over the entire piece to prepare the surface for painting.

Then I primed the fronts of the armoire with KILZ. Technically, I should have primed the entire armoire for the paint to adhere properly. However, I knew that I wanted to sand down the edges of the armoire after I painted it. If I had primed the edges, the white primer would have shown through, and I didn’t want that.

So I didn’t prime any of the parts that I was planning on sanding. Again, this is my way, not necessarily the right way. :)

I did prime the insides of the armoire because I knew I would be painting them black.

I used my favorite Valspar paint in black satin to paint it.

Then I used a medium grit sanding sponge to sand the edges like this…

I love the way the cherry wood shows through.

Here it is in my room…

(I am sorry these pictures are not the best, but I think I had my camera on the wrong setting. Now it is nighttime and too late to take any good pictures.)

I love the way it turned out!

I just threw some things on top to take these pictures. :)

And I haven’t bought any handles yet. I am still trying to decide what type I want.

Here is the inside of the armoire…

I got the baskets at Gordman’s. They were 10 dollars a piece. We are using them to store socks and such.

I love the way the doors slide back into the armoire. And the tv is up good and high so we can see it perfectly from our bed! :)

We are using the bottom of the armoire to hold some of my husband’s clothing.

Here are the total costs:

Armoire – $40

Wood for back and shelves – approx. $25.00

Paint – $9.00

Baskets – $20.00

So the whole project cost me less than $100.00! Not bad.

I found this armoire at an antique mall a few weeks ago and almost bought it…

They were asking $375.00 for it. I think my armoire turned out just as nice, and I saved $275.00 by being a little creative!

So I used the money I saved to buy a little “bling” for my room!

Here’s a sneak peak…

Ooh-la-la…I love it!

Stay tuned for more of my master bedroom makeover!

I am linking this project up to…

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Traci

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Tagged furniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom Filed Underfurniture makeover, husband's handiwork, makeover, master bedroom, Uncategorized 48 Comments

Our Kitchen Renovation is Complete!

November 23, 2009 AT 4:36 pm 84 Comments

November 23, 2009 By traci 84 Comments

****First of all, I would like to ask you to pray for Rachel who’s surgery is Tuesday, the 24th, at 7:30 a.m. Click on her picture in my sidebar to find out more. Thanks!

Finally!!! We have finished our kitchen renovation!

For those of you who are new to my blog, about 8 weeks ago a pipe burst in my kitchen and made a huge mess!

So we then had an unplanned kitchen renovation on our hands!

But I have to say that we took our lemons and made some lemonade.

This is what our kitchen looked like before the pipes busted.

(Some of the following is copied from a previous post.)

These were the original 40 year old cabinets in our kitchen.

Notice the soffit above the cabinets? Every since we moved into our house five years ago, I have wanted to tear down that soffit to see what was underneath. Were there pipes that couldn’t be moved? Wiring? Nothing at all? I wanted to get rid of the soffit so I could have taller cabinets.

Well….since our kitchen already looked like a dump site, we decided to bust a hole into the soffits and see what we could see…

Nothing much there….

Or there…

A little wiring there…

But nothing that could not be tucked up into the rafters.

I was SOOOOO excited! I was about to get me some new tall cabinets.

So we tore it out. (No my husband is not going gray…that’s just drywall dust in his hair!”)

Now the soffits are gone! Yipee!

Then I decided to hire the hottest cabinet maker I could fine…

and well, my husband won hands down!

He started by building the cabinet frames.

Then he hung up new drywall to cover the ceiling, installed lighting in the cabinets, and underneath the cabinets…

He also added crown molding to match the rest of the kitchen.

The microwave goes in the space where you see the wire and metal frame. I wanted the cabinet above the microwave to stay open, so we added beadboard to the back of it.

Here’s the other side of the kitchen…

The two cabinets in the middle do not have lights inside them because they will have doors. We put beadboard in the back of the cabinet above the refrigerator because it will be left open as well.

Then my husband added some trim inside the cabinets to hold glass shelves. I wanted to be sure the light on top was able to shine all the way down to the bottom.

We had a carpenter from Georgia make our cabinet doors. He had made some cabinet doors for my mother and father-in-law, so we knew he would do a great job!

To our surprise, my in-laws paid for our cabinet doors in honor of my mother who just passed away. What a precious tribute! Thank you!

For the hardware, I decided to go with handles instead of knobs on my cabinets. I think they fit perfectly with the “look” of the kitchen.

We got our light above the sink at Lowes. It’s called a vintage schoolhouse light.

I still haven’t decided if I want a window treatment over that window.

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I love that we left the cabinets above the microwave and refrigerator open so I can create cute little vignettes for each season. (However, I am not very good at creating vignettes. I need your help! Maybe a “vignette party” in the future?)

Here is my kitchen all lit up. I love having the extra lighting!!!!

Now I am going to show you something even more amazing!!!!

You want to see the “before the before” picture?

This is what the kitchen looked like when we bought our house 5 years ago…

(I took this picture with a disposable camera, thus the poor quality.)

And now 5 years later…(at the same angle)

I am DEAD serious! That is the same kitchen! Can you believe it? We’ve come a long way baby! I think the hubster and I have a pretty good eye for “potential”!

I asked my sister if she would have bought my house 5 years ago with a kitchen that looked like that? And she said, “I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole!”

Oh well…

Since we worked really hard on this kitchen, I am going to share it on

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Make it for Monday at Cottage Insticts (I love this girl!)

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

It’s so very creative at It’s so Very Cheri

Blessings,