Goodbye Useless Crooked Junk Collector

I'm not sure that you noticed in the last post about replacing the door moulding, but something was missing, wasn't it?

Here, take a look again. Do you see what it is, or was in this case?

It was that silly piece of countertop! It's finally gone! I have been wanting to remove it for a while, but hadn't expressed that to Dylan before. Since it's kind of removed from the rest of the kitchen area, and it's right by the doorway to the rest of the house, it just becomes a junk collector. And I didn't want another one of those, because we already have one by the door to the garage, and it's hard enough to keep that one tidy, nevermind this one! Plus,  the countertop was installed at an angle, meaning not at all level, and had a gigantic crack through the middle of it that seems as if it was repaired with construction adhesive. Weird, I know. So, when we were painting the kitchen, I figured that that would be the perfect time - we could take it off, patch the wall, and paint it and no one would ever know that there was countertop there.

But, as all projects tend to be, this wasn't as easy as it should have been.  The picture above and the one below show the countertop, which is attached to both the refrigerator cabinet panel and the wall. But while you wouldn't think that should be a problem, what you couldn't see from above, you could see from below.

Since this was technically a floating countertop, meaning there aren't any cabinets underneath to hold it, it was braced and attached to the wall using a few pieces of wood. Makes sense, since that's an easy material to attach screws to. However, what isn't so nice is the amount of construction adhesive they also used.  You can't really see it well in the picture below, but the countertop was attached to the wood pieces with about a gallon of construction adhesive, and then the edges of the counter AND the wood pieces were adhered to the wall and the cabinet panel with more construction adhesive.  THEN, they used about 15 screws (not lying...) to attach the wood pieces to the wall and cabinet panel, you know, just for security. Oh, and don't let me forget to tell you that they decided that they needed to use more construction adhesive to go over the heads of the screws...  Also, I feel like I need to say it again - construction adhesive.  You're welcome.

So, here's how we got it off the wall.  We scored the seams about ten thousand times with a box cutter, and then with the new drill that I bought myself, we removed the screws from the underside, after chiseling at the heads with the box cutter trying to get rid of all the junk.  But, the counter was still really stuck on there.  So we brought out the hammer, hit it a few times from both the top and the bottom, and that essentially did nothing.  

Dylan was finally able to get some of it to move after trying to pull and push and twist it off, and at that point, all it took was some really significant weight to get the rest loose, so I sat on the counter, gradually applying more of my body weight until it detached enough that we could get the rest off by hand.  And it finally came off, after trying to remove it for about 20 minutes. 

So yeah, things never really go as easily as you plan them to. Especially since you see people ripping out countertops on TV all the time in about 3 seconds flat.  Yeah, this little 2 sq. ft. countertop took 20 minutes.  But, whatever, because it immediately looked better.  I sanded down the area to remove the rest of the construction adhesive and even out the surface where it was painted around before we bought the house, and then slapped on some joint compound to patch the screw holes and some spots where the plaster had chipped accidentally.  

Once that was dried and sanded, we primed and painted it when we did the rest of the kitchen, and then decided to tackle the cabinet panel.  I tried to scrub off some of the markings as best as I could, but they really didn't want to come off, so in the meantime, I have filled the screw holes with some wood putty, since the material is particleboard that is just covered in a white laminate, and I'll leave it like that for a while, as we have been brainstorming another project that could potentially be gigantic, time consuming, yet awesome at the same time.  

For now, though, the only evidence of there ever being a countertop there are the patched holes on the side of the cabinet panel. Looking at the wall, you would never know that there was once a useless, crooked, junk collector in that space. And I am so happy about it.  

Have you ever removed your countertops before? Was it more difficult than you thought it would be too? Or am I just the lucky one with a house that was built with construction adhesive? 

I Will Never Paint This Kitchen Again

Last Thursday, I teased you with a picture of all of the paint and supplies I was gathering for part 1 of paint-the-entire-house.  And then, a little later, I teased you with some snapshots of our painting progress.

Now, I am ready to tell you that the Family Room and Kitchen are done! And I will never paint this kitchen again.

The kitchen was so awful to paint. The problem was the space itself.  In addition to the walls, we also painted the ceiling, which is not only 15 feet tall at the highest point and also has sloped sides, but also has 6 pot-lights that don't come out of the ceiling all the way, 2 pendants, 2 central air vents, only one of which could be removed (stripped screw), 1 chandelier and a covered fan box to go around, never mind all of the cutting-in along the wall seam.  And while that sounds bad, the walls in the kitchen have 3 doors, 2 windows, 2 wall jut-outs, an over-the-sink sconce, and all of the cabinets.  In summary, this took forever to paint. One layer of paint took us just over 2 hours to complete.  So, multiply that by vacuuming the walls, washing the walls, 1 coat of primer, and then 2 coats of paint = a lot of hours.  In fact, we didn't finish painting until 2am last night (this morning?) and then clean up took another 40 minutes.

So, needless to say, this kitchen will be gray for the rest of the time we live in this house. I am not EVER painting it again.  The End.

But, let's continue, shall we? After all, I know you want to see the before and after pictures, right?!

You already know about my design plans for the Family Room, but if you don't you should check it out, just so you can see how my vision is coming to fruition.  But, just so you know ahead of time, I am already obsessed with this room, and there isn't even any furniture in it yet!

The obligatory before picture, which is followed by...

Just a corner snapshot of the Family Room accent wall, but, what do you think?! Doesn't it look amazing?  My cell picture doesn't really do it justice at all. My actual camera is having some issues with focus, but when that gets fixed, I'll get a better picture for you.  

The kitchen is also a huge difference. You'll remember the post last week about cleaning the kitchen and I had some great shots of the space, including the horrible orangy-peach color that was on the walls. And now, here's the difference the paint color makes.

And a huge change, the after!

We absolutely love the way that this color looks on the walls. It really makes the cabinets and the appliances the main focus, and takes your eye away from the ugly Corian countertops that we aren't replacing right now.

Next, we will be looking at replacement light fixtures that we could still use when we renovate the kitchen completely in a few years, and then we may have a surprise in store still with something bigger in here!

So, what do you think? The paint makes a huge difference, doesn't it?

Cleaner than Clean

So, hi!  Long time no blog.

Sorry about the lack of posting last week, and especially the missing Flash Sale Friday.  I was elbow deep in soap and kitchen cleaners and ended up with a slight chemical rash on my right hand from using so much bleach (yes, I know I should have used gloves...).  With my house now empty, this weekend, including my day off on Friday, was dedicated to cleaning.  I was able to get all the floors vacuumed and steamed, and wiped down all the window and door frames, and then I tackled the biggest cleaning item on the list - the kitchen.

In total, I spent over 22 hours cleaning just the kitchen. And yes, that is supposed to say 22 - that is not a typo.  I wanted to make sure that it was cleaned properly and every inch was touched.  And when all is said and done, there are only two things that I didn't get to - the skylights and the light fixtures.  I need a ladder to reach the skylights, which we haven't purchased yet, so those will wait until we get one, and the pendant lights haven't been touched yet because I ran out of energy, and I'm secretly hoping we can replace them.  Everything else is spotless, and I don't think the kitchen has ever been cleaner.

I emptied out every single cabinet, vacuumed out the inside, washed shelves and drawers with a bleach solution followed by soapy water, and washed the fronts of cabinets and hardware.  The tops of cabinets were washed and some even scraped down with razor blades due to the awful painting job the previous owners did.  I emptied out the refrigerator and the freezer and washed the entire thing. I even pulled the fridge out of it's cubby to wipe it down and vacuum behind it.  The microwave was completely cleaned, the stove top and oven wiped and de-greased, the trash compartment was bleached, and even the garbage disposal was bleached and scrubbed!

I was not messing around.  But, I am so glad that I got it done! The kitchen looks incredible, and knowing what it took to get it so clean is a huge incentive to keep it clean!

Somewhat related, though, does anyone out there have Corian countertops, or a Corian sink?  The sink in my kitchen is seamless with the countertop, which means that it can't be replaced unless I replace the counters with it.  Since the Corian is just about 13 years old, it's starting to show some serious wear, especially in the sink.  Corian has the tendency to crack in the sink area, and since the sink is white, the cracks are very prevalent.  Does anyone know how I could make them show less? Bleach hasn't worked, and neither has sanding them, as they are pretty deep into the surface.

We are really not in the market to have the counters replaced, as that will be down the line when we gut the kitchen and redo it completely, so finding an alternative is kind of important. I guess if there is no small or temporary solution that it's ok, since it's just the sink, but these cracks still make it look gross, right?

When was the last time your kitchen had a deep deep clean? Has my post inspired you to get into all the nooks and crannies of your kitchen?  Next up - the bathrooms! Ugh!

Flash Sale Friday: Kitchen Gadgets and Tools

It's time for another...

Each week, I will be featuring some of the week's best picks from my favorite Flash Sale sites and creating a room inspiration board for all of you to enjoy!  If you have a room that needs decorating and you are looking for some inspiration, feel free to email me what you are looking for, and I'll see what I can come up with for you, and you will be featured in a future Flash Sale Friday post!

If you would like to become a member to one of the sites featured in this Flash Sale Friday post, feel free to create an account from the links I have provided below.

55 Downing Street
Beyond the Rack

One Kings Lane

Joss & Main
Hautelook

Rue La La
HomeSav
MyHabit
Wayfair
Ideeli
Gilt

Fab

There's one room in every house that has gadgets and tools, and while you're thinking that it's probably the garage, or the shed, I'm actually talking about the kitchen.  With so many different tools, especially when you get into baking, your kitchen needs to be well equipped.  And what better way to get all the things that you need for your kitchen than to find them on a flash sale?!

I've compiled this board based on some of the must-have tools you need for your kitchen.  From something as simple as a whisk to the coveted KitchenAid Stand Mixer, I don't think there's a single thing on this list that you wouldn't need - unless, of course, you already have it!

1. Set of Six Royal Dinner Plates via One Kings Lane  2. Set of Six Royal Salad Plates via One Kings Lane  3. Set of Twelve Round Mugs via One Kings Lane  4. Small Rectangular Platter via One Kings Lane  5. Set of Two Dartingon Crystal Dimple Old Fashioned via Gilt  6. Set of Two Dartington Crystal Wine Master White Wine Glasses via Gilt  7. Set of Two Dartington Crystal Wine Master Burgundy Red Wine Glasses via Gilt  8. 59mm Stainless Steel Scoop via Beyond the Rack  9. Set of Twelve Round Cereal Bowls via One Kings Lane  10. Krona 11" Stainless Steel 12-Wire Whisk via Beyond the Rack  11. Stix Fruit Bowl via Hautelook  12. Oggi 7-Piece Bar Set with Oval Stand via Gilt  13. All-Clad 6-Piece Kitchen Utensil Set via Joss & Main  14. All-Clad 3-Piece Stainless Mixing Bowl Set via Joss & Main  15. Guy Fieri Lightweight Cast Iron 12" Fry Pan in Graphite via Hautelook  16. Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Cuisine II Bread Knife with 8" Blade via Hautelook  17. Set of Twelve Stainless Steel Airthight Canister via One Kings Lane  18. All-Clad 14-Piece Cookware Set via Joss & Main  19. Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Cuisine II Sandwich Utility Knife with 6" Blade via Hautelook  20. KitchenAid 5-Quart Professional 5 Plus Stand Mixer via Gilt  21. Krona 8.5" Stainless Steel Deep Colander via Beyond the Rack  22. Cuisinart Power AdvantagePlus 9-Speed Mixer via Gilt  23. Dynamic Duos 12-Piece Utensil Set via One Kings Lane  24. Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Cuisine Parer Utility Knife with 4" Blade via Hautelook  25. One-Gallon Stainless Steel Compost Keeper via Beyond the Rack  26. Zwilling J.A. Henckels Santoku Knife Hollow Edge with 7" Blade via Hautelook  27. Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee on Demand Programmable Coffee Maker via Gilt  28. Cuisinart Custom 14 Food Processor via Gilt

Quite the list of items, isn't it? I would love to have all of these items in my kitchen, so I guess now is the perfect opportunity to get them right? Can't beat a flash sale!!

What gadgets do you have for your kitchen that you just couldn't live without?

Please Note: All of the images in this post have been used with permission. Images were not modified or altered to fit in this inspiration board. Flash Sale invitation links may provide me with rewards if items are purchased by a new member.

DIY: Magnetic Knife Block

For my kitchen, I wanted to find an easy solution to storing my kitchen knives. I already had an actual knife block for a set of J.A. Henckels knives that D and I received as a gift before we move in together, but all of the slots were taken.  I was constantly throwing the knives in a drawer, but realized how inefficient and unsafe it was, not to mention how bad it actually is for the blades.  So, I started brainstorming and thought, how about a magnetic knife block?  

I came up with this DIY and found the perfect spot in my kitchen to store the knives, so I got to work.

First, I found a spare piece of 1"x2" wood that I had used for a different project.  I cut the wood to be about 12" long. 

Next, I covered the wood in white contact paper, but if you don't have any on hand, you could always just paint it the color that you wanted.  

Decide which side of the block will be the front, and add adhesive magnetic strips.  You will want more than one strip of magnets, as you want to make sure that your heaviest knife will stay on the block.  Space them evenly on the block for visual appeal.

On the other side of the block, attach double-sided foam.  The double-sided foam will be strong enough to hold the knife block on your wall or cabinet, however, it can be removed if you would like to change the location of the block.  If you are looking for a more permanent solution, you could screw the block to the surface of your choice, or use a silicone adhesive.  

Choose the location for your knife block.  Measure out the location and mark a line using a level.  

Peel the paper backing off of the foam strips, or add your adhesive, and stick the knife block to the wall, using your level line as a guide.  Press firmly for about one minute to make sure that the adhesive has attached to the surface.

Pull slightly on the knife block to make sure that the block has enough strength to hold your knives. Add more adhesive if necessary.

Once your block is secured on your wall or surface, add your knives and admire your work!

This quick project will help you make a big difference in your kitchen, and give you a great place to store your knives.  And for me, since I had everything on hand, this project was free!  

Have you made yourself a magnetic knife block? Will you now?

DIY: Pantry Shelves

One of the very first projects that I did in the kitchen when we moved into our house, was redo the pantry.  With five adults living in our house, we needed a lot of space for food, especially pantry items.  The pantry that was in the kitchen was tall and deep, but it had a metal organizer installed in it that had wire baskets for you to put your canned goods, and boxed items in.  

While it was nice to have a wire organizer that pulled out for easier access, you can see that there was a lot of wasted space in the pantry, and we had too much stuff to fit in all the baskets.  If you look at the counter on the right, you can see all the food boxes that were lined up waiting for a home. Plus, that green bin on the left also had pantry items in it!  

Using a regular screwdriver, I detached all the pieces for the metal organizer, removing all of the baskets and both the frame and the sliding tracks.  This gave me a huge open space to work with.

My plan was to add shelving, so I took measurements of how deep and how wide my pantry was and brought those measurements with me to Lowe's. I chose particle board from Lowe's that came in 2'x2' squares, and had the cutting associate in the lumber department cut them down to size for me.  

Since my kitchen cabinets are builder grade, they have pilot holes drilled along the front and back of the sides so that shelving can be added.  I had checked on Lowe's website for the smallest available shelf pins and realized that my pilot holes were too small.  I picked up a package of them anyways, knowing that I could always make my pilot holes larger.  Don't forget that you will need four pins per shelf, so calculate according to how many shelves you will want in your pantry.  

When I got home, I used a drill and a 1/4" bit, and I made the pilot holes larger so that the shelf pins would fit.  If you don't want to make every single hole bigger, you can choose to only do the ones where your shelves will be, but for ease of moving the shelves around later, I made all the pilot holes larger.  If your holes end up jagged around the edges, just use some sandpaper to make it smoother.  Vacuum up the mess when you are done, and don't forget to vacuum out each hole so that the shelf pins will fit in correctly.  

Once your pilot holes are the correct size, put in your shelf pins, and then place your pre-cut shelf boards on top of the pins.  

Last step - populate your pantry!

This project made such a big difference, and took me less than an hour to complete! We now have so much more space to store pantry items, and things are even organized. Cans are on the top shelf, baking items and pasta on the second, crackers and bread on the third, chips and peanut butter on the fourth, and cereal, breakfast, and large quantity items are on the bottom.  

One of the best parts about this project was the price.  I was able to completely redo this pantry for under $40!  Well worth it in my opinion, especially with five adults in this house and a lot of food!

Have you redone your pantry? What kind of remodel did you do?  Has this quick project inspired you to add shelves in your pantry?

DIY: Vinyl Tiled Backsplash

This weekend, I tackled a project that I have wanted to do since we moved in - the backsplash. I have talked about this project before, even showing you which tile we were going to go with. Well, this weekend, I finally got it done.

I went to Lowe's on Friday morning, and picked up two boxes of the 18"x18" tiles in the Aspen Gray pattern that we liked, an adhesive primer made specifically for peel-and-stick tiles, and a short nap paint roller for application of the primer.

The first step was to remove everything from the countertops and against the existing backsplash.

Next, I prepped my ceramic tile surface by cleaning it with a sponge and hot soapy water. I didn't use any special cleaning solution for this, I just relied on Dawn dish soap to get the grime and cooking residues off of the surface. Don't forget to remove all of your switch and electrical plates before you wash down your surface, but make sure the electrical areas don't get wet.

When we went to the hardware store to buy supplies, the flooring and tile associate told us that it would be helpful to apply an adhesive to the ceramic tile.  So, we grabbed a bottle of that while we were there.  After washing down the backsplash and letting it dry, I applied two coats of the adhesive, which actually dried completely and was not tacky at all.  It was a very watery liquid, and looked like milk when it was rolled on the surface.

While the adhesive primer dried, I took measurements for the tiles.  Draw your cuts on the backside of the tile, before the wrapper is removed, and use a utility knife to score the tile, then just snap it off at the cut by bending in the opposite direction. Don't forget to account for any electrical openings in your tiles.

Lay out your tiles on the surface, and push them together to make sure that your cuts are precise and that your tiles match up.  Make any modifications as needed.  

When your cuts are correct and your tiles are ready to be adhered to the surface, remove the paper from the backside, and place the tile on the backsplash, aligning the top first, and working your way towards the bottom.  Make sure that the adhesive primer is dry before applying the peel-and-stick tiles.

Once you have pressed the tile into place, repeat the previous step until all tiles are adhered to the existing backsplash.  

For some added security, I started putting things up against the backsplash after the tiles were applied, just to help them stick and stay in place.

Once your tiles have adhered themselves to the wall, your work is done!

_______________

Now, I know that this is a DIY and a tutorial, but let me be real with you.  This didn't end up working.  

My existing backsplash was ceramic tiles with a very slick and slippery surface/sealant on them.  I thought that when we would do this project that I would have a problem with the tiles sticking, so I planned to sand them down to make the surface rougher.  The problem was that when I tried to sand them, they weren't getting any less shiny or slippery.  When I mentioned this to the sales associate, that is why she recommended the adhesive primer.  But, that didn't seem to make a difference either.

By morning, even with the books and kitchen appliances up against the backsplash, the vinyl tiles were peeling off and a few had even completely fallen off.  So, back to Lowe's we went.  We talked to a different sales associate, and explained our problems.  Since this is just temporary and because we don't care about damage to the original backsplash (both backsplashes will be demolished when we renovate the kitchen in a few years), we decided to go with something more permanent to help with adhering the tiles to the wall - silicone adhesive.  

We picked up a tube of silicone, made specially for ceramic surfaces, and a caulk gun.  

After removing all of the tiles from the backsplash, I applied the silicone to the back of the tiles.  Having watched way too many home improvement shows on television, I knew that the way to apply the silicone to the back was in a snake pattern, that way air has the chance to escape from either the top or the bottom of the tile, and there won't be any pockets in the middle of the tile.  

I applied the tiles just as I had before, from top to bottom, pressing down firmly in the middle and then around the edges.  I could immediately feel a difference in the strength of the tiles on the wall.  I repeated this for the rest of the tiles, making sure to apply a little more silicone where I knew there were adhesive problems on the tiles.  

Now, the tiles are secured onto the existing backsplash, and I can finally stand back and enjoy my hard work.

Do you think the backsplash revamp is something you would attempt?  Have you had any DIY projects that just didn't go the way that you expected?  Were you honest about it on your blog or in telling it to friends?

Backsplash Revamp

You've heard me mention a few times before that we have a great desire to renovate our kitchen.  But, that's at least two years down the line, as there are other things that we would like to get done first.  In the meantime, however, we want to do something that makes it look a little better and to personalize it a bit.  The thing that I hate the most about our kitchen is the backsplash.  It's this really ugly peach colored ceramic tile that has a few printed tiles laid into the design.  Some of them have wine bottles and grapes on them, and that is definitely not our style.

I started researching cheap and easy alternatives to change this out, as we don't want something that will be too involved or expensive, as it will likely be changed again in a few years when we completely renovate the kitchen.  I looked at a few different materials.

The first one that I found was AirStone.  AirStone is a product that is made from recycled materials, and is meant to look like actual stones.  They come in a variety of sizes, and adhere to the surface that you want to place them on via an adhesive mortar.  These look awesome, but for the amount that we would need, it would be just over $100, and while that is still really inexpensive, it was more than we wanted to spend.

The second material that I looked at was Tin Ceiling Tiles, which are also adhesive.  These come in great textures, colors, and patterns, but the price for a single tile was way more expensive than we wanted.  Plus, I wasn't so sure about how good a shiny metal backsplash would look against a matte finish Corian countertop.

The last material I found was vinyl floor tile.  With the vinyl floor tile, you have the option of going with a solid color, or choosing one with dimension and different textures.  Another benefit of the vinyl was that it was cheap, it was adhesive, like the other materials, and it didn't require additional caulking.

With this in mind, we went over to Lowes this weekend and picked out a few different colors and patterns and bought sample tiles to bring home and test against the cabinets and countertops.  The samples are actually real tiles, which you can purchase from as little as $.88 or as much as $2.25.  We ended up coming home with 7 different tiles, and chose which one we were going to go with less than two minutes after leaning them up over the existing backsplash.

The one that we ended up choosing was the most expensive one, of course. Everything that I like always ends up costing a million dollars, but in this case, we're still going to end up right where we wanted to be budget wise.  Even though these tiles are $2.25 each, they are 18"x18", instead of 12"x12", Which means that we won't need to buy as many cases and there will be much less cutting involved since the height of our backsplash is 18".

Tile against the backsplash and under the cabinets

Tile on the counter and in better lighting

Tile closeup

So, you can see that the tile has a lot of gray, so it will go with the white cabinets and the stainless steel appliances, but it also has some tans and browns in it, so it will go with the countertops, too. We have plans to paint this room this summer, so the gray that we have chosen for that will match as well.

What do you think? Do you think this small change will make a drastic difference in our kitchen? I am so looking forward to doing this, and don't worry, I'll make you all a DIY!!