Kitchen
I'm going to redo my kitchen on a low budget. I am not replacing my horrible cabinets but am going to paint them in my favorite color of choice - black. Yep. I'm so siked to do this. I've already done two test doors (doors we had replaced when we moved into the house but I hung onto just in case I needed them). They are AWESOME! But I haven't begun the official painting of the real thing because of course this idea leads to other ideas namely; cutting out the center of several upper cabinets so I can install some bubble glass (that's what I call it), exploring the option of bumping out the cabinet over my refrigerator to add some interest, adding bead board to the sides of the cabinets and over the entire island, adding architectural elements to other parts of the cabinets (ie: feet under cabinets) to give it a more cohesive look and a built-in custom look, over and under cabinet lighting and adding some interest of some sort to the top of the cabinets. Remember I try to Think Outside the Box so of course I'm going with this philosophy for this project as well without going to crazy. I will document my process through out because I enjoy watching other peoples home improvement projects. Here's a before picture:
So right now I've got my station set up in the garage and I'm in the process of doing some staining/painting testing on the bead board DH and I picked up at Lowes last weekend. We did have to wait an hour for them to make 14 cuts so I have little to cut at home which is AWESOME. He made all those cuts for a whopping $3.50. LOL! Really, if they were smart they would charge more for that but I'm not going to tell them! Now, I just need to find the time to do this.
Outdoor Living Options:
I have designed an outdoor living area (ie: deck and patio) and we are exploring bids on getting this done. Of course my originally plans provides a deck big enough to land a helicopter on but it would be awesome if done according to what's in my head. It's interesting talking to all the different companies. Some build decks, some are interested in design, some are small, some are large (companies that is). Yesterday we found the one person who does it all and gets what I'm trying to accomplish. We have some more components of this to discuss and plan for but we think we are going to do it. We really want a place to hang out with our neighbors. The culd-e-sac is fun but sometimes sitting in the back with a nice firepit would be great! Last night I made a couple drawings for dear DH to see the vision of what the latest guy and I discussed. Fingers crossed this actually gets done sometime in the next couple years!
Family Room:
My kitchen connects to the family room. This room is still not done and one thing that has prevented me from finishing it was my lack of commitment to both sides of my fireplace where we bumped out the walls. Originally I was going to have built-in book cases put in there - you know the classic open shelving above and closed cabinets below. While that would be the safe thing to do and provide quick shove it in the cabinet so no one sees it storage, it's a bit to normal for me. I've finally decided to do a shelving unit there but it will be a bit different. I'm thinking it will mimic what I'm considering doing above my kitchen cabinets. I will fill you in more wants I do a little bit more experiments with wood and do some more drawings.
That's just a few of the things swirling in my head. It's going to be so much fun!
