Just One More...

Why is it on any project, there is always one more board that's needed to finish it?  OK, in this case, I actually need two more. 

Putting this floor in took longer because this was done by my boys. They ripped out the old carpet, bundled it up, and hauled it out to the trash. Then, with The Builder supervising, we got the floor put in. This was done primarily during their week off for Thanksgiving. We installed the last two boards today, but I don't have pictures yet. 

I am really loving this floor. Not too light, not too dark, It's a laminate, but a wide plank, so it looks more natural (unlike the orange laminate in the hallway...but that's a project for another year). This is the same flooring we put in the older boy's room. I'm thinking about doing my daughters' in the same flooring when she goes to college in January and my oldest son gets her room. I think having the same flooring in all three bedrooms would be best. Again, something to contemplate. 

A quick shot of the bed and dresser.  They're directly across from the new desk area. Apparently, I'm due to lightly sand and restain his bed because it looks bad in this photo. The duvet cover is new from Ikea. I wasn't sure he'd actually go for this but I bought it because I could see it in the room. My youngest hates plaid. Amazingly, he likes this one. It may be more because it's really soft, but I can live with that! 

The blue drapes are not staying. There's a small tear in one of them and the tie dye effect isn't working for me with the plaid. The plan is a cornice board with a faux roman shade. I already mentioned the blinds need to be replaced. Still on my to buy list. To the right of the bed, I'm on the hunt for a beanbag chair and a side table. This will be his "hang out" area. Now that we have the new flooring, a rug might be in order as well. Of course, we still have new base boards to install as well. I'm ready for this "quick" refresh to be done! But at least my son finally likes it (he didn't think his room needed any refreshing when we started).

Parting shot. He wanted to be silly. He's demonstrating how comfortable he is in this bed. Such a goofball...

Built In Desk

I had to give this built in desk a lot of thought. I would have loved to have made it a true built in, since my son has never used his closet (except for shoving in junk when tell him to clean his room, lol) as he prefers to use his dresser. And while I have no plans for moving ever again, I do recognize the best laid plans can change. If I removed the closet, it would become a 3 bedroom home, and that won't work. That was part of the big draw to my inspiration photo. It could easily convert back to a closet if needed. 

So to do this built in, we decided to do a frame, instead of just a cleat. I know my son, he's hard on things. I wanted the extra stability of a frame. 

So, nothing difficult about this. 

The frame has two supports in it to distribute the weight. We then attached the frame to the studs in the wall. 

This ended up being more difficult only because it doesn't appear that our closet does have studs evenly placed as the walls do. I have no idea why. 

(when did this photo get blurry?!) We used a laser level to shoot a line 30" up the wall (this is the height the desk in my bedroom is and I wanted to make sure he was getting an adult sized height since he keeps getting bigger, not smaller!) and marked if off with painters tape. We then pre-drilled holes so that when the frame was set in, it would be easier to attach it to the studs. 

The blue vertical pieces of tape are where the studs are. Again, we wanted to make it as easy as possible to find them so this could be installed. 

The top piece has been added. There will be a 2x3 across the front to create a lip, as we are going to put a piece of tempered glass on top of the desk. As I have mentioned, my son loves to draw, and I could see him pressing down on the plywood top and leaving indention's. Or setting a glass down and having water marks. I need this to be teen boy resistant!

I still need to lightly sand this, stain, and varnish it before I can add the glass top. But I feel like I've crossed the threshold of the halfway mark on this project. 

While I'm waiting for stain and varnish to dry, I'm focusing on the task lighting that needs to go in here. The first thing I have to loose is the bare bulb at the top of the closet. It's a chain pull and it's ugly!! 

The thing is, there are very few options for chain pull lights. Here's the one I really like. Yes, this is by far my favorite. It's also $99

I'm not paying $99 for a closet light fixture. It's not because I'm cheap (well, I am, but that's a discussion for another day). Right now, $100 for a single light is not in my budget. 

I also found this one on Etsy. It's a little more reasonable in cost and still has a nice industrial feel to it. This one is $59. I really would have liked to have spent no more than $20 on a closet light, but that doesn't seem to be possible. I could look around at some local lighting stores, but I don't think I'll find anything less than this one.

The thing about this closet light? I don't expect him to use this light frequently. I suspect he'll be using the task lighting that I'm going to install as well. But I've been looking for a place in my home to use an Edison bulb, and this is probably the only room that it will work. 

I keep mentioning tasking lighting. I have two more light sources I want to add. The first is a desk light. I have one that I use and I think it's really important, particularly  for studying. These are the two I've narrowed it down to.

Both lamps are from Ikea, and I really, really like Lamp 2. Of course, it's the higher price of the two at $35

Lamp 1 is the cost effective one for $20. And until I put it next to Lamp 2, I like it just fine. 

I'm not sure yet, but there's no rush since I'm not ready to buy it just yet. 

I'm also contemplating a shelf light. I like the idea of a soft light he can turn on that won't light up his room. Ikea has one that specifically mounts behind the TV, which I like the idea of:

This would mount behind his TV, which will be mounted to the wall. I need to take a trip to Ikea and look at this in person. I need to keep in mind that I only have four outlets, and if I fill them all up with lights, I've defeated the purpose of having them for his electronics. I believe they have battery operated ones as well, which may be a better option. But I think I need to look at them in person to make a final decision.

Well, hopefully the next post will be a completed, built in desk!

Blue Paint

The closet is painted. One coat of primer, two coats of paint. It may need a third, sigh..

My son chose this color, which I really like, called Inked. It's a little more blue gray than navy blue, but it works really well with what he wanted his room to look like. 

The thing about blue paint - any dark blue paint - is that it shows every.little.flaw. No joke. Your wall is a bit out plumb? It will look 10x's worse when you paint it blue. Your texture is uneven? Yep, even worse with blue paint. Of course, I didn't realize this when I started. Lesson learned.

So here's where we started after the first coat of paint:

Coat 1

Yes, pretty darn bad!

But not a surprise. I was hoping it would be a little less streaky by using the grey primer. While it probably helped, it's clearly not a cure all. I could have tried their upgraded paint that's supposed to cover in one coat. But since I'm only doing a small closet, it didn't make sense to spend more on paint. 

I really meant to add another coat last week, but it was a long work week and I never got to it. So this last weekend, I finally go to the second coat. Minus the area we installed the outlet because we still needed to add texture. Baby steps...

So the trick to taking good photo's in this room is to get the morning light by 9am. This is the second coat. I'm much happier with this second coat. You can see how this color pairs nicely with the grey color on his walls. Now I only need to touch up where I re-textured, both in the closet and the patch on the outside. 

Still to do on this closet renovation:

1. install the built in desk
2. install the bracket and shelf
3. install task lighting
4. add a chest of drawers for more storage
5. Add the cork boards (a specific request from my son!)
6. add storage for his art supplies
7. mount his TV to the wall
8. custom bi-fold doors

That will finish off this specific portion of his room update, but I'm not stopping there. I'm replacing his carpet (which is completely disgusting and is actually next on the to do list before the built in desk will be completed). In addition I'm replacing the broken faux wood blinds with new ones, and the drapes are being replaced with a cornice board. We'll also need to replace all the short, builder grade base boards with something beefier. This is a must with the change int he flooring. And of course, there's artwork. My son has very specific ideas on that as well. I suppose since it's his room, I can't complain.

As always, more to come...

Then There Was the Closet

It took a while to get the finished photo's of the dresser posted, but we've been working quite a bit on this room! You may remember that I posted a photo of my inspiration for my son's room last month. Here's a refresher:

This comes from the blogger at The Happy Housie  You'll remember that we settled on a color called Inked from Behr to do our blue. While not as dark as the photo above, it's at least a two coat job, even with a gray primer under it. 

Before I started painting we decided to do a few updates in the closet. Since this will also be a study space, I needed a convenient place to plug in his laptop, chargers, desk lamp, etc. There currently is only a light bulb with a pull chain for light in the closet, and of course, no power source. So after priming the closet, our first step was to add power. We routed it from an existing power outlet outside the closet. Thank goodness The Builder is good with these things as this completely out of my comfort zone!

He started by cutting out  a whole next to the power supply, then drilling a hole through the stud so that he could run the power through the wall and into the closet. There was actually a dent in the wall that we had filled and primed.  Oops. I didn't get the idea to add power to the closet until after that was done. Luckily, The Builder agreed and so he cut it out and ran the power.







Sigh, another bad photo. Seriously, I have to do something about the lighting in this room! In this case though, the power was off so that he could run the new line. This is the wire pulled through the wall. We decided to do double outlets so that there was enough for multiple electronic devices. I hate power strips and I don't want one overloaded in the closet. Eventually we want to put in an outlet that has a USB charger as well, but it wasn't in the budget right now, and it's an easy switch out for The Builder later on.

Now that it's installed, we've patched the hole. I didn't take photo's of the mud and texture. That was completed this weekend, so now I can finish painting that section. You can see that this wall is primered. The closet has the original paint from when the house was first built and it soaked up the primer like it was nothing. I can only imagine what it would have done to the blue paint.

So, one step closer.  Next up, paint!

The Dresser...2.0

OK, the lighting on the previous photo (and the graininess!!) were driving me crazy, so while I was shooting some photo's of the built in I'm working on this morning, I grabbed another photo of the dresser. And Eureka!

So as you can see, not honey colored at all (thank goodness!). For now it's pushed into the corner, because the room is in absolute chaos at this point.  I haven't decided on the fine floor plan yet for this room. I need to decide on a few more pieces for his room, like a night stand, before I plan the final layout.

Back to working on the built in desk!

The Dresser is DONE!

So yes, the dresser is done.  It's been done for a couple of weeks, but I had moved on to other things in the room. Oops. 

One thing I'm learning about my sons' room?  He has TERRIBLE lighting!  I've taken photo's with my very good Nikon and my cell phone and there's almost no difference in the quality, due to the poor lighting. Very frustrating. Needless to say, updating his lighting is on my to do list for this room.

So just a quick reminder of what this dresser looked like when I started:

Yeah, I didn't take photo's of the front of the dresser before. But this is the worst of the damage and the primary reason I wanted to rehab this piece.

Here are some after photo's!

So the above photo is...dark. And grainy. Ugh. The drawers are not really that dark, and the fronts came out exactly as I was hoping they would.

And...also not a good photo.  Over exposure on the bottom. Also, the drawers here are honey colored and shiny - not what they look like in person. Once I get the lighting situation resolved, I'll take another photo of it in the completed room.

Speaking of the completed room, I've been working a LOT on the room itself. The hole behind his door is patched, textured, and primed. His room as been repainted. But his closet is the biggest project that is getting closer to completion. There was a lot more work than I anticipated, but I think it will be worth it when I'm done. 

More to come...

The Ceiling Debacle

I'm still working on the drawers for the dresser. My mistake last week was putting the varnish on outside, in the humidity. Four days later it still hadn't really dried. We brought them in Thursday night and miraculously, they were ready for another coat of varnish by Friday night. This morning I got up and put on a third coat, and they should be ready to put back in the dresser tomorrow. This has also allowed the chalk paint to have plenty of time to cure. A small bonus. 

I decided to tackle the ceiling this weekend. Mainly because there isn't a lot I can get done in the room until the ceiling is repainted. 

Here is the almost blank slate I'm working with:

This is the view of the room from his door. The closet is to your right. It currently has the dresser, his desk, and his bin-o-stuff in it so I can paint. From this angle, the carpet doesn't look too bad. Sadly, that's far from the truth. Also, the walls were refreshed with paint three years ago, but this boy is apparently very hard on his room, and it looks dingy and gross. You can also see the water damage up above the window. Here's a close up:

This morning, after we cleared everything out of the room, I was really confident I would just put on a coat of primer, let it dry, and then paint the ceiling. What cold be simpler?

6 hours later and three coats of primer later, here is what I'm still dealing with:

It's....better. But it's not fixed.  And it certainly doesn't look like I've painted on three coats of primer! I'm going to put on yet ANOTHER coat here in a few minutes and hope that does the trick. Seriously, it was just a leaky tube that allowed water to drip onto the ceiling. Why the Zinser primer isn't covering these spots completely is the burning question right now. So back upstairs I go to paint on primer. Again...

Drawers

We start out with...a photo of me.

September in Houston is still pretty humid. Since I'm staining drawers today, being inside was not an option. I contemplated putting it off another week, but really, the humidity isn't likely to be any better. And the longer I take to finish, the less likely I will get it done before Christmas.

So the photo. Somehow you can't really see it, but I was a hot mess after sanding down the drawers this morning. I almost never sweat, even in the humidity. So my youngest was shocked to see it dripping down my forehead. He felt a picture was warranted. You know, with nothing but moisturizer and lip balm on, sweaty hair pulled back in a ponytail, feeling super gross. But I took it to humor him. And then he said to make sure I posted it with all my other photos I was taking. Clearly, he has a twisted sense of humor.

So let's to what we really came here for. Drawers.

This is what I started with. Five drawers that had seen better days. About three years ago, he stuck some stickers all over the front of the drawers. I really tried scraping them off, but to no avail. Yesterday The Builder came to the rescue and took off most of the residue with the isopropyl alcohol he uses for cleaning metal at work. Thank goodness, as I have no idea where my goo gone has gone! (yes, I said that intentionally)

When I went to Home Depot to pick up my standard orange varnish remover, it wasn't there. There wasn't even a spot where it was sold out. I admit I wasn't patient enough to flag someone down and see if they had it in the back, or if it was in a different spot. I did a quick review of my product options and went with this:

First off. This stuff worked GREAT. I was able to get off all the varnish the first go around (except for one, that I forgot to strip, and had to re-apply this morning...oops). But. This stuff is seriously toxic. The directions tell you to wear safety goggles and gloves. Ahem. I didn't do that. Not only did I ignore that, I was wearing shorts and was barefooted (#humidityisakiller) When I use this the next time, and I have a ton left over, I will not make that mistake again. I was very careful while applying it, but I got a few tiny little splashes on my fingers and toes.  And it BURNS. I quickly rinsed in cold water, and there are no marks, but I understand why they tell you to wear protective gear. 

So after a quick scrape with a plastic scraper, here is what my drawers initially looked like:

I will admit. I was sort of freaking out. The stain I bought was a little darker because I know I have scratches and gouges that will not sand out. It's not super dark, but it is more forgiving. But picturing putting a medium toned stain over this very orange looking pine did not make me excited. I knew that I still needed to sand everything down and was hoping that that would do the trick. 

Sometimes you really do get lucky!

About 95% of the old stain sanded out perfectly! There are some spots around the edge that even with a wool brush, I just couldn't scrape out. But I wasn't looking for perfection for this project. This chest of drawers has survived three boys over a 10+ year time period. If I really wanted perfect, I'd have to buy something new. Which means we'd just build it. At this point in time, that's completely unnecessary as these are still in excellent condition. 

Here's a quick shot of some of the sanded drawers: 

Night and day difference. 

Again, while this happened to have been an inexpensive pine chest of drawers when I bought it, it is all real wood. It was worth the time to refinish. That being said, I think my hand was ready to fall off by the time I was done sanding! I forgot we bought an orbital sander a year or so ago and I bought sandpaper for our ancient old electric sander. It certainly got the job done easy enough, but it was murder on my hand.

I used a Minwax stain. I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of Minwax. I greatly prefer Rustoleum stains. However, it has become increasingly difficult to find it except on Amazon, where it's double the cost of what I used to pick up for at Lowes. I need to try my local Ace Hardware and see if they carry it.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw this photo. But I'm super pleased at how these came out. I initially brushed on a heavy coat of stain (I wanted to make sure I was getting into all the cracks and crevices that did not sand out) and then wiped it off with a towel. All they need now is a coat of satin varnish. I'm hoping to get that done today, but it will depend on how quickly the stain dries. I may bring them in the house for a bit to speed up the drying time since I don't think the fumes will be as bad now. 

I'm ordering these cup pulls for D Lawless Hardware:

When he picked out the paint for the dresser, we took a look to see what hardware was available. He really liked this style and they're easy to get. At $5 a piece, they're not terribly expensive. However, at D Lawless, they're under $2 a piece. I've ordered from them before and have always been very pleased with the quality. Since I still plan to have a built in desk in his closet, I'm going to order enough for that as well for a more cohesive look. I will need to drill new holes to install these, but that's a minor fix. 

Once the dresser is done, I'm The Builder going to tackle painting the ceiling, then we can get to the walls. The ceiling stains from the leaking a/c tubing are driving me crazy and paint is an easy fix. We will probably install the new floors after we paint the ceiling, but before we do the walls. 

More to come!

Summer Hiatus

I've been absent since June with my daughter's graduation. I can't even say that I did a single project over the summer. Because I didn't. The Builder was completely burnt out on projects by the time our friends and family were done visiting. Plus his work really picked up due to the backlog from the rain. In a perfect world, I would have enjoyed the time off...but my work picked up as well and I was behind on some school work. So it ended up being a busy summer.

But!

I need to get back to things that still need to be done around my house. And so with the beginning of September and fall around the corner (not that that will make one difference here in Houston!) I'm jumping back in. I have a few projects planned:

• Updating my youngest sons' bedroom
• Adding media storage in our master bedroom
• building an upholstered headboard for our bed

Updating my sons' room is more of a chore than it may seem. Last year we had a tube from the a/c leak and cause water spots on his ceiling. He managed to break the cheap faux blinds in his room. He managed to peel the texture off on a spot on his wall. His closet doors fell off the track and broke. His carpet is in desperate need of replacing. I didn't realize it was that bad until my family came out to visit. Suddenly no matter how much we shampooed the carpet, I couldn't get the pet smell out. It was NOT good. There was also nothing I could do once I realized it. So I've spent my summer buying flooring, one box at a time. I thought we would get it done this weekend, but my dogs decided it would be fun to tear down the fence that separates our yard from our neighbors. So The Builder and our boys spent the day tearing down the rotted out fence and installing a new one. 

Since I couldn't do the floors myself, I decided to tackle a project I could do. His dresser.  Years ago, when he was around three, he and his brothers took a sharpie marker to the side of the dresser and drew on it. I kept that side tucked in the corner of the room for a long time, but when we moved to this house, that wasn't an option. So I've been living with it that way for almost 5 years.  Take a look:

Yeah. I wasn't happy. And I know no amount of sanding is really going to get all of that black sharpie out. Or if it does, it will be uneven. But the dresser is solid wood, no cheap particle board. And he hates to hang up his things. He likes everything folded and uses all his drawers. I would eventually love to build him a new one (and have plans saved to my Pinterest board!) but I have other building projects that I want to get done first. This is a solid dresser. It just needed some updating. I finally decided that I wanted to use chalk paint on the body of the dresser, which would cover up ALL those sharpie marks, but I am going to strip and re-stain the drawer fronts. 

Now my youngest is the MOST particular out of my four children. There was no way I was going to choose a paint color without his input because if I got one he didn't like, I would never live it down. Blue is his favorite color, but I didn't want anything that was a bright or pastel blue. I was thinking a navy blue would be a nice color. We headed to Home Depot today to get paint, and while he was all for the blue (actually, he liked his dresser just the way it was and had no interest in painting or updating it!) he ultimately chose a color called Inked, which had a touch of gray to it. I can totally work with that, and it will also be the color we paint the interior of his closet. But that's another post. 

I have to say, the chalk paint was SUPER easy. My wonderful friend, The Magnificent M, shared her chalk paint recipe with me, and it was a dream to use. I've read that most people only need one coat, but I felt that was a bit streaky, and used two. No issues there, it was still super simple and I used less than 2 cups of paint to do the entire dresser. I have plenty left over for the closet. 

And here is body of the dresser all painted:

Forgive the poor lighting. It was late afternoon and I can't open his blinds more than half way. This lighting is the result of an overhead ceiling fan light and even then, I still needed the flash on my phone. 

We both anticipated the color to be a little darker, but in the end, we are both really happy with it. Even better, he told me it looks MUCH better now that it's painted and he's glad I "made" him let me paint it. Maybe there is hope for this boy yet. 

This is as far as I got today. The drawers have stickers all over the front of them. I tried scraping them off, but apparently, sticker glue turns into super glue once it's on wood. I have goo gone... somewhere. And I know it will take it off with no issues. But I need to find it.  Then I have to put the stripper on to take the light coat of varnish off that it currently has, lightly sand, and re-stain the drawers. Oh, and I need to buy new drawer pulls. Apparently, he has only one left. And no clue what happened to the other four. Seriously, looking at his room, you would never guess it had fresh paint, new draperies, and was updated just four years ago. But I digress...

Here's a quick peak at the drawers I pulled out so I could paint today:

That's what's left of the stickers I could not get off. In addition, there is still sticker residue. So the goo gone is a must. 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint his room the same perfect greige the rest of the house is painted. I have it on hand so it's and easy update. His desk is going to go into his closet (which he doesn't currently use) and will look something like this:

I found directions for this on The Happy Housie and I love the overall look. My youngest saw it and immediately vetoed the stenciling, the nautical decor, and anything "school" related. I assured him it will accurately reflect his tastes and personality. His closet is much larger, so he's requesting a bookcase in it as well, so I need to figure out how to incorporate that. I may do two Rast drawers, one for each side, for added storage as well. I really like that I can stain them to match the dresser for a coordinated look. This photo is just my jumping off point, his actual design will be 100% tailored to him.

I'm contemplating a new quilt (his preference) and used the SnapIt tool to pull the colors from it:

The Charcoal Blue in the chip color is very similar to the Inked color by Behr. The other colors are great accents for his room and really reflect him. 

Budget wise, this is still low cost. The built in closet desk I'm estimating at about $100 (two Rast dressers, the desktop, hardware, and task lighting). The flooring  is about $150 for the whole room (which we've been buying a little at a time). New blinds will run another $50 or so. We're debating bi-fold doors to replace the sliding closet doors. Well. I wanted barn doors. Which he quickly vetoed. He's not a "farm" type of guy. I found some neat engineered prints I can have done for his room, so about another $40 for artwork. If I buy the quilt in the photo, I'm looking at about $450 for the room altogether. I'd also like to replace the drapes that my cats love to be trapeze artists on with a cornice board valance. I don't have a cost estimate on this, and since the blinds are an immediate necessity, the cornice is something we can do later. 

Cross your fingers I can get the drawers done tomorrow and have a whole project done in one weekend!

Master Bath Completion

After months of getting just a little done at a time (probably because we started the kitchen project!) we are finally done in our Master Bathroom!  Just a quick reminder, here is what we started with:

So yeah, it was definitely in need of some updating!  So here we are now...

By pushing out the shower to make it decent sized, we lost some of the space between the vanities. But that wasn't a bad thing in the end. We bought these two Hermes vanities at Ikea, and I found this rolling cart. It's the perfect for the space and adds a lot of storage, as you'll see below.

Our tub now. While I absolutely love our new shower, the bathtub is still my favorite! This is a 72 inch tub and it is SO spacious. For the first time in my life I can soak my entire body in the tub and then some. No more loud jets that spray everywhere or a tub that can't hold water. It is the perfect size for the space.

 I'm really pleased that nothing is crammed in. It feels spacious even with the shower extension. 

I took these photos at night, so the lighting isn't cooperating with my camera.  The Builder's vanity has the CFL day light bulbs. We both agree, we hate them. I plan to switch them all to the LED bulbs soon, but this works temporarily. 

Still fighting the lighting in here. This is the new light fixture we chose for the vanities. They have the same chrome finish the shower, vanity, and bath tub fixtures have, so it all coordinates together. I didn't think I wanted to chrome, but it's sparkly and pretty. I'm pleased.

The rolling cart again. So the vanities don't have a lot of counter space. Particularly for my big electric toothbrush and water pick (my dentist swears I need this and after what I've spent there this year, I'm willing to try). It also holds things like my hair dryer and flat iron, that I use consistently. I really like this because my chords don't get tangled up! Also things don't get lost or pushed to the back. Super convenient.  

So this is a perfect example of why you should look at your space before you get ready to complete a blog post. The towel on the left is mine. It's one of the new ones I bought. The towel on the right is The Builders. I always hang my towel neatly. He...doesn't. Sigh. But this is the new shower curtain as well. I can't afford the frameless shower door right now, but I really like this new shower curtain in here.

Last but not least, my vanity. The shower is on the other side of the wall. I plan to put up a small towel ring for a hand towel or my washcloth. You can see that there is a decent amount of counter space. I can easily get ready in the morning. The biggest adjustment has been the shallower sink. But it's not a deal breaker.

With the odd angles of the room, it's actually difficult to get a shot of the entire bathroom. But it's still super spacious and now completely updated. And it's so nice to have another project completed!

99.9% Done...

It's been a month since my last post. You'd think my kitchen reno would be done.  And for the most part, it is. All the tile work is done, the cabinets have all been refinished, and we even managed to get everything back into the cupboards (how is it that it seemed like we had more stuff than was actually in there to begin with?!). 

For some reason, the cabinets look white in photo's. They're not.  They're two shades down on my color chart from the wall paint. In person, you can see the contrast between the trim and cabinets, but not so much in the photos. I am LOVING the tile back splash with the counters!

So why 99.9% done?

First the obvious. The cabinet door. I have to buy a new one. The one that was there cannot be replaced. Since the shipping is about the same cost as the door, I have been procrastinating, looking for a local source. So far, no luck. So I plan to order it this week. 

Second, the cabinet door knobs. You can see the drawer pulls, but there are no knobs on the cabinet doors. Because I haven't bought them yet. New hardware totaled at about $85. Not really a bad price, but I have a senior graduating from high school, prom, and the senior's 18th birthday around the corner. So, I've been buying hardware a bit at a time. All the drawer pulls are bought, so I'll do the same with the cabinet knobs. 

I didn't put the valance up in this photo either, but I have it. I kept the red one I was using before because it works perfectly. 

I love my pops of red! 

So this is the end of kitchen "refresh" that basically was a total makeover. I'm happy to say...

The End