Some friends have asked, how come you haven't blogged in so long. This is pretty much why.
I started to refinish my cabinets back in November. It is now May and I still have one more batch to do. LOL I think I have 8 cabinets left. This last batch has taken me forever to do. Ha, ha I haven't wanted to look at another piece of wood for a very long time. Ohhh how I didn't realize the work of it all. If I did, I guess I would have never done it. The process of staining these cabinets is a very long with sanding all the previous stain off that was on there before. I have learned very quickly if you don't sand good enough the stain doesn't take well, it shows marks and then you have to sand the wood again. It was a challenge to sand so many grooves on the front of the cabinet it was hard to get in the little crevices.
It was a 5 step process:
Step 1. Sand the crap out of them. For 1 door it took 2 to 3 hours to sand depending on the size of the door.
Step 2. Add the stain and wait two days or the stain will rub off. I know that, because I tried to speed up the process. LOL
Step 3. Add one coat of polyurethane then wait a day.
Step 4. Sand a little again with a light grit sand paper, so the glaze will take. The glaze adds a darker blacker tone to the stain and then wait another day.
And the final step 5. Add 1 coat of polyurethane and then another after it dries. We noticed the spray poly worked better for us. It was smoother and we could hang the cabinets up down stairs so the dust wouldn't settle on top of them. I have also noticed each piece of wood takes the stain differently. I thought the color would look more uniform everywhere, but I have realized that is just how wood is. When I finally finish all of them I will post the finished product.
Would I do it again..................hmmmm (LOL) probably not. I would probably paint them instead. I do love them, it is just a ton, a ton of work.
The kitchen before. I wish I took a picture before I started. This is one that I found. (Karlie cooking her famous
Ramen Noodles).
Sanding the frame was hard, because you can't really contain all the saw dust. I had to take everything down like the decorations and cover them with sheets. It was a big clean up job. The front doors of the cabinets were done in the basement.
In this picture the cabinets almost look black there not it's like a reddish darkish wood color. lol I think having the darker wood looks better with the color of the walls and the lighter color of the
coran cabinets. You guys will have to let me know your opinions. Ha, ha Well, I guess it's too late now, but I still want to hear them. :)
It looks different in different lighting.
Project #2 Bonus Room
The kids rooms are so small that we wanted a playroom. Seriously though, you can fit a bed and dresser in their rooms and that's about it. So that is how the bonus room came about. A room above the garage. We have talked about it for about a year, or so now and we are finally starting to build it.
It all started with first building the floor. Kent has done a ton of research about this room. He also has a brother and sister-in-law that are architects. They live in
Arkansas, so it was a lot of phone calls and pictures sent through email. Kent also has co-workers who are
structural engineers which has been a big help too. Thank you so much Dan and Wendy!
This is before we decided to do a half bath and a closet. He extended the floor out even more.
On the right side is a half bath. It is small, but we thought it would be worth it by putting in a small bathroom. Next to the half bath is a small closet.
We decided to do a kid loft above the laundry room.
We're almost there I can feel it. :)
Life is kinda crazy right now. Kent doing the bonus room himself, being a coach for soccer, HOA, having to be to scout nights, scout camp outs once a month, having more responsibilities being in charge of projects at work and traveling more for work. I feel like I never see him. I soooo can't wait until things slow down and this room is done. (We will have a social life again. Yay!) I feel like a single mom. LOL Kent might have to travel for 3 or 4 weeks for work soon, or in a couple of months we're not sure yet. As of right now, it is looking like it will be pushed until a couple months away. I mentioned to Kent, maybe next year we (he) shouldn't take on so much. :) One step at a time right? I'm not too excited about the 3 to 4 week trip, but I keep telling myself I can do it! ;)
Project #3 The basement .....ummmmmmm...........hmmmm......I don't know. LOL Maybe, we will just do Karlie and Ethan's room. That's a maybe. :) The rest of the basement might just have to wait.
