Drab to Fab Part Deux: Kitchen Remodel

Looking in During, pardon the clutter, we just moved!

Have you ever sanded and repainted your kitchen cabinet doors?  Don't...just buy new ones.  When you move into a 70's apartment I promise you that the hinges on the cabinets have been painted over with each new tenant since then.

Now you have to break out crowbars, screw drivers, hammers, paint remover and an occasional kitchen knife to get the things off, then you have to sand the cabinet itself, then sand the doors on every surface when this is all done you have to paint them and make sure you get a nice even coating on all surfaces. Then you have to put new hinges on everything, you think your almost done right? Wrong!


Since sanding the cabinet doors back to some sort of an original state they no longer stay shut!  Now, I have to put some sort of little magnetic closure on them so they stay shut...next is the door nobs and drawer pulls. They make a handy dandy little stencil for these little costly bobbles it's all going along great your drilling the holes and you go to put on your first door nob and what happens?  The screw is too short, I see that they come with a second screw...PERFECT!!!...this screw ends up being to long, Homo Depot is across town...now I know why people buy new construction!

Part of our deal with this apartment, which is rent controlled might I add, so we basically bought it...was that instead of a deposit we would put in new appliances...let me tell you about the old fridge, it had one shelf in it and it was filthy, the old stove, which was quote, unquote, a new stove had the rusted electric coils and couldn't regulate heat to save your life, and the old dish washer, although still working and dried dishes very well also made an occasional screeching noise, they are now replaced with stainless steal energy efficient appliances...I feel like my new fridge has a funny smell though, maybe it's just the new plastic smell, it's probably me though.

After the new appliances we tiled the back splash...this was so much fun, my mother came out and  helped The Husband and I do it.  Now she can do almost anything, as can I, but I had never tiled anything before, and I am sure with enough YouTube videos and Google searches I could have figured it out, how do you think I learned how to make butter!?

I will tell you though, it's very easy to tile and grout, what is hard to getting the grout off of your tile...I don't think I've ever rinsed a sponge that much in my life...end result, pure fabulousness!

If I can pass on a bit of advice though, don't paint your walls if you are going to be putting in a tiled back splash, why?  If you paint before you are going to be doing a ton of touch ups after words, because the trowel scratches the paint...lesson learned!

Watch Your Drink,

The Stepford Husband

Exterior Holiday Decorating Tips - From my house to yours!

Before

How do you go from drab to fab?  With Christmas just days away some of us have already decorated others are lagging behind and some have just done a purely awful job of it. Well have no fear because the Stepford Husband is here, if I can redo a bedroom for under $30,000.00 then I can do anything...but mind you I will do it for a lot less then $30k.

Supplies

These will be your supplies:
LED Lights, Christmas Balls, some beaded garland, real evergreen garlands, of course poinsettias, a evergreen wreath, ribbon, zip-ties, 15' electrical outlets...timers if you so desire.

Throw these all into a pot and let them stew and you will have a magnificent entry that will make all your neighbors jealous.

Now, we are using real Evergreen Garlands...why are we doing this?  they are 15' long which is excellent when you are trying to cover a larger area for very little money. I found them at Homo Depot...I mean Home Depot, for only $11 each. I got four of them, compare the price of the real garlands to the price of the pre-lit artificial garlands at 9' each and at $29.00 each you can already see the savings, especially since you can buy an 18' string of energy efficient LED lights for $4.99 each.

To light your garlands simply stretch them out and wrap them with your LED lights, to hang them, take two nails and put one on each side of the top of your wooden door frame on the top of the ledge where you can't see the marks.  Find the center of your garland, line it up with the center of your door frame, take a long zip-tie and a short zip-tie up your latter with you and the garland...zip-tie around the garland where it lines up appropriately with the nail, use the smaller zip-tie to make a loop...loop that over the nail...repeat with the opposite side.

Next take your beaded garland and wrap it around your evergreen garland.  Now, you are ready to add your Christmas Balls.

When it comes to your Christmas balls get them in various sizes and I recommend you get about 60 large ones and about 75 smaller ones...this will be enough to cover all four garlands and your wreath...remember to divide them fairly evenly between each garland.

Add the large ones first and disperse them evenly, next group the smaller ones with and around the larger ones, I find that groupings of three usually look quite nice.  Add them to your wreath as well.

Next, add your poinsettias...why are we adding these?  Your garlands are ornaments for handrails and doorways, but you need to ground them to the floor, the poinsettias do this and add a nice finishing touch!

Next, take your ribbon and wrap it around your door like you would wrap it around a present.

After this is all set and done you will have a breathtaking entry that is sure to brighten up your home, spirits...and guilt your neighbors into decorating as well!



Watch Your Drink,

The Stepford Husband