Refurbishing the Cabinets

I did not go to The Beast today, although it was in my plan. It was raining and with the warm temps it was super foggy. I also had to stay home for Pearl who sometimes balks at using the doggy door and taking care of her business outdoors when it is raining.

I have been working on the kitchen cabinet door project. I had previously dismantled all the doors (well my sister did that part) and brought them all home to refinish them this winter while it was too cold to go to The Beast.

Thus, here is a before/after offering of a "cabinet door". The previous "remodelers", whom I have learned were named Kevin and Rosemary Hatfield painted the cabinets with some antique looking brown/black paint and wall papered the insets on the doors and drawers with the plaid wallpaper. At least, I assume it was the Hatfields who perpetrated this because everytime we pull off some ugly paneling or fake brick we find their message and signature regarding when they 'remodeled' that area of the home.

I stripped all the paint off the cabinet doors. At first, my intention was to stain the cabinets, however the cabinets were not built from quality wood... they are made from thick plywood... and did not look fabulous enough with the stain. So, I changed tactics and decided to paint them white. I feel the white will brighten up the kitchen. I was looking all over the internet for tin punch tools and tin blanks in order to fashion the tin inserts for the doors to make them look like the old fashioned pie safes. However, I could not find any blanks the length I needed, which is 37 inches. OK, time for a field trip to Lowe's.

I bought a small roll of 14 inch wide roof flashing, which is aluminum, and cut a piece for the inset of the cabinet door. I made heart patterns for the tin piercing and that was pretty easy to accomplish.... but a bit noisy. I spray painted the tin with a dark brown/gold hammered rustoleum and after that coat of paint dried I sprayed on a copper rustoleum. The result was the crackly looking copper shade and I was very pleased with the finished product.

I think it looks a lot better than the Hatfield's wallpaper.

Wallpaper Shenanigans

The weather has improved and the temperatures have been in the upper 40's and 50's. So...back to 'The Beast'. I am happy to report that I received a Lowe's giftcard for Christmas and used it to assist in the purchase of a dandy, fine 8 ft. ladder, which I badly wanted and needed. The ladder assisted in reaching to the top of the 10 ft. walls and scraping off the final portions of the

U-G-L-Y wallpaper in the library. (That was last week.)

Now, I am working on getting the rest of the wallpaper off of the living room/parlor/entry way walls. The picture shows the H-I-D-E-O-U-S wallpaper which "The Beast" has had to endure for so many years.

I originally took this picture when I first viewed the house and before my purchase. All of this wallpaper is gone now, and only a bit remains at the top of the walls. I shall finish removing what is left....on Thursday of this week.