Roar!

Straight from the zoo to you. Zebras, monkeys, and birds now available at Because I'm Me.

River has already asked for one of each!

And we're back ....

The shop signed has been flipped from closed to open!

Check out all the newly listed ties - stripes in five different colorways, zebras, monkeys, balloons, pinwheels, florals ... it's like a trip to the zoo.

Renovating, Part ?, The Kitchen

Next on the agenda was to do the baseboard moldings, using 1/4 round molding to bridge the gaps between the new floors and the original baseboards, as well as to add more molding to the living room baseboards to give them more character.

After that was to be the stairs.

After much deliberation it was decided that those things will be done in August, when the kids are home and can help. Renting a miter saw from Home Depot for 24 hours is significantly less expensive than buying one, so the goal is to rent a saw and get all the stairs, risers, and molding cut within 24 hours. Working quickly will be easier with more hands on deck plus Adam and Kaden are old enough to help with this stuff and will benefit from learning how to do these projects. So August it is.

After making that decision I was looking at a pretty vase of yellow flowers (given to me on my birthday almost a month ago) and thinking how nicely the yellow would pop with white cabinets behind them. And the next "Easy Weekend Project" was born.

The kitchen cabinets.

Here are a few before pictures. I love these, not only are the cabinets the way they are but the kitchen is a huge mess. Perfect before pictures.

All the cabinets doors were numbered and taken down, and the drawers emptied and removed. The above photos were printed out and each door numbered, corresponding to the numbers attached to the tdoors. After emptying everything out of the cabinets all the doors, drawers, and cabinets were sanded to remove the sheen. Just a really lite sanding to give the primer and paint something to stick to. They were then wiped clean with a damp cloth.

Then everything was primed. I used one coat of primer (Zinsser, swear by it), but wish I'd used two. I opted to not paint the inside of the doors, knowing I can go back and do those later if I want to. Both the priming and painting was done with a 3" roller - I took a regular roller and used an electric carving knife to cut it into thirds, pulled off the extra fuzz, and slid it onto the 3" roller frame, and a small foam brush.

After the primer dried everything was painted with three coats of Behr Innocent White semi-gloss paint from Home Depot. Yes, three coats for good even coverage ... really should have used two coats of primer. I did sand gently after the primer and first coat of paint, just to be sure everything was nice and smooth. I really didn't want the kitchen to look like it'd just been painted by a preschooler.

After 24 hours I cleaned out the cabinets (mostly to get the tile bits out of them ... seriously, that stuff is everywhere), refilled them, and reattached the door fronts. I wanted to wait a while before doing this step so that nothing would be tacky and the paint wouldn't peel off. I ran into problems with that in the camper and didn't want it in the house. 24 hours worked very well.

The last step was to install the hardware. We didn't have any hardware previously, but I knew with boys I needed some for these white cabinets, plus they just didn't look finished without 'something'.

 
I purchased long stainless steel bar pulls from D. Lawless Hardware. These beauties were just $2.21 each ... unbelievable price (and they're beautiful, well worth it). I used this video tutorial to create a template for the pulls, it made this project so easy.

I couldn't find a drawer pull that I liked, I didn't want knobs and didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for something else. And then I thought of using cleats, which sounded awfully "themey" but I only needed four and they're spread throughout the kitchen, so I decided it was worth a try. I purchased stainless steel cleats through Amazon at $7.99 for two, a little pricier than the steel bars, but still not bad at all. The cleats install differently than traditional drawer pulls, but with a bit of measuring, marking, leveling, drilling, and hand screwing they went in fine (the first ones didn't go in fine ... it got much easier with practice).

Cost of this kitchen project:
Primer $20.00    (gallon, 3/4 of it leftover, a quart would have worked)
Paint $17.00    (gallon, 2/3 of it leftover, a quart would have worked)
Cleats $16.00
Bar Pulls $50    (bought extra to get free shipping, will use them in a bathroom)
Total cost: $103.00 ... way less than new cabinets or the cost to pay someone else to refinish them, and it would have been way less if I'd purchased less paint and primer.

This was a solid two day project, with another two hours to install the hardware. Not bad at all, but a little longer than I'd expected (someday I'll learn).

I'm in love with my kitchen. While I have an open floor plan house the kitchen is right in the middle and is a bit of a dark hole. Not so much anymore (still a little dark, making pictures hard). It's bright and fresh and cheery. I can't help but smile whenever I look at it. Only regret ... that I didn't do this years ago!

Again, before (in my defense, this was after the living room demo had begun):

After:

Renovating, Part ?, Working on the Details

The saga continues.

In this episode I don't have too much to report.

New rugs have been installed in both the living room and family room. I'd planned to paint the one in the family room (above) until I saw how large it was ... solid blue is perfect.

The living room rug is red with bits of tan and brown in it. I don't like it. But it matches the living room and it's super soft and comfy, so it's staying for now.

I'm not sure what direction I'm going with the living room curtains. The original plan was white burlap, but white burlap is cream colored and not white, which doesn't work for the room. Back to the drawing board.

I'm continuing to find tile bits and dust in odd little nooks and crannies. I'm pretty sure that no amount of dusting will ever get this house even close to dust free, especially when more work continues to mean more dust and sawdust.

The floors remain wonderful, a few quirks here and there but the odd spots (some boards aren't glued down terribly well and give when stepped on) haven't changed over the last few weeks so all seems well.

Next project, kitchen. Then baseboards and the stairs to the second floor. We've actually gotten used to the "raw" stairs ... need to get them done before we're too comfy with them and just never finish them, because this look just isn't pretty.

But the kitchen is pretty ... here's a tiny little "sneak peek":

Going Fishing

The shop is taking a break for some much needed TLC.

Re-opening will bring new ties and fresh ideas for the website (exciting change is in the air).

Have a wonderful week, and I look forward to seeing you on the 25th.

And aren't these new ties awesome?

Review and Giveaway: Paper Craft Celebra'tions by Richard Garay

I'm not a paper crafter. I've always been interested in the art, but avoided it like the plague for one very simple reason: All my extra money goes to fabric, if I picked up paper crafting or even knitting/crocheting I'd be beyond broke.

That said, when I was given the opportunity to review some products from Richard Garay's Spellbinders line Celebra'tions I let my curiosity get the best of me and said, "yes."

Celebra'tions is a complete collection of dies, stamps, papers, inks and accessories that are all coordinated to work together.

About the collection:

• the collection of stamps, dies, paper, and accessories include a range of designs from whimsical to fresh and modern
• all stamps are made of photopolymer and feature cling technology so they can effortlessly adhere to clear blocks
• True Color Fusion Stamp Pads are unique hybrid inks that provide the benefits of dye and pigment ink all in one. The inks dry quickly, have no chalky residue, and don't fade. They can be used on all materials and become permanent when heat set on non-paper materials (yes folks, that includes fabric (be still my heart))
• the entire product line is coordinated to work together

I was given a few "make and take" kits to try, to sample some of the Celebra'tions products and I have to say they were a pleasure to work with. It was a lot of fun making the two products I was given and I can easily see falling in love with paper crafting.

I was impressed with the paper quality and really liked the embossed papers, created with some of the collections dies. Spellbinders offers an extensive Idea Gallery filled with great projects from the Celebra'tions collection.

And now for the giveaway - I have one Spellbinders Celebra'tions by Richard Gerey clear polymer stamp set titled Many Words to give to one reader. The set includes words like "Thank You", "Happy Birthday", "Love", and so many more. The set is valued at $12.99.

This will be a short giveaway, ending late evening on this Thursday, July 17th, and is open to US mailing addresses only.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Spellbinders brand provided me with a sample of Spellbinders Celebra'tions Collection in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own.