We Bought a House!

I painted the kitchen.

Let me explain. For the past week my wife went to visit her parents in Montgomery County. Normally I would have just sat in my recliner for a week watching television and eating junk food – more on that later.

I had this planned for the better part of 2 weeks. She left for her parents on a Tuesday, and I had to finish the work-week before I could begin diving into the refinishing of the cabinets.

My initial plans for the week-long of projects I had planned consisted of cleaning the gutters, hanging the bathroom trim, rebuilding the kitchen ceiling, cutting down trees, or demolishing a room on the second floor and rebuilding it. Can you tell I was feeling a bit ambitious?

My project formally started on Thursday evening. I began by removing all of the cabinet doors and stacking them on a side wall. Doing this proved to be a true chore because the old hardware was attached with flathead screws. If you have ever tried to remove old flathead screws before, they can be tricky especially since you cannot get a good hold on them with a screwdriver without the screwdriver sliding up and down the screw head.

Unfortunately, the old hardware (hinges and handles) were beyond reconditioning. Decades of use, dust, dirt, and grease had settled in and would prove unuseable (and un-paintable as I had thought to spray paint the hardware a silver/metallic color).

When removing the old cabinet doors, I learned early on that a simple degreaser product would go a long way in helping the paint adhere to the old cabinet wood. I used Simple Green and doused a rag with it to wipe away the old dust and grease that had built up over time.

I set up my workstation in the garage spread over 4 – 2×4’s which cost about a million dollars to buy by 2021 standards. The easiest way I found to spread the paint was by using a 6″ foam roller and a brush to cut in the corners for the cabinets hanging on the wall. In all, it only took 2 coats of paint on the cabinets to fully cover the old wood finish.

I also went against my best judgement and painted the paneling and the old wallpaper backsplash. I never thought I would publicly admit that, but it worked – priming and painting the wallpaper and paneling really opened up the room. It was a visual illusion, but it worked well! The walls are a light grey color, Krypton, but in different light it either looks to be light blue or purple. How weird!

In the end, it was not a bad project. I found hardware that matched almost 100% the old; who would have thought the old hardware was a classic design that is still made today! I did have to re-drill the holes for the hinges as they appeared to be 1/64″ off the old holes, but it wasn’t that bad of a problem!

If it were a painting hanging in the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art), I would call it “Easter at a Hospital.” For the time being, it is a solution to a kitchen that we felt needed some brightening up. Despite the color of the countertop being completely off now, we love our refinished kitchen!

And I want to give a special shout-out to Record Reader Jo An Bowes of Lock Haven – the pumpkin plants you gave me have been replanted in our now-enlarged garden out back!