When the idea of new cabinets became too much, we started scouring Craigslist for gently used/accidentally purchased (wrong size, color) cabinets. We found one great, complete set that a man had purchased to use in his basement finishing project. But, before he could get to that, something happened and he had to move. Totally new cabinet set, made-to-order, $500. Perfect! Ryan made the call on the cabinet listing, which had been posted for several days. The man's wife told him the cabinets sold six hours after posting. It became apparent that the Craigslist approach is only practical if you have the time to watch the page and refresh it all day. Not practical.
I came home from work this past Monday to find Ryan busily sanding down one of the cabinet doors. At first, I didn't even realize what it was. It looked so different! The natural wood is beautiful and these cabinets are totally made of hard wood - that doesn't happen much anymore. I think these cabinets were made-to-order when the house was built - remember, they were built to fit around the funky stove and oven. So, they are quality...just kinda old and grody on the outside.
Tuesday, I came home to find the same sanded-down door with three patches of fresh wood stain in three distinct colors. Ryan made the little display for me to see when I got home and to prove to me that yes, we can make these things great. There will have to be a lot of moving them around and LOTS of sanding, but in the end we will have spent a few hundred dollars on them instead of a few thousand. Plus, we will have the pride of knowing we "did it ourselves."
Here are some photos. This first one is a close-up of some of the cabinets with their doors taken off. That is the original color...and they are all painted with a thick white paint inside (not a fan of that).
And the weird wall where we peeled off wallpaper and the gross grease-encrusted backing behind the old stove...bleh. Those brown smears on there now are just old glue.
The new stain we like - might go slightly darker. The really dark part at the top is the original stain...it doesn't even allow you to see the wood grain.
The three stain samples Ryan left for me to see.
The natural cabinet door after it's been sanded. It looks so great, right?
Also recently, Ryan painted the house porch area out front all white. You may remember from previous photos/posts that it was a bizarre combination of two faded, ugly red colors. Eventually, we plan to put rock in this area and make it much more lovely, but this is a good, cheap, temporary solution until we get to that...next year.
When we're not working on the house (or can't for lack of money to purchase things like countertops) I have been working away on our wedding scrapbook. Our first anniversary will be Oct. 22. Sadly, this won't be done then. It was neglected in the move and I never really got that far along on it anyway. I have only made it through the ceremony. And now, I've run out of pages and need to go to a JoAnn store to buy more. The closest one is in Jackson, 40 minutes away. Sigh.
Also recently, Ryan and I went to Toasted Mud, a local paint-your-own-pottery studio. These are our creations. Ryan made the margarita glass (I love the way he blended the colors) and I made the bowl.
If anyone is interested in helping us sand cabinets...let me know.
- The Servolds -
