Cabinet Refreshing

Up front and truth be told here, I am NOT receiving any type of compensation from Dutch Boy or anyone else for talking about this product. I have never used this product, but will be soon. However, to those of you that own old dusty and musty homes, I want you to know this might be of some help.

My home was built in 1926 and it has a funky smell to it. We have tried everything from ripping all the old bushes and Ivy out around it, to using electric smellies, Glade solids, opening the windows, etc. NOTHING works, it smells.

It isn't an offensive stinky smell, but it is a smell none the less and I can't stand it. I once asked a contractor what it was and he told me all the old homes in this area smell that way. He said it is just the old materials they used breaking down and probably years and years of cooking locked into the walls, old lead paint and dead bugs. Eeeewwww!!

Well, I posted I wanted some ideas for the cabinet in my kitchen, colors would be great! Someone wrote and told me about this product and you can bet, I am going to try it out.

I figured I would first scrub the inside of the cabinet with Mr. Clean or Spic and Span, then I will prime it and then paint and leave the cabinet open until it dries.

It doesn't say it eliminates odors altogether, but it reduces odors. When it is done, I am removing the old doors and they are going outside and I am removing the old paint. Yes, I know it is a nasty, stinky difficult job, but I want to see what it underneath all those years of layers. If I dont' like it, I will repaint over it.

Here is what the doors look like now and the interior of the said stinky cabinet. I have discovered through pinterest that I can take the old hinges off, place them in a crock pot of hot soapy water and let them sit and it should soften the layers of paint enough that I can take them off and see what is underneath.

If it doesn't work, I can actually purchase the exact hinges thru Rejuvenation, some glass knobs with a backplate and either chicken wire or cabinet wire behind the glass .

Similar to this picture I located on pinterest. Now that I have been able to really look at just using chicken wire, I think it is pretty nifty or maybe I will just take the doors down to my local glass shop and see what type of specialty glass they can put in.

I may even have hubby take out the old wooden shelves and put new laminate in to see if that helps keep the odor down.

Shoot me any ideas, I would love to hear from you!

Hubby's Handiwork

I live in an old Craftsman style home that was built in 1926 & while it has its problems (no insulation, small-ugly-cramped kitchen, etc., I actually love my little house aside from the shared driveway & it is exactly what I wanted when we moved to Washington...a home with a redwood deck (check), front porch for visiting (check), exposed hard wood flooring (check), a finished & dry basement (check).

But what makes my home stand out, is the colors. It is painted a purple by Behr called Gypsy Magic, the white trim is Vanilla Custard and I can't remember the name of the blue.

But, what makes my home special is the colors look fabulous and it is the only one in our neighborhood painted purple. What is even more special is everyone loves it and complements us on the way we have transformed the way the house looks.

The shelf you see here was purchased from Michaels in Olympia and cost around $7. Hubby and the neighbor worked most of yesterday to cut out the 2 holes, fill in the cracks and spray paint it. Last evening while walking around WalMart, hubby chose these 2 blue pots which I think makes a fantastic contrast to the purple and blue. They even painted 3 smaller shelves for the girls room for their dolls!

In addition to completing the shelf and flower pot project (we will get flowers later this week), he worked hard on enclosing our carport so this winter it will be drier and hopefully more organized and efficient.

He painted the plywood you see on the wall and then hung it up.

Under that you can see the cabinet that he picked up on the sidewalk with a 'free,' sign on it. It was an ugly tan, with some pieces missing, but with his great mind, he put them together and removed a large section of top shelves bottom and now he has a place to put all of his tools that are strewn about.

This is a much better picture of the cabinet and how it looks. I think he did an awesome job. What do you think John? Doesn't look like the same two pieces of junk he hauled home last week does it?

It is important for this area to remain as dry as we can keep it, because we try to keep fire wood stacked up next to the fireplaces, but also in this area, so we always have some very dry wood when we need it. It is no fun getting wood with freezing, side blinding rain.

While he constantly reminded me when I was out of bed and needed to go back, he managed to get these 2 impressive projects done and I think he needed it this week-end. However, I am not sure he is going to be happy with the sunburn he got!