Archives For OUR HOME

Our Basement Part 4: More Demolition & Recovering from a Crazy Week

October 18, 2011

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here. I had a big presentation to put together at the office, had to call lots of contractors for work (not a fun job!), taught 2 architectural studio classes, had a Zoning Hearing Board meeting, worked on the basement, had a long overdue Mom night’s out with my Mom Group, and tried to keep the kids happy all while not pulling my hair out. Mr. S was really helpful with the kids, including putting them to bed without me several times (it is really hard for me when I miss bedtime). My head is still a big swirly mess, but I am hoping to regain my sanity starting today.

Basement Progress: The non-load bearing part of the wall between the 2 main spaces has been removed as well as the rest of the wall on the left. The column on the left is the temporary one we added in September. The one in the middle is original. We will be adding a new column near the temporary one and one to the right (near the Ikea island) and removing the one in the middle per our structural engineer's recommendations.

Basement Progress: The wall in the distance has been completely stripped. You can also see our lovely (but extremely heavy) vintage safe (it came with the house). Column in the middle to be removed after the 2 new columns are installed.

Back door with stripped foundation walls. I actually kind of like the looks of this. Although we need to seal off these walls, they have a beautiful quality to them. I also like the beadboard and stone together. Very rustic farmhouse!

Mr. S was also busy this weekend in the basement! He has been very inspired to get the basement stripped back to its original foundation and I have been finding it is surprisingly rewarding to clear out the basement. We also had the plumber over to start mapping out the demolition of the old plumbing in the disgusting basement bathroom (so ugly in fact that I can’t show you a picture). Once we get the bathroom plumbing capped (hopefully later this week) we can start to figure out the new plumbing arrangement for the bathroom down there (which has to be done before they install the french drain and new skim coat on the floor). I also need to start looking at shower stalls. I am thinking of that opens at the corner. Maybe like this…

Round Corner Shower by ABS, $560 at Home Depot

For the bathroom we will also be using our old vintage sink that use to be in our upstairs bathroom (yeah, free and cute!). We are still deciding whether or not we will reuse the existing toilet. hmmm…. More decisions to make!

Also on the list this week is getting our Electrician over to remove some of the old wiring and our contractor to see about adding the new columns and their foundations.

P.S. Andi and Neil’s kitchen is finished (well except for the pretty accessories) and I am going to head over there to take some pictures. So stay tuned for an update later this week!

In -Basement, -Victorian, OUR HOME
permalink

Fall Is Here

October 14, 2011

A Barn Spider (one of several in the backyard). The kids LOVE to watch him. Fortunately I am told that they are not poisonous. This one (at least the 3 generation at this location) lives right on the deck where the kids can visit him often. We also found out the Charlotte (from Charlotte's Web) is a Barn Spider. Apparently they rebuild their web every night. No words yet!

This week has been crazy for me and I am feeling pretty worn out at the moment and I am really looking forward to the weekend. The last couple of days the weather has been drizzly, not a good pick me up! Fortunately the sky is starting to brighten up today although the ground is wet and the leaves have started to drop (and the mosquitoes are still out in force). It is really feeling like fall! I decided that it was a good morning to take some pictures of the yard (while I let the kids run around for a little bit). So I hope you enjoy!

The birch tree is starting to drop its leaves. I love how the small yellow leaves look, unfortunately it is difficult and time consuming to get them out of the planting bed.

This lace cap hydrangea is still going! The pink flowers have faded to this lovely pinky wine color. My other hydrangeas gave up long ago.

Most things have stopped blooming but the toad lilies are just getting starting to reach their full bloom and should go for another month or so.

I planted some lily tubers this spring (on special at Home Depot). It took forever for them to come up. It is a pleasant surprise that a couple of them finally decided to bloom, especially so late in the season.

These chives look lovely. I planted these from seed several years ago in a pot on my deck. They survived the winter so I put them in the ground. They have been happily growing ever since. I quite like the seed heads (which were lovely white balls over the summer). Plus they are handy for dinner!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! We will be eating lots of apples and hopefully hanging out at home (although the basement demolition is still lurking and there are still a few perennials that need to go in the ground). It might be time to turn the gas logs in our fireplace back on in the Living Room. We barely got to use them this spring (by the time they were installed). Of course this means that the batcave and the pink princess castle will have to move to another location.

 

In -Victorian, FAMILY, GARDENING & PLANTS, OUR HOME
permalink

Mood Board: Early Fall

October 11, 2011

Early Fall Mood Board

I decided to take a mental break and put together a mood board for early fall.  I’ve been focused  a lot on work (both at work and at home) lately and have been feeling like I need to let my own style peek out a little more.

Kite Hill by Paul Octavious

First Snow by Paul Octavious

I am in LOVE with these 2 photos (Kite Hill & First Snow)  by photographer Paul Octavious available on 20×200 (each $50 for 11″x14″). I like the comparision of the 2 seasons but also the bits of color and whimsy of the children paired with the strong horizon. I used these as my jumping off point (which is kind of funny since it is currently fall not summer or winter). 

English Arm Chair by Hickory Chair

I next chose a comfy chair by Hicory Chair to contrast some of the brighter colors of the space. I love the beautiful “english arm” and deep leather, it is exactly what I want to sink into now that the weather has started to get colder.  I paired this with a beautiful pillow from Etsy that brings out the colors from the photographs but in a more sophisticated but still playful way. I also used a beautifully textured throw from Terrain but no longer available.

I decided to make the big pop of color on the floor. This is an amazing rug by Angela Adams. I have admired her use of pattern for some time but really like the texture and pattern of this hand tufted yellow rug. To continue with the texture and to contrast with the smooth leather of the chair I chose a paper-maiche side table by Stray Dog design for West Elm ($149). It is crafted out 100% recycled materials.

For the walls I chose a moody blueish gray painted on a textured wallpaper. I really like the concept of textured wallpaper, although only recently have more modern patterns been available. This one is from Graham and Brown. Finally I chose a curtain in a similar but slightly darker color and a nice heavy weight (West Elm, $29-69).

What do you think? Would you like to sit here and read a book?

In -Living Room, INTERIOR DESIGN CLIENTS, INTERIOR PRODUCTS, FURNITURE & FABRICS
permalink

Our Basement Part 3: Striping, Cleaning, Fixing & Updating

October 10, 2011

The largest Basement "room" under the Kitchen (walls to be demolished)

I wish I had more exciting images to show today but we spent a good part of the weekend working on the basement (and emptying out what we could to the garage storage loft). Basements in old houses are a funny thing, they were never meant to serve a purpose except house the boiler/furnace. They usually only had dirt floors and very low ceilings. The walls are typically stone rubble with a parge coat on it to keep the water out. Our basement has unusually high ceilings for a house of our vintage (that may be because it was built up on a mound). The previous owner (aka Tony that Cheap SOB) “finished our basement” back in the 1970s. That meant that he covered the exterior foundation walls with a stud wall, filled it with insulation, put up a plastic vapor barrier and covered with paneling. Unfortunately before he did this, he did not find a way to remove the inevitable moisture build up from the walls. Instead that moisture has been stuck behind these walls for 30+ years, creating a nasty mess! We have known of the potential issues for a while, but with the summer rain (20+ inches in August alone) we have had to make the basement a priority. So for the time being the plans for the Master Bedroom are on hold while we do some demolition and come up with a game plan for the basement.

Foundation after stud wall was removed. You can see the parging is still partially there.

What to do with an old basement?

Ideally in a basement like ours, which gets damp in the summer and wet in extreme weather (when the water table rises to a high level) you would parge the walls, install a french drain around the inside perimeter, connect this to a sump pump, seal the slab with a water barrier and call it a day.

In our case we need to use the basement, not for every day living but for:

-laundry (oh, how I wish we had space for an upstairs laundry)
-storage and use of our various tools
-extra pantry storage
-bathroom (there is one down there now, I don’t think I would have added one otherwise)
-My dream of an extra space for possibly an elliptical machine or for working on larger projects
-or Mr. S’s dream of a space to play drums and rock out with the kids

Inspiration Image from Martha Stewart Living

The Game Plan

Create a rustic but usable basement! Kind of like the image above from Martha Stewart Living (image from Designer Tricia Foley‘s basement. Photographed by Eric Piasecki). I first saw this basement on doorsixteen.

October:

-Finish Demolishing the stud walls in front of all of the foundation walls (we always wear special replaceable cartridge masks that are recommended for both mold, lead and asbestos and clothes that immediately go into the wash after working).
-Salvage beadboard where possible for re-installation
-Demolish the old shower and prep the connections for a future bath
-Demolish the couple of interior walls
-Remove all of the old electric, including lights and outlets
-Install 2 new columns and footings (per my structural engineer’s recommendations)
-Install new angle per structural engineer’s recommendation
-Have Drainage contractor out (it took over a month to get an appointment to have him even look at it!)

November (somehow I have a feeling this may be later then this):
-Clean up and parge foundation walls
-Cut out foundation at exterior walls and install french drain system (this will have a special lip to collect water from the walls and send it to the sump pump)
-Install new sump pump system w/ battery backup (drain out front of house)
-Install new skim coat to concrete floor w/ waterproofing layer

December:
-Have my general contractor install new walls in front of foundation walls using an air gap, pressure-treated sill plates, mineral wool insulation (which isn’t affected by moisture) and cladding walls with horizontal beadboard, using a plastic baseboard product that will have exposed screws, such that we can check the condition of the wall behind
-Install new electrical outlets and lights (I am thinking LED downlights)
-Install new interior partitions to create a bath w/ shower, laundry nook, workroom and large double room space for storage and multifunction use.
-Install new plumbing fixtures
-Install a new ceiling using a beadboard system that would allow access above in certain areas (i.e. where the electric and plumbing come into the building and where there are water connections)
-Whitewash all of the beadboard
-Install a yet to be determined floor (Mr. S. likes cork, I’m still investigating whether it will be suitable for a basement application installed over a plastic and plywood sub-floor product).

Phew, I’m tired just thinking about it!

In -Basement, OUR HOME
permalink

Andi & Neil’s Kitchen Part 13b: Cabinet Door Hardware Winner!

September 23, 2011

Hand Painted Red & Blue Knob w/ Silver Insert, $7.99 from potteryknobs.com

After lots of debate Andi and Neil have agreed on a hand painted ceramic knob for their kitchen cabinets! It only took 44 knob choices on Pinterest. I’m very glad that they decided on one that they can both live with. I think it is a lovely choice. Which is great news because I was starting to picture someone feeling angry every time they opened their cabinet doors!

Tile and Knob Rendering

As a side note, we looked for a knob that matched their Fiestaware. It turns out such a knob exists! The company (Bauerware) just appears to be VERY bad at advertising. It took a LOT of searching, but here it is….

Fiestaware Inspired Ceramic Knobs, $15 by Bauerware

These are available in a couple of different sizes for all of your retro cabinet needs.

 

In -Andi and Neil's Kitchen, -Kitchen, -Victorian, INTERIOR DESIGN CLIENTS, INTERIOR PRODUCTS, FURNITURE & FABRICS
permalink

Andi & Neil’s Kitchen Part 13a: Cabinet Door Hardware & Tile

September 21, 2011

Inspiration for tile from "Sarah's Summer House" on HGTV

I stopped over at Andi and Neil’s house on Monday to check out some sample marble tile samples that they picked out over the weekend. We started out with this tile inspiration from Sarah’s Summer House on HGTV.

"Biltmore" Marble Tile in 2" Hexagon Pattern

"Biltmore" Marble Tile in Basketweave

This inspiration lead to these a couple of potential backsplashes from the Tile Shop. These were in a marble called “Biltmore”. Unfortunately this name doesn’t match any other manufacturers and these are only available online (they don’t have any stores near here), requiring ordering samples and waiting for delivery. The prices were quite reasonable, but we wanted to check and see if we could find something local.

Polished Ming Green Marble Tile w/ Granite & Painted Cabinets

Andi and Neil took a look this weekend and picked up these samples up at Century Tile . This tile looks to be the same or very similar to the “Biltmore” but is called “Ming Green”. We are all in agreement that the variation in the marble is quite lovely. Two questions came up:

1. Was the tile color TOO simliar in color to the cabinets.
2. What size and shape tile should we use.

Our decision was that it was okay to be somewhat monochromatic with this but that we should pick a different contrasting color for the cabinet knobs (more on that in a bit).  Also the tile looks quite nice with the granite counters, picking up some of the green flecks. And after some discussion we decided that the 3″x6″ tile across the backsplash would look clean and not take away from the nice variation in the marble tiles. If there were a bigger backsplash behind the stove I would recommend changing patterns, but because the backsplash is fairly low and continuous I think this is the best decision.

So now that the tile is decided on what do we chose for the knobs. Andi pulled out some of her fiestaware to look at for inspiration. The “persimmon” color (orangy red coral color shown in bottom left of picture above) is a lovely contrast to all of the cool blues and greens. This meant back to the drawing board for more knob options. I had trouble finding just the right color. Here are some of the knobs I came up with:

1. Coral Ceramic Knob, $8

2. Red Granita Knob, $8

3. Resin Knob, $14

4. Ruby Glass Knob, $3.49

5. Honey Glass Knob, $2.99

6. Amethyst glass knob, $3.49

7. Amber Glass Knob, ~ $5.50

8. Blush Glass Knob, ~$4

9. Button Knob, $8

List of Knobs:
1. Melon Knob in Coral, Anthropologie, $8

2. Red Granita Knob, Anthropolgie, $8

3. Resin Kelmscott Knob in Plum, Anthropolgie ,$14

4. 5. & 6. Ruby, Honey & Amethyst Glass Knobs, Look in the Attic, $2.99-$3.49

7. Amber Glass Knob, Amazon, 6 for $33.30

8. Blush Rose Glass Knob, Amazon, 12 for $42

9. Orange Resin Button Knob, Anthropologie, $8

My preference is for #1 but I think any of these would look nice. I also did a quick rendering to see what the space will look like with the tile and a bright knob. It isn’t a great rendering but it does give a general feel for the tile and knobs.

What is your preference?

Quick Rendering with Tile and Bright Knobs

In -Andi and Neil's Kitchen, -Kitchen, -Victorian, INTERIOR DESIGN CLIENTS
permalink

The Sideyard & A Pair of Blueberry Bushes

September 19, 2011

My gardening helper!

After edging and weeding

This past weekend was the Scott Arboretum Plant Sale (held every other year). In past years I have bought a LOT. This year, I definitely did not need as many plants. I am finally at a point where most of changes and additions in the garden are smaller. That said, the sideyard is a bit of a mess. We added the new steps and a bluestone landing back in May, then I proceeded to ignore the area, except for the occasional mow/weed wacking. The area was in desperate need of some edging, weeding and planting.

New Steps with Blueberry Bushes on either side

I also decided that this would be a good spot for blueberries. I have thought about planting blueberry bushes for the last few years, although I hadn’t found a good spot until now. This area is in sun for a good part of the day, so I thought it would be a good choice. Additionally the blueberry bush leaves turn a pleasant reddish color in the fall (and go with the coloring of the front porch). I picked up 2 of the “Patriot” variety. These get 3′-4′ tall and wide (smaller then a lot of the other varieties) and tend to look good most of the year. I think the kids will really like being able to pick blueberries, although I have a feeling we will be covering these with mesh so that the birds don’t take them first.  This area is right off of the kitchen, which is nice too.

Sad and embarassing weedy patch! Home of future raised bed. I also need to transplant the cedar tree that seeded itself here.

Part of this area is also going to be designated for a raised planting bed for veggies. I haven’t started on the future planting bed area yet, but I did manage to get the edging done and began to battle back the pachysandra. The pachysandra was brutal and I know there are a ton of roots still there (they tend to break when you are trying to pull them out). This will be a multi-year battle! At least it is mostly gone from the upper portion of the hill.

In -Porch, -Victorian, GARDENING & PLANTS, OUR HOME
permalink

Our Basement Part 2: Does it look like I own a paint store?

September 15, 2011

This is the shelf AFTER I got rid of the old paint cans. The top shelf is exterior paint and the bottom shelf is interior.

So it is time for some more embarrassing photos of the house! Believe it or not I just got rid of about 12 oil based paint cans and miscellaneous chemicals today (before these photos were taken). It was hazardous waste drop off day at one of the local parks. If I had been more organized I would have dropped off some old computer equipment too, but I was proud of myself for at least getting rid of some gross old paint cans. Since we are now trying to deal more proactively with our basement (which is putting a damper on the master bedroom work) I decided it was time to spend a couple of hours sorting through the paint. So on Sunday I spent the time while Maisie was napping trying to get rid of some of the paint. It doesn’t help that we have 6 7 colors of paint on the exterior of the house. We also had left over paint from the “not quite right” color selections. Plus we have matching stain from the garage and shed. As a side note, I guess you can see our preferred exterior paint provider. I love my MAB exterior paint. MAB is now owned by Sherwin Williams, and I am waiting for them to close my local MAB store (where there is a Sherwin Williams only a couple of blocks away). Then I won’t be able to get my beloved Seashore paint! Our whole exterior is painted in the seashore paint. You can see that I am not as loyal with my interior paint. Most of the time for that I am lazy and hop over to the local Home Depot.  For our next painting project I am looking forward to trying the relatively new Behr Ultra (primer and paint in one with low VOC).

Pile of latex paint cans waiting to be dried out for the garbage.

Latex Paint Cans drying out on the steps to the basement so that they can be thrown out (don't you just love astroturf).

The pile on the floor is the paint that will be next to be set out for drying and throwing out. I am currently using the back steps to the basement. These are covered by a plywood door (to keep unsuspecting animals from investigating) but won’t be offgassing into the house. Hopefully these will be dry for next week’s garbage. If not I may need to resort to the kitty litter method, which involves pouring the old latex paint into a cardboard box with a bunch of kitty litter to help it dry out more quickly. So far I think most of this paint will dry on its own. A lot of it is quite old, so the drying process started long ago!

I did manage to combine a bunch of the exterior paint cans. Because of the complicated house paint scheme we ended up with at least 2 partially opened cans of each of the main colors. Fortunately now that has been compressed and now I will be able to find each color more easily for projects like the porch swing.

Paint Sample Reference from www.domestically-speaking.com

I also have plans of putting together a couple of rings of paint sticks containing all of the interior and exterior paint colors, for handy reference. Kind of like this one I found on Pinterest which was from Domestically Speaking.

In -Basement, -Paint Colors
permalink

Andi & Neil’s Kitchen Part 13: Cabinet Door Hardware

September 14, 2011

Time to Pick Some Cabinet Door Hardware!

It is funny that sometimes the small stuff in a renovation is what causes the most controversy! Andi and Neil’s kitchen is almost done but there are a few things left to decide on including the hardware for the upper cabinets and tile for the backsplash (the contractor will be back in a week or two to finish the last of the things up once everything is delivered).

Handle Options: Final Selection Brushed Nickel on the Right

Andi and Neil found nice simple handles for the drawers on the lower cabinets. They are by Martha Stewart for Home Depot are quite reasonably priced (around $4.50) but have a nice heft to them. They are brushed nickel and go nicely with the Ikea faucet. But for the upper cabinets, I typically recommend knobs. I think visually they look nicer at eye level and I think it is a good opportunity to bring in some pop of color and/or texture. The other nice thing about using a knob is that they are easy to switch out. If you use a handle you are forever stuck with the hole spacing.

1. Handpainted Ceramic Knob, $11

2. Handpainted Ceramic Knob, $5

3. Green Glazed Knob, $3.29

4. Custom Made to Order Map Knobs, $20

5. Jade Milkglass Knob, $5.39

6. Chevron Patterned Knob, $8

7. Clear Glass Knob, $5.39

8. Seashell Shaped Bone Knob, $10

 

I’ve rounded up a few of my suggestions here but we can’t seem to come to an agreement. It is crazy that we were in agreement about the cabinets, the layout and the overall colors. I stayed out of their selection for the counters, but they picked out a lovely dark granite. I was a little worried about it because the sample photos I saw online were a bit muddled looking, but the actual slabs are quite lovely and have a nice depth to them, that you couldn’t get with quartz (my original recommendation). For some reason I feel more vested in the selection of the knobs. I guess because I see it as a lost opportunity to bring another layer of texture and color to the space. Andi and Neil are not afraid of color (their living room is dark purple and the front bay of their house is periwinkle) so I am surprised to see reluctance on choosing something a little more fun.

I REALLY love the map knobs. I thought that Andi and Neil would be into them too. They have lived in and traveled to lots of places, so I thought customizing them to those places would be cool. I also found a second person on Etsy selling them for $10 a piece (rather than 20). I also found a posting on making your own custom knobs with printed paper and resin. Then the knobs could be done for even less. Then they could really pick out something interesting! Although now I think it time for me to step out of the decision even though I am a little sad about it.

Which ones would you choose?

List of Products:

1. Handpainted Ceramic Knobs, Fair Trade, $10.95 a piece. Green Heart Shop.
2.  Blue and Red Floral Ceramic Knobs, Set of 4 $20. WorldMarket.
3. Glazed Green knob. $3.29. Cabinetparts.com
4. Custom Map Pulls, 4 for $80. Etsy. Another option for $10.
5. Milk Glass Cabinet Knob in Milk Green (Jade), $5.39. House of Antique Hardware.
6. Chevron Patterned Turquoise and white ceramic knob, $7.99. Potteryknobs.com.
7. Clear Glass Cabinet Knob, $5.39. House of Antique Hardware.
8. Seashell Shaped Hand Painted Bone Knob, $9.99. Potteryknobs.com

In -Andi and Neil's Kitchen, -Kitchen, -Victorian, INTERIOR DESIGN CLIENTS
permalink

Painting Ikea Kitchen Cabinet Doors & Drawer Fronts

September 12, 2011

Painted Cabinet Door w/ matching painted trim (still waiting on final touch up on crown molding)

So are you thinking about purchasing Ikea Kitchen Cabinets and having the doors and trim custom painted? Below are some things to consider if you are headed down this path. The good news is that it can be done beautifully. The bad news is that it take preparation, organization, patience and finding a good refinisher. Here is a link to a good article from Carol Reed on this very subject. Also Sarah Richardson has used this method on several of her episodes before including on Sarah’s House (the farmhouse series).

Installed Painted Cabinets and Trim. I think you would be hard pressed to know that these are Ikea cabinets!

Pros:

-You can have cost effective cabinets, with a custom color to your liking. Typically the painter can match any paint swatch you provide.

-Because the boxes on Ikea cabinets are never exposed, you don’t have to paint them, and can even start installing them while everything else is at the painters.

-By having the cabinet doors professionally spray painted, you will get a durable finish. The last thing you want to do is hand paint new cabinets and then have the finish wear off in a couple of years.

-Because you are having a custom finish applied, you don’t need to use Ikea crown molding for the cabinets. We chose larger molding for Andi and Neil’s kitchen.  Also if you are mixing Ikea cabinets with some custom millwork, you can have them all painted together for a seamless look.

Cabinet doors, just delivered (good sides facing inwards)

Cons:

-Plan for the extra time it takes to have these painted (typically 2-4 weeks). The good news is that you can typically start installing the boxes from the cabinets while you wait for the doors, drawer fronts, trim, baseboard and panels.

-Professionally painting is not cheap. Plan on spending $35-60 a door to sand, prime & paint. Plus the cost of paint ($100-200) and possibly a set up charge. Also keep in mind that you also need to have all of the panels and trim painted as well. For a medium size kitchen, plan on spending $1000-2000 on painting. You will probably also want to pay to have a sample panel painted to make sure you are happy with it before you commit to ALL of the pieces. Try picking up an extra panel in the As-Is section at Ikea. Then you can have it painted while you wait for your cabinets to arrive.

-You will need to divide your Ikea order into 2 piles, boxes and doors and trim. Then either you will have to have the pieces to be painted dropped off or picked up. The Ikea delivery people are not going to help you in this. With Andi and Neil’s delivery, we tried to divide the boxes as they were coming in the door (then had to double check after they left). Before you send this off to the painter, triple check that all of the right parts are there! Also make sure to remove any miscellaneous hardware from the boxes before sending it off. We had to hunt down some missing attachment brackets at the last minute that we misplaced.

-You will need to match the paint for inevitable touch up (particularly on trim pieces).

Tidaholm Upper Cabinet

Tidaholm Lower Drawer Cabinet

Adel Door

Ramsjo Door

Lilje Door

Door Style Selection:

This is one of the most important steps in determining whether it makes sense to use Ikea cabinets. We chose the Tidaholm Oak Cabinet (in a clear finish) for our starting point. This cabinet has now been discontinued! This is very unfortunate, because it has a simple shaker look with solid oak frames and jointed corners. Currently Ikea is offering the Adel, but the joint in the frame is a v-groove which doesn’t look as high end. Also the frame proportions feel too wide. They are also offering the Ramsjo which is beach and the Lilje, which is an oak door with a raised panel. Unfortunately the Lilje only comes in a dark stain, which will make paint coverage more difficult. I haven’t seen the Ramsjo in person, so I can’t comment on it, but it looks like it might have some potential (even in its original color).

Andi and Neil's Cabinet Paint Color Options

Paint:

If you are going to go to the expense of having your doors professionally painted, you should choose a color that is unique, but timeless enough that it won’t look dated in a few years. For me, the go to for paint color inspiration is Sarah Richardson (from Sarah’s House, Sarah 101…). We used her own cottage kitchen as our inspiration for Andi and Neil’s kitchen. We decided to use Benjamin Moore Wedgewood (one of the colors that she used on some of her accent cabinets).

Different types of wood take paint and stain better than others. Our doors are oak and the refinisher warned us that we would not get a totally opaque finish with the oak, and should expect to see some variation. We actually preferred that since we still wanted the cabinets to look like wood. Typically a beech or maple will take the paint more evenly.

We used Delaware Valley Furniture Restoration (in Kennett Square, PA) and they typically charges $30-50 a door to refinish. They required drop-off but delivered the painted doors and trim. They wrapped the doors well (keeping the good side protected).  Also they were good about keeping the paint, so that we could have additional pieces painted, which was very useful since we ended up needing several extra pieces painted, due to several issues during construction.

Final Thoughts:

After going through this process and seeing the result,  I don’t know any other way of getting this look at this price point. If you are up for the hassle of getting the cabinet painted you too can have a custom look for a fraction of the cost of custom or even semi-custom cabinets.

In -Andi and Neil's Kitchen, -Kitchen, -Victorian, INTERIOR DESIGN CLIENTS
permalink