As you know, I am in the middle of redecorating our master bedroom. Actually, I never really decorated it when we moved into this house. I finally got the ball rolling by convincing my husband to get rid of that window on the left side of our bed. Now, I know you're thinking, "What?" but, just hear me out...
{before}
{before}I've mentioned before that I like things to be orderly & symmetrical. Well, as you can tell, there is no window on the other side of our bed. It has bothered me since the day we moved in 8 years ago. But, the bigger reason is that it matched directly up to our neighbor's window. We could talk to each other through the windows & it was like we were in the same room. Too close for comfort for me.
When I mentioned, to my dearest, that we should close off that window he said things like, "It's fine like it is or it will cost too much money or you're crazy." You, know, endearing things like that. :) But, I was a determined woman, so 8 years later, he gave in. This is what we did {the short version}.
When I mentioned, to my dearest, that we should close off that window he said things like, "It's fine like it is or it will cost too much money or you're crazy." You, know, endearing things like that. :) But, I was a determined woman, so 8 years later, he gave in. This is what we did {the short version}.
{before}1} Carefully, took off the baseboard. I say "carefully" because we put it back on.
2} Filled in the window with a piece of cheap plywood.
3} Bought a miter saw. Yes, we decided to buy a miter saw for each other for our anniversary, which was the following week. How romantic! Actually, I was very excited. I have wanted one for quite some time.
4} Put on our protective gear...sexy!
This is my hubby {and, yes, I do think he's sexy in his protective eye wear, especially when he's supporting my crazy ideas} :)
2} Filled in the window with a piece of cheap plywood.
3} Bought a miter saw. Yes, we decided to buy a miter saw for each other for our anniversary, which was the following week. How romantic! Actually, I was very excited. I have wanted one for quite some time.
4} Put on our protective gear...sexy!
This is my hubby {and, yes, I do think he's sexy in his protective eye wear, especially when he's supporting my crazy ideas} :)
Okay, gals, here is a scary picture of me in my eye wear. Not so sexy. I can't believe I'm sharing it with you.5} Bought a few sheets of 4x8 bead board paneling. We chose the wider beadboard look, pre-primed. Then, nailed it up with a nail gun {that we borrowed...who knows, maybe the next anniversary gift, huh?}. We were lucky that we have an 8 foot ceiling...exactly the right height!
6} Nailed a baseboard along the top for trim. It worked best with the angled ceiling. We replaced the baseboard and then trimmed the sides with a small flat trim to finish it up.
7} Puttied, caulked, painted and........
Here's what the window looks like from the outside. We left the shade inside the window, so the neighbors have no idea what we've done, since this is what they saw most of the time anyway.
I soooooo love it!
The redecorating has a ways to go. I am working on sewing up some new bedding & need to decide if I'm going to paint those night stands or not...and the lamps. Got to do something with those.
and, of course, accessorize! I need to put something on that big, beautiful wall! So, what do you think?
6} Nailed a baseboard along the top for trim. It worked best with the angled ceiling. We replaced the baseboard and then trimmed the sides with a small flat trim to finish it up.
7} Puttied, caulked, painted and........
Here's what the window looks like from the outside. We left the shade inside the window, so the neighbors have no idea what we've done, since this is what they saw most of the time anyway.
I soooooo love it!
The redecorating has a ways to go. I am working on sewing up some new bedding & need to decide if I'm going to paint those night stands or not...and the lamps. Got to do something with those.
and, of course, accessorize! I need to put something on that big, beautiful wall! So, what do you think?
And here's the after...
I am a chicken and couldn't bring myself to tackle a job like this on my own so my sister, April, flew all the way from Utah to help me paint them. She has done this several times in her own houses so I was confident everything would be OK. I hoped! Scared me to death because if it didn't I was in big trouble with my honey.
Then we took the cabinet doors outside onto the grass, sanded them, sprayed the front twice and the back once with the chosen paint. {That's April, below, the best sister in the world for helping me out.} Then, after taping off the cabinets, we hand painted all the base cabinets. We added a second coat before the glazing began.
April painted the island a darker shade than the rest of the cabinets. The color looked like hot chocolate, yummy.To finish off the island April glazed like crazy (mocha color) and we used a toothbrush to fleck said glaze onto the surface. We finished this with an oil based, quick dry polyurethane to hold up to all the people living in this house.
We found some really neat iron hardware to complete the "furniture" look.
The part that took the longest was glazing the rest of the kitchen. I didn't want an all over gaze, so April painstakingly hand painted the glaze into the crevices of the doors and around the cabinet bases with an artist paintbrush. It took about three movies to finish the glazing! {Do you figure your project lengths by the number of movies it take to complete them?}
After two coats of polyurethane on the base cabinets we were ready to put it all back together.
Believe it or not, the entire project only took two days to complete, and the results are amazing. Of course after finishing the cabinets we needed to freshen up the tops of the cabinets for the season. Isn't accessorizing always the most fun?
