Author Archives: TheDIYGirl

Unpacking kitchen and painting prep

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

Unpacking finally.. and partially. I decided since the cabinet frames were painted and I was hitting a brick wall on finding 1/4″ MDF at a lumber yard that would cut it into 3″ strips so I could update the cabinet doors that I should go ahead and unpack some boxes so I could cook more. Unpacking the boxes would also make it easier for me to get to the walls to remove the remaining chair rail, repair the drywall, and paint the walls. You can see the chair rail running along the wall behind the microwave. Besides, it was a … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting tips

Posted on by September 13, 2013avatar
Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting hints - The DIY Girl

I won’t go into detail — after everything else I’ve written about painting kitchen cabinets it would be about interesting as, well, watching paint dry. So just some observations. Read the label As mentioned I am using Benjamin Moore’s ADVANCE Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint – Satin Finish (792). I got curious about Alkyd — their site says Water Reducible Alkyd.  Apparently the major components of an alkyd coating are fatty acids and triglyceride oils and are not petroleum products, but slow the drying time so you end up with a harder finish. On kitchen cabinets this is a good thing. If you try … Read more…

Replacing ceiling light with ceiling fan

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

Over the years I have replaced quite a few ceiling lights with a ceiling fan/light. Since I tend to be frugal with my air conditioning dollars, fans are important for comfort in the hotter months. Ceiling lights don’t require a whole lot of support, unless they have to be a chandelier so support is the biggest issue when replacing a standard ceiling fixture with a fan. It’s not just the weight of the fan, but the vibration and movement when it’s running. I have had great luck using the Reiker 33000. It’s a really solid support that inserts through the … Read more…

The use of paper towels – an opinion

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

This is purely an opinion and maybe a discussion point, but I’m pretty much opposed to the extended use of paper towels. I have been at the homes of friends and watched in amazement as they roll off yards of paper towels to wipe up things and then throw the whole mess in the trash. The whole time I’m puzzled why they didn’t just wipe it up with rags. When I use paper towels I try to use rags as much as possible and try to limit my use of paper towels to things that are too gross to put … Read more…

Quality paint brushes vs. foam paint brushes

Posted on by September 3, 2015avatar

I recently read a post by another blogger who stated she only uses disposable rollers and foam brushes. She admitted it wasn’t “green”, but it was easy. While I agree (and love) the ease, there are overriding issues with these two brush types. Why I hate bristle brushes When I was a little girl my skills were not deemed good enough to paint, but they were deemed good enough for clean up. So while the big people painted, the pans, rollers, and brushes were handed to me to clean. And the big people were picky. Needless to say I got … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting boxes

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting base - The DIY Girl

I have been very frustrated that other blogs have introduced the idea of a Shaker kitchen cabinet update and then provided next to NO details on how to do it. No mention of what wood, what thickness, what width strips, how they cut it, what type of adhesive they used. Nothing. Very frustrating. So for better or worse, I’m going to provide excrutiating detail of what I do with this Shaker kitchen cabinet update. I will tell you what I do and whether it works or not. The paint Since I want the paint to bind really well to the … Read more…

My kitchen motivation

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

I moved here knowing I didn’t like the kitchen in a lot of ways. So my way of figuratively holding a gun to my head was to pack a temporary kitchen kit with the promise I would not unpack the kitchen boxes until the cabinets were painted. That kitchen kit: 1 dinner plate 1 sandwich plate 4 plastic bowls 1 soup cup 2 coffee cups 3 water glasses 2 knives 2 spoons 2 forks 3 food prep knives 1 12″ skillet 1 8″ skillet 1 pan That’s it. Okay — I did include a wine bottle opener and plastic wine … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – adding trim

Posted on by February 18, 2015avatar
http://www.thediygirl.comshaker-kitchen-cabinet-update-prep - The DIY Girl

While painting I realized this would be the time to do something about the gaps between the tops of the wall cabinets and the soffit above them. I wanted molding, but it needed to be fairly narrow so it wouldn’t interfere with the cabinet doors. I went to the store shopping for wood molding but couldn’t find the simple cove look I wanted in primed pine and unwillingly stumbled onto what may be one of my new favorite things — polystyrene molding.  As I drove home with the molding I figured I had made a mistake. It probably would disintegrate when I … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting prep

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting prep - The DIY Girl

I believe the first thing you need to do when contemplating painting cabinets is to take a real long look and decide how much. Just the face of the cabinet frames and the outside of the doors? Paint everything including the insides. Personally, even if you held a really big gun (and I mean something like a bazooka) you could not make me paint the inside of cabinets and fortunately I have cabinets with decent interiors. How much do you want to paint? So how much did I want to paint. The current green is only on the outside of … Read more…

Light, outlets, and bathroom fan

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

I had gotten a quote from an electrician for installing the bathroom fan/heater/light, adding a wired box with switch for a light over the kitchen sink, and adding a couple of outlets on the back splash that only had 2 outlets. He had quoted $200 which I thought was really reasonable. Two guys were here for 4 hours. The light and outlets in the kitchen went in easily. They pulled the wall cabinet off the wall on the right side of the sink so they could hide the holes they would have to make to get the wire into the … Read more…