Here’s the to do list for the kitchen update:
| Issue | Plan |
| 1. Popcorn ceilings | Back Burner |
| 2. Popcorn on soffits | Removed and primed |
| 3. Gold walls | Change to buttery yellow |
| 4. Green paint on cabinets and cabinet hardware | Change look, paint, new hardware |
| 5. 80’s light fixtures. | update |
| 6. Counter tops | update |
| 7. Black toe kick | prime and paint with cabinets |
| 8. Spindle railing | live with for now |
| 9. Vinyl flooring | live with for now |
| 10. Electrical issues – more outlets on back splash and hard wire light over sink with a switch | get electrician to take care of |
I’m not going to worry about the ceilings unless I decide to stay here permanently and I seriously doubt that will happen. If I’m going to put this up for sale I want to spend as little as possible while maximizing the resale amount so that means doing a lot of work myself and not buying new cabinets.
I have already scraped the popcorn off the soffit and primed them for painting. When I pulled the board that connected the cabinets on each side of the sink I realized the popcorn on the bottom of the soffit wasn’t going to work so that has been scraped off and primed as well.
I have to resolve the light over the kitchen since the current light was attached to the board across the front that’s been eliminated. Not into the scrolled woodwork and it opened up the window so it looks a lot bigger.
An electrician came out a couple of days ago to quote installing the bathroom fan/heater/light, hard wiring a light fixture over the kitchen sink, and adding two outlets to the kitchen back splash area. He emailed a quote the next day of $200 for all that. I’m totally on board with that and asked to get it scheduled.
The same man also happens to do cabinets and countertops on the side so I talked to him about my ideas to improve the appearance of my cabinets. I showed him the pictures I had gotten from The Lettered Cottage. The “before” cabinets are almost identical to mine and I would love to achieve their “after”.
From The Lettered Cottage
From The Lettered Cottage
These are the only picture they posted of how the change in cabinet appearance was done. I emailed asking for details on thickness of the wood and how it was attached but never received a response.
From The Lettered Cottage
I don’t want the middle piece, but I want the Shaker like frame. He had all sorts of ideas and seemed to have no problem helping me update my kitchen in a low-cost way. He thought he could have all the wood for the doors and drawers ready for around $200. What a deal.
The cabinet-maker suggested cutting off the lip of the door and then adding another life with the window frame and then adding invisible hinges. I’m not sure about making the inset of the doors a full 3/4″ instead of its current 3/8″ and was somewhat aghast at the cost of invisible hinges. I found $11 a pair to be a common price and with 20 doors that $220 for hinges alone compared to just updating to black hinges for around $40.
He checked out the cabinets and said they were custom and well-built so they were definitely worth updating and painting.
I’m hoping this will work out, but also realize people are kind of flaky so I’m not totally confident it will happen. If I don’t hear from the guy I will check other options.
Note: Despite emails and calls the guy went MIA so I had to come up with a different plan.
