Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I've Been Stripping Most Of The Summer!

Seeing as nothing much is happening on the political scene, except Wayne Easter from PEI making a fool of himself again, I thought you might be interested in my new hobby..... stripping! HA!

I started with one small project, and it has expanded from there.

I forgot to get a before picture of my first attempt (above), but I have some of my next attempt.

A $10 garage sale find, that got transformed into this:


I did take some time off of from stripping to take in the new Jurassic Forest, it's worth every penny they charge, ($13 for adults, and $10 for teens) all the dinosaurs are animated and life sized.

I can't strip tomorrow because it is school registration for my boys, that's $420.00 and doesn't even include supplies. Ouch. So much for "free" schooling.

My current stripping project is my kitchen cabinets, they are beautiful oak cabinets that needed refinishing, I am hoping to get it done by Christmas, as I don't want to be stripping when my parents come for the holidays.

I am keeping the oak doors natural, and I'm thinking of painting the the rest of the cabinets a green to match my plants (You can see the samples in the picture below). On top of new hinges and handles it appears we need new appliances and a new counter top, but I hate the new fad for everything stainless steel and granite, both are so cold, and won't go well with my old fashioned oak cabinets. Any ideas would be appreciated.

You can see by the finished doors (hours of sanding with my new orbital (birthday present) and mouse sanders) that I want to get rid of the old dark manufactured cabinet look and lighten up the kitchen. I also want a gas stove with 5 burners, but that will have to wait, probably for years. Sigh!

If you don't hear from me everyday, it's because I'm out in my garage..... stripping!

6 comments:

Bec said...

Good for you, Hunter, they look sensational! I'm a closet 'stripper' too!

As for your kitchen, I'm with you on the granite and especially when the space is small, it overwhelms the room.

If you use the green idea (you could use stain there too) there are lovely, eclectic tiles that have hues that would work great with green. I wouldn't go with anything that would date itself to quickly but a small tiled back splash of different hues and a matching larger tile for the top would look great!

Install an inexpensive ( catch a sale) laminate floor that works with your new natural oak (have you thought of a whitewash for the cupboards?) and you'll be in kitchen heaven!

I'm impressed, girl!

Southern Quebec said...

Forget granite and marble for counters. High maintenance! Try tiles on the counter. Just don't use white tiles with white grout. (I speak from experience.)

My brother put in nice 4" ultramarine tiles on a bias with dark grout. Very nice and not too expensive.

West Coast Teddi said...

When the kitchen is "stripped", Hunter will begin "pole-ish dancing" her way thru the perogies, cabbage rolls ...

Please make sure you don't strip away FNF from your menu of great blog posts :)

maryT said...

I do hope you have the appropriate music playing while you are stripping. LOL.

hunter said...

Thanks for all the advice! I like your idea SQ, tiles could work beautifully. Mary T I strip to "Black Betty" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMLnDuzgkjo! HA!

Anonymous said...

I've got an old teacher's desk, circa 1940 or so that I need to strip and refinish. It's even has an oak top. I suspect the frame and side panels are mahogony or birch, but it's stained so dark I can't tell. We also have one of those old wooden student's desks. The kind that had the book drawer below the seat and the hole in the desktop for an ink well!