Me and my stupid ideas

I decided to paint my kitchen cabinets this weekend. Great idea, I thought. Three solid days after Thanksgiving in which to get the job done.

FRIDAY: I emptied the contents, removed the doors, and removed the old hinges from the doors. Since I am painting the cabinets white and the hinges are currently a disgustingly dirty dark color that I think used to be copper, I will replace them with shiny new white hinges.

SATURDAY: I scrubbed the doors with TSP (kitchen grease accumulated at the bottom of doors is guh-ross,) then sanded them a bit where the old paint sloughed off to reveal the original finish. I worried that I should sand them all the way down when I saw that. I bought a good shellac-based super-duper bonding primer instead. I may live to regret it. Hopefully I will have enough money to renovate my kitchen by then.

SUNDAY: I woke early – like 5:00 am - for unpleasant reasons after having ordered the pizza for dinner Saturday night. I proceeded to go back to bed “for just a few minutes” and did not wake up until 11:00. Bugger! I only primed the back of the doors yesterday so I still have to prime the fronts and edges, finish scrubbing the gunk off the cabinet exteriors, prime the cabinet exteriors, then paint everything with the real paint at least two coats worth, which takes 4 hours to dry between coats.

It is really depressing when you need help on a project but only have one friend to call and she is out riding her motorcycle on a fine day like today.

Why don’t you people live closer!

 

Technorati Tags: home improvement,painting cabinets,kitchen cabinets,I am woman hear me roar

Comments

[higgie aka Roger]

I learned not to bite off more than I could chew many, many, years ago. When we lived on Loughborough Barb kept bugging me to build a patio cover. Five years later it was complete. A lot of thought went into that patio cover. Plus all the concrete work I did. Sidewalk to the back, patio deck. The original house only had a 30" X 30" pad at the back door. Remind me to tell you the whole story if I run into you while were out and about. :-)

[JCW]

Wish I could have been there to help - it would have taken my mind off of things - looks like our kitty Madison might have cancer... Does the fun never end?

Saw MILK on Wed. night with a group of other people involved. If you've got quick eyes I show up around six or seven times in the film.

Keep plugging away at those projects... you inspire me.

[Karen]

I'll be there in about 6 weeks :-)

My latest stupid project is making croissants. The dough is very very hard to roll out -- it stretches and then snaps back into almost its previous size. Of course to make it worthwhile to do all the work I made a double batch and I don't even know if they will turn out well. I was going to ship you some frozen ones for Christmas that you could thaw and bake, but I'm no longer sure if I love you that much!

[Jenn Bo]

I have the everlasting door refinishing project that goes like this:
- Strip and sand the existing wood doors
- Strip/sand over and over until satisfied with the prepared wood; about 10 hours of stripping and sanding per door
- Prep with Benite, wait 24 hours.
- Stain, wait 24 hours.
- Thin coat of water-based polyurethane, wait 24 hours.
- Sand lightly
- Repeat poly, wait 24 hours.
- Sand lightly
- Repeat poly (again) and then wait 72 hours to hang.
- Sand VERY lightly.

This project began in May. I have 2 doors nearly done (one side done, three coats of poly needed on the other) and 2 more doors to go (sanding is half done).

When finished, the doors will be beautiful, but new doors would have saved all that sanding and stripping time.

On the bright side, I probably saved a few trees. On the dark side, the stripper residue will certainly wreak havoc in the landfill.

[writtenwyrdd]

I'd highly recommend that before you spend sixty bucks on new hinges that you buy a $3 can of chrome or whatever metal finish rustoleum spray paint and try that. I got fantastic results doing that. All I did was prep the hinges by cleaning with TSP (the nonphosphate kind) and then rinsing and drying the hardware thoroughly. They've held up beautifully and you wouldn't guess they weren't new!

[GetSheila]

Higgie: Projects are hard to finish when no one will help you. Harder when they bug you to finish them while still not offering to help you.

JCW: Poor Maddie. And you. That sucks. Will look for you in MILK!

Karen: Six weeks does me no good today. You know I like my instant gratification.

JennBo: I am exhausted now! Tell me, do you use a hand sanding block for the sanding between coats or an electric sander? I have a mouse sander I love but not sure if it will be too much. Probably not, with the right grade sand paper, but want to know what you are doing. :)

WW: I have done that painting trick in the past and it works like a charm. I already bought the new hinges but have not opened any of them yet. The problem with the old ones is some of them were broken so I would be mixing and matching, though I suppose I could hide the new ones in the corner areas where you don't really notice the hinges. Hm. HMMMMMM. Must think about this.

[Roger aka higgie]

No body helps me either. On the patio project after all the concrete was done Barb said she would paint it if I built it. She knows I hate to paint. I got up off the couch, made a material list, went to the lumber yard, and 2 hours later the patio was finished minus the green plastic corrugated roofing.
Do you check your comcast e-mail addy? I hope I didn't gross you out with the picture of me in swiming trucks sans bra. That picture was enough to make a gay man go straight LOL

[higgie aka Roger]

I'd offer to help you tear out your kitchen wall but taking care of Barb and trying not to get fired from my cushy job takes up most of my time. Maybe someday, until then I enjoy reading your blog, Thanks