Kitchen Makeover

Today I am getting serious about mudding and taping the kitchen. Enough of this lolligagging around....today is the day. Or one of them anyway.

John helped me a little one night this week and we sanded and remudded a section of wall. It is really starting to take shape. I think it is going to look really nice. I also think no one will really notice. Oh, they may notice that I have painted (when I am finally and done and actually paint it that is) but unless they compare it to a room that still has thin little boards covering up all the drywall seams....I don't think it will look drastically different. I am ok with that.

SUNDAY - I started this post yesterday.....I am continuing my kitchen makeover work today but have only given myself a few hours to do what I need to and then I am going to put everything away until next weekend.

You see, it is a real pain having your kitchen torn up. It is a real pain to have to work around the tools and the paraphernalia needed to complete this job. So, in order to restore some order....I am going to pack it all up in a laundry basket and slide it under the Buffet.

Cole got all the doors taken off the old cupboards yesterday. Cole is all about de-struction. He is not as high on construction. Fortunately there was destructing to do.

I am concentrating on the wall where the new cupboards will be mounted. The rest can wait for a later date. I had to fill in larger gaps with caulk. You can see in the above picture that there is a good sized gap that was covered up by fake crown molding. I filled it in first with caulk then went back with tape and mud. I am all about caulk now. This was a good tip from Randy. At first, I was reluctant to take this shortcut and was bound by the need to do everything right. But my standards quickly lowered with the amount of un-rightness I encountered. As I said before....trailer house manufacturers do not do excellent work and I am not skilled enough to make up for their shortfalls as well as my own. I am just going to put my trust in texturizing to cover the multitude of problems. It will be fine. I just need to get over myself already.

I trimmed the sink window yesterday and put the first coat of mud on. I also taped the ceiling seam. Initially I was pretty sure I was going to have to put up crown molding because the gaps between the wall boards and the ceiling were big enough to hide in at places. But the ole caulk worked miracles. It filled it in well and then I just taped and mudded over the top. All the vertical seams got a second mud coat yesterday with the biggest one or longest one even getting the second sanding. I am debating about whether it is good enough or if I need to do a third coat.

Mostly today is about sanding and putting the second coat of mud around the sink window and along the ceiling. And then of course, cleaning up.

My new cupboards are built. I saw them the week before last. They are beautiful. They were all constructed but needed sanded and varnished so they are not all the way done yet. I am getting very anxious to get them in, organize my kitchen and move on to another phase of this big undertaking.

What is phase two? Well, finishing up the rest of the kitchen walls will be phase two. There are 5 large windows to finish up....they all have one coat of mud and have been trimmed with bull nose. When the rest of the kitchen is done, the texture needs to go on, paint needs to go on and I want to put some shelves above the windows and then....perhaps the most important and necessary part of phase two will be putting up window blinds. I love my windows but it does get hot sitting at the table with the sun beating down on you. We have been putting up with that for a year. It is time to hang something that will be available to give us a little reprieve from the heat. The fun thing about phase two is that I have decided to get new light fixtures. I had no idea that there were so many styles to choose from. (Below - the paint colors that I am toying with....I would like to use the colors in the rug shown below.)

Phase three....well I can't even think about that right now. There is a lot to do before we can start to think about it but it will involve new flooring....badly needed new flooring. Let's just see how far we get with our other phases. Ok?

What have I learned from this endeavor? Lots. I have learned practical things about home improvement like that mud matters....I used cheap drywall mud from Walmart when I first started this project last summer and when I ran out I bought Dap. Dap works way better because it goes on smoother and involves less sanding. (The picture below is of the windows done with the cheap brand of mud.)I wish I had known that all drywall mud is not created equal when I started....but now I know.

(The picture above is of the sink window which has a coat of the Dap mud...much better!)

I have also learned somethings about myself. I really like to build things and repair things and I had a "love at first grip" experience with John's cordless Dewalt drill....but the best thing that I learned is that if we ever build a house.....I want to have enough money to pay someone else to do it. I will be content to pick out fixtures and door pulls and faucets and the like. I will leave the building to the builder and maybe to satisfy my itch to construct.....I will make raised flower and garden beds. Hey....it will still involve my miter saw and John's drill and I will have to measure things and mark them with the pencil behind my ear. What could be better than that?