Friday, October 4, 2013

Kitchen Makeover II

While most of our kitchen is now finished, I realize I have not posted any updates concerning my favorite room. It's pretty much close to impossible to devote time to blogging with two very young kiddies. For those moms out there who are able to do this, I give much credit to you! I still haven't quite perfected this... 

Back to those pics: 

TA-DA!!!!!! Here's the after, for now... I still have to show some more updates.
Our semi-finished kitchen space.
Speaking of perfecting, here are some kitchen updates. {We left off at color}. The dear people at Lowe's color matched my beloved Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore. I seriously love the color and have NO regrets!

Next came the bead board wallpaper. I tell you, I have teetered back and forth as to when I was going to do this in my kitchen because the women in Blogville absolutely LOVE it. I scoped Home Depot for Martha Stewart, having read great reviews, but they did not carry it. Still determined to get it that day, no thanks to my need for instant gratification, I went to Lowe's and they carry a brand called 'Allen + Roth'. It was $5.00 cheaper and the reviews proved worthy, score. 

Too lazy for a ruler, I guess.
Here are the pieces I pre-cut and measured before soaking.
I followed the instructions, which are pretty straight forward. I measured out each piece and soaked it in water for thirty seconds, letting it then sit on a towel (face down) for five minutes. 

If you're wondering why I measured with this, I have no idea. It just worked.
Face up on the towel, five minutes. 
I soaked each piece in the kitchen sink, nothing fancy. 
Timed it..
As I mentioned, the application is pretty easy. In order to get around outlets, I just pasted each piece on and cut around the outlets as needed. I was too lazy to do the measuring beforehand!

Scissors around the outlets while the paper was pasted on.
Once I hit the corner of the kitchen, I was wishing I had more paper around the actual corner! You can't really predict how its going to play out until you get there. You can't tell, but the piece I put on before the actual corner left me very little paper to play with. I had a wallpaper corner-sealer on hand, so I just squirted the corner with this to ensure it didn't 'unravel' or start to peel over time. Crisis averted.

And then came the corner..

Soaking, I just folded where needed... this wasn't a big deal.





As I was pasting it on, I was VERY happy with the results. It seriously resembles the real deal, for a fraction of the cost and labor. Less work = happy mama. 

Getting around light fixtures was much more of a breeze than I thought. Again, scissors while it was pasted on.

Here's that corner I mentioned, you can probably see the seam.

To the far left is a fan to ensure everything to dried quicker.

Under the window was easy, much more intimidating in my head.



 I didn't worry AT ALL about the top seams. They were haphazard and uneven, as you can probably spy in the pics. Since we planned on putting molding along the top, it didn't make a difference... I mean, it really couldn't have been more simple! I imagine with real board, they would have to line up since the molding rests on top, but this is easy breezy and not even an issue.


You can spot the uneven lines at the top here.
And here.
Semi-finished!

I decided to hang an Anthro place "mat" as a temporary curtain.
I've since re-done the shelf... more on that next time.


Needless to say, this ladder posed a hazard to my crawling son... so it had to go!
My new favorite spot!




Once the outlet cover was on, the cuts I made were seamless!

Our new sitting place - ie, table and butcher block - I'm in love!

Overall, I love the entire look and feel of the walls. I'm so happy I went with this for an update to our kitchen! It brightens everything INCREDIBLY and is such a beautiful contrast against the gray walls. It makes them stand out so much more and brightens the kitchen a gazillion more times than before. I've spent time in here and marveled at how a little change made a such huge impact... which goes to prove how much a small change in wall color can change the entire feel of a room. 

One major caveat, the bead board does tend to 'dent' and bruise when you bang into it simply because of its foamy texture. We are a clumsy bunch, so between my daughter and I, we're constantly hitting into it. In fact, after I put everything up, I dropped one of those stools right into the wall and dent #1 was born. I imagine once I paint it, it will minimize in appearance. My daughter also has taken a green crayon to it, but again, nothing a can of paint (and time-out!) can't fix.




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