Table of Contents

• Starting the Demo
• Kitchen Design
• Plaster Wall Removal
• Building Ceiling Joists

Starting the Demo

This whole remodel that I did not plan for started when I got a new refrigerator. My new fridge is taller than the opening in my current kitchen, so I need to move a shelf up to make it fit. After making my new refrigerator fit, I am removing the barndoor and its sliding hardware. This inspired me to continue removing everything I did not like in my kitchen. I started with the bulkhead above the cabinets, then I removed the knotty pine ceiling, and next I am taking down the wall paneling. At this point, I am thinking I am going to redo all of the services. I am so happy that I found people who wanted to repurpose the knotty pine and wall paneling. Under my wall paneling, I found MORE old wall paneling and removed that too. I am getting down to the plaster walls. Above the stove, I am also removing the bulkhead! In addition, I need to remove the furring strips so that the ceiling can be plastered!

Plaster Wall Removal

I am taking down plaster and lath on one of the walls in my kitchen. To begin this part of the demolition, I am putting up plastic sheeting. This is going to create a kind of room to ensure that the plaster dust does not get all over the rest of my kitchen. The plaster here is VERY loose and cracking. I am using a prybar to remove it, and it is easily falling away from the wall. This created so much debris, but it only took 30 minutes to do. I am so happy to have all of this removed; it is going to look so good when it is drywalled.

Building Ceiling Joists

Now that the demo is, for the most part, done, I am going to start building in ceiling joists. This is so that the drywall can happen next. I need 2×4 supports every 24 inches to hang my drywall. I am also cutting some of the ceiling joists! This is to make room for my accent ceiling design that is going to go above my island. Where I am cutting, I am adding 2x4s to the ends of the joists.

Kitchen Design

I want walls that are drywall so they are repairable, unlike the panels we had before, made of MDF. Another thing I want is a featured ceiling, it is going to be a tray design with angled edges! To be honest, my new design is going to look similar to what I have now. I still love the black cabinets, but it really bothers me that they do not match. My plan for this kitchen is to make a lot of upgrades. Matching cabinets, new ceilings, and nicer walls! My overall goal is to make this kitchen look modern and well-designed rather than pieced together over the years.

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Table of Contents

• Prepping to Create the DIY Concrete Backsplash
• Mixing the Concrete for the New Backsplash
• Trowelling on the First Layer of Concrete
• Adding the Second Layer of Concrete
• Sanding and Sealing the DIY Concrete Backsplash
• Adding the Finishing Touches

Prepping to Create the DIY Concrete Backsplash

I am doing a concrete-look backsplash that flows right onto the counter. I am going to color this to be a soft beige. To start this part of the project, I am taping off my cabinets so I do not ruin their brand new paint job. To prep the sheetrock backsplash to accept the microtech concrete topping, I am putting on a waterproofing membrane. This is going to help with adhesion and prevent the concrete layer from cracking over time. I did two coats of this stuff, I rolled it on with a thick roller.

We are now placing the last slab of concrete countertop into the corner to create the L-shaped countertop. This was not place this with the others because I needed an electrician to come in and wire for my stove. I was unsure how to stabilize the seam where the counter meets the drywall so it would not crack. I decided to run a bead of caulk there in hopes that this would do the trick.

Mixing the Concrete for the New Backsplash

Now that everything is prepped and in place, I am mixing up the micro tech concrete topping. This is mostly water, but I am adding specialty concrete powder to it. This process comes in two different parts for the two different layers that will be applied. The first layer of this is generally darker, I also am coloring mine with sun buff colorant. With the first layer, you are going to want to be very thorough. If you do not mix it enough the colorant can leave streaks.

Trowelling on the First Layer of Concrete

This micro tech topping gets trowelled onto the surfaces. I realized this product is going to dry FAST on the countertops because it absorbs into the concrete. On my backsplash, I knew the product would not soak in as fast as it would on the countertops. Doing the backsplash first is wise because, on a vertical surface, you will drip little bits of the topping and I do not want to mess up the work I will do on the countertop with drips. I enjoyed the process of trowelling this on because it feels artistic.

On the concrete countertops, the product was drying very quickly. This is because the counters are not sealed with anything, so the concrete is just sucking up the micro tech topping. It sticks beautifully!

Adding the Second Layer of Concrete

I let the first layer of concrete dry completely before coming back to add the second layer. The first layer looks very even! I am going across the first layer with a drywall knife to scrape any high points on the concrete. The second layer of concrete mixes up almost exactly the same way as the first, the only difference is that I tend to mix this one slightly thinner. I am spritzing the first layer with water before applying the second layer. This is done so the product does not absorb too quickly and gets chunky and hard to move. The second layer is lighter in color, this is perfect because as you add the product you can see the darker color peak through. This gives the backsplash beautiful movement and a multi-dimensional look!

Sanding and Sealing the DIY Concrete Backsplash

Once the second layer of micro tech topping is dry, I am going in with my random orbital sander. At this point, I liked how it looked, but I was a little sad because there was less color variation than I was hoping for. It looks a little bit flat and dull. Thankfully this is going to change when I seal it. The first step in sealing is making sure your surfaces are extremely clean. I vacuumed all the concrete and used a sticky tack cloth to wipe everything up.

DIYconcrete.com’s countertop sealer is a food-safe polyurethane. This comes in two different parts, A and B. To mix this up you measure three parts of A and two parts of B and mix that with your paddle drill until it is catalyzed. In addition, this product has an induction time where it just needs to sit. Once its rest time is up, the poly sealant gets diluted with seven parts of water for the first coat. We want the first coat to get soaked up by the concrete. Once the product is not soaked up we can dilute it to one part sealant, two parts water. Before applying the diluted sealant, you must spritz down the concrete again. I am sealing the vertical backsplash first. The sealant is being rolled onto the backsplash, but for the counter, I am flooding it. I did three coats of this sealant!

Adding the Finishing Touches

24 hours after I added my final coat of sealant, I could not wait to install my sink and faucet to see it with the new backsplash and countertops. I love the way this turned out! It is the perfect amount of texture and movement. The poly pulled out some of the darker colors and gave it such a beautiful look!

If you love the way this backsplash turned out and you want to see how I created the rest of this kitchen, click here!

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Table of Contents

• Prep Work
• Pouring Concrete into Molds
• Releasing the Counters from their Molds
• What is Next??

Preparing to Create the DIY Concrete Countertops and Backsplash

I decided I want to cast the countertops from concrete! To begin I am clearing my living room space to use it as an area where we can put down melamine sheets and rails and cast the counters. For this project I am getting a little bit of help from diyconcrete.com. They sent out two of their experts to help me measure the exact dimensions of the counters I want to create. We are also going to be putting down foam rails and modifying the melamine sheet so that the concrete can get poured and solidified into this mold. My countertops will be an inch and a half thing as dictated by the height of the foam rails. I am casting these concrete counters as a stable substrate for me to put another concrete coating over them.

Once our foam molds are created, we are making sure that everything is wiped clean and vacuumed out. This is important to ensure nothing will interfere with the concrete pour. The concrete we are using is a very special formula. It is fortified with three different types of polymers that make it super strong. You can flip them over onto your counter in just 24 hours and they are fully cured in just 7 days!

Pouring the Concrete into the Molds

Once the concrete is mixed to the consistency of pancake batter it is time to pour! You want to pour your first layer into your mold and push it up onto the sides of the rails. You do this to prevent any color variation because you will need more than one bucket to fill these molds. Once enough concrete is poured to reach the top of the rails, pat it down into place. The concrete I am using settles beautifully with just a light pat. We created three pieces for my kitchen. The long piece has the cutout for my sink, and two short pieces, one for a single cabinet and the other for the second part of the L-shaped counter.

Releasing the Counters from their Molds

The evening after I poured the concrete it is time to release the counters from their molds and flip them over on to the cabinets. I called in my family to help with this part of the project! First, I have to remove all of the screws that are holding the molds together. Then, I began to take off the foam rails. Because we did not use the tape on the foam rails like you normally would, it made it so the concrete was a little bit difficult to get free from the molds. We tried prying it off with a crowbar, but it just kept breaking into little pieces. It took quite a bit of time for me to get the rails off. It would have been much quicker if I was going for a smooth finish and had used tape.

Once the countertops were finally out of there molds we are able to flip them. Even though the areas around the sink space are very thin, they did not break. We were careful to flip the counter up on its end and carry it like that. This caused there to be way less pressure on the thin pieces. In order to get the short piece of the L-counter to butt up nice and flush next to the long piece of the counter I had to cut through the drywall a bit. This is so there will be a little pocket to slide the DIY concrete countertop into. This gave me wiggle room so we could adjust the piece of counter into place and get the two seams to come up tight. The other short piece of counter is going right on top of the singleton cabinet.

To Be Continued…

If you were just doing concrete countertops, this is the point where you would let your counters cure completely and seal them…but I am not doing that! If you want to read about how I finished this project and went above and beyond, check back for the blog post on DIY Concrete Backsplash!

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Table of Contents

• Cutting the Wood for the DIY Kitchen Cabinet Build
• Drilling Pocket Holes and Sanding the Plywood
• Cutting Wood for Face Frames
• Assembling the Cabinet Boxes
• Assembling the Face Frames
• Putting all the Pieces Together

Cutting the Wood for the DIY Kitchen Cabinet Build

It is a lot of work to build cabinets from scratch. This DIY kitchen cabinet build mostly uses a Craig jig and pocket holes. I only have a small table saw, so I am setting up a straight edge with a four-foot level to rip cross-cuts on my pieces of plywood. For cross-cuts on plywood I use painter’s tape because it is very easy to get tear out and painter’s tape laid out on your line helps to prevent that. I use my table saw as often as possible. It has an 80 tooth blade on it and it cuts the plywood very cleanly.

Drilling Pocket Holes and Sanding the Plywood

My craig jig is not sold anymore, but there are so many options for drilling pocket holes. Click here if you want to purchase one that I think is good! I am drilling so many pocket holes into these pieces to assemble my cabinet boxes. The purpose of this is so they can go together with strong joints, but my hardware is still going to be hidden. For this project, I am building six cabinet boxes!

Once all of my pocket holes are drilled, it is time to sand all of the pieces. I am using 120 grit sandpaper on my random orbital sander. This took a LONG time. I am sealing up the porous plywood on the cabinet boxes that will have shelving. To do this, I am applying water-based polyurethane. In between the three coats that I am applying, I am sanding with a high grit sandpaper then wiping off the dust and adding another coat of poly. This is going to give me a super smooth and wipable surface for the inside of my cabinets.

Cutting Wood for Face Frames

While the polyurethane is curing I am assembling face frames. On cabinets, you generally want to have face frames so you have more options for your doors. If you do not use a face frame, you have to do a full overlay. In my cabinet box design, face frames are also going to help keep the boxes nice and square. The material I am using for my face frames is a 1×4 piece of red oak that I ripped down to 1 3/4 inches wide. The rails on my face frame will also get pocket screws, this is going to make them go together so easily. I am also sanding each of these boards. I did a calculation and I spent about 12 hours sanding during this DIY cabinet build.

Assembling the Cabinet Boxes

The first boxes I am assembling are the ones with shelving that will be on the back of my island. This is similar to wall upper cabinets. I am using clamps to hold my pieces of plywood tightly together at exactly a 90-degree angle; this helps to keep my box square as I screw everything together through my pocket holes. The screwed-together joint is strongest when your screws are angled towards the meat of the plywood rather than towards the edge. The two shelves inside the cabinet box are also being attached with pocket holes. They are underneath, so they will not be visible. I am leveling the shelves after getting one screw into place, then I am tilting it down and securing it with the rest of the screws.

The next boxes I am assembling are the ones that will have drawers in them.The assembly for these is a little bit different than the ones with shelves. To save money, I am using stretchers rather than whole sheets of plywood. I do not need walls on these except for the two sides where the drawer slides are. I pre-assembled two scrap pieces of plywood at a 90-degree angle, this is getting screwed into the back of my cabinet. The other three corners of this box are getting stretchers that are scrap pieces of plywood. These will either be hidden by the face frame or in the back of the cabinet. This is the easiest way to put together a cabinet box that will be filled with drawers.

Assembling the Face Frames

In order to make sure that my face frames are a perfect rectangle I am using a square and clamps. I am coating my screws in wax because I heard a tip that it makes them go into hardwood better! Once my face frame is in the correct position I am putting the screws in, I put the whole face frame together with no cracking. I did not predrill the receiving wood. I just drilled slowly and carefully with my impact driver.

The vertical pieces of a face frame are called styles and the horizontal pieces are called rails. All of my pocket holes are drilled into the rails. This just simplifies things. The face frame for the box with drawers has multiple rails. Before installing my face frames onto my cabinets I am sanding all the way up to 180 grit. I also decided to pre-stain these so I do not get sloppy stain all over my boxes.

Putting All of the Pieces Together

I am applying glue to the edges of all of the plywood where the face frames are going. Next, I brush the glue across the entire edge and let it dry. I do this so the next layer can do its job properly. Once the first layer of glue is dry I am going in with another layer of glue where the face frame is going to go.

Then, I place my face frame and clamp it down. I am using 36-inch bar clamps for this. Your glue should squeeze out, you can wipe that off after assembly. It is important to glue your face frames as well as screw them in tight because face frames take the load of your doors and your hinge is reliant on the face frame. For the areas I did not pre-drill holes to pull the face frame tight, I just clamped it tight until the glue set up.

I love the way this DIY kitchen cabinet build turned out! These cabinets have added so much storage to my kitchen and helped make my vision for a new kitchen island come true.

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Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Placing Brackets for the Shelves
• Lumber for the Shelves
• Sanding and Staining the Shelves
• Cutting Spacers
• Shelving Installation

Starting the Building DIY Ultra Thin Kitchen Open Shelving

I started to build my diy ultra-thin kitchen open shelving with a laser level. This ran a laser across the wall to make sure that my shelves would be mounted properly. I measured to where the shelves needed to be. The floors and the ceilings are a little odd, so a laser level was the best option. When I had everything the way I wanted, I ran painter’s tape along the laser line and painted it dark so I would have a permanent level line to base my shelving brackets on.

Placing Brackets for the Shelving

To completely hide the bracket hardware that will hold these shelves up I am lining them up with the level line, then tracing around the bracket and finding the stud with a magnetic stud finder! I am then cutting out the drywall where the bracket will sit. This is so I can recess the bracket behind it right on the stud. These brackets hold 150 pounds, I want this shelf to be very strong. I want it to be ablet to hold plate stacks and other heavy things. I do not want them to sag away from the wall. This is why I staggered the brackets one up, one down. Once the brackets are screwed in place, I am covering the brackets with fiber tape and three coats of mud. Once the brackets are covered I am painting over the mud, you would never guess these brackets are recessed into the wall!

Lumber for the Shelves

Once the brackets are in place I am going to start cutting the lumber. Solid lumber would have been too expensive, so I am using cabinet-grade maple plywood that is 3/4 inch thick. The shelves I am cutting are going to be 11 inches deep. I am going to bevel all of the edges so they meet at a 45-degree angle. This is going to make the wood pieces look like one. It took me a total of 5 hours to cut all of this wood

Finishing the Wood

I am using the work pro sanding set to sand down the wood. I wrap my sanding paper around a sponge to soften the edges of the sanding paper. Before staining, I am using a pre-stain wood conditioner. Once the wood conditioner is in place, I will stain it with a chestnut color. I realized that the chestnut color is too light, so I am mixing it with walnut-colored stain.

Cutting Spacers

The next step in this project is to cut spacers. The brackets are what are going to hold the weight of the shelf, but I need a shelf that is 2 and 1/4 inches tall. These spacers are going to go between the two 3/4 inch sheets of plywood to give me exactly the right depth.

Installing the DIY Ultra Thin Kitchen Open Shelving

Step one of this installation is to nail your spacers into your top board. I am nailing them with one-inch long nails 16 gauge Finnish nails. Then I am going to flip my board onto the brackets and am putting little 3/4 inch wood screws through the bottom of the brackets into the plywood. Next, I put the bottom board against the wood spacers and shot 2-inch brad nails through the spacer into the top board. The little spaces between the two boards are 2 1/2 inches wide and are being filled by pieces of plywood that I cut to fit and are being glued down. On the other side of the kitchen, I am doing a longer shelf. These two meet at a 90-degree angle. I am using brad nails to connect the two shelves. To finish the shelves I am coating them in polyurethane.

If you loved this project and want to see the entire kitchen renovation, read my DIY small kitchen makeover blog post!

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Table of Contents

• What does this Island Contain??
• Working with Red Oak
• Installing Drawer Slides
• Building the Base of the Kitchen Island
• Mistakes I Made
• Installing the Cabinets
• Adding the Countertop
• Adding Hidden Storage
• Final Touches
• Features of the Kitchen Island and the Final Product

Makeup of the Kitchen Island

For this DIY kitchen island I built six cabinets. Three rather shallow ones with shelving to go on the back side, two drawer stacks, and one that will house a microwave. While all six of these drawers turned out great, this project was not without struggle!

Working with Red Oak

The biggest learning curve in this project came from working with oak for the first time. Cutting red oak required me to buy two new blades and is impossible to stain. I faced the difficult challenge of matching the finish of my red oak trim and face frames to pre-made doors and drawer fronts. To neutralize the red oak’s pink undertones I tried dozens of stain combinations. I finally landed on a custom mix that I concocted. I added green which neutralized the red and I finally got the stain finish that I am going for.

Drawer Slide Installation on the DIY Kitchen Island

Once I have everything stained, it is time to install the drawer slides on my finished cabinet boxes. I made the boxes flush with the inside of the face frame so I do not have to build up any blocking to install my under-mount slides. The slides I am using are 21-inch BLUM Tandem plus Blumotion full extension soft close slides. I am going to flip my cabinet on its side to place these perfectly. I measured to make sure they were level, predrilled, and screwed them in! It is important to inset the slide at least 1/8 of an inch so your drawer closes tightly. I have to use blocking on the drawer below the microwave because the box was a lot wider to accommodate the microwave that would be situated above.

Build the Kitchen Island Base

I am beginning to build the base for the DIY kitchen island by laying my two-by-fours flat because I want as minimal space wasted as possible. Using a base will make leveling the island easier and will make securing it to the floor easier. I am making this island as big as I can while accounting for standard walking path dimensions. The floor in my kitchen is very unlevel because the foundation under this kitchen is more than 130 years old. I am using scrap plywood and shims to level my base. It is being screwed it in through the floor with a screw long enough that it hits the subfloor. My flooring is glue-down luxury vinyl plank, if it was a click-together floating floor I would have had to remove it. If you want to know how I installed this flooring click here! Using a base is a time saver as it prevents you from having to level each cabinet individually.

Once my base is in place I am putting all of the boxes on top! With the boxes in place, I am calling in my electrician to wire in an outlet for the outside panel and inside the cabinet for my microwave!

Mistakes in the DIY Kitchen Island Build

Once everything was in place I realized my mistakes. The microwave’s width is 23.5 inches and I thought I had made my face frame below the same width, but I messed up somewhere because it has a 1/8-inch gap on both sides. My dry fit also produced the glaring problem of requiring taller trim for the raised end of the island base. Shimming it 1/2-inch high meant I needed a 2-inch tall trim, not the 1.5-inch tall oak trim I had already cut, sanded, stained, and sealed. I am a perfectionist and decided to make it all new.

Installation of the Cabinets

Now that all of my mistakes have been corrected and everything is built I can set my cabinets. Installing these to the base is easy with pocket screws- I just replaced a few screws that I used to put together the box with longer screws that went into the two-by-four base. I am also adding blocking between each box and screwing them together. This blocking method prevented me from having to screw through my face frames to hold everything in place. Next, I put the microwave in place and plugged it in. Now I am going to cover the sides of the island with 3/4-inch thick paneling. I had to shim it to be completely flush on top and screwed it from the backside into my cabinet boxes.

Countertops for the DIY Island Build

This DIY island build is finally starting to come together! It is ready for countertops at this point. I ordered a large slab of plain white quartz counter from a local dealer. I feel as though white will be the most timeless choice for countertops. The countertops were installed by the people who delivered it!

Backside Door Installation

It is now time to install doors on the backside of the island to cover my shelving and create hidden storage. The hinges I am using are soft-close 1 1/4-inch overlay European style, so they are hidden when installed. My goal for these is that the doors look like paneling and no one knows they open. For the drawer fronts, my trick to getting the perfect spacing is carpet tape, I am going to place a strip of this heavy double-sided tape to the drawer front and then line it up and press. It is strong enough to allow me to pull my drawer out with the front placed properly without shifting. Then, I can clamp and screw the front on from behind.

Finishing Touches

I have a cabinet hardware jig that helps me perfectly place holes for the long modern black handles that I am installing. The final touch on the island is installing the base trim. My trim has to be cut at an angle so it meets a piece 1.5 inches tall on one side and 2 inches on the other. Now it is all level! After two hours of precision caulking, my island is finally done!

DIY Island Build Features

I love how the island brings a warm wood tone to my kitchen design and much more functionality. One of my favorite features in my custom kitchen island build is the microwave. It is so nice to have my microwave off my counter, but you might not have realized this one is a drawer and you access it from the top. Another feature of this island is the bamboo organizers I added to my drawers to keep things tidy. Another aspect of this island that I love are the two pull-out cutting boards. This makes meal prep so efficient. I designed the deep drawers to perfectly fit things like cereal boxes and my largest pans. The shelves that are hidden on the backside of the island have expanded my kitchen’s storage capabilities exponentially. The four receptacle outlets on the side of this DIY island bring so much more functionality to the island countertop.

Overall, having this DIY kitchen island build has transformed the usefulness and efficiency of my kitchen, a place where I spend many hours preparing food and eating with my family. If you want to see the rest of my kitchen you can read the blog post here!

If you enjoyed this post on the kitchen and want to see more projects I have done in the kitchen, my DIY small kitchen makeover is a great place to start!

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Table of Contents

• Demolition
• Creating a Breakfast Nook
• Refinishing Painted Cabinets
• Installing New Flooring
• DIY Floating Shelves
• New Countertops
• Hutch Upcycle
• Installations and Final Results

Demolition

I sold all the appliances that were in the kitchen and I cleaned out the cabinets. I took down the cabinets very carefully because I wanted to try to convert them into a breakfast bench. I also removed four layers of flooring. They needed to be low enough so the laminate I placed wouldn’t interfere with door thresholds. I also removed the sink and the countertops since I was going to reconfigure the entire kitchen.

There was a doorway that came off the side of the kitchen that I decided to remove. I was able to successfully remove it and put a wall up so I could increase the size of the kitchen. By removing this doorway, I gained a lot more wall space for cabinetry and the fridge.

I removed the popcorn ceilings as well by scraping the texture. Then I applied a texture medium over it from modern masters. It gave it this hand-troweled plaster look which I loved!

Breakfast Nook Makeover

The first project that I underwent was to turn those upper cabinets into a banquette bench. I completely refinished and modified them so they would fit together in an L-shape. I think this up-cycle gives hidden storage and charming seating that works well in the corner of this room.

Refinishing Painted Kitchen Cabinets

Next, I painted the walls and continued repainting and refinishing the cabinetry. This took a while because I had to remove all the old paint, take off the trim detail, and sand the fronts to bare wood. I rearranged the cabinets that I had and added one prefabricated 36-inch cabinet modified to look like the rest. I also built a custom pan rack where I had this weird space left over. The hardware is called the Facette Pull from Belwith Keeler and it totally made the look of this kitchen!

Installing Waterproof Laminate Floors

After the cabinets were in I was able to lay flooring. The waterproof laminate flooring we chose was the Mohawk RevWood Select in the color Fawn Chestnut. This product was easy to DIY install because of its click-together style. At this point the kitchen was starting to come together, but I still had many more ideas up my sleeve!

DIY Floating Shelves

Next, I built a floating shelf that had hidden brackets behind the drywall. I cut out the drywall and put the brackets in alternating onto the studs. Next, I patched it and then built the shelves out of one sheet of three-quarter-inch cabinet grade maple plywood.

Countertops

For the countertops in this small kitchen makeover, I worked with diyconcrete.com to fabricate countertops out of concrete. You create forms out of foam rails attached to melamine sheets, pour the specialty concrete into the forms, then flip them just like a stone onto the cabinets. I covered them with a MicroTek concrete topping that gave the entire backsplash and countertop the look of concrete. The color and textured look give so much movement to the kitchen.

Hutch Upcycle

After I completed the concrete counters, I put the hutch in place. This hutch was originally the living room bookshelf that was left in the house. I cut it down to fit in the kitchen and cut out a hole for an outlet to fit. I added trim to make it look more natural in the corner and it turned out beautiful!

Kitchen Makeover Installation

Once my building was all done I went ahead with installing all the things to make this a functional kitchen. I installed a sink and faucet with a drop-in style sink to protect the concrete counters better. I also installed the range hood with some help from my electrician. Next, I installed lights over the floating shelves to give the kitchen a gallery feel. The last DIY project I had was to fix up my old fridge. I fixed the dents and filled holes where the old handles were with JB Weld Steelstik. I removed the logo and the handles on the fridge to make it look more new. I sanded down the whole fridge and painted it with this urethane enamel paint from Behr that’s actually meant for metal.

Cosmo Appliances also sent us a beautiful dual fuel range that works amazing. It has an electric oven and a powerful gas stovetop that makes cooking fun and easy. Cosmo also sponsored a super functional little toaster oven that fits perfectly in the hutch. It can do all the things – convection, rotisserie, pizza, broil, even air fry and dehydrate!

I love how this DIY small kitchen makeover turned out! This process took months to complete but it was so worth it! I hope you watch the video to get a better sense of all the work that went into this space and what it looked like before. What do you think about the end result?

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Table of Contents

• Breakfast Nook
• Removing the Old Paint Job
• Painting Cabinetry
• Putting It Back Together
• The Finished Product

Breakfast Nook

I started by taking down all of my uppers and tried to save and reuse them as much as possible. As you saw in my previous post, I used the upper cabinets for a breakfast bench, which turned out great.

Removing the Old Paint Job

Since I am replacing the counters, I removed the old ones and that allowed me to remove the cabinets off the wall. The sanding process to remove the old paint was long and tedious! I made sure to remove all of the hardware, latches, knobs, and trim off of every door. To remove the paint from the boxes, I used a belt sander, since it’s probably the fastest method to remove the paint job. On the drawer fronts, I decided to strip them because the belt sander would’ve been hard on the wood joints. I added a 15-minute stripper to them and put plastic wrap over it to keep the product wet longer so it works better. I used my random orbital sander on the drawer fronts after I stripped them. I then repaired and blemishes and filled any holes on the drawer fronts with wood putty.

With my new kitchen layout, I did have to purchase one stock cabinet so I could put it between the stove and the fridge. Its door fronts were different from the others. To fix this, I removed them and added the leftover cabinet doors from the uppers to make the doors have the same appearance as the old cabinets. Since this stock cabinet would be exposed on both sides, I put hardboard on either side to have a smooth appearance. I used a jigsaw to cut the correct dimensions and I used my nailer to attach it to the cabinet.

Painting the Cabinetry

I sanded every surface, then added primer, resanded everything again, and then painted. The color I used for all of my cabinets was Olive, by Behr Paint. I was really nervous to do this non-neutral color of paint, but I ended up loving how the color turned out. I definitely prefer to use a roller to paint instead of spray, but it is a tedious job to do. You have to be very careful and make sure there are no drips. The paint I chose was enamel so it is very durable and perfect for cabinetry. This allowed me to not have to add a poly layer and made refinishing my kitchen cabinets easier.

Putting it Back Together

After about two days, when the paint had fully dried, I drilled some holes to add my hardware. I used the Facette Pull by Belwith Keeler. To install these I used a hardware jig to center the holes and have them perfectly spaced. I was thrilled with how the stock cabinet was transformed! The drawers and the doors looked like the other cabinets in the room. When reassembling the cabinets, each was drilled back into the studs. I found each stud using the magnetic stud finder. After this, to make sure everything was secure I screwed the cabinets to each other.

With reusing my cabinets, my run of cabinets had this awkward space at the end so I had to come up with something creative. I created an L shape with wood and screwed it into the wall and made sure it was level for the countertop to be added on top. Initially, I was going to make this space garbage bin pull out however the space was so small that I couldn’t find a garbage bin skinny enough.

I decided to instead add little grooves in the wood called dados with the table saw so I could later add slits of wood into them to separate them. I added wood glue in each of the dados and added plywood that I cut to size to add to them. This became a perfect roll-out drawer to store cutting boards, baking pans, and other materials. There was a little gap between this new pullout drawer and the cabinet right next to it. To fix this I added a thin strip of wood to hide the gap.

The Finished Product of Refinishing my Kitchen Cabinets

The last part of refinishing my kitchen cabinets was to add the toe kick baseboard underneath all of the cabinets. I am so happy with how this turned out. The paint job is beautiful and the new champagne bronze hardware on the cabinets makes this kitchen look modern. This project took me 3 weeks and was a lot of work, but so worth it! What do you think of the new cabinet color?

If you want to see how I completed the rest of this kitchen, read the DIY small kitchen makeover post!

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Table of Contents

• Tearing Down the Cabinets
• Refurbishing the Cabinets
• Constructing the Breakfast Nook Bench
• Creating the Cushions and The Finished Nook

Tearing Down the Kitchen Cabinets

The corner where I am putting this DIY breakfast nook bench currently has a hutch in it, it is kind of a waste of space! I first took down the upper cabinets with my new 5 in 1 WORKPRO workbench. It was a stable scaffolding the perfect height to work on removing upper cabinets more safely. The kitchen cabinets above the sink, the stove, the fridge are the uppers I am going to use to build my bench with.

Refurbishing the Cabinets

Next, I worked to refurbish the cabinets. I took off all of the hardware and hinges so they were out of the way for refinishing. The detailed trim on the cabinet doors is also getting removed in favor of a more streamlined look. I used my table saw to cut two by fours and attach them to the bottom of one of the cabinets so all three of them would be the same height. Unfortunately two were 18″ tall and the one was only 15″ tall.

I used wood putty to fix any imperfections or holes in the cabinets from screws or electrical going through. It did a great job of covering up the blemishes. To cut all of the excess trim around each cabinet, I used a multi-tool. I strategically left some on the edges of the bench so it would encase a cushion nicely. The side of one bench is getting plywood as an addition, so it will be flush with the front face on the end. There were a lot of modifications!

I used a belt sander to get paint off of the cabinets so it would be a smooth finish. The belt sander is the quickest way I’ve found to remove all the old paint. I used it on every cabinet’s front face and door. After the cabinets are sanded and ready to go, I am priming and then painting the cabinets a beautiful dark green color.

Constructing the Breakfast Nook Bench

There was is hole in the corner between the cabinets, so I am adding some reinforcement. Using my magnetic stud finder, I found the wall stud and secured 2 x 4’s and put some plywood there.

I set all of my cabinets in place and clamped them together so they were tight side by side. I am putting screws on the inside of the cabinets where they are clamped to hold them together.

Once I reattached the cabinet doors, the nook will be done! Now it was time for the finishing touch that makes this breakfast nook bench so cozy – cushions!

Creating the Cushions

The next step was to make some cushions and I asked my mom for help. I don’t have the best sewing skills. We used an old cotton curtain I had as the fabric and secondhand foam. The cushions only cost me about $80! My mom even sewed in a zipper so we can remove and wash the covers!

I added a lot of textiles to the design and vibrant colors to compliment the olive green cabinets. Currently I have an antique round table paired with the breakfast nook bench. However, I will probably get something bigger and more to scale in the future.

The colors here are warm and inviting and cozy. I definitely designed outside of my comfort zone of neutrals on this project but I love how it turned out! These colors are going to continue throughout my kitchen.

I hope you were impressed by this project! If you loved it and want to see how the rest of the kitchen turned out, read my DIY small kitchen makeover!

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Table of Contents

• Before
• Home Renovations
• A Reveal of the Dining Room Makeover

A Look at the Before

This is what we started with in our dining room makeover:

This room leads from where people will enter our home to the kitchen where everyone always congregates. Number one thing is to remove the closet/wall separating everything! This involved also fixing the ceiling and floor where the wall was.

This is the other side of that wall as seen from the kitchen. It’s a big closet which ended up being a catch-all because it was in a weird spot of the house. The skinny hallway leads to the main floor bathroom and a dark, unwelcoming door to our lovely porch. Number two thing is to replace said door with a big patio door to let in more light and allow easier access to the outside.

Even though this room is painted light gray, it feel dark with the drop ceilings and mismatched trim. Everything has to go! Our home has nine foot ceilings and I definitely want them reinstated in here!

Home Renovating

Removing the wall and opening up the patio door space was a VERY messy job. I thought we were living in such dust and debri and wished to never experience it again.

Aaannnddd then we started drywall. I thought it was dusty from demolition – oh boy! In the midst of drywalling this whole space I wondered when my house would ever be clean again? Living through a home renovation is not for the faint of heart.

Dining Room Makeover Reveal

Now that the wall is removed, the patio door is installed, and the walls, ceiling, and floors are all patched up, we are done! I DIY-ed as much as I could in this project, but we did hire out actually removing the wall and laying our floors.

I love that now when you enter our front door, you can see right through to the newly renovated kitchen!

There’s so much space for flow and movement! Our patio door gets used A LOT by our kids going in and out. We also use this extra space as more dining when we host big gatherings.

Our tablescape was fun to create for Thanksgiving with neutral colors and natural elements in my design. While we didn’t upgrade our furniture for this dining room makeover, it feels so fancy in this grand space with this adorable table setting.

In case you missed it, I completed a DIY modern chandelier for our dining room makeover. I’m proud of how I made our black kitchen cabinets work with our dining space by these accents and the big black wall.

Please pin if you were inspired! If you’d like to see other renovation posts, please click on their icons below in my related posts. If you loved this room transformation and want to see more, start on my bedroom makeover!

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