Progress!

Tocco, Super(handy)man

I have to say, I'm really impressed by Tocco. He is, without a doubt, the hero of this house renovation. I came home yesterday to find the kitchen counters half demo'ed (the second half getting done today) and new counters measured, cut, sanded and installed. He told me going in that he could do all of this stuff, but it's hard to believe until it's actually happened (several times over).

It would take me weeks, if not months (or years) to get up the nerve to take a sledgehammer to perfectly fine countertops and tile, without ever having done it before. You need a ton of confidence to do these things and be sure you can get them done correctly, in a good style, and in just a day or two. To know that you're not only smart enough, but resourceful enough, and creative enough to do it (not just on this project, but countless others, very big and very small). This is not to say that he's always right or we always agree (see: basement steps, # of coats of paint required, exterior paint color, and whatever else we've disagreed on). But still. Awesomeness

Proud of you, T. Keep up the good work. xo

No, it's not finished. No, there won't be three colors painted on our cabinets. Yes to the gray and white. 

Wish * List

Lately I've been totally in love every time I see white quartz countertops ...  

from Upcoming Decor

they're so pretty. So fresh! So clean! But also so spendy! I think we'll go with the becoming-traditional-by-now wooden countertops that I've had my brain on ever since we bought this house. They're also really pretty and *I think* we can do them ourselves. But if we only had two kitchens! sike

Lill Therese

Ironing Board---> Cookbook shelf

I love this little project Tocco surprised me with one day after work. You know those long nooks that, back in the day, housed the ironing board? They're really sweet, and I love knowing that our house is old enough to have had such a quaint life- ironing in the kitchen, yellow counter tiles, probably some flowerpots on the windowsills, and some Patsy Cline on the record player or something.   

Less charming is the wild green paint, again. The previous owner had made this nook into the spot for her phone and at the bottom, a special holder for her yellow pages. She probably logged hundreds of hours on that phone, sitting at her kitchen table, like my Mom and Aunt Judy. ;) But since it's 2014 and we need neither a phone, nor the yellow pages, T got to work sanding, scraping and clearing away the old set up. 

Then he made these awesome little T-shelves x4 in his workshop... 

Secured them with special brackets... 

Nailed them in place in equal measures, and painted them white...

And now this old space that was a big eyesore has been transformed into something useful for us, and also so pretty. I really love how natural it looks, like it could have always been there, or that it's a custom built-in we had made from scratch. 

It currently holds my cookbooks and a wedding present from Tocco's mom, Brigitte, which we love. But I can see it changing out with a variety of objects over time.

Thanks Tocco!

Quick before and after

You guys we are getting closer to halfway done! The adventure to slowly sand, scrape, peel, buff, and paint the kitchen cabinets from pastel lime green to grey/white/aqua continues. We are creepin' down the cabinet line...

NorCal beachy cabinet trees (post by Tocco)

This is the situation we have to tackle. A nice Frankenstein green, it even glows in the dark.

Before

Even though you may think one can get used to it while it's daylight...

don't turn the light on, or it starts glowing again.

These are the old hinges, but they are original and still work, so we decided to throw them into a crockpot to loosen the 10 layers of paint, strip them and reuse them, quite a bit of work, but definitely worth it.

Step 1: Select a part of the cabinet tree you want to tackle first, we've choosen the drawers, thinking there is not much surface to sand and paint, but that was around the time where the cabinet tree started to fight us.

Step Two:

Put you warrior outfit on and fight back!

Step Three:

Fight back! The whole frame wants to be sanded and painted. Of course, 10 layers of old paint takes a long time, and if you think you can avoid sanding by hand, forget about it. These old paint layers simply start melting under every sander you'd like to try, just hang in there, and sand it by hand, I swear, it's less hassle after all.

Step Four:

After it seems the cabinet tree won a battle by neglecting to be sanded, we decided it may be enough sanding for now and we pulled out the paint.

Step Five:

Put it back together and get excited!

Step Six:

Overlook you imperfections and enjoy the moment and be a little bit proud of yourself, and prepare to get scared, there are five more cabinet trees waiting to receive the same procedure, and they will beat the heck out of you. But as I said, just hang in there and fight back, one day they will be all done ... ;-) We'll keep you posted and let you know who won the battle, the cabinets or us ...