DIY – Page 3 – Project Palermo

Kitchen Makeover Details Roundup 1 of 2

As I mentioned in my Kitchen and Dining Room Before and After post, I wanted to share some details and call out a few decisions I made throughout this makeover project. Turns out there was a lot I wanted to share, so I’m breaking it into two roundups. I know grand before-and-afters are fun, but I find the small changes really gratifying and important as well. So, here goes!

Cutting Board and Knife Block

To add some warmth and cohesiveness to the all-white kitchen, I DIYed three wood elements: the butcher block shelf was the biggest component, but I also worked on the cutting board and knife block. Our Wüsthof knife block was a light maple color. The cutting board’s original finish was closer to gray than it was to brown.

I sanded both items and stained them using the same mid-tone walnut stain color that I used on the shelf.

Counter Tray

This isn’t a DIY; it’s just something I like. I corralled our most frequently used kitchen items with a Cuatro Platter from CB2:

This Optima Oil Bottle from Crate & Barrel is a cool shape (different from the classic tall bottle) and holds a lot of olive oil
Acacia Salt Cellar, also from Crate & Barrel
Pepper grinder (not sold anymore)
Porcelain Butter Dish from Sur La Table
A fancy candle from Alapash

That brass bird back on the left is a vintage clip – we use it to leave notes on the counter (my notes always say “Went to Home Depot”).

Hidden Microwave

Everyone always asks “Where’s your microwave?” Just kidding – no one has ever asked that. But I’m going to tell you anyway: it’s in the cabinet above the dishwasher.

This cabinet is actually a base cabinet: it’s far too deep to be hanging over a counter. (It’s a miracle Jarrod hasn’t rammed his head into yet.) The upside of this cabinetry oddity is that it’s big enough to hold the giant microwave I bought off Craigslist 8 years ago.

There was a center piece of wood that came out easily by unscrewing it. That piece is what bridges the space between the cabinet doors – you may notice a small gap between the doors, but it doesn’t bother me.

I installed this sturdy tray divider from The Container Store to keep our cutting boards corralled and standing proud. It also ensures there’s plenty of ventilation around the microwave, which is something people like to get preachy about online.

The power cord runs discretely from the outlet below through a small hole I drilled in the bottom of the cabinet.

Cabinet Filler Piece

If you scroll back two photos, you’ll see a piece of non-matching wood next to the dishwasher. Previously, there was a several inch gap between the dishwasher and the cabinet, which made the dishwasher insulation and counter support really visible. Oddly, there were two filler pieces there (installed side-by-side), but they didn’t bridge the gap.

I removed those pieces and replaced them with one larger piece of wood. Once painted, it looks seamless.

Towel Hook

No detail is too small for this post! This cabinet door is the ideal place for a hanging towel: it’s accessible from the sink and the stove, and the towel doesn’t get closed in a door/drawer like it would elsewhere. I wanted a very small hook that coordinated with but wasn’t identical to our knobs – I didn’t want it to look like this door had two knobs installed in it.

Solution: this Forged-Iron Colonial Heart Hook from House of Antique Hardware. Love it.

That brass bunny is our “dishwasher is clean” reminder – I set it on the counter after I start the dishwasher.

Slide-in Range Cut-out

The counter cut-out for a slide-in range was very shallow. The previous range wasn’t flush with drawers, and the new one protruded even more. This wasn’t a surprise or an accident – I had planned to get the hole enlarged after the range was delivered, so it could be cut to size.

I hired Perfect Granite and Marble to do the cut – it was a high-stakes 5 minutes, and it turned out perfectly indeed.

Appliance Decals

Did anyone notice a small change in the two range photos above? I removed the Whirlpool decal from the range and the fridge.

Why do appliances have to come with big logo decals on them? I know they’re Whirlpool – I don’t need corporate branding to remind me. If anyone visiting our house wants to know what brand they are, they can ask me or visit projectpalermo.com on the world wide web.

I used a hair dryer to warm up and loosen the adhesive, and then ran a piece of floss behind the decal to remove it.

They both came off easily, leaving only a small amount of residue, which I scrubbed off. Byeee, Whirlpool!

I’ll return by the end of the week with the second roundup.

Kitchen and Dining Room Before and After

My make-it-work kitchen makeover is finished! I have a slew of before and after photos for you. Some of the befores are from when I started this recent decorating wave and some are from when we first bought the house, to show how far this space has come. I try to capture the same angle whenever possible. Let’s dive in…

So much better than where we started…

The kitchen cabinets were professionally painted Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White. They turned out exactly as I hoped. There’s plenty of color and pattern elsewhere throughout the first floor, so I’m happy to have this space simply feel clean, bright, and cohesive. An added bonus is that paint, wood filler, and caulk conceal the previous owner’s DIY installation flaws.

Before:

After:

Now that the cabinets are white, I considered replacing the counter stools with something wood and/or woven (like these gorgeous leather ones from CB2), but we really like these metal ones. They’re indestructible: our cat can’t claw them, I use them as stepstools all the time, and the handle cutout on top is really nice for moving them around. They’re from Overstock; all of the sources are linked at the bottom of this post.

Before:

After:

Sorry, it looks washed out here – it was a sunny day and I’m not a great photographer. I trust you come here for realness and not professional-grade photography!

Before:

After:

Speaking of photography: do you know what’s impossible to photograph? A freaking window. But I love the way this area turned out. It feels so much more intentional now that there’s a bit of decoration and proper moulding (for details, see Kitchen Progress: Faucet, Hardware, and Window Trim).

Before:

After:

This is a north-facing window, which I covered in frosted film (the view isn’t great) – it’s relatively low-light, but it’s enough for a potted pothos and an assortment of plant cuttings that I’m rooting in water.

Speaking of plant cuttings: my mother always has plant starts on her kitchen window sill as well. She’s been reusing an old Eggling shell my brother gave her 20 years ago. So, in honor of my mom, I asked my friend Jenni to include a few eggshells when I commissioned these plant drawings from her.

I know you’re supposed to remove the glass for better photographs, but it took a thousand hours to get this grid perfectly aligned and there was no way in hell I was going to take them down to do that.

Moving along, I bought a new dishwasher, refrigerator, and slide-in gas range from Abt. We love having the fridge on top, and we have an ice maker for the very first time! What luxury.

Before:

After:

You may remember that I debated getting a white vs. black vs. stainless range (see Kitchen Decision Making). Obviously, I landed on white, and I’m happy with it. The grate helps it blend in with the existing countertop. The control console looks a little like it belongs in a hospital surgical suite, but it’s fine. I do like that the knobs are on top, and I really like the way it looks from the front.

Before:

After:

You already saw this coffee + toaster nook in a previous post: Kitchen Progress: Butcher Block Shelf.

Before:

After:

And this door makeover was documented here: Kitchen Progress: New Door, Trim, and Threshold Tile.

Before:

After:

Moving on to the dining area, which is adjacent to the kitchen. I’m using the same rug, chairs, and table from our last place (seen in our Apartment Therapy tour). The light fixture is the same as the apartment as well – that’s one thing still on my to do list. I need to have the junction box relocated above the table before I buy and install a permanent fixture.

Before:

After:

I found the landscape lithograph prints for $5 each at an antique store in my hometown (Jefferson City, Missouri). The moulding around the dining room was installed by a previous owner.

The big splurge in this room is the Danish corner cabinet, purchased from SharkGravy.

That ZZ plant is turning into a beast – it’s almost overgrown this space. To the right, you can see a wall-mounted bottle opener and cap collector, which I installed at our last place as well (see Wall-Mounted Bottle Opener).

A couple more shots of the cabinet, because I love it so much.

We keep bottles on top – shout out to my sister-in-law Kateri for this vintage Kentucky Tavern decanter. No one needs to know there’s Fireball in there.

One parting shot. I’ll do a follow-up post to share some details and decisions I want to call out. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to address them in that post!

Sources:

Cabinet painters: Giant Painters
Kitchen runner: Rejuvenation Balter Flatweave Rug
Hanging planter: Umbra Pleated Planter (purchased at Alapash in Chicago) + Mkono Macrame Plant Hanger
Woven bowl on window sill: CB2 Rini Round Bread Basket
Clock: Schoolhouse Kennedy Clock
Cutting board: 1761 Wood Large Rectangle General Chopping Board
Stools: Overstock Tabouret 24-inch Charcoal Grey Metal Counter Stools
Kitchen light: Rejuvenation Eastmoreland 8″ Semi-Flush Aged Brass Mount with 16″ Opal Shade #B5138
Plant drawings: Art by Jenni Wu + Target Project 62 Brass Frames
Faucet: Delta Trinsic Single-Handle Pull-Down Sprayer Kitchen Faucet with MagnaTite Docking in Arctic Stainless
Cabinet hardware: Amerock Blackrock 1-1/3 in. Black Bronze Round Cabinet Knob and Blackrock 160 mm Black Bronze Pull
Fridge: Whirlpool Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator – WRB329DMBW
Oven: Whirlpool White Slide-In Gas Range – WEG515S0FW
Dishwasher: Bosch 24″ 300 Series Scoop Handle White Built-In Dishwasher – SHS863WD2N
Door threshold tile: EliteTile Retro Glazed Porcelain Hex Mosaic in Matte White
Dining room light: IKEA (no longer available)
Dining room rug: Pottery Barn (no longer available)
Dining table and chairs: vintage
Bar cabinet: vintage Danish teak corner cabinet from SharkGravy
Wall-mounted planter: Umbra Trigg Hanging Planter

For more information about this project, check out these related posts:

Kitchen Progress: New Door, Trim, and Threshold Tile

Yup, I’m still plugging away at the kitchen! I’m wrapping up trim, and then I’ll be able to do After shots of the whole room for you. But I wanted to dedicate a post to this kitchen door project because it’s been a lot of work and it made a big impact.

The door I’m talking about is the one seen in this old photo. It leads to our enclosed back porch, which we use as a mudroom.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the door, but it always bothered me that we had no visibility into our backyard from our kitchen/dining room. We put so much work into the space last year (see Backyard Patio, Painting, and Landscaping) – I wanted to be able to see it from inside!

Also, as you can see in this photo, there was SO MUCH natural light we were missing out on. This wall faces east. I’d come downstairs in the morning and the sun would be streaming through this little pet door. (The pet door just lets our cat into the mudroom – not outside.)

Home Depot and Lowe’s have affordable half-lite glass doors, but everything available off-the-shelf has a grid over the glass, like this one. I had to do a custom order for plain glass without a grille. Spending more money to get something simpler is my M.O., it seems.

I went with a Jeld-Wen Smooth-Pro Fiberglass Exterior Door from Home Depot. It cost $475. It could have been cheaper if I had been patient enough to wait for a sale (which I usually am!), but with a 4-8 week lead time, I just wanted to get the ball rolling.

Here’s the newly-installed door, with Lola checking out his newly-installed cat door.

I switched the way the door swings: it was a right-hand inswing and now it’s a left-hand inswing. I referenced this Home Depot door handing guide a million times to make sure I ordered the correct one.

This left-hand inswing flows better with our mudroom’s exterior door (which is also a left-hand inswing), and it feels like a more natural path to our kitchen. Since switching the inswing made for a more complicated installation, I chose to hire a handyman to install it. That cost $295. Not cheap, but worth it to me. Thankfully, the rest of this project was DIY and affordable!

I tore off the trim and replaced it, which is what I’ve been doing to all the entryways on the first floor.

And then I tackled Baby’s First Tile Job. This glossy beige tile was not adding anything good to the space.

It took fewer than 5 minutes to demo.

Removing the tile revealed a couple of divots (like you see below) in the old concrete threshold. I patched those with Quikrete.

I used EliteTile Retro Glazed Porcelain Hex Mosaic in Matte White. When I bought this tile for our half-bathroom (see Half-Bathroom Before and After), I ordered enough with this project in mind. I don’t have a wet saw, so I cut the tiles by hand using tile nippers. It wasn’t the most enjoyable 2 hours of my life, but it was far from the worst (here’s looking at you, La La Land).

The cut tile edge was pretty rough; sanding smoothed them out.

Finally, it was time to lay tile. I won’t go into process details because there are tons of how-to guides available online. Here’s the tile after I adhered it, before I grouted it. I used a Schluter metal tile edging trim for the exposed edge.

Here’s the tile after I grouted it, when I was in the “I’ve made a huge mistake” phase. I had no idea what I was doing!

I just kept sponging and sponging until I made it through.

Lola may not be impressed, but I am super happy with how my first tile job turned out.

So, now, back to the Before:

And the After:

The first day we had the new door installed, Jarrod and I were admiring the view and we saw our very first goldfinch in our backyard. There had surely been others, but we had never seen them because we couldn’t see the yard. Now we see them all the time back there!

Upcoming posts: full kitchen makeover, and our awful mudroom which isn’t so awful anymore.

Kitchen Progress: Butcher Block Shelf

Shortly after we moved in, I bought a used IKEA cart from a friend and that’s been our toaster and coffee station ever since.

It did the job well and looked okay, but it was too narrow to balance out the width of the cabinet above it. I knew I’d want to replace it with something in a walnut finish after we had the cabinets painted white (more on that in a future post, and you can check out my saved Instagram Story.)

When I first started thinking about a replacement, I was focused on finding another multiple-shelf cart because that’s what we’ve had for so long. I do this sometimes: get focused on one option – thinking it’s THE solution – at the expense of considering other routes. Once I realized A) we have plenty of storage elsewhere and B) the trash and recycling would fit well here, everything clicked.

Before purchasing anything, I installed a test shelf using supplies I had on hand to make sure Jarrod and I liked this setup.

This trial balloon immediately made the kitchen flow so much better. Having the trashcans here makes the basement door much less crowded – it was fine for the most part before, but awkward/cramped when carrying things (e.g. laundry) downstairs.

By moving them, the door is more easily accessible and the trashcans are aligned with our work areas. It’s a straight, natural path to throw things away, as opposed to turning right around the counter.

I ordered these heavy-duty cast-iron brackets from House of Antique Hardware. I bought this butcher block countertop from Menard’s, which I cut to fit. While I love the look of the IKEA KARLBY countertop I used for our two-person desk, that surface is a thin veneer over particleboard. Jarrod has a major coffee catastrophe at least once a quarter (e.g. turning on the coffee maker without the carafe in place to receive the brewed coffee), so we need a solid wood surface that can take abuse and be refinished down the road.

I did sample swatches of two Varathane stain colors: American Walnut and Dark Walnut. American Walnut looked a little too country.

Dark Walnut looked a little too flat brown.

So, I ended up doing a 50/50 blend. I used Minwax’s Pre-Stain wood conditioner before applying the stain. This was my first time using Varathane stain and I really liked it – it’s less runny than Minwax stain and the pigmentation seemed richer.

I sealed the wood using four coats of Waterlox, following the steps Yellow Brick Home describes. Afterward, I drilled a hole for the appliance cords. (I knew that if I drilled the hole first, it would lead to a lot of messy drips.) I applied stain to the inside of the hole using a paper towel. In the end, you don’t even see it.

The dustbuster moved to the adjacent mudroom, the cat food station is now tucked next to the sink, and the cookware is in cabinets or the under-oven drawer (our previous range didn’t offer storage because the burner was in the bottom drawer).

Here’s what it looks like now:

I used this J-channel raceway to route the cords. It’s a little larger than other options, but I like that the design offers easy access to the cords – e.g. for removing the appliances when Jarrod has his quarterly coffee catastrophe. I painted it the same color as our walls (Irish Mist).

The shelf height allows the can lids to open nearly entirely – at least 90%, which is totally sufficient for throwing stuff away. (The shelf is 36″ high, same as our counters – it just looks higher because of the camera perspective.) Ergonomically, the most important part of this placement is keeping the trashcans pulled toward the front of the shelf. If they’re pushed to the back, it’s less comfortable to use. Below, you can see how they align with the adjacent wall.

There’s a secret trick: I installed a simple 5-inch deep ledge behind the trashcans to keep them in place and perfectly aligned. It also hides the cords and keeps them off of the ground.

The ledge is hidden unless you’re crouched looking at it from this back angle, which is not where folks usually hang out.

The accent lamp adds some warmth to the space, especially in the evenings. The art is a vintage paint-by-numbers I found at an antique store in Normal, Illinois on our way to my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. I’m still deciding on the frame – I think I like that it’s a little offbeat/ugly.

The basket holds our reusable napkins, which I love. They’re smaller than the average cloth napkin, absorbent, and perfect for daily use. I bought our first batch in 2013; in 2017, I replaced them with a new batch and the old batch is now used as rags. Five stars, highly recommend!

I’m still wrapping up the final details on the rest of this makeover. I’ll be back with a couple more kitchen posts once I do!

Kitchen Progress: Faucet, Hardware, and Window Trim

I dove into my kitchen makeover this past month and knocked out three things that already have me liking the space a lot more: a new faucet, cabinet hardware, and window moulding.

Faucet

Our previous faucet had a leak that was getting progressively worse: the water would only shut off when the handle was turned to a precise 9 o’clock position. Also, the faucet head was low which – when combined with our rather shallow sink – meant dishwashing space was kinda cramped.

To replace it, I bought this Delta Trinsic faucet in stainless steel. It’s really nice and was easy to install. The feature that sold me on this one is the MagnaTite pull-down head: it has magnets, so it connects really securely to the faucet neck and, because magnets are magic, that connection won’t weaken over time.

You’ll have to stick around until the end of this post for faucet After photos…

Hardware

As I mentioned in my Kitchen Decision Making post, I ordered Amerock’s Blackrock knobs and pulls. Five of the drawers already had pulls, so I was able to simply swap out those.

The other nine drawers had these tiny pull tabs – you could only grab them with your pincer fingers. (Thanks to this guy’s blog post for addressing the pincher/pincer word choice issue for me.)

The pulls weren’t practical, especially on the giant drawers laden with heavy cookware. Thanks to Jarrod for hand modeling the pincer issue for me.

I bought a hardware installation template set and neither worked for my needs. The pull template wasn’t wide enough and the knob template didn’t have a hole option that aligned with where I wanted to place the knobs. D’oh. So, I improvised.

To install the pulls, I removed the front from one of the drawers that originally had a pull and used that as a template for the other drawers. I aligned the tops, made sure it was centered, clamped them together, and drilled.

I kept it simple and used the same size pulls on all of the drawers. It’s narrow enough to not look ridiculous on the smaller drawers, and wide enough to not get lost on the bigger drawers. EZPZ.

For the knobs, I made a simple template using scrap wood.

Window Trim

In addition to my miter saw and drill, I used three new tools for the first time on my window trim project, so I thought I’d round them up quickly here.

Table saw: I finally bought my first table saw this year. It’s the final frontier of saws for me. Despite regularly using several other power saws, a table saw has always seemed daunting. I purchased this Dewalt 745S – Home Depot offers this “Special Buy” that packages the DW745 with a stand, which is indeed a good deal. It sat unopened in our basement for weeks until I discovered Steve Ramsey on YouTube. I don’t usually like how-to videos (I prefer to read instructions) but this 7 Things To Get You Started Using a Table Saw video is great: it gave me the confidence I needed to safely use my new saw.

Kreg Jig: Confession: I’ve had a Kreg Jig kit since 2013 and have never used it until now. Again, I watched a Steve Ramsay video – Beginner’s Guide to Pocket Hole Joinery – and then used it to join the wood for my window stool.

Brad nailer: Whenever I see bloggers installing trim, they’re usually using a pancake compressor and gun (like trim pros Yellow Brick Home), so I assumed I’d have to invest in that as well. But I discovered this Ryobi AirStrike, which uses the same battery system as my drill (which I love) and my string trimmer (which I hate). This brad nailer worked great on my window trim and it’s made me more excited (read: less full-of-dread) about replacing the rest of the first floor moulding.

Now that we’ve addressed the tools, here’s the order in which I tackled the window trim.

1. I did a dry-fit of all the component parts, cutting everything to size with my table saw and miter saw. One tool I don’t have is a router, but I wanted a rounded edge for my window sill. This Alexandria Moulding Stool—available by the foot in-store—did the trick. It’s not deep enough for my window well (our bungalow’s exterior walls are built with two layers of bricks!), so I attached another piece of wood cut to the appropriate depth as shown above.

This picture of me dry-fitting everything cracks me up because a) Where is my head? and b) Those shoes are hideous. Fleet Feet (a local shoe store) gives you sass if you express concern about aesthetics of athletic shoes instead of fit, which is how I ended up with these froggers.

2. Once I confirmed everything fit properly, it all went back to the basement for a first coat of paint.

2. Then it was time to install for real. The window stool went in first; it’s nailed and glued in place.

2. The side trim pieces (AKA casing) went up next. It’s simple moulding from Home Depot.

3. For the header (AKA architrave), I used this Interior Primed MDF Window and Door Casing (Model #538A-MDF8) from Lowe’s. It’s all one piece, making it easier to install – I just needed to cut the return pieces. (See this post from Ana White for more details.)

4. I used a piece of cove moulding as a simple apron below the stool. I wanted something under the sill to make the window look more finished, but it couldn’t be very wide because it would further accentuate the slight slant of the counter backsplash. My trim is perfectly level and square, but everything around it isn’t!

I cut the cove moulding at an outward angle to make the ends look more polished.

5. The window well is more rhombus than square, so I used backer rod and caulk to fill in the unavoidable gaps on the sides of the stool.

Note: ideally the stool would be flush with the bottom of the window, but that wasn’t an option here. You only notice that it’s raised when you’re looking at it from this angle, and why are you looking at it from this angle?

Here’s everything all caulked, patched, and painted, along with the new faucet and hardware:

Just like with my remodeled bathroom window trim, now this window looks like a feature of the room – not an afterthought.

So glad to get rid of those stainless bar pulls. And I don’t have to worry about patching the holes they left behind because the cabinet painter will do it: yessss.

Up next: floor refinishing, then appliance delivery, then cabinet paint. (And art, and lighting, and more!)