Kitchen - almost completed

Completing the kitchen is really close...unpacking, putting away and hanging curtains (once I finish sewing them all)! 

 Here is a reminder... this is what the kitchen looked like when we first began this project

All the cabinets looked white when we started...

but they were actually a more creamy color.

Emily wanted the upper cabinets white and the lower cabinets a darker color to break up all the cabinets!

The dining room will be painted white on the wainscoting and a icy blue on top.

The cabinet doors next to the fridge will go away.  Emily wants this whole side of the kitchen open on top to use as display for her corning ware.

You can see inside these cupboards that it really was a cream color, but you didn't notice how creamy until we started painting everything white.

Here is the blue color Emily decided on for the bottom cabinets.

Once all the drawers and cabinet bottoms were painted and dry, they were ready to seal with a coat of wax.

This is the brand of wax I like to use.  I buy mine at a local antique mall.  It can be hard to find, so I usually buy two (although the day I visited Taylored for Texas in Waxahachie I found out it comes in 5 gallon tins!)  The wax is already mixed with a color, so the hardest part is done for you.  This is a mahogany colored wax.

You want to put it on with a soft cloth following the grain of the wood - after the paint has dried for at least 24 hours.

Use fairly long strokes or it won't look right.  Continue adding wax and working it in until you achieve the color you like.

Once it's had time to dry, buff it out with a soft cloth.  It becomes smooth and nicely seals the paint. It has a polished look to the finish.

Once everything was waxed and buffed, we put the pieces back in place.

Emily was very pleased with the overall look the darker color and wax fronts created. The paint no longer looked so "fresh" and new anymore and the wax gave the cabinets the aged/vintage look Emily was hoping for.

The new dark knobs replaced the original gold ones.

We painted and waxed three blocks in the decorative shelf also.

Emily has unpacked a few boxes and put stuff away...only so that she could re-use the boxes to get more stuff from the old place.  Once she has everything unpacked she'll have more items to add to her 1950's turquoise collection.  Notice the doors are gone from the shelves to the right.  She really likes the open feel of this whole area.

The lower wall in the dining room also had the same creamy white paint as the kitchen cupboards...which, again, looked white.  I started out by almost dry brushing the bottom with the white from the kitchen.  The creamy color still shows through, but it created an effect that made the bottom wainscoting look more weathered and aged.

The upper walls in the dining room (and under the cupboards in the kitchen) were painted the lightest of blues.  (This light color is from the same color pallet as the bottom kitchen cabinets.)

To finish the kitchen the top doors were put back on the cupboards,

and they also all received new hardware.

Emily has moved the very last of her things from her old place, now the new house is stacked with boxes and "stuff."  This week we'll lay all the shelf paper and get the rest of the boxes unpacked.

I sewed this weekend and completed the living room curtains, the shower curtain and one part of the kitchen curtains...so lots more to share over the next week or so.

Till tomorrow....

debi