Barn Light Electric Giveaway

I’m sick of writing about my brother’s kitchen.  Let’s talk about lighting.

Do you all remember when I won a $1000 gift certificate from Barn Light Electric?  How could you forget?  Maybe you’re new around here.  I used that $1000 to purchase these beauties.

Bermuda Pendants in Satin Steel

Laramie Pendant in Vanilla Cream

Altus Hugger Ceiling Fan

Well, guess what?  The annual B.L.O.G. contest (Barn Light’s Online Giveaway) for 2012 began yesterday!  The first place prize is a $1,000 gift certificate, second prize is a $500 gift certificate, and third prize is a $250 gift certificate. All you have to do to enter is write a blog post explaining which light fixtures you would choose and send your blog link to the nice people over at Barn Light Electric. How’s that for a super easy blog post? Click here for the official rules!!

You seriously need to enter.  I figured I had zero chance in winning. I assumed Barn Light Electric would select a blog with a larger following for better press.  Nope.  Little ol’ Décor and the Dog hit it big.  I’m still pinching myself.  And jumping up and down each time I look at my pretty lights.  (It’s good exercise.)  (You can read my entry post here!)

Are you going to enter?  Which lights are your favorites? 

***I was in no way compensated for this post.  I’m just madly in love with my free lights and want you all to have the chance to jump up and down in your kitchen while drooling over your new pendants.***

How to Add Cabinet Molding

Today’s post is brought to you by Nate. 

He is going to tell you all about adding simple molding to plain ol’ boring cabinets and how my brother can’t measure…

The first step in the molding process was picking out the molding.  We need something simple and on the thinner side.  We purchased the molding above from Lowe’s.

The next step in adding cabinet molding was deciding where to place the molding on the cabinet.  We used a spare piece of wood and marked 1” from the edge with chalk.  The 1” placement did not look right so we went to 2.5” in from the edges.  Ike approved of the 2.5”.

Marshall (Michelle’s little brother) provided us with all of the dimensions before hand. (They were all incorrect.  Always measure from the edges.  It makes things a lot easier when installing. I could cut all the pieces (with a miter saw at 45 degrees on each side) the weekend before to save some time. Or so I thought.

On all of the doors, I marked the selected length in from all sides.  I laid out the pieces to make sure the person that originally measured did so correctly.  After discovering that all doors were measured incorrectly, I made the necessary adjustments and remarked all of the doors (I should have verified before marking all doors, but I assumed he knew what he was doing.  A learning lesson for both of us.).

I put a little bead of wood glue on the molding and placed it on the door at the selected marks. I then used a brad nail gun to securely attach to the molding to the doors. I used 5/8” brads as they were just long enough to get through the molding into the door but not all the way through the door.  Repeat on all doors.  Fill in the holes and corners with wood filler and sand.

I also installed molding on a plain area of the cabinets.

The next step is to paint over the entire thing (read about that here and here) and enjoy the added dimension.

$50 in molding definitely helped improve the looks of this kitchen.

Read about the paint we used here.

See more before and after photos here!

Anyone’s kitchen in need of some molding love?  Anyone else out there struggle with measuring?

Painted Cabinets Kitchen Reveal

Nate and I spent Memorial Day week-end helping my baby brother paint his kitchen.  We only threatened to ditch the place and go tubing about 10 times.  But we didn’t.  Sibling love.

This is what my brother’s kitchen looked like when he purchased the home.

Pretty, no?  Fiesta is always my favorite color scheme.

I told little brother not to worry.  We can make this kitchen pretty for not a lot of dinero.

A few weeks back we painted the walls Comfort Grey by Sherwin Williams.  It definitely lightened up the room and made me want to barf less.  Just less.  I still wanted to barf.

Those cabinets were in such sad shape.  Nothing some new moldings, hardware, a loving family and paint couldn’t fix.

Hard to believe it’s the same room, right?

My brother got a great deal on the stainless appliances purchased from a friend’s brother.  $700 total for both.  The oven had been used 3 times.  The fridge was spotless.

Nate added some simple molding to add dimension to the cabinets.

Nate also replaced that lovely red mesh with some plywood.  Cheap and easy fix!

Nate also installed some floor trim to replace the plastic trim.  Little brother is moving up in the world.

Brother still needs to install some molding underneath the cabinets under the sink and replace the cutting boards (holes under counter) but otherwise this kitchen is done!  Unless he’ll let me add some decorative touches.  Or paint that door.

Source List:

• Wall color:  Comfort Grey by Sherwin Williams ($30) 
• Cabinet color:  Rust-Oleum’s Cabinet Transformations kit in Linen ($70) 
  • Review to come!
  • Hardware:  Handles from Lowe’s, knobs from Menards (no clue on names) ($50) 
  • Cabinet molding:   Lowe’s ($50) 
  • Floor molding:  Menard’s ($20)