Well, as I mentioned last week, we are plowing ahead with our cottage kitchen makeover.  Here’s how it’s looking these days.

Part of keeping on budget, was the plan to reuse the solid cherry fronts of the cabinetry by painting them out. But sadly, after talking to two separate painting companies, it was a no go.  The cabinet fronts have a stained finish and don’t look too bad from a distance for 23 years old. But up close, well that was a different story, where they have been well handled, the finish is sticky and you can actually scrape it off with a fingernail.  Also, there was a constant white dust that accumulates on both the fronts and backs of the doors.  I would wipe them clean and two weeks later it was all back again.  Both painting companies didn’t feel comfortable trying to remove the finish and guaranteeing a new painted finish on them. Both tried various methods of sanding and paint finishes but they ended up a mess.

So the only option was to go for entirely new cabinet fronts, a shame really but I can’t say I was completely surprised, as I had wondered if the badly deteriorating finish was going to be a problem.

So onwards and upwards.

Earlier this week I met with the carpenter and he was looking skeptically at the drawer interior hardware and how the drawers sagged downwards when they were opened.  So, the next decision was made, to replace all the lower boxes, so that I could have new stronger drawer hardware and soft close drawers. Deep breath…..

Oh yes, and since we are going with new cabinet fronts, I may as well change the stainless steel fronted dishwasher I originally order with a panel ready one. I’ve always wanted one and what’s a few more dollars….sigh…..

Well, with my budget feeling very pinched, I went to Homesense to check out their stools and lucked in with getting two of these lovelies.  Then the next day, I went across town to see if I could score another one and lucky, lucky me, they had one.  Minus a few screws in the seat but that meant I got it at a steal and it’s an easy fix.

So since that was a great way to save some bucks, I decided to keep going. Instead of having the live edge shelves custom made we decided to take them on ourselves.  After a couple of visits to WoodSource in Manotick, I chose two live edge maple slabs (here’s one close up).

They will need to be cut to size and then lightly sanded and then I’ll give them a few coats of polyurethane to protect them.

Yay, for some budget saving this week.  We are waiting on the electrician to start some re-wiring this week, hopefully…fingers crossed.  Once that’s done, we will replace the drywall and then we will be waiting  for the cabinet boxes to be installed.