DIY Kitchen Cabinet Upgrade With Paint and Crown Molding

[pinit]Upgrade Cabinet Makeover with DIY crown moulding and chalky finish @DecoArt_Inc @savedbyloves[pinit]

I am thrilled to be sharing our kitchen cabinet upgrade with you today, mainly because that means it is finished!  We moved into a house with, as you can see, outdated oak kitchen cabinets.  Maybe you were here before and saw our DIY countertop transformation with Rustoleum.  To continue the kitchen renovation, we took the cabinets up to the ceiling by boxing them in and adding crown molding to close the 12 inch gap between the ceiling and the tops of the cabinets.  We tied together the new wood and cabinets by painting them with Chalky Finish Americana Decor Paint.  It would have been fairly difficult to stain wood and crown moulding to match the current cabinets perfectly.  This is a great way to add a high end look to your kitchen for cheap, especially if you are going to paint your cabinets anyway.

DIY Kitchen upgrades

Here is what the cabinets looked like to start.  This was after revamping the countertops to cover that country blue laminate.

diy kitchen cabinets

To close the gap between the cabinet tops and the ceiling, we removed the trim on the cabinet tops with a pry bar.  We measured the dimensions of the cabinet tops and built 3 sided boxes from 1×12 boards to fit.  This was perfect for the 12 inch gap.  It left about a half inch (since 1×12 lumber is actually 0.75×11.5 inches… I know).  This was no problem since we knew we would be covering the gap with crown moulding later.  We used construction adhesive to adhere the boxes to the top of the cabinets.  We planned to nail trim to cover the seam where the cabinets met the box, which we would nail into both, adding extra security.

take cabinets to ceiling with crown moulding

Here you see the trim (we used pine mullion) and the crown moulding.  This was my first time cutting crown molding.  Save yourself a ton of wasted materials and heartache by visiting Sawdust Girl’s How to Cut Crown Molding Tutorial.  My little brain thought it would be as easy as cutting trim… ha!  Not the case.  Sandra didn’t touch on how to cut angles molding for angles that aren’t 90°…

tips for installing crown moulding

We ran into that fun conundrum as you see in the above photo.  There are charts on how to do this for every angle and every position on your saw.  We finally ended up using this Bench Dog Polymer Crown-Cut Crown Molding Cutting Jig I picked up from Amazon.  It was pretty helpful.  We the 2 odd angles above the glass window containing cabinet were 135°, so we set up our molding on the saw exactly like it would siton the cabinet, which was only possible to maintain for cutting with the use of the jig.  This is a process you are just going to have to go through in order to get to the good stuff!  Sandra points out that she has to go back to her templates every time, even though she does this often.  I found that to be the case everyday during this project!

DecoArt Americana Chalkyfinish Paint

Big thanks to DecoArt for providing the paint and wax for this project!  We used Americana Decor Chalky Finish in “Everlasting” to paint everything from the bottom of the cabinets up to and including the crown molding.  The best thing about using this paint was not having to sand or prime the cabinets!

kitchen makeover DIY

We started by taping over the hinges with painter’s tape and painting the cabinets without removing the doors.  This ended up in paint on the hardware anyway, so we decided to remove the doors for the rest of the cabinets.

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets

All in all, we used 17 8 oz jars of the paint.  If you are going to go this route, make sure you have plenty of paint for your project before you start.  Waiting on more to come while you have no cabinet doors is less than fun.  Ask me how I know.

DIY Farmhouse Kitchen

Remember when I built the DIY Dog Feeding Station from Shipping Pallets?  It fits under the window in our new house like a glove!

Painting the cabinets took 4 coats.  We applied the clear wax and that was it.  We were without cabinet doors for 2 weeks while we continued moving into the house and painting cabinets as time would allow.

What do you think?  I love the high end look we achieved with little cost!

Chalk Paint Map Decoupaged Table Revamp

[pinit]Furniture Flip Chalk Paint Table Old Map Decor @savedbyloves[pinit]

Today I am sharing another furniture flip! We will be taking a retro 50’s side table to a chalk painted, old map bearing, stylish addition to the master bedroom.  A little decoupaging and glitter blast add a special touch.  Let’s do it!

SUPPLIES:

Table Before Furniture Revamp

Old table

Mod Podge Satin Finish

Decoupage Map Paper from Martha Stewart or actual old maps

Foam Paint Brush

Pen or pencil

 Scissors

Chalky Finish Paint in desired color

Americana Clear Creme Wax

Krylon Gold Glitter Blast

Krylon Glitter Blast Clear Sealer

TUTORIAL:

Americana Chalky Finish Paint Projects

I lightly painted 2 coats of Americana Chalky Finish in Timeless, allowing 20 minutes to dry between each coat.

How to Decoupage Furniture

I removed the doors/hardware and outlined them onto my decoupage paper, then cut out the paper to size.

Decoupage a Table With Mod Podge and Map Paper

How to Decoupage a Table

Next I added a layer of Mod Podge to the door surface with a foam brush.

Decoupage Table Tutorial

I smoothed wrinkles out from the center with the palm of my hands.  A brayer would work too.  Then I added a uniform layer of Mod Podge to the top of the map paper to seal everything.

Krylon Glitter Blast

I sprayed the pulls on the door, and the shoes on the table legs with Krylon Gold Glitter Blast.

DIY Old Map Table

I applied a coat of Americana Decor Creme Wax in clear to the whole piece and replaced the glittery hardware once everything dried.

DIY Map Craft

I love our new side table.  Just the perfect colors and style for our decor.

I hope you are inspired to get chalky and decoupagey!

100+ Ways to Decorate Your Place for Cheap

100+ Ways to decorate dorm rooms, or any room, creatively on a budget from savedbylovecreations.com #crafts #decorating #DIYAs a college student, I was always decorating my place with nice art and accessories that I could have made for way less than the purchase price. That was back when I thought only science mattered, and creativity was for those who didn’t know that. Can you imagine? Ask me how many of those expensive pieces I still have? Don’t let it happen to you. Why spend your precious resources on items you will move from place to place, lose or damage?  There are tons of ways to create amazing room designs with handmade, budget friendly home decor projects. Many of them use materials you will see in recycle bins everywhere. Go to your local recycling center and ask if you can raid their goods.  They may look at you funny, but probably won’t object.

Recycling Bin Craft Supplies

Stop the insanity. Save your cash and your planet. Impress your friends with decor you made by hand, from junk. Here are over 100 ways to do so!


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