Have you ever seen two little girls play in the Pottery Barn Kids store in the kitchen section?  Let me tell you, I thought I would not be able to get my girls out of there recently.  But for $700, there better be a real stainless refrigerator in that set, right??

Pottery Barn Kids Retro Kitchen

Kitchen Remodel for a Screaming Ugly Kitchen

When I had the chance to pick up a really sturdy wood construction three-piece kitchen for just $10 at a recent consignment sale, I couldn’t pass it up.  But, boy, was it ugly.  Purple, deep pink, and a shade of blue that made my eyes hurt.

Still, I could tell this was worth remodeling.  The girls got to play with them for a couple of weeks, then down to my workshop they went.  There were some details I liked, including the foil burners on the stove…

And some details I didn’t like, as in the unfinished backs and interiors.

Even though it’s miniature, this kitchen paint job starts like any other.  With a simple step, you can avoid this mistake: properly prepare oil paint surfaces.  Use this tip to tell if you have latex or oil paint on your existing surface.

Color Choices for a Super Cute Kitchen Remodel

Then primed, lightly sanded between coats, and rolled on two coats of Sherwin Williams Impatiens Petal SW 6582.  Picking this shade might have been the hardest part of the project, but luckily, I am an expert at picking Color with No Regrets.

It always amazes me how bad the primer coat looks. I’m showing you this just in case you want to paint your real cabinets.  Remember to use a good quality roller and sand in between coats to remove any fuzzies that are left behind by the roller.

I decided not to mess with the attached kitchen faucet on my set, and I saved a few bucks by spray painting the handles a stainless steel finish. There were two different sets of hardware here, but it didn’t make sense to spring for the $20 bucks for new hardware.  Remember, the whole set only cost $10 to start.

Kitchen Remodel: The Big Reveal

I was able to finish and bring the kitchen back upstairs a week before Christmas.  The girls love it.  Last week I thought one of the clients who visits my home office was going to rush over and get caught up in kitchen play when she saw it. I originally wasn’t going to keep all three pieces, but once they were done, the girls loved it so much that the whole set ended up in our living room instead of the play room.  How could we not keep them all?

Santa (aka Nonni) did come through with the actual Pottery Barn tea kettle that makes boiling and pouring noises.  At $40, it cost more than the kitchen and all the remodel supplies together, but it is the splurge that makes our little play kitchen irresistible.

I especially love that the backs and insides of all the pieces are finished now.  Thank you, IKEA, for such cute play fruit. And I love that the kitchen is actually storage as well.  The dishes and food are always stored inside the three pieces.

All in all, for the few hours of work it took to bring this retro kitchen up to speed, I can say that it was SO worth it!  This is a kitchen set that I am happy to have in my home for the next few years.  And I’ve even happier to have “saved” $680 versus the other kitchen.  The girls seem to love it, too.

And yes, in case you are wondering, the painting process I followed here or a cabinet paint product would work just as well for your real wood cabinets, in pink or any other color.

Thanks for hanging with me on my kitchen series.  And now a shameless plug.  If you haven’t already registered for the now famous Dump and Run Kitchen Strategies Organizing Class on February 11, please do so right now.  It’s coming up quick.  This is the yummiest organizing class you’ll ever attend.  And SOOOO practical.  I’ll show you how to keep your family fed with cheap, healthy, tasty meals that I spend about 10 minutes a day preparing in my crock-pot.  You get to come, make your own crock-pot meal, and take it home to eat that night.  We oversold last year, but I won’t do that again this year, because there are only so many chairs in my house.  Hear what one person had to say last year and sign up now.  This weekend I made sausage and peppers in about 5 minutes, and it fed us for two days. 

If you come to the class, you’ll also get to peek in my pantry, get organizing ideas for your own drawers, and see my kitchen…Ah yes, we’re back to the kitchen blog series.

What would you do if this were your kitchen remodel?

I’ve been grappling with my kitchen for some time now.  It’s a nice kitchen, but not great.  My hundred year old home was not built with today’s family or designs in mind. Here is the current footprint before the remodel.

Galley Style

• We butchered the laminate counter when we replaced the stove a few years ago.
• The eat in area is just big enough for our table, but not big enough for more than two people.
• The walk-in pantry is just steps outside the kitchen, in the dining room.
• There is a ton of wasted space above the laundry, which is in the kitchen behind the fridge, in this picture.
• The galley style is not my favorite layout.
• The laminate cabinets are a bit dated, but not completely ugly, and could be improved, perhaps, by Cabinet Transformations.
• Our “mudroom” is 6 coat hooks and a shoe-bench at the end of our counter.
• Crumbling walls behind the cabinets and a direct vent to the outside behind the microwave create a constant draft.
• But the biggest problem is the wall that separates the back staircase from the kitchen.  I can envision this wall GONE< GONE< GONE, and visually expanding the kitchen by about 8 feet.

The major kitchen remodel would be a total gut.  Here’s one version of the new floor plan.  See the big mass in the middle?  That is a big honking 12′ island with no wall in the middle, that allows me to keep my laundry in the kitchen and even add cabinetry.

• The major change would be removal of the wall behind the washer/dryer, opening up the kitchen for a humongous island.
• We’ll either need to live with a bar height island or purchase a smaller washer/dryer to accommodate a standard height island.
• We will need to relocate the current powder room to the current pantry, which will allow us to have a more traditional commode AND sink.  (Woohoo!  A sink in the bathroom?  Apparently an option one hundred years ago.)
• We will have to get all new flooring, which means we may as well remove the 3 cast iron radiators and install radiant heat flooring, which means we have more room for cabinets.
• We will gain visual access to the two windows, now currently in the powder room and rear hallway.
• We will gain insulation!!!!!
• We would definitely gain the WOW factor.

We would be out of service completely for 6-8 weeks.  With toddlers.  Who eat 6 times a day.  And access to our basement is through the kitchen, which means we’ll be limited to accessing that space (where I store many of my work supplies) sparingly.

Did I mention we’ll be down a kitchen for 6-8 weeks?  With toddlers.

But, we’d end up with a dream kitchen.  Here’s my inspiration.  This kitchen is on the website of one of my favorite builders, http://ciprianiremodelingsolutions.com .

Dreamy.

What would you do?  Obviously, there is also a major price difference, but the frugal choices we’ve made up to now mean we’re not especially pressured financially.  I just have to find somewhere else to hang out for 6-8 weeks besides the kitchen.  With two tiny eating machines in the house. OK, I’ll admit, I eat constantly, too.

Do I just shelve the whole idea of a kitchen remodel for 4 more years until they are in school and out of the house much of the day?  Has anyone else lived through this?  Want to talk me into a position?  Come to the Dump and Run class on February 11, make your case, and leave with your dinner.

Do nothing for 4 years, then dream kitchen?

Minor kitchen remodel now and dream kitchen later?

Major kitchen remodel now?
Move?  (Do not give my hubby one more reason to hang out on Realtor.com!)

What would you do?  I’d love to hear.

In the end, she decided to go with a minor remodel, updating the oak cabinets and oddly added crown molding with an antique cream finish.  She used the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations product that has been getting some attention over the last year.

We both love this outcome because they saved a ton o’ money, and because their perfectly solid oak cabinets are still in use, not in the landfill.  And, check out how the paint unified the crown molding, and made it look like it belongs to the cabinets.

She’s currently working on painting the island and swapping out the island counter for something a bit more updated.  But, wow, what a great transformation!  And I love the new cabinet pulls.  Great choice, for a bit of contrast.

Here’s what she said about the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation product:  It took me about 1 week  to do, mostly while the kids were sleeping.  It isn’t hard, just very time-consuming.  The kit said it would only take 2 coats of the base coat, but it actually took me 3.  It is totally well worth it in the end.  My only minor concern is durability.  I noticed a couple of chip on the cabinet by the trash can…..it is very easy to touch up though.  I will say that I did drop a few of the cabinet doors on the garage door when I was trying to carry them in the house to reassemble.  Amazingly, they were okay!  Last night I started the island.  I was waiting to figure out what color but I ended up doing it the same color.  I didn’t feel like getting a new kit for an accent color since this is temporary.  All in all, it only took me 1 large kit to do the kitchen.

This would also be a great, economical option for staging an older home to sell.  This antique cream finish is very current.

If you have any questions about doing this kind of project, or any firsthand experience with this product, I would love to hear it.

1.  I set up a tax file for the current new year.  It’s empty for a while, but it’s there.

2. I put out new tooth brushes for everyone in the family.

3. I usually start some new DIY home improvement project after the Christmas decorations come down.  This year, it looks like my office is getting a facelift.  Yeah!  More to come on that.

4.  I take a look at my car registration and inspection sticker, because one year I did go an entire month with an expired sticker, without a ticket.

5.  My dear hubby goes on a buying spree.  Very frugally, he goes and outfits himself with all new socks, undershirts, new tennis shoes, and various wardrobe staples. They aren’t fancy or expensive, and he’s definitely worth it. He uses the one in-one out rule, and turns all the old ones into dusting rags.

6.  I check my calendar (this year, it’s completely electronic) and make sure all of my monthly meetings and recurring appointments are on it.

7 . I usually skip a couple of weeks of groceries, instead eating up the staples to the back of the pantry and the bottom of the freezer.

If you are taking inventory of your pantry, please consider joining me for my organizing by Crock-Pot class on February 11.  Seats are filling, so please register now.  It’s tons of fun, and all new recipes this year.  You’ll pick your recipe starting next week, so please grab your seat before it’s sold out.

Even if your kitchen really is “experienced,” it doesn’t have to look old.  We don’t all have a big budget for major renovations, but these six easy and affordable fixes can ensure that your kitchen functions well and looks good, too.

1. A microwave sitting on the counter is not only a dead giveaway to the time since your last upgrade, it’s also a pretty easy fix. By moving it to where it belongs, within the line of upper cabinetry, it will expand the size of your kitchen by two and a half feet, at least on the countertop.  You probably have a hood above your range that holds a fan and light, which your new microwave will also have.  For about $200, you can get a nice microwave that has features such as the all important magic popcorn button.  For a little more, you can get the wonderful convection feature, that expands your cooking range, even browning meats and cooking breads without turning them to rubber.

2. If your fridge is over ten years old, not only will a new one provide a style update, but an energy lift as well.  According to one source, an older refrigerator might be costing you from $100/year to $280/year to operate than a newer model.  Replacing it with an energy efficient model can pay for itself in just a couple of years.

Want to see the other four? Check out the full article originally published at AboutOne.com.

Photo Credits:  ©HeartWork Organizing

Thirty days.  This is do-able.

Specific

Measurable

Applicable

Realistic

Time bound

How long did it take?

Did they keep it looking fabulous after you left?

How much did it cost?

It’s the New Year, and everyone wants a fresh start, so I thought you would just love to see this little project that a client and I completed between Christmas and the New Year.  His goal was to clear out the space so he could do something with it, maybe create a much needed home office office down the road.

Knowing that paper takes the longest to organize, we contracted to go through the paper and purge unwanted furniture and items.

This is a third floor bedroom/dormer space that was already finished, but being used to store tubs of paper and household cast-offs.  This picture shows just half of it.

Here’s the other half.

So how long did it take to get this organized? Remember, there are five steps to getting organized (as always, with a nod to Julie Morgenstern’s great book, Organizing From the Inside Out):

1. Sort
2. Purge
3. Arrange/Analyze remaining items
4. Containerize
5. Establish a maintenance plan

We planned on spending about 8 hours, and we spent about two hours longer than that.  And that is only because we went shopping, bought a new desk and file cabinet, and put them together. The client got way more than he bargained for!  Here they are, on day 2, the final day of the project.

And the other side of the room. You can see the new file cabinet hiding back in the corner. Yes, the client went through all the paper that you see in the before photos, and what didn’t get shredded or recycled got divvied up into the three small but sturdy drawers. There was a lot of recycling out at the curb the next day.

And to help with containerizing, we added two bookcases,

and we reset the bookcase that was already there.

Now this office really works. And we did all of this, just the two of us, in just a few hours over two days. So that answers the first question.

Will he keep it fabulous and organized now?  Probably.  He now has places to put household papers, his own personal paper retention guidelines, and a real desire to use this space for work instead of storage.  Most of all, he has systems with the file cabinet, the bookcases that store books, and the one bookcase that holds his office and teaching supplies.

And how much did it cost?  Well, in round numbers, it was around a thousand bucks for the services and the new furniture.  My organizing projects themselves start at $350.  This guy will probably deduct all of this as a business expense.  Smart move.

He said to me, “We got more done in 4 hours than I have gotten done up here in the last 5 years.”

Aw, shucks, that’s what I love to hear!

I hope this gives you some real inspiration for your winter organizing project.

What space are you ready to tackle?

And, by the way, forget the resolutions.  Who ever thought up that idea, anyway?

But here is one thing you can do in three minutes or less that can make a real difference for you this year.  Not kidding.  Right now.  Read this, and then run to find your nearest file folder, oversized envelope, or empty box.  Yes, you can even repurpose a gift box if you need to.

Label this folder, oversized envelope, or gift box with a thick, dark marker:  TAXES, 2011.

Set this folder, envelope, or box aside in your home office, or near where you process your mail.  If you share your home, let your spouse know where this is and what it is for.  Start filling it with items you might need to file your taxes this year.  You’ll start gettting these items in mid-January, possibly through February.  You might already have a few receipts or pages to add right now.  But if not, you’ll find them over the next few weeks.  When you find stuff that is or might be tax related, just pop it in here without worrying about organizing it.  Get something in email that you might need?  Save your sanity today by actually printing it out and popping it in the safe spot you just created.  Do you run a small, disorganized business from home?  Start pulling all of your records together now, and you’ll have what you need come crunch time.

Important tax records include W2′s, 1099′s, receipts for charitable gifts and donations, 529 records (contributions or expenses), end of year banking statements, refinance records, energy-saving home improvement records from the past year, and, of course, any unreimbursed work expenses.  If you aren’t sure whether it might be tax-related, pull out last year’s (2010) tax return and use that as a guide.

Don’t organize this stuff until you get ready to prepare your taxes; you are weeks away from that.  Right now, you are just trying to corral the little buggers that you’ll need for your 1040.

There.  Done.  You’re all organized, and it’s only day 2 of the new year.  Good for you!

Copyright (c) <a href=’http://www.123rf.com’>123RF Stock Photos</a>

Even if you want to donate your computer to a refurbishing organization, remove and destroy the hard drive, because sensitive personal data CAN be retrieved from a hard drive that has been erased by a magnet or a software program.

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Go from this:

How to Decorate Bookcases- Before

Decorate Bookcases with Style- AFTER

Bookshelves Need Focal Points

Decorate Bookshelves with Room to Breathe

Play with Color

Stack and Stand

Relax

Add Lighting

Fill In Around the Edges

Whether you have a bank of built-ins, a stand-alone bookcase, or a few shelves to play with, arranging your bookcases with accessories you may already own can add miles of style to your home.  Read the full article for more on how to decorate bookcases.

Originally published in About One.

Photo Credits © HeartWork Organizing