Ok, so you have decided not to hire a professional to design your new kitchen. That’s OK, but please do me a favor and heed my advice. Unless you’ve done this before successfully, without do-overs or mistakes…. use a designers technique to look at the big picture first! Get all your surface materials and paint colors together and lay them out on a neutral colored surface and live with it for a few days before you pull the trigger and order any of those items for your remodel. 
You might be saying…” oh I know what I like “. Well, I’m sure you do and you probably have great taste most of the time, but not everything in your closet goes with each other does it? You bought all those items because you like them, and they are most likely all very nice! However, that doesn’t mean that the brown and pink paisley shirt goes with the teal green striped skirt! They are both nice, but don’t work paired with each other, now do they? Continue reading Use design boards in your kitchen remodel…. especially if you’re a DIY(er)
Tag Archives: Kitchen design
LED Under Cabinet Lights-Product Review
Well, previously I wrote about a “do-it-yourself” stick on under cabinet light by Sylvania. In the world of kitchen design, under cabinet lighting can be a simple, cool and relatively inexpensive treatment. However, with this particular product, I have since had some bad luck. The light source is very dim, even though it has 3 levels of light output, and is a pain to engage. It is motion sensored and you have to wave your hand past it, under the cabinet, until it turns on. It says wave over the sensor once for low, twice for medium and three times for high light output, but with one wave of your hand it goes from high to low and you have to continue waving till you get it just right. It has a magnet which sticks on to the bottom of your wall cabinet, and then the magnet holds the light disc (puck style) in place. Or I should say supposed to keep it in place. It does not stay up. Continue reading LED Under Cabinet Lights-Product Review
Briwax to Stain Kitchen Cabinets….DIY Quick Fix
Using Briwax to stain kitchen cabinets
is a good DIY technique to change the look of your kitchen with a small budget, or when you can’t afford a new kitchen design or remodel. I forgot all about this product when I did my previous articles on cabinet quick fixes. This is a wax with a stain in it and can be used to darken stained cabinets. It works best if your cabinets do not have a shiny top coat especially one that is pealing or cracked. If not, this is a great product because you don’t have to do all the sanding that traditional refinishing requires. You will need to get Continue reading Briwax to Stain Kitchen Cabinets….DIY Quick Fix
DIY Kitchen Remodel Guide
So……you are planning a complete remodel or an addition to make your kitchen grand. Well the first place to start is with the design. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, don’t go tearing out your walls and cabinets until you have everything planned. This is the phase where it pays to hire a designer who can help draw up the plans. If they do CAD (computer aided design) with 3D renderings, even better. This way, you can see how your ideas will look and work before you get started. Kitchen designers do this day in and day out so they can help you avoid common mistakes. Mistakes cost time and money. Better to pay a few bucks for a professional kitchen design, and get it right the first time, than to waste time and materials (money) and have all the headaches that come with the mistakes. (go to the how I can help you tab to inquire about hiring me to help with your layout and design) Continue reading DIY Kitchen Remodel Guide