In most cases, a kitchen remodel is the most expensive improvement you can make to your home. Of course, it usually pays off in increased value of your property.
However, if you are on a budget and your appliances aren't in need of replacing, you might be able to get by with just renovating and painting the cabinets. Here are some nifty ideas you may want to try.
You need to remove the doors and drawer fronts from all of the cabinets. It's a good idea to put matching numbers on cabinets and their doors to make matching them later easier. This can save you a lot of aggravation when it comes time to reinstall them. Remove the drawer pulls, knobs and hinges, and set them aside. Thoroughly clean all of the facing surfaces, as well as the cabinet boxes. Mineral spirits paint thinner will remove airborne grease, which is very common in a working kitchen. TSP, or trisodium phosphate, also is a good cleaner.
Scuff-sand the surfaces, including the cabinet boxes, as well. You can use a sanding block or a power sander. You don't have to remove all of the paint, just the gloss. This will help the new paint stick to the surfaces.
Check out your old hardware to see if you want to clean it, or paint and reuse it. If you plan to replace it, try to find hardware that will install into the existing holes. If not, then plan to patch over these holes with putty before priming and painting. Make any other repairs that are needed as well.
Prime all surfaces and let them dry thoroughly.
When choosing paint, a gloss or semi-gloss is a good choice. Traditionally, paint with some gloss is easier to clean. Low-VOC paint also is a healthier choice for your kitchen and for your home in general.
Before installing the doors and drawers, install the cleaned or new hardware. Then reinstall the doors and drawers, and take a step back to see your new and improved kitchen!
Depth finder
Remember the adage "Measure twice, cut once?" If you do this, you will make fewer mistakes, and will save both money and time. And if you have a good handsaw, you also have a good ruler. You can use a marker or even a rotary tool to make marks along the back of the saw blade to note measurements. Set a yardstick next to it and transfer the marks, and you will have a ruler whenever you are cutting wood.
Camouflage bookends
If you are lucky enough to have a lot of books, then you ought to be smart enough to know you are going to need some good bookends. Here's a great way to create bookends that will do the job without showing. The plain "T"-shaped metal bookends are still around, and they work well but aren't very attractive. But if you slip the bookend up into a book and then place the book on the end of the row, it will do its job, and nobody will even know it's there. You can glue the book if it's not one you care a great deal about.
Super hints
• An old rubber glove can be recycled into a bunch of rubber bands. Just slice it into thin sections from the end up with scissors to create a ton of assorted rubber bands to use around the house and shop.
• Writing something in ink does make it harder to remove. But it also can make a mess, and what do you do when you want to remove or clean a surface? Well, try regular rubbing alcohol, or any alcohol, for that matter. It will help dissolve most inks. Then you can just wipe the ink away. Give it a try next time you have an inky mess to clean up.
• If your grass has grown too tall for a single-cut pass, raise the front end of the mower so the front of the blade (the high side) mows first and the low end of the mower deck will make a second pass at a lower level.
Q. I have found a crack that runs across my back patio. It's small, but I want to put down a rug, and thought I should fill the crack with something first. I don't want ants or water coming up through it and ruining the rug. Do I just use caulk?
A. Use patching compound made for concrete. You can buy it in a couple of different size containers, but the caulking tube, for use with a caulking gun, is the most convenient and easy to use. And you are right to seal the crack in order to prevent moisture from penetrating and deteriorating the concrete. It should be easy to do, and the rug will cover it, so it shouldn't look too bad.
Q. I can see where someone put duct tape around the window frame in our bathroom. I was able to get most of the tape off, but there is a gray, sticky substance on the window frame. What can I use to remove this?
A. There are some adhesive removers you can try, available at your hardware store. Or you might even try WD-40. Just wipe away all of the residue and cleaner, and then paint the surface if any wood is exposed. You also might add weatherstripping, because it might be that someone was using the tape to keep cold air out.
Q. We have a sunroom that has older wood paneling in it. It's not great paneling, but I would like to paint it rather than remove it. I'm not sure what's underneath the paneling, either. I think it might be the old aluminum siding, and I sure don't want that as a wall covering. What kind of paint can I use to go over the dark paneling? Do I need to do anything else to the paneling before painting it?
A. Clean the wooden surface first with mineral spirits paint thinner. Then apply primer to cover the entire surface. Then you can use any gloss or semi-gloss paint over that. If your sunroom has high humidity, you might consider a paint that contains a mildewcide to help prevent mildew.
Reader tips
• I use my cedar scraps to scent our closets and drawers. My wife likes me to cut the wood into small blocks, and then she puts them under the sweaters and in drawers, and hangs them in the closet to keep the moths away. I'm not sure it works, but she swears by it. I just like to keep the peace and make her happy. And I'm all for saving money on clothes - and cedar blocks! They actually do smell good.
• I used flea spray all over the yard and even inside the house to help keep fleas under control. I washed the dog, too, and put a flea collar on her as well. But I forgot to treat her doghouse outside, so I was going to use some more spray, but I had run out. I wanted to use something, so I tried diluted flea shampoo and water. I sprayed it in the doghouse and around the garage, which I also had forgotten. It seems to have worked, and it smells a lot better than the other spray. So far, so good.
• As a fireman, I would like to remind your readers to have their chimney inspected and repaired. Every year we see dozens of fires in homes that were started from clogged or leaking chimneys. It's well worth the money to have the job done, and done right. Either that, or don't use the fireplace at all.
• We have a standard glass patio door, and I have had to take precautions after a couple of near misses. I bought some window decals to put on the glass doors so you can see the glass. A couple of my son's friends have almost gone right through the doors. The decals will come off when the kids are older and no longer need them. We even put one low for the dog. She is older, and we think she might have trouble seeing the glass, too.
• I still get free yardsticks at my hardware store, thank goodness. I got two last year and glued them together so that I have measurements on both sides. I have a tape measure that I use when sewing, and it's great because it has the numbers on both sides, and that's where I got the idea. It's really nice to have the measurements on both sides like that. So I made one from these for the shop. The two glued together also means it's stronger and should last a little longer than a standard yardstick.
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