A proud DIY moment...

Ever have those moments when you're finished with a DIY project and you step back and go "ahhh, man, I did great work!" Not that you're trying to be conceited or pompous but you just know it looks so much better than it did before and it was exactly what you had in mind. I had one of those on Monday.

First, it started with a concept. We have a very small kitchen. That's tough for someone who loves to cook and bake like I do. So we have to make every inch count. This brings me to this wall...

In case you're wondering, those big cabinet doors are to our washer and dryer - European style. Our house was built in the early 1950's when the washer and dryer were usually housed in the kitchen. Eye sore. So the people prior to us built a clever cabinet around them. Not so great when you need to service the units but otherwise fabulous. 

Anywhoozle, the counter space is great but the wall wasn't very useful. The ONLY space we had to store food was a small little cupboard. Everything else is for pots, pans, dishes, bottles, etc. and even that isn't very much space.



See what I mean? Not much space to store food. Seriously...that's all the space we really had. Let's just say I'm in good with many of the staff at our local Publix grocery store. I visit often. So I figured why not put shelves up on the other wall that would allow me to store our dishes and glasses. It would not only be practical but hopefully decorative as well.

Off to the local home improvement store we went Friday night. (yep, we're that cool) I'm keeping them nameless because I was highly disappointed in a few of the things we found. My plan was to purchase pre-cut, pre-fab shelves and the brackets to hang them. Should take about an hour or so to install and viola - we'd be done. Famous last words.

Instead I found this...

Every one of the dark shelves was damaged. And not just a little damaged. I asked the sales guy in the area why they would sell them so damaged and he wasn't too concerned. Told me "they would sell like that" and all he would do is give me a whopping $1.00 off the price. Seriously? Ummm no thank you. Hubby thought I was being a little dramatic but I'm not paying good money for something that damaged out of sheer principle.

And with that Plan B was quickly implemented. Off we went to the lumber section, Hubby rollings his eyes but trying very hard to be patient. Little peanut wasn't sure what the heck was going on. It was his first time in a shopping cart without the carrier so he wasn't sure which way to look (he's facing backwards but going forward - waaaay weird for him at first) as I cart him off across the store. But he was a good sport. 



I found the same size board in unfinished white pine and all it needed was to be cut, which they can do for you in the store. Then I could stain it and it would virtually be the same, probably better since it wasn't made with cheap MDF and laminate. I considered the furniture grade wood but it was $40 per board and I needed 2 versus $17 for both boards in the white pine.

The Oh-this-will-be-a-snap project turned in to ugh-this-will-take-all-weekend project. But where there's a will there's a way. AKA a pregnant woman on a mission. I used Minwax PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany Gloss and applied 2 coats. And little tip, I thought putting them flat to stain would be better but it turns out that the stain can drip and leave heavier color underneath. It was much better to just prop them up and stain them while they were vertical. I also put a coat of Olympic High Gloss Enamel on them to make them extra shiny and tough since I had it already in stock (see this post).

Once those were dry, it was time to install. Daniel had plans to help me but since this was taking more time than originally anticipated, I ended up installing them on Monday night. He watched peanut instead (plus he was a touch grouchy so it was probably better for the marriage anyway). It was up to me to get these installed unless I wanted to wait till the weekend. And let's face it, I've never been good at waiting.

supplies

Installing the brackets isn't that complicated. Ideally you would find studs but our trusty stud finder wasn't so trusty. When I drilled the holes to put the white anchors in, there were no studs to be found. Stud finder, to you I say "liar liar pants on fire". Oh well. I created a grid on the wall using a pencil, laser, level and yard stick. Once the grid was in place (I installed three brackets per 50" shelf to ensure they were well supported), it's easy to put up the brackets in alignment. Took me about an hour or so to get them up. I may have been able to do it a little faster had I not also been helping with Charlie and working around a giant prego belly at over 6 months pregnant. Do you know how hard it is to bend over a cabinet with a big belly? Or twist underneath the shelves to screw them in to the brackets with a belly? Yep, made you go there.

Here's a picture of the shelves once they were up, although I still had to screw them to the brackets at this point. I forgot to get short screws at the store originally. Whoops. Oh and wondering what happened to the grid? The pencil grid wipes off easily with a Mr. Eraser sponge.

And here was my "ah ha" moment when I finished decorating and hung the art back on the wall. And yes, all this occurred on Monday night. I was on a roll. Although he won't admit it, Daniel was a bit skeptical of my project until he woke up the next morning and saw this.

Then he was a believer. Even called me a female Bob Villa. (I'm going to take that as a compliment, honey)  Doesn't it make a huge difference????  Now we have so much more space in the cabinets to store food, bottles and other necessities without them being so crammed.

Here's another picture from the side so you can see the decorate brackets. They are a bronze color to match the other kitchen hardware and cabinet knobs.

I still walk by every day and smile and say "I love you" to the shelves. Weird I know but I'm OK admitting it.  

So what about you? What home improvement DIY project have you done that you just fell in love with in the end?  Do tell!