DIY Woodworking, Home Improvement, and Art Projects

It’s been awhile since I have stopped by and written of any projects. In truth it’s been awhile since I have done anything but think about new projects. We just ordered a new refrigerator to replace the 25 year old Amana that was in there when we bought the place. It has held up admirably, but it is time for it to retire. With a new, sleek, black refrigerator coming on Tuesday, we felt it was time to complete the last big project in the kitchen; Putting a faux finish on the fake-brick wall - say that three times, fast!

The faux bricks are standard dimension, but only 1/2″ thick, and they were installed before we came to the house. They are a typical, bright red-clay looking brick, slightly rounded edges, and they were put up with the same technique as tile, but never filled in with grout. So right now the bricks are floating over a messy layer of gray mud. The idea is to get some sanded grout powder in a different color, mix it up, apply it in small sections, and make sure it is flush with the brick faces. Then I will go back when the grout is dry and use acrylic paint and glazes to give the bricks some variety and make it look like a two-hundred year old wall.

For this project we’re using:

• Cheap plastic picnic table cloths from the dollar store to drape over the counters to keep things clean.
• 10 lb. box of powdered, sanded grout.
• A corded power drill with a mixing extension to blend the powdered grout and water.
• A dollar store bucket to mix the grout that we can throw away later because it is a pain to remove it.
• Regular trowels and metal spatulas/scrapers to work the grout into the gaps between the faux-bricks.
  • Update - looking back on it, it would have produced better results, and been cleaner, to use a baker’s bag to apply the grout.
• A few old rags to wipe away the excess grout from the brick faces while not smoothing the grout too much.

We’ll be taking pictures before we start, and as we make progress, so if I can get off my lazy ass I might show you what it looks like. At this point I probably have 300-400 pictures on my memory card ready to download from other projects. Cheers!

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I wanted to post a quick update on things.  I know it’s been a while since the last post and it’s a bummer…but I just have so little time to do all the things I’d like to be doing.  Anyway, we’ve finished the texturing of the main walls in the kitchen, added the decorative iron piece above the sink, and finished the last set of cabinets.  Whew!

Basically the only thing left that is a major project in the kitchen is the texture and painting of the faux brick wall.  It doesn’t look bad the way it is now, so I am not in a major hurry to get it done.  I can live with it for a while as we focus on the master bedroom next.  The brick project will involve filling in the mortar joints with joint compound, doing some faux weathering and aging on the bricks, and adding a little bit of the same plaster texture over top of some of the bricks to make it look as if there was an old stucco coating at one time.

In the meantime it’s just nice to have such a major section of work complete.  As promised I will put together a tutorial with all the pictures that would be useful if you want to do a kitchen remodel like this.  Until then…take ‘er easy.

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Sometimes it takes a little shake up in your routine to get back to the do it yourself projects that have slid into obscurity. My special lady has gone south for the week, and I have plenty of time to take care of the dog, write some fiction that I’ve been meaning to give more attention to, and last but not least, work on the kitchen renovation.

The renewed focus is due in part to the fact that we’re hosting a gathering of friends this weekend for food, drinks, and a look at all of our progress. So, not wanting to let them down, I’m going to give them so progress to look at. The main projects to complete in the kitchen are the cabinet refinishing, reworking the faux brick wall, and priming, texturing, and glazing the other walls.

I’ll post some pictures of the projects a little later as I’ve yet to transfer them from my camera and edit them. I have another site that I’m developing concurrently to host all the tutorials, big projects, etc., all in one place, that will be easier to navigate and display more pictures. For now I’ll just give a quick run down of what I did over the weekend.

The Brick Wall - Not much done on these so far. I went to the dollar store and bought two large, thin plastic table cloths that I’m going to use as catch-all drop cloths. For two bucks total I got enough square footage to adequately protect most of the kitchen now. We’ve already got the joint compound that I’ll be using for the mortar joints and the stucco effect; though, I’m sure I’ll need to buy more later this week.

The Kitchen Walls - Here I’ve taped everything off, prepped the walls by giving them a quick wash with Murphy’s oil soap and water, and cut in all the corners and edges with Kilz Primer. I’ve set myself up for a quick coat of primer using a roller to complete the priming and sealing of the walls before I add the joint compound venetian plaster texture. I wanted to complete the priming and sealing last night but it was getting late and I was beat.

The Kitchen Cabinets - We only had one small section left to complete for this project. There are three doors, and two drawers, plus the faces of the actual cabinet unit itself. I managed to double coat the fronts with that same Kilz primer/sealer, and put one coat on the backs of the doors. This was after sanding, washing, filling, then sanding and washing again. I’m almost ready to put the first coat of color on them; hopefully this evening will see that get done.

As I continue with each project I’ll post updates. These are pretty big projects to try and finish in one weekend and three weeknights (she’ll be back Thursday evening.) I guess I can rest a little over the upcoming four-day weekend. Take care!

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So you’ve got to strip some paint or varnish off of a wood surface.  Right.  A fairly common task.  Well, if you live in an apartment, don’t have a lot of work space in your home, or you can’t tolerate the heavier, chemical smells of traditional mineral-spirit-based paint strippers, then Citristrip might be for you.  Even if you do have plenty of work space and the strong smells don’t bother you that much, then you’d still do well to try this product.  We tried it based on the recommendation of a friend and I’m passing that recommendation on to you.

This product does what it advertises to do…it’s a powerful all-purpose stripper that’s easy to use.  I will warn you now, it’s not like you’re just stripping paint with completely safe, gentle chemicals here.  This stuff will eat through standard vinyl gloves in no time.  It’s also a skin irritant and should be washed off immediately if it gets on exposed skin.  If you’re going to try this stuff out, make sure you have a sturdy plastic scraping tool, and several pairs of high-quality, chemical-resistant gloves.  Also, though the smell isn’t as bad as other strippers I’ve used, it still is pretty strong.  We applied the gel in the garage and could still smell it days later; inside the house we could hardly tell there was an odor.

We used the aerosol can applicator rather than get the larger size container.  In our case we had one cabinet door that I used to test different techniques and perfect my repainting system.  Unfortunately since I didn’t get it quite right, I had to strip it all down to the bare wood and start from scratch to get a consistent look to all the other doors.  So we set up two saw horses in the garage, placed the door on top, and sprayed a thick coating of the Citristrip gel evenly over the entire top and sides.  It says that within two hours you may be able to remove the unwanted paint or varnish.  I went out to the garage 2 1/2 hours later, put on my gloves again, got out the plastic scraper, and dove in.

I agree that within two hours it may work for you…but I had at least six or seven layers of primer, paint, glaze, and varnish on this cabinet: Two hours wasn’t going to be enough.  In my haste I kept scraping and scraping, trying to make it work.  The first time much of the paint did come off, but it was very messy, and the paint got very sticky and I was lucky I had thought ahead and brought out rags and a couple plastic bags to dispose of the paint remnants.  So I kept scraping, and spraying more gel, then scraping, then spraying.  I think I should have done one round of scraping, then sprayed another layer of gel and waited another two hours.

Because I was impatient it cost me the extra physical labor involved in all that extra scraping and washing.  I used an old toothbrush to help me get in the corners and then I used Murphy’s Oil Soap and water to clean off the excess Citristrip gel and paint bits.  So all-in-all it’s a great product as long as you plan ahead with your tools, can set aside an entire afternoon to apply it and then scrape it off, possibly more than once, and if you’ve got the proper gloves.  Give it a try, especially if harsh smells bother you, because this product has comparably low odor and was quite easy to clean up once I was finished.

Here are a couple product images with some bullet points from Citristrip’s website.

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I’d like to write a post that says I’ve made some unbelievable progress on the last section of kitchen cabinets that we’ve been working on.  We started this project early this year, in late January if I remember correctly.  It’s eventually going to be a full cabinet refinishing tutorial with pictures, products, etc.  At this point I’m gathering up and editing the pictures we’ve taken and I’m writing my notes for the tutorial.  There will be formulas for a great home made antique glaze, the products we used for preparing, cleaning, and finishing the cabinets, and even our fun experiment with stripping off six layers of paint on our test door (that was fun.)

Another thing that I thought would be helpful to share some of the sources for our new hardware, paint, and other supplies.  Then there will be more parts to the story when I add indirect lighting above the cabinets and finish off the decorative iron accent piece above the sink that spans two sections of upper cabinets.  We’re pretty much changing everything except the appliances and the countertops in this kitchen remodel.  We already swapped out the old, leaky faucet.  The new one is more stylish and has a nice sprayer attachment.  There was a little trouble installing it, but I’ll cover that in another post in more detail.

Well, if you’re doing a kitchen remodel, or cabinet refinishing project, good luck!  I know it’s a lot of hard work…but we’re about 75% done on the cabinets ourselves, and it makes such a huge difference that it’s definitely worth the effort.  Cheers!

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Minwax’s line of oil-based laquers and polyurethane finishes, and water-based finishes has a great reputation. You can find their products almost everywhere; in small hardware stores, paint stores, the big-box home centers, and at lumber supply stores. The point is that they have a wide variety of products to provide protective finishes over almost any existing surface imaginable. They also have tons of stains, waxes, oils, and wood repair products; I’ll get into those other lines of products later on.

Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish

Today I’m going to talk about the Polycrylic protective finish from Minwax. We got this in the gallon size, but I’ve also purchased it in the quart size for smaller projects. It’s not exactly cheap; at around $10 for a quart and $35 for a gallon; it’s worth it in my opinion. What you’re getting for the price is a low-odor, quick-drying product that is easy to clean up. Now those things may not seem like the most important aspects to judge a product on, but after you’ve used oil-based polyuerthane finishes, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I got my introduction to this product when I was doing some paintings a couple of years ago. These were fine art paintings on both wood panel and regular cotton canvas. I wanted a simple, fast clear coat finish that would dry quickly and be easy to clean up. I tried it both as a multi-coat step to add depth to my panel paintings, and also as a protective clear coat on top of a finished painting. It worked great and provided ease of use as well as an almost perfectly smooth, bubble-less finish. I usually get the quart size for my art paintings and the gallon size for home improvement projects.
Most recently I purchased a gallon for our cabinet refinishing project. We wanted to coat everything with two coats of clear finish. Since these are kitchen cabinets we needed a strong, wear-resistant coating that wouldn’t change the look of the decorative finish underneath. After all the time we spent on the painting and glazing of the cabinets we didn’t want to hinder the look by having to clear coat them. The Polycrylic did a terrific job of protecting the cabinet surfaces while being almost imperceptible. You can get it in both agloss, semi-gloss, and satin finish and they both work well depending on which type of project you’re doing. We used a semi-gloss on our cabinets.

The fact that this product has almost no odor and is easy to clean up were huge benefits as well. We only cracked a porch door during the application of the product and that was more to help me cool down than to relieve any strong chemical odor. I did use disposable vinyl gloves when I applied the Polycrylic for ease of clean up and convenience. I used a synthetic bristle brush to apply the finish. If you’re doing a lot of surface area at one time (one prolonged coat) then I would recommend cleaning out your brush midway through. The liquid can dry and stiffen your brush near the ferrule, where the bristles are attached to the handle, if you’re not careful. It’s not a brush killer, but you’ll ensure a longer brush life if you periodically use soap and water to clean them out during application of the Polycrylic finish.

I also used a wet rag to catch any drips along the edges of the surface I was working on. As long as you catch the drips quickly they won’t dry into a clear dimple on your floor or other areas where you don’t want little clear bumps. Like any clear finish you do have to be careful, especially if you’re applying it to a vertical surface, to watch the drying process so you’re not left with drips and accumulations of the finish in corners. If you just do little touch ups here and there with a brush or rag as you go you’ll ensure an even coating with little to no drips or imperfections.
This is what the Minwax site says about this product:
“Minwax® Polycrylic® Protective Finish is a crystal clear, ultra fast-drying protective topcoat for use over bare wood, oil- and water-based stains, paint and wallpaper. It has very little odor, is non-flammable, cleans up easily with soap and water and can be recoated in only 2 hours.”

Polycrylic® can be used on furniture, trim, doors, cabinets and paneling. Its clarity makes it an ideal topcoat over Minwax® Water-Based Wood Stains and any wood surface, especially light woods like maple, ash and birch. Polycrylic® also resists damage from abrasion, scuffing, chipping, water, alcohol and other common household chemicals.”

Polycrylic® is not recommended for use on floors because it would require more frequent recoating in high traffic areas. Instead, we recommend Minwax^® Super Fast-Drying Polyurethane for Floors or Minwax^® Water-Based Polyurethane for Floors.”

If you’ve used this product and have success or horror stories about it please let us know. We hope to create a resource of product reviews and actual user comments to help anyone that comes to this site. Thanks!

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One of the main remodeling projects in the kitchen, in addition to the cabinet refinishing, is the venetian plaster effect on the walls.  When we started there was awful wall paper in a country pattern.  On the opposite wall, in the small dining area, there was an equally hideous, but different pattern.  We knew that just re-doing the cabinets was not going to be enough.

We removed the wall paper (that topic will be covered in depth in other posts and in other project tutorials) and what was left on the walls was a scratchy, uneven texture from all of the excess paste.  The previous owners hadn’t used any sizing before applying the wall paper, so our removal job was more difficult, and the walls needed a creative solution to make them look good.  Straight priming and painting wouldn’t work here…the walls were just in no shape to work with using traditional painting techniques.

We had wanted to do a venetian plaster faux finish somewhere in the house, so this seemed like the ideal location.  There were several things we considered here.  One, would the plaster finish match the cabinet style, and the other colors/textures in the kitchen?  Two, could we do a finish like this ourselves and actually make it look good?  Three, what kinds of costs are involved with a venetian plaster finish and would it be worth the final results?  Four, what kinds of products were the best, cost-effective, and easy to find for the job?

Check back to find out the answers we came up with, and to see the test results on the walls!  When we try an idea, we try it big!  Cheers!

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Now you’ve probably looked at the fancy, pre-finished cabinets that are on sale in any home store across the country.  They’re all made with solid woods, expert joinery, and have smooth, professional finishes.  Well if you’ve got $3,000 to $10,000 to spend for an average size kitchen full of cabinets, then by all means, consider the ‘all new’ option.  But if you’re like me and you’ve got one of those average size kitchens, but about $500, then read on.  Oh, just so you know, our cabinets we’re installed in the mid-eighties, are made out of the thinnest, cheapest boards you can find, and had some of the worst hardware you’ve ever seen.

The cabinet refinishing system we used was cobbled together from a bunch of websites, some friendly advice, and from watching my dad make our homes beautiful when I was younger.  In fact, the drive to do-it-yourself, save money, and have a beautiful, cost-effective end product, came from my dad.  He has a strong work ethic, and he takes pride in everything he does around the house.  So with that said, I can only aspire to try as hard, and hope that my results are similar to his.

As I write this, we’re about 3/4 of the way done with the cabinet refinishing project.  We’ve refined and simplified our refinishing system, and have only three doors and two drawers left.  Don’t worry, I have taken pictures and written notes about the entire procedure, so I’ll be able to guide you through to success!  Remember, I can’t guarantee results similar to mine, but I do think you’ll have a great time trying a project like this for yourself, and if done properly it can save you a ton of money and make your home more beautiful than it was before.

Stay tuned…in the next post I’ll introduce the main components of my italian-inspired cabinet refinishing project, and discuss the tools necessary for the job.  Cheers!

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