The look of custom in the blink of an eye

Give me 30 seconds and I will have another project in mind. Pretty much everyone in my entire family knows this about me and I think the employees at Lowes and Home Depot probably suspect. This one was fairly large- the kind upon finishing that I can’t resist but inspect, reinspect, and take photos trying to capture it in the same gleaming light of basking in my own pride.

The before:

My cabinets were here when the builders put them in originally but I can never shake the urge to give custom spins on whatever is within reach and can be cured with a chop saw and a few strips of nails. The black moulding became dark and boring – lacking the height I envisioned in a custom dream kitchen. I poured over Pinterest for days prior to planning. I couldn’t wait for Friday when the project was to commence. I didn’t say anything to anybody at my house about the impending upheaval. It’s the kind where dinner is eaten next to a nail
compressor standing silent watch over paper plates and bites between another step of work- dust on every horizontal surface – and laundry baskets become make shift tool boxes and catch alls. Friday came and I raced home with cut wood pieces filled to the brim of my car singing all the way. I emptied the car and came inside to my husband who knows me so well. I jumped around telling him ‘It’s a project surprise! Surprise!’ – thinking he’d get excited too with me do out of character. He just said ‘No.’ Just what I’m used to hearing before I yell ‘Fire up the nail gun and give me a crowbar. This project is about to commence.’

Here is the during. I like to show progress. It’s my light at the end of the tunnel as I check and recheck during the various stages. I added bead board to the back and suspended these faux tops from the wall so there was no added weight to the cabinets (due to the excessive weight from compulsive milk and depression glass collecting). The crown moulding was lifted and fixed to the ceiling basically the same template above- just 12 inches higher.

The outside edges were lined with bead board to hide the openings of the faux tops. I was glad to come up with a way to prevent the added weight. Then the moulding was added back on.

I took a drawer face to get the color custom matched to paint. It is amazingly perfect and the cabinets really look as if they were originally constructed this way.

It’s the much needed extension to add to my collections in their own cozy homes. Gotta go shopping for some glassware.