renos: update

Another busy day, and week, is over. We got our new tenant Omar settled into the unit, so that’s something I can tick off the neverending ‘things to do’ list. One unit tenanted, two to go! Our reno unit is progressing slowly (no surprises there!). We picked out the vinyl flooring and the carpet to go into it today, so that’s good news.

Our new unit hasn’t had any attention this week. I’ll be doing some work there tomorrow – probably painting and patching, my fortes. I did do some work on it last weekend – I started painting the hideous blue kitchen cabinets white. They look fantastic! They were laminate, and some parts were half falling off. I ripped off the bits that were coming loose, then gave it all a light sand, painted it with ESP, then did two coats of primer/undercoat. It’s looking pretty special, I have to say. I bought some handles on eBay today, so that we can get rid of the tacky original ones, and it will look great when it’s finished. I’m hoping I’ll only need to do one topcoat, but we will see. I’ve cheated and used acrylic rather than enamel paint, for two reasons: I hate the smell, and I hate the cleanup. Big time. Acrylic is just so much more user-friendly.

I actually managed to take a couple of comparison photos. Even though the second and third photos are only at the undercoated stage, I think the improvement on the original blue is pretty clear.

So here are the cabinets in the original blue:

And after a couple of coats of primer/undercoat:

I think it’s already looking better.  Can’t wait until it’s finished and looking spot on!!

The most exciting thing from my perspective is that SO doesn’t know I’ve painted the cabinets.  He was certain we’d have to rip them out and replace them, they were so hideous.  I’m hoping that I can get them properly finished before he sees them - his little eyes will bug out of his head! He’ll be stoked.