It's kitchen rehab, the extended version. We were lucky enough to be able to take 9 days off in September to really focus on fixing up the kitchen but full time work for both of us, coupled with attending two weddings and making 3 unexpected trips to New York City, has largely stalled our progress. We've only been able to work on the kitchen about 3 days. But we had started day 13 a number of times before only to be foiled by hinges. Yes, hinges are our nemesis. The first time we tried to start day 13, we realized we had bought the wrong hinges. We wanted to replace our old gold colored hinges with new silver colored hinges. We aborted day 13 in favor of a shopping trip for new hinges and various supplies. We brought the old hinges with us to Home Depot and matched them up with all of the hinges for sale, found the correct hinges, and bought a mess of them. Unfortunately, the next time we started day 13, we realized the hinges were ALMOST perfect, except that the screw holes were ever so slightly shifted on the attachment to the frame. It was a small shift, but sufficient to make it necessary that we drill new holes
for all of the doors. So instead of continuing down this path, I decided to surf the web for a way to repurpose our old hinges. The old hinges were caked over with at least 20 years of kitchen grease PLUS a healthy coating of lacquer. Yes, lacquer. I was surprised at the relatively simple solution to this problem - I boiled the hinges in a solution of 2 tablespoons of baking soda per quart of water for about 20 minutes. I was having so much fun watching the lacquer fall off that I added in a few more tablespoons "just for fun". When I poured off the nasty, stinky black water, the lacquer slipped right off (mostly). I took a wire brush to the really caked on stuff then boiled them again for good measure. With the lacquer and grease now gone, they are ready to be spray painted silver. In the meantime, Todd sanded down the new kitchen backsplash wall that his Dad built and he and I primed the wall board. I am SOOO excited for Day 14 when we finally paint the walls!!!! And get those hinges painted so we can FINALLY put up the cabinet doors!!
It's kitchen rehab, the extended version. We were lucky enough to be able to take 9 days off in September to really focus on fixing up the kitchen but full time work for both of us, coupled with attending two weddings and making 3 unexpected trips to New York City, has largely stalled our progress. We've only been able to work on the kitchen about 3 days. But we had started day 13 a number of times before only to be foiled by hinges. Yes, hinges are our nemesis. The first time we tried to start day 13, we realized we had bought the wrong hinges. We wanted to replace our old gold colored hinges with new silver colored hinges. We aborted day 13 in favor of a shopping trip for new hinges and various supplies. We brought the old hinges with us to Home Depot and matched them up with all of the hinges for sale, found the correct hinges, and bought a mess of them. Unfortunately, the next time we started day 13, we realized the hinges were ALMOST perfect, except that the screw holes were ever so slightly shifted on the attachment to the frame. It was a small shift, but sufficient to make it necessary that we drill new holes
for all of the doors. So instead of continuing down this path, I decided to surf the web for a way to repurpose our old hinges. The old hinges were caked over with at least 20 years of kitchen grease PLUS a healthy coating of lacquer. Yes, lacquer. I was surprised at the relatively simple solution to this problem - I boiled the hinges in a solution of 2 tablespoons of baking soda per quart of water for about 20 minutes. I was having so much fun watching the lacquer fall off that I added in a few more tablespoons "just for fun". When I poured off the nasty, stinky black water, the lacquer slipped right off (mostly). I took a wire brush to the really caked on stuff then boiled them again for good measure. With the lacquer and grease now gone, they are ready to be spray painted silver. In the meantime, Todd sanded down the new kitchen backsplash wall that his Dad built and he and I primed the wall board. I am SOOO excited for Day 14 when we finally paint the walls!!!! And get those hinges painted so we can FINALLY put up the cabinet doors!!
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