alligator look back after a bit of serendipity! It was a win/win situation.

after shots. The prep work is sanding the surfaces to make the mastic stick. Lay out your pattern first and cut all tile and re fit to where they will be placed on the cabinet. Set the tile with mastic let dry for a few days. Continue by putting the grout in the cracks.Let stand for 20 minutes and wipe with a sponge,then with a soft towel to remove all the residue. After 48 hours seal with sealer. I still need to finish the wall behind the stove with tile.

The oak cabinets were ugly and basically non-functional: narrow, hard to get access to the back of the corner cabs, and the doors were hung backward by the original builder! In record time, they were replaced with open shelving.

We removed the cabinets from the wall, then removed the doors from them.

Those doors became the shelves, and the cabinet walls were ripped into strips to create the brackets to hold the shelves on the wall. Painted white, they were ready to go up within a day - AFTER the walls were painted!

A fresh tan paint color on the entire kitchen (walls AND ceiling) unified the spaces that had been split by the overhead beam and 'bay' area on the window side. (Unseen in the photos, a new track light was installed on the backside of the beam to brighten up the area). White paint on the window trim made it seem much larger and more open than the previous wood tone. [BTW, the rest of the plan was to paint the lower cabinets white, unifying the whole kitchen. I never got that far before we had to move.]

The wood shelf brackets were screwed into the studs, the shelves screwed onto the brackets, and the project was done.

Then I filled up those shelves and the counter space below them with functional and beautiful elements - and those shelves held over TWICE the amount of kitchenware than the cabinets ever had!!

Best part? This project cost us nothing but time:

We had the paint (our whole house was painted that color), we had the screws and sand paper and tools, and we used the old cabinet wood for the new shelves. It turned out so well, we ended up doing exactly the same thing in the laundry room, too!

#MyKitchen #Before&After

it made a huge difference! #Bestof2012 #MyKitchen

cabinets I did myself and a tumbled stone back splash my husband and I did together...mostly him :)

of this cabinet and of course under the rest of the cabinets. Any ideas?

& stay organized.

Organize your kitchen in two days (& your home in 40 days!)