One year ago today...

Just looked at the date on my computer and realized that exactly a year ago today, Thanksgiving weekend, I was surfing the web, minding my own business, and discovered HGTV's Rate My Space website.

I wrote about that day in one of my first posts, "Rate My Space - How I got hooked." That day, I uploaded photos of my kitchen and dining room. Little did I know where THAT would lead...to a TV appearance, photo shoot, blog, and so many new online friends! Not to mention all the wonderful design inspiration from so many talented RMS members.

I discovered a new site on Saturday,  FlyLady.net, that I hope will help me get myself and my house organized after a 3-week bout of post-vacation laziness (I'm a mess). 

This is how bad it was: I had company coming in 5 hours and hadn't cleaned my house in 6 weeks, IOW, pre-vacation. So, LOL, I went online and googled "fastest way to clean house." That's what led me to this cool site. 

With FlyLady's help, I hope to get my house clean, Christmas decorations up, and the blog updated...finally. Then I'll have more time to enjoy RMS browsing and blog surfing. Who knows? It may even help my golf game!

angelo renovates his own kitchen!

The Los Angeles Times has a great feature on Angelo Surmelis' new kitchen renovation. Angelo (above with his adorable pup, Baxter) is the popular host of HGTV's Rate My Space TV show.

Click here to enjoy the whole article with photos! More info on Kathy's Remodeling Blog courtesy of author Kathy Price-Robinson, the award winning writer who interviewed Angelo.

Photo: L.A. Times

me on hgtv, 5:30 pm today

If you missed it, here's your chance to see a great episode's of HGTV's Rate My Space TV show: the "Lackluster Kitchen" makeover (HGTV, 5:30 PM Eastern). I was honored to have my kitchen chosen as an inspiration space by homeowner Andy.

Before, Andy's kitchen looked nothing like the rest of his sleek mid-century modern home.

Photos: HGTV

The makeover was dramatic, especially when you see the new open views into Andy's living and dining spaces. The pine hutch in my kitchen was the inspiration for the choice of a beautiful  Chinese red lacquer cabinet to serve as a pantry and buffet.

Here's the web page where you can comment and rate designer Angelo Surmelis' makeover.

Interesting tidbit from Angelo's blog, Design Geek, iTunes has $1.99 downloads of all Rate My Space episodes here. This episode is missing from HGTV's watch-on-line-for-free episode page.

My kitchen's on hgtv's home page!

HURRICANE UPDATE... I'm midway between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine, and it's bright and sunny here! Thank you all for your expressions of concern. So far, so good!

Thanks HGTV.com! And thanks to PattyLH and Jeanette (AKA jfell, of the current top-rated space on RMS) for letting me know! You have to click the thumbnail "small kitchen" to bring up the larger "Help for Small Kitchens" image. Cool.

I still maintain that it's a nice kitchen, but not that nice. In fact my "small but efficient kitchen" is a mess right now, but Hurricane Fay is my excuse. The rain hasn't started yet, but it's coming tomorrow.

I love watching the Weather Channel reporters get blown around during hurricanes. A sure predictor that you'll be safe is if Jim Cantore shows up in your town. He's never in a really dangerous area (they send the women there). He's in Naples now, so they may be breathing a sigh of relief. I'm not.

UPDATE: Wed. AM, kitchen has been replaced by a beautiful infinity pool. It sure was an honor to be featured for 2 days and get a lot of really nice comments from people!

favorite space: hippiechic's kitchen

I'm working on my follow-up post on "how to get your space noticed" on Rate My Space, and that led me to one of my all-time favorite kitchens, recently #1 top rated for quite awhile.

Here's the description: "Small 11x15 aging 1980s kitchen in need of an update! The house was built in the 1920s. We wanted to remain true to the original architecture and period of the house. We went with stacked cabinets with inset doors, latches and soapstone which was used alot for countertops during the time the house was built."

If I didn't live in a Florida-style Mediterranean house, I'd copy hippechic's kitchen!

How to turn drywall into faux wood panels

Here's my builder's basic breakfast bar, between the kitchen, great room and breakfast nook (photos taken in different light). "Before," it was nondescript beige drywall with some white woodwork. Very nice corbels, but it was just plain...plain!

It didn't go with the rest of the kitchen, or the great room, for that matter. The cabinet people wanted over $1,200 for real wood panels. So for less than $50 in paint and trim, I created faux panels in a day. Here's how to do it...

supplies

• Paint & primer, brushes
• Dropcloth
• Miter box and saw
• Level
• Straight edge, square or long ruler
• Molding, amount determined after measuring, below
• Hammer & finishing nails, or better yet, a nail gun
• Carpenter's glue
• Caulk or spackle
• Clear faux glaze (I use Behr)
• Acrylic colorant to tint the glaze (I used burnt umber)
• Rags for removing glaze, old t-shirt pieces work well

choose your finish & color
I wanted to coordinate with my living area's creamy white cabinetry, so I used Sherwin Williams Alabaster gloss latex. (happens to be the color of all my woodwork). Don't worry about too much shine because the glaze takes care of that. I prefer the scrubbable gloss finish in this area because people unconsiously kick your bar (I know because I'm doing it right now as I type).

measure
Plan your panel widths. I did several different widths because of the corbel placement. Otherwise, you can space them evenly. But I think the different widths add interest.

For the height, use the same spacing at the top and the bottom of the panels. Using a level and straight edge, pencil your panels on the wall. The level is your best friend in this task. Now you know how much molding to buy (+ some extra for boo boos).

miter cut & apply molding
I used shelf edging from Home Depot for my molding. It looks like 1 1/4" wide mini chair rail and has nice contours that catch the glaze. Make sure you "measure twice - cut once." When all your pieces are cut, apply glue to the back and nail them in place at your pencil lines. You don't need a lot of nails because the glue will do the job. Wipe off excess glue with a damp rag - it drys FAST.

prime & paint
You'll need to prime you moldings if they weren't pre-primed. Then paint the entire area with a brush. Paint a second coat 4 hours later if needed. Let dry 4 hours, and get ready for the fun!

glazing
Mix a small amount of faux glaze plus a little water, tinted with a very small amount of burnt umber acrylic colorant. You will have to play with it until you get the darkness you like. A little glaze goes a long way. When you have a batch you like, WRITE DOWN THE RECIPE.

Brush on lightly in and around the crevices of the molding. Remove most of glaze with rags until you have the definition you want. You can always add more. I went for a slightly distressed look because my drywall has orange peel texture and my barstools are very distressed. You'll get the feel of glazing quickly and you can always remove it and start over. After all, it's just paint!

you're done!
Your finished wall should look something like this. If you're really daring, make it look like stained wood. There are some fairly easy faux techniques for simulating real wood with just paint color and glaze.

If you'd like to see more, here's a video tour of my kitchen. Go here for a great example of how you can transform a stock bathroom vanity.

If you try this, I'd love to see your before and after photos!

what an honor... thank-you, Kathy!

Thank you, Kathy Price-Robinson, award-winning journalist, owner of Kathy's Remodeling Blog, AND friend of Angelo Surmelis! Today, Kathy featured me and a photo of my kitchen in "A little bit of celebrity right here on the blog," her post on the Rate My Space episode I appeared on last week.

Kathy's blog is a wonderful resource for do-it-yourselfers and remodelers. I'm eagerly awaiting her upcoming interview with Angelo on his new kitchen remodel for her Pardon Our Dust series in the Los Angeles Times. Here's a sneak peak.

Kathy, I love your blog and this is a HUGE honor! Thank you so much!

Tour my small but efficient kitchen

Welcome to my kitchen! It was recently featured as an inspiration room on HGTV's new Rate My Space TV show. Specifically, the old pine hutch we use in place of cabinets.


I've posted a detailed how-to on how I refinished the hutch here. If you're in the Christmas spirit already, here's how I decorate the kitchen.

If you enjoyed the video tour, please sign in to Rate My Space and rate my kitchen. Don't worry, you won't get any spam or unwanted emails from HGTV!

Christmas in July!

Even though it's hot as blazes right now, I'm already dreaming of a green (Florida) Christmas! Here are 6 photos my kitchen as it will look in December. It's my favorite time of year. And, of course, I love to decorate!

First decoration to go up is my grandmother's 90 year old German Nativity on the old pine hutch, which belonged to Jim's parents.

Don't you love Santa as pastry chef?

Miniature Christmas trees look great at night.

I love doing all my own florals. But they're faux - I have a brown thumb!

Even the butler's pantry gets decorated.

If you're already in the Christmas spirit too, see my other decorated rooms and rate my Christmas space if you like it!

Take a video tour of my undecorated kitchen here.

how-to: old pine hutch transformed

The hutch was dark and dated when DH inherited it from his parents. It was our dining room set, with its matching table and chairs, until we moved and got new furniture in 1993. (Just back from winter vacation, it was apparently too cold to wear JUST the Hawaiian shirt).

I completely stripped, refinished & painted the hutch and table so we could use them in our new white kitchen's breakfast area.

Here's what I did over a 2 week period in my living room!

• Removed hardware, doors, drawers, and separated the hutch and base cabinet
• Stripped off the old finish completely, using 3M's safe stripper
• Bleached it thoroughly with good old Clorox
• Sanded it thoroughly, then removed dust with vacuum, then tack cloths
• I was lazy...didn't prime areas to be painted but...there's a happy ending
• Brushed on 2 coats of creamy white oil-based enamel, semi-gloss (very close to Sherwin Williams Dover White (SW 6385)
• Major drying time allowed between coats
• Painted the base cabinet but left the counter top natural
• Left the inside back of the hutch natural and painted the rest
• Filled the screw holes left by the door hinges
• Applied 2 coats of Polyurethane matte finish to the natural wood areas
• Sanded between coats
• Repeated all the above on the matching table
• Donated the clunky matching chairs to a church rummage sale

In 2004 when we chose the floor plan of our current home, we were thrilled there would be a perfect wall in the kitchen for the hutch.

The builder intended to put upper and lower cabinets there, but instead it holds a unique piece of furniture that inspired the style, colors and finishes of the entire kitchen.

After we moved in, I added 3 halogen puck lights (Home Depot, 5/$30). They plug into an Intermatic Z-wave dimmer plugged into a hidden wall outlet, connecting wirelessly to my PC-controlled lighting system. Confused? You should be. Details here.

Over the years, my failure to prime with Kilz caused a "happy accident." Knots have bled through the paint at random giving the hutch even more character.

Don't you love it when a screw-up looks like genius? LOL!

how-to: z-wave wireless accent lighting

Ever wished you could press a button and turn on, off, or dim ALL your lights? Well you can with Z-Wave technology. I've retrofitted most of my wall switches and all my lamps and uplights. Girls, if you can flip a breaker and install a simple dimmer switch, you can have a smart home without the huge expense. It's the coolest thing, EVEN if you're not a geek like me.

I get a lot of comments online and from friends on my accent lighting which is PC-controlled by Z-Wave devices and Homeseer software.

Here's what happens 1 hour before sundown at my house: 11 lights above or in kitchen cabinets turn on dimmed 50%; all under cabinet lights come on, the nook pendant comes on at 70%; 6 cans in the living & dining rooms come on; dining room's buffet lamps and chandelier come on and dim to 30%; bookcase and cove lighting in the den comes on; and the garage lights turn off (if they were on); 2 table lamps in the living room turn on and 2 uplights stuck in silk trees turn on; then at sundown the 6 front coachlights come on at 40%.

At bedtime I push one button on my 7" Samsung Q1 touchscreen UMPC in the kitchen and everything that's on turns off, including any lights left on upstairs in my office; Even DH can handle it. Get the idea? See the kitchen lighting and PC in my video kitchen tour.

If you want more info, I'll be happy to expand on this. Lamps are easy - just use the plug-in style unit shown above.

Cool, huh?

If you're a design geek (and you must be if you're still reading this), check out my post on Flatwire, the amazing DIY solution for hiding your wires without calling an electrician.

rate my space - how I got hooked

Thanksgiving weekend 2007, I went online to join getdecorating.com for about the 4th time, but I found HGTV's free Rate My Space site instead. Intrigued, I decided to share a few photos of my dining room, still quite puffed up with pride in the 11 foot silk curtains I'd finished and installed just days before. So I signed up with a creative username (marykay) and was in business in a few minutes.

What fun to read the comments and watch the views add up. Such nice people! One even asked when I was going to show more of my home. So having already become addicted, I snapped photos of the kitchen. In my typical fashion, I shoved stuff out of the way for each shot...no fancy staging here. There was no time - I wanted to get back in the RMS action fast! Since I'm a clean-countertop kind of gal, it looked pretty good on camera. At least that was MY opinion.

My Small But Efficient Kitchen became a favorite fast - 11,000 views in 2 days, which was a lot in the days before RMS the TV series flooded the site with thousands of newbie users. The humble space went to page ONE, among the top rated and most viewed spaces for a month or so. Go figure!

After a couple of days, the nitpickers came out of the RMS woodwork and got on my case for the cookbooks on the hutch being too messy, or too numerous, or taking up space that could be displaying something lovely. Hello?...People? It's MY kitchen and the cookbooks stay, OK?

Ditto the keys, cell phones, sun glasses, golf balls, grocery lists, etc. At least until each December when Grandma's 90 year old Nativity transforms the old pine hutch into a little slice of Heaven on earth.

So how did YOU get hooked?

If you'd like to see more, take a video tour of the kitchen here.