# Remodeling of a foreclosure



## Bootz

Well here it is.. the lady moved out and bought her self a foreclosed home  well the price was worth what it was ... the people apparently put cigs out on the carpet (which we tore up and have put bamboo wood through out the house instead of carpet. Then I moved in and started really "nesting" lol. Well these are the latest projects from some one who has had 0 experience with anything when it comes to home installation or remodeling.

Here are the original counter tops :\









Note that awesome color of the counter tops :laughing:

So we used a paint laminate on top of them 









Think it turned out really nice ! Its the kind of paint that you put on show room floors but it makes it looks like marble and it gives it more strength ! :thumbup:

Here is the sink... yes .. being from Baltimore I like nati Bo !








It was stock sink and it was really shallow too.. like 4 inches I think 

So we went to a Kohler and its stainless steel tub with up to 8 inches deep... and the faucet we got was by peerless .. not a bad piece of hardware ... did alittle research and its supposed to hold its own against delta and others...









But.. before that LOL!! when trying to pull the sink out.. this little disaster happened... note the garbage disposal just laying there ... yea that was supposed to come up out of the pipe that held the trap but the people before us i guess decided it would be fun to glue it in there so there was no removing the garbage disposal for anything...








So.. yea a lot of messing with it ... this is me connecting everything else up again...









And well.. thats it for now... we are actually going to lay class into the cabinets and paint them a different color... we are going for the more modern look .. and I think its going to be a better look then the stock home ... OH the wood floor look... you can see it under my butt there.. but here is a better look after we decided.. Hey its close enough to Christmas lets put the fake tree up and lite it up ..


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## Scuba_Dave

Nice change on the kitchen, great job
Did not know about the paint for the counter top
I could have used some at my last house
Our kitchen renovation is still in the future


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## Bootz

Scuba_Dave said:


> Nice change on the kitchen, great job
> Did not know about the paint for the counter top
> I could have used some at my last house
> Our kitchen renovation is still in the future


YEa it was really easy actually to put on.. but the temperature has be really low or something along with the humidity because it sets really fast so literally we were throwing the flakes on to the counter in rapid succession :laughing: 

Thanks though Dave


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## Bootz

Know these are coming fast but these are the cabinets that we are working with... any one have any other suggestions please feel free to throw them at me ...




























This is the glass style I am wanting to put into the doors 









and this is the overlay I am wanting to put on top of it ... may just get regular glass though so that the over lay wont have problems 









well that is them.. wanting to put the glass in and there are 6 of them.. so its going to be some work but always up for a challenge :no:
Ps. cocobolo made the suggestion of this
You're probably right about the panels being loose, but that's perfectly normal.

It wouldn't be hard to get the panels out, but the trick is going to be to be able to do it without destroying the door frames.

The first thing that comes to mind is that you might be able to cut around the edge of the panel, but leave an extra 1/2" or so protruding from the frames. Then you could add your glass - stained glass - or whatever you have, and fit that to the size of the frame. There should be enough room behind the glass to add a piece of trim to keep the glass in.

If that doesn't appeal, try using a couple of clamps to pull one of the door frames apart at the top or bottom. See what happens. If you can get one end of the frame out, then you can slide the panel out and replace it with your glass.

I'm sure there are other things, but see if that works first. 
- just wanting to keep everything in this project file so when I go to tackle this project I have everything in one place


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## oh'mike

If you have a router--an edge guide and a straight cutting bit ---you can have those panels out and ready for glass in a matter of minutes.---Mike---


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## tpolk

oh'mike said:


> If you have a router--an edge guide and a straight cutting bit ---you can have those panels out and ready for glass in a matter of minutes.---Mike---


:thumbsup:


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## Bootz

oh'mike said:


> If you have a router--an edge guide and a straight cutting bit ---you can have those panels out and ready for glass in a matter of minutes.---Mike---


Yea i was looking at that.. and actually came across some DIY's However, my lady's dad came over and we took a look at them and it looks like the middle can pop out ... or cut out... then there is a stud behind them to hold them in place... so I am going to try to pursued the miss to let me have one to play with so I can get an idea how they are put together... my thinking is there is molding around the front to hold that fake wood panel to the front and the studs in the back to hold it up against the molding... But Yea Mike Thanks a lot for the contribution I appreciate it.. If all else fails I am going to do the router thing... think the lady's father has one actually :whistling2:


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## Bootz

tpolk said:


> :thumbsup:


Agreed Tpolk :yes:


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## Bootz

Any one have any experience doing the router on the kitchen Cabinets feel free to shoot me some pictures or some finished product of their work would love to get a feel of how to do it before i do it. :no:


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## oh'mike

That would mean I would have to figure out how to post pictures!!!!!

If I can figure it out,I'll open up a door for you--


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## Bootz

oh'mike said:


> That would mean I would have to figure out how to post pictures!!!!!
> 
> If I can figure it out,I'll open up a door for you--


Sent you a PM about that.. hope it helps out


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## DangerMouse

And if that didn't help.... http://www.diychatroom.com/f98/how-post-pictures-50857/

DM


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## Bootz

Today I am taking the cabinets off the hing... so I can get a good look at them as well... I been getting alot of help from a bunch of people on here and it is greatly appreciated btw


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## Bootz

Okay so with the research of how to do these kitchen cabinets I managed to get one over to the lady's fathers house to do a router run on them and was very pleasently surprised of how it turned out :wink:

Here they are now hollowed out the center... the center was just kinda placed in there









This is the center of them taken out of the middle... seems like the cat agrees as well to how smoothly it went 









Started smoothing out the inside for where the glass will be fitting.. yea I was pretty excited about using the chisels I have since high school art class 









These are my chisels that I finally found BTW... cost a lot when I was in high school for these... Cherry Wood handle and pretty nice edges on them.








they still feel great to use... maybe need a little sharpening but that is about it :no:

Well that is one down.... 5 or so more to go... picture my progress as I go on :thumbup:


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## Bootz

So... was working with the router today and took care of a couple more cabinets. Decided to pop off some pictures of the process 

with the help of my lady's father we marked where the router should meet the edge of the cabinet 









this is it after the router was done 









and the panel in the middle just popped out after a little altering of the drill bit 









Well thats it for now... think we are going to get the glass but before that we are going to paint the cabinets black with some new door handles and stuff like that..


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## Jim F

The router should make short work of it. be interesting to see how they look when finished.


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## ChrisDIY

Looks Good! I've been looking for something else to use a router on...:laughing:


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## Bootz

dawktah said:


> Looks Good! I've been looking for something else to use a router on...:laughing:


lol Yea it is a good excuse to use one :lol: I like it though I feel the need to keep this project rolling and not stall :\ other wise I think it will just sit there forever .. but feeling that its going to have to wait for alittle with money and everything but the mother has really been wanting to see our place and we are really wanting to get things finished up before she really comes by and checks out the place.


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## Bootz

Got some Stainer the other day actually and they are going to be a red color of some type. The miss is actually wanting to redo the counter tops again to a black granite lol so we will be scrapping and painting again  but we are kicking this one off on sunday. We also decided to get the glass professionally fitted instead of me do it lol It was hard to let this one go but they will fit them right instead of me fiddling with it and breaking it or something.


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## Bootz

I havent posted in awhile with the holidays and all but here is where i am at...:thumbup: I pulled the cabinets off of one side of the Galley and started using a de-glosser (?) take off the finish and also putting on the pre stainer :thumbup:

Pre cabinet take off lol









Drawers on the floor









Here are the cabinets on the tarps ... like three layers thick of tarp









this is the stuff i used 










OH and look what i got for christmas ! I got a set of new power tools... i got a jigsaw a band saw ... and a power drill :notworthy: my girlfriend is awesome! 









More to come as we continue on with the staining of the cabinets
but here is what I have done so far...
--- took he cabinets off the hinges and began to wipe them down
--- then took the deglosser (?) take the finish off and wiped that down both sides and did an extra layer to get the extra grim off of them... really nasty stuff so wear gloves and well ventilate the place 
--- then let it sit for about an hour before i began with the pre stainer  and thats where i am at... more to come :thumbsup:


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## Bootz

So wanted to post this along side of the new photos too...
This was a conditioner or the pre-stain that we put on the cabinets... it really made a difference in comparison to the other cabinets on the other side of the kitchen galley 

Check this out... these are the conditioned and pre-stained drawers up against the old ones :laughing:









and the assembly line continues


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## Bootz

Ok posting alot but eh.. taking pictures as we go.. its fun to be back in project mode before school starts on monday for me :thumbsup: going for my Nursing Degree so its going to chew up alot of my time and not going to be able to do alot of projects...

Here are the stained Cabinet Fronts... the Red Color is keeping with the Asian theme we have going on :thumbup:









And here are the cabinet fronts that are in the dining room ...









I like the color.. really is going to warm the place up with these colors.. so should add some spice :laughing:


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## cocobolo

Hey Bootz, looking pretty good.

The conditioner you used...did that go on to more or less bare wood?

I have found that it really helps the stain to take more evenly. I was surprised at how well it actually worked.

Hint: If you can get your pics a bit bigger, it would be easier for us to see the little details.


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## Bootz

cocobolo said:


> Hey Bootz, looking pretty good.
> 
> The conditioner you used...did that go on to more or less bare wood?
> 
> I have found that it really helps the stain to take more evenly. I was surprised at how well it actually worked.
> 
> Hint: If you can get your pics a bit bigger, it would be easier for us to see the little details.


10-4 the thing is when I was downloading a couple had them to big so I cut down on the size but yea I will increase the size again I agree as well just didn't want one page to be one picture you know ? 

The conditioner we put on right after the de-glosser and it got that really nice light color .... Cleaner you know? So we are most likely going to do another couple of coats on the cAbinet doors before we tackle the frames


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## oh'mike

Looking very good!


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## Bootz

Aight there coco  here is layer 4

Here are the cabinets now with a deeper red 









So after like 5 minutes we cleaned the access stain off and really had to have some art to it with a slight touch


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## Bootz

oh'mike said:


> Looking very good!


Thanks man !


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## cocobolo

You know what they say Bootz, practice makes perfect. You learn a little bit more with everything you do.


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## Bootz

cocobolo said:


> You know what they say Bootz, practice makes perfect. You learn a little bit more with everything you do.


True lol we are doing better with each one


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## cocobolo

Bootz...just a few days ago someone on a different site was asking me about finishing some oak.

The most knowledgeable guy in the whole world in that regard is a chap by the name of George Frank, sadly no longer with us. In his day, he was unquestionably the best there ever was. Fortunately for us mere mortals he put pen to paper so that we could take advantage of his many decades of finishing experience.

It struck me that I might pass on just one or two tips from George.

Most of us these days aren't really interested in doing the perfect job, we just want to slap on a coat of something and be done with it.

I'm glad to see that you are elevating yourself another step up the finishing ladder, as it were.

Apparently - and I had forgotten about this - if you can get your hands on some ordinary burlap, it makes an excellent buffer between coats of stain.

We may not realize it, but every coat of finish we add, regardless of what it is, adds a certain roughness to the surface. When the time comes to apply the final finishing coats(s), we no longer have a smooth surface, which makes the final coat(s) look dull. They appear that way because the light is reflecting off a surface which has thousands of small bumps, thus not reflecting light evenly.

Another trick is to use a piece of polished marble as the sanding block when you are using the finest grades of sandpaper, and use it lightly.

That is something I haven't tried, but since I have some pieces of tile here, I may epoxy two or three together to reach a decent thickness, and try that.

And here's another one that I had forgotten (it's the old timers kicking in).

When you are nearly done with your initial sanding on something, most of us know to sand with the grain. Two more things now come into play.

Remove every possible speck of sawdust from the wood - brush - vacuum - fine wire brush - whatever. Then with a slightly damp cloth, rub the wood gently but completely. Let it dry thoroughly.

Now, using fine sandpaper, do the last sanding at a very slight angle to the grain, NOT directly with the grain. Use a brand new piece of sandpaper for this. The moisture will have raised any last pieces of wood which needed to be raised, and the slight sanding angle will cut them off cleanly.

Before commencing with your next step, be it staining, filling or whatever, clean the wood again as thoroughly as you possibly can.

What you are trying to achieve as your end result, is a piece of wood which clearly shows the wood grain, but yet has the color that you want.

If you want to educate yourself a little more, buy a 10x eye loupe. They only cost a couple of dollars. Take a look at the wood as you progress through the various stages, and prepare to be surprised. That wood you think is so smooth is anything but.

Once again, good luck! :thumbsup:


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## Bootz

Thanks a lot for the suggestion .. We are like four stains in already think it could still make a difference on the project?


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## cocobolo

Every time you add a coat of any sort of finish, you are presenting a new surface on the wood. 

Here's what I usually do if I'm trying for a decent finish (regardless of what the finishing product may be).

When I get the first coat on, be it stain, filler, sealer, thinned varnish - anything at all - I let that dry completely and then sand it as smooth as I possibly can. This is probably the most important sanding you will do on that item.

If it isn't smooth at that point, it will only get worse. It is quite possible to get it smoothed out later, but at a greater cost in both time and materials.

Run your fingers over the surface and see if it feels smooth, or has some sort of texture to it.

If it isn't super smooth, now would be the time to get it that way.

When you arrive at the final finish coats, sand the second to last one again until it is perfect.

Your last finishing coat should be done with an extremely fine brush, and let dry in a dust free area. Stay out of that room so as not to disturb any dust for 24 hours or so.

Some finishes can be buffed to achieve that glass like feel.


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## Bootz

cocobolo said:


> Every time you add a coat of any sort of finish, you are presenting a new surface on the wood.
> 
> Here's what I usually do if I'm trying for a decent finish (regardless of what the finishing product may be).
> 
> When I get the first coat on, be it stain, filler, sealer, thinned varnish - anything at all - I let that dry completely and then sand it as smooth as I possibly can. This is probably the most important sanding you will do on that item.
> 
> If it isn't smooth at that point, it will only get worse. It is quite possible to get it smoothed out later, but at a greater cost in both time and materials.
> 
> Run your fingers over the surface and see if it feels smooth, or has some sort of texture to it.
> 
> If it isn't super smooth, now would be the time to get it that way.
> 
> When you arrive at the final finish coats, sand the second to last one again until it is perfect.
> 
> Your last finishing coat should be done with an extremely fine brush, and let dry in a dust free area. Stay out of that room so as not to disturb any dust for 24 hours or so.
> 
> Some finishes can be buffed to achieve that glass like feel.



Aaaaah gotcha ! I actually got a sticky piece of a cloth and been cleaning it on every application of the stain.. But this is a really great suggestion thank you so much for this suggestion I am actually going to try this ... By the way thanks for looking in on the strand appreciate it


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## cocobolo

Got any good news for us Bootz?


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## Bootz

cocobolo said:


> Got any good news for us Bootz?


yea actually we slowly but surely getting the cabinets done... we have a lot of the cabinets on the floor with only a couple of coats on them with work and a school its been put a coat on in the morning and maybe another at night lol but we will be getting them soon. We also will be getting the glass in the cabinets soon when we get another couple of coats on the ones that are getting the glass put in them  thanks for checking in CoCo I been really trying to crank these cabinets out and sometimes me and the miss look at each other and say ... did you put a coat on the cabinets? lol


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## cocobolo

You guys are making great progress.

I understand that you have other things to do in life...that's always the way it is. We're all looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Thanks.


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## Bootz

with some requests for an update here they are  our home is in disarray and much of the home kinda reflects that too :\ but i am assuming after we get these cabinet doors up and out of the way the rest of the house will get the attention it much needs 

so here is the kitchen how it stands right now before the poly 









and these are the cabinets that we are putting the glass in ... after the poly that is 









these are going on the opposite side of the glass inserted cabinets... they look awesome in the sun and yes coco these are the ones i messed up but with your help they are awesome again awaiting the poly as well 









i have to say the green and the new faucet looks awesome with the red new stain but these need the poly as well so we are in the home stretch :')


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## oh'mike

That's going to look sharp,when the doors go back on! Refinishing is so time consuming-----Mike--


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## Bootz

oh'mike said:


> That's going to look sharp,when the doors go back on! Refinishing is so time consuming-----Mike--


god tell me bout it ... it sucks... me and the miss sometimes just look at the cabinets and are like ..... Ehhhh.. lol but i been really pushing to get them done so we can get the cabinet doors off for the glass fitting asap. But yea.. put a coat on... slowly wipe off the access.... wait 3 hours... then repeat... lol so when we get home from work or school we try to get a coat in then before we go to bed put another on... I dunno if this was the way to do it but i really wanted to do everything at once... so the project didn't drag out longer then it needed to


OH and the miss wants to redo the counter tops again... she wants to do the black granite looking finish on the counter tops now... so... yet another project  yay!


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## BigJim

Looking good, all of ya'lls hard work will be worth it soon. That is going to be one sharp kitchen.


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## oh'mike

Ah,The joys of remodeling! You make one thing look good and now everything around it looks bad.:laughing:

That's the kind of thing that keeps me going!


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## gma2rjc

You and your gal work well together Bootz. The cabinets look beautiful. It's a very nice shade of red. I can't wait to see what they look like with the glass installed. 

Thanks for posting the new pics!


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## Bootz

Thanks a lot for all your comments i showed the miss the pictures I put up and she was embarrassed by the state of the house lol but I think it will be fine once we get everything together .... Now for door handles and hinges .... Lol any suggestions ? I will post some pictures of the things we are thinking of.. Once again Thank you all for stopping by and looking


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## gma2rjc

Tell her not to be embarrassed. First of all, it doesn't look bad at all. And second, all of us here who have ever been in the middle of a project know how crazy things get. :yes:

When I had my kitchen cabinets taken apart to be painted, a guy from the Weather Channel showed up with a camera crew. They wanted to know if it was one tornado or two that had gone through my kitchen. :laughing:

I'm enjoying this thread Bootz. You two are doing a great job.


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## Bootz

gma2rjc said:


> Tell her not to be embarrassed. First of all, it doesn't look bad at all. And second, all of us here who have ever been in the middle of a project know how crazy things get. :yes:
> 
> When I had my kitchen cabinets taken apart to be painted, a guy from the Weather Channel showed up with a camera crew. They wanted to know if it was one tornado or two that had gone through my kitchen. :laughing:
> 
> I'm enjoying this thread Bootz. You two are doing a great job.


lol that is funny, Yea seems like the place is going through a constant project since the people before us wrecked the place before they left... we are talking... duct taping and gluing the fridge closed with cheese and milk inside.. spoiled.. burning holes in the carpet with cigs ... why hard wood floor is there now.... the bathroom was a sh!t brown color... from ceiling to floor, ripping out the vents in the ceiling, and to top it all off writing my girl friend a death threat (pissed me off to no end) so yea we are really trying to get the place back up and running lol Thanks again for your words of encouragement its really appreciated


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## BigJim

Bootz said:


> lol that is funny, Yea seems like the place is going through a constant project since the people before us wrecked the place before they left... we are talking... duct taping and gluing the fridge closed with cheese and milk inside.. spoiled.. burning holes in the carpet with cigs ... why hard wood floor is there now.... the bathroom was a sh!t brown color... from ceiling to floor, ripping out the vents in the ceiling, and to top it all off writing my girl friend a death threat (pissed me off to no end) so yea we are really trying to get the place back up and running lol Thanks again for your words of encouragement its really appreciated


I really shouldn't say this but people with the kind of attitude those people had don't deserve a house anyway. Hang in there Bootz you two will have a happy and nice home and as hard as you two are working on it you deserve a nice home.


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## Bootz

we just put on the poly and it went on rather easily  Thank god it was easy and not like putting on coats of stain. I had to do some touch up on a couple of the cabinets and found that wax paper was best to put down under the cabinets that touched the boards we put down on top of the plastic drop cloth. So more pictures to come


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## ChrisDIY

Looking forward to next set of photos


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## Bootz

Here are the handles we are thing about putting on the cabinet doors after the poly dries 








Pretty cool huh ? Not a bad deal on them either


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## Bootz

got a couple more of handles on the drawers and well they look good but we might have to make a template or something to make sure they are going on straight and the holes are even


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## Bootz

So ...here it is what it all comes down to.... the cabinets with the new glass in them  so.. boom









and here they are again 









the glass is called Rain.. 

for the price of the glass it isn't to bad looking with the red. 
While I was putting the stuff in came to find out it wouldn't fit so last minute ran back to the shop and little to my surprise the owner cut it again for me. after cutting some jokes (excuse the pun) he actually began to interview me a little after i asked them how they got into this line of work. well.. I just might put a resume in or application for a helper of some kind.  pretty cool work .. working with glass.. requires a lot of precision and an eye for detail which i think i have crafted to be better. but anyway next comes putting more handles on and getting hinges.. until then


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## Bootz

jiju1943 said:


> I really shouldn't say this but people with the kind of attitude those people had don't deserve a house anyway. Hang in there Bootz you two will have a happy and nice home and as hard as you two are working on it you deserve a nice home.


thanks for the words of encouragement it really helps


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## oh'mike

Bootz--It's very clear that you and yours are having fun-----that's just refreshing. Life is fun--Mike--


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## Bootz

oh'mike said:


> Bootz--It's very clear that you and yours are having fun-----that's just refreshing. Life is fun--Mike--


Yea it isn't all that bad.. It's nice to meet some one that likes the projects as much as I do ... We share a unique dynamic of her coming up with the ideas and me following through with it


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## Bootz

As of 1/21/11 i am engaged :") proposed last night !!!


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## AndyM

Bootz said:


> As of 1/21/11 i am engaged :") proposed last night !!!


Congrats!


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## gma2rjc

~ :thumbup: ~  *Congratulations Bootz!!* ~ :thumbup: ~​


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## Bootz

Thanks a lot guys :") so we managed to get some of the bars on the cabinets and drawers and while me and the fiancé were cooking dinner snapped this photo looks really awesome with the cilantro we were cooking with in the set up 










Next we are hanging the cabinets with the new hinges


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## oh'mike

Looking sharp!
Congratulation--she sounds like a keeper to me.too.--Mike--


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## Bootz

oh'mike said:


> Looking sharp!
> Congratulation--she sounds like a keeper to me.too.--Mike--


Thanks for the words of encouragement  thinking on sat I am going to finally hang the cabinets and be able to finish off this project


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## Dinggus

Can't wait to see the finished project!


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## ChrisDIY

*That looks good!* 


Are you guys taking pictures with a cell phone?


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