Architecture | Mr. G's Mind

Renovating a 1970’s kitchen on a small budget is not easy to do. However, that is what a friend asked me to help her accomplish.

The kitchen was extremely small and dark. Of course, my first thought was to paint the kitchen cabinets a light color. She didn’t want white, and decided that a nice blue-gray would do the trick.

Since the kitchen was so small, I suggested that some of the cabinet door centers be cut out and glass added. This would make the opening of the kitchen appear wider and add some depth as well.

I began by removing and cleaning up the cabinet doors. Next, I laid out the cut lines and drilled a hole in one corner so that the saber saw blade could be inserted.

After about 15 minutes of cutting, the door center could be removed. I saved the center piece of wood for a future project.

How to install the glass? That was my new issue. I figured that I would route out the back side of the door – only one problem, I don’t own a router. My friend had a great suggestion to just add a small edge of wood to the cutout, leaving space to support the glass.

I used some 3/8″ square pine to frame-up the cutout. I secured each piece in place with glue and small finishing nails. It actually added a nice detail to the front of the door and – no routing required!

I took the first two doors to a glass shop. My friend selected a glass pattern that she had seen years ago while visiting Ireland.

They cut and installed the glass, and interestingly, they used clear silicon to secure the glass in place. It cost about $70.00/door for the glass and labor.

Prior to hanging the doors, I refurbished the old hinges, a subject of a future post. I also installed new pull knobs, which she had previously selected.

I painted the upper cabinets 50% lighter than the bottom. I simply mixed 50/50 blue-gray with white paint. This optically makes the upper cabinets appear a little further back, making the kitchen seem larger. When you have a small space, these tricks add up!

I completed four doors in total and as you can see, it really updated the kitchen! The original estimate for new cabinets and installation was $10,000. So far, the kitchen has cost $450.00. That’s paint, knobs and glass. Of course, she got a great deal on labor!

With the money she saved, she purchased a new counter-depth refrigerator, keeping the kitchen opening as wide as possible. I think it really added to the “new” look.

Now the old countertops are next on her list. Did you know that they can be painted? A new project has been born!

A special friend of mine was given some mid century modern living room furniture – a couch and two chairs. They were in very good shape and only needed some minor wood repairs, which I completed. As you can see, one can never have too many clamps!

The last time the cushions were recovered was likely in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, based on the fabric, but still in pretty good shape.

My friend, who just so happens to be an excellent seamstress (no, not for the band), decided that she wanted to recover all 10 cushions. This was a very challenging task, as she had never recovered furniture before.

If you plan to do a job like this, she recommends viewing http://www.sailrite.com. She studied the site’s videos over and over again. In fact, she purchased the foam for the cushions from Sailrite.

Her top tips – use adhesive basting tape shown below. She said it is awesome stuff! Also, use the medium foam. The firm foam is too dense for house furniture.

Okay, so how do I fit in on this post? I thought I was done when I completed the basic wood repair. Well, not so. I was given the task of cutting the foam. It might sound easy, but it was not! The foam is fairly dense, and is 4″ thick.

The Sailrite video made it look easy with their special electric knife. It can also be done with a kitchen bread knife, which fortunately I had one.

The cut has to be very straight. If not, when the cushion cover is put on, the angled or choppy cut will show through.

My first thought was to sandwich the foam between two pieces of wood, making the thickness about 1″. Wrong! If you do this it is easy to cut, but the the foam edge will be severely curved.

I decided I needed a guide on the underside of the foam. This would ensure that the knife remained straight while cutting.

Use a flow tip pen and clearly mark your cuts on the top and edges of the foam. Go slowly! Check often that the blade of the knife is flat against the bottom wood edge. It’s a slow process, but it works.