Kitchen Make Overs Using a Decorative Concrete Slab As Part of the Finish

Kitchen makeovers are a very impressive job that takes time and effort. A kitchen remodeling job can be a great way to show your individual tastes and desires on what you the homeowner likes. Different building materials can be used to make your kitchen one of a kind. One of these materials is using concrete to design your brand new kitchen.

What do most people think of when they think of concrete? Like most people, you might think of Grey, dull, and lifeless material, a hard substance that just really sits there and holds everything up and in place. But that thought about concrete is changing in this new day and age.

In the last few years, decorative concrete has become a very lucrative business. From floors to counter tops, to fireplaces and even certain furniture, concrete can be a chameleon of different decorative materials that will take whatever sized, shape and color that you wish.

One of the most popular applications for making existing concrete slabs is staining the concrete. This can achieve a very unique outcome by the simple act of mixing different colors and application techniques to the concrete you are using on your kitchen. This works very well on not only kitchens, but is great for basements, entrance areas, and living areas as well and bathrooms and pools.

Staining the existing concrete brings new life into the old, discolored, and faded concrete floors. The color patterns are endless; they can be a solid stain color, a translucent stain or even variegated to leave a beautiful marble finish. And since concrete is a porous and a neutral material, it can easily accept the color. Each concrete slab will accept the stain in varying, different ways thus creating a natural color variation and character to each slab and project that you do.

Also, when you are installing brand new counter-tops that are concrete, you do not have to start out with the standard Grey cement that everyone is so familiar with. Various manufactures offer a very large selection of colors to choose from and the colored concrete can be used to stimulate the look of brick if that is what you like, or flagstone, pavers or even tile.

Decorative counter-tops are a new and decorative way of expressing yourself in your kitchen that leaves an amazing finish with the integrity of dyed surfaces. This new style will bring more harmony to your kitchen as well as bringing you into a new era of remodeling.

To find out more about Quality Home Remodeling and Kitchen Renovations please visit the following links: Marietta Remodeling Companies or Marietta Remodeling Contractor.This article was Authored and Submitted by Joseph Vann Hamby. All editing and summaries are Authored by Joseph Vann Hamby in a collective effort to encourage proper building practices.

Give Your Kitchen a Paint Make-Over

Choosing the right kitchen color:-

Choosing colors for the kitchen is a rather arduous task since the end result needs to energize you and your family to work in the area and provide a calming abode after a long day at work. To begin with ask yourself a few questions. Why is your kitchen no longer appealing to you? Do you want to tone it down and make it a more relaxed space or do you want to give it a more dramatic look?

Keep in mind that cooler colors like light blue and green help tone down your kitchen while giving it a larger look. A semi-glossy finish reflects more light and your kitchen will look even larger. Warm colors such as gold and red act as appetite stimulants and best complement food. Since the kitchen is a space where family bonding takes place over meals, you need to be surrounded by colors that brighten the area and complements your day to day life.

Consider the overall theme of the house. Continue and complement the same types of colors that already exist in your home. Additionally, wall color should complement the flooring, cabinets and appliances.

Brighter colors tend to go well with stainless steel appliances.

If you desire a rustic and country style kitchen, have the cabinets painted in light brown with hints of red and yellow for the right effect. Warm, earthy color tones aesthetically aid such kitchens whereas pale, soft blues can compliment a traditional kitchen. Adding colors to the kitchen cabinets is a great way to enhance the overall look of your kitchen.

Another option for kitchen walls is to install trendy, designed tiles with deep colors above the kitchen counters. It's easy to wipe clean them and tiles add to the beauty of the kitchen.

Select paints with a gloss finish if you have children and pets since cleaning the walls will be a much easier task. Also focus on paints that have stain and grease resistance as well as wash ability. Several paint manufacturers offer kitchen paints that have been designed specifically for these spaces.

The kitchen is the most taken-for-granted part of the house but continues to be one of the most frequently used living spaces within the home. With the right makeover it would surely be more than just a place for cooking and eating. Painting is one of the easiest ways to make a difference in this room, which often has less wall space.

Refreshing your home with a new color scheme is a good investment not only for your home but also for your personal happiness. When you want an interior paint job for your home or specific rooms like the kitchen, contact Custom Painting Inc. Our professionals will help you explore samples and pick the right color for your needs. Call 800-96 WE PAINT right away!

Custom Painting Inc. is a full service painting company that also installs custom moldings, doors, and window casings.We are also providing services for house painting, commercial painting and residential painting in Bay Area. For more details please visit us at http://www.custompaintinginc.com

Give Your Ugly Kitchen Cabinets and Easy and Beautiful Make Over With Antiquing

The economy is tight, yet you've been dying to replace those old, worn kitchen cabinets and now know you can't for at least a little while. But what do you do if you just can't stand them a day longer? Give them a new antique finish!

A girlfriend of mine recently moved in to a 1920's farm house in a small town in Washington State. The elderly lady who sold it to her hadn't updated the cabinets since they were new in 1960.

Being an artful faux finish artist, she set out to change them immediately. But she didn't do it by replacing them or even re-facing them. She did it with a simple technique of adding ornamental plaster pieces from a mold and antiquing them with a simple painting process.

I LOVE the look of painted, antiqued cabinets. I love the look of ornamental plaster. What the two together creates, is a very lovely make over of your dull, drab cabinets. They add such character to the kitchen, bath (or even a piece of furniture!). Here's how to easily get that elegant look:

Firstly, find a mold design that you really love. Craft stores carry a few in the soap or candle aisle but you can find many on sites on the internet. Simply search "Ornamental Plaster Mold" and these sites will come up. Choose a design that is sized to fit in the center of your cabinet door without being overwhelming.

The thing that is most exciting about adding plaster pieces to your cabinet doors is that they make the doors appear to have hand carved raised designs in them. Yet each piece literally costs pennies to produce.

"Glaze over paint" finishes are so cool. The technique can turn the most plain and ordinary cabinetry in to something much more interesting and beautiful. I love how this finish gives the cabinets real dimension and presence!

It can be done with any of colors, typically using a darker tone of the same or coordinating color over a lighter tone. But my favorite is cream colored paint as the base, with a light to medium brown color wash. It's soothing and inviting and doesn't detract from other decorating you might have going on in the room.

How easy is it? Ultra!

1. Simply use the mold and a bag of plaster of paris (found at your local home store) to cast enough pieces of the design for the number of cabinet doors in your kitchen. Follow the manufacturer's easy directions.

The pieces must be bone dry and light in weight before applying to the cabinets. This can take anywhere from 2 days to one week so make your pieces in advance to save time. Trust me, if you can mix up cake batter and pour it in a bowl, you can cast plaster with a mold. It's truly a cinch.

2. Wash your cabinets to remove dirt and oils then apply two coats of primer.

3. Using joint compound mixed with a little white glue as your adhesive by spreading the mixture over the back of the plaster piece, holding it to the center of the cabinet door for one minute. It will stick perfectly! Allow to dry for 48 hours before proceeding with paint.

4. Simply paint your cabinet or furniture piece with the lighter version of the color you have chosen. Allow it to dry overnight.

5. Mix the deeper shade of the color you chose craft with translucent wall glaze at a ratio of 4 parts glaze to one part paint (pretty easy, hey?).

Mix well.

6. Brush liberally on to the surface of the cabinet, paying close attention to the ornamental plaster piece, then immediately wipe off with a dry terry towel, allowing the mixture to stay in any recesses, cracks or corners of the piece to create a darker finish in those areas.

7. Once dry, seal with two coats of non-yellowing polyurethane to protect your new finish.

It's fast, it's simple and it's gorgeous!

This technique can be done on just about anything and if there is any ornamental detail to the piece at all, you will find that the glaze simply brings it out even more! To make the cabinets really feel new, give the inside of the cabinets a coat of paint or new shelf liner as well.

So jump in and give those ugly cabinets an ornamental face lift. You'll find you just might like them much more than if you actually replaced them!

© Victoria Larsen 2009. All Rights Reserved

Victoria Larsen is a professional wall stencil designer and interior specialist. Her products and ideas have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Women's Day, Craft Trends, Creating Keepsakes, Rubber Stampin Retailer and Memory Maker magazines and The Wall Street Journal. Victoria's website features ideas, techniques, stencils and ornamental wall molds for easy and beautiful home decorating. Visit Victoria on line at http://www.victorialarsen.com "Decorating with Class on a Budget" Blog: http://victorialarsen.typepad.com