Mini Makeover: White & Bright

It's feeling so good to get back in the swing of home projects again - A little 2-ish week break was apparently just what the doctor ordered to get reinvigorated. That said, it's time to start the pretty tedious process of getting rid of all the Pickled Oak (seriously. that's the color name. gross.) wood still lurking at every turn in our house.

And by every turn I mean every turn. The door jambs. The windowsills. Every. Single. Kitchen. Cabinet. *sigh*

Terrible photos - So hard to get a good pic with the light from the window.

I started easy: The family room windowsill. Remember our repainting of all the baseboard? Well now that windowsill's been looking extra Pickled Oak-y by comparison. And all that nasty disjointed caulk? It had to get re-done as well.

White & bright on the bottom... Big ol' ugly up top.

Hole-y caulk! And a bunch just missing completely on one end.

caulk-be-gone

So the process begins: A light sanding followed by a wipe down with liquid deglosser, then a prime and, in this case, two coats of paint (same as the baseboard, Decorators White by Benjamin Moore).

Fine grit sand paper, Citristrip deglosser, Kilz no-odor low-VOC primer.

Priming away.

So fresh and so clean, clean.

The one time I love matchy-matchy.

Tell me, how much better is that?! But then I started to realize how dingy the fireplace looked by comparison... You know where this is headed.
To be continued...