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Modernizing a Kitchen With Cherry Cabinets Without Painting the Cabinets

Hi Friends!

Say what?!?! Keep the cherry cabinets?? If you know much about us, you know that painting the cabinets are almost always my first go to, but in this case, our design client, Andrea, wanted me to make her kitchen feel more updated without painting all the cabinets. Part of doing repurposed designs is looking for ways to keep what’s existing and make it work again. In many cases, painting the cabinets is the way to go. In this case, the coloring wasn’t orange or yellow so I thought it was doable and got to work seeing how I could make it work for her.

Check out the kitchen at her design consult: (don’t mind my paperwork and laptop on the island)

Kitchen Before
Island Before
Kitchen Before
Eat in Kitchen Area

Not only were the cabinets staying, but the flooring was staying as is. The flooring had a mixture of green and gray in it so we decided to bring in some hunter green color in the space. That happened with the hunter green stools that Andrea found and I LOVE them.

Even though the majority of the cabinets were going to keep their original finish, Andrea was ok with painting the island Benjamin Moore’s Black, adding an X to either side. One side is a door so she can have storage behind it and the other side is stationary because there isn’t room for storage. She also had quartz installed on the top of the island. The outside counters are black granite already so I felt like they could work with the design, but the granite on the island made the kitchen feel outdated.

Check out the island alterations:

See how the gold, black and hunter green bring in all the coloring the floor, but make the kitchen feel updated now? Such a HUGE difference in this kitchen.

Another big change in this kitchen/dining area is the lighting. Check out the new light over the table.

Modern Gold Dining Room Chandelier

The backsplash in this kitchen was aluminum sheets and that definitely made it feel outdated. So we switched it out to an oversized subway tile with black grout. Black grout was key because it feels more modern and brings in the black on the island and dining room chairs.

When you’re working with existing wood cabinets and you want to modernize them, you should try a bold finish like gold and a more modern style to make a stark contrast against the cabinets and bringing them a more updated feel.

In the eating area, we kept the original table, but added new chairs and a new rug.

Black and Raw Wood Chairs

We also created a little gallery wall (we still have to add the flattened greens to the glass), but you get the idea.

Gold frame gallery.

Oh, and we custom built an oversized sign for her that said HOME. It’s about 4′ tall!

Home sign in modern kitchen.

Here’s the whole kitchen repurposed design!

Cherry cabinets with white quartz island.
Cherry cabinets with black island and gold accents.

What a difference a good design can make in an outdated kitchen, right?? Thank you so much for the business, Andrea! I loved working with you on this and on your living room makeover. Oh…. and just so you can all see, we added green to her built ins in the living room off this room. Look how pretty! This color is Goodwin Green CW-555.

Goodwin Green CW-555 Painted Built In

Could your kitchen use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services.

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  FacebookInstagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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Polo Blue Dresser Makeover

Hi Friends,

We had a sad weekend with the passing of our 13 year old lab, Mel. She was such a sweet girl and we’ve had her our kids whole life so it’s been an adjustment since Saturday. We are so thankful for all the beautiful years we had with her though. Way back then, John picked her up from a house in Troy with a pizza box top sign that said “free puppies” and called me at work to tell me. I was 8 months pregnant with Josh then and I didn’t want a dog, but John wanted to raise our kids with a family dog. I took one look at her and there was no looking back! She’s been such a good dog for the last 13 years. Sweet spirited, never chewed anything up, house broken instantly (never made one mess as a puppy), gentle with both tiny kids, and trained our animals well. We’ll miss you Mel girl.

On a happier note, we just finished up a beautiful dresser makeover and added it to Our Shop page. Here’s the dresser before:

It needed quite a bit of external repair. So we repaired the missing veneer, sanded the wood smooth, and painted the whole thing with Benjamin Moore’s Polo Blue. We also painted the original hardware gold to make it pop off the blue. I LOVE how it turned out.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the after photos?

Polo Blue Dresser Makeover
Polo Blue Dresser with Navy Hardware
Polo Blue Dresser For Sale

This set is available to purchase! Contact us to purchase! 

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  FacebookInstagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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Updating a Living Room Built In

Hi Friends,

Last week, I shared one of my favorite kitchen makeovers fro Jim and Johanna. Check it out here! Today, we’re headed one room over to their living room makeover.

Here it is before:

Living Room Before
Built In Before

A big change that we didn’t do the work on, but I love how it came out, was on the fireplace. They added oversized tile all the way up which anchors the space and distracts from the angled ceiling.

Our part of the project was repurposing the existing cabinets by adding shaker style trim to the doors, added a new top on one of the side where there was electric coming through, installed shiplap, and installed floating shelves.

Ready for the afters?

Before Decor
Livingroom Built In Redone
Added shaker trim and new hardware to the doors.
Installing shiplap and floating shelves to built in.

A huge thanks to Jim and Johanna for choosing to work with us on this project. They were kind and thoughtful every step of the way!

Could your living room use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services.

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  FacebookInstagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on 2 Comments

Transforming a Kitchen from Modern to Farmhouse Style

Hi Friends!

This kitchen makeover is one of my all time favorites! Jim and Johanna reached out to us about painting their kitchen cabinets in early 2021. When I met them at the house, we talked through design ideas and they agreed to some big changes. The cabinets were really nice, but had a flat front. Johanna has beautiful style and wanted a more modern farmhouse style for the whole space. I recommended an optional extra where we add shaker style trim to the flat panels to make them have a shaker look!

Doors Before
Doors after we added the shaker style trim and painted them!

What a difference that makes!! We could have added it to the drawers, too, but decided we liked the doors having the flat front.

We also added a new farmhouse sink which creates visual interest and value to the home.

Sink Before
Sink after farmhouse install.

To make the sink install work, we had to be creative. We actually had to do corner pieces on either side of the sink because of the way that the cabinet angled back on each side. Then we cut down the doors and rebuilt them to the correct size. Such a HUGE difference, right?

Mid project, we talked through how the island shape was a little odd and recommending adding a center base cabinet to make it rectangular instead of leaving it the same shape. It’s hard to see but we also added shiplap to the back and side of the island.

Island Before
After: Black Shiplap island with Thick Top Quartz

Although we didn’t install the flooring, counter or backsplash, Jim and Johanna had that all redone as well to really bring new life to this space.

As you know, we are passionate about repurposing instead of buying new! This kitchen really showcases how repurposing can take a $100k kitchen makeover and have it be done at a fraction of the price. You’d never know these cabinets weren’t brand new when you walked into this house. It’s green, it saves money, and it look AMAZING.

We painted the cabinets with Sherman Williams paint color Snowbound SW-7004, sealed it with a water based protective clear coat, and added new hardware. The island is painted BM’s Lincoln Cottage Black.

Here are some more of the before and after photos for you:

Kitchen Before
Kitchen Before
Bar Before
FarmHouse Modern Kitchen Makeover
Add Shaker Trim to Flat Panel Doors
Quarts Counters with White Beveled Subway Tile
White Farmhouse Bar
White Quartz with White Shaker Doors and Black Modern Hardware
Black Island wit Black Hardware
Modern FarmHouse Kitchen Makeover

If you’d like to see how we paint Kitchen Cabinets, click here to check out our video on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/heGkiBKqDz8

A huge thanks to Jim and Johanna for choosing to work with us on this project. They were kind and thoughtful every step of the way!

Could your kitchen use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services or a quote for painting your kitchen. Please check out other kitchen projects on our For Sale page. We’ll need to see a picture of your kitchen, a list of how many doors and drawers there are, and where you are located to email you an estimate. This change ups the value of your home and gives you a whole new look at a fraction of the cost of new kitchen cabinets!

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  FacebookInstagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do.

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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Join Us! FunCycled’s Repurpose Project Competition Award Ceremony on Earth Day!

Hi Friends!

Happy Earth Week!! Here at FunCycled, we love celebrating all things repurposed, reused, and recycled. If you’ve followed our story for long, you know we’ve been encouraging people from the Capital District and abroad to repurpose ANYthing. Then submit before and after pictures for a chance to win some amazing prizes. Well, this week, we will be announcing the winners live in our store at 1pm on April 22nd (Earth Day). You can RSVP for the event here. You can also check on the submissions for inspiration here. We’ll have snacks and the airbnb open for you to tour it that day, too! Remember – we have a parking lot so parking should be a breeze, too!

In honor of this fun celebration, I thought I’d share some of my favorite repurposed projects that we’ve done over the years.

Old World Style Maps Added to an Antique Buffet
Industrial crate repurposed into a coffee table.
Vintage TV repurposed into a retro bookcase.
Bed repurposed into a bench.
Sewing machine repurposed into a sink.
Old cabinet repurposed into a lego storage cabinet.
Old door repurposed into a coat hanging hall tree.
Hutch repurposed into a dog feeding station.

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations.

We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. I’m sure you’re busy and it mean so much to our small business. 💕

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Send us a note anytime using our contact pageOr buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.

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Hutch Makeover with Gentlemen’s Gray

Hi Friends!

How’s your week going? Today, I’m sharing a hutch makeover that may be hard to appreciate all the work it took to create this transformation. This hutch was a custom order for Britany. This was originally her partner Brandt’s mother’s hutch. They wanted to keep it in the family and keep enjoying it for years to come, but it had a lot of surface damage and they wanted it to be a color instead of stained.

Here’s the hutch before:

Close up of the surface damage.

It took quite a few hours of sanding and filling all of the scratches and dents to give us the professional finish we wanted on this piece.

We painted the whole hutch Benjamin Moore Gentlemen’s Gray and we also added new hardware and sprayed it with a protective clear coat. 

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters?

Gentlemen’s Gray Hutch Makeover
Smooth finish

This hutch was done as a custom order! Thank you for the business, Brittany. 

Please take a minute to check out our online shop for repurposed furniture for your home. 

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact pageOr buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.

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Painted Piano Project

Hi Friends!

One little thing you may not know about me is that I’m a pianist. I’ve been playing the piano since I was 8 years old. I started playing in nursing homes when I was 12, and have been on the worship bands in every church I’ve attended (until the most recent church). I LOVE playing the piano… so when I say I’ve been wanting to paint a paint for YEARS, I’m not exaggerating. Basically day one of FunCycled, I couldn’t wait for the day when we would paint a working piano. We’ve converted pianos into desks and headboards, but never got to keep one as a functioning piano until Michele recently reached out to us to paint her’s.

Here’s the piano before:

Painting a piano is much like painting furniture but the main thing you have to keep in mind is that you don’t want any paint to get onto the keys or in the inside. It’s time consuming, but we taped off everything really well and then sprayed the paint with our air sprayer.

We painted this piano a Sherman William’s color, Tricorn Black, lightly distressed it, and sprayed it with a protective clear coat. That way Michele’s family can enjoy it for years to come.

We also built a new music sheet holder so it felt more up to date.

Here’s the after…. Inside pics is what you get. lol

Black painted piano
How to paint a piano?

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact pageOr buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.

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FunCycled’s Kitchen Makeover Video

Hi Friends!

Last week we wrapped up a kitchen makeover that started back in January! In 2 1/2 months our client, Sarah, had her dream kitchen without moving walls or buying new cabinets. First, Sarah started by booking her week with us for the kitchen cabinet painting and then also chose to hire me to do a design consult. I always recommend this option because I can see the other adjoining rooms and learn the clients overall style to help make the kitchen transformation blend with the rest of the house.

Here’s how the kitchen looked the day I went for the design consult.

Kitchen Before
Kitchen Before

During her one hour consult, we were able to pick out new lighting, counter style, talk through the hardware options, and make the island design plan. Sarah really loved a green island inspiration photo she saw so we went with it! I love being a little bit bold with an island color choice because it’s not hard to change if you decide a couple years down the road that you want to. I encouraged her to consider gold hardware because I love how gold and green compliment each other. She went for it and I couldn’t be happier for her!

Main Cabinets Painted Simply White by Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore’s Clover Green Island
HanaStone Strato Quartz
Added an X to the end of the island and recommended all new lighting.
Installed Subway Tile with Black Grout
Painted Kitchenette Table Base and Chairs Black by Benjamin Moore

We created a short video for you to see the process of this whole project. You can check it out on our YouTube page:

“My initial vision for a new fresh kitchen is now our reality. I am so thankful for the creative expertise and guidance shared with me throughout this project. This redesigned space makes my heart happy.” -Sarah’s email after I left the project. She was so kind!

A huge thanks to Sarah and Matthew for sending the business our way!! It means so much to us! 

Could your kitchen use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services or a quote for painting your kitchen. Please check out other kitchen projects on our For Sale page. We’ll need to see a picture of your kitchen, a list of how many doors and drawers there are, and where you are located to email you an estimate. This change ups the value of your home and gives you a whole new look at a fraction of the cost of new kitchen cabinets!

Please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact pageOr buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.

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Mid Century Hutch Makeover

Hi Friends!

How’s the start to your week going? It’s been a jam pack couple of work weeks here; long days! I’m going to make this short and sweet since I’ve had about a 13 hour work day so far today. My pillow is calling my name. lol

This is a small makeover that pulls a good punch!

Here’s the hutch before:

Benjamin Moore Trout Gray 2124-20 Hutch

We painted the whole hutch Benjamin Moore Trout Gray 2124-20 and then refinished just the drawer front. We also added new hardware and sprayed it with a protective clear coat.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters?

Mid Century Modern Hutch Makeover

This hutch was done as a custom order for a repeat customer! Thank you for the business Laura.

Please take a minute to check out our online shop for repurposed furniture for your home.

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact pageOr buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.

Posted on 1 Comment

Birch Tree Wallpaper Mural – FunCycled Repurposed Idea House

Hi Friends!

I’m so excited to share another new project at our Repurposed Idea House. Our 2nd staircase was needing some pizzaz so when PhotoWall reached out to me to see if they could donate wallpaper in exchange for us sharing about it with our FunCycled fans, I was beyond thrilled! I checked out their site with COUNTLESS designs and it was hard to pick what style I wanted because there were so many I liked.

I landed on the birch tree design because it felt like it belonged in my old farmhouse. It also was a neutral pallet in case I want to add color in that area down the road. My mom is an avid wallpaperer and I am… not so much! So she came over to help and we did a short video about the install here.

The BEST news is, they are also offering 25% off any purchase for any FunCycled fan in the next month! Just go to their Photowall.com and type in funcycled2021 for the discount code and it will be automatically applied.

Here’s the stairway before:

And here it is after!

We also installed a new wall sconce!

If you have any questions about other elements in the room, please comment below and I’d be happy to help! 

You can use our Contact Us form to hire me to help with design work in your home. Check out our Interior Design page for more information about the process. 

Please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact pageOr buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.