Heavens to Betsy : The low down on the lowers

And we are on to the lowers.

First we took everything out and added to the giant mess of our kitchen. I also wood filled any seams or major dents so we had a nice even surface to paint over.

Hot mess express of a kitchen. Also sorry for half day time photos and half night time. We put the wrong light bulbs in the new kitchen lighting fixture so everything is super yellow looking as well.

Then we had to paint the insides white and it is crazy how much cleaner and brighter they looked. We decided to keep the insides light so we could see what was in there better. Painting them blue might have made it look like a cave in there. So fresh and so clean.

After the wood fill and sanding smooth process was over, we got to painting.

The drawers were also met their date with a paint brush.

Everything got 3 coats of shiny blue, and then I got overly excited and put the hardware on too early. A little sneak peak for ya'll, but a major boo boo for me. 4 of the drawers survived, but 2 had to be wood filled, sanded and repanited. Major bummer. However, I learned my lesson and will not be adding hardware to anything for at least a week.

And then my Dad brought over some power tools.

My whole idea to update the flat boring lower cabinet doors came from a tutorial over at Little Green Notebook. DIY shaker style cabinets? Done and done. I also figured they would nicely mimic the squared off glass uppers.

So over came the power tools, and my Papa Bear to help me wrap my head around how to do them and to get a lesson in nail guns and table saws 101.

We went to Lowes and found 4" wide poplar planks which my dad cut down to 2" wide. Then with a few more lessons, I was on my own.

And then I had to do some math. {whoa scary} I know it is only measuring, but math is math.

After cutting all the pieces to size and measuring them this is what the garage was looking like.

Then I busted out old faithful Kilz, to prime all the new wood peices. Some of them had knots that I wood filled over and sanded before painting just to make sure they wouldn't bleed through.

Next step was to apply wood glue to the backs, clamp in place and nail gun in. I ended up having to tap most of the nails in to make sure they were flush with the wood.

It was super rewarding to see the shaker style coming together.

Then I moved on to wood filling. Several DIY bloggers had mentioned loving the wood filler max in a tub, but I've got to admit, I'm not a fan. It did not like sticking to my pieces and does not sand nearly as smooth as the normal wood filler.

I also filled in any dents and the old hardware holes in the doors.

Then the real fun began. Each door had to be filled on all 4 sides where the old doors had a slight bevel on them. This left about a 1/8 in gap on the edge all the way around.