Julie, veteran blogger and home-renovator, came up with the best idea for alleviating pre-demolition jitters. As her family geared up for a complete kitchen renovation, the week prior to start date was historically dubbed "Open Canvas Week," a chance for friends and family to show off their artistic sides...all over the old cabinets.
Jump down to see the Kitchen - AFTER!
On her blog, Mom's Purse, Julie writes:
We had paint everywhere, but it didn't matter. It was all going to be demolished anyway. What a riot! When our contractor arrived with his son, they were so sad. They did not want to demolish the artwork.
It's a good thing she took plenty of pictures, which you can see HERE. Click over to her blog to see the BEFORE photo of the kitchen which, by the way, turned out great!
Thanks for the inspiring story, Julie!
aw that is cute that they did that. just glad it wasnt for keeps! Haha
view angxannette's profile
Those painted fish and the cat with the guitar are fantastic. I like the before the remodel liveliness so much better.
view Kate (NC)'s profile
Ahhh!!! We did this twice when we were kids. Once all over the walls of our living room before we got wood panelling (wood panelling!!!) and once all over the unfinished floors before we got carpet.
Of course, my mom didn't exactly have all us kids do it as a celebration of new paneling and carpet coming ... she had us do it to force my dad to BUY that new paneling and carpet. ;-)
Regardless, it was so much fun!
view ridge_van_winkle's profile
That. Is. Awesome! I love the concept -- and those cabinets could TOTALLY be repurposed to the garage. Fun stuff!
view darcidoodle's profile
I hope they at least saved the cabinet doors--it's a shame to demolish all that great art!
view Cassidy06's profile
how fun! i hope they kept a few of those covers for art.. some of them are adorable..
i had ugly wallpaper in my room when my sister and i swapped rooms.. i had my friends leave messages, color on it, etc. my dad was pissed..but it gave life to my room.. :)
view animalhouze's profile
awesome - awesome upgrade!
view Oneformybaby's profile
I love the idea!
view Melissa82's profile
I love that idea! When we pulled out an old carpet I drew all over it first... it was so much fun, and of course knowing it was on it's way out anyway made it even better.
I hope you kept the old cabinets! We plan to put our old cabinets in our garage when we finally replace ours, and having art on your cabinets like that would be a lot of fun too. :)
The kitchen looks awesome!
view AimeeRoo's profile
I just checked out "Melissa's Pod" small cool entry. We all asked "Where's the personality and character?" Here it is! This is great.
view oakland's profile
I find that self-indulgent. Couldn't they have given those counters to a poor family that might need them?
view Eleno_Mome's profile
Well, one thing is for sure. There's no diamond in the rough artist in her friend's entourage.
view joebelt's profile
A once in a lifetime chance to do something that would be terribly naughty, otherwise. Your family will remember this fondly forever.
view Aldyth's profile
Hey Eleno - Those counters would never have survived being lifted off the cabinets. We tore out granite with the hope of being to give it to Habitat for Humanity and it cracked and broke into pieces during the demo.
view Gigi818's profile
demolished? Those cabinets could have been recycled either through a company or through craigslist. They could have even just replaced the fronts as it looks like they kept the layout. how wasteful. If they had painted them and then used them as art around the house or in the kids' rooms that would have been better. how wasteful.
view TheoJ's profile
Eleno and TheoJ - Way to rain on the parade. How do either of you know that these were salvagable cabinets? How do you know they were not old and falling apart? Who says you can't recycle them at a facility if they have paint on them? They're already painted white and adding color doesn't prevent recycling.
They made a memory and included their friends and that's truly special.
view Miss Pea's profile
Also, the previous counters look to be made of individual tile so how do you propose donating them?
view Miss Pea's profile
I love those tiles above the stove; where are they from?
view mockduck's profile
At first (before I read the post) I was momentarily horrified, then after reading, my heart warmed up... What fun...
I did a similar thing when I was leaving an apartment... I had a party, we wrote all over the walls, I then painted them white for the landlord. We had so much fun... Although I would strong suggest something different than blue and black sharpies, they are a pain to paint over.
view Devyn's profile
AWESOME IDEA FOR OUR KITCHEN PRE-DEMO & RENO :p
view venus_thames's profile