Refresh and Redo on a Budget

My husband and I wanted to complete a few renovations on the house this year, just as a refresh for us to enjoy, but also to keep the place in order for when we do decide to downsize.  With our pennies a bit scarce, we spent the past month or so researching a deciding on several options.  Some wallpaper here, upgrade the powder room, new paint there.  Typical refreshes, but the most frightening being - refinishing the cabinets in the kitchen island!  I mean, if it works, it's brilliant!  If not....a very expensive replacement might be in store for us! I also wanted to re-finish the fireplace in our bedroom and my husband's desk in our study.

So, I found a product from Rustoleum, called Kitchen Transformations. 

http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

The box project comes with everything you need, except a paint brush!  At $99  I wasn't quite sure what to expect or how far it would go.  You have two choices: go dark or light.  The secondary choices of specific color/stain are about 24, but remember to stop by the paint section of the store prior to checkout to get them to color your stain! (Rookie mistake!)

There are four fairly simple steps: a deglossing phase where you make sure the surface is ready to accept a new stain, the actual stain, and optional gloss (I would highly recommend it) and a clear protective coat.  The project, pending the complexity and size, takes approximately two days to complete, so great for the weekend.  So, here are the results of the smaller project, our fireplace:

The original fireplace, with a medium cherry colored stain and granite. 

After the first two stages: stain applied in Espresso

After #3 glazing

The completed project!

Now, all that's left for the master renovation is paint, curtains, etc... It's going to be a long year :-)