Just getting ready to give my kitchen a coat of polyurethane...thanks for the tip. I never thought of warming it. Have gone thru countless gallons of the stuff. I will certainly try this!

In case no one told you at the store, like they did not tell me, after you measure where the cabinets should hang mark it and then nail a 1x4 to the wall to set the cabinets on while you are trying to screw them to the wall. The person hepling you will be very happy and you will have a better chance that they will be even! Good Luck!

My first reaction was "call a master carpenter"! What condition is the wood w/out the carpet? We took our stair carpet off, cleaned and polished the wood and they look great. THAT'S the easiest way. You could change the look by replacing the railing and/or balluters if the stairs are ok. You said "I already bought the wood".. meaning? You purchased precut treads, risers, etc.? Unsure of how much you want to replace but, the best source - w/out going into the great detail here - is to search the Internet. There are lots of sites w/ little and/or much detail plus sites w/ stair replacement kits for your purusal. It's a job that requires a lot of work & quite a bit of skill, I think - depending especially on how the staircase is built and the extent of the replacement(are the balusters attached to steps, etc.). And, don't forget about the structural soundness of a staircase too! Good luck w/ the project. Spunky

Just saw on Simplify your Life today where they painted a fridge with chalkboard paint! Too cute.

I believe this can be accomplished very afford ably. First pick the size of glass. I suppose you should leave at least 2" of the wood door all around. Now you will need a drill and a router. You center opening for the glass on the door. You lay the door down . it is helpful to have a couple of clamps or a router table. if you don't own items a rental store is very affordable but have you project ready so you can get at it it will save you money. Anyway you want your router opening to leave a lip so the glass panel will slide into the opening. There are glass clips you can buy to hold the glass in. Once the glass is installed I would recommend putting a trim board around the glass on the outside to give a framed look and it will hide any owies. Those things will always happen..if you look around your home you can see how a home is finished to include the base board and cove and they serve the purpose of hiding and finishing seems. The same with the molding on the outside of the door. find a door from an old cabinet and experiment. It is amazing what one can do. It is an art to have a vision and see it through..Good Luck!

There are so many options. The cheapest is to paint a very good primer on the panels and use a good paint recommended for this purpose. There are also panels in a variety of patterns which I would recommend they even look like tiled walls. easily cleaned. The first option may not hold up where there is a lot of moisture. The second would last a life time. You could ask a girl friend to help. It is very impowering to work with other women.

We installed laminate and it was very easy. If you have existing laminate you can try to remove it, but you can glue over the existing. Try to have as few seams as possible and don't have a seam in the middle of the sink area. We lay 1/4 plywood and glued the laminate onto the plywood so we could extend the depth of our countertops by 3 inches and cut trim out of oak and stained it for the front edge. Make sure your jigsaw has a new blade. Double check your measurements before you cut. We're also lay ceramic tile at our previous house. It's much easier than one might think. You can rent a wet saw for cutting the tile. Go for it!

I don't know where in the country you're located but I've seen replacement doors at Home Depot here in the east.

Last November while my husband was in Europe I took on the task of painting the kitchen cabinets. It was time consuming but they turned out beautifuly. I first sanded then primed, added two coats of a satin base color, glazed them and then put a satin sheen sealer on. Most everyone who sees them thinks that a professional did it. I was a little nervous doing this to kitchen cabinets....cuz if you ruin them it would probably hit the pocketbook harder. But with a little encouragement from a friend I jumped right in. lisa

I had the same problem. I just took off the doors, lined the shelves and painted the inside, and set my dishes in plain view. I plan on adding some sort of edging to the shelves to dress it up a little, when I find something I like.