Thursday, August 22, 2013

Covering Fur Down - The Space Above the Cabinets

January 2016 Update: Visit our new blog www.brianandkaylor.com  


Changing that space above your cabinets is a great way to update your kitchen.




You know that annoying space between the top of the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling?  What is that?  And why did someone ever think it was a good idea to leave it blank?  You all know what I am talking about.





Or it is filled in with useless wall like I have.  The construction term is fur down.






Only in the past few years have cabinet styles changed to where they extend to the ceiling.  This is the look I like.





In New Orleans we had crazy tall ceilings and the space between the cabinets and the ceiling was huge. So just like everyone else, I filled that space with dust collectors.






I loathe this space.   If we had purchased new cabinets, I would have tore it out and had our cabinets built to the ceiling.  But we used our current cabinets so I had to figure out a way to hide the fur down. Your home might have AC and/or other wires and pipes going through the fur down so you can't remove yours without the huge cost to run all those wires and pipes somewhere else.  Making it look like it was built in and giving the illusion that our cabinets were built to the ceiling was the only option I had.

The before pictures.







While researching for a refrigerator enclosure idea, I came across this blog.  She started with an empty space above her cabinets so she filled it in with MDF, and then finished off with moulding.  I love her final look.

I already had the fur down in my kitchen so I didn't need to fill in the space but I did need to smooth the texture.  Doing several thin layers, I filled in the texture with a light weight compound.  I spread it all over, sanded, filled some more, sanded again.  I did this until it was filled in and smooth.

Then I moved on to the moulding.  I went with a 3 5/8 inch crown moulding (nothing crazy) and a chair rail moulding for the middle.  Both are extended throughout the kitchen where there is fur down and the crown moulding is extended through to the dining area.  We will be adding crown moulding to all the rooms in the house eventually.
















SIDE NOTE:  Our saw was not in good condition and we ended up buying a new one.  This saw had a chart on it as well as had the degrees needed for mouldings marked.  This made things a lot easier but moulding can still be frustrating.  Once you get the hang of it, it is worth the time and the few "discussions" with your spouse.


Remember the whole idea here is to make this look like it is part of the cabinetry.   I wanted a seamless  look.  It took some tedious, time consuming, detail work but the final product was so worth it.  It looks amazing!  Here is the after but I am still hiding the rest of the kitchen.  Sorry folks.  Your going to have to keep being patient. :)








LOVE!!!!  Our cabinets have entered this decade and look expensive!  A DIYer's dream.  Expensive look without the huge expense.  I still stare at them because I can't believe how much they have changed.

You can use moulding to change your cabinet doors, too.  I did not do this but if you are wanting to update your kitchen without replacing cabinets, adding moulding is a great way to do it.











Click here to see all the before and after pictures.









65 comments:

  1. I love how you made your soffits look like part of the cabinetry! Great solution without the risk of opening them up. Thanks for linking up. P.s. not sure if you know, but your comment verification is turned on and really cuts down on comments. When I turned mine off I got more comments and really didn't see any spam.

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  2. Thanks. I just turned it off...I think. I have been writing the blog for less than a year and technology is one of my enemies. :)

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    1. Did you paint your cabinets and if so with what? I am going to paint mine, they are already painted and have that glaze on them to give them that Tuscany look I guess is what you call it. I was going to use chalk paint and then that hardwood floor sealer over the paint as shown by another blogger - https://www.artsychicksrule.com/kitchen-cabinet-makeover-annie-sloan-chalk-paint/

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    2. I just saw a post below about painting your cabinets with the tutorial.

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    3. Your kitchen turned out beautiful. What a genius you are. Fortunately, my cabinets go all the way to the ceiling with crown molding around the tops. I need one of those library ladders in the kitchen because the top shelves are pretty useless for everyday storage. lol

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  3. That is genius and it looks amazing. Would you please tell me what the name is for the type of molding that is at the bottom (kind of looks like miniature chair rail molding)? I have been looking for something like for just such a purpose and I can't find it. Doesn't help that I use technical terms like "thingamabob" when trying to convey what I want at the box store. :-) Thanks, Sharon

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    1. SORRY! Just saw that you identified it as chair rail molding. It just seems a lot smaller than what I'm coming across (which is what I love about it).

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    2. Hi Sharon! Thanks. The trim is from Home Depot and was in the chair rail section. I don't like technical terms either but I happen to have a picture of the price tag from HD on my phone (so I could remember what I liked the first time I went in and knew what to buy when I went back). Its technical term is Base Cap and its code is WM163. If you want me to email you the picture of the info let me know.

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    3. Thank you so much for the information - and for taking the time to give it! I went in to Home Depot this morning with the information above and they helped me find it. Many, many thanks! - Sharon

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  4. This looks awesome, what a great idea! I too have a dust collector (sometimes it even gets "furry") - we clean it when my mother-in-law comes to town, which obviously is not often enough!

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  5. This is such a great idea!!! Awesome way to update and improve your kitchen. Thanks for linking up to Give Me the Goods Monday Link Party. I selected you as one of my features this week! Come back and link up all of your clever ideas!! Love this!
    http://commona-myhouse.blogspot.com/2013/09/give-me-goods-sunday-features27.html

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I will be linking up again soon! I have many more kitchen projects to show off :)

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  6. Can you tell me what light weight filling compound you used for the fur down? What size sander? How long did you wait in between sanding? Looks awesome!!

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    1. Hi Lauren. I started by sanding the fur down with 120 to knock down any high spots. I have a 5" orbital sander and I had to hand sand the edges and corners. The filler I used was all purpose sheetrock joint compound. It is light enough to dry fast but still durable. I let it dry for a few hours. Some of the textured spots were deep and I wanted to be sure it was really dry. Also, this remodel happened in the middle of summer and I live near Galveston, Tx. It was super humid even with the AC running. Dry times are slow here so you might not have to wait that long. I used 180 grit on the first layer of compound then 220 on the layers after. I think it took me 3 layers and a few touch ups to get it super smooth. Good luck. Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks for visiting.

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  7. Found you on the BH&G Kitchen + Bath Makeovers. The little picture in the magazine doesn't do your improvements justice. Your kitchen is gorgeous! I'm dealing with the same soffit (fur down) problem. Your cabinets seemed to have a square type of molding piece that initially wraps or meets the fur down. My cabinets are slightly recessed from the soffit. I was thinking about adding a very small edge molding to camouflage this. Can you tell me the height of your fur down before renovations? Mine is only 11 inches, so I wondered about needing the middle base cap addition. Thanks for all your help.

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    1. Hi, thank you for your sweet words. Yes, my cabinets had a molding already where the cabinets meet the fur down. My cabinets are recessed about 2 inches and my fur down is 13 inches from ceiling to top of cabinets. I liked the look of the middle molding so I chose a crown molding that wasn't too thick to allow room for a middle molding. Good luck with your kitchen and thanks for visiting!

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  8. This whole kitchen makeover is just brilliant. You did such a great job! But really, the biggest thing is covering over the fur down. It looks so much more custom and modern! I am tucking this idea away so that when we start looking to buy a home, I will know what to do to transform a kitchen! Thanks for a great post!

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer. Somedays it still doesn't seem real that we did all that work and the finished product is so beautiful. :)

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  9. You did an awesome job making the soffit look as part of the kitchen cabinets! Thank you so much for the shout out! I'm going to link back to this post. Great info! Now I'm going to check the reveal.
    :)
    Cristina

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  10. Hi Kaylor, Your kitchen looks absolutely amazing!! We have a fur down in our kitchen too and I wanted to get rid of it but my husband didn't (too much work). Then we came across your site. We plan to cover ours now. I hope it looks as good as yours. All your work looks amazing! If only you lived closer to Dallas....


    Michele

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  11. Hi. Love your transformation and I think I'll being attempting the same thing. I hate dust collectors as well. What type of ceiling is that? It's beautiful.

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    1. Thanks for visiting and for the compliment! I don't understand your question. What do you mean by type of ceiling?

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    2. Is it a stipple knock-down ceiling or ceiling tiles?

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  12. Oh man. I literally just tore my fur downs today! Wish I would have seen this first!!

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  13. I've been wanting to paint my kitchen cabinets. Can you tell me what kind of paint you used? I noticed you painted the cabinet interiors too. Did you have to sand that area down also? What did you seal them with? This kitchen is beautiful. Exactly what I've been wanting to do.

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    1. Hi Lori. Here is the tutorial and all the details about how I painted my cabinets. http://fishermanswifefurniture.blogspot.com/2013/10/painting-kitchen-cabinets.html
      I sanded everything to remove years of grossness and dust. Then everything was vacuumed and cleaned really well before paint. They do not make the paint I used anymore I don't think. So here is what I would use now. I recommend Zissner primers, then any good paint and primer in one for your color (Valspar Signature, Benjamin Moore Regal Select) and my favorite clear coat is High Performance by General Finishes. I hope that helps and good luck with your project!

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    2. what finish in the sealer? satin or semigloss?

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    3. I am going to use chalk paint because there isn't as much prep, no sanding at least and no priming and then use the Varathane Floor Finish I believe it's called. Here is the website I got the info from: https://www.artsychicksrule.com/kitchen-cabinet-makeover-annie-sloan-chalk-paint/ I am using a different brand of chalk paint from Ace Hardware called Amy Howard.

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  14. Absolutely the best make over I've ever seen! Wonderful blog and great instructions! Just love all the pictures too! Keep up your great work, please? You just never know who's watching!! God Bless!!

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  15. Absolutely beautiful! Did you use a sprayer to paint the cabinets?

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  16. I love this! Can I ask how many inches from the top of the cabinet to the ceiling? I'm thinking of something similar and LOVE the final outcome of your kitchen!! Bravo!

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  17. What a gorgeous makeover,It is so light and bright. thanks for sharing.

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  18. Your kitchen makeover is so lovely and amazing. great job!

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  19. What an amazing job you did, it's just beautiful! So fresh and clean!

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  20. What is your counter top

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  21. Great job, it’s beautiful. We recently renovated and went with a counter depth fridge, made a big difference in opening up the space a little, too. Congrats!

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