WHAT A MESH!

When it rains it pours and when it pours we move our housework indoors. With a wet weekend decending upon the northeast, we headed inside to focus on our bombed out kitchen. If you've attacked a home renovation project on your own chances are you've been down the same road we have, stopping on the corner of overwhelmed and exhausted. The most important thing to remember in any project...painting a room or building one...don't get bogged down by the size of the task (to look at our kitchen shot above makes me want to pull my hair out, start smoking, buy a trailer and head for the hills) but I bring myself back to center by focusing on the little bits that will bring the whole thing together. For example, instead of losing my cool when we rip out an old cabinet, I fantasize about how cool I can make our new ones. A simple, inexpensive way to spruce up a kitchen..or bathroom...head to a salvage yard, antique store or garage sale and pick up old cabinets. Take out the wood or glass inserts and replace them with wire mesh, found at most home improvement stores (cut to fit one inch larger than the opening and staple inside with staple gun). Mesh is available in copper, bronze, aluminum, and stainless steel. So, the next time you get stressed over your mess, consider wire mesh!

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Thirty minutes per cabinet

COST: Wire mesh at the Home Depot or Lowe's ranges from $35+ per roll (roll covers 10 square feet)

STRESS LEVEL: Tightening things up with a nice mesh: LOW