kitchen facelift=complete (kinda)

it is time for the big unveiling.  which i have been putting off for several weeks. why? because it is not quite finished finished.  i mean the scraping and priming and painting and sorting and cleaning and organizing and more painting and arranging and finally some more painting is complete.  but there are no curtains and pictures and such yet.  and i confess that i really wanted that to be done before i took photos.  but the reality is that anothe rmonth could pass before that happens.  so i grabbed the camera yesterday while the kitchen was miraculously clean and snapped away. (yes the floors were still wet from being mopped.)

now do you remember the before? okay, now let's look at the after.




















here's what we did:

• sort and purge glasses, plates, silverware, etc.
• repair cracks and paint ceiling
• remove wallpaper and repair walls
• prime and paint walls
• remove upper cabinet doors
• sand, prime and paint all cabinets
• paint trim around windows, doors, and floor
• reorganize shelves, drawers and pantry

money spent:

• paint= $35
• storage= $12

so for less than $50 we have made a huge change.  i still want to purchase material for curtains (which is why they are not done yet) and some more storage containers (namely magnetic spice tins).  not to mention countertops.  but those are awhile off.  the whole point was to do this without spending much.  i would say mission accomplished. 

products:

• antique white paint (ici) on cabinets and trim
• linen white paint (ici) on walls
• atrium white paint (benjamin moore) on ceiling
• baskets from hobby lobby

highlights from the project include:

• peeling off the wallpaper with the kiddos and finding lots of walls to repair due to damaged plaster
• living with a dining room table full of baking dishes, plates and such for a week
• donating all of our purged items to Goodwill
• building a track system with scrap wood for the fridge and living with it in the middle of the room for a week
• water seeping up through the tiles and finding out that there was a slow leak behind the fridge after it was moved back (then pulling it out and living with it in the middle of the room for two more days)

future plans:

• make and hang curtains (this month hopefully)
• hang art over the cabinets and door (this month)
• hang wire baskets (this month)
• hang colanders, etc (this month)
• buy magnetic spice tins and board (1-3 months)
• replace countertops with butcher block (6-12 months)

i love the way this is turning out.  it is so bright in our kitchen now.  these after photos were taken on a very cloudy afternoon.  it is much more enjoyable to spend time in there and its way more user friendly.  last week jesse came home from work and asked,

"you made soup and bread?"

my response?

"yes, babe, i did.  i told you it would pay off."

i love it when i am right.

a huge thank you to my dad for all of his hardwork on this project.  without him, we would still be looking at primed cabinets and peeling plaster walls. love you!