Kitchen Smitchen

So we had this plan, right? Eric was going to prep the house in anticipation of my family's visit so that while they were here, we could slap down all the new flooring and call it a day. All the extra hands on deck were going to make it a simple and quick job. But you know what they (Robert Burns) say(s)...

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." And they did. But it ended up being a good thing.

Due to some unexpected plumbing eruptions issues that kept Eric busy for a full week, the prep work for laying the floors never happened. I informed my parents that, despite their hopes for a week full of hard labor, blood, and sweat, they would have to settle for a relaxing week of visiting, vegging, and eating (standard holiday itinerary). If you know my parents, you know that they love a good project and that this was not the kind of week they were looking for. I mean, they had already packed their work clothes and everything!

So, being that I have a few projects on my long and vast home-improvement "to do " list, I was able to quickly formulate a plan B. "How about repainting the kitchen?" I asked. It was the perfect idea being that Eric and I had purchased the paint long ago, but had been suffering from a very serious case of "we don't want to paint another wall ever...EVER."

Not to my surprise, my family jumped right on board with that idea. Eric removed cabinet doors, my dad removed the horrid crown molding & took over sanding, my mom did all the edging, and my sister and I were the holy rollers. This is what happens when four smart, talented and creative people and me put their heads, sanders, screwdrivers, and paintbrushes together and get to work:

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

Old Dining Room

New Dining Room

Ta Da!

Here is how we did the cabinets:
1. Remove all doors, sand front and back, wipe clean before priming
2. Lightly sand all of the cabinets and faces of drawers in the kitchen (this was the messiest part, lots and lots of dust- if you want to do more work you could remove them from the house and do this outside- we did it inside, but it worked for us) 
3. Remove contents of all cabinets and drawers
3. Paint ONE coat of primer on front and back of each door and all of the cabinets and drawers
4. Paint TWO coats of paint on all of the above
5. Clean insides of all drawers and cabinets with soapy water before returning the contents
6. Give doors and drawers ample time to dry before allowing them to touch the surfaces of the cabinets again, this prevents sticking and peeling of paint

The whole ordeal was a big mess and a huge project to try to take on in just a couple of days. There were moments where none of us could fathom picking up another tool or brush, but I come from a family of champions and no one wanted to be the quitter! And at the end of the day, the dust cleared, the paint dried, things were returned to their places, and we had a great time doing it! It was actually a pretty fun way to spend time together as a family. We all felt proud of the end result and impressed by what we had accomplished. A million and two thank yous to mom, dad & Gila!!

Eric and I could not be more pleased with our new kitchen. It feels homier, warmer, and about 20 years more modern than the former one. We still have a few more things to do before we can wrap the kitchen project: (1) finish painting the cabinet doors and put them back on with new hardware, (2) paint and re-cover cushions on bar chairs (above on right), and (3) put in those darn new floors!

Mom, dad, Gila, you all planning to visit anytime soon? I kid, I kid!! (kind of....)