Kitchen Makeover, Part One

My brother pulled into town last Monday, and that night he immediately asked me if there were things at my house that needed to be done.  I have a little list on my fridge of things that I can’t do at all or can’t do by myself, so my eyes lit up.  The number one priority has been my back gate, the latch was broken and I couldn’t close it.  It needed to be replaced.  He told me he’d take care of it. 

When he came by on Friday to look at it, he said it would just take him a minute, but he noticed my paint chips in my kitchen that have been sitting in my window sill for months.  He and his wife gave their opinion on what color I should choose, and Gabe said, “Let’s do it this weekend.  We’ll get the paint while we’re at Home Depot.”  Yes, please! 

So, off to Home Depot we went, we got all of the stuff to paint (and fix the gate), and take down the hideous light fixture that was in there, they wouldn’t let me pay for it, and we headed home to start.  They started the prep while I went to an appointment (I wasn’t even there!).  I’m so excited!  I feel so cared for.

When I came home from work on Saturday they were there working on it, along with our friend Jeff, and I found out that it had been even more of a project then I had originally thought.  There were so many holes to patch it was ridiculous!

We worked on primer on Saturday, then headed to the Hoggstead (mom and dad’s house) for Irish car bombs.  It was St Patrick’s Day, after all.

On Sunday we got the primer finished, and most of the green done.  Yep, I chose green.  It’s so bright and cheerful, and I need that in my life.

I’m working on finding the silver lining where I can these days.  Sawan would never have let me paint the kitchen green.  He would have seen the paint chips and said, “My baby loves her bright colors.”  We would have probably worked out some sort of compromise, but he pretty much only liked a color if it could be found in a Starbucks cup.  Any shade from iced latte to espresso would work, but it had to be some sort of earthy brown for him to like it.  So, since he can’t be here, I get to choose myself.  That’s kind of fun.

I’ll post more photos when we get it all finished, but for now, here’s some photos of the progress.

Here's the before:

Wow, I have a lot of crap on my counters.  Also, notice the ugly light fixture.

It's an expanse of white.

I wish you could tell how dirty the walls were, but you could see where the previous owner's stuff had been hanging.  Plus, the trim was forrest green.  Barf.

Here's us working on it:

Masha, the painting genius.

Gabe, the motivator, wall repairman, and electrician extraordinaire.

Aparently, when I paint, I think I need to be dressed like a pirate.

This is what the kiddos did the whole weekend.  They watched shows, and tried to keep Arthur from eating their snacks. They were SO GOOD!

And, where we stopped yesterday:

Here's everything but the "cutting in" done.  This is how it still looks.

The beautiful new light fixture.  

Yay, for the Mini Hoggatts and their help!