Put Em to Work

So my mom came out this last week and a half. We had a blast. We spent the first few days of her trip in Cleveland with Doug and Maegan where we visited historic Kirtland. I will post more pictures on that another day. What I want to post about today is what my mom and I worked on the second half of her trip. That being my Kitchen.

The original plan was to paint my bedroom and bathroom while my mom was here but I think once she got a look at my kitchen she decided it was farther up the priority list. So before you knew it, all the cupboard doors were coming off, the table was being painted, and new paint was going on the ceiling, trim, back splash, and walls. The project took us 4 days and all I can say is I absolutely love it. I am wondering, however, if anyone will ever come to visit us again as we tend to put all our visitors to work.

BEFORE - Just as a note, this kitchen was okay and nothing horribly wrong with it. It worked, but for comparison sake, I will make sure to make it so horrible so that the transformation is all the more impressive.

Don't you just love the 2 toned cupboards. The inside of the cupboards is a paper laminate. It had began to scratch off in several places leaving a great look. The back splash under the cabinets was once tile, we think, but had been painted over in a tan color that just didn't quite match the counter tops.

Notice in this picture those great light fixtures in the ceiling fan. It is kind of hard to tell in these pictures but the walls are kind of a yellowish color with a hint of green in them. Not my favorite.

And here is the view down the hall just off of the kitchen. This has the same yellow color on the walls which tended to really make the hallway look small.

AND NOW . . . The new Kitchen

This picture probably shows the new wall color the best. I absolutely love it. It is just so rich and creamy and goes amazingly perfect with the cabinets. The back spalsh we sponged with a bronze metallic paint to give it the look of metal. It is also a nice tribute to our Fighting Irish (almost a mirror image of their helmets.) You can also see in this picture that we painted the table and chairs the same color as the walls. They desperately needed a paint job and I love how great they look now.

This is the other side of my kitchen. Don't you just love the drawer pulls.

I took this picture so you could see the new ceiling fan transformation. We simply bought 3 new frosted glass covers and switched the fan blades to the darker wood (they were on the other side which was the lighter wood) and wham, we have a whole new light fixture.

I just love these knobs so much I had to put a close up of them. This is the first time I have ever had a kitchen that had hardware on the cabinets. I am loving it. Thanks to my loving husband for not only taking all of the cabinets down and taking the hardware off but for also putting them all back up and putting the hardware back on and adding the new hardware. You can also see a bit more of the pattern in the back splash. It really stands out as quite a striking feature now.


And this is the look down the hall. It is the same color as the walls in the kitchen and it is so amazing how much it opens up the space. And I just love, love, love the color. It also shows the floors a bit too. When we first moved in we thought they were scratched through they looked so bad. My mom suggested trying some Soft Scrub and an hour later (and some sore shoulders) we had a whole new kitchen floor as well.

So this is my new kitchen. I love it!! Have I said that already. Seriously, this might be a record for typing the word love in one post. Maybe it is because I am pregnant and maybe I am just weird but there have been several times that I have stood in it and been brought to tears because I just love it so much. I just never thought I would have such a nice kitchen

and that I would have such a big part in making it that way. It really makes you proud of what you can accomplish. THANKS MOM!!!! I couldn't have done it without you.