Tale of the Kitchen

This post could be more accurately called "one room in one million pictures."

There was nothing spectacular about our kitchen. 

The cupboards were old, hanging crooked and the wood is thin. 

The dishwasher is old.

Our inspector even went so far as to tell us "I was pretty sure this wasn't going to run. But...I ran a cycle and it seemed to work well." 

The oven is tiny. Tiny as in...we can't fit a cookie sheet inside of it.

The stove top is like one I have never seen. It has burners that look like they are cast iron. 

The carpet was forest green. 

And although...according to the previous owner...was industrial strength and we should be fine to keep it, we decided to rip it out.

I know. We are impulsive and crazy.

I kid.

Carpet in the kitchen equals No Bueno.

Not only was it industrial strength but it also went up the walls, and then like topping on a cake, had a gold metal trim.

There was also a ceiling fan.

Not a normal ceiling fan. A gigantic one.

Don't even try to get things out of the top cupboards while it is going.

You will get whacked.

That old toaster suspended from the cupboards? 

It had a date with the can opener, attached to the other cupboard, in the dumpster.

Blake painted the ceiling in the kitchen, removed the ceiling fan...which cracked the ceiling in the process because it was so heavy...and removed the cupboard fronts.

Then it was my job to remove the carpet and take care of the floor.

I started with the carpet baseboards...it seemed logical.

Then I began rolling the carpet. It would have been quite comical, if someone had been watching, to watch me try and get the carpet out of the house...by myself.

But I did it, and the pad.

Then I was left with dirty laminate flooring.

This is going to sound gross but there is no other way to explain it.

The carpet pad had stuck to the floor in various spots and there were piles of dirt.

The dirt wasn't the worst part. The carpet pad was so stuck in some places that I had to use a scraper and scrape the floor. It was hard work.

Then I washed and scrubbed the floor and removed all of the tack strips from around the border.

Next I painted the walls 

and the fronts of the cabinets.

When I was finished with all of that, David and Blake primed the floor one night.

It was clean loveliness...even if it was short lived.

Using floor and porch paint tinted to an off white I painted the entire floor, twice.

Making sure that it had plenty of drying time, we started to map out the pattern for the floor. 

The first night was frustrating and I ended up leaving and Blake stayed to finish it.

I came the next morning and started to paint and finished the taping job.

I put some color down before I finished taping because it makes it visually easier to understand.

Then...of course...I ran out of tape and Blake had to make a quick run to Home Depot for more.

When all of the taping was done it was very exciting and encouraging.

That was until I had all of the grey squares painted...and then I was nervous.

All I could think was "Man. I really hope I love this."

Removing the tape was very satisfying.

I loved it.

Was very happy with it.

For being a painted laminate floor I am quite pleased.

Blake painted the cupboards using our paint sprayer and reassembled them.

For starting out really ugly, it was amazing what using only a little paint could do.

Sure. We will probably remodel the kitchen down the road.

Sure, people have nice updated kitchens that are lovely.

But the question is...did they only spend $65 to have it go from this:

to this?

 There are still things we would like to accomplish in here such as:

make fridge nook into a pantry,

add baseboards,

redo the top coat on floor (it was a silly mistake on my part),

paint hood vent,

remove old laminate back splash,

add shelves and pictures to walls,

paint door leading to outside.

But for right now there are bigger fish to fry.