Kitchen Update

No new projects have been completed around our house lately (work has been keeping us pretty busy with little spare time for remodeling), so here's a look back at the changes we made in our kitchen (the second room to be painted) after we moved in.

Here's the before pictures of the kitchen (taken when we viewed the house with the realtor):

So we didn't mind the green in the kitchen, but the paint job was horrible (you'd have to see it up-close).  Since we decided that we would have to paint the walls, we decided to go ahead and change the color while we were at it.  We enlisted lots of help in this room because of all the sanding that needed to be done.

The list looked something like this:

-Remove cabinet doors & handles, sand, and paint

-Sand and paint cabinets

-Clean and paint inside cabinets

-Buy and install stove

-Fix broken floorboard

-Remove, sand, and paint molding

-Change sink and fixtures

-Replace cabinet tops

-Replace dishwasher with stainless steel dishwasher 

-Fix cabinet under the sink

And then, of course, move in all the dishes, glasses, and cookware.

We had increased motivation near the end of the project because we were hosting supper club at our new house that month and things had to be "company ready," which included bringing over all of our cooking supplies to the new house (we were still in the rent house for a week after buying the new house while we fixed a few things and got things, like the stove, delivered and installed).

Here's a few more before pics without the cabinet doors (they were being sanded and painted), where you can kinda see the work we needed to do under the sink and definitely see the work we needed to do in the cabinets.

First we did a really in-depth cleaning of EVERYTHING.  Lots of anti-bacterial cleaner was used! ha-ha  I found lots of things left behind by the previous owner, including expired box tops (Save them for your school!), "fountain of youth" water, a disgusting oil spill, matches, and a dead spider (Eww!!) amongst other things.  Needless to say, this took a while, but it was totally worth it to know that our kitchen was like-new when we were done.  To add to the "freshness" of it all, every cabinet interior was later painted white (much better than the original deep/dark brown fake-wood look). 

Sidenote: The biggest thing to remember when painting cabinets (especially when you plan to put heavy stacks of dishes on it after) is to sand, then prime, then paint, then let it dry completely.  If not, you will end up with paint sticking to your plates even though you thought it was dry (it was still a little tacky if this happens).  To further prevent this, besides letting it dry, we added in white shelf liners (the kind that keep things from sliding around but don't actually stick to the cabinet - found some at Walmart and The Dollar Tree). 

Once everything was cleaned-til-it-shined, we started making a mess in the kitchen (such is life) by sanding every cabinet front and side.  There were at least 3 layers of this off-white paint that would either flake or peel off depending on which layer and where the paint was.  We didn't want this to lead to the new layer of paint also peeling or flaking off, so sanding was a must.  After all the sanding, everything got another complete wipe-down.  Once it all was clean and dry, we primed everything and then painted the first coat.  We painted at least two coats on all surfaces after the primer was up (including the cabinet doors themselves).  Lots and lots of waiting around for things to dry.  Thankfully, we didn't have furniture in our living room yet, so the living room floor was covered in clear plastic which was where we did all of our cabinet-door painting.

After the cabinets were all painted, we taped off all of the molding (except for the baseboards - those were removed completely) and repainted them white (to match the white on the cabinets).  Again, more before pictures:

(Don't mind all the cleaning supplies on the cabinets - this was a work in progress shot)

(Another shot of the stove-and-refrigerator side)

(A sneak peak into the living room - that's another post for another day)

Let's discuss our choice of paint color in the kitchen.  I love blue.  Enough said.  My husband was nice enough to let me paint the kitchen in the rent house (which we lived in before we purchased this home) a very bright blue with white cabinets, but this time we became a little bolder.  We painted the kitchen a deep dark blue.  During the debate over whether this was the correct color choice, many family and friend opinions included the fact that it would make the kitchen too dark and dreary.  However, the hubby and I thought the darkness would be balanced by the fact that there was so much white in all the cabinetry and the fact that there is a huge window that lets in lots of sunlight for most of the day.  So we ultimately crossed our fingers and tried it (something we are doing a lot of in this house) and guess what? It worked out just fine.  We love the look of it and the cabinets/window totally balance out the darkness.  Besides, there is a very small amount of surface area that is blue compared to the white of the cabinets and ceiling and the light wood of the floor.  We love it.

Once all the cabinets were put back in place, we purchased a stainless steel stove (and I had to get used to an electric stove - I miss my gas stove!) and put our oldie-but-goodie fridge in place (it's on the list to be replaced with a stainless steel one some day).  We also brought our island-on-wheels from our rent house (it was a Christmas purchase the first year we were married) which was perfect because it was white and had the same countertop as the kitchen.  Other small projects including switching out the white water sprayer to a stainless steel one and removing the can opener screwed to the bottom of the cabinet (you can see it in some of the first pictures).  Since then we have also hung up a few pictures (Hobby Lobby 1/2 price sale - Yay!) and added the Ikea containers discussed here.  We're liking the results.  So here's the picture summary:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After: 

 Oh, and we still have a projects left in the kitchen -- stainless steel dishwasher, stainless steel fridge, possibly new flooring and cabinet tops, and definitely a new light fixture:

Ugh, popcorn ceilings. (Anyone ever got rid of the popcorn themselves? Advice please!)

We're still loving the kitchen upgrades as well as the blue walls.  :)