My Updated Kitchen

My kitchen has been way overdue for a fresh coat of paint. I had great plans of re-painting for at least the last 7 years. Yes 7 years. First I struggled with paint color, then I had spine issues to deal with that stopped me in my tracks. Once I started having back issues I hired someone to paint for me who I trusted and adored. Then he passed away. He was in his early 30's. The devastation of that alone kept me from getting it done.

Last fall I finally took the plunge and not only picked out a paint color, I purchased the paint! It was progress. And now here we are in August and I am looking forward to another fall where I still have not painted the darn kitchen. I was determined to get it done no matter how daunting. I started with some de-greaser that is supposed to be diluted with water before use. I used it with little water added to make it really strong. I took an old sponge and some rubber gloves and just lathered it onto the cabinets. The greasy residue from years of cooking just melted away. This process alone took me an entire day.

The next day I gave the cabinets an extra rinse and proceeded to remove all the art and decorations, curtain rods and blinds off the walls. I filled in the holes with epoxy - or whatever the stiff is called that is used to fill in nail holes. I knew my husband would protest, so before he got home from work, I threw the patio blinds into the garbage. Surprisingly, when he got home he did not balk too much - just a little mention about how expensive they were. But once he saw all the dirt on them that was impossible to remove, he just let it go. I covered the tops of the cabinets with drop cloths.

The following day I started to paint the ceiling. The kitchen is very large so I had to break it up into multiple days. I painted half the ceiling one day then finished the rest the next day. Once I got into a flow it got a little easier. Getting around all those cabinets took a very long time, but 3 days later, I had all the walls painted as well. So all-in-all it took me 7 days to paint my kitchen! I neglected to mention how many painkillers I had to take but all I can say is that I am done. Finally. After all those years and I am so very happy.

So now the fun part starts. We went shopping for new light fixtures. We both agreed on a new one for the cooking area and one for over the sink and my husband happily installed them.  I think he was finally seeing why I wanted to paint. The new color is such a wonderful upgrade. And the new fixtures are brushed nickel which matches the stainless steel appliances perfectly. The paint color compliments the beautiful wood tones in the cabinets and it feels so fresh and clean now.

The only problem left in regards to light fixtures is the one over the kitchen table. The problem is that I really like that fixture. Although I do not care for the ceiling fan part, my husband insists that we have one for energy efficiency. Sometimes you have to pick your battles so I will let him win this one. So we go shopping for a new ceiling fan/light fixture. I don't like any. He doesn't like the prices. So I decided to spray paint the old fixture. After all, what do I have to lose? If it doesn't turn out we will keep shopping and if it does, we just re-purposed another item in our house. It's a win-win!