Kitchen re-do

I wanted to update you on our kitchen cabinet re-do.  I feel funny posting pictures of my home, as if it's so grand and exciting that it needs to be seen.  Because it's really, really not.  That being said, I'm excited about how the cabinets turned out, and I think that if you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to a remodel, painting is a great way to go.  (Note that I did not paint them, Kevin did.  It was my idea though.  While I'm not good at painting, I'm great at coming up with project ideas for my husband.)

So, without further ado,

Before:

After:

We used Behr's "Beluga" from Home Depot, and sanded the cabinets and drawers a bit first.  The project took several hours but I am so, so happy with the results.  Our backsplash and counters look so much better, too, against the black.  (The "before" photo was actually taken before we even BOUGHT this house, so I'd already painted, we obviously have different furniture, and our appliances are stainless steel now.  We also no longer have that flying-saucer-ish light fixture above our dining room table, although now with the popularity of mid-century modern, I'm kinda wishing I'd kept it and spray-painted it a fun color.  Oh well.)

I'm really glad we didn't opt to remodel the entire kitchen (there are much better uses for that much money), or even resurface the cabinets.  I'm also happy that we went with black instead of white, which had been my other idea.  I'm still wanting to paint the kitchen orange (to match the dining area) instead of the bluish gray I originally painted in there.  But for now I'm just so happy to have black cabinets!

Mary Lu and I are quite thrilled here.  Oh okay, I am quite thrilled, and Mary doesn't really care all that much.  Because she's just a baby.  But someday, she too might move into an old house with some quirky issues that need desperate attention.  And then she'll be pleased as punch when, little by little, her diamond in the rough starts living up to its potential.  There's something really neat about making improvements to your home especially when your husband does most of the work.  A big thank you to Kevin for his mad painting skills and for humoring me in yet another "let's do this to our house, and by let's I mean you" endeavor.

Now for the next project: closet doors and window treatments for our bedroom!  No, we do not currently have doors on our closet.  At all.  And no, our current blinds in that room do not work properly and the cords are a tangled mess because they're broken.  And they're horribly ugly.  Yes, we've been living here for 2+ years.  But these things take time, and we have five kids, and we HAVE done a ton of work already.  So we live with random less-than-ideal-nesses.  It's kind of like a brotherhood you're initiated into when you live in Denver.  Everyone is working on SOMEthing in their home.  Home Depot and Lowes are like old friends.  Nobody bats an eye when your basement is in shambles or, in this case, when your closet has no doors. 

But I have my cabinets now.  So it's all good.