Style Cure 2014: Kitchen Reveal

After a hard week of filling holes and cracks and sanding and painting, we have a *new* kitchen.

It is not perfect. It's not even quite done. (I still have two chairs left to paint and the ceiling will be done in January when my husband has his next week off.)

But I am so happy. It is genuinely refreshed.

I was inspired by three things.

1) I painted the cabinets in the summer. I'd always intended to finish "making over" the kitchen this summer. But it was much too hot and I worked long, hard hours at my job. I spent most of my down time sitting in front of a fan.

2) When I finished up the living room for the ORC on November 6th, I was still raring to go. Proof that doing something you love gives you energy. I had achieved some sort of clarity in my vision for the living room: I was eager to see if I could carry that vision over to the kitchen. The kitchen was actually much easier than the living room: fewer moving parts!

3) The Syle Cure happening at Apartment Therapy. It kept me focused on days I worked and couldn't actually do anything (other than sew and re-sew that first Roman blind!). Even though it ended on Nov 21st, I trudged ever on. Besides, I was well into the swing of things.

So: to the "Befores"

This room has only been painted twice since living here. The first time was in 2000. I painted it "Ursa Major" a lovely yellow on a palette created by Martha Stewart. (Anyone remember that? I think the paint was carried either by Sears or Canadian Tire back then.)

The cabinets were also originally painted according to the palette--but I painted over that particular yellow years ago. (Not by choice--I had no idea what colour it had been!)

Here we are with the cabinets earlier this year before their new paint job.

Then, in September, I sanded and painted my kitchen table:

before:

after:

That brings us to the middle of November when I'd hung my new pendant light over the sink, as per Day 19 of the Cure.

And, to finish off the tour: the stove wall.

That is not dirt! That is a terrible crack in the plaster board right above the stove. As you can see, it has been patched before.

And now, here we are:
(I am so excited!)

Here are the two Roman shades I sewed-- together in the same shot. They were made from a shower curtain I found at Target.

The cabinets with the cord all snugged in with command clips. (The cord still has a few kinks in it, unfortunately.)

Here you can see that I decided to paint the tiny bit of wall between the original aluminum banded backsplash and the upper cabinets with trim paint. I thought that by using an off white, instead of the grey, I'd create a cleaner line. Looking at it now, I'm afraid it just looks like we forgot to paint here.

I am so proud of this area! We took down the shelf of cookbooks with the utensils hanging underneath it and never looked back. Even though the cabinetry looks weird stopping short of the fridge like that, this is ten times better than the clutter that used to be here. Bonus: the utensils won't fall on the floor anymore like they used to do when you missed your aim for the hook!

The utensils live here, now, inside a jug from Homesense. (The tea canister holds the dog treats that were also on that shelf.)

Why didn't we do that before? The microwave shelf was mounted too low. We bought new brackets and a new shelf and raised it.

So, now, how about a round of Before and After?

So, what do you think?

Linking to the December Party at Remodelaholic.

Added later: Wondering what a "little refreshing" cost? See this post.