reno of the kitchen.

[Reno], as in, R-E-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N. well, almost.

When we moved into our house, two and a half years ago, the countertops were green. And, they still are (gasp). Unfortunately the renovation hasn't gotten quite that far, however, I have made some progress from the green-countertopped, unoriginal (as in, every other run of the mill, American family has) cabineted (sp?) and sad peach-walled kitchen!

The walls are painted! It's a light gray color, that I had originally bought for our basement (with the hopes to have it on the walls of a new man-cave, which was under one foot of water last month). The painting was the easy part. After taping the ceiling, cabinets, etc., I had it done in no time. It's a neutral, cool gray and it looks divine. I plan to add some yellow accents (in the form of pictures and possibly curtains) to compliment the starkly colored walls.

Installing the shelves did not happen with ease, of any kind. well, they were easy to *buy* (along with the other hundred dollars worth of items that quickly filled up my cart at Ikea last week), but they were not easy to install. Somehow the drywall in my house is softer than any, and the studs are much harder than any. So, I made three trips to the store for stronger screw anchors, before finding one that worked. And, I got a screw stuck in the wall and a drill bit BROKEN in the wall. I cried, I screamed. I dropped quite a few f-bombs and my dog was essentially afraid of me (my husband would have been afraid of me as well, had he been home). Note to self: make sure to tackle projects of this nature when ALONE in the house.

But, the finished product awaits you:

The first thing my husband said when he saw it was, 'we need to get some more interesting glasses'. I guess it's a good thing that he's warranting me to go shopping (he's a bit of a finance warden), but it wasn't really the response I was looking for. Especially not after my mentally exhausting day.

Check out these other photos as well...

Imagine these cabinets covering the entire kitchen:

Opposite wall before (it did have oak-colored shelves, but I forgot to take real 'before' pictures):

Opposite wall after:

I am very proud of my handiwork and I hope you enjoy it too!!

Next week: cabs go white.