Big Kitchen Reveal!!

I know that several of you have been waiting for three whole days for me to post what my newly painted kitchen looks like, so here it is!! :) The big reveal!

I am so excited to be getting rid of my ugly, white, non-washable walls! Last Monday I asked John to help me move the fridge and stove out from the wall before he was going to be leaving to his CORE Academy workshop. He said I should just get started then. I didn't have a good reason not to, so to work I went. We moved everything away from the walls and I started taking down decorations, spackling, removing light switch and plug covers, and trying to wipe down my walls without taking off all the flat paint. Good thing John remembered to document this whole process so we'd have before and after pictures--Thanks hon! :) I had to laugh when I chose the colors for the room. I was looking at colors and not names on the paint chips, and when I finally decided the colors were Mushroom Taupe, and Vanilla Creme. lol How appropriate for my kitchen!

After all the prep work was done, I drew a line around my kitchen where I wanted to two colors to meet. After looking again at my stencil, I decided I only wanted to use half of it, and my line was in the wrong spot, so I had to draw it again, two inches up. Once that was done, I went to work painting the taupe. I started with my island.

The kids kept asking if they could help, so I let them finish the island for me once the little boys were in bed. They had fun, and didn't make too big a mess. Only a few drops of paint on the linoleum that were easily wiped up.

About midnight, I decided to call it a night. John had to be gone by 6:30 in the morning to his workshop, so we hit the sack.

Tuesday after John had gone and the house was still quiet with sleeping children I got back to work. I finished the rest of the taupe and started on the vanilla creme. Can I just say that our kitchen has A LOT of trim work!! We not only have the cupboards, but 3 doors and 3 windows, plus the opening to the kitchen that I had to decide where to stop on my rounded corners, and the plant shelf. It took a crazy long time. I didn't finish trimming out the creme until around 10:00pm!

Then it only took me 10 or 15 minutes to roll. LOL Now the white walls are gone!! (In this room at least.)

John's sister gave us this gate/playpen to use with Eli, and it has been a lifesaver as I've been painting. With the openess of our layout it would have been nearly impossible to keep the kids out of the way and not touching the walls while I was working without it. Thanks Suzy! We put it up and Eli was not thrilled that he was blocked out. He kept trying to figure a way around it. I was wondering how long it would take him to figure out he could go around the other way and come in through the laundry room. He figured it out on Tuesday! The kids had gotten down some of my paint brushes in the hallway and left them on the floor. Eli came toting one of them in, waving it all around and yelling excitedly. He was so funny! I wasn't so concerned with him being in there at that time because the taupe was not wet to the touch. But after a few minutes put him back outside his barrier so he didn't try climbing the ladder behind me. LOL He wasn't too happy with me, but he never did try that again. :)

My original plan was to put chair rail up, but after looking around the kitchen and seeing all the rounded corners and doors we had to go around, and not having the right tools to cut it etc. I decided to bag that plan. I really wanted the kitchen to be two-toned and was so excited when I saw this paint technique with a stencil on the Better Homes and Gardens website. It looked like chair rail from a distance. I knew it was the answer I was looking for. I found my stencil at Hobby Lobby and like I said, decided to only use half of it. I really like how it looks, especially from a distance!

I am so glad this project is finished, and I love the results. My hard work and long hours paid off!

I wanted to post my solution to my catch-all countertop. I always hated that everything would get set on the bar and it always looked so messy. I decided I wanted to find something that I could put everything in, but that could also be easily moved if we needed the extra seating at the bar, and also looked nice. I used rubbermaid containers for a while, but we recently found these office boxes at Wal-Mart. They look a lot nicer since you can see them from anywhere in the main living areas. I have four of them. One for each of the 3 kids in school and one for mail. It's been so nice to have the kids put homework/notes, etc. from school in their bin. Then I know where everything for them is, and I can easily find notes/etc. for a specific child if needed. When the bin gets full, I simply clean it out, keep what I want, and the rest gets thrown away. I LOVE how this has worked out!