Surprise!

Yes! It's really me and we've been busy. Here's the big surprise!
After over a year in "arrested development", some progress has been made on my kitchen. The walls, ceiling, & cabinets were painted. Plus the ceiling was repaired! Yahoo!!! No more holes, no more Corona cardboard taped over the holes. I don't know if you can imagine how happy, that in itself, makes me. The walls are Behr "Wickerware" and the cabinets & ceiling are super white. All done in semi gloss to make cleaning much easier on me. The bifold doors at the end of the kitchen (that lead to my laundry room. I'll share that another day) are colonia red in high gloss. We are not finished yet though. Not by a long shot. I still need to hang a wood applique of some kind above the doors where the microwave is, but I'll decide if I really need it after the molding is up. Yes, we still need to install the molding around the top of the cabinets and after that I'll decide if I want to take the molding all the way around the room. These will be painted in a super white high gloss. While I love the look of crown molding, I'm concerned that it may be "to much" in such a small space. As you can see this is a typical 1950s galley style kitchen. I like to think it's functional, yet cozy...c'mon roll with me on this one. Hubby was great about installing all the new pulls for the cabinets and drawers...and YES! Those are my restored hinges you see. It's so gratifying, satisfying and electrifying (LOL) to see them back up in all their glory. All that hard work was definitely worth it. Since they are a polished chrome I chose polished chrome pulls for the drawers and cabinets. Hubby's contribution to the whole project? He picked out the cabinet pulls.
So, we stop for now. Down the road we will update the counters and the flooring. I'd also like to add a bead board backsplash and we still have bead board to hang on the side of the base cabinet. I'm also thinking about adding "feet" to the cabinets to give them more of a "furniture" kind of look. The cabinet where my glassware is currently, is another one of my dilemmas. Do I leave the doors off (of course we'd remove the hooks inside the cabinet) or do I install glass fronts and then rehang the doors. Your thoughts? Ah, plus I still need to decide what to do to cover the windows. There are faux wood blinds behind those sheers. I'm thinking perhaps hanging a valence and cafe panels...sigh* Your thoughts?
Right now my computer armoire is here in the kitchen, but that is another "just for now" thing. My goal is to convert a closet into our computer space and then add a small table and two chairs to the kitchen area.
Pfew! So much done, but still so much that remains on the "to do" list. Right now I'm going through my "art" and accessories to see what I want to keep, what I want to make over and what I'll be parting with. I also need to have my crate labels framed. Those will go on the wall where the computer armoir is currently.
It's good to be back! Thanks to all who left comments for me.


BEFORE:




Then cabinet, counters and shelves were added and microwave was mounted above the stove...Recessed lights installed but holes and cuts from old lighting and fans were covered by the Corona boxes.

I'll call this our "DURING" We've still so much left to do, but I wanted to show you what had been accomplished so far.



I'm so happy with the way the new hardware looks with my restored hinges.


I will be removing that paper towel holder & buying a new coffee pot. I love mine, but it's beginning to sputter. I'm just going to buy the same brand in the newer, prettier style.

So once the molding is up, I'll be working on the decorating. The really fun part of this whole process! I cannot wait. I think we may be getting the molding up within the next few weeks or so.