Before and After Kitchen

Before we moved into this house eight years ago, I did a lot of painting. I painted the living room and entry, the dining room, the hallway, and Poppy's bedroom. Even though I got a lot done, I always regretted not painting the kitchen.

The kitchen was in bad shape. I don't know when it was last painted, but it looked terrible. The paint on the cabinets was bubbling and impossible to clean without actually scrubbing the paint off. It was nasty. But having my constantly-in-use kitchen out of commission for days to paint it was not very appealing.

So I never did it. And it got more and more gross.

However! When A. was planning his trip to New York for ten days with three of the four children, I knew my time had come. Accordingly, I asked him to buy me white paint for the ceiling and something yellow-toned for the cabinets.

The only pre-mixed, non-gray paint he could find when he went to Walmart, though, was an almond color. So that's what he got. And that's what I used.

First I painted the ceiling.

In progress.

I sent this photo to A., and he responded that he thought I was going to use the almond paint on the cabinets. I did. The brown you see in the top right is the color of the ceiling before painting it white.

He couldn't believe how gross the ceiling was. 

It certainly was.

To the remainder of the white paint, I added just a bit of the almond paint, to make a slightly lighter almond, I guess. I used that for the small area of actual walls. And then I painted the cabinets with the almond color.

I hate painting. I am not good at it; I am not particularly careful; and I don't find it enjoyable. But I got it done.

The paint was still drying, hence all the cabinet doors ajar.

I specifically asked A. to get something besides white for the cabinets so they wouldn't show smudges so readily. I actually prefer the look of the original white cabinets, but I don't regret using non-white. Everything looks SO much cleaner. And I can actually clean it! I can just wipe things down! Hooray!

I didn't have enough of the white paint to do the ceiling in the adjacent dining room, which desperately needs painting, but that can wait until I get back to Walmart for more paint.