The kitchen chronicles: a DIY dream (or nightmare?)

Posted by

20

I love to DIY. Well honestly, I DIY because I don’t have to money to H-I-R-E.

I would LOVE a complete kitchen reno – new floor, new cupboards, new layout, maybe even take a wall out to open up the main floor… but, we definitely don’t have the $$ for that. It’s the DIY route for now.

This year’s to-do list includes:

  1. Painting the kitchen walls DONE
  2. Replacing the kitchen trim HALF DONE
  3. Painting the kitchen cupboards white and replacing all hardware
  4. Converting the kitchen closet into a pantry
  5. Painting the main floor living room, entrance hallway, upstairs hallway and downstairs hallway (all the same colour – easy, peasy right?) :S
  6. Replacing the main floor living room trim

My goal was to tackle the kitchen this Spring and finish it off before May (meaning: before seeding as I won’t have my husband to help then). Although my husband’s surgery set back our timeline a bit, it’s also given us a much needed trying to conceive break that coincides nicely with my kitchen reno timeline.

Am I biting off more than I can chew? Perhaps. I still hope to accomplish as much as possible before May.

I spent the past week patching drywall, ripping off old trim and preparing the kitchen to be painted.

Yesterday, we tackled the kitchen walls and the window frames. I am VERY HAPPY with our colour choice. The (not my style) oak cabinets actually look much better with the new colour: Rockport Grey by Benjamin Moore.

image

 
Here’s a before & after photo. Buh-bye pinky beige! Side note: Part of the kitchen project also include sprucing up that white hutch. Maybe a paint job? Or maybe just some really cool knobs?
 

Before & After kitchen painting

We are going to tackle the cupboards on Easter weekend. Until then, I’ll continue removing the lovely shelf liner. I personally like the retro flowers better than the vines. What do you think?

image

20 thoughts on “The kitchen chronicles: a DIY dream (or nightmare?)”

  1. Your cabinets are the same color as mine and I want to paint them white too! Your first sentence cracked me up though- I, too would hire people if I could afford that too. I can’t wait to see some ‘in progress’ and ‘after’ pictures!

    Like

    Reply

      • I hear ya on the spare bedrooms…in our case just one spare bedroom. Last year when I was pregnant we asked our roommate to move out ’cause I was expecting and shortly before he moved out I miscarried. He still moved out which was totally fine by me, but it was darn hard to see that stupid empty room for almost a year before I got pregnant again. By the time you are pregnant you will at least have your place fixed up the way you like it 😉

        Like

        Reply

  6. Our old house had painted white cupboards. Underneath the paint was green/flower pattern. On the cupboards!!! It actually looked a little like your shelf liner. Good thing it was painted over, but if we ever nicked any paint off the cupboards then BAM, the vines would show through. Haha

    Like

    Reply

    • Aw man! I discovered the cabinets were dark brown wood before the oak. At least that’s closer to in style now. It is grainier than the modern dark woods though. I’d love to see a pic of your old cabinets before they were painted. Sounds classic.

      Like

      Reply

  8. Yay for home renos! Since we moved into our place 2 1/2 yrs ago we’ve transformed it, slowly but surely and it is so much better. DIY feels awesome, makes you feel so accomplished when you’re done even if you’re cursing it along the way. Such as my job of tiling the bathrooms. Ugh.

    Like

    Reply

  10. Pingback: Our fertility plan: where we are headed | Awaiting Autumn

Leave a comment