The Kitchen Makeover - A Photo Story

Here's the thing...

I changed the title of my blog because it better suits me. I keep not blogging because "life" keeps taking over. Then I complain that I have no life because I'm not making time for some of the things I love to do.

Same URL different title

Then I received the sweetest e-mail from my daddy that said, "Glad to see you are blogging again. You were missed." 

So there you have it...

Live Laugh Blog!

By no means am I planning to stop saying, "Here's the thing..." though. But call me Kenya G. Johnson of Live Laugh Blog! 

Anyway so back to the final chapter in...

The Kitchen Story

This all started back in December. Or if you wanna get technical, it started three or four years ago. About four years ago my husband and I went through the whole "get a quote" we are going to do this process. Then we cancelled our order within the very short window of "canceling" - serious refund - involving the not happy sales people and management. 

Second time around, a couple years ago. I had an appointment on my birthday to sit in Lowes and start ALL over with the choosing and see how much. I kinda got excited, it was after all my birthday. I took the paperwork home, showed it to my husband who had ASKED me to do that. Then we put it off again. 

The third time around, this past December, I was like whatever. I had a third strike attitude. There was baking, basketball, birthday's, traveling and the science project. I didn't have time for a fake out kitchen makeover. My husband took me in Lowes (again around my birthday), to show me the dishwasher, oven, refrigerator and microwave that he had already purchased. So we are doing this?

I continued to go through the motions. We had people come out and measure AGAIN. We sat down with them AGAIN to plan out a new kitchen. They measured on Sunday, December 15th. I baked my behind off that week (Christmas gifts). On December 19th, Christopher and I finished the science project. On December 20th we had a meeting with Lowes to give us some final numbers. We were leaving to travel the next day. I had not baked the cookies I was taking and I had not packed yet. Papa Bear wanted me to pick out cabinet knobs and everything. YES - we were doing this and I was super excited. 

While we were on Christmas break, we found out that the cabinets were already in production and we would be getting them WAY before we expected.

The Photo Story

January 4, 2014

I seriously thought this was "the one" with the paint color. My daddy visited the following weekend and said, "It's too dark." I ignored him (in his presence).

But I tried another paint sample in the laundry room to compare it to the white wall. I'll go ahead and tell you that despite the many samples after this, this was "the one".

Though in the kitchen over the green wall it looked too light. 

The Kitchen

Before...

Before...

The before floor

Pretty but not a keeper. 

Paint check...

next to all the parts

None of these are it.

I'd like the time back that I spent on choosing a paint color. 

Narrowed down to these two. The one on the left is "the one".

Picking two look-a-likes gave me a bigger headache. 

Eventually these boxes moved to the living room. They were there for five days. 

Kitchen cabinet stuff was everywhere. 

The temp kitchen

Gutted

Note the paint samples everywhere. I still didn't know which one. 

The beginning of no school days...

A rare North Carolina forecast

Fortunately we were getting appliances and I could finally grocery shop. 

Except the refrigerator was too big and I was so mad I didn't want to use it. It would be a week before we got the replacement. And by one week, I mean seven WHOLE days. 

During which...

we would have cabin fever. 

Because of this...

He grinned

I beared it. 

A pickaxe

A magnifying glass

My at home attire

So the new fridge came

and it was lovely...

I started cooking...

Using whatever I could to "make" a countertop.

Cooking 101 all over again

So I forgot some stuff. This macaroni and cheese is in the trash. I forgot to boil the noodles first and I actually baked it the entire time. 

And...

I burned myself

One more day

Last round of dishes that had been washed in the garage. 

BAM!

They said not to use the countertops for 24 hours. I just HAD to make some coffee on it.

I put the stuff back

And sat back with a glass of cranberry juice to take it all in. 

Decided that the chairs needed a makeover

We originally bought this set in 2000 and spray painted the chairs to closely match the table legs. 

I wanted them to have a stainless steel look

This made me sweat...

and say, "Ut oh" once I had taken it apart. Papa Bear was shooting a tournament and I didn't want to need his help.

It was 72 degrees outside

Perfect for getting this job done quickly. Second coat the next day. Table and chairs put back by Sunday night. 

Sunday February 22nd

Not the day I had planned. My husband needed extra help at the tournament. Christopher and I were there for twelve hours. I gave the table a chairs a second spray coating before I left. 

It was this late when we got home.

For a second I thought the power had gone out. 

Not a one man job

On Monday, I had a newsletter to edit, and had to be at Christopher's school at 11:00. But I wanted this table put back together. This one woman got it done. 

Success!

The Laundry Room (after)

I could write a whole blog post... The short story. The first week in January the washing machine died. We were refunded purchase price through the warranty. We got a new dryer too FOR FREE. 

After...

After

~THE END~

*Note: Mobile users may not see the captions to get the full backstory. But the before and after shots speak for themselves.

Here's the thing... There are some do's and don'ts that I wish I knew before we started this. I plan to share that list in the future or whenever prompted. 

Regardless of the bumps and burns along the way, I AM HAPPY!