As you may guess, remodeling a kitchen is not a speedy process. And rather than post 30 times with the little steps that we made (and some BIG steps back), I figured I'd put them all here...so you can see it all in one place.
Aug 2: We settled on our colors. We took a cabinet door from the living room and had it color matched. We'll use that for the upper cabinets. We chose a dusky blue for the lower cabinets and drawers. I love the two tones in the kitchen and I really don't want to have to battle all the splashes and scuffs on white lower surfaces.
I did tons of research and resolved myself to following ALL the steps so that the paint would stick and it would hopefully not be obvious that I painted it myself. I did all the deep cleaning and sanding to prep, all the sanding and learned all about tack cloth and oil based primer. No cutting corners here!
I lived in painting clothes for over a month and we did our best to keep the kitchen usable while also using the table as a work station. Everything took 3 coats...sanding in between each one.
Aug 3: Primer for the blue paint!! I love this part....
I am so relieved that I love the color!
Aug 5: Countertops! I got all the upper cabinets done before this point so I didn't have to worry about dripping paint on the new countertops.
They brighten up the whole room!
Aug 7: He put in the backspash. I really love our choice, it makes the room so much cooler and I love the neutral tones. I can't wait to see it all done.
Aug 9: We took a big step backwards. The two slabs of quartz really don't match up well and the seam is SO VERY visible. My heart sinks every time I look at it. In addition, the way he cut the desk and the bar stool side of the countertop is not what we asked for. He did it with a curve and it really doesn't look right. I've tried for days to convince myself that I'll get used to it, but I really don't like it. He could see that we weren't happy about it, so he is replacing that section and making it the way we wanted in the first place.
In the meantime, I am finishing the cabinet doors, 4 at a time. I can also get away with doing a cluster of drawers too, just as long as we still have room to walk by without knocking them over. It's pretty much a disaster area.
Aug 12: Mark installed lighting underneath the cabinets. I am absolutely in love with it. It is so bright and cheery! He is my favorite.
And Mike is back...he is replacing the weird shaped countertop and desktop. I am praying the seam will look a little better. I should have put "remodel kitchen" on the bucket list because I would
love to check this off when I hang that last cabinet door!
Aug 13: Well, we are supposed to be "done" with the backsplash. I'm not gonna lie...it's not great. I am finding the courage to say something about it to Mike. I hate this part.
Aug 20: I had the tough conversation. He's a good guy. He's working to make everything right. One of the options was to replace the tiling on the sides of the window with a slab of quartz. I sent the options to Lauren and Alisa....
quartz: tile:
We unanimously agreed the quartz looks stupid. So he'll have to repair the tile.
Aug 25: The tile work is as done it's as good as it's going to get. We finally decided to have him use the same tile as a border. I don't absolutely love it, but it isn't terrible either. We also got a new microwave! The stainless steel looks great and ties in the black oven a bit. We considered getting a new gas range, but they are MUY EXPENSIVO.
Mark installed all the outlets and even found some great silver ones to replace the ugly brown ones on on the bar. They look great!
Aug 27: Paint fiasco! I found a paint I liked and started to put it up. It was AWFUL.
It looked seafoam green!
So, back to the store I went. It turns out they mixed the color wrong and gave me a full refund. That worked out well, because I changed my mind about the color anyway.
The new color is what you'd call a "greige"...it's super neutral and just a hair lighter that the color we already had. So I'm putting that up and stopping at the staircase and the corner of the dining room. Otherwise, I'd have to repaint the entire house. Dang open concept house!
So here's the thing. I LOVE the new kitchen. It makes me happy and it feels so much better than our orangey oak ocean.
Is it perfect?
Nope.
If I look to closely at the the crooked tile or the wonky calking, I start to feel a little irritated....but, you know, I am just learning to focus on the big picture. I put a beautiful hardwood cutting board right over that ridiculous seam and I move on with my life.
And now....we cook!
