2 Month Hiatus: Kitchen Re-do

During my 2 month hiatus, I finished painting the cabinet doors.

Yes, I finished!!!

Here's what it looked like prior to the love we washed it in:

Before the paint!!!

I went online to Younhouselove and they recommended oil based primer which made things go by way faster.  And I mean way faster.  My Kiltz water based primer was seeping into those doors, and 5 coats later I was still left wondering if it needed another.  The oil based counterpart?  Two coats of primer and then I was able to move on to paint!  Wahoo!  I felt  like a speed demon with that roller!

I told David that by the time Michelle and Kevin came out to visit us, I'd have the cabinets done.  He smiled his "riiiiiiiggggghhhht," smile indicating he didn't believe me.  Did I ever mention I'm competitive and looooove a challenge? 

So I called her up.  "You're my inspiration," I said all dramatically. :)  "I have to have these done by the time you come up!"  Michelle was, of course, super encouraging and motivating.  I love that girl.

So I painted.  And painted.  And PAINTED!  David was gone one weekend climbing in a glacier.  I was... Painting.

I counted 39 cabinet doors total.  39!  All painted by yours truly.  When David came home from the glacier and noticed I'd actually made progress, he went online to amazon.com and picked out knobs.  I was all stressed out about picking the right ones out, so I asked him to decide.  A couple days later we got these on our front door...

  

He knew I was serious.  And getting the knobs in the mail made me even more motivated.  I finished spraying the hinges.  I spray painted the old gold hinges black and let some of the gold seep through to give it that rustic oil rubbed bronze look.  Then David got out his drill and at attached some of the new knobs onto the newly painted cabinets. 

Oooooh.  Aaaaaaah. :)

It came together!!!  So now here's a before and after:

And another since David just installed our stove and he finished the floors!

I happen to love the blue island contrasted with the dark floors.  David worked hard on those floors and I love them!

And I adore the new stove.  It works like a charm. 

Eventually we'll install a new fridge (the old one now looks yellow against all that white!!!) but the one we have now functions.  Even though we were tempted to just replace everything, we're trying to slice it thin.... And stay within budget.  I'd say overall, we've only spent about $850 (plus flooring- which we bought for the entire first floor of the house and covers much more than the kitchen.  We spend about $2200 on flooring for about 1400 square feet of our house) and we've totally revamped our entire kitchen.  People spend tons of money on new kitchens.  I spent a weekend away from a glacier with my arms up in oil based primer and new shiny semi-gloss white paint.  Time really is money... Money saved.

Yay for a new kitchen!

And we had a blast with Kevin and Michelle.  :)