The Kitchen: A Fun Surprise

Let's be honest - my husband is really the one doing this kitchen project. I help when I can, like handing him tools while he's underneath the sink cabinet and doing easy projects, (painting, grouting). But it's him who is leveling the cabinets, drilling the microwave into place, etc.

But I wanted one project for myself and I finally got started on it, now that our cabinets are in place (we're just waiting for HD to come install the countertops at this point). I decided that I really wanted to find some fun shelf liner paper to pop out against the white cabinets. A quick internet research led me to ChicShelfpaper.com. They have HUNDREDS of patterns and I easily found the one that I loved that went perfectly with our semi-beachy kitchen. I ordered it (4 rolls - and I may need more, eek!) and got to work with installing it. I'm about 50% done with the cabinets and drawers and so far, I'm in love with how it looks!The color/pattern I picked is called "Cross Me Seaglass" and it matched our wall color so well. I love the slight geometric print as well, it make it a little bit modern. Here's a close-up - it has various shades of teals, blues and greens with the white background.
Here it is in one of the cabinets - it makes me smile to open them to see this fun pop of color!

And even though installing shelf liner is not back breaking work like cabinetry, it's still a ton of work to measure, cut and smooth out all that paper! I ordered the option with the self adhesive on the back and I've been very pleased with the quality of the paper and how smooth it goes down.

So that's my "fun" contribution to the kitchen! I can't wait to start putting all our kitchen stuff back away in the cabinets!

The Kitchen: Current State

Things are in high gear and we are making more progress. We're basically at Home Depot's mercy at this point, waiting for our countertops to be templated and then ordered. But here's a quick sneak peak at what you would see in the kitchen if you came over...Cabinets! Microwave! Finished floors! And you can't see it from this picture, but the fridge is in it's permanent spot and the water/ice has been hooked back up!

Hopefully the stove will go back in this week. We ordered amazing cabinet knobs and pulls from Ebay and they should be here Thursday. I think they will really make the cabinets look finished and I can't wait to see them! I also have 2 special projects to share - hopefully I'll be blogging about one of them this week.

We're in the home stretch!

The Kitchen: True Romance

You know you are well into a renovation when you decide to be super romantic and surprise your husband by finishing all the grouting in the hallway while he's working late. I put my reno skills to the test by grouting all by myself and I have to say, I did a pretty darn good job! And J was SUPER excited and surprised to come home to all that work being done already. That frees him up to do more difficult projects tomorrow, like wiring (do you like my romantic gesture really being a ploy to get more stuff done?)

Pictures soon! It's coming together!

The Kitchen: Grout

We have grout! We went with a light grey grout and I'm in love with it. We just have to do one more round of de-hazing the tile and then seal the grout and the floor in the kitchen is DONE. Of course, we still have to do the entire foyer and hallway, but I'm celebrating this as one big part of the kitchen being done. Cabinets should start going in soon, which is crazy to me. I really might be cooking in my kitchen by July!

Happy weekend - wish me luck, I'm running in a 10k tomorrow morning!