First up, the kitchen!

I am honestly amazed at how much progress we have made in just a couple of weeks. Our first major project is to completely remodel the kitchen. Once this room is complete (and our current landlord finds a tenant for our condo) we'll be able to move in. . .so all systems are go on this project! In a few years our plan is to knock out the wall between the formal dining room and kitchen and create a large eat-in kitchen. When we do that though, we want to do it right (stainless steal appliances, ceramic tile, granite counter tops, etc.) and so that's going to take time. So for now we're going with an affordable re-do that will just make the space look updated and more modern. The plan is to paint the cabinets white, install new flooring and counter tops, and bring some color to the walls. Oh yea, and of course get rid of the wood trim. . .which will happen all throughout the house. Here's the kitchen 2 weeks ago.

The biggest challenge so far on this project has been getting all those cabinet doors and shelves sanded and scrubbed clean. They looked clean to begin with, but you have to think that there are 40 years of life built up on them, and so once I got to scrubbing I realized just how filthy they were. That fun 3 step process was quite the experience. 

This is how I feel about this step!

Um yea, gross!

This pile of dirty rags was just from 3-4 doors. I'm happy it's all done though, and it was actually interesting to think about the story behind that 40 years of life that was built up on them. Many of the cabinet doors had actual fingerprint grooves from that many years of use.I love the fact that we're taking things that are old, and making them new again. . .giving them a new story. 

After the cabinets got taken down, the next step was removing the 3 layers of laminate flooring, one of which was a lovely layer of fake brick, heehee. After that it's on to painting, which means a WHOLE LOT of priming. As of tonight everything in the kitchen is now primed. Special thanks to my Dad for coming up this weekend to help knock out that massive undertaking! 

Naked floors

The pro doing his thing. Thanks Dad!

There are primed doors and shelves in every room! 

Kitchen status as of tonight. 

Here is the color scheme I have chosen. I knew I wanted some shade of blue as the base, but wasn't quite sure the exact direction I wanted to do. My original thought was very bold blues and greens, however once I laid eyes on this back-splash at Lowe's I knew it was exactly what I wanted. All other choices from the kitchen have actually been based on this back-splash. My color of choice for the walls is Benjamin Moore Jamestown Blue. 

This is a sample of our flooring, counter top, and backsplash

Here's a sample of the color on the wall. It's hard to really get it in this picture, but it's pretty :)

Our counter tops will be in a week, and so in the meantime I'll be spending this week painting all those doors and shelves I scrubbed clean. I'm so excited to see it all coming together!