progress

I started 2014 with a few goals for my house.  Specifically my kitchen.  I'm happy to say that I got the ball rolling this weekend.

When I first moved in to my house, my kitchen was a beige-y flesh tone.  The walls, the cabinets, the trim -  everything thing looked like dried out calamine lotion.   Good for hiding dirt (maybe??), but less than appealing.  The first thing I did before I moved in was paint the trim white and the walls an almost white yellow.

What a difference some paint makes.

Painting the walls was a huge improvement, and I left the cabinets for another day.  This past Saturday was that day.  I have never painted cabinets, but believe it or not, it wasn't that bad.  I ended up painting more than I planned, so I'm happy.  I'm just lacking the final coat of paint on the doors to finish the first cabinet!

Before - calamine cabinets.

So far.

The ultimate January goal is to paint cabinets, and install a pull-out trash can.  I'll have to move my refrigerator to paint, and the bonus project is to get some new line and connect my ice maker.  Do you know how long it's been since I've had a working ice maker???  At least 4 apartments, and almost 5 years ago.  I CAN'T WAIT!  It's going to be like having a new kitchen.

The February goal is to install floor to ceiling bookcases on the wall opposite my sink.  I took some measurements this weekend, and the bookcases I picked out from Ikea are going to work.  I found a nice tutorial online, so I'm going to add molding to make the bookcases look more like built-ins..  This is a rough sketch of what the wall will look like when I'm done.

Like I said, rough sketch.

This is where is pretty much what it looks like normally (with some curtains), so again, this will be a big improvement.

Photo taken a month after I moved in.