On with the Painting....

We are at that point that comes every few years, where it seems that every single spot in our house needs to be painted, proving that we REALLY LIVE here! But it is that brief season of open windows in which it is best to paint. But I should say, my boys room was done this summer-whew..... at least one room that does not need decisions made and time invested. But the biggest project needing to be tackled is our ceilings, OIY. We have been in our home for almost 7 years now and we have not yet repainted them. They too, tell our story...where our Christmas tree has been each year(because of course, they are always too tall), all the places our dining room table has been from the suspicious sprays that look like a horror film was shot here in our house, but it is just ketchup from the kids fighting over who gets it next-there is about a whole roll of scotch tape up there too from all the birthdays-Valentines Days, kids art projects and so on-and if you are going to paint the ceilings, well the walls have all those stories and more, so they need it too. So by the time we finish painting everything, it will be time to start all over. And that is why you may read my blog and think, gee, is that all she does?

So, this time around, the kitchen got first pick due to a few things. One, the icky old fluorescent light fixture broke, and needed to be replaced-so as Matt and I were looking for a light, we knew that the ceiling needed to get painted first and we didn't have it in the budget quite yet for a light anyways, so last weekend we set to work on the kitchen while we had daylight(because remember-we have no light-haha). We went out to pick up the paint after thinking we had carefully chosen the right color. I wanted a change but still wanted to keep all the curtains, dishes, etc. This was not intended to be a full makeover, just a clean-up. I was so anxious for that ahhhhh! I LOVE IT response when we started rolling on the paint, but instead it was an Oh no...that is PURPLE (even in the dark-which is probably where I thought I had so wisely chosen the color in the first place). So after two coats of purple(it was suppose to be brown)-we reluctantly went back to the store and picked up the "right" brown and proceeded to finish with a third coat that fortunately the purple so nicely acted as a wonderful primer for:). It finally gave me the "I LOVE IT" response. It is a warm cocoa brown now that works well with the red accents. Here is a picture with the walls done-and it shows the before of the cabinets we will be painting a lighter shade of the cocoa. They have been dark for a long time and need some hard work as you can see.

and I even left all my dishes and mess out because hey, this is real life:)

While working on the kitchen, I had planned to work on the island(which is back in the kitchen) that Matt built me years ago. it has been my cutting table in recent years down in my studio, but with the new work table I have, it has finally been returned to it's rightful place in the kitchen. Here you can see the progress and finish of the table. After sanding and painting it completely, I used a water base polyurethane to seal it. We spoke with a man at the paint store concerning what was best to use and he said that using a water base sealer, it will not yellow as it does with oil based. I was so thankful for the advice because I was painting the top white and the last thing I want is for it to yellow. I have been dreaming of crisp white tables for so long.

........I am thinking I may paint the legs back to red eventually -that was the only thing I have missed a bit

I had such a fabulous turn out on the table that it gave me to courage to do another whole table that I have been thinking about.

It was so nice to do this table in two parts, crawling around on the floor to paint is not so easy anymore:) But it turned out fabulously. The white has made it so much more than just an average piece of furniture. It works so nicely for an extra table when we will have guests. Awhile back, Matt and I cut some of the height off of the pedestal because we were using it as a raised coffee table. So it works so nicely for kids-especially the wee ones! Just pop the island in and we have a "kids only" table for the Holidays! Oh I love beginning to prepare for the upcoming season!!