Phase One : The Kitchen Chronicles

We started off with an easy task : paint the kitchen. Simple right? Well, it wouldn't be me if it was just that simple. As we were taping off the cabinets and counters to prep for paint, I wondered aloud how hard it would be to raise the cabinets 3-5 inches. And the rest is down hill from there...

(please excuse me while I ramble for a bit...feel free to scroll for pics if you'd like!)

Raising the cabinets seemed easy enough. Only problem? The STUDS. There are none in the proper places above the cabinets. Dear Lord, somebody hold me. But, because I had jumped the gun and we'd already removed the cabinet to the right of the range, we realized how much more open the kitchen seemed. Not wanting to be without the storage that cabinet provided, we decided on shelves. Then we decided to paint the cabinets. add crown molding. replace the counter tops. The list just goes on and on. For today though, I'm here to show you phase one: shelves & painted cabinets. 

From the beginning I strongly disliked the kitchen. It felt tract-house, builder grade, boring. Functionality was not the problem (beyond the over-the range microwave, but that's for another time!). It was just, well, ugly to me.Take a gander:

When I say ugly, I don't mean OMGosh-I'd-rather-rip-my-eyes-out-than-rip-out-those-cabinets-ugly, I just mean, there's no spark and absolutely no desire for me to be in it. 

So, yadda yadda yadda, I told you we removed one cabinet, and added shelves. Here's what that looked like for a few weeks:

If you'd like more detailed info on what we did to get to this point, drop me a line! 

Better, but not quite there. See, the problem is, I read blogs and I am a recovering member of Shelter Mags Anonymous, SMA if you're nasty. I can see the potential. I can see what so many people before us have done to take a lackluster kitchen and make it shine. And I can see that our kitchen is not quite ready for it's closeup. So we took a step back, evaluated & jumped in before we could change our minds. and let me tell you, I am loving what I'm seeing so far.

Yum. 

Phase two, which we hope to complete in the next few weeks, includes a cabinet above the fridge, new brass hardware & adding crown molding to the top of the cabinets a la The Lettered Cottage. 

Beyond phase two, we still have pendant lighting, lowering the bar, new counters & backsplash, and possibly new flooring throughout the house. It's gonna be awhile, so stick along for the ride, k? It's gonna be awesome sauce :)