Mini Kitchen Makeover

When we moved into the house five summers ago, we painted every room except the kitchen. At the time, we had similar feelings about both the kitchen and the backyard: they were too much of a mess to worry about at the time. Obviously, things changed a bit with regard to the backyard in recent years, but holy hannah, the kitchen was a whole other story.

The counter space was ridiculously inadequate. The fridge was almost as old as I am. The flooring was embarrassing. (Why, yes, that is ancient, cracked and yellowing linoleum -- thanks for asking!) The pantry was awesome in terms of space, but ugly in terms of everything else.

And while it’s been the least favorite room in the house for years, it’s not like it’s easy to cute-ify a kitchen. Living room? Sure, slap a coat of paint on the walls and the trim, add one’s usual furniture with a couple new throw pillows and wall art from a different room -- done. Kitchen makeovers, on the other hand, generally mean things like power tools and dust and months of eating microwave-only food and, of course, thousands of dollars. That just wasn’t in the picture for us (law school debt, anyone?).

Over the years, though, we started to see opportunities that, together, end up being a mini-makeover for the kitchen -- less expensive, more incremental. Ron built us an awesome countertop/shelving thingy (yes, I believe that is the technical term), partially financed by Mom. Dad gave us a Lowe’s gift card towards a new fridge. I found some simple fabric shades on sale. We bought a dishwasher. Ikea had a cute barstool for 15 bucks.

And then, there’s paint.

It has begun.