HGTV

All of a sudden around here it is as though Design to Sell has invaded our home. Only instead of Design to Sell, it is actually Design to Live without Spending a Fortune. And unlike Design to Sell, there are no carpenters, painters, or designers. There is just me, Andy and the helpful toddler.

Two weeks ago, while Andy was in Columbus, I decided to tackle our second bathroom. It was the loveliest shade of eggplant with a totally 1989 wallpaper border. I peeled and scraped and cussed at the border. I patched the nicks I put in the wall, I taped, I prepped. In under two days the bathroom went from putrid to girly fabulous. The walls are now a lovely Tide Pool blue. The shower curtain - as picked out by a two year old - is a burst of butterflies. The towels - as picked out by a two year old - are colorful and, of course, adorned with butterflies. According to Addie it's her bwuterfy bafroom.
And, I'm not going to lie, I kind of love her bathroom. It's bright and cheery and sweet. Of course now that the walls are looking so much better I have already found more projects - painting the trim, the vanity and the towel bar. But I'm too busy right now....

I'm busy now, because for the last week I have been elbow deep in my kitchen. We are lucky to have a rather big kitchen with lots of natural light. We are unlucky to have old Formica counter tops, a horrendously dingy linoleum floor and outdated icky countrified oak cabinets.
After almost two years of complaining about the kitchen we decided to do something. In no way do we have the budget to do the renovations that I dream of.

In my dream we have gleaming hard wood floors. There's a perfectly sized kitchen island with a bowl of colorful fresh fruit. A fancy stainless steel gas range and double oven. Of course a huge refrigerator with all the right compartments. Spotless counters and an oversize wine fridge. Our cabinets are deep and sleek and solid.
Oh, during the dream renovation we're on an all inclusive beach vacation and everything is paid for with smiles and Monopoly money.

So to tide me over, we attacked our outdated icky countrified oak cabinets. They were taken down, washed, and sanded. We spent all week painting, painting, painting those old oak cabinets Stealth Jet - deep, fabulous black. The cabinet doors are back up, the hardware reattached and the shelves and drawers are clean and organized (who knew I had three nut crackers and two lobster crackers?).

The floor is still dingy, the counters are still blah, but the cabinets are fantastic. And the three different streaks of yellow on the wall? Those will only be there for a bit longer before we paint the walls a warm, wonderful yellow...A new kitchen without spending thousands of dollars....ahhhh.

And that is my excuse for not being a good blogger and I'm sticking to it.

Now I am off to fondle my new cabinets and smile.