House Project #4: The Kitchen! & Kitchen Cupboards, Part II

As many of you know, I teach at a ski academy here in Vermont. Over the last few years I've gone to Colorado with the Alpine kids when they travel for their November on-snow camp. This year I didn't end up going - a bit of a disappointment, but also a chance to get a few projects done. I switched over my seasonal clothes, I sorted and rearranged the guest croffice, I organized the mancave, and I took on the kitchen.

I had already painted the inside of the cupboards, back when I first moved in, but needed a chunk of time to finish the exterior of the cupboards, and to update the rest of the space. Cue several weeks sans-students, mix in some Australian series' on hulu, and voila, a mostly finished kitchen/dinning room. The walls are a really nice blue, called harbor haze (a nod to my five years on the island), and the trim is the same woodland snow seen in the laundry room and reading nook. The handles on all the cupboard doors and on the drawers were spray-painted with several coats of semi-gloss black.

This space had the most amount of work that has needed to go into it prior to painting. Two of the walls had wallpaper, the cupboard doors and handles all needed to come off, a hole or two needed patching, and there was some scary crap under the stove. All of the cupboards and trim in the house is stained wood, so it all needs several coats of stain-blocking primer before painting. I've given the trim all several coats of the primer, and at least two coats of the trim paint although I may go back with a third and fourth coat as I'm noticing the dark still coming through in some areas. I also realized half-way through the first coat of the wall color that they had painted over a layer of wallpaper at some point. Someday if I get really ambitious I'll redo the walls, but for now it came out pretty nicely.

kitchen, pre-move-in: stained-wood cupboards, flowered wallpaper & a plaid valance

House Project #3: Reading Nook

This corner of the room is at the front of the house, to the left of the front door once you've entered. For the time being, the space is a combination of a reading area and the "mudroom." I wanted a space to hang coats and leave shoes without having to go all the way to the back room (and entering around the back of the house doesn't make a lot of sense right now), and a space for most of my books, a table with some plants, and an armchair from my granddad's house.

pre-move-in. note the lovely drapes, circa 198? and up for grabs to the lowest bidder

House Project #2: Laundry Room

The entire house is renter's white. At least, that's what I'm calling it. It's an ugly white, and one that seems to show EVERYTHING. And it has to go. So I slowly started to cover it up with much warmer and happier colors.

As the end of October neared, and I was running out of patience waiting for the closing, I decided I needed to paint something other than furniture. I had already decided on a color for the laundry room, and ended up getting the paint on sale. Of course, the paint chip I had was from a different company than the paint that was on sale, but I really love the color I ended up with.

the only "before" shot I think I have of this space.
non-descript and fairly blah. opposite the window is the
room-wide pantry cupboard!

House Project #1: Kitchen Cupboards, Part I

I meant to post this back in September, but forgot. . . and then remembered when I started working on the rest of the kitchen today, so here it is!

House Project #1: Kitchen Cupboards, Part I

I was lucky to be able to move into my house before it was really mine. The first thing I did was to paint the inside of the kitchen cupboards. They weren't in terrible shape, but vacuuming and wiping them down didn't seem like quite enough to rid them of that "four years of renting" feeling that the house was emitting when I first moved in.

The interiors were a mustardy yellow, and had 80s-vintage contact paper on most of the shelves - some flowered, some yellow. Not terribly ugly, but not the décor I'm going for here. I had pulled the contact paper out of the cupboards on the right side of the kitchen before I took the pictures, then realized I needed to capture its awesomeness before taking it all out.

cupboard above the fridge

Holiday Pregaming, Ornament-style: Clothespin Snowflakes

I generally wait until it is at least December before I get into the holiday spirit, but for the sake of a crafty blog post (which, by the way, you've already had three of this month!), and the Pintester's latest Ornament-themed Pintester Movement, it is Christmas in November!

obligatory artsy window shot
pre-snow - which has been gracing us over the past few days
here in the MRV

I'm a sucker for snowflakes, so of course I was inclined to find a snowflake-inspired ornament, and I tend towards the recycled variety, as well. Lucky for me I had a two-for-one that I'd pinned a while ago: the Clothespin Snowflake.

Fabric-covered Switch plates & Outlet plates

When I painted the reading nook the other weekend (pictures to come!), I had to remove three outlet plates and one switch plate. I had planned to paint the outlet covers with the wall paint, and the switch plate with the trim color, but of course I set them aside and forgot about them until after everything was cleaned up. Not that it would have been a huge deal to open the paint and do it, but I decided instead to give them a little face lift with some fabric.


the makings of a craft project:
operation update-the-plates

I wanted to stick with the blue accent I have going in that corner (the drapes are blue, as is a quilted hanging that is on the back of the chair, and a poster hanging on one wall has a bit of blue in it, too). I have a respectable collection of fabric and found a blue piece that has a bit of a celestial pattern, with lighter swirls and little stars. The fabric worked with the drapes, and looked good against the wall color, too.

Mistake-Rib Knee Socks - Complete!

Remember the socks I mentioned in my summer projects post back in September? Well, I finally finished them this morning - just a few weeks later than predicted.

nearly knee socks!

I'm pleased with how they turned out. They're just the right length, and the elastic in the yarn should hold them up - my fingers are crossed. The only thing that could make them a little better is if I had found a similar elastic-y yarn with wool. These are mainly cotton, so will be great in the spring and fall, but slightly less warm for the winter - but I can always wear them over tights.