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

there was lovely flowered wall paper on two of the kitchen walls,
along with a grungy switch plate & outlet cover

The painting begins on the dining room wall . . .

the dining room wall was the easy part. . .

The prep begins on the kitchen walls . . . 

a history of wall paper & paint behind the stove
(after cleaning the nasties off the floor).

wall behind the fridge & stove.
apparently there used to be a gas stove. currently it's electric
although it would be nice to go back. maybe next year. . .

the wall paper is mostly off.

wait, seriously? how long has this hole been here??
. . . commence the patching. . .

cupboard doors & drawers laid out for staining & painting.
in the lower left are a couple of the handles with the first coat of spray paint.

two coats of stain-blocking primer later.

Part-way there - and how the space looked for several days. This may have been the night I opted for a bowl of peas, some acorn squash and a few squares of chocolate for dinner since I had no energy to make a proper meal (or the energy to clean up after!) . . .



getting there. . . cupboards primed & walls paper-stripped & sanded.

 A weekend gone by and the major work is done!

done, pre-cupboard doors.
nice and light and airy!

A week later, and the cupboard doors are up and the drawers are in!


the cupboard doors are back up & the two drawers are in.

a close-up of the upper cupboards on the left side. . .

and of the cupboards on the right side.
these I'm leaving open, since I use the dishes and glasses on a regular basis.

The only thing left to do was sew a new valance and curtains for under the sink, which took all of 45 minutes or so since it was just a few hems and seams . . .

valance above kitchen window
cream with yellow & blue stripes

curtains below sink
whimsical cottagey pattern in blues and greens;
the best part is that the fabric had the oval cutouts already!

I'm super psyched with how the kitchen turned out! Eventually I'd like a new counter top - the yellow isn't terrible, but it the particle board under the laminate is suffering, as well as to redo the floor, but there's plenty of time for that later!