Seriously? More kitchen stuff?

Yesterday a miraculous thing happened.

It was if the Universe decided that for once I could have my way. When I opened my inbox I found an email from Home Depot touting the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformation  kits were on sale for 50% off. (FYI - the sale is over now)

I almost spit coffee on my screen.

So, for $35 a kit, I could *finally* redo my cabinets. The only problem was - would Garry go for it?

There has been a long-standing issue with the cabinets. Personally, I think they are too dark. The lighting in the kitchen is terrible as-is and the dark brown cabinets don't help the situation. The odd thing is - the wood stain doesn't match anything in the house. The cabinets are more than likely the original ones installed when the house was build in 1955, but they aren't of such a high quality that it would be a crime to redo them.

Also, more practically speaking, when I scrubbed the cabinets recently, some of the finish started coming off. While the stain is a warm dark brown color, the wood underneath it is kinda orangey. Blech.

With this information I sent the link to Garry to see what his reaction would be. He has been very outspoken against painting the cabinets since we bought the house. He also tends to like dark, cave-like colors and was slightly annoyed that I wanted to repaint the olive green kitchen a lighter color.

Obviously, I was a little apprehensive.

But, by the grace of the DIY gods, Garry was oddly okay with me purchasing the kit(s) to redo the kitchen with the glazed version of pure white (which was one of the three colors on sale). I bought two kits just in case (knowing I can always take one back if I don't need it).

For about $100 (assuming I'll need two kits, and for brushes) I'll *hopefully* be able to turn my very dark, black-hole of a kitchen into something lighter and brighter. Not sure when we'll get around to it, but I'm hoping over the course of the next few months.

Aaaand... we're back

Wow, it has been an incredibly long winter.

Not much in the way of decorating/designing has happened in the last few months. It's hard to be motivated to do much of anything in the cold and dark winter months here in upstate NY. Weather aside, I was also struggling with high levels of anxiety/depression and having fibromyaliga.

To be blunt - it sucks. To be 29 and feel like I'm in my 80's, in constant pain, and feeling rather worthless because the most productive thing that you can do is get out of bed and plop on the couch for the day. Well, let's just say it took a bit of a toll.

I'm lucky though.

I found a great doctor that was willing to work with me, that listened to me, and understood that I needed medical support to essentially "get my life back." It was to a point where I was even willing to compromise and get to "just being able to do basic things" without worrying I was going to be in a lot of pain.

The medication helps, but I wouldn't say I have "my life back." I don't think that ever will happen. At this point, it's more about paying attention to my body and realizing my limits and understanding the consequences of pushing past those limits (which I'll admit, I'm fairly prone to do).

Despite all of that, I'm still planning on a lot of DIY projects for this year.

Last weekend was the first time in about 6 months that the weather was warm and comfortable. I weeded the flower bed, laid a fresh layer of mulch, and moved some of the bulbs around. I also planted some annuals  to 'fill in the gaps' in the planter and in the front landscaped area.

I also felt the need to plant some more bulbs (gladiolus, and casablanca lily) around the front landscaped area along with some larkspur, bells of Ireland, and some other flower I can't remember...

Hopefully in a month or two they will start to bloom - I'm looking forward to it. It's raining incredibly hard today and it looks like the grass will need to be cut as soon as it dries and then we can spread some grass seed/fertilizer as well.

This weekend I will (hopefully) finish painting the bedroom. So far two walls are painted a gorgeous soft grey and the other two walls are the darkish blue from before. Getting the trim sanded and repainted would be nice as well so I can hang the matchstick blinds I bought from Christmas Tree Shoppe (they were $5 each!) and the new curtain panels.

We're also starting the major project of turning our attic into our master suite. This weekend we'll be measuring and putting together our materials/tools list to install the drywall and two walls for our bathroom. We were able to get a quote for installing plumbing upstairs and it will be fairly expensive - to the tune of about $2,500 - but at the end of the day we'll have a brand-new bathroom and bedroom upstairs - well at least the plumbing for the brand-new bathroom... it will be a while before we can buy the tub/fixtures/etc.