We are inching forward: progress report

This past week, we knocked a few things off our to-do list! While I would prefer to be a speedy hare who gets the entire home in magazine-ready form on her lunch break, I have to settle for being the tortoise who makes teeny tiny steps towards the finish line. At any rate, I'm super excited to show you a couple of tiny updates that we've made recently.

TV (Family Room):

First, we finished the built-ins and hung curtains in the TV room. 

Kitchen:

Recently, the kitchen has also come a long way. Here is what the kitchen looked like before. 

From the moment we stepped into the kitchen, we knew we wanted to rid the walls of the "interesting" minty green paint, paint the cabinets and add crown molding. Then, we had this great idea to raise the height of the cabinet above the microwave to create visual interest and give me a bit more work space at the stove. 

However, we first noticed that moisture had caused the texture to separate from the sheetrock. So, Casey dug into the problem…literally “dug” some holes in our kitchen ceiling. Poor guy! It was such a mess. 

To make matters worse, this part of the country employs a style of ceiling texture known as "slap brush" or stomp". To those who are more familiar with "knockdown", stomping seems like a lazy-man's solution to getting texture on ceiling drywall. Also, it is nearly impossible to repair: enter my patient husband to save the day! 

While the ceiling is patched an pretty again, the kitchen is still a hot mess. For the past couple of days, we have been living off of pizza and struggling to stay sane amidst the mess and dust. Despite this, I'm so excited, and we're definitely making progress. 

Yesterday, Casey painted the walls and trim. Belissimo! They were an interesting minty green color. We used Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter color matched in Valspar Signature. 

The current kitchen cabinets had already been stained sometime in the recent past. However, it was the worst refinishing job ever. EVAH. They must not have prepped them properly, because the finish is literally peeling and flaking off. It is a mess. You can see one of the streaky, flaking cabinet doors below. 

Why can't we just wrinkle our nose (i.e Samantha Stevens from Bewitched) and our kitchen could be done? Fortunately, we are only days away from making this huge change.  

Fortunately, Pinterest has been extremely helpful for providing inspiration and I have learned that I loved bright white cabinetry. I have also learned that a go-to kitchen cabinet paint color is Benjamin Moore's White Dove. Here are a few inspiration photos with kitchens that pair Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter on the walls and White Dove on the cabinets. 

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and another with Revere Pewter on the walls and Simply White on the cabinets (a similar BM white with slightly green undertones).

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I love the White Dove color. If there were such a thing as a paint celebrity, White Dove might be it. And if you have a paint research obsession anything like mine, you know that White Dove is an industry best-selling white. Here's what Doty Horn, Benjamin Moore's director of color and design, says about White Dove:

"The one color that people consistently pick for moldings and windows is White Dove. It has the softness of alabaster, with a little gray and a little yellow. For long-term livability, what helps is that yellow cast. Put it up against other colors and you'll see how well it works. It's practically universal."

Can you tell how excited I am about this kitchen update? I get giddy ever time I think about it! For now, it is time to sign off. I can barely hear myself think over the sound of nails being shot into our new crown molding. 

Note: It's looking so great. I can't wait to share photos of the completed project!

Have a lovely SPRING weekend!