In the home stretch....

A lot of progress has been made in the last few days.  I am SO ready to put things back in order and have the mess go away!

Lauren has finished this entire area since this picture.  As I am writing this, Lauren is downstairs putting grout on the tiles he finished in the dining area of the kitchen. 

I've been working on shadow boxes with my collection of corks, and a cork wreath.  Almost time to put the hutch and table back in the room and hung things back on the wall. 

Yvette

A couple of steps closer

I am obsessed with HGTV shows, and I browse the internet all the time for ideas.  Somehow, those shows don't accurately depict the decorating adventures of this crazy old house.  Friday night, after a long week at work, we stopped to buy the paint for the island so that I could get a first coat of paint finished before the morning (such a wild Friday night life I lead!).  The tiles have arrived. The pressure is on to finish up the painting so that installation of the floor can begin. We arrived home around 7 p.m.  Having kids in the house means dinner still has to occur.  Mission accomplished...almost.  Just as I was stirring the paint, Emily, our 13-year-old daughter (who loves her special education class and Chance to Dance class), slipped on the steps going down to the family room, tossing taco salad everywhere.  Yep, pretty sure the HGTV shows don't cover this topic.

Finally, around 8 p.m. I was able to get started on the the first coat of paint on the island.

 
Began the second coat at 7:30 a.m.  this morning.  Finished up before noon.  I had to take a small craft brush to go around the edging by the countertop.  Took quite a bit of time and a steady hand.Lauren brought the tile in and began laying down the under flooring.  (Not a popular wife -- I opted to continue working instead of going on date night..oops!  Oh well, MSU game on...that makes everything better, unless they lose). 

Yeah, I'm really thinking about contacting HGTV for a reality series.  A day in the life...

Yvette

Here's the pictures.  Before and in between.  The kitchen now has new hardware and is looking fairly clean. I still really like the color of these walls and the border.  Not ready to change that yet.  My plan is to paint the dining area walls a coordinating color and to paint the island a rich chocolatey brown. 

Probably won't stay clean much longer!

The vision board of color possibilities.

YAY!  The ugly,  old, formerly white (pre-seven children in the house) tile is GONE, GONE, GONE!

Walls are primed.  The white table is in front of steps because of THIS...

Roxy (aka Marley, Dr. Destructo)...a six month old lab/something mix.  Can you see her blended into the couch?  She is very affectionate, but wow, I spend an awful lot of time keeping this dog out of trouble.  Yes, my friends are saying, "what were you thinking?"

But this is what I saw:

 

The walls look so yellow in this picture.  The true color is a more subtle goldish, creamy tone.  Need to learn to adjust this new camera!

The new floor...scheduled to arrive sometime this week. 

The island is primed.

Hope I'm doing this right.

Oh no, we didn't...yes, we did...might as well keep going.  Ripped up the old carpet in the living room (which is pretty much connected to the kitchen).

A day's work is done.

Took the night off...well, had kid driving duties. 

Yvette

I'm exhausted!  Finished painting the two walls in the kitchen with a new gold tone color "honey beige"...looks more like mustard to me...but my family likes it.  Usually it's me trying to convince them that it's fabulous!  I also primed the island.  I plan to paint it a rich chocolately brown...and I'll use the same color when I get around to painting the kitchen table and chairs.  I got up at 7 a.m. to get started on the kitchen.  With four kids at meal times, painting is so frustrating.  Everyone wants to eat ALL THE TIME!  I'm taking a break.  I got enough done for one day.  My husband is busy downstairs ripping up the living room carpeting.  New tile, new hardwood floor...wow, this house won't know what to do.  Stay tuned for before and after pictures this week.

I love paint colors

Happy New Year.  My goal for this year is to get this house whipped into decorated bliss.  I have selected four or five coordinating colors for my kitchen, family room and laundry room.  I am so excited...I can hardly wait.  I went out and bought sampler colors. i tend to favor darker colors, even though the current trend is ore subtle.   I created a "vision board" of colors on my wall.   After weeks of tearing out the old tile in the kitchen and living on particle board, the new tiles are scheduled to arrive the week of January 4.  We're busy painting the trim and walls of the kitchen and laundry room before that date.  As soon as I can figure out how to load pictures from my new camera, I'll give a tour of the existing rooms.  I was inspired by a picture of a sideboard and mirror from Pottery Barn.  I will just take off the top half of my hutch, replace the hardware and purchase a mirror to recreate the look.  I'm getting a little overexcited about updating everything,  so I'm contemplating painting the table and kitchen island a rich brown.  Stay tuned....