Kitchen Reno: Days 4-6

We are quickly approaching the one week mark of renovating our kitchen. In some ways, I'm super annoyed as I think about the added nuisance of living out of food piles in the living room, but mostly I've been so excited and proud of what we've accomplished. I've learned more and worked more with my hands in the last six days than I have in a long time.

Much of what we've accomplished is due greatly in part to my in-laws, who came to town this weekend and were able to distract care for Annie while we did hours and hours of sanding. It's not a very rewarding task (sanding that is, not caring for my toddler), but it sure was a relief when we decided that the last of the cabinet boxes were in good shape for painting and staining, and we could begin to clean up the quarter inch of sawdust that had accumulated on every surface of the house. Now, all the sanding that remains is relegated to our garage. Only 27 cabinet doors left before we can put that darned sander away!

 With Mimi and Poppy's departure this morning, the pace of our work changed drastically. We decided to take advantage of our time together as a family and enjoy the moment--rather than worry about how we were going to get more work done today. And you know what? It was a perfectly lovely day! We went to church, got some grocery shopping done, played for hours with our sweet kiddo, and even took a family walk before Annie's bath time.

After nighttime prayers and snuggles, Bryan headed back out to the garage to beef up his forearms (it's called Body By Orbital Sander...) while I began the process of painting the insides of the cabinets. Don't ask me why, but our solid maple cabinets were stained on the fronts but painted on the inside. We figured it would be much easier to just paint overtop in a color to match our new stain, rather than trying to strip off all the old paint in order to stain inside. It took me two hours to get a first coat inside all six of the upper cabinets. So like every other part of this renovation, it's going to take much longer than I had naively thought in the beginning! But the visible change is exciting as I start to picture the way the room will warm and darken up with deeper, richer stain.

The last exciting step in Operation Kitchen was when we ordered our new hardware earlier today! I'm a little nervous about having bought online without seeing them in person, but I think they'll turn out beautifully. 

Amerock - French Country 3" Centers Pull In Satin Nickel

Just picture these little gems of cabinet jewelry on dark walnut doors, glistening in front of a white subway tile backsplash... [sigh]... it's only a month away...