The Big Reveal

Well, it took over 2 months from start to finish... but I'm done my kitchen!! Yay! (Okay, well, I'm not 100% done but I'm not painting my fridge until the Summer...then I'll be done.)

It's been almost 2 weeks since I started painting my countertops, and approx. 10 days since I finished. Today I'm slowly & carefully starting to move back into the kitchen - I'm anxious for my life to get back to normal. It's been difficult to live without a functioning kitchen for such a long time, but we managed. I set up a folding table in the family room for our toaster/coffee maker/bread box, and it worked pretty well. I also had a little white table in the kitchen for cooking/prepping... using this tiny table has made me appreciate how large my actual kitchen is!

I used Giani Granite paint on my counters and it turned out great! I used the Chocolate Brown kit. I was pretty nervous about messing up my perfectly good (pink and dated) counters, but after reading a ton of reviews on the product, I decided to order it on-line. I couldn't get it locally, so I paid an extra $35 for shipping, but I feel it was worth it anyway.

Here's some "During" photos... first you prime with black primer, then you sponge on the 3 mineral paints and then roll on 2 clear coats which need to harden and cure for 14 days.



After all my hard work, my kitchen went from this:



To this:





I am so HAPPY!! And I'm so proud of myself. Yay me.

Here's a breakdown on the cost of my Kitchen Makeover:

Wall Paint: $0
Cabinet Paint: $100
Counter Paint: $110
Hardware: $75
Backsplash wallpaper: $50
Light Fixtures: $50
Artwork & accessories: $100
Take-out Dinners: $0

Grand Total: $485

Was it worth it? Oh yeah... every penny. Now, if I could just find my sewing machine in all this chaos, I could whip up a quilted table runner tonight to jazz up my table... maybe I can do that while the Canucks are beating L.A. tonight??

Fences coming down

I've been reflecting on our fence for the past few weeks.... let me tell you a little story about it....

We know our immediate neighbours, but not really all that well. In fact, I don't even know their last names. Or maybe it's written down on a post-it note somewhere. Our neighbours keep to themselves, although they're polite and wave... if we engage first. And they all look forward to seeing our kids on Halloween so they can give them a special treat (because they're the only kids who come.)

On the one side is a retired couple who have lived in their house since it was built, in 1979. Glen's a nice guy, a good neighbour. But he likes his personal space so it took years for him to warm up to us... our choatic/noisy/normal kids, our super messy/weedy yard... he said hello if we said it first, but otherwise he kept to himself, puttering in his perfectly manicured oasis on the other side of the fence.

The fence was just the right height for the kids to climb up onto the bench and lean over to chat with Glen. And eventually, he seemed to actually enjoy the relentless chatter. Over time he started to engage in conversation with them, and us, more and more.

But the fence was just enough of a buffer, as if to say "You stay on your side, and I'll stay on mine." Personal space.

So anyway, a few weeks ago we had a really severe wind storm, which brought down massive trees all over our neighbourhood and left us without power or phones for days. It was incredible!

The next morning, we were looking out the window and surveying the damage in our yard. Things were knocked over and blown all over the place, and large branches/twigs littered the yard. It took us a few minutes to figure out what looked different... and then it hit us: our fence had fallen over into the neighbour's yard. "Oh oh!" I thought... "Glen's not going to like that. He's going to want us to fix it right away."

But an amazing thing happened. He agreed that we don't really need to rebuild it, "for now."

That very same day, I noticed another incredible sight... my kids were in his yard, hanging out with the neighbour. Again, I thought "oh, oh! He's not going to like that." But he really didn't seem to mind, which still amazes me.

Today the kids were in his yard, helping him with his fire, chatting and stacking rocks.

It took 9 years to knock that fence down. I hope it stays down for good.