Last fall I finally took the plunge and not only picked out a paint color, I purchased the paint! It was progress. And now here we are in August and I am looking forward to another fall where I still have not painted the darn kitchen. I was determined to get it done no matter how daunting. I started with some de-greaser that is supposed to be diluted with water before use. I used it with little water added to make it really strong. I took an old sponge and some rubber gloves and just lathered it onto the cabinets. The greasy residue from years of cooking just melted away. This process alone took me an entire day.
The next day I gave the cabinets an extra rinse and proceeded to remove all the art and decorations, curtain rods and blinds off the walls. I filled in the holes with epoxy - or whatever the stiff is called that is used to fill in nail holes. I knew my husband would protest, so before he got home from work, I threw the patio blinds into the garbage. Surprisingly, when he got home he did not balk too much - just a little mention about how expensive they were. But once he saw all the dirt on them that was impossible to remove, he just let it go. I covered the tops of the cabinets with drop cloths.
So now the fun part starts. We went shopping for new light fixtures. We both agreed on a new one for the cooking area and one for over the sink and my husband happily installed them. I think he was finally seeing why I wanted to paint. The new color is such a wonderful upgrade. And the new fixtures are brushed nickel which matches the stainless steel appliances perfectly. The paint color compliments the beautiful wood tones in the cabinets and it feels so fresh and clean now.
The only problem left in regards to light fixtures is the one over the kitchen table. The problem is that I really like that fixture. Although I do not care for the ceiling fan part, my husband insists that we have one for energy efficiency. Sometimes you have to pick your battles so I will let him win this one. So we go shopping for a new ceiling fan/light fixture. I don't like any. He doesn't like the prices. So I decided to spray paint the old fixture. After all, what do I have to lose? If it doesn't turn out we will keep shopping and if it does, we just re-purposed another item in our house. It's a win-win!