In which our heroine paints the crap out of everything

Greetings from the Land of Reno.

I have been as busy as a little beaver, finishing up the magnificence which is the kitchen here, namely painting cabinet doors, installing trim, painting islands and refashioning ugliness into grace and beauty. And it looks damn good, if I do say so myself.

The rub here (and there always is one, isn't there?) is that I can't actually post photographic proof of my incontestable awesomeness lest He Who Shan't Be Named sneak in and peek before he gets home from abroad. I want him to be stunned and a little afraid of the terrific changes in the house in his absence, which, as I've said previously, he believes to have been largely occupied by my eating bonbons while watching soap operas on TV. Ha! Joke's on him, because I have turned this sow's ear into a veritable silk purse, using only my cunning and about eleventy cans of paint. Oh, and some power tools. And the internet. But that's all!

Let it suffice to say that today's brilliance included re-purposing a piece of wood found in the basement into an under-cupboard baseboard trim, figuring out how to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of removing and hiding those craptacular stick-on balsa wood cabinet ornaments (which apparently some people make themselves), painting, painting, and more painting, and use of power tools, which I can't go into here as it would give the game away.

I'm actually thinking of putting this blog on "super secret" and inviting the rest of the universe to see what I've done, as I'm inordinately proud of myself (though that could just be a combination of melamine paint fumes and it being 2 a.m.).

But right now, I should probably go to bed, as I have to get up early tomorrow to tackle the problem of the oven not working, which I suppose is 'karmic balance'. And I had made myself an epic lasagna, inspired by this terrific blog Ian turned me on to, which I can't eat because MY OVEN CRAPPED OUT. Super weak.

However, given the generally positive way the day went otherwise, I'm not willing to let this little setback get me down.

One week til I can post all the pictures!

Some more before

Ugly is as ugly does. And man, was this kitchen ugly. Or, to use a line from a favourite song, "mala como una pelicula czecka". The bad 80s tile, the Formica that time forgot (in three different patterns), the lino floor that even god forgot, coupled with some spectuacular (and also varying mismatched) faux tile panels made for a kitchen experience second to none.

It all had to go, or at least it needed to become much less egregious than it was.

So we set out to fix it...we being my brother and I. Enduring injury, pouring blood, sweat and tears into it, we managed to turn this into something presentable.

I haven't taken all the afters yet, but soon. We gave everything that wasn't moving a coat of paint, and cleaned up the non-moving things. Then we changed window treatments, made additions of storage, and hung up some Asker pots from IKEA. All good!

So instead of having this horrible greyness, we now have light. And now we have storage and prettiness where there was none.

In the midst of this, of course, we had some minor disasters. For example, hanging the light in the living room didn't go as well as we'd hoped, due to the absolute non-standardness of the fixtures in the house. Also, we awakend to dogs running through paint, and then the house, necessitating massive cleanup efforts, and a strong desire to turn them both into furry little area rugs.


But now we've completed a bulk of the big "I need two people" tasks. There has been pestering from some quarters to post the afters right away, but it's supposed to be a surprise for someone who thinks I've been sitting around while he's gone.

So, we had a few fails. But generally we've succeeded. And it looks pretty good. Mostly, it is because we have chosen good materials. I used Benjamin Moore Aura Paint, which works really well, has next to no smell, and covers like a champ in one coat without primer. For trim I always use the kitchen and bathroom trim paint, just because it's tough. And then I sealed the heck out of the windows with the silicone caulking, so it's all pretty airtight!

Next addition? A woodstove! Party like it's 1899!


Some more kitchen 'before' pictures. The wainscotting replaces the "panel tile". Remember this is all over gorgeous 1/4" thick wallboard, circa 1946. Believe me, every expense was spared in building this house. The pipe you see in the corner of the kitchen pictures is the hot air ducting for upstairs: yes, it runs inside the room throughout the house, because the walls are too thin to house the pipe. It is a 4" pipe. Ladies and gentlemen, that's quality home-building right there. Your Home of Yesterday, R-2000. I do give it its due though, it's managed to stay standing through sixty years of Halifax weather, so I suppose that's something.
Maybe we'll get lucky and a Sea King will fall on it.