A Lot of Wine Went Into This Kitchen

This is how our kitchen looked when we first moved in:


I have to admit--the kitchen is what sold me on this house. I loved the stainless steel appliances, maple cabinets, and my all time favorite--the pull-out garbage & recycling bins.


Thankfully the kitchen needed very little work. Some paint and accessories and that’s it!

I love painting. I really do. Little makes me happier than a freshly painted room. I don’t know if it’s the transformation a can of Behr and a little sweat equity can bring? Or possibly the joy of a job well done & bonus arm work-out? Or maybe it’s my unfaltering commitment to uncorking a bottle of wine each time I pop the top on a can of paint? Hard to say exactly what drives my love of painting...but I give the edge to the alcohol. There’s just nothing like taking a room from cool to warm with a roller in one hand and a glass of pinot noir in the other. Hate painting? Get yourself a bottle of Riesling and go to town. Trust me on this. In no time you’ll be itching to paint the neighbor’s house too.

So I mentioned in a previous post that I’m currently averaging 2 paint jobs per room with this house. Well wouldn’t you know it, the kitchen--arguably the most difficult room to paint--is what really brought that average up. It is with a hanging head and utter disbelief that I admit I painted the kitchen 4 times. The hanging head stems from the embarrassment of admitting this. The utter disbelief is that I managed to hold down a job in the midst of all that wine drinking.

The kitchen started out with stark white walls. G loves white walls and wishes every wall in our house remained white--but not this girl. So first I painted the kitchen a light lime green color (I was on a serious green kick when we first moved in). It was a disaster. We both hated it and suddenly those stark white walls were looking pretty good to me. So then I chose a light ivory color. Much better, but I was hoping for more of a change from what the kitchen originally looked like. So I decided to go about 2 shades darker and the third color on the walls became a warmer cream color. Bad idea. The yellow in the cream color looked terrible with our countertops (which have a little bit of grey in them). So for the fourth and final painting I went back to the ivory I’d chosen for paint color #2. And now I was happy.

This is a good time to note that G is color blind. This served me well when he came home as I was painting the kitchen for the fourth time, going from the cream color back to the ivory.

G (in complete shock): Are you painting the kitchen AGAIN??
D (trying to look innocent, while half in the bag): Um...no...just giving it a second coat.
G: It looks lighter to me!
D: Baby--you know you’re color blind.

So 4 gallons of paint, 2 rolls of tape, and let's say 6 bottles of wine later (give or take, right?) our kitchen walls look pretty much the same as when we moved in. Thank goodness I get a discount at our local winery.

Our kitchen now:


Related Posts:
Finishing Up The Kitchen
Organized Kitchen Pantry
Anatomy of Our Dining Room