Kitchen Remodel: New Counters and a Little Paint Transformed the Kitchen!

We recently "remodeled" our kitchen. We didn't do a full remodel. The only thing we replaced were our counter tops, but I was so amazed at the transformation that new counters, some tile and a few cans of paint can make. My kitchen wasn't terrible to begin with. In fact, I think it was cute. When we built the house 12 years ago, we could only afford laminate counters, so that's what we used. I had painted the kitchen a few different colors through the years and had most recently painted it dark brown. I didn't hate the brown. I thought it made my white cabinets "pop." But I don't necessarily love brown either. We weren't even thinking about changing anything in the kitchen until I noticed that we had scrubbed clean through our laminate counters. They were starting to look pretty haggard...so it was time to replace them. Inspired by my sweet friend, Corinne, I realized I should go with a color scheme that made my heart sing.
Here's a little photo journal of our remodel:

Here are the "before" photos. You can see, it's not an ugly kitchen. I had dark brown laminate counters to simulate "real" wood counters. That's what I initially wanted in my country kitchen, but my husband vetoed the idea of wood counters. The cream counter on the island was worn all the way through in spots. It definitely needed replacing.

Here's an older picture of our eating area with the dark brown  paint, our oak
kitchen table (always covered with a cloth) and oak chairs. Also our hutch
is still plain wood.

A recent photo of the kitchen...before the new counters, tile and paint.

The dark brown walls make the cabinets "pop", but I don't like
dark brown walls. Also, we had no real back splash, just drywall.
Here, we've painted the hutch white. In the top picture it is still brown.

If you look closely, you can see that our cabinet legs protrude in
front of the cabinet face. I hated the little 1 inch "shelf". Every-
thing imaginable dripped and stuck to that little ledge. It was
always dirty. Also, when we swept the kitchen, we could never
reach the area behind the cabinet feet. I hated the design of
the cabinet feet.

We get our new quartz counters installed. The design is called "Rococo". I love them. I was looking for a traditional marble look, but didn't want actual marble.

Now it's time to put in a back splash. I've never tiled before in my life, but I borrow a friend's wet saw and have fun tiling my back splash. I even do a fun herringbone design behind my stove top. This was also a hard decision for me. I was so worried that my white subway tiles would clash with my cream cabinets. I didn't want the white backsplash to make the cream look too yellow. I really fretted about it for a long time, but in the end, I'm happy with the result. The cream and white look just fine together.

The next thing we do is add a fresh coat of paint to the white cabinets and we also put in some dark hardware. The new knobs and pulls look sharp! Before, we only had wooden knobs that were painted the same color as the cabinets.

Next, we paint the walls. It feels great to cover the dark brown. This was my HARDEST decision. Every color I picked looked baby blue on my wall. I painted the whole kitchen a color that I thought was grey-green (BM Silver Marlin) and it looked baby blue. With the help of a color specialist at Sherwin Williams, I decided on SW Contented. Looked grey-green on the chip, of course, but ended up looking "minty" on my walls. Nothing like the chip, but I really love it!!

We painted the whole kitchen twice. This is the first color, BM Silver Marlin,
but it was too blue. 

I painted a gazillion samples on the wall, some I mixed myself, others I bought.
It was super hard to decide, since everything looked so much bluer once it was
painted on my wall. Thank goodness for the help of Kat Powell, the Sherwin
Williams color expert! She recommended an entire palette of wonderful colors.

Now that my walls were pretty, my oak table stood out like a sore thumb. I have never liked oak.  We ALWAYS had it covered with a table cloth. So, it was finally time to cover the oak. And I'm SO glad that we did. We used the new water based Alkyd paint from Behr. So far it has been pretty durable. I haven't covered it with any sort of polyurethane yet, but I may do that later.

The oak blends into the floor...bleh!!

My cute daughter lets my littlest guy help her paint.

Love the my white kitchen table!!! We hardly ever put a
cloth on it now!! AMAZING what some paint can do to a room!!

Next order of business: Paint the island. I decide to use an oil paint by Sherwin Williams and love the result. The color is Roycroft Pewter. The oil paint has been very durable. I really like it!

Before we paint the island

Priming with an oil primer

Adding the second coat. The first coat took 12 hours to dry.

Love the result

 We are ALMOST done. But first we have our wonderful cabinet guy, Mike Long, make us some new feet for the cabinets. This time they are recessed, so that no gunk can land on them. AND they are flush up to the kickboard. That means that nothing can get stuck or swept behind them. I LOVE them so much more than the old cabinet feet. As you can see, I've also painted my kick board dark grey, so that it looks like it's not really there. Mike, who actually built our kitchen to begin with, also put our corbels back in (corbels are the decorative pieces of wood that look like they are supporting the upper cabinets). We had taken them out in order to tile the back splash.

And now, we're pretty much finished. I am amazed by the transformation! The kitchen went from dark and dated to light and fresh. It was a lot of hard work, but totally worth it. Plus, I learned how to tile!! And having a new skill is just as awesome as having a pretty kitchen!! My next project is the family room and my next skill will be reupholstering my two large sofas. If they turn out, I just might do a blog post...and if they don't, well, then I won't! :)

Finally Finished!

And one more look at the "Before":

Yay for paint!!!

Smile at Them!

Today, as I was watching my sweet little ones play, I was so touched by the beauty of childhood. Watching them warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face. I love to see them interact. I love that they are best friends. I love, love, love to watch them play. I love to watch them enter make-believe worlds that only they can understand. I love driving in the car and hearing the cute things that they say to each other. It makes me smile. I find that I smile a lot. And I think it's because I'm enjoying my little people so, so much. I often even smile when they are naughty...not always...but often.

It hasn't always been so easy for me to smile at my kids. It's a learned trait and it has come with age, perspective, time...and prayer. I've always been a basically happy and optimistic person, but I remember when I was a young mom, raising my first batch of kids, that I used to get much more upset and stressed out. Yes, I still enjoyed my older kids and I loved them just as much as I do my younger kids...but I remember that I had way less patience and was way more stressed. And the result was that I was often quick to anger.

I remember one particular trying afternoon. At the time I had 5 kids and my oldest was 7. I had a lot on my plate. I was trying to organize a large community event. I had church responsibilities that I needed to get done. The kids were fighting and being mean to each other. There was lots of crying and screaming. One of the older kids woke the baby up from her nap. We had people coming over in the evening and I was trying to get the house looking decent. I was getting NOTHING done (in fact, I was moving backwards--the house was getting more messy by the hour) and on top of all that, the kids were complaining, fighting, and being disobedient. I had had it! I was feeling so frustrated, overwhelmed and angry! I had spent the whole afternoon clenching my teeth, speaking sternly and giving the "evil" eye. As I got more frustrated, the kids' behavior deteriorated and I was, in turn, feeling more angry. I think we all are familiar with that lovely downward spiral! It stinks! So, before I did something that I would regret, I ran to my bedroom and locked the door.

With the muffled sound of whining and occasional pounding on the door, I sank to my knees next to my bed. I was tense, frazzled and angry. I knew I was not being an exemplary mother. In my head I knew that it was wrong for me to be feeling annoyed and mad at my sweet kids. In my head, I knew that it was mostly my fault, not theirs. Yet, I just couldn't turn this day around on my own. I knew I needed help. I knelt at my bed and prayed. I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to help me. I couldn't do this alone. I wanted to be a better mother. I wanted my kids to feel unconditional love from me, not annoyance and anger. As I whispered my pleadings, I felt a quiet peace come over me. And then suddenly I had a very distinct impression. It was clear as day.

I could  almost 'hear' the words in my head: "Smile at them.". What a simple thought! I immediately thought back through the day and realized that I had not once smiled at my children. I sat down on my bed and thought about the answer I had been given. I pray a lot and I believe that prayers are answered, but seldom had I witnessed such an immediate and distinct answer to a prayer. I knew that I had just received personal revelation from my Heavenly Father. I knew that He was aware of me and that He understood my situation perfectly. I still didn't feel like smiling, so I practiced smiling as I sat there on my bed. I said another prayer, thanking God for His wise answer to my prayer and asking Him to help me to smile. Then I unlocked my door and faced my kids with a smile on my face.

That experience changed me. It did not change me overnight, nor did it keep me from ever getting mad at my kids. But, it gave me some insight which resulted in growth. My sweet and loving Father in Heaven wants me to enjoy His children. He is all about joy. These sweet children are His children first! He loves them so much more than I can even fathom. As I recognize just how blessed I am to be entrusted with each of my precious children, I am filled with gratitude for the honor of being a mother.

Fast forward 15 years and three additional children, and I find that I still remember that sweet answer to my prayer just as vividly. Now, as an older mother of young children, I don't let the little things bother me as much. I better understand that each beautiful phase of childhood is fleeting and precious. I realize that I need to enjoy each moment to its fullest...not only the moments with my little children, but also each beautiful moment with my teenage and adult children. I'm better now at seeing these moments as the precious gifts that they are. And when I consciously notice these precious moments, I smile. I have a hunch that my sweet Father in Heaven is smiling with me. And when I'm caught up in these precious moments of motherhood, I often think back to the sweet and tender lesson I was taught so many years ago: Smile at Them!

Mother's Day Thoughts

Well, like I said, today is Mother’s Day. I know a lot of moms have a hard time with Mother’s Day for various reasons, but I happen to love it. It’s the day I get to celebrate being a mother. It’s also a day that I like to think about and thank my own mother for everything she is and does. I consider being a mother the greatest blessing in the world. I’m so proud of each of  my kids and all that they do. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing each of them mature into selfless, kind, compassionate people.  Being a mom is the best job in the whole world. I dare anyone to find a job that is better than mothering. I recently read a book called The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It was fascinating. It talked about what makes people successful. I loved how the author pointed out that we don’t make ourselves successful. So much of our success is due to lucky (or-in my opinion-divine) circumstances and opportunities and attitudes and life-philosophies and expectations and genetics and culture and heritage that have been passed down to us…these are all things that were given us. It made me think about everything that has been “given” to me. I really can’t take credit for much, if any, of my success in life. I owe so much to my parents and my Savior. The fact that I have a knowledge of my Savior and that I try to live follow Him is an amazing gift in and of itself. That faith defines my life. It’s who I am. But it’s not something I can take any credit for. I thank my sweet great, great grandparents and their sacrifices and faith as they left their native countries in order to come to America to worship their new found faith. That legacy has blessed me more than I can even comprehend. I thank my parents for being faithful and making Christ the center of our home growing up. I thank church teachers and leaders for strengthening my testimony along the way. I especially thank my sweet mother for her strong and unfailing testimony of the Savior, for setting the example of always putting Him first in her life. I’ll never forget passing by her bedroom and seeing her on her knees praying for guidance or watching her make bread for someone who was sick or listening to her read scriptures to us as we hurriedly ate breakfast before rushing out the door for seminary. We always knew by the way she lived her life that she KNEW her Savior and that He was real. She has such a special gift…a gift of spirituality. I am the lucky (or blessed) recipient of that gift. So, I guess, my thought for today is that we really need to step back and take a good look at our lives. None of us are “self-made”, we all owe so much to those who have gone on before, to the loved ones who surround us, and, most importantly, to our loving Heavenly Father. He and his Son, Jesus Christ, are the source of all our blessings. It is Christ that brings us purpose, peace, joy, redemption, understanding, truth, hope and pure love. Everything that makes life worth living, we owe to our Savior. And all He asks in return is that we let go of pride (stop taking all the credit for our successes) and selfishness (just stop being so self-centered) and remember Him. We remember Him as we humble ourselves and acknowledge that we are nothing without Him. There is nothing weak about this kind of humility. This kind of humility brings out the greatest character traits that we can possibly develop, namely Christ-like attributes. So, as you go about this week, remember to put your Savior first. Look around you and be grateful for the many people and circumstances that the Lord has put in your life to bless you and guide you and help you along your way and acknowledge that precious gift. 

Today, I've been feeling grateful for my mother and her mother and her mother and her mother and on and on... and for the amazing lineage of motherhood that they have forged for me and for my daughters and their (future) daughters.... I have been thinking about the power and influence that our maternal lines have on how each generation is raised. I owe SO much of who I am to these amazing women. I am so grateful for their love, their devotion, their work ethic, their traditions, their talents, their strength, their patience and especially their strong faith. Happy Mother's Day to generations of mothers--because of you, we are who we are!!