Ugly kitchen re-do step 1: Paint!

I had an ugly kitchen. It was stuck in the '80's ugly. It was sponge-painted with 3 colors and a fruit-wallpaper border ugly. I've lived with this ugly kitchen for almost 2 years now, and after realizing that we weren't going to be doing the major kitchen overhaul that we wanted to do anytime soon, I decided I needed to do something! So, I decided to paint the walls.

This was our kitchen before:
It's pretty, isn't it?

This paint job was actually done OVER the old wallpaper. Since I wanted a "quick fix", I decided to do the same. I just took off the fruity border, but not the old wallpaper. To do so would have probably pulled off chunks of walls, and I wasn't ready to re-sheetrock just yet.

I did take down the old cornice that was in the window, covering the old nasty blinds that didn't work (and were probably as old as the house!). I think the cornice may be at least 20 + years old. The wood on the back side was aged, and seeing as it has the original wallpaper on it, there is no telling when it was put up. In this picture, you can see the original wallpaper that was behind the valance. Yeah, the previous owner didn't extend the sponge painting to behind the valance.

One of the things that people say about older houses is that they have "character". Sometimes that character is interesting moldings, charming details. Sometimes that character is crooked doorways and cracks in the walls. This picture shows the door that goes to our laundry room and then on to the garage. At some point, there were foundation problems, which have since been fixed. The door, however, remains as a bit of "character".

Currently, there is weather stripping there to help insulate the 2-inch gap that was on the side closest to the refrigerator. Not pretty, but effective. At least until we rip it out and get a new door!

I filled the top of the crack with wood putty. It was left "open" underneath the border. Wood putty isn't a great long-term fix, but it will work short-term. Eventually our plan is to take down the cabinet doors and re-paint them (or get new ones!), get new hardware, new countertops, and new appliances (except for the dishwasher, which is nice and new). At that point, we'll work on the walls - really fixing the cracks, new texture, etc.

But for now, I think the new coat of paint looks so much better! I do plan on adding some color with some accessories and maybe a new window curtain/shade. We're also going to replace the lights soon with something a bit more updated. We have the fixture for the middle of the room, we're just looking to see what we want for over the sink. Maybe a pendant?? I'd love a recessed light, but it may be too hard to put in. There are many things I'd really like to do to this kitchen, but we all start somewhere.

So, without further ado, here's the finished product!

The paint color is Sherwin-Williams' "Windsor Greige". I really like it. In some lights it's really warm, and in other lights it gets cool. Not too dark, but not too light.

See?? The crack almost disappears. Actually, where I used the wood putty, it does!

I'm actually pretty proud of myself. While Chris was away at a bachelor party for one of his friends last weekend, I was stuck inside because of Ike (we just got rain) painting. But it's only step 1.

Next, step 2: tiling the countertops!