Saturday, May 7, 2011

my mother's day

I think I may have just had the most productive three weeks of my entire life. Almost every minute of every day was spent being busy, not that I necessarily enjoy that. I have this dumb vinyl lettering WORD up in my kitchen, and I'm fairly certain it will be coming down as soon as I get to it. SIMPLIFY. Who ever thought that was a likely option?! Why on earth did I put that on my wall?

When we first moved into our house 4 years ago I was so thrilled to have a non-carpeted kitchen, a pantry, room for a dining table AND a breakfast nook, and a built-in microwave. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I didn't mind the 70s tile backsplash or the 80s appliances. Well, as time went on, and as I got really into home decorating and design, I started to get irritated with my kitchen. I think that when this custom kitchen was installed 26 (?) years ago it was probably really nice. I knew it was time to make a change but since I'm frugal to a fault sometimes and since I clearly forgot about my recently discovered preference for "hiring out," I came up with the crazy idea to remodel it ourselves. So off we went.

I starting faithfully saving money after Christmas for the remodel. And my poor husband...I know he loves me because he took time off work (shocker #1) during the kids' spring break to help me. So he took work off...to work. And he sincerely only complained a few times.

Let me just say that there were a few things that saved us:
*A nice commercial paint sprayer that a dear friend offered to let us use. We returned the not-as-nice one we had bought.
*A lifesaver of a neighbor who was up in our attic re-wiring for hours, and then hooking things up inside the house as well.
*Amazing paint (it better have been amazing for what it cost!)
*Sanding blocks
*Stainless steel appliance film. Wonderful, that stuff.
*Understanding that everything in life is negotiable (granite included).
*And of course, HGTV.

What we would do differently:
*Come up with a better way to drill holes for handles so that it doesn't take 8 hours and a LOT of frustration (and a couple slightly un-straight handles).
*NOT use the paint sprayer inside the house at all.
*Not attempt this with a needy baby around.
*Hire a painter. (I say that...but we really did all this for not a whole lot of money so I don't know if I mean it. Ask me in a few weeks.)


So, here is what it looked like before... (as Mark was taking that annoying in-the-way cabinet out, and as Spencer was in the attic loosening the bolt that was holding it in.)


This once-popular wallpaper made an appearance. Hmmm...hello 60s! I truly love that I got to see that.


And although the angle is different, here is what it looks like now. Clean, bright, and white.
We aren't entirely done; we still need to do the glass tile backsplash and add the beadboard and crown molding, but it is functional, beautiful, didn't cost a whole lot, and Spencer and I still love each other.  Complete success! And Happy Mother's Day to me. Probably the best one ever.
("Simplify" - what a joke. I'm off to pull that down.)

18 comments:

F4Plus1 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jonna said...

haha! i was laughing inside at the 'simplify' sign, too, the other day when i was over admiring how beautifully it all came together! it is already hard to remember how it looked before. well done, indeed!

p.s. favorite comment: 'and we still love each other'!

Carly said...

Yay!! It looks amazing! I love love love the new cabinets.

hales said...

Be-yu-ti-ful! Looks nice and bright.

Lisa R.D. said...

It looks amazing! I have a wooden sign in my kitchen that says "Simplify" too. Mostly it's there to make me laugh in exasperation over all of the projects I undertake. Maybe I should spare myself the exasperation and just take the stupid sign down!

Megan said...

Wow, Cheri! That looks great! Love the countertops. I was bummed not to see you in our ward today, but so fun to see Carly and Laura. Hope you will be down for a visit soon so we can catch up!

Marné said...

amazing!!

The John Hollingshaus Family said...

Love it!!!

Jen said...

WOW. Go you and Spencer!!

House of Tong said...

Go Wirthlins! What you a team you two are!!! I LOVE that cabinet is finally gone from above your sink!!!! I really have to come over and check it out!! Looks FAB!! oxo

Melanie said...

Looks great!! I love the granite you picked out. It looks completely different. And I can't wait to see it with the backsplash. I'm glad it was worth all the work :)

April said...

I love it!I too have an out dated kitchen. Before we moved in they did new tile(but not my style),new counters and sink but left the ugly 70s cupboards. I wantao badly this summer to paint them white or cream I guess I know who to ask for help, haha. Looks great!

GHFamily said...

When do you open a remodeling business of your own?

Kristina and Tyson said...

Wow!!!! All that crazy hard work that you all did really paid off! It looks incredible! Great job to both of you for a job well done! i LOVE the countertops! Can't wait to seeit in person...someday!

Natalie N said...

OH MY WORD!!!!!! SOOOOO Beautiful!! Way to go Team Wirthlin!! Is that really the same place?! Unbelievable that you did that yourselves -- and with a needy baby to boot! High fives from the Nelsons!
xoxo

Cheri said...

lest you all think we are TOO amazing, perhaps i should mention that we did NOT install the granite ourselves. everything else, yes. granite = hired out.

Matt and Christen said...

It looks fantastic! I am so impressed with all the projects you do. Glad you had a happy Mother's Day!
Christen

Candice said...

What!!! Now I can't wear my bell bottoms whenever I come visit! j/k But you know your kitchen wasn't nearly as rocking as our rental in CA was. You guys did a great job, love the white!