Four days of cleaning, painting, rearranging, tossing, and redoing are over.

We have a new kitchen.  Well…  a newly painted and sparkling clean kitchen.

Our kitchen hadn’t been painted since we remodeled 10 years ago.  10 years.  That’s a long time for a kitchen to get dingy. And ours was getting dingy.

It’s amazing what you don’t see when you look at something every day.  But I had started looking and wasn’t pleased with what I was seeing.

Actually, dingy was putting it mildly.  I knew it had to get cleaned and painted but Victor hates painting even more than I do.

When I found out he was going to be in Dallas for four days, I started plotting and planning…

Unbeknownst to him, I took a few days off while he was gone…

He took off early Monday morning and I put my plan into action… First was to the grocery store and to the bank for his mother – acting like it was any other Monday.  She has his cell number.  I didn’t want her calling him.

I then hit the paint store.

$142.78 later I was on my way home.

Next was to start.  Everything off the walls.  Once the stuff starts coming off the walls, you know how bad it really is…  It was not a pretty sight.  If it was going back up it needed to be washed.  Curtains came down and right into the washer.  And then the furniture had to come out.  And the plants and the stuff.  The fan, the light fixtures, plate covers…

The dog was having a nervous breakdown.  Her food and water bowls were moved to the dining room.

She was not amused.

Everything took two coats.  When we paint together we tag-team.  One does the corners and cutting in, the other works the roller.  It’s really different when you’re working alone.  Up the ladder, down the ladder, paint brush, roller, paint brush, up the ladder…

I took my time with the painting – two days.

When the painting was done, the real chore began – washing the tile floors.  The only way they would come clean was hand-scrubbing.  They’re a stone-look ceramic with a million-and-one indentations that all catch dirt.  They’re actually great because they don’t show the dirt.  But dayum, they can hold the dirt!  And are they pretty when they’re clean!

And then it was time to start putting things back.  Every single thing in the room was washed.  The dishwasher ran non-stop and the big stuff was hand-washed and dried.

I knew I wasn’t going to put the same things all back in the same places.  A lot of stuff wasn’t going back up, at all.

Like Leslie’s mom’s picture.  It went from a far wall to a smaller wall above the phone.  I absolutely love the picture and it now has more prominence in the room.  Other things were moved and highlighted.  A perfect example of less is more.

I’m thinking that it may be time to break out the sewing machine and make curtains.  I’ve done it, before…

And all of those beautiful cherry cabinets were cleaned.  Another all-day job.  But it was worth the time.

I must admit my eating habits suffered a bit while I was doing all of this.

The counters and island and every horizontal surface was covered with something.

I had made chili on Sunday and that became my mainstay.  I had chili dogs, chili burgers, chili fries…  a fried ham sandwich at some point – and LOTS of M&M Peanuts.

It was great to actually get into the kitchen tonight and make real food!

Chicken soup.

It was the perfect first real meal.

It’s snowing outside…