So, at the beginning of the summer, I mentioned to Charles that the paint in the kitchen was looking remarkably crappy. We peeled wallpaper when we moved into the house, but hadn’t touched it in seven years. Or perhaps the problem was that it had been touched, a lot, by little kids with sticky fingers. So I thought, “No sweat, I can just repaint it some weekend.” And I basically said that to Charles, who then went into his impersonation of my father’s rant about “something worth doing is worth doing right,” and he asked me why I don’t pull the ugly brick wainscotting and splashguard down that I have hated since we purchased the house.
Which was an excellent point. Except the reason I never pulled it down was because I pretty certain that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very gross job. And it turns out that I was totally right. So, because I am not a home improvement blogger in general I didn’t think to do comprehensive before, during, and after pictures, but here is a kind of before (I was already well into the wall when I realized I probably should have done a before).
Sink Before
Basically, it was a half-inch-wide brick, mortared onto the wall. Getting it off was a cumbersome, three-week process of pretty much every minute I wasn’t at work or asleep. I had to chip the brick off with a choose-your-own-assortment of hammers, chisels, screwdrivers, and putty knives. Different tools worked better depending on the angle at which I was working. Then, I wound up with something that looked like this:
Sink During
So as I got the actual brick off, there was mortar and lovely glue left on the wall, and occasionally big chunks of brick. Sometimes it was even better and as I pried off the brick, the plaster would come too, right down to the lathe. So the next step was taking a heat gun and a putty knife to all of it, which yielded pretty decent results but was really hard work.
Wall During
It got cleaner and cleaner the more I worked, though. The wall was so much easier than the splashguard, because it wasn’t super-close quarters. I accidentally turned the garbage disposal on more times than I can count while I was scraping back there, and there was a close call with a putty knife and some live wires (which yielded some pretty fantastic sparks but luckily, no permanent damage to me)… So then there was plastering all the walls with a thin coat of sheetrock, sanding the plaster (which is my most hated dirty job and it sucks that much more on a super-hot August day), priming and painting. Ultimately, I think it was worth the effort and I really like the new color.
Finished sink
Though we aren’t necessarily done with the project. There is a plan kicking around our brains to do a splashguard made from bottle caps (which the kids have been collecting since D was old enough to pincer-grip one into his pocket, ~ 2). I put a few more hooks up as well to hang more of my pots and pans. It helps to reduce the clutter a bit in the cabinets.
Of course, the project is never really finished. I think I want to do something to the kitchen cabinets, I just don’t know what. And it is on the docket to build a bench into the kitchen and sort of formalize the dining area a little (while adding some additional storage in secret hiding spots in the bench!). And right away I realized that I didn’t pick the color based on the old curtains, so I bought some fabric and made new ones. Pictured here with my 11th Wedding Anniversary bouquet from Charles…
Window and curtains
We decided to start embracing the 1950s-ness of our house. It is never going to be a Victorian beauty with gingerbread molding around its exterior, so we might as well just paint the kitchen avocado green. Or “Leapfrog,” if you happen to be reading the color on the paint chip.
I adapted a pattern a little bit – mostly because I didn’t like some frippery that they had attached, and I decided to sew everything on instead of gluing stuff. Really, who would want to spend $50 on fabric just to then glue everything together? It may not wind up being an heirloom, but most of the costumes I’ve made for my kids over the years have been worn by a younger cousin or friend a second time, holding up through at least a couple of Trick-or-Treats. There is a question about whether D’s first costume, a lion, is intact enough after three babies wearing it to support lending it to Rocco (the chenille mane I made was looking a little the worse for wear when we put it away last, I think). But I’ll have Charles bring it down from the attic and maybe it would still work. Or I could always remake the head… Though with Nicole’s costume to finish (stalled on some buttons that I just can’t quite bring myself to try because I am terrified I will screw the whole thing up at this point), and my own that I haven’t started yet, I may have my hands full enough of projects. I want to make Rose a crinoline and a bag to collect treats in as well.
