Now Sparkle

Sue's project this past weekend was painting the kitchen. She didn't have to "paint the kitchen" exactly, since the amount of wall that needed to be painted was relatively small - what with the cabinetry and backsplash covering about 75% of the wallspace. But the white walls in the kitchen were looking very dingy. She decided on the same yellow we put on the walls of the living room.

(After being dropped a few times, and being employed in various dusty, grimy and sometimes wet indoor and outdoor projects, I think my poor iPhone camera is going south.)

We sort of hesitated to put time and energy into the kitchen, because it really needs to be gutted and renovated whole-hog. To start with, the tile countertop is goofy. (See Grout Out from January for a reminder.) The fake-stone linoleum floor and backsplash are pretty ugly. The cabinets don't all stay closed when it's humid out. We'd like to have a small dishwasher in there. Etc.

Working on it without an overall plan probably means redoing our improvements, which is sort of a waste, but we're only going to remodel the kitchen if we stay past 2011. If we have to move somewhere else to get Dr. Sue on the tenure track in two years, we'll leave the kitchen remodeling to the next owner.

That being said, the new paint job (and a couple other things pictured at the bottom of this post) Sue thinks will tide us over, whether or not we eventually remodel it.

BEFORE


AFTER


BEFORE


AFTER


She also repainted the inside of the back door and the kitchen radiator cover. Both now sparkle.

Next modest items of business: installing baseboard moulding. When we moved in there was flexible/peeling black plastic moulding there, which we threw away...


...and replacing the overhead light.


PS
While Sue hates the popcorn ceiling we've got all over the ground level and upstairs of the house, it's a little disconcerting that some of it is falling down in large chunks. Sort of like the exterior paint, we're not sure if it's the house with the problem or if the popcorn stuff was applied poorly or what.

This is from the dining room.


More to come on that issue.