Sprucing the Homestead

Well, we have joined the club of weekend warriors. My official initiation came when I had to make a return trip to Lowe's in the same day to exchange some cabinet pulls that weren't right.

Today we tackled painting the final wall of the living room--the one that goes up the stairwell, trimming the shit out of some hedges/bushes outside, John spray-foam insulated a few gaps around the house, he climbed a tall ladder and trimmed tree limbs that were resting against the house/looming over our power line; I toiled inside updating the kitchen cabinet hardware.

The hardware was. So. Gross. I tried my darndest to clear them, but it just wasn't happening. Thankfully, they were really easy to remove, and in about an hour and a half total, I had new sleek brushed nickel handles.

Here are some before/after pics of my hard work. Let's start with the before. I wish I could tell you what decade/century these are from. I'm gonna say 1980s impersonating the 1880s? Any takers?

Not too bad from a distance.

But oh dear, up close and personal is horrific.

So yeh. They had to go. The ultimate cabinet plan is to sand them down and paint them. I'm thinking white, but then I also think it might be fun to paint them a color--maybe even the green of our living room, and then paint the walls of the kitchen really bright and crisp white. But we'll see down the line. With all that in mind, I wanted to stay neutral and light and versatile with the new hardware. This is what I ended up with:

Ahh, much better!

Light and clean!

I decided on some cup-style pulls for the drawers. They were a bit more expensive, but since I only needed three and the handles for the SEVENTEEN cabinets were way cheap, I didn't think twice about the splurge.

Enormous happiness.

I realize I've only shown this one small section--mainly because it's currently the most photogenic area. To the right of the stove is a bar-style counter with three cabinets. To the left of the two drawers is the L-portion of the kitchen, with the sink, dishwasher, counter, and upper and lower cabinets.

I'll leave you with this, a stark before and after. Good night.