Our Kitchen Facelift

I have a few projects underway currently, but I hadn't posted anything in awhile and had the thought of sharing something we'd done to our home since moving in.  My husband and I became homeowners this summer!  It has been so fun to pick out paint, hunt for furniture at estate sales, and fill our home with warmth and fun pretty things.  I've also learned the challenges of being a homeowner.  Doing all the  work to change things can really kick your butt and wear you out...but when you get the result you want there is nothing more rewarding :).  Our kitchen has been one of those rewarding/buttkicking things.   This is what we moved into....

It was okay...just super super bland.  The house was clean, but basically hadn't been updated 

since the late 80s.  

So....I was kind of feeling a retro, colorful kitchen vibe.  The everyday dinnerwear we'd registered for was fiesta ware!  My Aunt Colleen had it growing it and I loved going to visit her because she had a cozy colorful kitchen filled with all different colored fiesta ware.  I decided I'd try to achieve the same feeling in my own way.  So first came the cabinets.  We made the decision to paint those just plain old Benjamin Moore oil based white.  As far as wall color - I was feeling blue.  We put about 6 different paint swatches on the wall before finally deciding on something.  I learned an important lesson here....EVERYONE is going to have an opinion.  And while you can learn lots of things from others opinions and should value them - the one person whose opinion really matters in the end is yours.  So do want you want with your home... and thats exactly what we did.  I love the color!

This is a picture after the cabinets and walls were painted.  We were in the process of getting the cabinets back on.  Note the ugly linoleum floor.  This picture doesn't even really do its ugliness justice.  I just didn't like it.  It was ugly and dirty looking and just didn't go with my cute retro kitchen.  So I decided - it had to go!  I did a lot of research on painting linoleum and vinyl floors.  I saw encouraging blogs and how to websites that said that it absolutely could be done.  I also saw people who said it was a BIG no no.  I decided it was ugly enough I didn't care if it didn't work out.  It was worth a shot.  So I went and bought some Benjamin Moore floor paint.   It's built to even paint patios and garage floors so I figured it could handle the traffic in my kitchen.  I had the color made to match one of my yellow fiesta teacups.  

Here is the same shot with our new, fun yellow floors!  It is such a difference from the yucky brown.  I will say too - it has held up beautifully so far.  It's been about 5 months since it has painted and it hasn't shown any sign of wear and tear.  It does show dirt more easily than the brown floor (obviously), but its easy to wash and we've found that as long as we're diligent about not walking around in dirty shoes it's not an issue.  Now all that was left were some finishing touches...

One day I hope I can have some of those adorable colored appliances I see on Pinterest :).

My husbands parents were generous enough to let us have this table and to let me paint it!  I had the people at the paint store color match it to one of my red fiesta plates.  I then finished with a few coats of oil based poly to give it a nice shine.  It looks so cute in our kitchen. Only problem is I haven't gotten to the chairs yet, haha.  One step at a time here people ;).

I put different scrapbook paper in the back of each cabinet.

Fiest ware :)

Fiest ware, cakestands, and vintage pyrex - so fun!

Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed my kitchen as much as I love it.  It still needs some finishing touches - possibly some wall decor.  Heck - maybe I'll do something crazy and paint the refrigerator!.....(but seriously...saw it on pinterest and looked super cute!).  I'll keep you posted!