I'm finally getting around to posting photos of our kitchen renovation. Not the photos you most want to see, I'm sure, but we haven't even begun to go through photos from our trip yet. Soon, I promise.

The kitchen project was really more of a refresh than a full renovation. Our goal was to improve the look of the room with minimal effort - specifically, without replacing the cabinets or countertop. This is not because we particularly like them, but because we didn't want to put that much money or effort into this project. We love this house, but it's not where we're going to live forever and we're not convinced dumping tons of money into it would be a worthwhile investment.

This project should have been done long ago (do you see that wallpaper?!), but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I really wanted white cabinets, but we didn't want to replace the cabinets and I was unsure how painting white over dark wood would turn out. It was William's herpes-free kitchen that finally inspired me and convinced me that painting cabinets could be done well. I emailed him for help, and he walked me through how he and Lauren had done everything. Thank you, William! You are totally my Bob Vila.

Before

After

Once I had decided on the white cabinets, we chose a wall color that would work okay with the counters, which are flecked with various shades of green. The "after" photo above is most true to the wall color - the one below makes it look a little more kelly green than it actually is.

Rob helped me iron the walls and install the knobs and pulls, but pretty much everything else I did by myself during my week of spring break. All that's left is to replace the floor and we're totally hiring someone to do that.

(I'm sure you'll all notice that Bridget is on the counter in two of the photos. Further proof that I'm a pathetic pushover parent. I'd also like to point out the Yoshi calendar on the side of our fridge. Best calendar EVER.)

Before

After