Kitchen/First Family Visit

When we arrived at our new home, the first room we entered was the kitchen. We had not been on the property since our viewing in February. Since it had been such a long time, neither of us remembered just how bad the cabinets were in the kitchen. Originally, we had planned to paint the cabinets and remodel the kitchen in a few years once we had more time. Unfortunately, the cabinets were unusable from a sanitary perspective. There was a large amount of critter evidence as well as years and years of grime settled into every crack and crevice. Based on what we read online and the wallpaper, we were estimating that the cabinets were from the 1950s. Our third day here, Matthew was on the laptop and planning our new kitchen on the IKEA website. He has always been the cook in our marriage so I wanted him to have everything he wished for. He has been so good at putting our family first and thinking of his needs second. He more than deserved this new kitchen:)

One section of the original cabinets.

Little did I know the headache that the new kitchen would bring. I feel pretty accomplished knowing that we essentially remodeled 3 rooms in 6 weeks. Unfortunately, the kitchen took about 4 of those weeks. Plumbing, painting, and pulling were the three "P" words of our lives. Once the 103 IKEA boxes arrived, our house was a sea of cardboard. Between our moving boxes (which arrived two weeks after we left the west coast) and the IKEA boxes we had little paths that we could walk through, but little else.

The Kitchen Day Two.

My super sweet aunt came to visit us for the first time amidst all of this. She is my Mom's sister, and her and I have been close most of my life. She has been an amazing support for Matthew and I through the moving process and a huge cheerleader. When my Dad passed away last year, she became an even bigger part of my life. I was so excited to show her the house and property. By the time she got here, I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I was barely able to show her around town. Just the fact that she showed up for me and Matthew meant the world. She was such a gracious guest around our jungle of boxes and she even made us chili:) One of the great things about moving to Vermont is that she is only 3 hours away. We will finally be able to see her more than once very 5 years or so. I've never lived in the same state as my extended family so this is a dream come true for me.

Back to the kitchen...

Once I systematically opened each of the cardboard boxes and assembled the cabinets, Matthew had the pleasure of understanding the IKEA assembly instructions. Between the two of us we figured it out, but it took a lot of trial and error. We did discover the magic of self adhesive backsplash though which was a life saver.

New Kitchen!

I can't believe how beautiful it turned out! I never knew how good it would feel to wash dishes in a working kitchen sink, or making coffee using a kitchen countertop instead of in the bathroom. It's the little things:) Matthew finally has his kitchen and I have fewer boxes to unpack! Next week, I will show you the living room. It was a much less rigorous process, but a really nice transformation just the same. Take care of yourselves and don't forget to rest:)