no more P U R P L E in the kitchen

We are a family that now loves purple. UCA purple that is, not purple walls in the kitchen. This was one of the first things to go. With tons of honey oak everywhere, we knew we wanted to tone it down as well.

It did not look horrible when we moved in, just very outdated and fairly dark. Luckily, the cabinets are in great shape, so we could get away with not replacing them all together.

The black quartz counter top was installed just a couple years ago. We knew getting rid of the oak would help it to stand out.

We have grand plans for future updates especially to the kitchen, but for now we are doing what we can do for the least amount of money to make the greatest impact.

As painful as it is, paint always seems to be the best answer.

It was a mess- torn up for almost a month so the paint on the cupboards could properly dry. I feel pretty lucky to have a man who although he HATES painting will do it with me.

We took off all of the cupboard doors, added fresh Alabaster white paint and new hardware. The walls are a nice new neutral shade of grey. Covering up the purple walls made a huge difference right away.

The baseboard trim is horrific and needs to all be replaced. It was not properly installed with gaps and backward cuts throughout the entire house.

For now, we added two coats of fresh white paint{after a coat of primer} and while it still drives Jim crazy, I think it looks just fine.

My fabulous handyman of a husband has replace all of the light and outlet switches and covers. They were all beige/almond with plenty of mismatched outlets which did not match the newly-painted white trim.

Replacing these has been a never-ending project in itself going through the whole house, but they look so much better.
With a serious dislike of those skinny old aluminum blinds, I insisted they be GONE.
Funky window sizes made it tough to figure out what to put up.

With so much black and white, we wanted to add color but it ended up being easiest to install simple thicker white blinds and valances with some color over the top.

SO much better.
Right now, we have a built-in microwave and oven. As soon as they need replaced, I would love to add a double oven and put a microwave elsewhere.

New light fixtures, back-splash, flooring and additional cabinets will have to wait but for now- we are super happy. I also have plans for a fun breakfast nook to go in the empty space under the octagonal window.

It was a lot of work but worth it for the cost of paint and cabinet hardware to brighten things up.
Next, we started on our master bathroom.