I'm seeing red

Remember that last post about the one item on my wishlist that I did not get to mark off this summer?  Well, get out the marker!  A couple of good friends volunteered to help with the project.  I think all I needed was some motivation. 
This project has taken place in stages. The first reason was money. Other than money, what else seems to be lacking in our lives? TIME. We didn't have the money to do a total kitchen remodel so we attacked the most disturbing features first. I'll let you look at this first picture and see if you can guess what that might have been.

Yes, when we bought this house the counter tops were "burnt orange". I know some real UT fans might think that's cool. However, those of us with more sense (and Aggie dads) know that the orange color was ridiculous. The first time I walked into this house I was s.h.o.c.k.e.d. that it had these counter tops. I called Chad and said it wasn't bad, but the kitchen needed some attention.

Here's a nice close up of the wallpaper that was in the kitchen, dining area, and entry from the garage. Yes, it is all pretty open, but there is a lot of wallpaper and this is just not cool!

We obviously did buy the house. The deal was that the kitchen would get attention-QUICKLY! But, six months later we learned that Tater Tot was on the way. Obviously, our priorities changed. Eventually we did manage to have new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, counter tops, and paint on the cabinets. That is what we considered stage one of the work. Here, you can see the stage one new stuff.

Here are the new counter tops up close.

The knobs were not a necessity for stage one because the doors and drawers have an angled edge so that knobs are "optional". Well, for someone who is anal about fingerprints and has small children with grubby hands, they are NOT optional.  But again, not part of stage one.

Here's the general timeline so you can appreciate my patience with this project. We moved into this house in July 2004. Stage one happened in August-October 2008. Toward the end of stage one Chad and I were discussing what would happen next. I explained that the wallpaper had to go. So, he conveniently reached over and pulled a piece of paper off the wall. I almost had heart failure as I tried to explain to him that I meant it would EVENTUALLY have to go. But, it was too late. So, for the last 3 years I have enjoyed looking at a large random ripped wallpaper. If you look closely behind the adorable (and much younger) Kennedy and Sadie you can see the hideousness by the trashcan.

Finally, August 2011, we began stage two of the project. Here's what my house looked like Friday night as Chad and I had some awesome conversations while destroying the kitchen.

Saturday morning we had been to two different home improvement stores and were back home working by 8:15. Chad continued to remove the wallpaper while I began to texture the wall. Mid-morning our awesome friends, the Lee family, came over to help. By 4:30 Saturday afternoon, we had 2 coats of the taupe paint on the bottom and one coat of red paint on the top. We took the evening to enjoy our "crap, summer's almost over" cook out with the Lee family. Sunday morning I was painting by 7:15. Here's what it looked like at about 5:00 Sunday evening.

It's amazing what some texture and paint can do for a kitchen. Kennedy came in the door (from Nanny and Pa's house for the weekend) and said, "Wow! It looks like a whole new house!".

Obviously, we aren't finished. I still have some touch up painting and two doors to paint. We will also have new blinds in the windows, new light fixtures, and knobs for the doors and drawers.

In a perfect world, I'd also like new appliances. Since we've replaced everything except the refrigerator in the last 6 years, it's not likely.  We replaced them one at a time as needed and just matched what was left.  We didn't realize (or even consider the possibility) that the major appliances would be replaced within a few years or I would've gotten stainless along the way.  Maybe one day...