Dan and Jill's Extreme Makeover!

The 1980's were alive and well in our kitchen and family room, until recently, when Jill turned to her unsuspecting husband one September evening and said, "I cannot stand that border one more second!  I look up at it, and it's going, 'Bam, bam, bam, bam' with every little flower cluster!"  "Bam, bam, bam?" he asked?  And so began the great makeover of 2011.  After 25 years of decorating negligence, it was time for a little shake-up.

Here is the kitchen BEFORE.  Note 8-inch border, old oak cabinets, extra cream color cabinets, and valance/curtain combo covering 1/2 of the window.

 First, off came all the cabinet doors, and then the cleaning, sanding, priming, new paint, new paint again, sanding again, polyurethane, sanding again, and polyurethane again.  Oh, yeah, this involved taking every last thing out of all the cabinets, and piling it in the dining room and family room!

 

 Somewhere in the process, the entire wallpaper border, which surrounded both the kitchen and the adjacent family room, had to come down.  This involved using a steamer, and a lot of elbow grease.  Did I mention that Dan and I are still married?  There were a seemingly infinite number of cabinet doors, perched precariously on boxes and bins in the garage as they were painted and repainted.  Then every last hinge had to be scrubbed, and hung on a makeshift scaffold to be spray painted black.

 Somebody had to brave the stores to buy fabric and new wall accessories.  And then make curtains.

 

The family room got in on the fun.  Paint colors had to be chosen. 

Since gray is the new neutral of choice, we picked "Urban Sunrise."

 

It would be difficult to say who worked harder, but it's safe to say that Dan did more of the muscular stuff, like scrubbing and sanding climbing and lifting, and Jill did her share of planning and painting and sewing and directing.  Look at this nice clean finish!

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The results are pretty sweet, with matching cabinets the color of chocolate mousse, freshly painted walls, including a cool refreshing gray in the family room and celery green  in the kitchen, new homemade grommet curtains and tablecloth, all new black hardware,  fewer things on the walls, less furniture, and less visual clutter overall.  Still to do:  rematting and framing a couple of paintings, organizing the paper flow to eliminate the accumulation of junk on table surfaces and shelves, and decisions about throw pillows and curtains in the family room.

 The curtains open and close easily for full daytime views and night time warmth and privacy, or to block out the direct blinding  rays of the setting sun in the late afternoon.

 

The family room is a new soft haven of cool calming colors.

Now, to organize shelves and computer area, and carve out an efficient office space in the family room!

I love my house!  I love my husband!  And, surprisingly, he still loves me!