It was Wednesday. Our co-op was going to take the next week off, so we had a free week where we did not need to do school everyday. I had two thoughts about what to do with this week.
1. Potty train Micah. I’ve read a lot about early potty training, and I would love to get this kid out of diapers.
2. Refinish kitchen cabinets. We had pretty much decided to do this ourselves, and I knew it was going to take a lot of time so a break week would be a great time to get started.
I asked Bryan what he thought we should do, and he voted cabinets. I should have made this decision a week ago so I could get stuff, but it’s just busy busy all the time here, so I decided to take advantage of this time and roll with it.
Since it had been so busy, I started on Thursday just figuring out what I wanted to do. I opened a Pinterest account despite my general objections to time wasting on Pinterest (I do that on Facebook and Twitter enough) so I could see everything there is to see about cabinets and decide what kind of look we wanted. Then, while the girls were at choir, Micah and I went to Home Depot to check out some options. I brought home some stain and paint choices.
Later that night, Bryan and I talked through our options. I paired some countertops with floor and cabinet colors. We decided to try the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit in the Espresso color. Friday morning, I took the girls to Menards, picked up what we needed and got out of there, over an hour later. Then, I got everyone home, got them some lunch and started tearing stuff up. Saturday morning, I sent Bryan to the store for easy dinners. Thankfully, we’ve had food all this time courtesy of Great Value and Stouffer’s. Everyone misses Mom in the kitchen, but she’ll get back in there once we have a kitchen.
I’ve been working (not tirelessly) since then. I’m not going to lie. It’s a ton of work. The little guy wants me. The girls want me. The cabinets want me. I’m racing the clock, and I’m not winning.
Today, we’re back to school. The girls did great at finishing their schoolwork. I did well with balancing my time, but I’m really hoping to get the big wall varnished by the end of the weekend because it’s killing me. We have one more wall after that and then the new cabinets (when they get here) to do. After this final push over the weekend, I’m going to be taking it in small enough pieces that I can get a paint or varnish coat done in an hour so I can sneak work in here and there during the week, also so we don’t have so much laid out all over the kitchen and we can work a little easier in there.
The big wall needs to wait 5 hours now before I put any varnish on it, so I have until 7 or 7:30 before I need to do any work. I’m hoping to get the house picked up in that time because things really blow up when Mom’s not on the clock. I throw pictures on Facebook and Twitter as I can and as changes occur, so look for updates there. Once all the cabinets are done, we’ll probably get a post up here. This is Stage 2. Floor was Stage 1, we still have countertops (and sink and faucet), backsplash, and wall color to go, but we’re getting closer. I don’t love home renovation.
How about you? Home renovation, love it or not?
