The floors of the house were definitely worn and scuffed. Initially, we were planning on having them stained darker, but once we saw the beautiful sanded yellow pine beneath our feet, we opted to keep it natural, only adding a couple coats of polyurethane. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned how much I disliked the buttercream walls on multiple occasions. I felt it clashed with the red brick behind the stove. Although the kitchen has multiple windows, the hanging eave off the back porch and the neighbor’s house to the east doesn’t allow as much natural light into the room as I would like. We painted the walls white to brighten the mood. I also dreaded the idea of trying to clean cooking splatter from painted walls, so we knew we were going to need a backsplash. Graham and I talked about doing white subway tiles, but when I found white honeycomb tiles on Wayfair, I fell in love with the vintage, yet modern, feel.  Although he always complained whenever I went on about how much I love chalkboard walls, Graham suggested we paint one in the kitchen (aww.. one of the reasons why I married him). We used to keep our grocery list on Google Keep, but I love writing it out on something tangible. We’re usually in the kitchen when we realize we’re out of something, so it’s convenient to scribble it out then, and really, who doesn’t like writing on chalkboard? It’s also nice to temporarily jot dates while you’re on the phone and can’t access your Google Calendar.Uh….we still haven’t gotten around to erasing the seasoning marks towards the ceiling..

Then of course, there’s the shelving…Our biggest accomplishment with the kitchen actually has nothing to do with paintbrushes, wallpaper, etc. When we moved in, we knew we were going to need a new kitchen rug since our old one had definitely seen better days. We first purchased one with a geometric print from Society6, but we freaked out when we opened the package and saw that the colors didn’t translate well from online to real life. We found ourselves face to face with lavender, navy, and neon pink triangles which I’m sure would be lovely!… in another kitchen. Strike One. We then tried our luck with RugsUsa. Well… we ended up being out $80, but we got a good laugh out of the rug that looked as if it would be more at home in a kindergarten classroom. Strike Two. We were definitely suffering from online rug shopping PTSD and were reluctant to try our luck again.

We took a chance on a hemp rug from Target that I wasn’t too crazy about. Once we laid it out in the kitchen, I immediately decided it needed to go, and back it went. Strike Three.

One day, while on yet another trip to Ikea (if you’ve bought a new house, prepare to spend so much time at Home Depot and Ikea that they should just start paying you to work there), we found a rug we thought would be perfect. In a perfect world, we’d have a white rug, but since we’re imperfect people in the kitchen, we knew that would never fly. But this rug was white with enough mottled dark hues that would hide potential cooking snafus.

We got it home and unrolled it…at least we tried to.. Although we knew the rug was wider than we needed, we thought we might be able to slip the excess inches under the refrigerator. Nope. My resourceful husband, however, was not going to give up.. He wasn’t going to be victimized by yet another rug. So he dragged the rug to the back porch with a hacksaw..Problem Solved.

Stacy

It wasn’t until after I’d ordered all the wallpaper that I realized we had a dilemma. We were planning on using the lowest shelf as a raised food stand for Huxley.The problem is that our dog PLOWS through his food. In cartoons, you might see a dog scarfing down his meal with bits of food flying up.. that’s our dog.. in 3D. At our old place, I’d have to scrub the walls at least once a week to remove dried kibble crumbs. There was no way wallpaper would withstand Huxley’s lack of eating etiquette. I was about to give up on the idea, when Graham, being resourceful as usual, suggested putting up plexiglass on the lower third of the alcove.Neither of us have had any experience with wallpaper, so I made the executive decision of begging inviting the help of an expert… my mother-in-law. She came armed with rulers, T-squares, pencils, and some other tools I couldn’t identify. We didn’t get to finish that evening, but the upper area would be easier than the lower for a solo job.I pulled the ladder from the basement last night to finish up the project. That’s when I realized how great my mother-in-law is with wallpapering. The entire time, she required minimal assistance from me, all the while maintaining this upbeat demeanor getting the job done. She made the whole thing look so easy! As I struggled with wallpaper curling over my head, unsticking it from itself (for the 8th time in 15 minutes), beads of sweat rolling down my face, I realized I’d been fooled.

Hearing the huffing, grunting, and whining, Graham wandered into the kitchen to see what the commotion was. That’s when he rolled up his sleeves, took the wallpaper from me, and climbed the ladder. Between the time he started and the 20 minutes that he descended from the ladder, he’d come up with ample verses for the song, “Wallpaper Is A Pain In The Butt, and We Are Never Doing This Again.” But it got done!I haven’t made up my mind about what to display or organize; I’ve been experimenting with storage containers, plants, tchotchkes, etc,  but I’m really happy with the end result!

Graham did add, however, that whenever it is that we renew our marriage vows, he’s going to insert a clause regarding never wallpapering again.Thanks, Graham and Christine! 

Stacy