Its finished, I never thought it would be, but I am done! And I have to say, out of all the projects I have completed (yes including the Batman Movie) of this I am most proud
So no more words here is my new kitchen!
Done!
And here is how we got there!
Now to clean up before my parents arrive in 4 days time!!
My posts are somewhat sporadic these days, purely because if I don’t spend my time actually working in the kitchen I have nothing to write about, catch 22 situation 
So, taking a break from the cabinet situation (all the top ones are done but I cant work on the bottom ones until the new counter top goes in.) I have turned my attention to the walls.
I have always wanted a place in the home where everyone can hang out, eat, socialise, doodle, being a freelance artist, I doodle a lot! I also make lots of lists, this comes from processing a green card and my now obsessive need to know where EVERYTHING is all the time, so I did research on the internet for my new look kitchen, and it was staring me in the face, literally!
I have been working on a chalkboard product line recently, and used chalkboards a lot at our wedding last year, so, I thought to myself, why not have a chalk board kitchen!
The key to this look I feel is to not over do it! I don’t want a kitchen that looks like a Transylvanian Dungeon, I have after all just spent a considerable amount of time lightening the whole place up, so here is the beginnings of the walls,the other side of the kitchen will remain white,
your comments are, as always appreciated!!
(the bottom picture was a before shot!)
So I have been absent, I know! But the truth is right now I am elbow deep in paint and a part way through demolishing my kitchen. I have been wanting to rip out the kitchen ever since we bought the house last year. Firstly its retro, and not in a good way the 1980′s keep calling asking for their kitchen back and secondly its a tile counter top, and every time I cook, I imagine the E coli rave parties that are going on when I’m not looking, So it has to go!
It is true and I have discussed this at length, it appears I have a problem picking the DIY scab, poor Josh comes home to numerous holes in the wall, lets not forget the dining room ceiling I pulled down in a moment of boredom a few months ago. But this is different, I am aiming to have a brand new modern kitchen for under 2000 dollars and here is how I am going to do it.
The cabinets are in good condition, so refinishing them was my first priority. A heads up if you are thinking about doing this, its TEDIOUS, there was a time when I worked for the Cirque Du Soleil and spent 140 hours painting a very expensive set of chairs…this was worse than that.
My tips
Clean everything really well with degreaser, and sand if needed.
Use a really good primer and follow the instructions! I used Zinsser 1,2,3 professional primer because I use it for everything!
Dont get impatient with drying times, all sorts of problems occur when you rush because you are impatient (I know this well cough cough)
Your cabinets will need at least two coats of high quality semi gloss latex enamel.
Remove all hardware it makes the job a whole lot easier
Use masking tape, for the extra time it takes to mask it really helps out when you accidentally drop your brush full of paint (trust me you will do this at some point!)
And finally be prepared to lose some serious hours of your life, this is not a quick fix, it is however a cheap fix, cost of new cabinets? Oh thousands, my new cabinets? $40 in paint, $8 in spray paint for the existing hinges, $4 in masking tape, $60 in new door handles and $8 in screws , Total Cost $120
A Great Start! (ps I have been going a week and I m still not done! 29 cabinets is a lot of work!)
So this is a recipe I found for original, all singing all dancing soda bread. It takes a week to make, (not much effort involved however because the bread takes care of itself) but I have never tasted bread like it. All malty and beery, a proper taste explosion!
The idea is this is bread made from just organic rye flour, strong flour and water, thats it…you can add salt if you want to.
Ironically it was ready for Easter day, appropriate I thought. We ate it hot out of the oven with thick sliced ham, a free range egg and parsley from my garden… total bliss, happy easter everyone!
I love my adopted country, there are so many things about the USA that are wonderful, this however is not one of them.
These are so called hot cross buns at my local supermarket, there is so much wrong with this picture where to start! The multi coloured bits…the colour green, the liquid icing!!!
So it is good friday, and I want hot cross buns! for the cost of milk, an egg, flour butter and some fruit, I made my own!
And yeah, they tasted awesome 
So I have been away, hence the no blog for a while, keeping busy and creative until such times as I can move forward is my new challenge!
So in a rare two day weekend Josh and I popped to California, to the mountains, and spent the weekend eating food that was bad for us and drinking beer. It is funny where you can find inspiration, I give you our cottage… which as you can see has a tree growing out of it!(I did not book the ‘Tree’ House on purpose, it was a fantastic happy accident!)
It just goes to show, there is inspiration everywhere, you just have to get outside and it will bump into you, or in my case grow right through your living room!
After my recent revelations I have to admit it was hard to get motivated this week, however I decided since everything else is just fine I decided to not to wallow over one minor hiccup, so I am going to carry on regardless and the best thing when you are feeling blue is to get outside. Spring is in full effect here in Vegas, so I decided it was time to finish my garden project and it came out beautifully if I do say so myself…now all I have to do is keep it going! Every morning I go outside and ask one simple question, not is it growing?…but have I killed it yet! However, so far so good, its been in the ground a week and nothing has died yet, heres hoping for yummy veggies in 3 months time!!
