Lighten up…

In my Facebook memories today, there were photos of our kitchen from 7 years ago. I loved it, but now when I look at it, I can see clutter. Clutter that got dusty and greasy if I didn’t stay on top of it. The other thing I noticed was how dark everything looked, dark like the rest of the house. 

Back in March 2020, during the lockdown, Marty and I decided we wanted to lighten up the house. We wanted things to be light and airy. The once loved dark red dining room, midnight black bedroom, and suede brown living room needed to be updated. 

One by one, we began tackling each room, starting with the living room painting it the color sailcloth white. What a difference it made! It did feel light and airy. Now we were on a roll.

Noah moved out that month, so we painted his room and turned it into an office for the business. We painted the room the same color as the living room since we had leftover paint. Marty found an old filing cabinet second-hand that we needed desperately. The office was done in two days flat.

Next, we painted the dining room a light gray. Marty wheeled-and-dealed on Facebook Marketplace, selling our dining room furniture and buying second-hand ones changing the room completely.

Our bedroom needed lightening up; the walls were midnight black and purple silver metallic. Marty wanted it not only light in color but in furniture too. The large furniture pieces we had were over 30 years old and took up the whole room.

We painted the bedroom Edelweiss white, how appropriate for a German-based business; we had to use it. We changed out the old ceiling fan for a second-hand crystal chandelier, something I always wanted. We also picked up two new small bedside lamps for our new nightstands. New meaning new! 🤗

Marty quickly sold our bedroom furniture on Facebook Marketplace, then found two small second-hand dressers. I found a Parisian framed print that I loved on a free pile we saw in New Platz, NY! Big score!

It feels like we are in a small bedroom in Paris or bed and breakfast when we lay in bed. I love it, it’s perfect, and didn’t cost very much. 

Here’s where the knee bone is connected to the shin bone analogy. The staircase and upstairs hallways now looked dirty and disgusting. It’s always the way, isn’t it?

We decided to hire someone local to paint it for us. It’s always tricky trying to paint that tall space above the stairs. Two guys came in and finished the job in three hours. Thank you very much, guys! It was the best idea ever, even for DIY people.

We bought the paint to repaint the kitchen cabinets last winter as another covid project, but neither of us felt like tackling that project. Painting cabinets and removing all the hardware sucks, plus we were in a funk that covid was still so severe. (Little did we know it would still be going on a year later.) So, we put the paint away to age like a good wine.

Then, this winter, we got out that one-year-old paint and were finally inspired to start the kitchen project. The last thing I am waiting for is chalkboard labels for the new spice bottles I ordered. The jars came with black paper labels, but they were shit. OMG, I was pissed when I saw them. I hate that they cheaped out on the labels when the bottles were so nice.

The ridiculous part is I put the labels on all the jars and wrote the spice names on them. That’s when I had a shit fit about how cheap they looked and ordered the right ones on Amazon. I also ordered a white sharpie; the white marker that came with the labels was total crap too! They are coming today; then, I can redo them. Guess what? Then we will be finished!

I don’t know if we changed because we are older and want simpler things, or was it the updated design we kept seeing on decorating and home shows over the last few years? Less clutter, straight clean lines: light, bright and airy. I think they call it industrial farmhouse.

Over the next few days, I will be putting together the “Finished at last” kitchen project blog post with lots of photos taken along the way. I can’t wait to show you how it all turned out. 

I started the prescription for my vertigo last night. I have to take it 3 times a day for 7 days. It makes me tired, and I can’t drive on it. I can’t drive anyway since I can’t look both ways without getting dizzy.

I was still very dizzy today when we made deliveries in NY. Marty is a trooper and is helping me with things that require looking up or down. It felt good to get out of the house. Supposedly, it takes a couple of days of taking the Meclizine for it to start helping.

Thank you to the readers who suggested the Epley Maneuver. I read all about it; I will try it tomorrow after production. I’ll have to watch a YouTube video; I learn from watching and not reading about how to do something. Thanks again, guys! ❤️