How to Get a Divorce in 21 Easy Steps or How to Paint a Kitchen

It was Douglas’ idea to title the post this way. I must admit that things were a little hairy by the end of the weekend, but you will be happy to know that I unpacked my suitcases and Douglas is no longer filing for divorce. I jest, in case you thought I was serious. We are not truly in jeopardy of separation. We are, however, still sorting out a very young marriage. Many people have told me that the first year of marriage is difficult, and while we have not suffered great difficulty, we are still working things out. We both lived alone for many years and had become somewhat set in our ways. We will survive, especially if we can ever finish all of the projects in the house. Is that even a possibility?

This weekend we worked on the kitchen. Here is what it looked like pre-painting, or at least this is what it looked like in August 2012. You can check out the whole house here.

I must admit that I feel a little guilty writing about our activities this weekend, particularly when I complain about the “difficulties” that we had because we were fighting. I am well aware that many people in our area had it much worse this weekend. Thousands were without light and heat. There were people that lost their homes; some of my family members had water in their house. My heart goes out to all of those who suffered due to hurricane Sandy.

Douglas and I were so fortunate that we never even lost power. Our greatest challenge was how to survive so much time together. School was cancelled for four days. For the first couple days, we were inside because things were dangerous outside. After that, we did not have anywhere to go, nor did we have the gas to get there. Running out of activities to keep us occupied, I suggested that we paint the kitchen. Since we are both people that like to have things done our way, projects challenge our ability to compromise. We have had more fights while working on projects than at any other time. Add that to the fact that we had spent nearly one hundred and sixty eight hours together without a break, and a great battle was destined to erupt. Luckily, we had mostly finished by the time it did.

We started on Saturday by pulling everything out of the kitchen.

We had to pull the appliances and free-standing cabinet away from the wall. Things look ugly behind the fridge. I cannot wait to replace the floor. Hopefully, that will be done soon. We already bought the tiles!

Then, we painted the trim. We used the same can of paint that I used to paint the table in the dining room and the cabinet in the kitchen. It was easy to do since we were painting white on white. I wanted to paint it because the original owners did not use semi-gloss paint, which meant that it was harder to clean. Another reason that it was easy to paint is that I was not worried about getting paint on the floor. It would actually look better covered in paint. The three splotches of color in the picture on the right are colors that I tested. In the end, we did not go with any of them.

After the trim, we rolled the paint on the walls. Every time I paint a room, I thank God that I live in this age of rollers. My grandmother talks of painting rooms with a paintbrush. That would have taken forever! With the rollers and both of us painting, it did not take that long at all. The paint was given to me by my friend. Thanks Kathy! It is a nice bright color, and we needed something bright in that room because it does not get much natural light.

We then had to edge the trim in green. That took a lot longer, but we got it done.

On Sunday morning, we went back over the walls with the roller to give it a second coat. Then, Douglas finished up the edging. I cleaned. It was while pushing the stove back into place that we had our biggest fight. Lots of people fight over that, right?

On Monday we put everything back in the kitchen, and here it is.

We have a lot more work to do in the kitchen, but I feel much better now that it is painted. It is a cheery color, which makes me happy. Also, there are many projects that I could not start until the walls had been painted. Stay tuned for more!

Happy Homemaking!