The (First) Big Reveal

My hard work has paid off & I'm in love!

After painstaking weeks of staining -  4 coats of stain & 3 coats of poly top I'm done!

At least while the stain was drying (Florida humidity) I was able to paint the kitchen, too.

Why is this the first reveal?

Because we want to subway tile the backsplash, which is cheap. The not so cheap part is that we also want to install new countertops so there's no point in doing backsplash yet when we'd have to remove some of it when we did the countertops.

I also need to paint the rest of the island - I hope to paint beadboard & cover up the laminate at some point, too.

Another item on the list is to paint the doors & trim.

I don't have a before picture but here is the chalkboard wall! I still need to finish wiping off the layer of priming chalk I put on.

A HUGE thank you to my sister for getting me the light fixture I wanted for my birthday!

I absolutely love projects but I'm so glad to be getting our home out of chaos! I spent so much time staining & painting that there wasn't enough time to care for the rest of the house. 

On top of that, we were still trying to use the kitchen while I was staining it & all of the water splashes & oil from our hands on the still drying stain almost created a disaster for our cabinets! That meant minimal dish washing!

There was also newspaper taped to the floor for a month, making it very difficult to sweep or mop.

I'm soooo glad to be done and I'm loving the results!