Update on the Kitchen Re-do

I guess I haven't quite gotten back to my roots as a daily blogger...yet.  It's just that right now, most of my writing juices are being poured into my new book.  (It's a Catholic YA novel that is due to be released by Bezalel Books in the spring of 2015, titled Erin's Ring.  Here are the last two lines of the first chapter: "Who were Erin and Michael?  And what story might this ring tell, if only it could talk?"  Does that little teaser make you curious for more?  I hope so!)

Okay, the pre-publication marketing portion of this post is now over.  Moving on--

For the past two days, I've been sitting in my dining room at my laptop working on Erin's Ring, surrounded by all the stuff that usually hides behind my kitchen cabinet doors.

I used to think my kitchen was too small and didn't have nearly enough storage space, but look at what it managed to hold.

I think I was wrong.  I realize now that my sweet little kitchen was like one of those houses that looks small from the street, but then you go inside and you're amazed by the square footage.

Kitchen, I'm sorry for dissing you all these years.  You've been wonderful!  And because you've been such a great friend to me, old girl, you're getting the facelift you've earned!

So Monday's post broke the exciting news that we are having our kitchen refaced--meaning the original boxes will be used, but covered in a laminate that will match the new cabinet doors and drawer fronts--and we're going to have knobs and drawer pulls, finally.  And crown molding!  All the rickety old drawers are being replaced, too, with those state-of-the-art soft-closing babies.  But the best part of all is that where I once had cavernous cabinets with everything stacked Tetris-style (and I had to practically crawl inside them to find anything!), I'll now have those nifty pull-out drawers, for pots and pans and such-like.  (Welcome to the 21st century, Laura!)

Two months ago, we had a Home Depot representative come and discuss our options, and we decided to reface instead of fully remodeling the kitchen, for a couple of reasons: 1) we'd finally paid off the new faux granite countertop that we had installed two years ago, when our old one just got too sad-looking--and we didn't want to rip out a perfectly good countertop; and 2) IT'S WAY LESS EXPENSIVE!  The guy told us that our kitchen was the perfect candidate for refacing, because the boxes are sturdy and in good shape.  So the next step was to have someone come out and measure everything.  And then finally, on Monday the installer came with all the custom-ordered parts and got to work.

Here's what everything looked like after he left Monday night.  Sayonara, 80's-style laminate!

And here's what everything looked like when he left Tuesday night.  Hello, new and improved 2014-style laminate!

By tonight at about 5:00, the kitchen should be finished, so I can post some "after" pictures here tomorrow.  This is so exciting!  I'm at that age where I could probably use a facelift, too; but I'd much rather give one to my kitchen.  Whether the nest is empty or full, a pretty, functional kitchen is a girl's best friend.  :)