When Tyler and I first moved into our home over 7 years ago, I was so excited to have a little nest of our own. I was so excited that I went crazy with my colour selection for the walls and painted every room a different colour. Since then, I have repainted almost every room in the house with the kitchen being on the last ones to be refreshed. Sometimes the bright yellow was a bit much but I didn't hate it and I knew painting it would be a big job. After being on maternity leave for a few months and spending more time in my home than usual, I decided the kitchen needed to be repainted and reworked. Now I get to share this story as part of a series that
Compass has going on which is called Starter Stories; sharing my fixer upper triumphs about my home.
I started the project in November, Luke was just 2 months old, Tyler was away for the weekend on a bachelor party trip and I was feeling ambitious. I didn't do this project alone, my mom was on Luke duty and my sister Emily helped with the manual labour. My goal was to get everything done in one weekend (I am a bit of an optimist).
As I moved everything out of my kitchen on the Friday, organizing, cleaning and moving, I wondered if I had gotten myself in over my head.
As Emily and I painted, we both realized how nice it was to work with our hands because it gave us time to think. I thought a lot about when I moved into this house and first painted the kitchen bright yellow. I thought a lot about where Tyler and I were in our lives 7 years ago, how many things have happened since then and how much we have grown up.
My mom and Emily decided to stay over night so we could just work work work the whole weekend. I was so glad to have there help and there company. Anyone who has done a project like this in their own home, knows how it disrupts the entire house. This kind of disruption gives me mild anxiety but I think its good for me to be out of my comfort zone every once in awhile. We ate take out all weekend and hung out in the basement snuggling and watching movies when we weren't working.
As I painted over the last bit of yellow in the kitchen, I felt like I was closing a chapter of my life and the new colour was the beginning of the next chapter. This chapter would be filled with memories of late nights walking around in the dark comforting a sleepy baby, stories from little mouths and messes from little hands. I also thought, "next time this kitchen gets painted, I am hiring someone to do it :)"
After everything was painted, I started to work on a couple smaller projects to update the kitchen. Our counter normally acts as what I like to call the "drop zone". This is where keys, mail and other odds and ends land when they are pulled from Ty's pockets as he walks in the door. This pile of random things on the counter drives me crazy so I created organizers that could hang on the cupboard, made from formula cans that I just painted and hung. They are also great for holding your phone while it charges.
The second project was to get some art on the wall. I have been shopping around for the last few months but I really have a hard time committing to art so I just kept passing on pieces. I decided I would make my own with Luke. We got messy and created some beautiful custom art, which I love! I remembered I had a ledge shelf that I wasn't using so we used that to display the art. I love this idea for displaying art because it allows me to switch things up with the seasons, holidays and share more of Luke's art has he grows up.
All the hard work was worth it to have a fresh kitchen to cook in. The kitchen is my domain, I love eating, cooking and feeding people and I am so grateful for the space I have to do this. I love our cozy home but being in it as much as I have over the last few months while on maternity leave, has given me the desire to freshen things up more and more. I am grateful for the memories that have been made in my home and the ones that are ahead, and I am excited to continue finding ways to put my personal touch on our home.
There is no place like home.
xoxo
Audrey
