Working on the kitchen

If I were a professional painter, my business card would read, “Neither good nor fast”. Some people are one but not the other. A few are both. I’m just not a painter.

I know, you’re all saying, “But Kristina, you said only a couple of weeks ago that you’re not going to do the painting yourself!” You said, “No, no, no, nope, not happening!”

Uh, yeah. I still plan to hire painters to do the majority of the painting. One of these days, after I’ve tamed the chaos to some extent. Meanwhile, I just need to get my kitchen good enough to at least temporarily unpack!

Here’s what happened. I have ancient (1960’s) kitchen cabinets complete with dorky “tropical” themed faux bamboo hashmarks. They’re, like, amazing (not). At least someone painted them white and they’re no longer mustard (they once were mustard, I can see it in the corners).

They remind me of a 1960’s pool party (not that I was ever at one. I’m not that old.)

I bought the house knowing full well the kitchen needed remodeled, and I am willing to overlook the cosmetic issues like faux bamboo marks. But the contact paper had to go. I tried to clean it. There’s no cleaning ancient contact paper. Contact paper is evil, it’s right up there with wallpaper. I ended up tearing it out. Problem is, it left sticky goo behind. One of the 3 different types of contact paper was foam-backed, and that one left bits of glued-on foam as well as sticky goo.

I tried to wash the drawers and shelves with wallpaper remover, but that didn’t work. We eventually gave up and realized we had a project on our hands. The shelves and drawers were going to need sanded and painted.

I really need my kitchen in working order asap, and am not ready to try to collect painting bids from contractors and wait until someone is available sometime maybe next month if we’re lucky. Plus, the pandemic is nuts right now and I don’t want anyone in my house.

Which is why we spent most of our weekend on an unplanned remodel project, and we’re still not done. John did the sanding and taping and I’m doing two coats of white paint – primer and an enamel. I’ve finished the drawers and the removable shelves, but am still working on the interior of the cabinets.

It’s annoying putting this much work into cabinets that I want to replace soon, but who knows when I’ll actually be able to fully remodel the kitchen. Meanwhile at least I’ll be rid of the contact paper mess and able to put stuff away!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com