Kitchen Changes In Progress, Or: How To Tell If Your Marriage Is On Solid Ground

Whether you've been married for 6 months or 60 years,
there is one surefire way to test the strength of your marital bond:

Wallpapering.

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 As we are nearing the end (fingers crossed!) of our year-long Kitchen Makeover,

trying to turn our kitchen into something that will look as if it belongs in That Old House

(the inspiration photo was in yesterday's post),

we are tackling the ultimate challenge: The kitchen walls and cupboards.

This involves many buckets of paint, and also wallpaper. 

 

(Cue scary music.)

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Last week we finished the conservatory project.

Below, the freshly painted sunroom.  Just beyond . . . the kitchen.

That's the stair wall at the end of the room, where the back stairs come down to the kitchen.

Everything is still in its last-homeowner gold.

With swatches of paint and wallpaper adorning the walls.

"Wallpaper?"  asked my husband.  "Really?"

"Yes, please," said his wife.

"Well, okay," said my husband, which is why we've been happily married for 32 years.

At least, I've been happy.

A little bit of selective amnesia helps greatly in the decision to wallpaper a room.

The last painful episodes of Man Vs. Paper fade from your memory.

You go into the project mercifully stupid and optimistic.

How bad can it be, after all?

Witness this man's happy face:

 And body language.

But then you step back, after spending 'way more hours at this than you'd planned, and admire your handiwork.

The words you used that you didn't even realize you knew now fade from your memory,

and you are filled with a warm rush of pride and happiness, all bathed in the glow of relief.

It's over.  Finis.

Until the wife says, "Turns out I ordered more paper than we needed.  How about we do the butler's pantry?"

(Cue scary music.  Again.)

Stay tuned.

If you are wondering why I didn't paint before putting up the paper, which would be logical,

it's because I can do the painting on my own.  If you've ever tried to wallpaper all by your lonesome, you know that

-- even with all the extra time spent hollering at one another -- it still is easier with four hands than two.

I only had Howard's help for what turned out to be part of Sunday, so I took advantage of it.

I'll spend this week doing the painting.

Today I am priming.  Woodwork, wainscot, bottom of the back stairs.

We had to empty and move the big old walnut cupboard and the jam cupboard

into the middle of the room to do this project; where did all the dishes go?

A whole lot of them went into the study:

I hope that plastic folding table stands up to the load!

The sun just came out.  Dion and I are going for a little walk before

I start inhaling primer, and he starts finding wet paint to lie down next to.  A hobby of his.

Happy Monday!  -- Cass

Visit Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.  Click here!

Visit Cielo at The House In The Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  Click here!