It's DONE!!!!!

Almost.

There are perhaps 3 things left to do before I can fully admit that the kitchen is finished (for now), but I just can't wait any longer.  We're SO pleased with the results.  And so sleepy.

But before I show you the dramatic results, here is where we began.  And when I say "began," I mean before we even moved in.

 Holy honey oak!!  (As I've mentioned before, honey oak is not the worst thing on the planet...but it is simply not our style.)

 It's everywhere. 

Seven months of planning later, here's the happiness that greets us every day.

 Crisp, clean, lovely, white.  (Ignore the almond outlet covers.  Someday...)

 So bright and chipper!

 And we LOVE how it looks next to the aqua walls.  Chills.

 Another view.  (Ignore the beast of a light fixture and the dark doors.  Another day...)

 Glass doors still need another coat of paint downstairs, so for now, we're rocking the open cabinets look.

 Aaaaaand we still need to re-install the little doors below the sink.  Those suckers are obnoxious.  Not that I spent any longer than 30 seconds looking at them before deciding that huzz needed to complete the removal task. 

 Now for a few deets.  We didn't purchase new hardware.  Even if we had scored a killer deal on hardware (like $2 or $2.50 a pop), we still would have spent nearly $150 or $200 on hardware.  Not awesome.  So we painted it.  Perhaps I'll explain someday our love of all things Rustoleum.  Seriously.  For $14 we had all new hardware.  Awesome.

 We did, on the other hand, purchase new hinges (mainly because we realized painting the hinges would result in extreme anger from yours truly due to the continual scrape of paint every time a door was opened).  We felt like we had two choices: (1) not order new hinges and eat out for every meal during the remainder of our tenure at our abode OR (2) purchase new hinges.  I think you know where this is going.

Initially, we thought hinges were going to run us $7 each.  Yikes!  No fun.  (Especially no fun considering we have 52 hinges.  Vomit.)  But Dansy, in his infinite knowledge of the interwebz, scored 54 hinges (accidentally ordered 2 extra) for $117 (including tax and shipping).  And a great shout was heard from Birchwood Lane.  !!!!!!!!!  And we're daaaaang pleased.  And I reorganized my baking cabinet.  Score.

 And, just so you have the full effect of the brightness of this room (and our new couch!), here is where we log a solid number of hours.  A great deal of naps have been had here.  And all are happy.

How about a few numbers? Dad, you're going to love this.
Hours spent on project:  over 100 (it is nauseating calculating any higher)

Painting helpers:  3 (Special shout-out to moms for logging countless hours priming - now that is a good story.  I promise I'll tell you soon.  And thanks to Cheri who drove from Wichita to spend a day off getting paint in her hair and hearing me complain about the mess I got myself into.  And many thanks to Dans for letting me go through with this astronomically larger than life project and for doing the things I didn't want to do.)

Miscellaneous helpers: 3 (Dad, thanks for loaning us painting equipment.  Brett, thanks for letting us borrow your sander for far too long.  And Tammy, thanks for offering to feed us over and over again.  You guys are all great.)

Cost:
Hardware paint:  $14
Hinges:  $117
Liquid sandpaper (aka: my new bestie):  $15
Primer:  $65 (latex) + $39 (oil-based)
Paint:  $100 (we used a little over 1 gallon)
Brushes, rollers, miscellaneous supplies: $50
Total:  $400
We could have saved close to $100 had I not thought that I knew more than the pros and decided to prime with latex paint.  Silly me.  The good news is that I have a few more painting projects up my sleeve, and now I had loads of extra primer.  It all works out in the end.

Hinges:  52

Pulls:  38

Door fronts:  26

Total coats of paint per surface:  4

Trips to Benjamin Moore over a 3 day period:  12 (I'm not even kidding.)

Strands of hair still covered in oil-based paint:  5

So even though it's not 100% finished, we're happy.  Really happy.  Would we do it again?  .........Yes.  But we would definitely listen to the pros.  Ha.  Check back later this week for the products we used and tales of the process.  

Now I'm going to go take a nap.