hell's kitchen

OK, compared to some other kitchens I've seen, it's not really hell's kitchen, but it has been a bummer because of the poor finish work that needed to be addressed before I painted the whole thing. It's come a long way (see last picture with the horrible apple wallpaper border), but there's still miles to go before I sleep.

I had been really dragging my heels. My mom came to visit and lit the proverbial fire under me. I'm amazed by her energy. She not only spent hours digging caulk out of the crack between the counter and the wall (which had clearly been applied with a rusty spoon), she TSPd the ceiling, mudded holes and messed-up parts of the walls, and recaulked the new(ish) kitchen sink, which the plumber had done with clear caulk over a dirty counter (UGH!).

You can see her powerful cleaning action in the picture of the sponge in motion. She can tackle soy sauce explosions and grease on the ceiling like it's no one's business.

The paint colors I'm using in the kitchen are -- as they are in the rest of the house -- Woolskein and Dover White, in Bath Paint (for scrubbitude) by Sherwin Williams.

We still need to work on painting the rest of the room, and doing something with the frustrating window sitch, like ripping the whole damn thing out. Behind that weird panel just above the sink is wooden ventilation slats (louvers? I have no idea how to spell that) which were covered oh-so-elegantly with a piece of plywood.

Isn't that just the prettiest sink caulking job in the whole world? If you remember, we replaced the utilitarian stainless steel sink with uber-heavy enameled cast iron one the plumber "found" for us, via a client who upgraded to who-knows-what because of her new granite counters.

THANKS, MOM!