The Kitchen Phase 1.5

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Originally, adding the downstairs bathroom was going to be "Phase 3" of the kitchen remodeling, in which we also would be gutting the kitchen and installing glorious IKEA cabinets. Since I couldn't wait for an extra bathroom, we ended up merging this in before the planned Phase 2. (Which I guess I will talk about at some point later?) Therefore, Phase 1.5.

To start, first we needed to make up for the removed pantry. That thing was *full*. (Contents went into the sun room, piled onto the former kitchen table.)

I found this pantry on craigslist; a very nice lady was remodeling her kitchen and didn't want it to go to waste.

A PERFECT FIT HOW LUCKY IS THAT I MEAN REALLY

For the record, AFTER we got the pantry to the house we realized that it was finished on the wrong side. Oops! So we put it in upside-down :P You can't really tell, right?

Adamo's uncle very kindly set it up, attached it to the wall, and added trim to the bottom!

It's kinda nice to have at least SOME cupboards with knobs. (Knobs are in Phase 2, promise!)

Adamo's uncle left when he finished the bathroom; however, that left us with the sanding, cleaning, priming and painting in the kitchen and dining room. We used a light to make sure that everything was flat. I don't know, it made a lot more sense when Adamo was explaining it. 

It took FOREVER

We also ended up moving the cabinet that was sitting awkwardly on top of the fridge to on top of the radiator cover. I have random appliances in there (probably not the best spot, but whatever). It became sort of a dumping ground for tools.

And caulk. And caulk jokes.

We ended up having to take it off soon after plopping it on there because we realized that the radiator (which we had moved for redoing the floors) was spitting and leaking all over the place. We finally got it with this MASSIVE WRENCH.

I really like this wrench. It makes me feel powerful.

After that was straightened out, we lugged the cabinet and appliances back onto the radiator cover, and now it is a landing zone for my and Adamo's purses. I mean, manly bags. 

Side note, the stairway to the basement (off of the kitchen) was in such rough shape that I had to take a mo and patch the plaster and then paint the damn thing with KILZ.  The "before" walls were SO disgusting that I did not permit a picture to be taken. Also, for the record, those wobbly giant patches were NOT my handiwork; you can't even tell where I patched. *snooty sniff*

This is what it looks like *fixed up*

 By the way, I think I forgot to mention that we were also trying to get this stuff done because we were planning on having a bunch of people over for Halloween, just a week after construction was finished. We only managed to paint the exposed drywall before guests arrived.

But hey, we did Halloween lights outside so it's ok, right?

 We were literally painting until just before people got here. Check out Adamo's sweet chief engineer costume!

(Trust me, he had the correct number of pips.)

 Adamo was a TAPE MASTER and painter's taped the crap out of everything. It was a sight to behold.

Before paint

After paint

I simply LOVE the color that we picked for the walls (svelte sage), but after living with it for a while, I think it is a little too gloomy for a kitchen. Therefore, the wall color will be changing in Phase 2 and Adamo will get to tape everything all over again! Whee!